Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Martyn1981

I'll put my hands up and admit I never saw this coming - Ford showing off the power and potential of a BEV to a diehard ICE crowd. Is it a risk to encourage BEV's when you have so few, or marketing genius to encourage MachE sales? Regardless, Nascar fans are about to see what leccy power can do. A thought springs to mind ....... "Say hello to my little friend!"

Ford Mustang Mach-E With 1400 HP & 2300 Foot Pounds Of Torque Coming Soon To A NASCAR Venue!

That’s right. Ford has modified a Mustang Mach-E by stuffing it full of 7 electric motors — four for the rear axle and 3 for the front — with a total output of 1400 horsepower and a jaw dropping 2300 foot-pounds of torque. The beast is set up for road racing, not drag racing, and it can also be used as a gymkhana/drift car as well.

But the first place you are likely to see one is at a NASCAR track. According to Autoblog, Ford intends to bring the car to an as yet unnamed NASCAR venue this year to demonstrate the pure, unadulterated goodness of electric power. If you think the NASCAR crowd are the least likely folks to consider owning an electric car, that is exactly the point.

As Autoblog says, “While electric cars are traditionally associated with efficiency, the Mustang Mach-E serves as the perfect opportunity to exemplify performance in electric propulsion. The creation of something as aggressively potent as the Mach-E 1400 only helps to solidify this conception of electric cars as enthusiast or motorsport vehicles.” In other words, if Mohammed will not come to the mountain, the mountain will go to Mohammed, so to speak.

EVandPV

Electric vehicles are now on average £107 CHEAPER a year to own than petrol cars, analysis of lifetime running costs reveals

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8540469/Electric-vehicles-CHEAPER-petrol-cars.html

ASavvyBuyer

EVandPV said:

Electric vehicles are now on average £107 CHEAPER a year to own than petrol cars, analysis of lifetime running costs reveals

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8540469/Electric-vehicles-CHEAPER-petrol-cars.html

From looking through some of that article, it looks like it would be a mistake to insure an EV with Direct Line. We have found for both our EV's the insurance is about the same or cheaper than a petrol/diesel car. Also, stopped looking at the comments after a few as most had no idea what they were talking about, so miss-informed.

EVandPV

ASavvyBuyer said:

EVandPV said:

Electric vehicles are now on average £107 CHEAPER a year to own than petrol cars, analysis of lifetime running costs reveals

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8540469/Electric-vehicles-CHEAPER-petrol-cars.html

From looking through some of that article, it looks like it would be a mistake to insure an EV with Direct Line. We have found for both our EV's the insurance is about the same or cheaper than a petrol/diesel car. Also, stopped looking at the comments after a few as most had no idea what they were talking about, so miss-informed.

I was with Sainsbury's for my last ICE and couldn't believe it when Churchill quoted less than half what it cost to insure my ICE to insure my Zoe.  
1.2L ICE - £350
ZOE - £160

JKenH

EVandPV said:

UASavvyBuyer said:

EVandPV said:

Electric vehicles are now on average £107 CHEAPER a year to own than petrol cars, analysis of lifetime running costs reveals

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8540469/Electric-vehicles-CHEAPER-petrol-cars.html

From looking through some of that article, it looks like it would be a mistake to insure an EV with Direct Line. We have found for both our EV's the insurance is about the same or cheaper than a petrol/diesel car. Also, stopped looking at the comments after a few as most had no idea what they were talking about, so miss-informed.

I was with Sainsbury's for my last ICE and couldn't believe it when Churchill quoted less than half what it cost to insure my ICE to insure my Zoe.  
1.2L ICE - £350
ZOE - £160

I am much more relaxed driving my Leaf than previous cars and I’ve read others are the same. Maybe that helps keep the premiums down. 

I do smile at some of the comments but I was like that a couple of years ago so am happy to indulge them. Once they get behind the wheel of an EV I doubt many will want to go back.

I love my Leaf but my wife loves her Picanto. It is worth about £3k and does everything she wants it to. The only downside is it costs about £400 a year in fuel. For people like my wife EVs don’t yet make financial sense - to them.

EVandPV

JKenH said:

I do smile at some of the comments but I was like that a couple of years ago so am happy to indulge them. Once they get behind the wheel of an EV I doubt many will want to go back.

Indeed. Comments like "milk float" tell you all you need to know. 
Many of the die-hard petrolheads will most likely hang on to their ICE to the bitter end.
Personally, I'll never go back to one.

Martyn1981

So, the big news last night was Tesla issuing their Q2 report, and they made a profit, in a quarter where most car company executives were hiding behind the sofa and hoping it would go away. This means they qualify for entry into the S&P 500. They also announced that Texas will be the site of the next Giga factory.

Confirmed: Tesla’s Giga Texas In Austin, Texas, Will Build Cybertruck, Semi, Model 3 & Y

Today, Tesla released what was perhaps the most highly anticipated quarterly earnings letter to date as the factory shutdowns and business impact from COVID-19 put the company’s hope of achieving its first full year of profitability in jeopardy.

When Tesla’s Q2 2020 earnings letter finally went live a few minutes ago, investors were finally able to relax, as Tesla did indeed post its fourth quarter in a row of profitability, thanks to a healthy dose of regulatory credit sales in the quarter. The letter and subsequent earnings call at 2:30 pm Pacific Time today (watch our livestream here or embedded below) is a great opportunity for us to get a snapshot of the company’s operational, supply chain, and financial performance to date.

Martyn1981

Germany hits 3.7% BEV's in June, and the plucky little Zoe continues to shine bright No.1 in June and a close second for YTD. Also some speculation regarding a super September in Germany.

8.6% Plugin Vehicle Market Share In Germany!

Regarding the 2020 table, the podium positions remained the same, with the Renault Zoe reducing the distance to the leader VW e-Golf to just 254 units, which could allow the French hatchback to reach the leadership by August and even hang onto the #1 spot in the Super-September month.

And why will September be Super? Imagine this: a certain VW ID.3 lands, delivering some 8,000 units (wild guess) at once, landing immediately on the podium, kicking the Renault Zoe off the throne in the following months, and speaking of the Zoe, the French EV should register (at least) some 2,000 units in September, all while the Tesla Model 3 will benefit from an unconstrained end-of-quarter peak and deliver some 2,500 units.

So, in just three EVs, 12,500 registrations. Add the rest of the market, with, say, 15,000 units, and you get 27,500 units, thus obliterating March’s record result of 19,145 units … and reaching some 13–15% plugin share!

Now, that’s when things start to get interesting…

Martyn1981

Perhaps my news posts should start with 'things I found interesting today', so here's a short list:

Mainly due to changes in incentives, PEV sales in China have fallen, and are now rising again, with BEV sales this year at 3.6%. Also the production ramp up at Giga Shanghai seems to be going very well:

Tesla & The Minions — China EV Sales Report

The overall Chinese market returned to negative numbers in June, down 6% year over year (YoY), but on paper, plugins fared much worse, down 53% last month.

But this number is misleading, because last month’s result, with over 91,000 units, was in fact this market’s second best result in the last 12 months, while June 2019 marked an all-time high for plugins in China, due to a sales rush derived from the subsidies changes that happened at the time.

With this in mind, expect next month to see a return to growth, as July 2019 was the first month with the current subsidy rules.

I appreciate this runs a bit like an advert, for which I apologise, but a no contract BEV lease month by month, that is all inclusive, seems like a great way for people to dip their toes in the water, or even help to choose what BEV they may want to buy:

You Can “Subscribe” To A Renault Zoe EV In UK — Onto Orders 1,100 More

Onto, previously known as Evezy, offers electric vehicle (EV) subscriptions in the UK. It launched in 2017 with 180 Renault ZOE EVs. It just ordered 1,100 more ZOE EVs, the biggest ever single order for the car in the UK.

What does it mean to “subscribe” to a ZOE via Onto (on.to)? It means you can pay a monthly price for it but can cancel your subscription at any time — you’re not locked into a 3 year lease, in other words. But that’s not all. It’s also basically an all-inclusive package. You get “the car, insurance, breakdown cover, maintenance and even the electricity to charge it.”

The ZOE, at a price of £339, is the most affordable car available on Onto.

Another BEV refuse truck story:

BYD’s Fully Electric Refuse Trucks Make It Easy To Upgrade Fleets To Zero Emissions

Noisy trash trucks may soon be a thing of the past if BYD has anything to say about it. In partnership with Hudson County Motors, BYD is providing the first fully electric rear loader refuse collection trucks to the East Coast of the US. the new trucks will have sufficient range to run typical full day routes in Jersey City, providing not just zero emission service, but nearly silent service.

Martyn1981

BEV news is so addictive, I'm sure I had a life before I started spending so much time reading articles and watching Vlogs. Maybe it's all the endorphins from reading good news.

So, a quick update on the five countries leading in PEV % sales:

Top 5 Countries For Plugin Vehicle Market Share — Charts

And great news for UK leccy deliveries:

DPD Smashes EV Target 5 Months Early With Over 700 EVs

Dynamic Parcel Distribution (DPD), a UK delivery service, has smashed its EV goals 5 months early, with over 700 electric vehicles now on the road. Over 10% of DPD’s delivery fleet is now electric, and a million packages per month are delivered in electric vehicles.