Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Martyn1981

Switzerland's top selling car in September was a BEV, that's cool. Though of course Tesla sales peak and trough depending on ships arriving, and especially end of quarter pushes.

Tesla Model 3 Outsells All Other Cars In Switzerland In September

Unlike many other European countries, Switzerland has no national incentive programs for electric cars, although some cantons within the country do. Nevertheless, EVs captured 13.4% of the Swiss new vehicle market in September. So far this year, Tesla has accounted for a third of those battery electric vehicle sales and here’s something surprising. In September, the Tesla Model 3 was the best selling car in the nation, beating every other vehicle, including those powered by gasoline or diesel engines. Citing a report by the Swiss Automobile Association, Tesmanian says, Tesla sold 1,144 cars in September, of which 900 were Model 3s. The conventionally powered Skoda Octavia — a perennial sales leader in Switzerland — managed only 500 sales.

Martyn1981

Looking at September's UK figures and the following statement, I had a thunk:

September’s 10.5% combined plugin share was dominated by full battery electrics (BEVs) at 6.7% share, with plugin hybrids (PHEVs) taking 3.8%. The year-to-date cumulative plugin share now stands at 8.8%, with BEVs contributing 5.4% and PHEVs 3.4%.

Obviously, rising sales of BEV's (and PEV's) mean that the monthly percentage will typically be higher than the running annual average, and we can safely assume thanks to growing supply that January sales will be lower than the end of year average. So ....... if BEV's enter 2021 with sales higher than 6.7%, could December (2021) sales exceed 10%, or even the annual average reach 10%? Probably need to see Dec and Jan figures for a better guesstimate.

UK September EV Market Share Hits 10.5%, Up 3x Year-On-Year

The UK’s September plugin electric vehicle market share hit 10.5%, the highest ever level in “normal” (non-lockdown) trading months, up almost 3x from September 2019’s 3.7%. The overall auto market was down just 4.4% from September 2019, with diesels taking a massive 38.4% hit.

ASavvyBuyer

Nissan has revealed an emergency response concept based on the pure-electric Leaf. The RE-LEAF is able to provide a mobile power supply for rescue efforts following natural disasters or extreme weather events.

"The RE-LEAF uses the Leaf’s bi-directional charging ability, a standard feature of the model since its introduction in 2010. Acting as a portable power station, the latest generation Nissan Leaf e+ with a fully charged 62 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery can provide enough electricity to power the average UK household for around six days."

Martyn1981

Host of BEV stories today on CT that caught my eye, quite an eclectic and fun mix.

We have a BEV 'Maid of the Mist' in operation

1st All-Electric Vessels In USA Launch In New York — Maid of the Mist

We have an article on the expansion of BEV buses Finland, and (my opinion) they seem to be taking over now, which complete sense for this type of vehicle and usage.

Finland Logs Its Largest Electric Bus Order Ever — 106 Electric Buses

The Citroen e-C4 hits the UK with what looks like an attractive price and package.

Citroën ë-C4 Rolls Forward — UK Pricing Out, Orders Open

And the EU expanding the CO2(e) cut to 60% by 2030 would necessitate a much faster transition to plug in vehicles with a strong majority of car sales in 2030 needing to be PEV's.

EU Parliament Steps It Up: 60% Carbon Emissions Cut By 2030 Proposed

JKenH

JKenH said:

It will be interesting to see the sales figures for VW’s ID3 in its home market.

https://www.best-selling-cars.com/germany/2020-q3-germany-best-selling-car-brands-and-models/

Top 3 in Germany

September 
Zoe 3603
Model 3 2776
ID.3 1771* 

* deliveries started 11 September

YTD 

Zoe 15730
e-Golf 12545

Model 3 10121

https://www.electrive.com/2020/10/08/germany-marks-record-electric-car-sales/

Martyn1981

This article from a US driver is a bit annoying, but does suggest to me that cheaper batt replacements for Leaf's might be possible, if Nissan wanted too. Great little cars, so it would be nice if something could be done.

In Japan, I Could Get A Refurbished 24 kWh Nissan Leaf Battery For $2,400, But In US, It’s $10,000

I would like to replace my battery with the 62 kWh battery, but Nissan does not offer this option. I have contacted a company in Portland, Oregon, and they can do it for $10,000, but it doesn’t have any warranty, and there’s $2,000 for shipping.

I have read that if I was in Japan I could get a refurbished 24 kWh battery for $2,400. A replacement battery here and is way too expensive for me to justify when my current battery doesn’t even last over 100,000 miles. What car requires a replacement of a part that costs $9,600 every 100,000 miles?

JKenH

It does seem to be a hot climate issue, Nissan battery experience in the UK has been good.  

With battery packs currently at $150/kw a 24kwh replacement would theoretically cost about $3600 plus fitting and some profit - say $5k or in the UK £5k including VAT. 

Hopefully the replacement battery market will develop as more and more EVs come out of warranty. I have seen 40kwh batteries s/h for around £4k so if you could upgrade from a 24kwh to a 40kwh for around £6k fitted including VAT that might be the foundation for a small business. In 5 years time new 50kwh batteries might be available at that price.

There is still the static battery market for those batteries too degraded for vehicle use so it is unlikely the value of a Leaf will fall below about £2-3k when other salvageable parts are taken into account. 

JKenH

Waymo will allow more people to ride in its fully driverless vehicles in Phoenix

Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet, announced it will be opening up its fully driverless vehicles to all customers of its ride-hailing service in Phoenix, Arizona. Previously, the company only allowed a select few people. Now, over a thousand people will get to ride in a Waymo vehicle without a human safety driver in the front seat.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/8/21507814/waymo-driverless-cars-allow-more-customers-phoenix

Martyn1981

The pretty little Kona is doing very well with police forces. Whilst we don't have a Kona (we bought a 2018 Ioniq) I have to say that Hyndai build brilliant BEV's.

Police Scotland Buys 180 Hyundai Kona Electrics

The Hyundai Kona Electric is a competitive, compelling, popular electric vehicle. It has relatively long range (up to ~300 miles), a crossover type of size/class, and a relatively low price. As such, it’s one of the best selling electric vehicles in the world, and it’s also one of the top choices among police forces, particularly in Europe.

As that link above shows, police fleets in Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have bought Kona Electrics for some of their official duties. Add the Scottish police to the list of police forces using the Kona Electric.

Police Scotland, as the police force there is called, has decided to buy 180 Kona Electrics, all of them the 64 kWh battery option.

If 180 sounds like a lot even within the context of all of those other fleet orders, that’s because it is. This is Hyundai’s largest 100% electric fleet order ever.

Even bigger than that, though, is the remarkable number of fleet contracts Hyundai has secured this year. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Hyundai secured more than 200 fleet orders between the beginning of March and the end of August.

EVandPV

Martyn1981 said:

The pretty little Kona is doing very well with police forces. 

Strangely enough, someone just posted this on the zappi forum ......

Hyundai will recall Kona EV models over faulty battery cells

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/hyundai-will-recall-kona-ev-models-over-faulty-battery-cells?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20201008&utm_content=article2-readmore