Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

Increased confidence boosts used EV sales 67% in 2020

The market received a major boost last month when the UK government announced a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel models from 2030, reinforcing that in less than a decade all new car buyers will have to go electric, with used car buyers having to follow suit in time. Enquiries and searches for electric cars on BuyaCar.co.uk surged by 500% overnight and have consistently remained higher than ever before.

While searches for EVs on BuyaCar.co.uk remain well behind traditional engine types and hybrids, the rolling 30 day figure for EV searches currently stands 60% higher than for the rest of the year and is now pushing close to one in 10 initial enquiries.

https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/increased-confidence-boosts-used-ev-sales-67-2020-04-12-2020

JKenH

English lockdown stalls November new car market as registrations decline -27.4%

More positively, market share for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) continued to grow significantly, up 122.4% and76.9% respectively. BEVs recorded their third highest ever monthly share of registrations at 9.1%, while PHEV share increased to 6.8% – a combined total of more than 18,000 new zero-emission capable cars joining Britain’s roads.

http://www.smmt.co.uk/2020/12/english-lockdown-stalls-november-new-car-market-as-registrations-decline-27-4/

JKenH

JKenH said:

First-Ever Transport Of Teslas From China Reaches Europe

The Toscana ship is now unloading several thousand MIC Model 3 (reportedly Standard Range Plus with CATL's LFP batteries).

The cool things is that at the same time, there is also the Grand Aurora ship in the port, unloading Tesla cars from San Francisco:

It is not clear which customers will get which battery in their M3. Given the choice which would you opt for?

https://insideevs.com/news/456941/first-transport-teslas-from-china-reached-europe/

This article may help with the decision.

Tesla Reportedly Skipped Battery Testing For LFP-Powered Model 3 Made In China

When the car was presented, it offered 468 km of range under the NEDC cycle – more than it had with Li-ion cells. The issue is that this range drops dramatically in cold weather, according to Sina Finance.

The Chinese website published an article with a Model 3 owner that claimed the range dropped from the 420 km it used to show to 241 km with only 5 percent of charge left. 

https://insideevs.com/news/458229/tesla-skipped-testing-lfp-model-3-china/

Edit: bit more detail on this story below.

https://moneyballr.medium.com/behind-tesla-lfp-model-3-sales-up-range-down-83b63569c44b

Martyn1981

Some ickle stories this morning:

Gayam Motor Works & Sokowatch Launch East Africa’s First Commercial Electric Tuk-Tuks

Sokowatch has partnered with Indian electric tuk-tuk manufacturer Gayam Motor Works (GMW) on this project, a first in Africa in the commercial electric tuk-tuk sector for hyperlocal deliveries. GMW is pushing ahead with its global expansion plans, following successful rollouts of its electric 3-wheelers in the UK and EU markets. GMW’s SmartAuto – Taskman model is India’s first electric 3-wheeler to receive European certification. The company has already delivered passenger and cargo EVs to customers from France, Portugal, Italy, and London.

Aptera Announces First “Never Charge” Electric Vehicle

Today, Aptera announced a solar electric vehicle that will not need to be plugged in for most regular uses, and it sports a 1,000 mile range on a full charge.

“With Aptera’s Never Charge technology, you are driven by the power of the sun. Our built-in solar array keeps your battery pack topped off and anywhere you want to go, you just go,” says co-founder Chris Anthony. Aptera says they will achieve this by making the vehicle as efficient as possible, allowing the relatively low amount of energy one can get from solar panels to do a lot more than it could for other electric vehicles.

The biggest thing Aptera does that others don’t is optimize the vehicle for low drag. With an airplane-like design and only three wheels, the car has a drag coefficient of just 0.13. To put this in perspective, a Tesla Model S has a drag coefficient of 0.24. With less “wind resistance,” travel at all speeds requires less energy, with the effect of saving more energy compared to normal cars increasing as the car goes faster. Aptera plans to do this while still having a 100 kWh battery pack, so the car will have great range.

Perhaps 100kWh and 1,000 mile range are ickle, as in an ickle bit silly?

JKenH

The World's First Classic Electric Car Platform Is Here

Zero Labs is offering the conversion for classic off-roaders built from 1945-1975, pre-1975 muscle cars like the Ford Mustang, 1948-1975 two-door coupes such as the Porsche 911, and pickups produced from 1947-1975. Pricing details haven't been revealed, but EV conversions aren't cheap. Swindon Powertrain's classic Mini electric conversion kit, for example, will set you back $40,000. Zero Labs' classic electric platform will be available from fall 2021 with limited availability.

https://carbuzz.com/news/the-worlds-first-classic-electric-car-platform-is-here

JKenH

High Price, Limited Performance Of European Electric Cars Might Boost China Minis

Suddenly a small car like the Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV from China makes lots of sense. It can reach about 60 mph, probably downhill with a following wind, but quite adequate in town and country driving. Base models have a range of about 70 miles. You can make an average daily commute, said to be about 24 miles in Europe, do the shopping and take the children to school. If you’re not convinced yet, try this. The base price is $4,400.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2020/12/06/high-price-limited-performance-of-european-electric-cars-might-boost-china-minis/

JKenH

Can’t find an electric car charger? Rent the neighbour’s

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cant-find-an-electric-car-charger-rent-the-neighbours-mbh3wp5j0?shareToken=a0ec098a8759507b1887d5d1c4ada8f7&fbclid=IwAR29MSXc_nOJYz5UEoZuO0aLzOI9vIWmzJJqBvUu8Thg9mRWW3mI-mZhNyk

shinytop

JKenH said:

High Price, Limited Performance Of European Electric Cars Might Boost China Minis

Suddenly a small car like the Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV from China makes lots of sense. It can reach about 60 mph, probably downhill with a following wind, but quite adequate in town and country driving. Base models have a range of about 70 miles. You can make an average daily commute, said to be about 24 miles in Europe, do the shopping and take the children to school. If you’re not convinced yet, try this. The base price is $4,400.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2020/12/06/high-price-limited-performance-of-european-electric-cars-might-boost-china-minis/

At last some common sense.  We need more like these, not 2 tonne, 4 sec 0-60 £50k+ ICE car clones.   

Martyn1981

Carbon Commentary newsletter extracts:

1, Automobile industry. The French manufacturer PSA, which will combine with Fiat Chrysler in the next months, said it would no longer invest in R&D into internal combustion engines in order to strengthen its finances for the transition to EVs. Fiat Chrysler has long been the manufacturer most sceptical about electric vehicles so this announcement probably means the end of any serious resistance to EVs in the industry. Volvo actually suggested governments set an early date for the final sales of petrol/gasoline and diesel cars. There is an increasing likelihood of a global standardisation on 2030 or thereabouts, no doubt with many exemptions such as the UK’s willingness to have battery hybrids still on sale to 2035. It may not be long before the private oil and gas companies start making a similar plea to the authorities to set a date for the last extraction of fossil fuels. This may seem counter-intuitive but certainty about the date of fossil fuel bans is probably beneficial to all.

4, Fast recharging batteries. Promises of unprecedented advances are frequent in battery start-ups. Claimed improvements in weight and in durability abound. Nawa, a new French company is attracting attention as a result of well-supported claims that its batteries are capable of being charged many tens of times as fast as those currently available. It also says that its product will use smaller quantities of metals. The advance comes from using electrodes that have vertically aligned carbon nanotubes derived from graphene. The new batteries will not be available until 2024/5, but supercapacitors based on the technology will come off the production line early next year. (Thanks to Jeremy Leathart).

10, Fast charging for electric trucks. Daimler opened a charging station in Oregon that offers 1 MW speeds for charging for commercial vehicles. This is roughly three times the maximum speed of any vehicle charging installation today. It will mean that a large truck with batteries of perhaps 500kWh could be fully charged from empty in well under an hour. (Cars will probably never be able to accept charging at this speed).
 
Finally, another indication of a transition that is speeding up. There are now more publicly quoted car companies in the US - mostly intending to make EVs of course - than at any point since General Motors became dominant soon after 1918. 

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 said:

. It may not be long before the private oil and gas companies start making a similar plea to the authorities to set a date for the last extraction of fossil fuels. This may seem counter-intuitive but certainty about the date of fossil fuel bans is probably beneficial to all.

Denmark have already given a date for the end of new exploration and development, so looks like the idea is already starting to be implemented.