Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

molerat

"Can't do anything wrong" Tesla showing their true customer service level.

Being "asked" - nice way of saying if you don't we will take action - by the US NHTSA to recall 158K Model X & S  vehicles over touch screen related safety fears that they have been attempting to fix by bodge software updates and charging out of warranty customers to replace the admitted inherently faulty units.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/u-asks-tesla-recall-158-231205506.html

It is unusual for the agency to formally demand a recall. Automakers typically voluntarily agree to a recall if sought in discussions by regulators.

NHTSA added that "during our review of the data, Tesla provided confirmation that all units will inevitably fail given the memory device’s finite storage capacity."

JKenH

In 2020, Volkswagen Group Sold 422,100 Plug-In Electric Cars

• BEVs: about 231,600 (up 214% year-over-year) and 2.49% of the total volume
• PHEVs: about 190,500 (up 175% year-over-year) and 2.05% of the total volume
• Total: about 422,100 (up 195% year-over-year) and 4.54% of the total volume

https://insideevs.com/news/465956/in-2020-volkswagen-group-sales-plugin-cars/

Not bad considering CleanTechnica reported VW wasn’t even trying to sell EVs. 

Greenpeace published a Volkswagen mystery buyer study that resulted in the following findings:

1. VW has no interest in a further acceleration of the transformation and plans sales of its electric cars only to match European requirements on fleet consumption.
2. There are no incentives for VW dealers and salespeople to sell an electric car instead of a combustion engine to undecided customers.
3. Other models are being pushed onto the market with attractive special conditions subsidized by VW, while no equivalent measures exist for the ID.3....

The bad news is not only that dealerships are getting a penalty if they sell an ID instead of an ICEV. The bad news is also that VW did not stop misleading the public. Volkswagen is not selling every BEV it can. 

Volkswagen Dealers Making 4.5% Margin Selling ID.4 vs. 14%+ For Fossil Fuel Vehicles — CleanTechnica Exclusive

Martyn1981

Maybe it's because of my fond memories of my hot-hatch days, particularly the R5 turbo, but I do like the look of this new BEV. Article also talks generally about small BEV's.

The New Electric Renault 5 Prototype Brings Back Some Good Memories

Martyn1981

Article on electrifying ships, and batteries in swappable shipping containers. I think this came up about a year ago regarding large barges / small(er) container ships and inland waterways.

Swappable Container Waterborne Transport Battery

The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Program is funding a swappable container waterborne transport battery. Called Current Direct, this program plans to revolutionize the way goods are moved by water. Water transport in Europe is mostly done with diesel engines and Current Direct plans to solve this by cutting the cost of today’s marine battery-electric drivetrains in half. This will relieve shipowners from a hefty burden of capital expense while enabling the rapid adoption of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 482,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalents annually.

Through its Energy as a Service platform, Current Direct will allow ship owners to participate in the shift to clean energy while creating new business opportunities for shipyards and local entrepreneurs. It’s doing this by changing the model for obtaining and storing energy aboard vessels and through this, will create a new energy economy. This will add thousands of new jobs.

Martyn1981

I think the title is right. Hopefully this year will see the start of a shift to BEV trucks. [BEV vans, especially in Europe are taking off nicely too.]
The great thing about the commercial sector is that it's ... well .... commercial. If BEV's have a lower TCO, then BEV's will be bought, as simple as that. So the disruption could be fast (though presumably supply limited), with the early adopters having an economic advantage over their competition, resulting in that competition having to respond almost immediately as their margins and business suffer.

2021: The Year the Rubber Meets the Road for Electric Trucks

2021 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the electric vehicle. While this is true across weight classes and duty cycles, perhaps none are better positioned for growth than trucks. To be sure, 2020 saw a number of exciting announcements from manufacturers eager to electrify heavy-duty big rigs, semi-trucks, box trucks, delivery vans and additional freight vehicles. And 2021 is primed to take many of these announcements from the planning stages to fruition (as our friends at GreenBiz have covered here). In many ways, 2021 is expected to be the year that electric trucks shift from demonstration to deployment.

Some key trends to watch include increasing model availability, growing political momentum in North America, declining costs, and expanded charging infrastructure and utility programs.

JKenH

Nissan e-Power

All the fun of driving an electric car without the range anxiety.

The e-Power engine option goes on sale in 2022 and is engine tech “never before seen in Europe”.

It comprises an ingenious 157hp 1.5-litre variable compression ratio petrol engine and a powerful 140kW (190hp) electric motor.

Nissan says the combination gives a driving experience similar to that of a pure electric car – because the petrol engine is only used to generate electricity and never directly drives the wheels.

It’s the electric motor that is connected to the wheels, meaning e-Power has an instant EV-like feel with lots of pulling power and rapid acceleration.

As the engine has been decoupled, it can always run in its most fuel-efficient range – something aided by the variable compression ratio tech – which Nissan promises will deliver significant fuel economy improvements.

It can function for a mile or so as a pure EV, and also has a similar e-Pedal function to the Nissan Leaf electric car, allowing drivers to accelerate and decelerate using only the accelerator pedal.

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/new-2021-nissan-qashqai-all-petrol-engines/

michaels

A lot of EV purists knock this but personally it looks a much better gateway drug into EV than the Toyota Prius set up.  Just a shame they don't add a bigger battery for longer range petrol free motoring or even make it a phev.

I'm also surprised to hear it is not coming until 2022 as the tech has been in Japan for 3 or 4 years now - hybrids have a limited window for sales, I know supposedly until 2030 but I can see the market in Europe going EV much sooner than that if battery supply permits and the promised reductions in battery prices are forth coming.

ABrass

JKenH said:

Nissan e-Power

All the fun of driving an electric car without the range anxiety.

The e-Power engine option goes on sale in 2022 and is engine tech “never before seen in Europe”.

It comprises an ingenious 157hp 1.5-litre variable compression ratio petrol engine and a powerful 140kW (190hp) electric motor.

Nissan says the combination gives a driving experience similar to that of a pure electric car – because the petrol engine is only used to generate electricity and never directly drives the wheels.

It’s the electric motor that is connected to the wheels, meaning e-Power has an instant EV-like feel with lots of pulling power and rapid acceleration.

As the engine has been decoupled, it can always run in its most fuel-efficient range – something aided by the variable compression ratio tech – which Nissan promises will deliver significant fuel economy improvements.

It can function for a mile or so as a pure EV, and also has a similar e-Pedal function to the Nissan Leaf electric car, allowing drivers to accelerate and decelerate using only the accelerator pedal.

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/new-2021-nissan-qashqai-all-petrol-engines/

It's like they reinvented the Chevy Volt all over again. It's the future for traditional hybrids, but without more range on battery alone I wouldn't call it an EV.

Martyn1981

ABrass said:

JKenH said:

Nissan e-Power

All the fun of driving an electric car without the range anxiety.

The e-Power engine option goes on sale in 2022 and is engine tech “never before seen in Europe”.

It comprises an ingenious 157hp 1.5-litre variable compression ratio petrol engine and a powerful 140kW (190hp) electric motor.

Nissan says the combination gives a driving experience similar to that of a pure electric car – because the petrol engine is only used to generate electricity and never directly drives the wheels.

It’s the electric motor that is connected to the wheels, meaning e-Power has an instant EV-like feel with lots of pulling power and rapid acceleration.

As the engine has been decoupled, it can always run in its most fuel-efficient range – something aided by the variable compression ratio tech – which Nissan promises will deliver significant fuel economy improvements.

It can function for a mile or so as a pure EV, and also has a similar e-Pedal function to the Nissan Leaf electric car, allowing drivers to accelerate and decelerate using only the accelerator pedal.

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/new-2021-nissan-qashqai-all-petrol-engines/

It's like they reinvented the Chevy Volt all over again. It's the future for traditional hybrids, but without more range on battery alone I wouldn't call it an EV.

If it was Toyota I'd understand, but it's as if Nissan watched the ridiculous announcements by Toyoda, turned around and said "hold my beer".

So they looked at the Volt the I3 Rx and the new London Taxi's and thought - what that needs is way less battery and a bigger ICE. Doh!

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

ABrass said:

JKenH said:

Nissan e-Power

All the fun of driving an electric car without the range anxiety.

The e-Power engine option goes on sale in 2022 and is engine tech “never before seen in Europe”.

It comprises an ingenious 157hp 1.5-litre variable compression ratio petrol engine and a powerful 140kW (190hp) electric motor.

Nissan says the combination gives a driving experience similar to that of a pure electric car – because the petrol engine is only used to generate electricity and never directly drives the wheels.

It’s the electric motor that is connected to the wheels, meaning e-Power has an instant EV-like feel with lots of pulling power and rapid acceleration.

As the engine has been decoupled, it can always run in its most fuel-efficient range – something aided by the variable compression ratio tech – which Nissan promises will deliver significant fuel economy improvements.

It can function for a mile or so as a pure EV, and also has a similar e-Pedal function to the Nissan Leaf electric car, allowing drivers to accelerate and decelerate using only the accelerator pedal.

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/new-2021-nissan-qashqai-all-petrol-engines/

It's like they reinvented the Chevy Volt all over again. It's the future for traditional hybrids, but without more range on battery alone I wouldn't call it an EV.

If it was Toyota I'd understand, but it's as if Nissan watched the ridiculous announcements by Toyoda, turned around and said "hold my beer".

So they looked at the Volt the I3 Rx and the new London Taxi's and thought - what that needs is way less battery and a bigger ICE. Doh!

I suspect to maintain 80 on the motorway in the rain against the wind you need an engine that big and no size of battery would help.  Shame it is not a phev though but maybe it will come.