Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

Nissan says Brexit deal is 'positive' - and gives carmaker a 'competitive advantage'

He said the company would begin making the batteries for its long-range electric Leaf model in Sunderland later this year, a move that would likely create jobs on Wearside.

Nissan says Brexit deal is 'positive' - and gives carmaker a 'competitive advantage' | Business News | Sky News

and 

Nissan has decided to up production of batteries for the LEAF by also building the 62kWh batteries, currently coming from Japan, in Sunderland, in addition to the 40kWh batteries already produced.

the rumour mill has it that Nissan are considering production of both the new Ariya SUV and new X-Trail in Sunderland.

https://www.carsuk.net/nissan-brexit-bonus-more-electric-car-battery-production-in-sunderland/

JKenH

Battery Health Reports Coming for That Used Electric Car You're Considering

An interesting idea being tried in America.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35234954/used-electric-car-battery-testing/

silverwhistle

JKenH said:

As @silverwhistle pointed out in an earlier post (with reference to a 200mile range) regular stops are recommended. If the 2 hour maximum recommended driving without a break advice was adhered to the M3 would have won and times would be a lot closer for most of the cars. Is anyone going to drive 325 miles without stopping?

30 or so years ago I did drive 300 miles without stopping (to get home with kids in the car after a cross channel ferry crossing) but with the state of our roads and so many 50 mph speed limits and cameras I doubt that would be so easy now.

I thought you were going to say.. "but now my bladder doesn't permit it"! Joking aside I do notice my stamina and concentration levels have decreased over the last ten years. Trips to the Alps still take a day from Le Havre but only because I now share the driving with someone else and we trust each other enough to drop off to sleep which is really helpful. That's a diesel van mind, so my MG would need a different approach!

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

Silly post, but wanted to give Arcimoto a quick shout out. A while back Wifey was chatting with them on forum and joked about merchandise not being available in the UK. The CEO chatted back, and Wifey ordered me a baseball cap and Howard and Hilda t-shirts ..... for a laugh.
Sadly, on Xmas day when we opened the package the large men's t-shirt was more like a kids t-shirt and struggled to contain my manly body (Covid fat). [Picture Ross in his Frankie says t-shirt, but replace the muscles with flab ..... actually probably best not to picture that.]
Wifey told Arcimoto and joked that this was cruel, not only could hubby not get one of their FUV's, but now can't even wear the t-shirt. They apologised and said women's t-shirts had been wrongly labelled mens, and said they'd replace it. We joked with them that they were too busy with their factory move and company expansion, and share price rises were more than enough to ofsett our inconvenience, but today a parcel of t-shirts, socks and an Arcimoto logo steel keyring / beer bottle opener arrived ....... gotta love a company with a great sense of humour ..... and a 25% share price rise yesterday will do ..... I suppose!

Do they have any plans to sell in the UK?  Would it be classified as a bike or a car?  Disadvantage of a bike would be the requirement to wear a helmet.

Martyn1981

JKenH said:

Martyn1981 said:

ABrass said:

JKenH said:

JKenH said:

Tesla slashes Model 3 price in Europe by up to 9 per cent

Edit: 2nd link added

https://thedriven.io/2021/01/21/tesla-slashes-model-3-price-in-europe-by-up-to-9-per-cent/

https://insideevs.com/news/467455/europe-tesla-lowers-model-3-prices/

Why are Teslas so expensive in the UK?

In the UK a Tesla M3 costs £40490 before government credit.

In the US a Tesla buyer pays the equivalent of £28609 before any incentives.

In Germany a Tesla buyer pays the equivalent of £35457 before incentives.

UK price has VAT, US doesn't include it.

I believe there's a 10% tarrif on US cars.

No idea on the Germany front, but my guess is that the recent price changes in Europe are due to supply cutting over to the cheaper to run China factory. We haven't had a price cut because they're not building RHD units for us there yet.

Yep, cheaper cars from China, and also the reduction in import tax, I think China is 3.5% (v's 10% from the US).
Typical of Tesla to cut prices as costs fall, and of course depending on supply, so each time they ramp production up a bit, prices tend to fall too.
I'm assuming we won't be seeing any MIC (made in China) TMY's in Europe, and will have to wait for the Berlin Gigafactory, as demand is high in China, possibly 85k per quarter, though I didn't realise the factory upgrade had hit that ramp rate already, guess we'll have to wait for Q1 numbers to find out.
Hopefully the UK will see a price cut too soon, but all the complexities of Brexit may be an issue, but price changes never seem to be singular and overall, but often roll out in 'weird' ways.

I wasn’t aware that EU import duties had changed between December and January and MIC TM3s were being delivered and sold at the higher price in December.

Neither was I, but thanks for clearing that up.

Martyn1981

michaels said:

Martyn1981 said:

Silly post, but wanted to give Arcimoto a quick shout out. A while back Wifey was chatting with them on forum and joked about merchandise not being available in the UK. The CEO chatted back, and Wifey ordered me a baseball cap and Howard and Hilda t-shirts ..... for a laugh.
Sadly, on Xmas day when we opened the package the large men's t-shirt was more like a kids t-shirt and struggled to contain my manly body (Covid fat). [Picture Ross in his Frankie says t-shirt, but replace the muscles with flab ..... actually probably best not to picture that.]
Wifey told Arcimoto and joked that this was cruel, not only could hubby not get one of their FUV's, but now can't even wear the t-shirt. They apologised and said women's t-shirts had been wrongly labelled mens, and said they'd replace it. We joked with them that they were too busy with their factory move and company expansion, and share price rises were more than enough to ofsett our inconvenience, but today a parcel of t-shirts, socks and an Arcimoto logo steel keyring / beer bottle opener arrived ....... gotta love a company with a great sense of humour ..... and a 25% share price rise yesterday will do ..... I suppose!

Do they have any plans to sell in the UK?  Would it be classified as a bike or a car?  Disadvantage of a bike would be the requirement to wear a helmet.

None at the moment. I think they have something like a 10yr waiting list atm, and they told Wifey that there are no current plans for the UK. For now, they need to ramp up production massively, hence the move to the far larger factory as they've settled on the design, give or take some tweaking following advice from Sandy Munro who is now working with them.
In the US, a few states require a helmet, but most don't as it has a full roof structure.

I watched one interview between Galli (of Hyperchange) and the CEO Mark Frohnmayer (and his mum, one of the first customers) and in discussing just what is it, Mark said that their aim is to build the safest motorbike possible. However, he (his mum) and Galli all pointed out that the high sitting position and shape of the vehicle means that you as the driver (rider) have a better view than most car drivers, and that the FUV is highly visible, far more so than a motorbike. What this would mean in Europe, the EU and the UK though, I have no idea. What's the rule regarding the Renault Twizzy, as they are very similar at the front, though of course that vehicle is a quadricycle, so that may mean more rule differences again.

One funny factoid - as they don't have a dealership network yet, the FUV can actually be home delivered by a DHL parcel truck.

Ectophile

I would assume that the Arcimoto would be classed as a Motor Tricycle.  Like the Reliant Robin, or any other three-wheelers.  Which would mean you could drive it with either a motorbike or car licence.

They look tempting.  Rather more performance and range than a Renault Twizy.

Martyn1981

Ectophile said:

I would assume that the Arcimoto would be classed as a Motor Tricycle.  Like the Reliant Robin, or any other three-wheelers.  Which would mean you could drive it with either a motorbike or car licence.

They look tempting.  Rather more performance and range than a Renault Twizy.

One other thing that I recall from some of the chats and interviews I've watched, but forgot to mention - apparently going with handlebars instead of a steering wheel made life much simpler for them in terms of legislation. This means absolutely nothing to me, as I don't know what the US rules are for vehicles, and might make no difference in Europe (I don't know) but goes to show that there are a lot of rules and regs on which a vehicle can be classed.

I watched a video of Galli (now an Arcimoto Director) having a test drive in new York, and that's when I decided to invest in them, as the vehicle could out accelerate New York traffic, get through gaps, and also be parked in small spaces, that's when I realised how big the market could be for vehicles like this, Then doubled my investment when Floridian companies started ordering them for the short term rental market where tourists hire vehicles just for the day to go sightseeing ....... I would!

There's also another market that I didn't even know existed, and that's short term rental for delivery people. Basically, say you have no job, perhaps you are very young and can't even own an old banger, then you could hire a small delivery vehicle for just a few hours, or a work shift, and get a job delivering pizzas (for example). In the case of a small BEV, the fuel cost is low, and rental costs are low as the vehicle won't 'suffer' as much, nor devalue as quick. Again, Arcimoto is getting orders for its Deliverator from some of these short term leasing companies.

JKenH

Ectophile said:

I would assume that the Arcimoto would be classed as a Motor Tricycle.  Like the Reliant Robin, or any other three-wheelers.  Which would mean you could drive it with either a motorbike or car licence.

They look tempting.  Rather more performance and range than a Renault Twizy.

At $17,900 they are a tad expensive compared to a Citroen ami at €6,000.

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/citroen/ami

Ectophile

JKenH said:

Ectophile said:

I would assume that the Arcimoto would be classed as a Motor Tricycle.  Like the Reliant Robin, or any other three-wheelers.  Which would mean you could drive it with either a motorbike or car licence.

They look tempting.  Rather more performance and range than a Renault Twizy.

At $17,900 they are a tad expensive compared to a Citroen ami at €6,000.

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/citroen/ami

The trouble with the Ami is that it's actually slower than the G-Wiz (or REVAi, depending on where you live).  That was much laughed at when it was launched in the early 2000's.