Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

EVandPV

"I am really excited to finally announce my next expedition. 
To be the worlds first person to drive from Pole to Pole, and using an electric vehicle to raise awareness of #ClimateChange & #Conservation"

https://youtu.be/K_hburfCkec

Martyn1981

Not the most thrilling news/subject, but good to see that this matter has been resolved amicably and thus won't adversely impact the volume of batteries to be built in the US.

LG Energy & SK Innovation Kiss & Make Up, Promise To Work Together In Harmony

The great battery dust-up is over. With just hours left before the Biden administration had to approve or overrule the US International Trade Commission ruling that would have barred SK Innovation from building batteries in the United States for 10 years — albeit, with limited exceptions designed to placate Ford and Volkswagen — LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation agreed to settle their differences. There were huge sighs of relief from all concerned, including both senators from Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp, the new US trade representative, Volkswagen, Ford, more than a few officials in the Biden administration, and many others on the ground in Georgia and South Korea.

Martyn1981

Not news (media), but certainly news to me, and kind of funny.

So, Wifey is on several Tesla chat rooms, including a UK based one. Recently a lady posted a fun story that she was driving home on the motorway at about the speed limit in her Tesla, when a car pulled alongside her, but didn't overtake, just drove alongside. She looked over and saw two smiling policemen giving her the thumbs up from their Tesla.

She exchanged smiles and thumbs up, then a car passed them going a fair clip, and the policecar lit up their concealed blue lights, and lept forward, catching the other car 'very quickly'.

So it seems at least one UK police force is 'loaded for bear' as our US cousins might say.

Martyn1981

Quite a high proportion of European city dwellers are ready to ban ICE sales by 2030, which is impressive if we consider how many will not have enjoyed an EV yet, or will have concerns on the charging infrastructure, especially their personal needs if they can't charge at home. So I assume we'll see this figure grow and grow.

63% Of Europeans Living In Cities Support EU Ban On Petrol & Diesel Car Sales After 2030

Almost two-thirds of urban residents support banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in Europe after 2030, according to a new YouGov online poll in 15 European cities. A Europe-wide phase-out of fossil-fuel car sales is one option for EU lawmakers as they prepare sweeping legislation to achieve a climate-neutral Europe by 2050.

The poll shows 63% of city dwellers support only emissions-free cars being allowed to be sold after 2030. Just 29% oppose a phase-out of petrol and diesel car sales by then. YouGov, commissioned by Transport & Environment (T&E), surveyed 10,050 people online across 15 of some of Europe’s largest cities in eight countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK.

Martyn1981

The pro's and con's of PHEV's can be controversial on a BEV thread, since most reading would use a PHEV 'correctly' maximising the electrical use and minimising the ICE use ...... but ..... of course most PHEV's aren't used that way and have benefitted from support and company purchases with little to no intention to use them 'correctly'.

But I thought I'd post this simply because of one comment that really made me think:

I said this already: just limit PHEV ICE power to 75 HP and be done with it.

Sounds interesting, as you'd still have all that EV power, but if you run the battery down, then you have a less enjoyable car, but one that would still cruise at motorway speeds (eventually) for longer trips. Just thought it was a fun and possibly reasonable compromise?

I suppose this is another way of describing a BEV Rx, where the small engine will only generate enough leccy to run the car at lower power levels when the battery has discharged. It might even be a simpler powertrain setup than a PHEV.

New EU Emissions Rules Could Limit PHEV Market

Policy makers in Brussels are busy working on the next set of exhaust emissions standards for the European market. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have enjoyed certain advantages under the current rules, which has made it possible for manufacturers to claim credits for selling PHEVs as well as battery electric vehicles. But after Transport & Environment revealed last year that many plug-in hybrid cars currently offered in Europe actually pollute more than conventional cars, the blush is off the PHEV rose.

The new regulations may prohibit car makers from labeling them as “sustainable investments” and tighten nitrogen oxide rules. Together, the new rules, if enacted, would remove most of the incentives that currently favor PHEV sales. The problem is, many automakers have invested billions in PHEV, technology thinking those cars would form a bridge to the battery electric future. If the plug-in era is curtailed, those investments may never be recouped.

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

The pro's and con's of PHEV's can be controversial on a BEV thread, since most reading would use a PHEV 'correctly' maximising the electrical use and minimising the ICE use ...... but ..... of course most PHEV's aren't used that way and have benefitted from support and company purchases with little to no intention to use them 'correctly'.

But I thought I'd post this simply because of one comment that really made me think:

I said this already: just limit PHEV ICE power to 75 HP and be done with it.

Sounds interesting, as you'd still have all that EV power, but if you run the battery down, then you have a less enjoyable car, but one that would still cruise at motorway speeds (eventually) for longer trips. Just thought it was a fun and possibly reasonable compromise?

I suppose this is another way of describing a BEV Rx, where the small engine will only generate enough leccy to run the car at lower power levels when the battery has discharged. It might even be a simpler powertrain setup than a PHEV.

New EU Emissions Rules Could Limit PHEV Market

Policy makers in Brussels are busy working on the next set of exhaust emissions standards for the European market. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have enjoyed certain advantages under the current rules, which has made it possible for manufacturers to claim credits for selling PHEVs as well as battery electric vehicles. But after Transport & Environment revealed last year that many plug-in hybrid cars currently offered in Europe actually pollute more than conventional cars, the blush is off the PHEV rose.

The new regulations may prohibit car makers from labeling them as “sustainable investments” and tighten nitrogen oxide rules. Together, the new rules, if enacted, would remove most of the incentives that currently favor PHEV sales. The problem is, many automakers have invested billions in PHEV, technology thinking those cars would form a bridge to the battery electric future. If the plug-in era is curtailed, those investments may never be recouped.

Sounds like a good thought - the idea of the incentives is to reward electric powered miles replacing ice miles - obviously doing this at the level of the vehicle is too crude as just because a phev has been sold doesn't mean it will do any battery miles. Ideally you would want the incentive to be based on how many electric miles are driven but this is obviously complex/expensive to police so instead the idea of limiting power sounds like a simple solution - assuming that it doesn't make the vehicles even more polluting when driven in ice mode (big car, small engine has historically resulted in poor mpg)

Martyn1981

Yet another article whose interest (for me) is more about the direction of travel and how it fits into the bigger picture. So, Italy's BEV sales are starting to rise from pretty poor numbers compared to the other major European car buyers (UK, France and Germany), but they are still heavily into ICE, and PHEV's still (just) beat BEV's, but at least it looks like they are now on a similar trajectory to the other big 3, though perhaps a year behind.

March Brings Fresh EV Records To Italy’s Car Market

Full electric cars scored their best absolute registration numbers to date, with 7,362 units. This represents a growth of 695% (!) YoY from 926 registrations in March 2020, when BEVs held up relatively well as ICE sales collapsed under Covid. It even beats December’s record number of 7,225 units. Full-electric vehicle share of the market is now 4.3%.

Plug-in hybrids faired even better, scoring a massive 7,732 registrations, also their absolute record to date (and about 20 times the miniscule 389 units achieved a year ago when PHEVs suffered a similar fate to ICE cars). This month’s result is worth 4.5% market share, giving plug-in hybrids an edge over BEVs for the third consecutive month, a new trend in a market more typically skewed towards pure electrics. How long will legacy automakers keep pushing these transitional powertrains before they finally surrender to BEV supremacy?

shinytop

Martyn1981 said:

The pro's and con's of PHEV's can be controversial on a BEV thread, since most reading would use a PHEV 'correctly' maximising the electrical use and minimising the ICE use ...... but ..... of course most PHEV's aren't used that way and have benefitted from support and company purchases with little to no intention to use them 'correctly'.

But I thought I'd post this simply because of one comment that really made me think:

I said this already: just limit PHEV ICE power to 75 HP and be done with it.

Sounds interesting, as you'd still have all that EV power, but if you run the battery down, then you have a less enjoyable car, but one that would still cruise at motorway speeds (eventually) for longer trips. Just thought it was a fun and possibly reasonable compromise?

I suppose this is another way of describing a BEV Rx, where the small engine will only generate enough leccy to run the car at lower power levels when the battery has discharged. It might even be a simpler powertrain setup than a PHEV.

New EU Emissions Rules Could Limit PHEV Market

Policy makers in Brussels are busy working on the next set of exhaust emissions standards for the European market. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have enjoyed certain advantages under the current rules, which has made it possible for manufacturers to claim credits for selling PHEVs as well as battery electric vehicles. But after Transport & Environment revealed last year that many plug-in hybrid cars currently offered in Europe actually pollute more than conventional cars, the blush is off the PHEV rose.

The new regulations may prohibit car makers from labeling them as “sustainable investments” and tighten nitrogen oxide rules. Together, the new rules, if enacted, would remove most of the incentives that currently favor PHEV sales. The problem is, many automakers have invested billions in PHEV, technology thinking those cars would form a bridge to the battery electric future. If the plug-in era is curtailed, those investments may never be recouped.

This would definitely reduce PHEV ICE miles because nobody would buy them.  75 bhp in a 1.5 tonne car would be really, really slow, almost dangerously so. Most PHEVs are that sort of weight ot more. I don't think the economics of PHEVs would work for smaller cars. 

Just go straight to BEVs.

Ectophile

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

The pro's and con's of PHEV's can be controversial on a BEV thread, since most reading would use a PHEV 'correctly' maximising the electrical use and minimising the ICE use ...... but ..... of course most PHEV's aren't used that way and have benefitted from support and company purchases with little to no intention to use them 'correctly'.

But I thought I'd post this simply because of one comment that really made me think:

I said this already: just limit PHEV ICE power to 75 HP and be done with it.

Sounds interesting, as you'd still have all that EV power, but if you run the battery down, then you have a less enjoyable car, but one that would still cruise at motorway speeds (eventually) for longer trips. Just thought it was a fun and possibly reasonable compromise?

I suppose this is another way of describing a BEV Rx, where the small engine will only generate enough leccy to run the car at lower power levels when the battery has discharged. It might even be a simpler powertrain setup than a PHEV.

New EU Emissions Rules Could Limit PHEV Market

Policy makers in Brussels are busy working on the next set of exhaust emissions standards for the European market. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have enjoyed certain advantages under the current rules, which has made it possible for manufacturers to claim credits for selling PHEVs as well as battery electric vehicles. But after Transport & Environment revealed last year that many plug-in hybrid cars currently offered in Europe actually pollute more than conventional cars, the blush is off the PHEV rose.

The new regulations may prohibit car makers from labeling them as “sustainable investments” and tighten nitrogen oxide rules. Together, the new rules, if enacted, would remove most of the incentives that currently favor PHEV sales. The problem is, many automakers have invested billions in PHEV, technology thinking those cars would form a bridge to the battery electric future. If the plug-in era is curtailed, those investments may never be recouped.

This would definitely reduce PHEV ICE miles because nobody would buy them.  75 bhp in a 1.5 tonne car would be really, really slow, almost dangerously so. Most PHEVs are that sort of weight ot more. I don't think the economics of PHEVs would work for smaller cars. 

Just go straight to BEVs.

But it would work fine configued as a range extender.  the engine drives a generator to re-charge the battery.  the BMW i3 REX can run on something the size of a moped engine, until the little petrol tank runs out.

phsci

 the BMW i3 REX can run on something the size of a moped engine, until the little petrol tank runs out.

That's some moped!  (647 cc twin).   If it's over 50 cc I don't think it qualifies as a moped.