Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

ABrass

JKenH said:

Interesting chart for California EV sales. 2021 figures are not for the full year and no doubt 2021will set a new record but so far not quite the S curve we might be expecting. The falls in 2019 and 2020 were surprising compared to the sales growth seen in the rest of the world. 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133143_us-ev-sales-have-been-record-breaking-so-far-in-2021-despite-supply-chain-issues

You're reading that wrong. That says that in Q1 and Q2 alone there were almost as many sales as the total in 2020.

According to Veloz, EV sales in California added up to more than 61,000 in the second quarter of the year, to a cumulative total of about 121,000 so far in 2021. That’s already more than three-quarters of the way to the 2018 record, with half the year left. 

Grumpy_chap

JKenH said:

Interesting chart for California EV sales. 2021 figures are not for the full year and no doubt 2021will set a new record but so far not quite the S curve we might be expecting. The falls in 2019 and 2020 were surprising compared to the sales growth seen in the rest of the world. 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133143_us-ev-sales-have-been-record-breaking-so-far-in-2021-despite-supply-chain-issues

Falls in 2020 may not be surprising - likely impacted by COVID.  More interesting (particularly for that period) is the percentage of EV versus ICE sales.

That, then, only leaves 2019 as the anomalous data point, unless it is 2018 that is anomalously high? 

QrizB

michaels said:

'almost 12 collisions' - is that 11?!

I suspect the author wrote "almost a dozen" but some over-zealous sub-editor decided that "a dozen" didn't meet thehouse style guide and changed it to 12 ...

ABrass

Grumpy_chap said:

JKenH said:

Interesting chart for California EV sales. 2021 figures are not for the full year and no doubt 2021will set a new record but so far not quite the S curve we might be expecting. The falls in 2019 and 2020 were surprising compared to the sales growth seen in the rest of the world. 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133143_us-ev-sales-have-been-record-breaking-so-far-in-2021-despite-supply-chain-issues

Falls in 2020 may not be surprising - likely impacted by COVID.  More interesting (particularly for that period) is the percentage of EV versus ICE sales.

That, then, only leaves 2019 as the anomalous data point, unless it is 2018 that is anomalously high? 

It was 2018, probably because of the federal tax credit phase out. Tesla were delivering as many cars within the US then to make the most of the $7,500. Once that started to drop over the next two years the US sales suffered but they also started shipping beyond the US as volumes increased.

Martyn1981

Grumpy_chap said:

JKenH said:

Interesting chart for California EV sales. 2021 figures are not for the full year and no doubt 2021will set a new record but so far not quite the S curve we might be expecting. The falls in 2019 and 2020 were surprising compared to the sales growth seen in the rest of the world. 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133143_us-ev-sales-have-been-record-breaking-so-far-in-2021-despite-supply-chain-issues

Falls in 2020 may not be surprising - likely impacted by COVID.  More interesting (particularly for that period) is the percentage of EV versus ICE sales.

That, then, only leaves 2019 as the anomalous data point, unless it is 2018 that is anomalously high? 

Nice catch about 2018.

2018 was when the TM3 started to ramp up into 1,000's per week, from a slow start in the second half of 2017 (referred to at the time as 'production hell' by Elon), so that probably caused the 2018 spike. Then later there was the move to sell almost entirely to Canada to avoid hitting the 200,000 sales figure for Tesla, that would start the clock running on the EV credit reductions. This move gained them an extra quarter by keeping the total US sales at quarter end, just under 200k.

After that there was another 'anomaly' when vehicles started to be shipped to Europe, and this actually caused US sales to go down due to shortage of supply. [This caused some critics to say there was a lack of demand in the US. Later the claim was made that demand had fallen in Europe, when sales were targeted to the US, as lines were converted to TMY's and TM3 shipments to Europe had to be reduced, till China made vehicles could be supplied.]

The US BEV market is kinda crazee to say the least, since it is so utterly dominated by Tesla, that any changes they make throw out the whole equilibrium.

Martyn1981

I noticed a few things in this article which seemed of interest.

Italy's sales of BEV's / PEV's has lagged seriously behind the other 'large' markets of the UK, Germany and France, but it's now catching up really fast with ~5% BEV and 10% PEV sales.

Auto sales still way below pre-Covid levels. Could be Covid, the economy, or perhaps some fear of buying ICEV ..... or all of these, or none of them ..... clearly I'm uncertain about this, but seemed important.

As the article points out, good PEV progress for a market dominated by smaller cars.

Italy’s Plug-In Vehicle Sales Break Past 10% Market Share In July!

July brings more good news on the electric mobility front as monthly registrations data are released around the globe. Italy’s car market is quickly maturing, from a laggard among giants to potential force of change in continental Europe.

With July results, plug-in powertrains score a combined 10.2% market share, an incredible result and the first time in double-digit territory, a truly noteworthy event for the Italian car market. Only a year ago, they stopped at a negligible 2.7%. Critical mass is now being reached at a very fast pace and we could expect plug-ins to achieve these levels month after month, while aiming at even higher results in the near future.

As a new month of EV records quietly unfolds, we get clear hints of even bigger disruption to come. In a difficult market focused on value and (small) size, electric mobility has managed to reach an important threshold despite its still limited supply of suitable models. With production constraints progressively overcome, and a slew of new entries on their way, Italy is entering an exciting phase of this electric race.

Martyn1981

Martyn1981 said:

And another story that I have no idea regarding its importance.

It's about added support for the UK's giga battery factory, but as it includes the supply of cobalt, which can be a thorny issue depending on the source, I thought it might be important ..... or not!

Me and my big mouth!

Controversy surrounds Glencore’s stake in UK battery maker Britishvolt

Swiss-based mining outfit faces bribery investigations in the US and UK over its operations in DRC

Martyn1981

Ever since Wifey got back from a long(ish) trip and first encountered / enjoyed the 50mph M4 sections on both sides of the Severn Bridge marked as 'reduced speeds to lower emissions', we've joked about the potential for higher speeds for zero emissions vehicles.

Well ..... I saw this Autotrader vid yesterday, and it made for interesting watching and perhaps thought provoking, along similar lines to perhaps BEV's being allowed to use bus lanes, and other such encouragements/rewards.

Note - I haven't checked any of its validity.

Why Electric Cars Are Getting A FASTER Speed Limit

Solarchaser

Solarchaser said:

Solarchaser said:

So as I said I've had the Tesla for 4 weeks, and thought it was a good time to put up my evolving thoughts on the tesla.

The good.
Very smooth car, power delivery and composure on the road is very good.
The acceleration is awesome
Very settled at speed
Very quiet
Very efficient 
Love sentry mode (side note, don't pull your knickers out of your rear near a Tesla, it will record it🙄🙈)
Supercharging is the gold standard in charging
Adaptive cruise control 

The bad.
Huuuuge glass roof/rear windscreen but you can hardly see anything out of the back (though I do like my seat as low as possible)
I really don't like the lack of dials
Huge screen but a 20 character max on the radio station, so you can't see what tune is being played, same with USB pen. So frustrating that one.
Everything has to be controlled from the screen, even rear heated seats, just silly imo.
Can't hang up a Bluetooth call from the steering wheel, only the screen. 
Adaptive cruise control

Vampire drain as I believe its called, for having sentry mode on, seems to take around 3-4% a night, if the scottish chargers weren't free, I'd probably have switched it off by now, but since I'm using it every day, and most days have access to a charger while I'm working, I barely notice it.

And just to completely contradict myself, last weekend I parked the car at 95% around 6pm Friday, and when I entered again on Monday morning I'd lost 25% to sentry mode. 

I'd usually use the car on the weekend but didn't at all, and so was quite surprised at the drain.

Certainly makes me think twice about leaving sentry on if I was away for a week, though it does switch off if the battery reaches 20% anyway.

Grumpy_chap

Solarchaser said:

last weekend I parked the car at 95% around 6pm Friday, and when I entered again on Monday morning I'd lost 25% to sentry mode. 

Where was the car parked for this period?  Somewhere private, or a public space?

The reason I ask is that I assume Sentry Mode uses one level of power consumption when it is in "monitor" and a higher level of power when it is being "active". 

I know I saw a TM3 a while back parked in a public car park, which obviously had the Sentry Mode activated as I walked past, obviously closer than I realised, as the car started talking to me.  I didn't realise at first what it was, so stepped back for the car to speak again.  I then wasted a few minutes walking up to the carto see the places where it reacted and where it ignored me.  I can imagine if the car was in a public place, the cumulative effect of those announcements and starting recording etc would soon add up if there were several people just trying out the reactions from Sentry Mode over the course of the weekend.