Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

ABrass

Ectophile said:

Whatever happened to the cheap Tesla we were promised?  They just seem to be getting more expensive.

Demand is still through the roof for the model 3.

Martyn1981

Fantastic BEV growth from VWG. No doubt about it, they are taking this transition very seriously.

Volkswagen Doubles Deliveries Of Battery Electric Vehicles In Q3

Volkswagen announced this week that its sales of battery electric vehicles worldwide doubled in the third quarter of this year. In all, EVs accounted for more than 6% of the company’s global sales for the first time. Through the end of September, Volkswagen sold 293,100 EVs — more than 6% of total sales. The company did particularly well in China, where it delivered 28,900 cars. That figure is up substantially from the 18,300 delivered in the first half of 2021. The strong sales performance comes in spite of the worldwide shortage of computer chips that is affecting all automakers.

Christian Dahlheim, the heead of Volkswagen Group sales, said, “Our global electric offensive continues to run at full speed. We are clearly the number one for all-electric vehicles in Europe, and number two in the USA. In China, we really took off in the third quarter, with deliveries of BEVs almost 60 percent higher than in the entire first half of the year. The strong demand for our global target for the year of one million electrified vehicles (BEVs+PHEVs) is definitely there.”

Martyn1981

QrizB said:

Not exactly a daily driver, but does anyone else fancy an electric Moke?

https://mokeinternational.com/

Fingers crossed for the weekend's lottery numbers

I kinda like it, but why not throw in the kitchen sink too!

Students’ solar-powered camper van turns heads on 1,800-mile road trip

A team of students from the Netherlands are due to complete an 1,800-mile (3,000km) road trip across western Europe in a solar-powered camper van that they designed and built themselves.

The Stella Vita is designed for two passengers and has a kitchen, sitting area, bed, shower and toilet. Using solar energy alone, the vehicle can cover up to 450 miles on a sunny day, reaching a top speed of 75mph, as well as powering all the inside amenities, a TV and a laptop.

450 miles ...... not in Wales today, or even this week I suspect.  

Grumpy_chap

Martyn1981 said:

Is it worth ~£7k more than a TM3, I don't know, 

Maybe the delta compares to:
BMW 3 series from £32k, X3 from £43k
Audi A4 from £31k, Q5 from £43k
Ford Focus from £22k, Kuga from £27k

I am not saying that I agree with the delta from TM3 to TMY, but it does not seem excessively disproportionate to other brands differential pricing. 

Of course, for many, the standard saloon would do and, on occasion, a hire car would offer the extra space.

JKenH

ABrass said:

Ectophile said:

Whatever happened to the cheap Tesla we were promised?  They just seem to be getting more expensive.

Demand is still through the roof for the model 3.

And likely to continue as owners of other EVs realise what a pain public rapid charging is on our motorways.

JKenH

Two videos worth a watch if you are considering a Tesla. 

15 Things I LOVE about my Tesla Model 3

https://youtu.be/TJnBVEjS-Xg

I HATE 12 Things about my TESLA MODEL 3

https://youtu.be/FDwzFc74wQ0

The comment that surprised me was about Winter range.

Martyn1981

Grumpy_chap said:

Martyn1981 said:

Is it worth ~£7k more than a TM3, I don't know, 

Maybe the delta compares to:
BMW 3 series from £32k, X3 from £43k
Audi A4 from £31k, Q5 from £43k
Ford Focus from £22k, Kuga from £27k

I am not saying that I agree with the delta from TM3 to TMY, but it does not seem excessively disproportionate to other brands differential pricing. 

Of course, for many, the standard saloon would do and, on occasion, a hire car would offer the extra space.

Cheers, that's a good comparison. I think my hesitance is that the two vehicles look so similar, so (just in my odd brain) it's harder to think of the Y as a different model, rather than just a fat 3.

I am curious what might be possible with prices too in the future. If TMY production in Berlin can meet demand, will we see prices drop? The Berlin model could be cheaper to build as it will use two large castings, rather than one in Shanghai, and there will be a small saving on shipping costs, and then import taxes, but whether those balance out potentially higher labour costs, I don't know.

Tesla probably have lot's of levers they can pull over the next few years, but I assume it'll all come down to rising BEV production v's potentially faster rising demand. Gonna be a fun journey to the middle of this decade.

Grumpy_chap

Martyn1981 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Martyn1981 said:

Is it worth ~£7k more than a TM3, I don't know, 

Maybe the delta compares to:
BMW 3 series from £32k, X3 from £43k
Audi A4 from £31k, Q5 from £43k
Ford Focus from £22k, Kuga from £27k

I am not saying that I agree with the delta from TM3 to TMY, but it does not seem excessively disproportionate to other brands differential pricing. 

Of course, for many, the standard saloon would do and, on occasion, a hire car would offer the extra space.

Cheers, that's a good comparison. I think my hesitance is that the two vehicles look so similar, so (just in my odd brain) it's harder to think of the Y as a different model, rather than just a fat 3.

I think the comparison between the TM3 LR and the TMY (~£7k delta) was inconsistent to the way I presented the competitor vehicles, which simply used the "headline" from prices as per respective websites. 
On the same basis, the Tesla delta is:
TM3 from £41k, TMY from £55k
Accordingly, the delta is £14k, which is wider than the other marques.

Martyn1981

This was a surprise to me, and I have to say my respect for Herbert Diess just keeps growing. I think his drive will be crucial to VWG being a major player in the BEV world ...... assuming Tesla don't poach him for Giga Berlin!

Volkswagen Included Tesla’s Elon Musk At Its Meeting Of 200 Top Managers

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess shared on Twitter that both Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, and INSEAD Professor Erin Meyer were in attendance at a Volkswagen Group meeting with 200 of the company’s top managers. The meeting took place in Alpbach and Elon Musk attended virtually. Deiss said that with a new mindset and revolution in its headquarters of Wolfsburg, VW can succeed in the new competition. He also mentioned that there’s big responsibility at a crucial point for VW and promised Elon that he would visit Giga Berlin soon.

Diess explained that VW needs a new mindset in order to compete in a world of Teslas, NIOs, XPengs, etc. He held a 3-day meeting with the company’s top managers from around the world and spoke about his confidence that VW has everything it needs to take on the new challenges.

“We need a new mindset at Volkswagen AG to take on the new competition! After three days with 200 top managers from around the world I am confident: We have everything we need to tackle the challenges. Right strategy, right competencies, right management team. We can do it – but we have to deliver now.

“In the old world, Volkswagen is strong, but there is no guarantee for the new world. It’s a crucial moment for our company. Erin Meyer told us about the impressive and fascinating transformation Netflix went through – inspirational. We are far away from that today, but need to get there: faster decisions, less bureaucracy, more responsibility.”

One commentator noted that such transformation takes action, which means risks, and until Volkswagen’s managers are willing to fail, to take those risks, this type of transformation won’t happen. In order to fully succeed, Volkswagen has to be okay with failing and consider it as an option. And then be willing to keep trying and never give up until it makes that transformation.

But if it succeeds, it will have proven to be a powerful ally for Tesla and those of us advocating for EVs and clean energy. And this is what we want.

Grumpy_chap

Martyn1981 said:

This was a surprise to me, and I have to say my respect for Herbert Diess just keeps growing. I think his drive will be crucial to VWG being a major player in the BEV world ...... assuming Tesla don't poach him for Giga Berlin!

Volkswagen Included Tesla’s Elon Musk At Its Meeting Of 200 Top Managers

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess shared on Twitter that both Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, and INSEAD Professor Erin Meyer were in attendance at a Volkswagen Group meeting with 200 of the company’s top managers. The meeting took place in Alpbach and Elon Musk attended virtually. Deiss said that with a new mindset and revolution in its headquarters of Wolfsburg, VW can succeed in the new competition. He also mentioned that there’s big responsibility at a crucial point for VW and promised Elon that he would visit Giga Berlin soon.

It is not unusual for big companies to have leading academics address their lead teams, so Prof Meyer attending is perhaps more regular.

It is unusual for big companies to have the CEO of a competitor attend and also for that competitor to offer the CEO of the first big company to visit their facility.

Elon makes no secret of the fact that he really simply would be doing something other than running a car company.

Perhaps, this event is a forerunner of an acquisition / merger or other formal tie up?