Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Coastalwatch

Rumblings of discontent at VW threaten Herbert Diess plans and hence progress in transitioning to EV manufacturing. Difficult times ahead for all and I don't envy those involved, be it from losing your job or to those doing their best in keeping the company on track. While many jobs will go, or need to be relocated, opportunities for others will arise. It will be a painful nettle to grasp, but any delay would simply allow competitors to take advantage if the roll out of EV's from VW is stifled!

Works council conflict at VW continues to escalate

According to media reports, the VW works council has issued a vote of no confidence in Herbert Diess. A mediation committee has now been set up in the supervisory board. The dispute is about possible massive job cuts – but also about the role of the individual plants in the transition to electric mobility.

https://www.electrive.com/2021/11/04/works-council-conflict-at-vw-continues-to-escalate/

michaels

Coastalwatch said:

Rumblings of discontent at VW threaten Herbert Diess plans and hence progress in transitioning to EV manufacturing. Difficult times ahead for all and I don't envy those involved, be it from losing your job or to those doing their best in keeping the company on track. While many jobs will go, or need to be relocated, opportunities for others will arise. It will be a painful nettle to grasp, but any delay would simply allow competitors to take advantage if the roll out of EV's from VW is stifled!

Works council conflict at VW continues to escalate

According to media reports, the VW works council has issued a vote of no confidence in Herbert Diess. A mediation committee has now been set up in the supervisory board. The dispute is about possible massive job cuts – but also about the role of the individual plants in the transition to electric mobility.

https://www.electrive.com/2021/11/04/works-council-conflict-at-vw-continues-to-escalate/

I think EVs may be a smoke screen, the two big issues seem to be:
VW group production is much more constrained by the chip shortage than some other manufacturers, the feeling is Diess has been too focused on EVs to the detriment of managing the rest of production
VW has announced it will import EVs from China (ID6s) I suspect this is seen as the thin end of a very large wedge by German employees - and rightly so imho

thevilla

silverwhistle said:

EVandPV said:

£800 (if that is the price) seems pretty damn good for a 4kwh battery !
Bit more info here ....

Very, including the electronics and software! As somebody pointed out on another forum  based on they staff they are trying to recruit this seems very much like vapourware at the moment.. Good idea though, even if I don't see the volumes being massive. A good idea for every garage to have one as well as all recovery vehicles.

Would you  buy an £800 jump lead for an icev?  OK for recovery services but I wouldn't touch one.  Worst of all some may decide to carry it in the boot "just in case"!

EVandPV

thevilla said:

silverwhistle said:

EVandPV said:

£800 (if that is the price) seems pretty damn good for a 4kwh battery !
Bit more info here ....

Very, including the electronics and software! As somebody pointed out on another forum  based on they staff they are trying to recruit this seems very much like vapourware at the moment.. Good idea though, even if I don't see the volumes being massive. A good idea for every garage to have one as well as all recovery vehicles.

Would you  buy an £800 jump lead for an icev?  OK for recovery services but I wouldn't touch one.  Worst of all some may decide to carry it in the boot "just in case"!

Personally, probably not. I've never had an issue with range or running out of charge in 2 and a half years of running an EV but I can imagine it would give some people peace of mind.

Martyn1981

A portable battery would have been perfect in this recent situation:

Customers are enraged after a Tesla car runs out of battery and blocks the parking lot for three hours.

Shoppers were outraged after a Tesla ran out of battery on a car park entry ramp for Britain’s largest shopping centre, causing three-hour traffic jams behind it. A shopper named Henry took to Reddit on Wednesday evening, enraged by the holdup at London’s Westfield Shopping Centre, to share pictures of the scene and vent his frustration. “Perfect, a Tesla ran out of battery and came to a halt on the ramp of a five-story car park at Westfield,” he said. It’s been three hours and counting since I last checked. ”

CKhalvashi

EVandPV said:

thevilla said:

silverwhistle said:

EVandPV said:

£800 (if that is the price) seems pretty damn good for a 4kwh battery !
Bit more info here ....

Very, including the electronics and software! As somebody pointed out on another forum  based on they staff they are trying to recruit this seems very much like vapourware at the moment.. Good idea though, even if I don't see the volumes being massive. A good idea for every garage to have one as well as all recovery vehicles.

Would you  buy an £800 jump lead for an icev?  OK for recovery services but I wouldn't touch one.  Worst of all some may decide to carry it in the boot "just in case"!

Personally, probably not. I've never had an issue with range or running out of charge in 2 and a half years of running an EV but I can imagine it would give some people peace of mind.

Not 2 years, but same here.

I was moderately nervous about getting up to Birmingham, but everything was fine. That's the longest I'm likely needing to go in one hop.

Taking the train to Paris in December instead of driving, both as parking was an issue at the hotel I'll be based at as was charging (they have only 1 EV charging plug). The more people requesting new facilities, the more new facilities are put in place, so hopefully having already discussed it before deciding to go with the train (the parking was €20/day, so it's in their interests to accommodate) will spur them into action.

thevilla

Martyn1981 said:

A portable battery would have been perfect in this recent situation:

Customers are enraged after a Tesla car runs out of battery and blocks the parking lot for three hours.

Shoppers were outraged after a Tesla ran out of battery on a car park entry ramp for Britain’s largest shopping centre, causing three-hour traffic jams behind it. A shopper named Henry took to Reddit on Wednesday evening, enraged by the holdup at London’s Westfield Shopping Centre, to share pictures of the scene and vent his frustration. “Perfect, a Tesla ran out of battery and came to a halt on the ramp of a five-story car park at Westfield,” he said. It’s been three hours and counting since I last checked. ”

Better still a friendly Hyundai Ioniq 5 owner with a v2l adaptor :-)

Lucky Icev never breaks down eh?  Surely the Tesla could be put in neutral and pushed?

Edit: I guess you need power to get neutral? Sounds like the owner was caught out by sentry mode power drain maybe.

JKenH

thevilla said:

silverwhistle said:

EVandPV said:

£800 (if that is the price) seems pretty damn good for a 4kwh battery !
Bit more info here ....

Very, including the electronics and software! As somebody pointed out on another forum  based on they staff they are trying to recruit this seems very much like vapourware at the moment.. Good idea though, even if I don't see the volumes being massive. A good idea for every garage to have one as well as all recovery vehicles.

Would you  buy an £800 jump lead for an icev?  OK for recovery services but I wouldn't touch one.  Worst of all some may decide to carry it in the boot "just in case"!

I think it’s a great idea. Yes I probably would carry it in the boot if I had the room. We always carry a flask with us on a long drive so if getting a bit worried about chargers could just pull over and plug in. I have recounted my experiences of turning up at motorway services to find no available chargers, so if it was coffee time and there was no charger free we could still have our break and top the car up to get us a bit nearer to the next charger or maybe to our destination. 

It would mean one could push the limits of the car’s range a little further knowing you had some back up if you did take it too far. How many times do we do a precautionary stop just to make sure we don’t run out of juice on the way home? We probably could get there but just don’t want to risk running out and being stranded. Well, with this in the boot, if the worst happens you can get going again so you save yourself that extra stop.

As for weight, it is considered portable so probably it weighs in the region of  1-2% of what the car weighs so unlikely to exact a significant penalty on efficiency. It’s no worse than my practice of lugging a full size spare wheel around with me. (It sits under a false boot floor I made and has already been used once). As both my wife and I are below average weight we can afford to carry a bit of ballast.

The other use though is in the home. Ideal in the event of a power cut as it has a 13amp socket so one could take it into a room and run the TV and some lighting and the broadband router.  Fill it up overnight on cheap rate electricity and do some time shifting. 

EVandPV

There's a feature about the ZipCharge Go on this week's Click. The guy from the company confirms the price for a 4kwh unit will be £1500, which is more like I would have expected.
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0011hcn/click-can-tech-save-the-world

Grumpy_chap

EVandPV said:

There's a feature about the ZipCharge Go on this week's Click. The guy from the company confirms the price for a 4kwh unit will be £1500, which is more like I would have expected.
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0011hcn/click-can-tech-save-the-world

That's probably more than most individuals would pay to have a reserve in the boot "just in case" (which also avoids the weight being carried around all the time).  Certainly reasonable for a breakdown service to carry one so that the stranded motorist can get to the nearest charge point.