Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Ectophile

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

Wouldn't it be cheaper to call out a tow truck to take your car home again?

Superscrooge

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

Looking at their website, it seems to be aimed more at EV owners who can't charge at home, rather than carrying it around all the time. 

I can imagine a scenario where someone has no off street parking so can't have a home charger. But could charge the device at home and then plug it into the car on the street outside. It can add up to 40 miles of range in an hour. Most daily mileage is less than that.    

Martyn1981

I think the Ford Transit BEV has been mentioned before, but memory fails me, so here's an article (US centric), and a link to a Parkers article for UK prices, as the Ford site failed every time I tried to download the prices, but everything else downloaded fine(?)

The Parkers article suggests £43k (+VAT) is a great price, have to admit it sounded high to me, but that goes to show how little I know about LGV's.

[Just an aside, but on Friday a delivery guy asked me about the BEV's and charging costs. He explained that he's getting a BEV van in a few days (through the delivery company), but didn't know what type, range etc, but wondered if it would save him fuel costs - I assume he pays a van rental fee to the delivery company, and then pays for his fuel - I obviously had to guesstimate at costs but he said he does about 40 miles per day, and roughly 2 gallons of fuel. I suggested that the van, in city driving, will probably exceed 2 miles per kWh, so hopefully 20kWh x 20p £4 on standard rate at home, and perhaps half that on cheap rate. He was very pleased. I also mentioned that the reduced NVH, especially the many dozens of engine start ups, will hopefully make for a less tiring day.]

Ford Slips EV Version Of Popular Transit Van Past Mustang Media Fuss

Everybody is making a big fuss about Ford Motor Company’s EV version of its iconic Mustang line, but the company has been working on a game-changing EV version of its super-popular Ford Transit van, too. Practically nobody has been making a fuss about that because, let’s face it, who gets excited about light-duty commercial vehicles? Well, in terms of rapid decarbonization, it really is something to write home about. The Transit van is a market leader in its class, and it is beginning to attract non-commercial buyers, too.

Ford E-Transit electric van priced from just £42,695

Ford has announced more technical details and the first pricing information for the E-Transit electric van as it makes its UK debut at the 2021 CV Show. The first full-production Ford electric van, the E-Transit won't actually go on sale until spring 2022, but order books open in October 2021, when it will be priced from a stunningly competitive £42,695 excluding VAT.

While Ford's first electric van has been a long time coming (and still isn't here yet), it seems that in taking its time, the blue oval has been able to build an electric Transit that already has solutions for the typical electric van problems.

For instance, with a targeted driving range of 196 miles per charge WLTP, it offers plenty of distance between charges, while maximum payload is set to be 1,758kg and maximum power an enormous 269hp - with a second, less powerful motor option still delivering 183hp.

Martyn1981

I found this very positive news for Ford. They appear to have 'gotten' it, and will continue to expand and improve their BEV production. It'll take them time to evolve and pivot, but admitting the game has changed is probably what is most important at this point. Good luck to them.

[The contrast with GM is striking. Mary Barra (CEO) is currently being ridiculed throughout the EV media having confirmed when pressed a few days ago that GM will be the EV market leader in the US by 2025. She referred to the launch of the Hummer and the Cadillac Lyriq next year (both high price / low volume vehicles). GM's current plans are to reach 1m EV sales globally by 2025 (which presumably includes the joint venture ~$5k Wuling mini EV), whilst Tesla has reached an annualised rate of 1m pa already, and will probably end 2022 at an annualised rate of ~2m.]

I suspect Ford (and GM) are now taking China very, very seriously too, which is great news for the revolution. Just gotta hope VWG don't backtrack now, and Diess is able to drag them forward, as they've made such great progress already.

Ford’s CEO Says Tesla Needs To Be Taken Seriously As The Dominant Player In The EV Market

Long gone are the days when Tesla and Elon Musk were at the butt of many legacy auto jokes. The silly notion of an electric car proved to be an idea that isn’t so silly after all. It’s ruthless and cutting edge. And legacy automakers still aren’t prepared for it. Recently, Ford CEO Jim Farley held an internal meeting with some 20,000 Ford employees, and a good portion of that meeting was about Ford’s competition, primarily Tesla.

The Detroit Free Press was able to get a copy of the video of the meeting, and according to it, Farley said that Ford needs to take Tesla seriously as the dominant player in the EV market. He compared Ford with Tesla while also using charts and graphs.

The article noted that Farley mentioned Volkswagen and Rivian as well. Farley’s main focus, however, was on Tesla. The article noted that Farley’s tone was rather serious while discussing Tesla and that he emphasized that Tesla was operating from a position or place of strength, using charts, graphs, and specific comparisons.

“If Ford was a trillion-dollar company, our stock would be worth about $250 a share. Think about the value creation of Tesla right now. And they have resources, smart people, the Model 3 is now the bestselling vehicle in Europe. Not electric. Flat out. It was the bestselling vehicle in the UK. Most months, it’s the bestselling vehicle in California. Not just electric, but overall. If we’re going to succeed, we can’t ignore this competition anymore,” Farley said.

“Look at Tesla, why are they doing what they’re doing and what can we learn from them. First, they have a direct model … There’s no one in between. They make it so easy. Three or four clicks configuring the vehicle with not a lot of complexity to delivering it to the customer. Simple, non-negotiated pricing. A large reservation system as well as remote service.

“Second, Tesla maximizes use of electrons in the vehicle. No one does it better than they do. Their customers pay less for a better battery. …

“Third, the product itself is highly differentiated from the rest of the ICE field and complexity is tiny, compared to OEMs.”

thevilla

JKenH 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"!

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. 

Maybe more like a defib?  Store them in old phone boxes and pay a fee to use them. I feel an app coming on!  Zapmap home for battery owners.

silverwhistle

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"!

Nope, I don't need or want one, but as ever in the automotive market there are all sorts of needs and wants. Same as I don't need or want a 4x4. If I lived in the back end of beyond it might be more worthwhile, but commercially or a group of friends might also be the market. With the cost of batteries at the moment I'm a bit dubious about some of the prices I've seen quoted.

Martyn1981

I've only skim read this, lots of flagged items to get too, and it reads a bit like an advert, but it seems to tick 'all boxes'.

Connected Kerb To Add 10,000 EV Chargers In West Sussex

Connected Kerb is an EV charging company in the UK that specializes in on-street and other public  charging solutions. “Knowing you can arrive at virtually any location at any time in any vehicle and cheaply charge your battery without inconvenience or faff is the reality we have to deliver to create an EV society,” says its CEO, Chris Pateman-Jones.

“Our rollout of public chargers — one of the most ambitious the UK has ever seen — encapsulates that future, helping individuals and businesses to confidently make the switch to electric, reducing their carbon footprint and cutting air pollution.”

The company says the new chargers will be installed along streets, in public car parks, and at community facilities by 2030 and will be the UK’s largest ever deployment of EV chargers by a local authority. It expects to sign a contract for an additional 30,000 chargers with other municipalities soon. It’s all part of its £1.9 billion plan to have 190,000 chargers in place in the UK by 2030, according to Autocar.

The Connected Kerb technology is aimed primarily at the need for long-dwell charging at power levels of between 7 and 22 kW. The intent is to provide convenient charge point infrastructure anywhere people will park for a long period of time — whether at work, at home, staying overnight in a hotel, leisure parks, etc. “Long-dwell charging is crucial to promoting and accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles at the rate required,” the company says.

The company also manages billing seamlessly in the background. “We apply no joining, membership, or connection charges and our prices average £0.23 per kW, which is 23% lower than the national average of over £0.30 per kW. With our consolidated billing system, you can easily manage access and usage and incentivize usage thanks to adjustable tariffs. Our automated, on-demand reporting allows you to have a full overview of charging sessions and the data that matters to your council while helping you manage charging according to the who is using the charging equipment — e.g. taxi drivers, NHS, council fleet vehicles, etc.”

Charging for everyone made easy. That sounds like a recipe for success!

Martyn1981

Some Tesla rumours.

Firstly, that production will probably start in Berlin and Austin this year, but don't expect deliveries (especially Berlin) till 2022.

Tesla Giga Austin & Giga Berlin Start Production In Q4, Start Deliveries In Q1

And secondly, on top of the news that Tesla is rolling out some Megachargers for Semi's to use, presumably Tesla's own test fleet, running between facilities, Pepsi have let slip that they may receive some vehicles this year - again, possibly part of a vehicle testing/assessment early rollout programme.

Pepsi Is Preparing For Its 1st Tesla Semi Truck Delivery This Year

orrery

Martyn1981 said:

I've only skim read this, lots of flagged items to get too, and it reads a bit like an advert, but it seems to tick 'all boxes'.

Connected Kerb To Add 10,000 EV Chargers In West Sussex

We have them in Bedford. The chargers in the local car parks and main roads are BP Pulse (Chargemaster/Polar) but several of the side roads have Connected Kerb. We've had an argument with the council as they first refused to mark the bays as "EV Only" and it took a few photos of all 6 bays on one road being blocked by ICE cars, including a taxi, to change their mind - they are going round and painting bays now and putting up warning notices. Sigh! We did try to warn them, but ...

JKenH

Tesla: $1 Trillion Of Speculation

It’s been a while since we visited this topic and a lot has happened since then, with on the one hand legacy manufacturers embracing EVs and the explosive growth of the Chinese industry increasing competition and on the other the increasingly remote possibility that we might imminently see Tesla robotaxies on the streets. 

A perhaps timely article from Forbes has appeared today questioning the current valuation on Tesla. The whole article is worth a read but here are a couple of pertinent comments.

Put another way, the $1.2 trillion valuation implies Tesla owns 118% of the entire global passenger EV market and becomes more profitable than Apple (AAPL) by 2030. 

Even if Hertz eventually agrees to buy 100,000 Tesla Model 3s, I do not think it is worth the $100 billion in market cap, or $1 million per vehicle, that I saw investors give Tesla’s market cap after the Hertz deal made headlines. Even Elon Musk questioned the surge in share price, noting that the price movement was “strange” given that Tesla is “very much a production ramp problem, not a demand problem.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2021/11/09/tesla-1-trillion-of-speculation/

PS: I am still a Tesla shareholder but that doesn’t mean I can’t think critically about my investment.