Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

Ford Mustang Mach-E Is Back With More Range, Power, Lower Prices

Ford is reopening orders for the Mustang Mach-E in North America on May 3 after completing plant upgrades in Mexico to support a production ramp in the second half of 2023.

The all-electric crossover will bring feature improvements such as increased range for standard range battery models, more power, shorter charging times, and a free 90-day BlueCruise trial. The Mustang Mach-E also returns with lower prices.

Starting with the range gains, 2023 Mustang Mach-E standard range models now offer an EPA-estimated 250 miles for RWD and 226 miles for eAWD variants. That's because all standard range models will now be powered by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

https://insideevs.com/news/665115/ford-mustang-mach-e-back-more-range-power-higher-prices/

Martyn1981

Toyota up to their same old tricks now in Australia, as they campaign to slow/water down changes to vehicle fuel emission improvement legislation.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/02/toyota-australia-boss-says-its-too-early-for-electric-vehicles-to-replace-nations-cars#:~:text=Toyota%20Australia%20executive%20says%20it%E2%80%99s%20too%20early%20for%20electric%20vehicles%20to%20replace%20nation%E2%80%99s%20cars

Australia’s top-selling carmaker has fired an early shot in the debate over a vehicle pollution limit, with a Toyota executive arguing electric vehicles are not ready to replace all cars and a push to do so could leave thousands of motorists behind.

The comments, from the automaker’s sales boss Sean Hanley, come less than two weeks after the federal government launched its national electric vehicle strategy and a public consultation into a fuel efficiency standard.

But environment and electric vehicle groups say the manufacturer’s comments do not reflect the state of vehicle technology and are based on Toyota’s delay in launching electric models.

Martyn1981

Only a 'silly' energy post, but just popped into the S. Wales mountains with TiMmY to get some more kitty litter again. Decided, as the weather was nice and mild, so possibly good BEV weather, I should drive properly this time to get some more accurate consumption figs. So tried to be a tad more gentle, and stick to speed limits (no triple digits on this trip).

Results were 307Wh/mile on the way up, and 158Wh/mile on the way back 'down' with an extra 375kg on board. Lovely drive, and an average of ~233Wh/mile over the 65 mile trip. [Vehicle TMY LR]

I'm ever more determined to only drive downhill in the future. 😗

Martyn1981

Lots of 'unusual / surprise' boxes ticked by this article, so I thought I'd post it.

So we have news from Singapore, and the commercial BEV market, and a very high penetration already, it seems to me.

Electric Vans Take 52% Of The Van Market In Singapore In Q1

Sales of battery-electric commercial vehicles hit 30.8% in Singapore in Q1 across the vehicle categories, according to Singapore’s Land Transport Authority. Singapore’s Land Transport Authority lists four categories of commercial vehicles. These are:

1.  GPV: Goods & passenger vehicles
2.  LGV: Light Goods Vehicles (mlw ≤ 3.5 metric tons) (mostly vans)
3.  HGV: Heavy Goods Vehicles (3.5 < mlw ≤ 16.0 metric tons)
4.  VHGV: Very heavy goods vehicles (mlw > 16.0 metric tons)

In the first three months of this year, 3,377 commercial vehicles were sold in Singapore. 1,041 of these vehicles (30.8%) were fully electric! The LGV (vans mostly) segment saw the highest number of battery-electric vehicles sold in that period, with 938 electric vans sold from January to March. A total of 1,780 vans were sold in Singapore, and this means that an awesome 52% of vans sold in Singapore were fully electric! This is the first time that electric vans have surpassed the 50% mark. Reports from Singapore say that this surge in Q1 could be due to a rush to register electric vans before a reduction in incentives for commercial vehicles.  The rebate amount in Singapore was halved from $30,000 after March 31.

Martyn1981

Small YoY increase for BEV's in the UK, and also an increase in the %age of PHEV's, which have been on a small/slow decline for some time.

VW takes the number one spot, but MG nipping at their heels.

UK Plugin EV Share Up YoY, Volkswagen Wins In April

April’s combined plugin result of 21.9% comprised 15.4% full battery electrics (BEVs), and 6.5% plugin hybrids (PHEVs). This compares with respective YoY shares of 16.2%, 10.8%, and 5.4%. We can see that BEVs have grown share strongly YoY, by over 1.4x.

SMMT data here

Martyn1981

Got a feeling this large BEV excavator has been mentioned before, but here's an article talking about how it's going through testing/trials.

Volvo CE Introduces Battery-Electric 23-Ton Excavator

According to Equipment World, “With its battery power, the (new Volvo CE 230 E) excavator is expected to achieve 60-70% reduction of energy running costs compared to the EC220. It is equipped with four 66-kilowatt lithium-ion battery packs that enable the operator to work four to five hours in general purpose applications. With a high-power fast charge on a lunch hour, the machine should last through a full eight hour shift.”

Edit - Just to say, I mention large BEV machinery, as there is already a choice of smaller BEV's, such as the JCB range, just as an example.

Grandad2b

Martyn1981 said:

Got a feeling this large BEV excavator has been mentioned before, but here's an article talking about how it's going through testing/trials.

Volvo CE Introduces Battery-Electric 23-Ton Excavator

According to Equipment World, “With its battery power, the (new Volvo CE 230 E) excavator is expected to achieve 60-70% reduction of energy running costs compared to the EC220. It is equipped with four 66-kilowatt lithium-ion battery packs that enable the operator to work four to five hours in general purpose applications. With a high-power fast charge on a lunch hour, the machine should last through a full eight hour shift.”

Edit - Just to say, I mention large BEV machinery, as there is already a choice of smaller BEV's, such as the JCB range, just as an example.

This is the kind of thing that very many people completely miss - the agricultural and construction sectors are difficult to power by battery. 
Frankly I see agriculture as very problematic - at times the machinery works 24h and other times it sits idle for months on end. Probably requires swappable batteries but the peak demand is huge. 
Battery powered construction equipment will gain acceptance more quickly but there's still the issue of getting a sufficiently chunky mains power supply to site.

JKenH

Martyn1981 said:

Small YoY increase for BEV's in the UK, and also an increase in the %age of PHEV's, which have been on a small/slow decline for some time.

VW takes the number one spot, but MG nipping at their heels.

UK Plugin EV Share Up YoY, Volkswagen Wins In April

April’s combined plugin result of 21.9% comprised 15.4% full battery electrics (BEVs), and 6.5% plugin hybrids (PHEVs). This compares with respective YoY shares of 16.2%, 10.8%, and 5.4%. We can see that BEVs have grown share strongly YoY, by over 1.4x.

SMMT data here

Interesting that Tesla only sold 1813 units in total in April of which 1550 were Model Ys, suggesting just 263 Model 3s were sold. In past years we would expect April figures to be low but this year Tesla have consistently had new Model3s (and Ys) in stock. Currently there are 278 Model 3s listed scattered around the country and because of Tesla’s listing policy the reality is probably far more 

YTD Tesla have sold 15168 cars this year compared to 15665 last year. 11503 of this years sales have been Model Ys leaving just 3665 Model 3s sold this year in the UK. It is surprising that Tesla haven’t extended the most recent round of price cuts to the UK - perhaps instead they are diverting other RHD cars to the ROW where there are backlogs of orders. 

New EV demand (or is it supply) in the UK seems stymied at around 15%, more or less the level it was at last year. 

JKenH

Grandad2b said:

Martyn1981 said:

Got a feeling this large BEV excavator has been mentioned before, but here's an article talking about how it's going through testing/trials.

Volvo CE Introduces Battery-Electric 23-Ton Excavator

According to Equipment World, “With its battery power, the (new Volvo CE 230 E) excavator is expected to achieve 60-70% reduction of energy running costs compared to the EC220. It is equipped with four 66-kilowatt lithium-ion battery packs that enable the operator to work four to five hours in general purpose applications. With a high-power fast charge on a lunch hour, the machine should last through a full eight hour shift.”

Edit - Just to say, I mention large BEV machinery, as there is already a choice of smaller BEV's, such as the JCB range, just as an example.

This is the kind of thing that very many people completely miss - the agricultural and construction sectors are difficult to power by battery. 
Frankly I see agriculture as very problematic - at times the machinery works 24h and other times it sits idle for months on end. Probably requires swappable batteries but the peak demand is huge. 
Battery powered construction equipment will gain acceptance more quickly but there's still the issue of getting a sufficiently chunky mains power supply to site.

Which is why, perhaps, JCB is pushing hydrogen. 

shinytop

JKenH said:

Martyn1981 said:

Small YoY increase for BEV's in the UK, and also an increase in the %age of PHEV's, which have been on a small/slow decline for some time.

VW takes the number one spot, but MG nipping at their heels.

UK Plugin EV Share Up YoY, Volkswagen Wins In April

April’s combined plugin result of 21.9% comprised 15.4% full battery electrics (BEVs), and 6.5% plugin hybrids (PHEVs). This compares with respective YoY shares of 16.2%, 10.8%, and 5.4%. We can see that BEVs have grown share strongly YoY, by over 1.4x.

SMMT data here

Interesting that Tesla only sold 1813 units in total in April of which 1550 were Model Ys, suggesting just 263 Model 3s were sold. In past years we would expect April figures to be low but this year Tesla have consistently had new Model3s (and Ys) in stock. Currently there are 278 Model 3s listed scattered around the country and because of Tesla’s listing policy the reality is probably far more 

YTD Tesla have sold 15168 cars this year compared to 15665 last year. 11503 of this years sales have been Model Ys leaving just 3665 Model 3s sold this year in the UK. It is surprising that Tesla haven’t extended the most recent round of price cuts to the UK - perhaps instead they are diverting other RHD cars to the ROW where there are backlogs of orders. 

New EV demand (or is it supply) in the UK seems stymied at around 15%, more or less the level it was at last year. 

The SMMT view on BEV sales
The sector is, however, less optimistic about growth in demand for BEVs, downgrading their expected 2023 market share from 19.7% to 18.4%, with high energy costs and insufficient charging infrastructure anticipated to soften demand. The latest outlook for 2024, meanwhile, suggests that 22.6% of new car registrations will be BEVs, a downward revision from the 23.3% forecast in January. With a zero emission vehicle mandate due to come into effect next year, greater and faster investment in infrastructure, and more incentives to encourage purchase are essential to drive consumer confidence and accelerate uptake.

That's going in the right direction but at the wrong speed.  Something is going to have to change.