Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

Texas EV Owners To Pay $200 A Year To Renew Registration

It remains to be seen if EV owners will find the new tax fair seeing as the average owner of a gasoline-fueled vehicle pays roughly $130 in state gas taxes per year, according to average annual mileage and fuel economy data from the Federal Highway Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Interestingly, legislators proposed creating a lower tier of electric vehicle fees set at $100 a year for lighter-weight vehicles during debate over the bill in the House on April 24, but the proposal was rejected, and the bill was passed with wide bipartisan support.

https://insideevs.com/news/668143/texas-ev-owners-pay-200-usd-a-year-renew-registration/

JKenH

More good news (fingers crossed).

Somerset site 'eyed for multi-billion pound gigafactory'

A deal to build a multi-billion pound electric car battery factory in the UK is understood to be close to completion.

The BBC understands the gigafactory for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) would be built at Gravity business park, in Somerset.

Up to 9,000 jobs would be created at the Bridgwater site, close to the M5.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65645201

michaels

JKenH said:

More good news (fingers crossed).

Somerset site 'eyed for multi-billion pound gigafactory'

A deal to build a multi-billion pound electric car battery factory in the UK is understood to be close to completion.

The BBC understands the gigafactory for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) would be built at Gravity business park, in Somerset.

Up to 9,000 jobs would be created at the Bridgwater site, close to the M5.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65645201

Was this the site that was rumoured to become a Tesla Giga factory at one point?

orrery

JKenH said:

Good news at last for the UK Auto industry. We really do need to think twice before buying Chinese cars or any Chinese tech for that matter - not only for the economy’s sake but also for the environment.

Without wanting to start a debate, we also shouldn't buy any Chinese tech that we wouldn't mind being remotely bricked in case of conflict with China, which is looking more and more probable.

JKenH

JKenH said:

Coastalwatch said:

And I thought Brexit was supposed to open up a whole new world that UK industry could take advantage of.

So along with with dismal rollout of PV and heat pumps it would appear the future of the car industry is looking decidedly fragile too. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Unipart were warning of conditions which made it unviable to invest further in the UK.

Sorry it's not good news but alarm bells keep being sounded and all met with seemingly little interest from those elected to do something about it.

Vauxhall-maker warns Brexit may force it to close UK factory

Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat, had committed to making electric cars in the UK, but says that is under threat.

It said it can no longer meet Brexit trade rules on where parts are sourced.

The government is "determined" that the UK will remain competitive in car manufacturing, a spokesperson said.

"If the cost of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close," Stellantis said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65612295

This is concerning but there is a good chance that the talks currently under way will be successful and lead to a more satisfactory trade deal relative to cars. Why am I optimistic? Because this trade deal affects the European car industry as much, if not more than the British. We see so much in the EV press about companies like VW losing market share in China but, we forget, the UK is a bigger market for EU cars than China. The value of cars exported by the EU to the UK is 3x the value imported from us.  

In 2022, the United States was the main export destination of EU's cars (23 % of the total), ahead of the United Kingdom (17 %), China (15 %), South Korea, Switzerland (both 5 %), Japan and Türkiye (both 4 %). 

In 2002, exports of cars to the United Kingdom amounted to €27 billion, which after some fluctuations dropped to €19 billion in 2009 (Figure 5). After that, they increased to €41 billion in 2015 and 2016, but dropped to €27 billion in 2022. 

Imports from the United Kingdom were €9 billion in 2002, and remained between €8 billion and €12 billion until 2014. They increased to €16 billion in 2016 after which they gradually fell to €9 billion in 2022. 

Between 2002 and 2022, the EU had a trade surplus for cars with the United Kingdom which peaked at €26 billion in 2015. It dropped to €17 billion in 2022.

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?oldid=328429#Car_exports_peaked_in_2022

What will also be of concern to the EU is the exodus of investment in battery gigafactories, leaving it short of batteries which would impact on its exports to the UK if the deal is not renegotiated.

More than two-thirds (68%) of lithium-ion battery production planned for Europe is at risk of being delayed, scaled down or cancelled, new analysisshows. Tesla in Berlin, Northvolt in northern Germany and Italvolt near Turin are among the projects that stand to lose the greatest volumes of their slated capacity as the companies weigh up investing in the US instead. Transport & Environment (T&E), which conducted the research, called for both EU-wide financial support to scale up battery production and faster approvals processes to capture projects at risk from American subsidies.

https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/two-thirds-of-european-battery-production-at-risk-analysis/

Perhaps even more concerning to the EU car industry overall, though, is how to stop the inflow of cars with batteries subsidised by the US flooding Europe and destroying the indigenous car industry. 

European and Chinese car and battery makers are making plans to set up plants in the U.S. to take advantage of their big new “made in the USA” subsidies. They can then ship their vehicles to Europe to sell into its very large and generously subsidised company car market. This puts electric vehicle production in Europe at a serious disadvantage. As William Todts at T&E explains, the EU must respond, instead of effectively assisting the U.S. and China race ahead. It’s not enough for the EU to loosen state aid rules (allowing governments to match U.S. subsidies), and to propose faster permitting and aspirational production targets for green tech and critical minerals; they are not backed up by trade instruments or hard cash. Todts makes three recommendations. Exclude from EU subsidies any product that has already been subsidised elsewhere. Disqualify overly dominant players from public procurement and subsidies. And introduce targeted subsidies to the European battery supply chain. The goal is not to obstruct ambitious car and battery makers: the world sorely needs them. It’s to ensure intense but fair competition, prevent monopolies and retain Europe’s industrial base in the 21st century, says Todts.

https://energypost.eu/how-can-europe-stop-u-s-and-china-dominance-of-cars-and-batteries-without-being-protectionist/

This is how it works. Polestar, from 2024 is starting manufacturing in South Carolina, expressly to sell cars in US and Europe.

From the same article linked above:

U.S. subsidies are luring in carmakers

Polestar has excellent reasons for this. If it sources its batteries from US based battery makers – and they would be crazy not to – the Polestar 3’s massive 111kWh battery could get up to $5,000 in battery subsidies. This comes on top of cheap energy and other subsidies available to US-based manufacturers. According to Bloomberg at least $10.8 billion is being gifted to carmakers in “megadeals” designed to lure manufacturers to US states.

…while EU subsidies are easing car imports

After pocketing these subsidies, Polestar & co. can then ship their vehicles to Europe where they can be sold into the very large, and generously subsidised, European company car market.

This is not a time for Europe to be falling out with its closest trading partner. 

A little more detail published today on our car exports.

Exports drove volumes, rising 14.7% to 54,820 units, with more than eight in 10 cars (82.4%) heading overseas. This was the third month in a row that exports saw a double-digit rise. The European Union remained by far the most important global market, taking 58.4% of all exports, equivalent to 32,002 units with volumes up 12.2%, followed by the US, China and Australia. Shipments to these destinations changed by 36.2%, -3.6% and 226.8% respectively, with buyers choosing the latest British-built models, including many with hybrid or zero emission powertrain technology.
https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/smmt-uk-car-production-up-in-april-as-exports-surge/

Martyn1981

In the past we've mentioned that Ford, at the very least, seems to be taking the transition to BEV's very seriously. So big news in the US yesterday was a deal between Ford and Tesla to get access to the supercharger network for all Fords.

In line with this, from 2025 Ford plans to have a 'NACS' charging port on their vehicles, as well as the CCS. NACS is Tesla's cheeky name for their connector, the 'North American Charging Standard'. Although my thoughts that this was cheeky when they changed the name, have chnaged over time, since the majority of BEV slaes in the US are Tesla's, so technically their connector/port is the 'standard', so to speak.

No idea if this is good news for Tesla (additional income from their SC network I suppose), but for Ford, and BEV's in general in the US, it looks like a big win. And more importantly, just to repeat, certainly looks like Ford is 'getting it'. 

Future Ford EVs Will Be Equipped With Tesla Charging Port

Ford has just announced that its future electric cars will get Tesla's NACS charging connector, which means that Ford EVs will be able to use all Tesla Superchargers in the US and Canada without the need for an adapter.

The announcement took place during a live Twitter Spaces event featuring Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Per Farley, it seems as though the future Ford electric vehicles will be equipped with two charging ports. Farley stated that Ford EV owners will still be able to use their Ford chargers, so we take this comment to imply that the vehicles will have two charging ports or, if not, the EVs will have to come with an adapter to make this possible.

michaels

Think it is a win for Tesla as various charger grants depend on it being open access and a standard - so if they get other manufacturers using it then it can be declared a standard rather than proprietary...

andyg9053

The problem I see is the charge port locations. Here in UK I have been able to use Tesla chargers for a year with my Mach E, but I have to park in the next bay to get the charging lead to reach.

JKenH

Isn’t there a danger that this might be a step backwards? In Europe and ROW (excl US) we seem to have settled on CCS as the preferred charging standard with even Teslas being compatible but now in the US uncertainty is being introduced. Will other OEMs fit Tesla charging ports to their models henceforth? Will charging networks pause the roll out of new chargers until they see what is the preferred format? 

This may be a US problem only and, while it might help Ford (and Tesla) in the short term, it introduces an element of uncertainty which could damage EV take up there.

thevilla

JKenH said:

Isn’t there a danger that this might be a step backwards? In Europe and ROW (excl US) we seem to have settled on CCS as the preferred charging standard with even Teslas being compatible but now in the US uncertainty is being introduced. Will other OEMs fit Tesla charging ports to their models henceforth? Will charging networks pause the roll out of new chargers until they see what is the preferred format? 

This may be a US problem only and, while it might help Ford (and Tesla) in the short term, it introduces an element of uncertainty which could damage EV take up there.

Especially as, according to a recent Fully Charged podcast, the only ratified standard is chademo! Apparently all the others, CCS etc are cobbled together by individual manufacturers.