Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

thevilla

Chademo is already consigned to the history books despite it being a standard which supports bi directional charging out of the box. CCS isn't actually a standard apparently (according to a Fully Charged podcast I heard) and is having bi directionality shoe horned in. 

I doubt CCS will be ousted in Europe in favour of Tesla's standard (NACS) unless there's a cheap easy adaptor.

Martyn1981

Eric - Just to confirm, the 53p rate (when prices were 40p for Tesla's) was the pay as you go price, no monthly subscription.

JKenH

I originally posted this on the EV Discussion thread but thought some would see this as a cause for celebration. (Personally I think Chinese EVs should stay in China.) It does seem though that a lot of smaller Chinese EV manufacturers are struggling financially so OEMs are able to pick up shareholdings in them on the cheap. (VW taking a share in XPeng being the prime example).  Whether these are good investments remains to be seen but it is good to see OEMs getting a bit of their own back. 

Stellantis is to sell Leapmotor cars in Europe after agreeing a landmark deal with the Chinese EV brand.

The €1.5bn (£1.3bn) deal will see the automotive giant start selling Leapmotor’s cars outside of China from the second half of next year.

It will also take a 20 per cent stake in the Asian outfit and have majority control of a new Leapmotor International arm.

The deal has been agreed despite Tavares previously being critical of the influence of Chinese manufacturers on the European market.

Last year, the 65-year-old called on the EU to introduce tariffs on Chinese EVs in order to help the established European brands – measures which are now under consideration.

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/stellantis-agrees-deal-to-sell-cars-from-chinese-ev-brand-leapmotor-in-europe/292025

michaels

JKenH said:

Netexporter said:

I think green hydrogen should be reserved for decarbonising industrial processes, such as steel-making.

Having more EVs will be a fantastic distributed storage resource, once bi-directional charging becomes A Thing. Imagine all those cars that sit idle for 90+% of the time, helping the grid out.

Indeed it could as this article explains - a potential for 20GW by 2030 saving a lot of unnecessary overdevelopment of RE as well as the gas mentioned.

Slow introduction of V2G technologies could cost EV drivers up to £6.5 billion on energy bills, says ECIU

By 2030, V2G could potentially provide 20GW of power, replacing 20 gas power plants at times of peak demand in winter, the ECIU said.

https://www.current-news.co.uk/slow-introduction-of-v2g-technologies-could-cost-ev-drivers-up-to-6-5-billion-on-energy-bills-says-eciu/

I was a big fan of the V2G/V2H concept and in fact started a thread devoted to it. It was one of the reasons I chose a Nissan Leaf. My son was also keen and was on a trial for the Quasar Wallbox. (The trial he was on is over and he now uses it as a dumb charger.) @Michaels I believe has one of the few up and running V2G setups off trial I believe there have been quite a few trials but commercial roll out is hopelessly slow.

The cost of the chargers is very high. I think the Quasar was over £4K. AFAIAW it only works with Chademo and perhaps that is holding it back its rollmout. I believe for @Michaels it works well but many other V2G trial lists sold their chargers soon after the trials ended as they were buggy. Since the Quasar trial finished manufacturer support is close to non existent. 

I believe there are also some technical issues with V2G relating to “reactive power” but not being an electrician I don’t understand any of that. 

So, yes, it’s one of those great ideas which somehow falls down in the implementation. 

Edit: link to the V2G/V2H thread I started
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6070581/v2h-and-v2g

I am loving my V2H, did about 2.5 years on a v2g trial and now just over 12m of v2h.  Last winter I was looking at our home utility bill going form 2k to 8k for the same usage.  With v2h and a TOU tariff (plus demand reduction) we have kept this to 3k - examples include space and hot water heating via electric during the TOU cheap window (4.5p per unit) and additionally as much as the battery would support during the day period to avoid use of gas.  The V2H allowed us to use over 95% of our total electricity usage at the cheap rate giving an average price per unit of about 8p when the price cap was 35p?

During the trial period we had one problem with the charger when a software upgrade 'flash' failed leaving the unit 'bricked' but this was fixed by the manufacturer with a new board.

Exact savings are hard to work out as we replaced our second long journey ice car with a 40 leaf to go with our everyday 24 leaf.  This has saved us a lot on petrol too but at the expense of longer time spent on the long journeys and we did this at peak EV price time so have taken a big depreciation hit on the second (and first) leafs but hopefully over a long period of ownership the average deprecation will be reasonable (Leaf one owned for coming up on 9 years from new has depreciated by about 1k pa on average).

New for this year we have a 12 year old ASHP gifted from my parents who used to use it for their swimming pool which we run for central heating for the 5 hour overnight window and another 6 hours per day which pretty much drains the EV battery on top of the normal house load.  Have no idea what sort of cop this device gets ie whether it is worth using it with 30p peak electricity or better to use 7.6p gas once it gets colder and the heat pump alone can't keep up with demand.

The manufacturer of our V2H unit are running a larger chademo trial but I think this is probably to work out what features will be needed in a CCS version of the unit, they don't seem to have plan for a commercial chademo version.

Martyn1981

Article reporting on the decision by BP to buy chargers from Tesla, and install them on their sites.

Firstly this reminded me of the old article (early 2022) suggesting that Tesla can build and install superchargers at a small fraction of the cost of other rapid charging companies:

Tesla’s Supercharger cost revealed to be just one-fifth of the competition in losing home state bid

Companies couldn’t apply for more than 70% of the cost of the chargers up to $150,000 per charger, and Forbes reports that Tesla was asking for only ~$30,000 per charger versus the full $150,000 for most applicants:

“A Texas program which gives grants to install fast EV chargers, as long as they support non-Tesla cars got applications by Tesla. This was a first for Tesla in the USA, as their stations normally only charge Tesla cars. Also interesting is the amounts of the grants, which can cover 70% of the cost of the chargers, to a maximum of $150,000 per charger. Tesla’s applications ask for as little as $30,000 per charger, while most other applications are claiming the maximum $150,000 and perhaps cost even more.”

It would mean that Tesla’s Superchargers cost no more than ~$43,000 per charger versus over $200,000 for the competition based on the documents in these applications to the TxVEMP program.

So here's an article on the recent news from BP, with an initial contract for $100m of chargers:

BP Places $100 Million Order For Tesla’s Ultra-Fast EV Chargers

The Tesla 250 kW ultra-fast chargers will be branded, installed, and operated by bp pulse. The chargers will be fitted with Tesla’s ‘Magic Dock’, which is compatible with both NACS and CCS connectors. This enables EVs from other major vehicle manufacturers to use the Tesla chargers on the bp pulse network. To further improve user experience, the Tesla chargers will support use of the Plug and Charge protocol, which simplifies and automates payments. As is Tesla’s current policy, third-party operated ultra-fast chargers meeting Tesla’s reliability and functionality requirements are featured in Tesla’s vehicle UI and apps, and bp pulse expects to uphold those requirements on its network.

“Strengthening the bp pulse network with Tesla’s industry leading hardware is a major step forward in our ambitions for high speed, open access charging infrastructure in the US and advances our ambition to delivering an exceptional customer experience,” said Richard Bartlett, CEO of bp pulse. (Perhaps that should be written as ceo?)

Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s Senior Director of Charging Infrastructure, said: “At Tesla, we’re driven to enable great charging experiences for all EV owners. Selling our fast-charging hardware is a new step for us, and one we’re looking to expand in support of our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. We appreciate bp’s partnership in this area — it’s the right step towards a more sustainable future.”

A while back I suggested (a little tongue-in-cheek) that the UK could solve its rapid charging issues, by directing funding towards Tesla. Tesla would be required to accelerate the rollout of SC stations, with all new locations open to non-Tesla's from the get-go.

But other charging companies, reducing their costs, and improving reliability, by deploying re-branded Tesla tech, might be a far more acceptable option.

JKenH

Used electric vehicles fly off forecourts in September and October

EVs were the fastest-selling fuel type among used cars last month and this month so far.

That’s according to Auto Trader, which said they took an average of just 27 and 25 days respectively to leave forecourts,

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel cars are both selling every 31 days on average in October so far.

Seven of the top 10 fastest-selling used cars are alternatively fuelled vehicles, including five electric cars.

Almost a quarter (22%) of used electric stock on Auto Trader in September was priced between £10,000 and £20,000 – up from 6% in September 2022 – which was providing greater choice in the more affordable end of the market, said the digital automotive marketplace.

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/exclusive-used-electric-vehicles-fly-off-forecourts-in-september-and-october/292093

Martyn1981

Oops, they did it again.

The smell of desperation in Toyota's claims, is growing stronger by the day.

Toyota sales chief says EVs ‘impractical’ for Australian drivers as Tesla retaliates against ‘cynical’ attack

Australia’s most popular car brand, Toyota, has launched a stinging attack on electric vehicles claiming they are not ready for our roads, not as green as they seem and remain “impractical for the vast majority of Australian motorists”.

The Australian Electric Vehicle Association’s national president, Chris Jones, says the popularity of EVs had been boosted by the arrival of more electric models that are ultimately cheaper to run than petrol cars and more environmentally friendly.

“When it comes to buying a new vehicle, the cost difference between a hybrid Toyota Corolla and a full-electric MG4 is small [at] less than $8,000,” he said.

“People would spend $8,000 on fuel in the next five years, so on a financial basis if you’re going to hold on to a car for a reasonable time, the EV is the better option.”

Jones says there are a small number of circumstances in which electric cars do not yet meet motorists’ needs but they represent a minority of users who tow “extremely heavy loads” in “very difficult driving conditions”.

“Everyone else’s needs are entirely met by what’s on the market and what will continue to come to market,” he said.

silverwhistle

I noticed on my phone feed an article from the FT but behind a paywall, referring to solid state batteries in a few years, with a picture of a Toyota car as part of the heading. If I had to guess I'd suspect the company have been busy briefing and providing convenient photographs for publication.

Not many of us will be waiting for Toyota..

Netexporter

Toyota distraction from the fact that they are the most indebted company in the world, more like.

ABrass

Has anyone else noticed that the Tesla Model 3 is the same price it was when it launched? (SR+ compared to Highland version)

Four years later and a lot of inflation.

I believe the starting price for a Vauxhall Corsa has gone from £12,000 to £19,000 over the same 2019-23 period