Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Martyn1981

Same story as the Guardian article, but it's short and funny:

Stop The Lies! Electric Cars Do NOT Have Higher Emissions Than Conventional Cars

A popular meme for those opposed to electric cars — that would be Charles Koch and his army of subservient minions — is that electric cars have higher carbon emissions than conventional cars. You see it all the time in supposedly ethical publications — a story planted by the anti-EV crowd suggesting that when you add up all the emissions associated with manufacturing an electric car, especially the battery, and include the emissions created to generate the electricity needed to charge it over its lifetime, the total is greater than it would be for a similar vehicle powered by a gasoline or diesel engine.

You only need to have the IQ of your typical head of iceburg lettuce to know that’s a lie, but urban legends die hard. What is really hard to understand is the lie is promoted by fossil fuel companies. In effect, what they are saying is, burning our products to make electricity is really bad for the environment but they obviously hope most people won’t make that connection. Good luck passing off that horse puckey on CleanTechnica readers!

The only place where an electric car or a heat pump might create more emissions than a conventional car or a conventional home heating furnace is in an area that sources all of its electricity from coal-powered generating plants. But if you live in such a place, consider relocating as soon as possible to prevent being poisoned by all the crud in the atmosphere.

LOL!

EVandPV

Hmmm, Charles Koch.
Is that pronounced Cosh or Còck ? 

silverwhistle

When I teach languages I often tell students to go with their initial instincts..

Martyn1981

EVandPV said:

Hmmm, Charles Koch.
Is that pronounced Cosh or Còck ? 

Sadly it's pronounced 'coke' like the drink, but he and his brother (recently deceased) have been behind most of the mis-information for many, many decades. I might be wrong but I think they were partly responsible for the term 'astro-turfing', as they specialised in setting up fake grass-roots campaigns all over the US, and abroad, to give the impression that the public, and locals supported FF programs, or were against measures to combat AGW.

Martyn1981

Bit of fun, and US based, but an article on a cost comparison site:

Check Out This Electric Vehicle Total Cost Of Ownership Calculator

We’re quite fond of running and publishing total cost of ownership forecasts here, whether comparing the Tesla Model 3 with the BMW 3 Series, comparing the Tesla Model Y with the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S, or comparing the Volkswagen ID.3 with the Volkswagen Golf. California utility PG&E Corporation has also joined the cost of ownership fun. It has a cost of ownership calculation tool for 52 electric vehicles on the market in California (plug-in hybrids as well as fully electric vehicles).
The example on the first page is the Tesla Model 3 Long Range versus the Volkswagen Golf R.

The article points out it doesn't include a residual value, which would almost certainly shift costs even further in favour of a BEV.

Martyn1981

Ford and GM have decided to commit suicide?

I think we can expect massive disruption from BEV's over the next 7yrs, with them closing the gap on purchase price with ICEV's, and already being cheaper to own/run. We've also started to see %'s of sales in many Euro countries approaching, reaching, or smashing through the 8% figure that tends to be the start of the steep growth in the disruption 'S' curve. Euro (and Chinese) trends are bound to have some impact on the US, especially if reported well in the US, with coverage of costs.

So, if (for the US market) Ford and GM combined produce around 5m ICEV's in 2026, and only 320k BEV's, then I'm going to stick my neck out and say they will go bust. They won't have the right vehicles to meet demand, their investments and balance sheets items on ICE's will become valueless, their lease sales of ICE's will collapse, since the end value will be too low to offer leases, or they will have to charge so much more pm to cover that inevitability, that people will choose a BEV lease instead.

Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, both companies are sandbagging (like crazy) and plan to expand the BEV side far, far faster, but are terrified that if they say that out loud, then sales will take a massive hit as people decide to wait and watch, and see what they deliver, putting off new purchases for a year or two?

GM and Ford plan to make 320K EVs in 2026, less than Tesla’s output in 2019

When automakers tout big plans for electric vehicles, the key question is: How many will you produce and when? Specific numbers are seldom provided. But Reuters reports today that the total combined output in North America from General Motors and Ford in 2026 will be 320,000 electric vehicles. That’s based on internal planning information provided to suppliers by the automakers and obtained by AutoForecast, a sales planning analysis firm.

GM and Ford expect to make 5.2 million SUVs and pickups in North America in 2026, up from 4.6 million of those larger vehicles in 2019. SUVs and trucks will account for about 87% of vehicles made by the two Detroit automakers, compared with about 82% last year.
The International Energy Agency warned last year that the world’s shift to SUVs is wiping out the environmental benefits of electric cars.

From the looks of things, the Detroit automakers are content to let Tesla own the EV market for most of this decade. That may be good news for Elon Musk, but terrible news for climate change and the air we breathe.

Edit - Just to be clear, I'm not saying that demand for ICEV's in the US isn't currently strong, nor that Ford and GM can't transition to BEV's. My thoughts are that they need to transition quickly and steadily, or they will hit a cliff edge by 2026/27 and not have the ability to change fast enough (then). Hoping to operate at ~95% ICEV's in 2026 seems insane.

Martyn1981

Fire proof batts and full size (I think?) BEV backhoe.

BYD Unveils New Fire- & Explosion-Resistant Blade Battery

CASE 580 EV | Project Zeus Promises Quieter Job Sites

Martyn1981

Extracts from this weeks carbon Commentary newsletter,

9, EV market share. As expected, the market share of EVs in Europe has risen as manufacturers are threatened by large EU fines if they fail to meet emissions standards. Norway remains the biggest market in percentage terms. Sales of EVs, including plug-in hybrids, are now over 2/3 of the Norwegian market, and before the crisis arrived, March was likely to have been the first month in which battery-only vehicles exceeded half of all car sales. But the arrival of the VW iD3, which would be the next major step forward towards similar success for EVs in other European countries, looks as though it will seriously delayed beyond this summer as the company struggles with software problems.

10, Electric concrete trucks. Another part of the transport fleet began its transition to electric power. Leibherr announced the first fully electric concrete truck with a capacity of up to 12 cubic metres. Deliveries are usually a short distance away from the production plant and the vehicle always returns to its base at night, making electrification relatively easy. Although the continuous rotation of the mixer has been powered by electricity on earlier models, I believe that this is the first time the vehicle itself has been powered by the same motor.

EVandPV

https://thedriven.io/2020/03/31/solar-inverter-trial-shows-massive-7000-savings-driving-on-sunshine/

Martyn1981

50% of VW Up! sales in Germany are BEV's, which sounds good, if 50% of car buyers want a BEV, but might simply be down to production numbers, BEV buyers choosing the Up! due to lack of choice etc etc. But it's all good news at the the end of the day, and a nice little package and price.

50% of Volkswagen up! Buyers Now Buy e-up! in Germany

The Volkswagen e-up! is one of the cheapest electric vehicles on the market. Throw in the usual operational savings of an electric car and you end up with a compelling total cost of ownership. Consumers are starting to catch on. Volkswagen reports that approximately 50% of up! sales in Germany are now e-up! sales.