Thursday 12th April 2018.
As a treat, or punishment depending on your point of view, you get two podcasts today for the price of one. And as that price is free, I’ll give you a full refund if you’re not satisfied! As well as the news, you can hear the first in a series of shows the infrastructure around electric cars. We talk about cars a lot, but what’s it going to take to make the whole ecosystem work. So for the first episode we head to the maker of some of the worlds most luxurious cars ? Bentley.
Work starts this week at on a giant solar carport, which will be the UK’s largest when complete, at 2.7MW. The company behind it is called FlexiSolar and they’ll be fitting 10,000 panels to frames which will shelter almost 1,400 car parking spaces at Bentley’s manufacturing headquarters near Crewe.
The carport will take Bentley’s on-site solar capacity to 7.7MW having also installed 5MW of rooftop solar in 2013. And on our special edition today, we talk to Adam Goves from the company. If I do say so, i think it’s a fascinating chat about using car parks as power stations for electric cars…
So if you are thinking of listening, i’m publishing the interview a few minutes after this show, so it will show up in your podcast feed and on YouTube right next. I do hope you enjoy it, and i’ve got more interviews coming soon.
PAGANI DEVELOPING ELECTRIC HYPERCAR
At the recent Geneva Motor Show, Horacio Pagani, whose car company bears his name, committed to electrification: “There is electric-car research already ongoing,” Pagani said. “That is not something you can just pretend not to see, that everyone is developing something in this direction. The management is already organizing the company to have a division specifically for electric cars. Already, by the end of 2018, the idea is to have a section where electric cars can be developed and tested. “The technologies and safety standards you need are completely different from any combustion-engine car production?we’re talking about 800 volts?so all of the training and the technicians will have to be up to the standards to work on such a vehicle.”
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/pagani-starts-work-on-an-electric-supercar
BOLT SOFTWARE UPDATE
According to GMAuthority: “General Motors has officially responded to reports of isolated battery cell failure in 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV models. In response to the possible issue, the automaker will roll out a software update for Bolt EV that dealerships will perform free of charge.
GM told InsideEVs that the recall is not a safety recall, but asked that all owners participate in the software update. Some owners have reported battery cell failure that leaves the Bolt EV without drive power. After analyzing OnStar data, GM noted the issue seems isolated to very early production units of Bolt EV.
DO YOU WANT TO SOUND LIKE AN ICE?
From those fast Pagani’s, to a record breaking Tesla Roadster Gen2, to the crazy Rimac C_Two, electric cars aren’t short of performance. But what about sound? It seems like some people want the old engine noise. Soundracer make a gadget that you wire into your electric car to make it sound like your choice of angry combustion engines on the inside and the outside.
https://newatlas.com/soundracer-ev-engine-sound-eveess/54140/
FUTURE AUDI PHEV SPOTTED
Spy shots of the performance crossover SUV the Audi SQ3 which is being built on the SQB platform. And that of course opens the door to plug in and electric powertrains. Autoguide say “The current Q3 is the oldest model in Audi’s lineup, so expect some fairly significant changes, especially since the segment has gotten a bit more crowded.”
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2018/04/2020-audi-sq3-surfaces-for-the-first-time.html
MITSUBISHI COULD PRODUCE PERFORMANCE EV
Don Swearington, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Mitsubishi Motors North America, told Digital Trends in an interview published on Tuesday that the future is wide open for electrified cars. He made it clear that Mitsubishi will look at both plug-in and pure battery-electric vehicles. On the topic of electrified performance vehicles, Swearington specifically said, “there’s a great opportunity. “I think our engineers in Japan would love to develop something like that,” he added. Read more at HybridCars.com
http://www.hybridcars.com/mitsubishi-sees-opportunity-electric-performance-vehicles/
CHINA RELAXES RULES
Until now, if any car company wanted to produce their models in China, they were looking at a joint venture with a domestic company. Well now, according to scmp.com: “Global carmakers received a double dose of good news from China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday: a reduction in import tariffs and a raised investment cap with regards to mainland-based factories. New energy carmakers such as Tesla are set to become the top beneficiaries of a relaxation by Beijing on foreign ownership in the automobiles sector”. Coming first to mind is Tesla who have long wanted to make cars in China but not wanted to sign over half the factory to a local manufacturer.
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