Show #551
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 15th August 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.
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ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING POINTS OUTNUMBER PETROL STATIONS
“The number of electric car charging points in the UK now exceeds petrol stations, as an increasing number of Brits turn to electric vehicles (EV).” reports CityAM today: “There are now 9,300 charging locations, compared to 8,400 petrol stations, according to new data released by Nissan. The milestone comes less than a century after the UK’s first fuel station opened in November 1919 in Berkshire, and ahead of Nissan’s previous prediction of August 2020. Transport for London has installed more than 1,000 EV charging points in the last year alone, with the introduction on the new Ultra-Low Emission Zone prompting many London drivers to switch to zero-emission cars.”
CHEVROLET TO REVEAL NEW ELECTRIC MODEL FOR CHINA
“Chevrolet will present the Menlo EV, a fully electric crossover model for the Chinese market, at the Chengdu Auto Show in September. While first pictures have already been leaked, as yet only a few technical details are known.” according to electrive: “The Menlo EV is based on the Buick Velite 6 available in China as BEV and PHEV. It seems the body will be a mixture of van, station wagon and crossover. At least this is what can be seen in the pictures that General Motors had to present to authorities as part of a declaration to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to the Chinese site, the powertrain is to come from local Chinese production, explaining that the Menlo itself (like the Buick Velite 6) is to be built by the joint venture SAIC-GM. InsideEVs writes that the battery will be supplied by SAIC subsidiary Era Power Battery Systems.”
FORD WORKING ON EV WITH RIVIAN
“In addition to the whack of electrified vehicles in its future stable, Ford will pursue three different paths, with intriguing partners, to get them all to market.” says MotorTrend: “Ford is investing $11.5 billion to introduce 40 electrified vehicles by 2022, of which 16 will be fully electric; the rest will be hybrids or plug-in hybrids. In addition to engineering its own electric vehicle architecture, Ford will use Volkswagen’s electric vehicle platform to expand its European lineup and is working with tech company Rivian in the U.S. on larger vehicles.”
Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett said: “Rivian is a really special thing that’s teaching us about merging not only the powertrain, but the architecture that the ECUs [electronic control unit] and other things connect to. So think of it as architecture for the operating system of the vehicle. You shouldn’t go down the path of assuming it’s a pickup”
As for hybrids, Motor Trend says: “All Ford utility vehicles in the future will offer a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or both. Ford has vowed to be the top producer of hybrids by 2021, jumping ahead of Toyota, with plans to offer some degree of electrification on every mainstream vehicle. For trucks, electrification adds capability and efficiency. An F-150 hybrid is due in 2020, and Ford is working on an electric F-Series pickup. No time line has been given for that model.”
https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-working-ev-rivian-will-suv
TOYOTA TESTS PLUG-IN HYBRID RAV4 SUV IN NEW IMAGES
“Toyota has been seen testing what appears to be a plug-in hybrid variant of the RAV4 SUV on European roads.” according to Autocar “At first glance, the prototype doesn’t seem any different from the standard Honda CR-V rival. However, closer inspection reveals a disguised opening on the right-hand side of the car – the opposite side of where the fuel filler cap resides – a classic tell that a charging port is lurking underneath. While the Japanese maker already has a PHEV in its arsenal in the form of the Prius Plug-in, that 1.8-litre unit is unlikely to provide sufficient power and torque levels to account for the substantial weight increase usually seen with a plug-in hybrid – for reference, the straight hybrid model already weighs around 1750kg.”
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/toyota-tests-plug-hybrid-rav4-suv-new-images
AUDI’S E-TRON BECOMES THE FIRST EV TO WIN TOP SAFETY AWARD
The subtitle of the Engadget article here says: “Too bad, Tesla”.
Let’s see what’s going on. They say: “The 2019 E-Tron, Audi’s flagship electric vehicle, has won the 2019 Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), making it the first electric vehicle to earn such recognition. The award for the E-Tron must gutting for Tesla, however. Tesla’s Model X was recognized for its exceptional safety, but the IIHS tests of the Model S didn’t go so well.”
But here’s more, from electrek: “Last year, IIHS started testing Tesla’s Model 3 and found that it has a ‘superior rating for front crash prevention’, but the agency only started doing crash tests on the Model 3 this week. The results are expected to be released soon.”
TESLA MODEL 3 FEVER HITS SOUTH KOREA AS CROWDS FLOCK STORES TO SEE THE ~$26.5K EV
“Images of long lines of people waiting to see the electric sedan were recently shared by South Korean Tesla community members. One of these depicted a crowd of interested people lining up outside a Tesla store to check out the vehicle. The scene in South Korea’s outlets invoke images of the Model 3’s earlier days, when the Model 3 was still only making its way across the US and in select international markets.” says Teslarati: “A key reason behind South Korea’s notable interest in the Model 3 may lie in the vehicle’s price and its related subsidies from the local and national governments. Tesla lists the Model 3 Standard Range Plus with a starting price of 52 million won (about $43,000) for South Korea, but thanks to an EV subsidy of 9 million won (about $7,400) from the national government and up to 11 million won (about $9,100) from some select provincial governments, the electric sedan could start as low as 32 million won (around $26,500) for its base trim.”
Tesla Model 3 fever hits South Korea as crowds flock stores to see the ~$26.5k EV
REMEMBER THE SOLAR ROAD IN FRANCE? IT WAS A DISASTER
“Some people think roads could do more than just keep cars moving safely around. They believe these asphalt strips could generate energy and have put this thesis to the test. The most prominent of these tests, a 1 km (0.6 mi) stretch of road in Tourouvre-au-Perch, Normandy, France made by Colas has been recently considered a complete “fiasco”, according to Le Monde.” according to InsideEVs: “The descending efficiency can be credited to many things, such as rotting leaves, thunderstorms and even the tractors that use the road stretch. Panels came loose, which led them not to fit with each other anymore It also helped cars, trucks, and tractors to break some of these loose panels. When that happens, they are simply discarded.”
https://insideevs.com/news/365186/solar-road-france-fiasco/
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