Show #1335
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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 9th January. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don’t have to.
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FORD TELLS DEALERS TO STOP UPSELLING F-150 LIGHTNING RESERVATIONS
– Ford Motor Co., concerned about its reputation and customer complaints related to the upcoming launch of the F-150 Lightning, is warning dealers not to upsell reservations for the popular EV truck and also wants customers to sign a contract preventing them from reselling it within a year, according to a letter from the automaker to its dealers.
– The warning letter, dated Friday and posted online by the F150gen14.com forum, is addressed to all dealer principals, the general manager and sales managers.
– “It has come to our attention that a limited number of dealerships are interacting with customers in a manner that is negatively impacting customer satisfaction and damaging to the Ford Motor Company brand and Dealer Body reputation.”
– Ford then cites dealer sales and service contract language that requires dealers to conduct their operations in a manner that reflects favorably on dealers, the company and its products.
– In order to prevent people from buying and immediately reselling the pickup truck for a profit, Ford is “offering support for a No-Sale Provision to be signed by the customer at the time of purchase. Dealers may add this language to existing closing forms or create a new standalone document.”
Original Source : https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2022/01/08/ford-letter-warns-f-150-lightning-dealer-sales/9142583002/
5 MOST TALKED-ABOUT ELECTRIC VEHICLES UNVEILED AT CES 2022
– Chrysler parent company Stellantis unveiled a concept car called Chrysler Airflow at this year’s CES, marking the auto giant’s (late) entry into the electric vehicle market.
– On the production EV side, General Motors unveiled its highly anticipated electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck on Wednesday during a virtual keynote given by CEO Mary Barra.
– When it comes to driving range, nothing can beat Mercedes’ concept reveal at CES this week: a compact luxury sedan called Vision EQXX that can run up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) on a single charge
– Mercedes’ German rival, BMW, wasn’t looking to impress us with range or charging time. Its offering at CES this year, BMW iX Flow, boasts an unexpected feature: changing colors.
– It still feels strange to associate Sony with electric cars. But that hasn’t stop the gaming and electronics giant from showing off its EV progress at CES in recent years.
This week, Sony unveiled Vision-S 02, the second iteration of the Vision-S electric vehicle introduced at last year’s CES. The Vision-S 01 is currently being tested on public road in Europe.
Original Source : https://observer.com/2022/01/electric-vehicles-unveiled-at-ces-2022-roundup/
VOLVO CONFIDENT IT CAN GET ITS ‘UNSUPERVISED’ HIGHWAY DRIVING MODE APPROVED IN CALIFORNIA
– Volvo announced a new advanced driver assist system called Ride Pilot system, in which its vehicles drive themselves on certain highways without any human supervision. Ride Pilot will be available as a subscription service to customers in California, the company announced at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show.
– Volvo’s forthcoming (and unnamed) electric SUV, which will be announced later this year, will be the first vehicle to feature Ride Pilot. Volvo’s Concept Recharge, which was revealed last summer, is meant to preview that SUV, as well as how the new driver assist system will be presented with a fully integrated roof lidar from supplier Luminar. The design of the Concept Recharge will likely be similar to that of the electric XC90 successor due to arrive later this year.
– Ride Pilot is what the Society of Automotive Engineers would define as a Level 3 autonomous system, in which the driver’s supervision is not required in a highly controlled setting, like on certain mapped highways. But in Level 3 systems, the driver still needs to be ready to take control at a moment’s notice
Original Source : https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/5/22866190/volvo-ride-pilot-level-3-autonomous-subscription-california
TOYOTA PLANS SOLID-STATE BATTERY BY 2025, BUT IT WON’T BE FOR AN EV
– Toyota is one of numerous automakers and other companies chasing the holy grail of battery technologies: solid-state batteries. According to remarks from Gill Pratt, Toyota’s chief scientist and head of the Toyota Research Institute, we’re going to see such a battery from the automaker by 2025.
– Pratt told Autoline on Thursday the company will shove the solid-state battery into a hybrid vehicle. Yes, a solid-state battery and internal-combustion engine working together. It may seem counterintuitive, but Pratt said there’s sound reasoning for it: Lithium-ion batteries aren’t at a price parity with the internal-combustion engine, let alone solid-state batteries. The thinking is to produce the benefits of such a battery, but combine it with hybrid technology to keep the price down on a production vehicle.
– Hybrids will provide a perfect test for the technology before the automaker gets in too deep with a solid-state battery powered EV.
Original Source : https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/toyota-solid-state-battery-ev/
US: THE ‘CHEAP’ VOLKSWAGEN ID.4 IS COMING ‘IN THE $35,000 RANGE’
– Volkswagen closed the year 2021 with almost 17,000 ID.4 sales in the U.S. but the number could be 4 times higher, according to the company’s representative. The company has more than 40,000 reservations but is supply constrained, as the cars are imported from Europe. Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh said (via Automotive News): “We could have sold four times that amount. What VW dealers are saying is that this is the most excitement they’ve had on the shop floor since 1998, when we brought the Beetle back.”
– In 2022, the car will get an upgrade (including range) while the lineup will be expanded by a new, less expensive version with a smaller battery (probably 62 kWh or so). This new entry-level ID.4 with RWD will start at around $35,000 – “in the $35,000 range.” That would be about $5,000 less than in the case of ID.4 Pro (82 kWh, RWD).
– The key element of Volkswagen’s expansion of the MEB-based electric cars is the Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, which will start production of the ID.4 later this year using battery cells from the new SK Innovation’s SK On plant in Georgia.
Original Source : https://insideevs.com/news/559394/us-cheap-volkswagen-id4-coming/
ELON MUSK SAYS TESLA WILL RAISE PRICE OF ‘FSD’ TO $12,000 IN US
– On Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the company will raise the price of its premium driver assistance package, marketed as Full Self-Driving or FSD, from $10,000 to $12,000 on January 17, for customers in the U.S. only.
– Musk wrote, “Tesla FSD price rising to $12k on Jan 17. Just in the US. FSD price will rise as we get closer to FSD production code release.”
– When a follower asked him about Tesla’s FSD subscription product (which currently costs $199 per month for most customers) Musk noted, “Monthly subscription price will rise when FSD goes to wide release.” He also teased a new release of FSD Beta, an invitation-only program which offers more advanced features to select drivers who meet Tesla’s qualifications.
– Musk said in a tweet on Friday that a new 10.9 release, updating FSD Beta, is nearing completion.
Original Source : https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/07/elon-musk-says-tesla-will-raise-price-of-fsd-to-12000-in-us.html
TESLA MODEL Y IS SWEDEN’S BEST-SELLING CAR IN DECEMBER 2021
– Tesla Model Y became the best-selling car of any propulsion type in Sweden in December 2021, ahead of even the most popular Volvo XC60 and XC40 there. The share of electric vehicles in the country continues to grow and Tesla vehicles make one of the most significant contributions to this.
– The American manufacturer registered 1,532 of its compact SUVs, taking first place in the Swedish car market. Second and third places belong to cars from Volvo, the XC60 with 1,199 registrations and the XC40 with 1,184. Tesla Model 3 also entered the top 10 and finished in eighth place with 882 registrations.
Original Source : https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/tesla-model-y-became-the-best-selling-car-in-sweden-in-december-2021
HOW DOES TESLA’S CHINA GROWTH COMPARE TO NIO’S?
– Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) record-high quarterly and full-year production and delivery numbers caught the market by surprise on Monday as its share price rose to within striking distance of its all-time high.
– According to reports by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Tesla sold 54,391 China-made vehicles in October and 52,859 in November. Tesla didn’t release its production and delivery numbers by region for the fourth quarter. But if we average the two CPCA numbers for December and multiply that figure by three (months in the quarter), we’ll get about 160,875 China-produced vehicles for the fourth quarter.
– more than half of the total 305,840 vehicles Tesla produced in the fourth quarter.
– Industry research firm BloombergNEF believes that China will account for about 13 million EV sales in 2030 and 18 million by 2040.
– And while Nio and XPeng are only producing a fraction of what Tesla makes in its Shanghai facility alone, Chinese peer BYD (OTC: BYDDY) is approaching Tesla’s global production level with its new-energy-vehicle products. That category includes battery-electric as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
– Nio has a long way to go to even match the production that comes out of Tesla’s Shanghai plant alone. But the company does have a plan. It has new products coming in 2022 and began adding production capacity last year that it says could potentially allow it to reach 300,000 units annually.
Original Source : https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/how-does-teslas-china-growth-compare-to-nios
TESLA STOCK: SHANGHAI BECOMING EVER MORE IMPORTANT
– Tesla is investing increasingly in its China operations. It will, however, need to ensure it does not fall foul of the Chinese regulators. Tesla has huge investments in Chinese employment and facilities. It provides prestige exports for the country. It should thus be able to address any CCP concerns in the same way as Apple (NASDSAQ:AAPL) has done over the years. It remains to be seen though whether Elon Musk can be as good a diplomat as Tim Cook.
– China has a strong hold on lithium supplies as well as cobalt and nickel. It has almost a stranglehold on lithium-ion batteries. Long-term, Tesla should be able to source its base materials more easily there than elsewhere.
– Most attractive of all perhaps is the assessment that its Shanghai operations are running on 40% gross margins as compared to 20% at Fremont. This allows the company to be more flexible on pricing where necessary and is a substantial factor in the increasing profitability of the company.
– In November last year, production figures were 52,859 units. So that would give an annual run rate of 634,300 cars. It is understood that Tesla has filed with the Chinese Authorities to expand the Shanghai factory.
– Tesla’s capital investments in China continue apace. They now have over 8,000 superchargers in the country and 7,000 charging stations with over 1,800 destination chargers.
Original Source : https://seekingalpha.com/article/4478566-tesla-tsla-stock-shanghai-becoming-ever-more-important
TESLA-CATL PARTNERSHIP STRENGTHENS AS NEW FACILITY SENDS CELLS TO GIGA SHANGHAI
– Contemporary Amperex Technology’s (CATL) new facility near Gigafactory Shanghai is already sending cells to the electric automaker, strengthening the already robust partnership between the two companies, new reports suggest.
– Sources familiar with the matter stated that the new site would build enough battery cells to power 800,000 EVs every year. This pointed toward a potential capacity of 80 gigawatt-hours per year. The planned 80 GWh facility would supplement that already 69.1 GWh in current production and add to the additional 77.5 GWh under construction.
– Shanghai Observer, which reported that the new CATL facility is already supplying battery cells to Gigafactory Shanghai and has been since November.
Original Source : https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-catl-new-facility-sends-cells-gigafactory-shanghai
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