Author: Green Car Online News

2020 Porsche Taycan 4S: Lower-priced version might offer longest range

Porsche’s Turbo models have always been among the more exclusive, expensive models from the German sports-car maker, and now this ring true for its Taycan electric car, too: Not all Taycans will be Turbos.

Porsche Monday announced that soon after the introduction of the 2020 Porsche Taycan, a Taycan 4S model will slot below the Taycan Turbo S and Taycan Turbo.

With it, Porsche helps interpret what the Turbo badge signals for Porsche in the electric-car realm: Higher performance and longer range. While the Taycan Turbo and Turbo S offer 616 horsepower in normal driving and either 670 hp (Turbo) or 750 hp (Turbo S) in a 2.5-second boost mode, the Taycan 4S offers 522 hp if you go with the standard 79.2-kwh Performance Battery and 563 hp if you opt for the 93.4-kwh Performance Battery Plus.

2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo first drive

Porsche says that the Taycan 4S can accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds—versus just 2.6 seconds to 60 mph for the Turbo S. In initial ride-along and first-drive opportunities with the Taycan we found its all-out acceleration to be brutally quick.

That brings the total number of power outputs for the Taycan to four, with two battery capacities—with the base battery only corresponding to the lowest output.

One key difference between the two battery packs is that the smaller 79.2-kwh pack can only charge (on 800-volt-capable DC fast-charging hardware) at a peak 225 kw, while the larger one can charge at 270 kw. Just as with the Turbo and Turbo S, DC fast charging at 400 volts only works up to 50 kw and you’ll need to check an option box to boost it to 150 kw.

The 4S has a different motor in back than the Turbo or Turbo S; although it’s also a permanent-magnet unit, its rotor is 3.1 inches shorter—saving weight, Porsche says—one of several hints that the Taycan's not-yet-released range might be a bit longer for this model than for the higher-performance models. Just as in the Taycan Turbo its inverters are 600-amp in back and 300-amp in front, respectively (the Turbo S gets 600-amp inverters at both axles).

2020 Porsche Taycan 4S

Other than that, the 4S carries over some of the same components, including the front motor, the two-speed transmission on the rear axle, and the standard electronic damper control and adaptive air suspension systems. The 4S rides on 19-inch wheels, which may bring some ride-and-handling differences over the other models’ 20- and 21-inch ones. Brakes are six-piston calipers in front (red) and four-piston (red) at the rear wheels, all with vented cast-iron rotors.

Just as with the other models, Porsche says that the Taycan 4S can pull up to 265 kw (0.39g) in regenerative braking—or recuperation, as Porsche and others call it.

Appearance-wise, the front fascia has a different geometry, with black side skirts and rear diffuser. The 4S comes with ambient interior lighting, partial-leather interior, and eight-way power-adjustable front comfort seats with driver memory. LED headlamps and dynamic lamps are included.

The Taycan 4S starts at $105,150 with the Performance Battery or $111,730 with the Performance Battery Plus option.

2020 Porsche Taycan 4S

The range of Taycan prices is likely to be downright shocking to those who aren’t accustomed to Porsche pricing (though not surprising otherwise). That’s a whopping $47,100 and $40,520 less than the Taycan Turbo, and it leaves a span from the 4S to the Turbo S of $81,200—before the potential to load tens of thousands of dollars of options.

Porsche is offering free 30-minute charging sessions at Electrify America sites in the U.S., as well as at Porsche dealerships, and, much like its VW Group cousin Audi it’s partnering with Amazon for 240-volt home charge-point installation.

The Taycan 4S is due to U.S. dealerships next spring, as a 2020 model.

Car2Go leaving Portland, Denver, other US cities due to “highly volatile” market

Portland, Oregon is one of many larger cities in the U.S. currently undergoing a transportation shakeup that’s still confusing even to some transportation groups and policy wonks.

It certainly seems puzzling as well to Share Now—that’s the combined company formed by BMW and Daimler, from their car-sharing operations that has been called ReachNow and Car2Go, respectively.

“Since launching in North America in 2009, transportation has changed drastically and mostly for the better,” Share Now said, pointing to all the transportation alternatives that didn’t exist before.

Car2Go Mercedes-Benz GLA250

That said, the company will be exiting Portland, as well as Austin, Calgary, and Denver by October 31 and Chicago by December 31.

“This decision was not made lightly,” the company said in a prepared statement provided to Green Car Reports. “We have had to face the hard reality that despite our efforts, we underestimated the investment and resources that are truly necessary to make our service successful in these complex transportation markets amid a quickly-changing mobility landscape.”

In 2012, when Car2Go was expanding rapidly, it called Portland one of its strongest markets.

If Portland is any such example, it’s gone through a confusing mobility landscape, indeed. In the past 10 years, public-transit ridership is down about five percent, despite a rising population. And yet over this time per capita car ownership has dropped by at least five percent. The percentage of bike commuters looks nearly level and has started to trend downward in the past couple of years. However by some measures Portland road congestion has decreased recently.

In the midst of many of these trends, the city has seen a flood of electric scooter-sharing (hauled off in diesel trucks to be charged each night, in at least one much-maligned case), several bike-sharing schemes, and like every other urban landscape in the U.S., an invasion of cars with Uber and Lyft placards shortcutting down quiet side streets never before used by cabs.

Car2Go Smart Fortwo, in Portland

Seven years ago in Portland, austerity-special Smart Fortwo hatchbacks with steel wheels and stipped-down fleet interiors were suddenly seemingly everywhere around town. It was also a darling with the city, in a place where Smart’s parent company Daimler has its North American headquarters for its commercial-truck arm.

Their reign wasn’t all that long-lived, it seemed, as after making much ado about “emissions-free carsharing” the company stalled on plans to put more Smart Electric Drive versions in the fleet. Another noteworthy point when the relationship started to sour was when Car2Go greatly cut its coverage area in the city—essentially cutting out more racially diverse areas underserved by public transportation.

BMW’s ReachNow was even shorter-lived. It had a more glamorous existence, wooing 20- and 30-something professionals from the start with Mini and BMW models—including some i3 electric cars—and launching with promotions that clearly targeted those with a lot of disposable income. Despite earlier declarations that it was profitable, and plenty of signs of marketing savvy Car2Go hadn't always exhibited, it pulled its operations in Portland and Seattle in July.

The irony is that Car2Go displaced the car-sharing operation Zipcar, which has a strong base in the city but simply cost more (it’s now owned by Hertz and has a very different model than it used to).

Car2Go offering bike racks in Portland

Ride Now isn’t going away. It says that it’s “refocusing its efforts and resources on the cities that present the clearest path to free-floating carshare success.” Those cities are New York City, Washington D.C., Montreal, Vancouver, and Seattle.

The new company called the whole transportation market “highly volatile,” but wasn’t ready to talk details about how exactly that penciled out or what it means for car-sharing looking forward.

“Ultimately, we know that in order to ensure the future of our business in North America, we have to think differently about where and how we operate,” said Share Now.

In the interest of survival, this time around car-sharing needs to be less about skipping car ownership and more about giving users something they won’t find with Lyft and Uber.

Dyson EV’s demise, Mirai’s radical remake, Audi’s plug-in hybrids: The Week in Reverse

Which automaker partnered with Boeing for a personal luxury aircraft?

What brand priced its Tesla Model 3 rival for Europe?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending October 11, 2019.

One of the much-discussed pieces of news of the week came from the UK, and a well-funded long-shot project aiming to make an high-efficiency electric car. Dyson said that its electric-car program is done—although it will continue work on some of the ancillary tech, including solid-state batteries.

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021

Several important pieces of news came from Toyota. It revealed that the next-generation version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car is a sport sedan. Although the radical remake is officially called a concept car, the future is suddenly looking much better for that model, as well as the Prius. Toyota also confirmed that a 2021 RAV4 plug-in hybrid is on the way—although it will be some time before we get range and mpg. And its luxury brand, Lexus, teased the design of a production-bound electric city car, set to bow at the Tokyo show.

A new Honda Fit hybrid has been confirmed for a Tokyo show debut and is a critical model for Europe—although chances are slim that the model will arrive in the U.S.

Porsche Boeing premium urban air mobility vehicle

Porsche and Boeing are involved in a premium personal aircraft project—not a shared air taxi, but something aiming for private ownership.

Volkswagen is hoping its owners see the light—with a new light-based communications feature in its ID 3 urban electric car. We would presume it’s also headed to the other ID models that are U.S.-bound.

Volvo announced that it’s merging engine development into a new joint venture with parent Geely—so it can focus efforts on EV development. And as we eagerly await the introduction of the Volvo brand’s first fully electric model next week, pricing was detailed for the related Polestar 2—including its Performance Pack version—in several of its European launch markets.

Polestar 2

In the issues and policy department, U.S. commute times reached a new high in 2018, a cloud that hangs over us even as vehicles continue to get cleaner and more efficient. And Denmark and the UK were among the nations looking to tighten the timeline for phasing out internal combustion engines.

India is very much seen as an emerging (and important) market for EVs, with some challenges. Tata will be targeting its own domestic market with a vehicle called the Tata Nexon EV. This model could be seen as a serious rival to models coming from both European automakers, Japan, and China.

Volta free DC fast charging

The charging-network news keeps flowing, as infrastructure takes form in Europe and North America. Volta readied its ad-supported free DC fast charging network in the U.S. and announced its first station starting later this month. The energy company Repsol claimed the highest power passenger-vehicle DC fast-charging station in Europe. And Electrify Canada announced that it’s pushing ahead this year with more than 20 fast-charging stations—enabled for a future-leaning 350 kw—at Canadian Tire locations across the country.

We learned that Tesla has quietly acquired the Canadian battery maker Hibar. Could it mean the automaker is setting up to make its own proprietary cells?

At the start of the week we rounded up a list of the most important electric cars for 2020.

2020 Audi Q5 plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec) – first drive, October 2019

Back on Monday and Tuesday, we also brought you two sets of first drive impressions on Audi’s upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicles—in the Q5 crossover and the A8 flagship sedan—to see how they fit into a lineup that’s rapidly going electric.

And as you head out this weekend to go watch the game, you might remember some news we reported at the start of the week: that Anheuser-Busch and Frito-Lay are expanding plans—in California—to deliver their beer and snacks with electric trucks.

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Porsche and Boeing developing “premium urban air mobility vehicle”

Porsche and Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the developing of flying cars, the companies announced Thursday.

The notion of a “premium personal urban air mobility vehicle” may sound vague, the new joint venture, Aurora Flight Sciences, is tasked with building a “fully electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle,” which would put them in the running with other firms that are working toward similar offerings intended for urban ride-sharing.

What sets Aurora apart is the premium angle. While the announcement is thick with mentions of urban mobility, there's no suggestion that the final product would be intended for sharing or taxi services. It seems clear that Porsche and Boeing are exploring the mobility market from a private-ownership perspective, or, at the very least, exclusivity.

Porsche Boeing premium urban air mobility vehicle

Porsche has experience in both developing fast-charging EV systems—some of the most tech-advanced ones, with the Taycan electric sport sedan's 800-volt system—and operating higher-end concierge services. Boeing's expertise is aerospace, and the company has already built prototype VTOL drones capable of autonomous cargo delivery.

The future of urban mobility may rely on solutions outside of the traditional automotive space. As a recent study suggests, electrification alone may not be enough to meet future energy consumption and emissions goals. Even in cities with 100 percent electric vehicle traffic, the gridlock from increased rides could potentially result in an overall increase in energy consumption.

With that specter on the horizon, adding a third dimension to urban transportation makes a great deal of sense. While there are still technological barriers to opening up city skies to fleets of drones, the more significant hurdles may actually be regulatory.

Even small drone fleets are only now starting to obtain certification for flights operating outside of line-of-sight, and the regulations governing drone flights over populated areas don't even exist yet.

Dyson done, Mirai remake, RAV4 plug-in hybrid, flying Porsche: Today’s Car News

After several years of promising news from Dyson, the UK company best known for its vacuums is cutting electric cars from its plans. Porsche and Boeing are among the companies working together on a personal aircraft. A Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid will bow at LA next month and arrive sometime next year. And Toyota’s radical remake of the Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car is a stunner. This and more, today at Green Car Reports.

Toyota has revealed the next-generation version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car, in concept form. And at first glimpse, the 2021 Toyota Mirai couldn’t be a more radical turnaround. What was a gawky green machine is now a sexy sport sedan, flaunting a tech that Toyota still sees as a big part of the future.

The future that looks increasingly likely of including short-distance mobility options that take off and land like drones. But not all of these vehicles might be shared air taxis. Porsche and Boeing are together helping develop what looks a little more alluring: an all-electric VTOL craft geared at premium personal transportation.

There will be a plug-in version of the 2021 Toyota RAV4 hybrid, the carmaker has confirmed—although there are plenty of details yet to be confirmed, like its battery size, electric range, and whether it can match or top the RAV4 Hybrid’s 40-mpg EPA combined rating. And we don’t yet know if it’s officially the RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid or the RAV4 Prime. That’s all to come—likely except for the mileage and range—at this model’s LA auto show reveal in November.

Dyson has completely canceled its electric car, based on a decision coming from the company’s board. Due as soon as 2021, it had been widely anticipated as a potential game-changer with a solid-state battery pack, new motor tech, and a newfound attention to lightweighting. The company says that it will keep working on some of the technology pieces, though.

And if some days it doesn’t seem like every segment of American motorists are on board with electric and electrified powertrains as the future, consider this: Even NASCAR is planning to go hybrid—potentially as soon as 2022.

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Dyson cancels its electric car, refocuses remains toward solid-state batteries

Dyson, you might say, has gone back to the vacuum—and to many other things. But not cars.

In an update yesterday that now occupies what formerly was a teaser for the automotive project, James Dyson, the company’s founder, called the car they’d developed “fantastic,” yet explained that “though we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply cannot make it commercially viable.”

James Dyson

Dyson pointed to a decision by the company’s board to, as he put it, “propose the closure” of the project.

“I wanted you to hear directly from me that the Dyson Board has therefore taken the very difficult decision to propose the closure of our automotive project,” said Dyson, who added: “This is not a product failure, or a failure of the team, for whom this news will be hard to hear and digest. Their achievements have been immense—given the enormity and complexity of the project.”

The project had been a shocker from the start. The company, well-established for its vacuums, emerged two years ago with news that it was working in earnest on a complete electric car, one with solid-state battery technology, advanced materials, new motor tech, and innovative packaging.

Dyson Automotive Manufacturing facility – Singapore – rendering

Dyson drew executives from Aston Martin and Tesla, and just earlier this year poached Infiniti President Roland Keueger. The company was planning to build a huge test-track facility as well as an office building, specifically for the project, that could accommodate 2,000 people.

The company acquired solid-state battery tech company Sakti3, and then walked away from that technology in favor of another one it has reportedly developed internally. It was also working on its own motor technology, and its first product was shaping up to look a lot like a Tesla Model X rival, albeit with fewer frills.

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021

James Dyson emphasized that it will continue to expand its facilities in Malmesbury, Hullavington, and Singapore, among others, which had all been linked to automotive operations.

“We will also concentrate on the formidable task of manufacturing solid state batteries and other fundamental technologies which we have identified: sensing technologies, vision systems, robotics, machine learning, and AI offer us significant opportunities which we must grab with both hands,” said Dyson.

Startup electric automakers: Be forewarned. It isn’t easy. But there might be some good solid-state battery opportunities, and motor designs available for licensing.

Lexus teases design of upcoming city-sized electric car

Lexus has released a teaser shot—and video burst—for a new electric-car concept, due to be revealed later this month at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The model, which is expected to be a production-bound small city car based on the Lexus LF-SA concept from 2015, will be what Lexus chief Koji Sato described to Autocar earlier this year as being “a tall, boxy hatchback.”

Reports have also suggested that a fully electric version of the Lexus UX crossover is also on the way, but these are likely completely different products. Although an urban-sized EV would be unlikely for the U.S., such a model could be an important step for Lexus in Europe particularly, where for minicompacts battery-electric powertrains are quickly becoming expected—and seen as premium and desirable.

The car is expected to be fitted with an evolution of the brand’s complex spindle-grille design—likely a challenging task to fit that to a small, blunt nose that doesn’t have the same cooling challenges as if an engine were underneath. The video released shows an especially creased-and-sharpened—yet curvaceous—look in front, with soft lighting strips that illuminate downward in a way that establishes motion.

In-wheel motor technology is also reportedly in the works from Lexus—perhaps sooner than other brands, and even in a new concept iteration at Tokyo—but it’s unlikely yet in a production model and this latest teaser contains no additional information for that.

Lexus LF-SA concept, 2015 Geneva Motor Show

Lexus does say that the new vehicle will be “leveraging continued advances in technologies such as electrification and autonomous driving.”

We’re curious to see how that matches up with what it then maps out as the brand’s future vision—one in which it “caters to consumers who are equally passionate about driving and uniquely crafted luxury experiences.”

Lexus is expected, potentially as soon as 2022, to also get an electric SUV based on the new electric-vehicle platform being jointly developed with Subaru.

VW signals with light, Lexus teases EV, Volvo delegates engine development: Today’s Car News

Volvo is done developing internal-combustion engines. Well, almost; it’s delegating them to a new joint venture with parent Geely. Electrify Canada is pushing out some very high-power fast-charging hardware. Lexus will show the new iteration of an electric city car that’s likely production-bound. And VW is using light to send messages. This and more today at Green Car Reports.

Volkswagen is introducing a new light-based communication feature in its ID 3 electric car—and potentially all ID models—that helps the driver understand alerts and status updates without chimes and warnings.

Electrify Canada is pushing ahead with plans to install 32 high-power DC fast-charging stations by the end of 2020. On Thursday it mapped out more than 20 of those—all 350-kw-enabled—to be installed at Canadian Tire locations starting this year.

Lexus has teased the design of its production-bound all-electric city car, potentially to be shown in concept or prototype form at this month’s upcoming Tokyo Motor Show.

By 2025, half of all Volvos by sales volume are to be battery-electric. But for the other half, which will be hybrids in some form, Volvo still needs internal combustion engines—and this week it merged engine-development operations with its parent Geely.

And car-to-infrastructure technology, or C2X, is being tested in Germany as a way of directing road-maintenance crews to respond quicker to road conditions like ice and snow on roadways—one of many potential important steps toward autonomous-vehicle tech becoming viable.

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ID Light feature inside VW ID 3 electric car communicates without clutter

With its first ground-up electric effort, Volkswagen chose to produce a car that is conventionally practical while embracing the high-tech approach taken with many EVs. One of the ID 3's unique features is an intelligent LED-based communication system designed to deliver alerts and status updates in a simple, easily interpreted manner.

The system is inspired by the LEDs you find on smart home devices. It illuminates in different colors and patterns for different notifications, and reacts to voice prompts with directional animations to indicate whether it is listening to the driver or passenger for additional input.

The LED strip is integrated with just about every vehicle system, including navigation, driver assistance features, infotainment and even the powertrain.

While it may sound like something out of “Independence Day,” the interplay is far more innocuous—not to mention productive. Per VW, strategic lighting design in a car's interior can lend it additional character. Long-time VW fans surely remember the company's use of light blue gauge illumination as a long-standing interior signature.

“For all its innovativeness, ID. Light functions intuitively by using familiar colours. This use of light, makes the vehicle more ‘personable’ and is a very simple and intuitive way of communicating,” says VW UX designer Valentina Wilhelm.

Volkswagen included some of the basic animations in a feature overview released Wednesday. Entry and exit are accompanied by animations reminiscent of a television being turned on and off. Door locking is indicated by an inward red animation; unlocking goes the opposite direction and appears in green. An upcoming turn is indicated by a blue effect running in the desired direction, and an emergency braking indicator is a full-width flash of red. Other notifications modes include incoming telephone calls and battery charge status.

The ID 3 will launch in Europe next year, and while it might eventually be brought to Canada, no U.S. distribution is likely. The first vehicle member of the ID family, a model to be called ID 4 (or ID 4X), hasn't yet been detailed, but look for ID models to share some common interface traits—and this might very well be one of them.

Volvo and Geely merging development for engines, still needed in hybrids

Volvo will offload its development of internal combustion engines to a new joint project with parent company Geely, the two companies announced Monday, allowing Volvo's in-house propulsion engineers to concentrate exclusively on electric powertrains.

While Volvo says it believes ICEs are here to stay for the foreseeable future, it is in the early stages of phasing out cars powered exclusively by fossil fuels. Hybrids will remain a part of Volvo's lineup, which means ICE development is still critical to the company's product plans, but that work doesn't necessarily need to be done by Volvo's engineers.

By the middle of the next decade, Volvo expects half its global sales to be EVs and the other half hybrids, the announcement said, and those hybrid engines will be supplied by the new joint operation. Both companies have already begun to spin off their ICE programs from their core operations in preparation for the merger, the announcement said.

This new business will bring roughly 3,000 employees from the Volvo side and 6,000 from Geely, the two automakers anticipate. Neither company plans to cut overall employment figures at all.

“Hybrid cars need the best internal combustion engines. This new unit will have the resources, scale and expertise to develop these powertrains cost efficiently,” said Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson, in the announcement.

Volvo's electrification push is well underway. The company already offers several plug-in hybrid models (though not all are sold in the United States just yet) and its first dedicated EV model, based on the new XC40 crossover, will make its formal debut later this month.

Geely is also pursuing electric cars; the company announced its first BEV for global distribution, the GE11 fastback, earlier in 2019.