Author: Green Car Online News

Aptera return, Polestar factory, Bollinger progress, Tesla insurance: The Week in Reverse

What ingredient for electric-car batteries is currently in a state of oversupply?

And which electric-vehicle brand from the past dusted off the mothballs and claimed a 1,000-mile range?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending August 30, 2019.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (r.) and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong in Shanghai July 10, 2018

On Friday we brought you some reassuring news about Tesla. It has gained a purchase tax exemption on all of its vehicles—although it could still be facing some tariff trouble over the Model S, Model X, and others that it might import from the U.S.

That was just some of the news we brought you this week from China, the world’s largest vehicle market (and EV market). Nio, which has planned to enter the U.S., is offering free battery swapping in its home market. And Polestar, the electrified performance brand related to Volvo, is asserting more independence by ramping up its own factory in China.

Polestar 1 production at plant in Chengdu, China

Meanwhile back in the U.S., Polestar will be considered a standalone automaker for federal EV tax credit eligibility. And we looked ahead about a month to October 1, when GM—with all of its brands counted together—will be faced with another drop in the amount buyers of eligible vehicles like the Chevy Bolt EV can claim.

In California, the biggest electric-car market in the U.S., Tesla launched a new insurance product—although it doesn’t appear to be quite as data-driven as Elon Musk suggested several months ago.

Design for new Aptera electric car, Aug 2019

Before Tesla was taken all that seriously, a completely different electric-vehicle idea was gaining traction. Ten years later, Aptera is returning with essentially that same idea, but with modern battery tech and a range of up to 1,000 miles.

Lincoln is seeking to bolster its demographics by making the most luxurious model in its Aviator SUV lineup a robust plug-in hybrid—albeit a sort of placeholder in the lineup. Meanwhile the closely related Ford Explorer Hybrid, which skips the plug-in range, has been rated at up to 28 mpg, according to the EPA

2020 Ford Explorer hybrid

Also later in the week we considered several future vehicles, through the spy shots of our partner site, Motor Authority. A Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid could take some of the brand’s experience with the Prius Prime and expand it to one of the most popular vehicle segments. And the Volkswagen ID 4X—the ID Crozz as we knew it as a concept—could also arrive in that same popular size class as the RAV4.

With the Frankfurt auto show just a couple weeks away, several more concept-car teasers gave us some glimpses of the future. An Audi AI:Trail concept could show how autonomous driving and off-roading could coexist, while Lexus might finally enter the electric vehicle fold with an urban EV.

Bollinger motors preparing B1 and B2 prototypes – August 2019

Bollinger Motors isn’t headed for mass production, hasn’t gone with outside investors, and isn’t aiming to make passenger vehicles. It is planning to show the production-intent prototypes of its B1 electric SUV and B2 electric pickup at an event in Michigan September 26.

Battery suppliers are facing an unexpected glut of lithium, although other problematic materials like nickel and cobalt will likely keep battery prices from falling any faster than already anticipated.

And on the subject of battery suppliers—and coming back full-circle to China—we started the week off with the news that Tesla has chosen LG Chem to be its primary supplier for vehicle production in China.

World’s largest electric ferry completes maiden voyage

Electric transportation technology is spreading beyond cars to heavy equipment, airplanes, helicopters, and now, boats.

The Danish ferry boat Ellen, which made its maiden voyage earlier this month between the Danish islands of Aero and Als, claims to be the world’s largest all-electric ferry.

While electric technology is still a challenge for long-haul shipping, and cruise companies are just branching out in to hybrids, short-haul, point-to-point ferry runs seem tailor-made for electric power.

Electric ferries have been running in Norway since 2015, but none nearly as large as the 195-foot long Ellen. This ferry can carry up to 30 cars (electric cars, we'd hope) and 200 passengers, and is powered by a 4.3 megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack made by conversion company Leclanche.

The company designs specialized marine battery rack systems with specialized fire prevention and extinguishing systems, and uses its own specialty battery-cell design.

All-electric passenger and car ferry, in Denmark

Leclanche CEO Anil Srivastava says that the new ferry will displace emissions of 2,000 tons of carbon-dioxide a year, plus 42 tons of nitrogen oxides, 2.5 tons of particulates, and 1.4 tons of sulfur-dioxide.

It’s among many new ships using hybrid and electric power and designed to meet new pollution standards for approaching and anchoring in European ports.

Ellen is “the precursor to a new era in the commercial marine sector,” Srivastava said. “This project demonstrates that today we can replace fossil fuel thermal drives with clean energy, and thus contribute to the fight against global warming and pollution for the well-being of our communities.”

Tesla gets official nod from China with tax exemption

The California-based electric car maker Tesla has received a boost from the nation with the world’s largest auto market—China.

As part of a declaration posted Friday by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Tesla is receiving an exemption from a 10-percent purchase tax.

The news, which is part of a broad policy applying to domestic electric vehicles, comes after a visit from Elon Musk to the company’s Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai and, prior to that, a widely publicized AI debate with Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference.

According to China Daily, Tesla was also included in Shanghai’s Pilot Free Trade Zone on August 20—a move that will place the company at a further financial advantage.

Tesla has already achieved a level of favored status from the Chinese government. Production facilities from foreign automakers in China have traditionally been required to form 50/50 joint ventures with local automakers, but Tesla is the first to operate one itself—under a special cooperation agreement that will involve the government to some degree. The Gigafactory 3, as Tesla calls it, is ramping up to start production of the Model 3 sedan later this year.

The new sales tax exemption covers the entire current lineup: Tesla Model S, Model X, and Model 3. Tesla has announced that it plans to build the Model 3 and upcoming Model Y crossover locally in China, for the Chinese market—with higher margins expected for those vehicles than for those Tesla makes in the U.S.

As an analyst noted to Reuters, this move doesn’t mean that punitive tariffs are off the table—and that could be a future financial burden of its own. Last week the Chinese government said that auto tariffs that were paused in April may be resumed in December. That would include a 25-percent tariff on cars from the U.S., like the Model S and Model X, which are still expected to be produced in California, for China.

Tesla launches insurance product—only in California

Tesla has opted to go it alone in some far-reaching and profound ways—like how it sells and services its cars, how it provides charging infrastructure, how it keeps them updated and, well, that every single car the automaker produces is fully electric.

And now Tesla is adding another potentially mammoth line of direct-to-consumer services: insurance. Wednesday it launched Tesla Insurance, which it says can save drivers up to 30 percent, available to drivers of the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Roadster.

The company said that the product—so far only offered in California—will not use individual driver data in pricing coverage for individual drivers. Just as with other insurance policies, it depends on the applicant’s driving record, among other common insurance factors.

That's a bit different than what Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased earlier this year—that the insurance product would be based on driver behavior, or data from Autopilot sensors.

“It will be much more compelling than anything else out there,” said Musk, during an April first-quarter financial call with analysts.

Tesla didn’t have an answer for Green Car Reports regarding who is underwriting the policy. The policies will extend to buying and leasing.

Reports from May cited documents filed with the State of California, suggested that Tesla might be using Markel’s State National Insurance Company. That particular filing stated that the product might use “direct data feeds with customer permission, when required, that eliminate frictional costs and inefficiencies inherent in traditional insurance processes.”

2018 Tesla Model X

Tesla’s product may be welcomed by many owners. The carmaker has had some high-profile disputes with how major insurers are assessing the safety of Teslas, including a 2017 row with AAA when the insurer raised premiums for Model S and Model X by 30 percent because of abnormally high claim rates.

Although Tesla is only covering its own vehicles, it says that it will help cover customers’ other vehicles, in what sounds like a referral to another insurance provider—or perhaps under a different insurance product from the same underwriter.

“Because Tesla knows its vehicles best, Tesla Insurance is able to leverage the advanced technology, safety, and serviceability of our cars to provide insurance at a lower cost,” sums a brief blog post from the company on the new service.

In an adjacent Q&A page, the company explains that Tesla Insurance can be managed in owners’ Tesla Account pages. The company says that customers can even request an insurance quote prior to delivery of their car, once a VIN has been assigned within their Tesla Account.

Tesla emphasizes that you can still select a plan through other insurers, and that you can cancel the monthly coverage at any time.

Tesla Insurance will expand to other states in the near future. It’s not the only automaker going in on insurance for electric cars either; Porsche earlier this summer announced the rollout (limited to Illinois and Oregon at first) of an insurance product program for its upcoming Taycan.

Nio is providing a fully charged battery in 3 minutes for free, in China

The Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio, in a bid to win over new customers, is waiving the fees for something that could be a real selling point in the increasingly tight Chinese EV market: battery swapping.

The company had installed 80 battery swap stations in China in 2018 and now has well over 100 of them. It had planned to install 1,100 of them across China by 2020.

Nio has been charging about $25 for each battery swap, according to Automotive News, or about $130 for a monthly subscription, although the company included 12 free battery swaps a year for early reservation-holders and those who bought the Founders Edition version of its upscale ES8 electric SUV.

A full battery swap takes just three minutes, which gets owners a fully charged battery faster than the fastest-charging models on the market, including the Tesla Model 3 and upcoming Porsche Taycan.

The ES8’s 70-kwh liquid-cooled lithium-ion pack is otherwise good for gaining 62 miles in 10 minutes from a 50-kw fast charger.

Earlier in the decade a startup called Better Place tried to standardize and popularize the idea of battery swapping. But it found a host of barriers, including swapping stations that were expensive to build, battery packs that were heavy to move around, and resistance to standardization.

Tesla also tried battery swapping and had the process, provided to a number of owners at Harris Ranch, California, down to just 90 seconds. But after a limited pilot program the company abandoned the idea in favor of a stronger Supercharger network.

Tesla Supercharger V3 station – Las Vegas Strip

The offer comes, of course, just as Tesla is rapidly expanding its network of Superchargers in China and working toward production of the Model 3 in China by the end of the year. Tesla's Supercharger V3 hardware is capable of adding about 75 miles of range in just 4 minutes.

Nio also operates a charging network in China, and has been looking for a buyer for its power systems business in China. Amid lagging sales there it’s pulled back from ambitious U.S. plans as well—even though it trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

Will battery swapping give Nio enough of a boost in its home market to revive its international push?

Report: Faraday Future could soon undergo restructuring, shed CEO

Although the future looks brighter this year for the electric-vehicle hopeful Faraday Future, with a new line of funding revealed in April to help them get through the year and to the long-awaited production of its FF91 electric SUV, a recent report suggests that there may soon be more upheaval to come.

The company’s CEO and founder, Jia Yueting, could be stepping down as part of a restructuring plan, according to the China-based, English-language tech-media site Pandaily.

Faraday is quite a different company than it was in 2017, when it revealed the FF91 to much fanfare at CES, or even last year, when a $2 billion round of financing was announced from Hong Kong–based Evergrande Health. Several months later Evergrande still hadn’t produced the first $700 million of the promised funding, as part of a dispute.

Evergrande ended up seeking elsewhere to build its own electric-vehicle empire—with a controlling interest in National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS), a Chinese company that bought the rights to Saab’s former vehicle designs (but not the name).

Some of the company’s top and founding executives have left the company, including Peter Savagian, the senior VP at Faraday and once chief engineer of the GM EV1. But the CEO, who goes by YT Jia, has remained at the company and in the U.S., where he reportedly can escape some of his own financial woes in China (part of the controversy in and of itself).

Faraday Future plant in Hanford, California

Faraday spokesman John Schilling declined to comment to Green Car Reports on what he called “speculation about our executives,” or on future plans for the company. But he confirmed that the company remains committed to the completion and launch of the FF91, and that it continues the development of the FF81 for launch in 2021.

It still has a place for that. The company gave up earlier plans to produce its vehicles at a North Las Vegas, Nevada, facility and opted for a smaller former Pirelli facility in Hanford, California—where, if this round of funding goes smoothly, the company could start building vehicles again sometime next year.

EV battery suppliers face glut of lithium, tight supply of other materials

Lithium is a critical ingredient for today’s electric-vehicle batteries. Although a host of chemistries show promise—such as sodium-ion, fluoride-ion, or iron-ion—lithium-ion is proven, and the demand for it has been increasing rapidly as electric cars take off.

And yet lithium has become unexpectedly plentiful and a lot cheaper this year. According to the Financial Times [subscription req’d], lithium prices are in a slump—due to a drop in demand from China, as government subsidies expire, combined with a rapid increase of production from new mines in Australia.

Bloomberg noted in July that supplies of lithium from Australia alone are expected to rise by 23 percent in the next two years, and six new mines have been opened there since 2017, partly to accommodate what suppliers, automakers, and the industry anticipate will be about a tenfold increase in lithium demand for batteries.

Flat lithium-ion battery back for next-generation Mercedes-Benz electric cars

Prices for the core raw-material product, lithium carbonate are down 13 percent this year; and the Solactive Global Lithium Index, which tracks the performance of companies active in exploration and mining of lithium, is down more than 50 percent since January. Other major producers are reporting earnings and profits down significantly.

The FT anticipates that in 2021, 56 percent of the world’s lithium-ion battery capacity will be in China, with 19 percent in Europe and 14 percent in the U.S.

Although future innovations pertaining to battery cathodes could help increase energy density—with a different balance of cobalt, nickel, and manganese—lithium will remain the preferred electrolyte. And even in a migration to solid-state cells with a solid electrolyte, lithium is anticipated to be the favored one for many years.

Average li-ion battery price by year – Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Don’t expect complete automotive cells to go way down in price because of the lithium glut. The concerns over cobalt supply (and its troubled sourcing from the Democratic Republic of Congo) haven’t gone away. Nor has the surge in nickel prices this year, which may be linked to battery supply issues seen earlier this year.

Electric vehicles remain on a track toward affordability and cost parity with gasoline cars in the next decade, although Bloomberg New Energy Finance has projected that the rapid affordability gains for batteries in EVs will slow somewhat over the next few years. The average electric-vehicle battery pack price, it has reported, is still falling significantly from today's $176 per kwh, to $94/kwh by 2024 and $62/kwh by 2030.

GM wins US grant to develop solid-state batteries

General Motors is the latest automaker reported to be working on solid-state lithium batteries, thanks to a $2 million grant from Uncle Sam.

The money is part of a larger grant to develop more fuel-efficient powertrains, CNET reported. The company is expected to use the rest of the money to develop a lighter-weight, more efficient engine for medium duty trucks, perhaps to replace the company's 6.2-liter V-8.

Solid-state lithium batteries replace the flammable liquid organic solvents such as ethylene carbonate as an electrolyte in conventional lithium batteries with a solid, ceramic electrolyte that isn't flammable. That allows engineers to cram more lithium atoms into the battery to give it more energy without increasing volatility, which could lead to lighter, batteries for electric cars with longer ranges.

VW Battery Packs

So far, complex manufacturing challenges, cost, and power output have held the batteries back.

Other automakers, including Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and startup automaker Fisker are also racing to develop solid state batteries for electric cars.

GM is also working with Honda in a joint venture to develop future electric-car and fuel-cell technologies, including batteries.

Nio ES6 battery

John Goodenough, an engineering professor at the University of Texas, who co-invented the modern lithium-ion battery, announced a breakthrough in solid-state lithium batteries in 2017, but with long automotive development lead times, it has not yet seen the light of day.

Not all automakers or battery companies are optimistic about the prospects for solid-state batteries. Panasonic, Tesla's battery partner, has said it doesn't expect solid-state lithium batteries to be commercially viable for another 10 years, and Tesla recently bought ultracapacitor producer Maxwell Technologies. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said ultracapacitors have more promise for electric cars than lithium-ion batteries.

EVgo and Electrify America team up to make chargers more accessible

Finding a fast charger in the U.S. just got a lot easier for a lot of electric-car drivers.

Two of America's largest fast-charging networks announced an agreement Thursday to allow each other's users to charge at their charging sites without signing up for new memberships or payment plans.

Electrify America and EVgo agreed to a roaming partnership that will allow members of either service to charge at any EVgo or Electrify America charging station.

Each of the networks already has individual agreements with the nation's other largest networks, ChargePoint and Greenlots.

Electrify America DC fast chargers in Gulfport, Mississippi

Together they make up at least 42 percent of the DC fast chargers in the U.S. and 60 percent of the total fast-charging locations, according to data from the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center. The others are split among Tesla (with 52 percent of the total fast chargers in 22 percent of locations), and six smaller networks.

That means that drivers of EVs other than Teslas are have a widespread network in many ways on par with Tesla's Superchargers that they can use to top off their batteries.

Unlike Tesla's Supercharger network, however, EVgo chargers are concentrated in and around cities—where EVgo points out that most EVs drive—rather than along highways between cities where the chargers could allow drivers to make longer trips between cities, as Tesla's Superchargers do.

Electrify America 350 kw chargers at Home Depot in Chicopee, Mass.

Electrify America, a division of Volkswagen, was founded under the settlement agreement over Volkswagen's diesel emissions cheating, and is required to install such highway charging stations. So far, however, it has only completed the first of four phases of a 10-year rollout plan.

Roaming “interoperability” agreements are becoming more common, making it easier for electric car-drivers to use a wider variety of chargers.

This has led to a spate of recent announcements—many using the “One-Step Plug & Charge” label—including between Greenlots and Electrify America and ChargePoint and Blink.

Polestar opens its own factory to build flagship plug-in hybrid

Volvo’s Polestar electric performance vehicle brand is, step by step, asserting itself as a standalone automaker. And two of the largest leaps yet were announced by the brand today.

One of them is that Polestar’s first production facility, in Chengdu, is now open and making the Polestar 1, a sleek high-performance plug-in hybrid sport coupe.

Polestar is planning to deliver a first-year allocation of 200 Polestar 1 vehicles for the North American market later this year at a pre-order price of $155,000. Polestar calls the 600-horsepower, carbon-fiber bodied 1 to be the most exclusive electrified vehicle to be manufactured in China.

Polestar production facility and customer experience center – Chengdu, China

The production facility itself is claimed to be one of the most environmentally responsible car factories in China, with a goal of achieving LEED Gold status for holistic sustainability and energy-saving practices. It includes an adjacent customer experience center, with a test track and covered atrium showcasing a panoramic view out over the factory floor.

“Here in Chengdu we are not only manufacturing a premium hybrid-electric performance car,” said Thomas Ingenlath, the CEO of Polestar. “We have also created an inspirational manufacturing environment, a great place to work and visit. It truly reflects the Polestar brand.”

The Polestar 2, a model that will directly rival the Tesla Model 3, will be made in Luqiao, China, beginning in early 2020. A related Polestar 3 will compare to the Tesla Model Y.

Polestar 2

The second big announcement accompanying the factory start is that Polestar has been given a World Manufacturing Identifier, which inserts space from both Volvo, with which it shares some engineering resources and strategic decisions, and Geely, its parent company.

Depending on how the political drama plays out surrounding potentially high tariffs placed on cars made in China, that space from Volvo might not entirely be a good thing. Volvo Cars has inaugurated a U.S. assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, that can produce up to 150,000 vehicles annually and will create about 4,000 jobs over several years.

Being treated as a separate automaker will however help Polestar with respect to the federal EV tax credit. Even after Volvo delivers 200,000 eligible plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, Polestar buyers will still be able to claim the full $7,500.