Author: Green Car Online News

Nio looks to shed other businesses to keep building cars

After laying off 70 workers and closing an office in the U.S., Chinese automaker Nio is searching its cupboards for cash.

EV sales have foundered in China this year after generous subsidies expired. and several companies have delayed or abandoned expansion plans. Nio seems to be no exception, except that it has other resources it can look to cash in.

Nio is reportedly seeking a buyer for its power systems in China, including its charging stations and battery swap station, mobile power delivery vans, charging technology integration services, and charging station maps. The company said it has invested $290 million in the operations. Nio's power unit is on track to operate 1,100 charging stations and 1,200 power delivery vans by 2020 in cities across mainland China, and it aims for the launch of an independent app for Nio Power in the next two months.

The company also operates a venture investment fund in the U.S. and is seeking new opportunities to invest in new electric car technologies in the U.S. and overseas, according to the South China Morning Post. The fund is reportedly worth $1.5 billion and is has reportedly raised another several hundred million dollars from unspecified sources.

Nio Formula E race car, EP9, ES8 and Eve concept car

The automaker is known as the Tesla of China, and is one of the country's most successful luxury electric carmakers, It currently sells two SUVs in China, including the six-passenger ES6 and the slightly larger eight-passenger ES8. Nio recently recalled nearly 5,000 ES8s in China after a series of battery fires.

Nio showed two new vehicles at this year's Shanghai auto show: the ET Preview sedan, and the ET7 concept coupe, which previews the company's next-generation battery system. It also entered into a production agreement with larger Chinese automaker GAC, which has its own electric-car interests, to produce cars for it in the future after the Chinese government cracked down on the number of startup electric automakers with new restrictions.

French company makes EV conversions easy for old clunkers

Off-the-shelf EV conversions aren't just for classic cars like Prince Harry's Jaguar anymore.

French startup Transition One plans to make it easy to convert a wide variety of average old cars in the country to electric power by building a standard conversion kit. The company says the kit will fit several top-selling models in Europe, including the Renault Twingo II, Fiat 500, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo, and VW Polo.

The kit will sell for about $9,400 (8,500 Euros), and buyers can receive a 3,500 Euro tax credit in France, bringing the equivalent cost down to about $5,500. The company plans to complete each conversion in about four hours, once production is up and running.

The company has started by building a prototype electric car from a 2009 Renault Twingo, a small hatchback about the size of a Toyota Yaris. It uses Tesla battery modules in three packs under the hood, along with the motor and power electronics, and two more battery packs where the gas tank once sat.

Classic Mini Cooper electric conversion by Swind

The packs weigh 265 pounds, giving it about 18 kilowatt-hours of energy, which the company says will deliver about 112 miles of range in the Twingo.

In an interview with Bloomberg, company founder Aymeric Libeau said, “I’m selling to people who can’t afford a brand new 20,000 Euro [$22,200] electric car.”

The plan might be compared to that of Montreal's Ecotuned—aiming to convert old Ford F-150s with dying gas powertrains to electric power for fleets. The types of large, body-on-frame trucks that Ecotuned converts are as plentiful in North America as the small cars that Transition One plans to convert are in Europe. Other conversion companies—and some automakers—have begun focused conversion efforts on certain classics, such as the Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911, and the original Mini Cooper.

Libeau still needs to get his conversions approved by European regulators, which he says he expects to receive by the end of the year. Transition One is also seeking financing to buy a factory to produce up to 400 of the conversions a year, and plans to open orders in September to test the market demand.

Automotive supplier tests immersion-cooled batteries for EVs

The two biggest challenges for electric cars—battery life and charge times—come down to battery cooling.

Now British auto parts supplier Ricardo is working with partners to come up with a new type of cooling technology that the company hopes will allow automakers to pack more energy into cars' batteries and to charge them faster. The technology, called immersion cooling relies on coating the batteries with dielectric cooling gel, called MIVOLT, used as electrical insulation in other applications.

If it's successful, the technology could prolong battery life in electric cars and accept higher current rates while charging without overheating them, and potentially bring charge times down closer to the time it takes to refill a gas tank.

The i-CoBat immersion cooling project aims to reduce the size and cost of cooling systems to allow automakers to build denser battery packs without increasing the heat buildup.

2019 Audi e-tron battery pack

Today's liquid cooling systems rely on cooling plates with pumps to circulate ethylene glycol or another coolant. If it proves effective, the immersive cooling technology could split the difference between those bulky, heavy systems and simpler air-cooled systems such as in the Nissan Leaf, which has been more prone to heat-related battery issues than other electric cars.

Nissan, for instance, has limited the number of times the cars could fast-charge to prevent damage to the batteries, which made it difficult to take the cars on long trips that would require more than one or two DC fast charges, although the cars were equipped with CHAdeMO fast-charge ports. (Nissan has since issued a software update for the cars to allow them to use DC fast chargers more frequently.)

With simpler, cheaper cooling systems, electric cars could use bigger batteries that charge faster and last longer. The MiVOLT immersive coolant is also biodegradable, unlike ethylene glycol, which is also used as coolant in most gas engines.

Nissan electric-car battery

Ricardo is working on the project with British materials company M&I Materials and WMG, a manufacturing effort of the University of Warwick, in Britain as part of the British government's Faraday Challenge.

The project isn't the first to work on immersive cooling systems. A similar project launched in Taiwan in 2017.

“Power, performance, practicality such as fast charging times, and price are key determinants in persuading consumers to opt for an EV rather than a liquid-fueled vehicle when they next change their car,” said Neville Jackson, Ricardo's Chief Technology and Innovation Officer. “With current cell technologies, thermal management is a crucial enabler for improvements in these areas in order to reduce or eliminate range anxiety, and promote consumer acceptance of electric cars.”

Tesla hiking prices for “Full Self-Driving” by $1,000 for some owners.

Tesla announced in an email to owners on Wednesday that it will boost the price of its “Full Self-Driving Capability” suite of driver-assistance features starting Aug. 16. The increase applies over-the-air upgrades for existing Tesla owners who already have some of those features in the Enhanced Autopilot package.

The move is the first step in what CEO Elon Musk has promised will be a steady escalation of prices for Tesla's Full Self-Driving Capability features on the way to turning the company's products into a fleet of self-driving robo-taxis, Starting Aug. 16, buyers who already have Enhanced Autopilot will have to pay $4,000 rather than the current $3,000 upgrade charge.

Despite the name, the Full Self-Driving Capability package is not yet capable of driving the car itself. Before the cars can do that, the company has to perfect its Navigate on Autopilot system, which allows Teslas to control speed, follow lanes, and change lanes to drive from a highway on-ramp to off-ramp with minimal driver input as long as the driver is touching the steering wheel. However, various reports have indicated that drivers still have to intervene frequently. The company also has to convince regulators to approve letting its cars on the road without drivers.

Enhanced Autopilot is no longer offered, and its features have migrated to Autopilot, which became standard earlier this year, and FSD, which is the now the only available driver-assistance package. Enhanced Autopilot was an optional package that included adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and active lane control. Last fall, it added Navigate on Autopilot, but then it was discontinued this spring.

Consumer Reports Tesla Model 3 Navigate on Autopilot ready for right-lane pass [CREDIT: CR]

At that time, Tesla made Autopilot standard. It now includes automatic emergency braking and active lane control, but adaptive cruise control and automatic lane changing are reserved for the Full Self-Driving Capability option, which costs $6,000 when ordered on a new car. Those features, along with automatic parking, summon, automatic lane changes, and a link to the navigation system to enable Navigate on Autopilot make up the current set of features of the Full Self-Driving Capability option that are currently active. In the future, Tesla wants to add an advanced summon feature, automatic driving on city streets, and the ability to recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs.

Musk tweeted last month that the company would begin ratcheting up prices on the FSD option to reflect the cars' higher future earning potential.

This price increase represents the first bump up that apparent ladder, and it means buyers will have to pay more for the company's top level of driver-assistance software as the auto industry aims for true full self driving, which may be years away. Effectively, Tesla is adding cost in anticipation of buyers using their cars as taxis to make money, which many drivers won't do.

Last week, Musk announced that Tesla will begin rolling out a new version of its operating-system software, Version 10, which he said will improve the system's ability to recognize stop signs and lights on surface streets and eventually allow the cars to drive themselves to provide some degree of self-driving on city streets.

Honda pulls back Clarity PHEV outside California

As East Coast states try to catch California in plug-in car sales, they've lost another arrow in their quiver.

Honda switched from offering big incentives on Clarity Plug-In Hybrids in Northeastern States to shipping its entire U.S. allotment to California, according to a Honda spokeswoman.

“California is the largest market for plug-in hybrid vehicles. In order to meet customer demand, we are currently prioritizing supply of the Clarity Plug-in Hybrid in California, rather than allocating units for dealer inventory in other markets.” Honda spokeswoman Jessica Pawl told Green Car Reports in an email.

That poses a challenge—at least for now—for the nine Northeastern states that have signed on to follow California's emissions standards and plug-in vehicle mandate. Among those states are Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

While nearly 8 percent of cars sold last year in California were electric or plug-in, barely 1 percent of those sold in those Northeastern states were, and most of those were Teslas.

2018 Honda Clarity PHEV Plugged into L1 in Corte Madera, Calif.

Even with generous incentives, Honda was unable to move enough Clarity PHEVs in the Northeast to make it worthwhile to sell the cars there.

California's ability to set its own emissions standards, which those other states follow, is coming under attack from the EPA and the NHTSA under the Trump administration. A new proposed fuel-economy rule that could freeze fuel-efficiency standards through 2026 was sent to President Trump for review last week, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The new rule is expected to be released after Labor Day, and it's no longer clear whether it may retain some more-modest annual fuel economy increases. The new rule also proposes to rescind the right California has had since 1970 under the Clean Air Act to set its own standards that other states can follow.

If that EPA waiver gets pulled the number of EVs available in the Northeast may become a moot point, but California and 16 other states (plus Washington D.C.) have already launched a lawsuit against the proposal.

Inside EVs forum users tracked Clarity VIN numbers and first noticed no new VINs were showing up outside of California. When Honda first announced the Clarity, the company said the Plug-in Hybrid would be available nationwide, and it was in 2018.

Pawl says dealers in any state can still order a Clarity PHEV.

NHTSA to Tesla: Stop claiming your cars are the safest

Federal officials told Tesla again in October to stop advertising the Tesla Model 3 as the having “the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA,” federal documents revealed.

The notice surfaced Wednesday by nonprofit PlainSite. The response runs 79 pages, with another 450 withheld at Tesla's request.

In its letter, NHTSA Chief Counsel Jonathan Morrison called the statement “misleading” and said it forwarded the issue to the FTC's consumer protection bureau because it wasn't the first time Tesla violated NHTSA guidelines for advertising and communicating the results of NHTSA's tests. In 2013, NHTSA took issue with Tesla's advertising of safety scores for the Model S, saying the car had earned 5.4 stars on NHTSA's rating system. NHTSA does not award more than 5 stars.

NHTSA test of 2019 Tesla Model 3 AWD

In the letter, Morrison takes issue with four statements that Tesla made in a blog post last October announcing the Model 3's safety scores:

– “Model 3 achieves the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA”

– …”NHTSA's tests also show that it has the lowest probability of injury of all cars the safety agency has ever tested.”

– “The agency's data shows that vehicle occupants are less likely to get seriously hurt in these types of crashes when in a Model 3 than in any other car,” and,

– “But when a crash happens in real life, these test results show that if you are driving a Tesla, you have the best chance of avoiding serious injury.”

The issue is that NHTSA doesn't rank cars according to safety, and its front crash tests only compare cars of similar weight.

Tesla Model 3 NHTSA test

The agency has a five-star safety rating system, awarding more stars to cars that perform better in its battery of safety tests. The Model 3 earned five stars across the board, for having low risk of injuries to left- and right-seat front passengers in front crash tests, and left-side front and rear passengers in two left-side crash tests simulating being hit by another car and hitting a pole on the side of the road. The Model 3 also received five stars in NHTSA's dynamic rollover-propensity test. Last month, NHTSA finished testing the all-wheel-drive Model 3 Long Range Dual-Motor, which earned the same five stars across the board, earning the entire Model 3 lineup the same across-the-board five-star rating.

All of that puts it at the top of the top tier of NHTSA's safety ratings, but it doesn't guarantee the lowest overall risk of injury in a crash, because NHTSA doesn't rank those cars.

“This is not the first time that Tesla has disregarded the Guidelines…We have therefore also referred this matter to the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection to investigate whether these statements constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” the letter said.

The IIHS, which gives similar ratings on a slightly different set of crash tests, has not yet finished rating the Model 3.

In the letters, Tesla lawyers argued that it had independently calculated the risk of injury in federally tested vehicles with public data and determined that Tesla's claim that it had the lowest probability of any car on the road. Lawyers also argued that with more cars rated at five stars in federal crash tests, it would be important for manufacturers to distinguish between models.

“Tesla's statements are its own, are based on sound public data, and do not contravene NHTSA's guidelines.” Tesla Deputy Counsel Al Prescott wrote Oct. 31, 2018.

Green Car Reports reached out to Tesla for comment on this story, but did not receive a response before publication. The disputed blog entry remains on Tesla's website.

NHTSA vs Tesla, Honda Clarity PHEV, EV sales, electric conversions: Today’s Car News

The NHTSA sent Tesla another letter asking it stop using misleading safety claims for the Model 3. Honda focuses sales of the Clarity Plug-in Hybrid in California. New forecasts peg 2037 as the year EV sales will overtake gasoline worldwide. And readers are still in favor of electric-car conversions in our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

For the second time, the NHTSA told Tesla to stop making claims regarding its cars' performance in NHTSA crash tests, this time regarding the Model 3. Now the agency said it has forwarded its complaint to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Honda confirms that it is focusing new sales of its Clarity Plug-in Hybrid in California, because it says that's where the buyers are.

A new report from normally EV-optimistic Bloomberg NEF forecasts that electric car sales will surpass those of gas cars worldwide in 2037, but it will take many more years for them to become the majority of cars on the road.

In response to our Twitter poll last week, readers said EV conversions of older cars are still relevant today, even in the face of new long-range models that are available from many major automakers.

After announcing last week that new 2020 Kia Optima Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid will come standard with automatic emergency braking, the company recalled more than 11,000 2019 Optimas for a defect in the system.

Finally, add Bugatti to the ranks of boutique supercar-makers considering building an electric SUV. Out of four potential follow-ups to the Chiron, Automobile Magazine reports that the electric SUV is the leader.

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EV incentive credited for boosting Canadian sales by 30 percent (Updated)

Update: To clarify that the incentive is not a tax credit that requires filing federal taxes, and to correct Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau's first name.

After Canada introduced a nationwide $5,000 discount for electric cars, sales shot up by 30 percent, the country's Transport Ministry announced on Thursday.

The government announced the national incentive in March, after a provincial election in Ontario last July brought a Conservative government to power which had ended that province's $14,000 rebate for electric cars.

Since the new national incentive has been in effect, the government has issued 14,000 of the subsidies, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. Sales of plug-in cars in the country reached 3 percent in the second quarter, up from 2 percent last year.

The country has set a goal to reach 100 percent sales of electric vehicles by 2040, under the Paris Climate Accord, and is working with California to adopt that state's goals for clean air and clean fuels.

In a statement announcing the subsidies' effect, Garneau said that the 14,000 EV purchases—which include plug-in hybrids—will eliminate the emissions of 36,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year, or 429,000 tons over their expected lifetimes.

“Through these efforts, the Government of Canada is encouraging the use of zero-emission vehicles and making this clean technology more affordable to Canadians, while promoting a cleaner environment and better quality of life,” the Ministry said in a release. “Canadians’ quality of life—and Canada’s future growth—are deeply tied to the environment.”

Tesla brings back free Supercharging to juice high-end sales of Model S and Model X

Tesla announced Saturday it is bringing back free Supercharging on its high-end Model S and Model X.

We've heard that before.

What makes this time different is that the company isn't just offering the incentive on a few cars or in a limited amount. Instead, the company will offer free lifetime Supercharging to all buyers who purchase a Model S or Model X. It doesn't have to be a car in inventory, and no referral fee is needed. The only catch is that it only applies to the original owner of the car and isn't transferable when owners sell the car.

Free, lifetime Supercharging was originally included as standard equipment with every Tesla when charging was rare and buyers were skittish about charging.

Tesla began phasing out free Supercharging at the end of 2016 but has brought it back several times along the way for those with referral codes, as a sales incentive, on certain cars, and for limited amounts, such as 400 kilowatt-hours.

From the beginning, CEO Elon Musk said free Supercharging was designed to give Tesla drivers confidence to take their cars on road trips but was not meant to provide free power for everything a Tesla driver might want to do. In an earnings call last year in the midst of losses for the company, Musk said free Supercharging was “not really sustainable,” and said Tesla would end the practice. Still, it was revived a few times as limited offers on all of its models.

Tesla Supercharger station V3, Las Vegas

Last month, some owners on the Tesla Motors Club reported that the company was disabling free, unlimited Supercharging on early used cars that previously had lifetime free Supercharging, after Tesla bought them back to resell as certified used cars.

Now the free, unlimited Supercharging is designed to boost sales of Tesla's older and more expensive models, which have dropped in half as the Model 3 has ramped up to full production.

As the company struggles to generate steady profits even with full production of the Model 3, Tesla is counting on sales of its higher-profit Model S and X to get it there.

Green Car Reports reached out to Tesla for comment on this story, but did not hear back before publication.

VW ID R Nurburgring lap sets efficiency record too

As the Volkswagen ID R electric race car blistered around Germany's famous Nurburgring-Nordschliefe race course in June, it broke another record too: for the lowest fuel consumption driving around the course.

Volkswagen announced Friday that the ID R set a new fuel-efficiency record of the equivalent of 17 mpg on the lap. If that sounds like something you could pull off in a 1991 Ford Explorer, try it at full throttle while covering a 16.12-mile course in 6 minutes, 5.33 seconds at an average speed of more than 127 mph.

Charging the ID R's 43-kilowatt-hour battery pack using its exclusive glycerin-powered generators (that Volkswagen says non-toxic and “virtually” emissions free), VW says it used just 24.7 kwh of energy to complete the loop, the lowest of any car recorded.

Volkswagen ID R electric race car sets Nurburgring lap records

Volkswagen says that's about a quarter of the energy that a GT3 car would use. The fastest GT3 cars are more than a minute and a half slower around the track.

Before the run, ID R team members said they hoped to use the record lap to record all kinds of data from the car. Among the revelations is that the car generated 9.2 percent of the energy it used on the lap through regenerative braking.

On its way to the lap record, driver Romain Dumas loaded up to 3.49 Gs of lateral acceleration in cornering, at which point his neck had to hold up to 44 pounds of force from his head and helmet.

The ID R's top recorded speed 169.6 mph.

Making the point that electric cars can be both clean and fast seems worth that amount of energy.