Author: Green Car Online News

Mercedes-Benz EQC, VW’s battery factory, Hyundai’s electric sports car: Today’s Car News

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 – first drive – Norway, May 2019
We're among the first to drive the Mercedes-Benz EQC. Volkswagen plans to invest $1.1 billion in a new battery factory in Germany. Hyundai and Kia invest $80 million in Croatian EV startup Rimac. And our Twitter poll asks how EV drivers should contribute to road maintenance. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

In a first drive outside of Oslo (practically native habitat for luxury electric cars), the new 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC electric SUV proved itself among the quietest and most luxurious EVs we've driven. But solid range measurements remained elusive.

As VW and other German automakers are scrambling to build local battery supplies in Europe, the country's largest automaker announced plans to build a new battery factory—along with a partner—in its home state of Lower Saxony.

Korean auto giant Hyundai, along with its sister company Kia, gave Croatian EV sports-car startup Rimac a big boost in its bid to become a Tier 1 supplier of electric drivetrain components to the auto industry, with a big investment and plans for a new Korean electric sports car.

Our Twitter poll this week asks our readers how electric-car drivers should contribute to road maintenance, traditionally funded by state gas taxes.

Volkswagen also previewed a new digital dashboard for its upcoming 2020 redesign of the Golf.

Finally, the NHTSA will give up on new requirements, first adopted in light of the Toyota unintended acceleration problem in 2011, to require brake override software on new cars.

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Porsche fined $600 million in Germany over dirty diesels

2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel
German regulators Tuesday hit Porsche with a $600 million (535 million euro) fine, for its role in selling cars powered by diesel engines designed by Audi that failed to comply with European emissions requirements.

The cars, including the Cayenne and Panamera, used a 3.0-liter diesel V-6, exceeded European emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen, which contribute to smog.

READ THIS: Audi to pay $927 million fine over diesel scandal in Germany

An investigation the regulators conducted found that Porsche employees turned a blind eye to the emissions cheating starting in 2009. In a release announcing the fine, Porsche emphasized that investigators found the negligence “several levels below” executive positions.

The fine represents the last action against Porsche, and one of the last against VW, to close out the legal repercussions of the larger VW emissions cheating scandal. In September, Porsche announced that it will stop selling diesels altogether as it focuses on developing and selling new electric models such as the new Taycan electric performance sedan due out late this year.

READ MORE: German prosecutors find collusion between automakers over diesel emissions

Audi was fined 800 million euros (about $927 million) last October over its leading role in the diesel emissions cheating scandal, and last month in a separate case triggered by the ongoing diesel emissions investigations, European Union regulators found that German automakers colluded to withhold the most effective emissions control systems from European consumers.

Daimler, which builds Mercedes-Benz models, does not expect to be fined in that case, because it drew European investigators' attention to the issue. BMW says it will fight the charges in court but set aside $1.1 billion in case it needs to pay the fine.

Dyson patents show possible Tesla Model X competitor

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021
Dyson, the maker of snazzy, high-tech vacuum cleaners, has said for two years that it will build electric cars starting in 2020.

Now the company has released patent drawings that give a hint of what at least the first one may look like.

READ THIS: Dyson plans to build its electric car in Singapore

The drawings show a long, low crossover SUV—call it a wagon if you must—reminiscent of the former Mercedes-Benz R-Class or the original version of the Chrysler Pacifica.
It shows three rows of forward facing seats in a relatively low-slung body that should allow it to move plenty of passengers relatively efficiently, within its sleek shape.

CHECK OUT: Dyson plans to build electric-car test track in Britain

That sounds a lot like the mission of the Tesla Model X.
Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021

James Dyson, the company's namesake founder, sent a memo to staff, obtained by Bloomberg, saying that the patents, “don't reveal what our vehicle will really look like or give any specifics around what it will do.” It went on to say, they do “provide a glimpse of some of the inventive steps,” the company is considering.

The patent shows a battery under the floor and large, relatively narrow tires that could be used to reduce rolling resistance.

READ MORE: Battery tech may be getting a big solid-state boost soon

Dyson, known as a somewhat eccentric inventor, has also said that the company will build a range of new models in the coming years.
Last year, Dyson acquired land in Britain to set up a test track at a former British air force base and announced it would build its new electric cars in Singapore at a new factory to be constructed by 2020, and start production in 2021. The company has committed to spending $2.6 billion to launch its automotive business and plans to hire 500 staff members.

In January, it hired former Infiniti executive Roland Krueger to head up its automotive operations and moved its automotive headquarters to Singapore.

Maserati joins ranks of EV holdouts among exotic automakers

Teaser for Maserati Alfieri sports car
Although it announced the end of using Ferrari engines in its cars last week, Italian luxury-carmaker Maserati won't be going all-electric any time soon.

“This is a brand that needs combustion engines,” Maserati's North American chief, Al Gardner, told Motor Trend in an interview earlier this month. “It needs that raw emotion,” he said.

As if electric cars can't deliver raw emotion. Just ask any Tesla Model S P100D or original Roadster owner.

And Tesla's electric cars have been running over the rest of the luxury passenger-car sector in sales, to become the top selling car in both the luxury sedan and premium sedan markets.

READ THIS: Jeep Grand Commander EV leads FCA electrification push

Gardner is adding Maserati's voice to a chorus of classic sports-car makers saying electric is not for them. Although Porsche's parent, the VW Group is going all-in on electric cars and has said that it will transition to an all-electric automaker and is currently developing its last combustion engine, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said last November that the 911 would never become an EV. (Although two hybrid variants of the 911 are reportedly under development.)

And Gardner made his statement in the face of Fiat Chrysler's business plan announced last June, showing that Maserati planned to launch eight new plug-in hybrids and four new battery electric vehicles by 2022, and that those vehicles would cover 68 percent of the company's lineup.

Maserati 2022 roadmap

At least some of the electric models would use 800-volt battery architecture for the fastest possible charging—up to 350 kilowatts, or an 80 percent, or bulk, charge in less than 10 minutes.

The company at the time said that the electric models would use three motors to provide torque-vectoring control, and have 50 percent more power than today's models.

Those plans aren't necessarily off the table, but according to Gardner, it won't be enough for the brand.

Just as Tesla wanted to stand out from the mass of internal-combustion cars when the company launched the Model S, Maserati and others are counting on the individualized character of internal combustion engines to stand out from the nearly silent crowd in the mainly-electric future.

EVgo fast-charge network commits to 100 percent renewable power

2019 Jaguar I-Pace at EVgo charger
If electric cars are supposed to clean up the environment and reduce global warming—and they are—EV drivers would like to rely on 100 percent renewable energy to do charge. And charging networks are striving to provide it.

Many, including Tesla with its Supercharger stations, are building new charging stations with solar canopies or stations with battery storage, or both.

READ MORE: Charging network EVgo goes tagless, tests battery buffers at stations

But there's more than one way to deliver clean power. Charging network EVgo announced last week that it signed contracts with all its power providers to deliver clean energy to all its chargers.

The company claims it will be the first charging network in the U.S. to provide 100 percent renewable electricity, and that it already receives all its electricity in California from wind and solar power. It did not specify whether all the new renewable power it will buy elsewhere will come only from wind and solar or whether it could include energy from other renewable sources such as hydro power or biomass.

CHECK OUT: EVgo launches first curbside fast chargers

Of course, that doesn't mean that every electron that flows into the battery came only from a windmill or solar panel. It only means that the money drivers pay to charge flows back to support such endeavors. As such systems expand, though, it pumps larger buckets of funding to building new renewable energy sources.
EVgo has also installed a variety of types of battery backups at several of its California stations to test what types of systems remain the most cost effective over the long run. It installed its first fast-charging solar-array canopy at a fast-charge station in Baker, California, in the desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas last year.

Dyson EV takes form, Maserati keeps engines, EVgo going all-renewable: Today’s Car News

2020 Opel Grandland X Hybrid4
British vacuum-cleaner maker Dyson patents some designs for a future electric car. Maserati boss says not all carmakers will go all-electric. EVgo commits to all-renewable energy sources. And an annual AAA survey on electric cars shows that more Americans think cars will drive themselves in 2030 than will be all-electric. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

New patent filings from electric-car hopeful and famous British vacuum maker Dyson show its first electric car could be an efficient crossover people-mover to compete with the Tesla Model X.

Maserati's North American boss says the brand won't go all electric, but will retain some gas engines to give its cars “character.”

EVgo, the largest network of fast-charge stations for electric cars, will commit to buying all renewable power for its chargers, going forward.

A new AAA survey shows that 40 percent of Americans think all cars will be electric by 2030—and 50 percent think they will be self-driving by then.

Rich Benoit, who became famous on YouTube for rebuilding a flooded, salvage Tesla and helping others with their Tesla problems, plans to expand his service by building his own shop.

Opel introduces its first extended-range electric vehicle in Europe, the Granland X Hybrid4 SUV.

Finally, BMW is teaming up with Microsoft to develop the next-generation voice assistant for cars. The two plan to develop an open-source voice recognition system that others could build on.

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VW ID 3 racks up 10,000 deposits in first day

2020 Volkswagen ID Neo spy shots
Three years after Tesla started taking $1,000 reservations for its Model 3, Volkswagen is racking up similar orders for its upcoming ID 3 hatchback in Europe.

Perhaps not to the degree, sure. Tesla amassed 180,000 orders for its “affordable” long-range electric car in one day in the US, while VW took 10,000 first-day deposits on the day it opened reservations for the ID 3 hatchback.

DON'T MISS: VW names fully electric hatchback ID 3, starts taking deposits in Europe

Still, the advanced orders are a hopeful sign for VW, after Tesla, Nissan, GM, and other automakers got a head start in building long-range electric cars.

Volkswagen said the orders exceeded its expectations, and said that in some cases its computer systems couldn't keep up with the deposits.

READ MORE: VW releases video of electric ID hatchback testing in South Africa

The company is booking reservations for the first edition of the ID 3, the ID 3 1ST, which comes with the long-range 62-kilowatt-hour battery pack, as well as 2,000 kwh of free public charging at Ionity fast charging stations around Europe.

The 62-kwh battery is expected to give the ID 3 a range of 260 miles on the notably generous European WLTP driving cycle. A shorter range, 48-kwh, is expected to deliver closer to 200 miles.

CHECK OUT: VW ID Buggy teases potential of electric-car platform with some beach fun

VW says the ID 3 will go into production by the end of 2019—about six months later than its original estimate—and the first cars will be delivered in Europe in mid-2020.

Volkswagen has no plans to sell the ID 3 the US, though it does plan to import future electric cars based on the ID 3's platform to the US, starting with the ID Crozz later in 2020.

First Mercedes-Benz EQC rolls off assembly line in Germany

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC Edition 1886
German automakers have all said they will go all-in on electric cars, Yet so far, few have actually arrived, with the Audi E-tron trickling into a few U.S. dealerships last week.

Now Mercedes-Benz has announced that it produced its first new electric EQC SUV on Monday at its factory in Bremen, Germany. The car will go on sale in Europe, but is not expected to come to the U.S. until next year.

We're headed out to sample the EQC from behind the wheel and will update readers as soon as we've had a chance to gather first impressions.

CHECK OUT: Mercedes-Benz EQC Edition 1886 electric SUV kicks off a new era

In the meantime, Mercedes says the EQC's 80 kilowatt-hour battery will give it a range of 280 miles on the old, and very optimistic, New European Drive Cycle tests. That could equate to little more than 200 miles in the U.S., though Mercedes has said it will have as much as 279 miles of range when it goes on sale here.

The EQC's main competitor, the 2019 Audi E-tron quattro, which just went on sale, has only a 204-mile EPA range rating.

The EQC also includes a relatively fast 7.4-kilowatt Level 2 onboard charger.

DON'T MISS: It's a long(er) story? 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC scraps 200-mile range estimate

Mercedes announced European pricing, with a “base version” that starts at 71,281 euros, or just short of $80,000. That makes it slightly less expensive than the E-tron quattro in Europe.

With a “net basic price,” Mercedes says, of less than 60,000 euros (just over $67,000) it qualifies for Germany's 4,000-euro federal tax incentive for EVs.

READ MORE: 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC specs revealed (Updated)

Mercedes says the EQC will get between 3 and 3.3 miles per kilowatt-hour.

The EQC is based on Mercedes' GLC SUV and expected to go into production in the U.S. at Mercedes's Tuscaloosa, Alabama, factory late this year, with batteries produced at another plant near the factory.

Mercedes-Benz EQC, VW ID 3, FCA emissions boost Tesla: Today’s Car News

Tesla Model Y – introduction, Hawthorne CA, March 2019
Electric cars are starting to roll out from German automakers. Volkswagen gave a name to its new electric hatchback, and started taking orders. And Mercedes-Benz rolled the first electric EQC SUV off its assembly line in Germany. Details emerged of Fiat Chrysler's deal with Tesla to share emissions credits. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

Volkswagen opened its order banks for its first of a new generation of electric cars, the ID 3 electric hatchback, albeit only in Europe.

Mercedes-Benz also launched its new EQC electric SUV in Europe, with the first example rolling off the assembly line this week.

The emissions deal between Tesla and FCA announced last month could be worth a surprising amount to Tesla's bottom line.

And in our latest Twitter poll, most readers reported realizing the full amount of the federal tax credit if they bought an electric car last year. A sizable minority, however, didn't.

Google is revamping its Android Auto driving interface to give it a cleaner look, more flexibility, and simpler operation.

Finally, BMW says it will roll out a fleet of 500 fully-self-driving SUVs based on its iNext electric SUV concept, in 2021.

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