Author: Green Car Online News

Ads from Ford tackle EV misconceptions, amid electric push

Ford executives this earlier this week stepped up the anticipated timeline for the upcoming electric Ford F-150 pickup. It’s now due in 2021, according to several reports. And it coincides with a concerted effort from Ford to promote electric cars.

That includes a series of ads, coming soon—spending level undisclosed—based on an internal Ford survey and aiming to address consumer concerns about electric cars. In the survey, many said they didn’t think electric cars would work in the snow or could be charged in the rain. And 90 percent said they think electric cars won’t accelerate that fast.

Those perceptions come from early development EVs, said Ted Cannis, Ford’s global director for electrification. One such example was the Ford Ranger pickup from the mid 1990s that had 40 miles of range and a bed full of batteries.

1999 Ford Ranger EV

Now that battery prices are coming down and public charging stations are becoming commonplace, Cannis says Ford is working to address these other concerns.

Ford’s campaign aimed at misconceptions actually launched earlier this summer with its video of an electric F-150 test mule pulling a freight train.

The company plans to continue the campaign with videos showing the company testing some of its new electric cars at negative-40-degree temperatures, doing performance driving at speed at the company’s Charlotte, North Carolina, testing facility, and otherwise doing real work and showing people doing real things.

Ford isn’t the only automaker aiming at electric-vehicle misconceptions. Audi, for instance, has some cleverly written ads for its E-tron SUV poking fun of them.

The Ford campaign is aimed at spreading electric-car enthusiasm beyond early adopters to new types of buyers. And to do that, the company plans to extend more fully electric electric choices to more models and vehicle types.

“One of our goals is to fill in segments where there wasn’t one [an EV option] before,” Cannis said to Green Car Reports last month, noting that early electric cars were appropriately aimed at younger buyers and those in California, because those demographics include large numbers of early adopters.

Another EV misconception from Ford: Over two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) and Europeans (68 percent) don’t believe that electric vehicles are capable enough in terms of towing and hauling.

Obviously that one needs to be dispelled as Ford plans to use electrification to amplify the characteristics that already draw buyers to certain models, by building the electric and hybrid F-150, a hybrid Mustang, an electric SUV with Mustang inspired performance and styling, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of its Explorer.

The new models are part of an $11 billion investment Ford is making in electrification and launched as “Team Edison” in 2017, with the first product from the team, an all-electric SUV, due next year.

Look up to the lead video, and then below here, to see Ford's new message on EVs.

VW paying drivers $97M for overstating fuel economy, must forfeit emissions credits

In the shadow of the diesel scandal, and just before the official reveal of its first mass-market electric car next week, Volkswagen is facing yet another public reprimand: It’s being ordered by the EPA to revise its fuel economy estimates applying to about 98,000 vehicles.

And in a separate settlement coinciding with the Friday announcement (pending court approval), VW will pay drivers a total of $97 million—ranging from $5,40 to $24.30 for each month the affected vehicle is owned or leased.

2014 Porsche Cayenne Platinum Edition

The issue, over a software routine that shifted the transmission in a more efficient manner than normal when it was being run in an emissions test, affects some of the most exclusive and expensive gasoline-powered vehicles in the Volkswagen Group, including 2013-2016 Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur models, the 2013-2016 Porsche Cayenne, as well as 2013-2016 Audi models that include the 4.0-liter V-8 or 6.3-liter W-12 engines. It also includes the 2013-2014 Volkswagen Touareg (VR6) and all-wheel-drive (4Motion) versions of the 2017 Tiguan crossover.

For under-reporting the numbers, VW is also being required by the EPA to forfeit its emission credits earned for federal light-vehicle greenhouse-gas standards, as it has understated greenhouse-gas emissions by about 220,000 metric tons. It works out to be about 1 mile per gallon across the affected vehicles.

The issue, as described by the EPA, sounds awfully familiar: “This software causes the transmission to shift gears during the EPA-prescribed emissions test in a manner that sometimes optimizes fuel economy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the test, but not under normal driving conditions.”

In Volkswagen’s diesel scandal, “defeat device” engine software controls were using a set of variables to determine when a vehicle was being run in an emissions test; in some situations when it wasn’t, the software allowed relaxed emissions controls permitting many times higher NOx emissions.

2014 Volkswagen Touareg R-Line

The new round of ordered adjustments don’t have anything to do with diesel. And owners of the affected vehicles should note that the they're well within allowed emissions in either of its modes of transmission operation.

The EPA is working with the Department of Energy to update values for the affected vehicles at FuelEconomy.gov, and changes will be made by September 6, 2019.

See below for the chart of adjustments by model, as published by the U.S. EPA:

Brand
MY
Model
Engine
Transmission
Old Label Values
New Label Values
Combined
City
Highway
Combined
City
Highway
Audi
2013
A8L
6.3L W12
Auto(S8)
16
13
21
15
13
20
S8
4.0L V8 TSI
Auto(S8)
19
15
26
18
15
26
Audi
2014
A8L
6.3L W12
Auto(S8)
16
13
21
15
13
20
RS7
4.0L V8 TSI
Auto(S8)
19
16
27
19
15
27
S8
4.0L V8 TSI
Auto(S8)
19
15
26
18
15
26
Audi
2015
A8L
4.0L
Auto(S8)
22
18
29
21
18
29
A8L
6.3L W12
Auto(S8)
17
14
22
16
13
22
RS7
4.0L
Auto(S8)
18
15
25
18
14
25
S8
4.0L
Auto(S8)
20
17
27
20
16
27
Audi
2016
A8L
6.3L W12
Auto(S8)
17
14
22
16
13
22
RS7
4.0L
Auto(S8)
18
15
25
18
14
25
S8
4.0L
Auto(S8)
19
15
25
18
15
25

Bentley

2013
Continental GT
4.0L
Auto(S8)
18
15
24
18
14
24
Continental GTC
4.0L
Auto(S8)
17
14
24
17
13
24
Bentley
2014
Continental GT
4.0L
Auto(S8)
18
15
24
18
14
24
Continental GTC
4.0L
Auto(S8)
17
14
24
17
14
23
Flying Spur
6.0L W12
Auto(S8)
15
12
20
14
12
20
Bentley
2015 – 2016
Continental GT
4.0L
Auto(S8)
19
15
25
18
15
25
Continental GT Convertible
4.0L
Auto(S8)
17
14
24
16
13
23
Flying Spur
4.0L
Auto(S8)
17
14
24
17
13
24
6.0L W12
Auto(S8)
15
12
20
14
12
20
Bentley
2017
Continental GT
4.0L
Auto(S8)
19
15
25
18
15
25
Continental GT Convertible
4.0L
Auto(S8)
17
14
24
16
13
23
Porsche
2013
Cayenne
3.6
Auto(S8)
19
17
23
19
16
23
Cayenne GTS
4.8
Auto(S8)
17
15
21
16
14
20
Cayenne S
4.8
Auto(S8)
18
16
22
18
15
22
Cayenne Turbo
4.8
Auto(S8)
17
15
22
17
14
21
Porsche
2014
Cayenne
3.6
Auto(S8)
20
17
23
19
17
23
Cayenne GTS
4.8
Auto(S8)
17
15
21
16
14
20
Cayenne S
4.8
Auto(S8)
18
16
22
18
15
22
Cayenne Turbo
4.8
Auto(S8)
17
15
22
17
14
21
Cayenne Turbo S
4.8
Auto(S8)
16
14
20
15
13
20
Porsche
2015
Cayenne S
3.6
Auto(S8)
20
17
24
19
16
24
Porsche
2016
Cayenne
3.6
Auto(S8)
21
19
24
20
17
24
Cayenne GTS
3.6
Auto(S8)
19
16
23
18
16
23
Cayenne S
3.6
Auto(S8)
20
17
24
19
16
24
Cayenne Turbo S
4.8
Auto(S8)
17
14
21
16
14
21
Volkswagen
2013 – 2014
Touareg
3.6L VR6 FSI
Auto(S8)
19
17
23
19
16
23
Volkswagen
2017
Tiguan 4MOTION
2.0L TFSI
Auto(S6)
21
20
24
21
20
23

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.