Author: Green Car Online News

ChargePoint raises $240 million to expand charging-station network

2014 BMW i3 REx fast-charging at Chargepoint site, June 2016 [photo: Tom Moloughney]
ChargePoint, the largest network of electric car charging stations, announced last Wednesday that it has raised $240 million to become even bigger.

The investment comes at a pivotal moment after ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano in September announced an ambitious goal to build enough chargers to juice up 2.5 million electric cars worldwide.

The latest investment, along with that goal, should help keep ChargePoint competitive with other rapidly growing charging networks in the U.S. and Europe.

DON'T MISS: ChargePoint commits to build charging stations for 2.5 million cars by 2025

Although ChargePoint is the largest and one of the oldest electric-car charging networks, the competition is coming on strong. Under a court mandate to settle charges over diesel emissions cheating, Volkswagen is setting up the Electrify America network to rival Tesla's Superchargers across the U.S. It is building Phase One of its planned rollout with 484 public charging locations consisting of 2,000 chargers, most of them DC fast chargers, and is planning the rollout of Phase 2, starting next year.

In Europe, ChargePoint's next big market, major automakers BMW, Daimler, Ford, and the Volkswagen Group have banded together to build the Ionity network of fast chargers around the continent.

READ MORE: ChargePoint users can now access networks in Canada, Europe

Other long-time competitors such as EVgo are also expanding, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced this month that the company will double the size of its Supercharger network next year.

ChargePoint's latest investment—it's seventh round for anyone counting—comes from electric utility American Electric Power, Chevron, Daimler trucks and buses, BMW, and Siemens and energy investment fund Quantum Energy (the lead investor).

CHECK OUT: Musk announces more and faster Tesla Superchargers on the way

One of ChargePoint's strategies is to focus on building high powered charge points for trucks and buses, including municipal bus fleets, a market where there isn't as much competition.

At the same time, the company plans to continue to build more chargers for cars if it intends to keep the commitment it made at California Governor Jerry Brown's Global Climate Action Summit in September.

“We are at a tipping point in the generational shift to transportation electrification,” says ChargePoint President and CEO Pasquale Romano. “Leading investors from automotive, utilities, oil and gas, and financial institutions are coming together to support ChargePoint’s vision of an all-electric future as the mass adoption of electric mobility and the transition to electric fleets accelerate.”

Here’s why Kia Soul EV and Kia Niro EV both get big 64-kwh battery packs

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2020 Kia Soul EV
One key specification in the 2020 Kia Soul EV that was revealed at the LA Auto Show this week was a bit unexpected: its inclusion of a large, 64-kwh battery pack.

That leaves two vehicles—the Soul EV and the 2019 Kia Niro EV—with the same big battery. And both will be arriving at U.S. dealerships in the first quarter of 2019.

Based on earlier hints, we expected Kia to fit the more city-focused, lease-oriented Soul EV with the company’s 39-kwh pack. So we asked Kia why it decided to go big on battery for both of these high-utility hatchbacks.

Simply put, according to Kia, it’s what existing Soul EV drivers want. And the Soul EV and Niro EV don’t really compete with each other.

DON’T MISS: 2019 Kia Niro EV rated at 239 miles, on sale soon

“The plan all along was to maximize range, because that’s what our customers want,” said Steve Kosowski, the manager of long-range strategy and planning at Kia Motors America.

2020 Kia Soul EV

When, in late 2015, the company surveyed its customers about what range they wanted in a next vehicle, they were a bit surprised about how high the range they wanted was. “The median range was 208 miles,” said Kosowski. “So from this we learned that 200 miles is sort of a magical number.

CHECK OUT: 2020 Kia Soul EV has more punch, faster charging, and a lot more battery

The 39-kwh pack couldn’t meet that, so it was ruled out at that point in the development process. “It was very telling, we got a lot of very valuable information from that survey,” said Kosowski. “One of the engineers asked, why do you want to carry all this weight around if you only use a portion of the battery most of the time; but I think the industry has shown, and consumers have shown, that 200 is the new floor.”

That happens to be quite close to what Honda describes as the process in deciding why it didn’t need significantly more range in its Clarity Electric, versus its former Fit EV (by surveying owners). Honda settled on just 25.5 kwh and an EPA-rated 89 miles of range. So apparently not everyone agrees.

READ MORE: 2019 Kia Soul EV drops most affordable trim

Kia says that, despite the similarities, very few if any shoppers will consider both the Soul EV and the Niro EV. Soul EV customers want the car to be more vibrant and youthful—thus the brighter color palette—with the capability to take along a bike, surfboard, or dogs, Kosowski said, while Niro EV buyers are more understated and more likely to have kids.

2019 Kia Niro EV

The Niro is the flagship eco-car for Kia, so it will be the somewhat higher-priced, more premium offering in the lineup than the Soul EV.

At a current estimated cost, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, of more than $200 per kilowatt-hour, including manufacturing costs and ancillary pieces like the pack case and cooling system, the 64-kwh battery pack could cost several thousand dollars more than the 39-kwh one, even when considering the economies of scale. But if more existing owners re-up for the new model because of it, and Kia is able to sell more Soul EVs rather than unload them via lease deals, the range bump may pay off handsomely.

Byton reveals self-driving living-room on wheels, the K-Byte, in LA

Byton K-Byte concept
Byton aims to reinvent the car by turning it into the next generation iPhone. Other automakers have talked about turning their center screen displays into iPhone-like interfaces, but not the whole car.

That seems to be the goal of Byton, which says it is creating the “next generation smart device,” “spaceship Byton,” “your self-cruising living space.”

In a two-hour press conference streamed from Shanghai in English and Chinese to coincide with its press-conference slot at the LA Auto Show, the startup electric-carmaker laid out plans to bring its first SUV to market late next year, and showed a concept version of its next model, the K-Byte luxury sedan.

READ THIS: Byton begins road testing its electric car in China

Both cars are fully electric, based on the same “skateboard” chassis, with batteries under the floor.

Byton was scant with actual specs, but said the base version of the M-Byte SUV will have about 280 miles of range, while a more expensive trim level with a bigger battery will get about 325 miles. Batteries will be supplied by Chinese manufacturer CATL.

The K-Byte will be a full-size sedan, 195 inches long, on a 118-inch wheelbase (about 2 inches longer than the SUV), making it about the size of a Toyota Avalon. It has small flying buttresses covering the rear window pillars, which Byton says improve aerodynamics to stretch the car's range.

Byton K-Byte concept

Byton executives made a bigger deal about the cars’ 49-inch “coast-to-coast,” “shared-experience display,” which it displayed in the M-Byte, and which we had a chance to sample at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January. The single, curved screen stretches the width of what would normally be the dashboard. If the car is to be the next-generation iPhone, this screen is the heart of the car.

The interface isn’t that different from the one we sampled, with three sections to the screen, one on the left for driving displays, a center section for navigation and audio, and an entertainment screen for the passenger on the right.

It will offer augmented reality for the driver, virtual reality, a simulator, and video conferencing. Reading and sending emails should be comparatively simple. A wide-angle, digital rear-view camera screen appears at the bottom left behind the steering wheel.

Byton K-Byte concept

Byton says the screen will comply with all international automotive standards, which means that while driving, the screen either can’t display video or the driver can’t see the section of it that does. The company also says it will be silicon-coated for crash safety.

The screen can be reconfigured, with the navigation system, for example, taking up the right two-thirds of the display, complete with, Byton says, “all” points of interest, which will be integrated with navigation and search, much like Google Maps—only larger.

Driving controls are on a separate tablet in the center of the steering wheel, which gets covered by the airbag in an accident to protect the driver. Byton says there are no other controls.

CHECK OUT: Chinese electric-car startup Byton reveals its second concept: a Level 4 self-driving sedan

The idea, however, is for drivers not to have to use the system to drive. Byton says the M-byte will come with full Level 4 self-driving capability starting in 2020, which will allow the car to drive itself on limited access highways.

Byton K-Byte concept

The K-byte uses a set of lidar sensors integrated on the front and rear of the panoramic glass roof, and retractable lidar sensors that the company calls LiGuards on the front fenders. They deploy when the self-driving system is activated.

Both the self-driving system and the “shared-experience display” can be controlled using gesture commands or voice commands provided by Byton partner Baidu.

Byton K-Byte concept

The company says it has finished its global factory in Nanjing, China, and has produced the first handful of its planned 100 M-Byte prototypes.

Byton says this “self-cruising living space,” will be the new standard of automotive luxury when the M-Byte goes on sale next year. The question we can’t help but ask is, how will this new iPhone on wheels drive?

Chinese company begins production of solid-state batteries, possibly for cars

Fisker solid state electrode material – from @henrikfisker
As scientists and companies around the world pour years and millions of dollars into solid-state batteries, many disagree on how soon they could make it into cars on the road.

Now the Chinese Xinhua news agency reports that a startup company in China, Qing Tao (Kunshan) Energy Development Company has begun production of solid-state batteries in the Chinese city of Kunshan.

According to Xinhua, the company has set up a solid-state battery production line capable of producing 100 megawatt-hours worth of batteries for a year, which it expects to expand to 700 megawatt-hours by 2020.

DON'T MISS: Fisker gets Caterpillar investment for solid-state battery tech

The plant reportedly cost $144 million.

Solid-state batteries are expected to be the next major technological breakthrough for electric cars because they can be lighter, longer-lasting, and safer than today's batteries which use a flammable organic liquid lithium salt solution.

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

It's not clear, given Qing Tao's modest production, whether its batteries are destined for electric cars or for consumer electronics such as laptops or cell phones.

Qing Tao claims its batteries have an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, about 30 to 40 percent higher than today's commercial automotive lithium-ion batteries.

READ THIS: VW confirms it’s planning for solid-state batteries by 2025

Other companies staking early claims to building solid-state batteries include Fisker Inc., which says it will have solid-state batteries in its first car by 2022 (a couple of years after it says the car will go on sale), and British vacuum-cleaner and electronics company Dyson, which is reportedly working on its own electric car.

Volkswagen also says it plans to have solid-state batteries in production for its cars, in relatively low numbers, around 2025.

Other battery makers such as Panasonic, the world's largest producer of lithium-ion batteries, say solid-state batteries won't make it onto the road until closer to 2030.

VW has no fun trademarking I.D. name series

VW ID family
Volkswagen has generated a lot of buzz with the names for its upcoming series of electric cars: I.D., I.D. Crozz, I.D. Lounge, I.D. Vizzion, and I.D. Buzz, for its recreation of the iconic Microbus.

Keep in mind that these are all the names of the concept vehicles, not necessarily the production vehicles. But now a report in VW Vortex last week confirms that VW has trademarked names for the electric cars with the Intellectual Property Office of the European Union.

DON’T MISS: Base price of VW's electric cars could be as low as $21,000

The names VW trademarked are I.D. 1, I.D. 2, I.D. 3, I.D. 4, etc. all the way through I.D. 9.

The move suggests a couple of things about VW’s strategy:

First, it might, if they want to use the full swath of badges, have nine more-or-less affordable electric cars on the market in Europe based on its new MEB electric-car architecture.

READ THIS: Volkswagen details the foundation for 10 million electric vehicles

These will likely include the basic Golf-size I.D. hatchback (not necessarily the I.D. 1), the $21,000 entry-level model that VW announced earlier this month, and production cars based on the concepts known as the I.D. Crozz crossover, the large I.D. Lounge sedan, and the long-awaited I.D. Buzz.

That leaves four more models we don’t know about.

European car-buyers have long preferred—or at least been more accepting of numbers for car names than Americans. The numbers usually denote a hierarchy in capability, power, or size.

CHECK OUT: VW plans 27 electric cars by 2022 on new platform

Americans have expressed an interest in actual names for cars, which is becoming difficult as automakers have trademarked more and more pronounceable, comprehensible, and relevant words—even misspelled—for cars. As a kind of compromise, automakers have turned to letter combinations, such as Acuras with its lineup of ILX, TSX, TL, RLX, RDX, MDX, and NSX. Over X-ed yet?

Since VW only trademarked the I.D. 1 through 9 names in Europe, perhaps the cars could retain their concept names when they make it to America.

Tesla fatal crash rate with Autopilot still no better than with human drivers

Tesla Autopilot
Since Tesla’s Autopilot was introduced back in October 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made extravagant claims about its superior safety. Last month, reacting to what Musk considers sensationalized media coverage of Tesla accidents, the company released the first of its promised quarterly safety updates.

The report claimed that, compared to the U.S. automobile crash rate of one every 492,000 miles, Teslas in the second quarter of 2018 had an accident “or crash-like event” every 1.92 million miles. With Autopilot engaged that dropped to one in every 3.34 million miles.

In other words, human-piloted Teslas had accidents at about one quarter the U.S. average, by miles traveled. The rate for Autopilot Teslas was about one-seventh of the U.S. average. (The company did not say how it arrived at the benchmark figure for the U.S. average number.)

Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]

According to the company numbers, cars on Autopilot were nearly twice as safe as human-pilot Teslas, buttressing Musk’s past claims.

DON'T MISS: Tesla's own numbers show Autopilot has higher crash rate than human drivers

Oddly, in its report Tesla did not break out fatal accidents, the ones that have garnered most of the sensational news coverage.
Perhaps that’s because, as it turns out, Teslas on Autopilot actually have a higher fatal accident rate than those driven entirely by humans.

Hard Numbers

Back in November, 2016 I analyzed fatal-crash data for the Model S, comparing cars driven by humans to those driven on Autopilot.

The conclusion: Autopilot had a fatal crash rate approximately double that of human-pilot Teslas—a conclusion radically different from the rosy Autopilot safety picture that Elon Musk and Tesla had so relentlessly promoted.

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Mercedes-Benz delivers first F-Cell plug-in hybrid fuel-cell SUV in Germany

Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell, 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show
Mercedes delivered its first plug-in hybrid F-Cell fuel cell SUV in Berlin earlier this week.

Like earlier projects from Toyota, Honda, and GM in the U.S., Mercedes is only leasing or renting the vehicles (it says “renting short-term or long-term”) to select customers in German cities where hydrogen refueling infrastructure is available. Those include Berlin, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, and Cologne.

Germany currently has 50 hydrogen fueling sites in those seven cities, and Mercedes-Benz has partnered with chemical and petroleum companies to expand the network to 100 stations by the end of 2019—and eventually to 400 stations, the company said in a release.

CHECK OUT: 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC specs revealed (Updated)

The F-Cell reportedly has some common components with the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQC electric SUV, which is expected to have a 200-mile range from its batteries in European driving. Mercedes officials in the U.S. have said it will have a longer range when the car goes on sale here in 2020.

Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell

The F-Cell's tanks hold 4.4 kilograms of hydrogen, which give it a range of 267 miles on hydrogen. And as the first fuel-cell vehicle that also has a plug-in battery, the F-Cell gets another 32 miles of range from its plug-in battery (based on a European driving cycle.)

Originally shown in at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017, the F-Cell has four driving modes: Battery, which runs strictly on the battery for up to 32 miles; F-Cell, maintains the charge level in the battery, using net energy only from the fuel-cell; Hybrid, which depletes both the battery and the hydrogen in the tanks in what Mercedes says is the most efficient way; and Charge, which uses the fuel cell to charge the battery.

READ THIS: Mercedes invests in pilot program to keep fuel cells alive

The motor puts out 208 horsepower, which Mercedes describes as an output that helps to “ensure high driving dynamics,” though on paper that horsepower rating falls well behind the Tesla Model X or many competing gas-powered SUVs.

Mercedes points out in its press release that it has been working on fuel-cell vehicles since it produced the NECAR 1 test van in 1994, a full-size commercial van in which the fuel cell occupied the entire cargo area. Indeed, the company was once a leader in fuel-cell vehicles, along with General Motors. Now the landscape has changed, with Honda and Toyota (and, soon again, Hyundai) as the only automakers who make fuel-cell vehicles available to consumers.

Faraday Future loses final founding executive (Updated)

Artist’s impression of Faraday Future’s proposed plant in Hanford, California
Faraday Future is a startup electric carmaker founded by a Chinese investor and five executives with experience in building cars and electric cars.

Now that the company seems to be in its final throes of its latest financial crisis, the last of those executives has reportedly left the company.

READ THIS: Does Faraday have a Future? Latest financing disrupted—again

Dag Reckhorn, the company's senior vice president of global manufacturing resigned last week, according to a report in the Verge, which has been tracking the company closely.

In his resignation letter, Reckhorn cited legal concerns, reportedly related to directors' and officers' insurance, which recently lapsed, two anonymous former employees told the Verge. Directors' and officers' insurance would cover company officers such as Reckhorn from lawsuits such as those that might result from the recent layoffs at the company.

Faraday Future FF91 prototype

In October, Faraday Future furloughed all manufacturing employees that started after May 1, which was before the company received its latest round of funding to start manufacturing its $300,000 luxury electric car.

DON'T MISS GM EV1 exec leaves Faraday Future (Updated)

Other employees have been reduced to half salaries or laid off. The Verge has reported that there are now as few as 10 employees working at the Hanford, California factory that it bought last year.

Now none of those are among the executives with both manufacturing experience and the original vision for the company. Former senior vice president Peter Savagian was descried as the backbone of the company and former chief engineer for the GM EV1 left in early November. He was followed last week by co-founder Nick Sampson, who said in his resignation letter that the company is “effectively insolvent.”

CHECK OUT: Faraday Future gets a $2 billion lifeline to build expensive crossover

After receiving a new round of investment from a Chinese investment company in June, intended to help the company start production, Faraday began producing prototypes, but did not make it to full production. The Chinese investors withheld a second round of funding, leading to the company's current financial crisis.

The company has accused investor Evergrande Health of starving Faraday Future for funding in a takeover bid, which Evergrande denies.

Update: Patrick De Potter, CEO of Dutch blockchain company EVAIO Blockchain announced on Tuesday that the company was in talks with Faraday Future to launch a cryptocurrency to fund the ailing electric automaker. According to a report on Technode, De Potter said on LinkedIn that the fundraising efforts could be worth $900 million. A Hong Kong arbitrator, however, ruled last month that Faraday Future may seek outside funding of only up to $500 million, which the company says the final few executives at the company are pursuing.

Faraday Future responded that they were not in discussions with EVIAO Blockchain.