Author: Green Car Online News

Lotus Evija supercar marks start of a new electric era for sports-car brand

Lotus is no newcomer to electric cars, having produced the chassis for the original Tesla Roadster.

On Wednesday, the British sports car company unveiled its own electric sports car, the Evija, which it says will be the most powerful car on the market with electric motors producing 1,973 horsepower. The company didn't list its battery size, but says it will be able to charge fully in nine minutes.

With the Evija, the brand is climbing away from the attainable sports cars it currently produces—including the Elise, on which Tesla based its original Roadster—back toward supercars like the Elite, only with an electric drivetrain.

The Evija was designed in conjunction with British engineering consultancy Williams Advanced Engineering, and only 130 will be made. The car will compete with the upcoming Pininfarina Battista, targeted to have 1,877 horsepower. Pininfarina, a new automaker from the renowned Italian design house, will produce 150 Battistas starting next year.

Phil Popham at the Lotus Evija launch

The Evija is based on an updated version of Lotus' current platform.

Chinese auto giant Geely, which owns Volvo, has a controlling stake in Lotus. The British brand plans other new models to follow the Evija, based a Geely platform designed for electric powertrains, CEO Phil Popham told British auto magazine Autocar in an interview.

The new models will be more focused on practicality and affordability and will be designed to carry both batteries and electric motors and gasoline powertrains. Every new model from Lotus, however, will offer an all-electric version, Popham said, though those future models are still several years off.

Echoing plans from 2008, when the company introduced the larger Evora, Lotus plans to expand production with a range of more mainstream sports. cars. Popham cited a target of 10,000 cars a year to fill out its manufacturing facility in Hethel, England. It also has plans to expand production in China.

Superchargers at the Strip: Tesla rolls out first entire V3 station in Las Vegas

Want to leave whatever happened in Las Vegas? Tesla is allowing its owners—especially those with a Model 3—to do just that, with a very speedy recharge right on the Strip.

That’s where Tesla, on Thursday, officially opened its first station that entirely features V3 fast-charging hardware. Although V3 has already been introduced at several locations, including Tesla’s Fremont, California, manufacturing base, this is the first station that doesn’t pair it alongside V2 hardware.

Tesla Supercharger V3 station – Las Vegas Strip

With V3 hardware, vehicles no longer split charging power between posts, so every single V3 charger there will run at up to 250 kw—if and when the car allows it—even when they’re all in use. With the V3 hardware, Tesla owners will be able to recover up to 180 miles of range in just 15 minutes (in a Model 3 Long Range).

The station includes 24 V3 Superchargers, along with 15 Level 2 Tesla Wall Connectors for those parking at the site for a longer time.

The Strip location will be Tesla’s largest Supercharger station in Nevada. Tesla says that the site can service 1,500 owners per day—far beyond the 6,500 Supercharging sessions per month seen in the Las Vegas area prior to this site’s opening.

Tesla Supercharger V3 station – Las Vegas Strip

Tesla says that the Supercharger site is built on Caesars Entertainment property located just off the Strip, below the High Roller or the LINQ promenade. Tesla says that it supports Caesars’ “CodeGreen” goal to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 30 percent by 2025.

Access to the site is free for those staying under an hour, and Caesars says that its guests with Platinum, Diamond and 7-star Status will get complimentary Supercharger access with their card.

The station also serves as a new design template for Tesla Supercharger stations, with solar canopies providing shade to users plus solar energy to on-site Powerpack batteries.

So while you might end up leaving what happened in Las Vegas in Las Vegas, you’ll be seeing plenty more like that new Supercharger station that helped you get away.

Toyota expands battery supply with CATL deal

As it gradually moves to begin selling more plug-in and electric cars, Toyota is widening its net to secure more batteries.

Japan's largest automaker signed a deal this week to buy batteries from Chinese suppliers Contemporary Amex Technologies (CATL) and BYD. The agreement adds to a January deal Toyota signed to buy batteries from Panasonic.

All three deals go beyond simple battery supplies. Toyota will work with the three battery suppliers on everything from developing new solid-state batteries to building out systems to recycle the batteries they produce.

Toyota executives have said in the past that they don't believe lithium-ion batteries are the best solution for electric cars, and that they expect better chemistry to emerge to make electric cars more affordable, reliable, and safer.

With the electric-car market looking set to expand dramatically in the next few years, Toyota and other automakers that have stood on the sidelines are scrambling to ramp up their own supply chains to begin producing EVs.

Toyota announced in June that it is developing its first dedicated electric-car platform, potentially for a mid-size SUV, in conjunction with Subaru.

Executive vice president Shegeki Terashi told reporters in Japan last month that the company expects half of its sales by 2025 to come from hybrids, electric-cars, or plug-ins, according to a Reuters report. “There may be a gap between the amount of batteries we can produce, and the amount of batteries we may need,” he said at the time.

Seres EV startup postpones US launch amid downsizing

Seres, the startup electric carmaker formerly known as SF Motors, is shelving plans to bring a new electric car to market in the U.S.

The electric-car company was founded in 2017 when the Chinese industrial company Sokon bought the battery-technology company founded by former Tesla CEO and founder Martin Eberhard.

At the Shanghai auto show in April, the company introduced its first car, an electric SUV for the Chinese market called the SF5. That's when the company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in the Silicon Valley, also announced its name change to Seres.

Sales of those models in China have also been suspended, according to a recording of an internal meeting by Co-CEO James Taylor, reported by The Verge last week.

SF Motors SF5 and SF7

The SF5 was to be built at a factory in Chonqing, China. SF Motors—now Seres—also purchased the former AM General Hummer factory in South Bend, Indiana, in 2017, with plans to produce the car there for the U.S. market. Now those plans are on hold, and the factory sits idle.

Along with suspending sales in China and putting its U.S. plans on hold, Taylor also announced that the company would lay off 90 workers at its Santa Clara headquarters in sales, marketing, IT, HR, legal, operations, and design. The moves are designed to ensure the company's “short-term survival,” and “long-term success,” Taylor said in the recording.

Taylor cited a lagging car market in China and an unpredictable trade environment with the U.S. as factors in the layoffs and delays.

The electric SF5 was expected to have a 90-kilowatt-hour battery and motors producing 684 horsepower and 767 pound-feet of torque. The plug-in hybrid had a 33-kwh battery, which should have produced impressive range for a plug-in hybrid.

In Shanghai, the company also showed a larger SUV called the SF7, along with the “skateboard” architecture underpinning both models.

Lexus developing electric-car platform, considering in-wheel motors

Electric cars are winning over even the most skeptical of automakers.

Last month, Toyota announced it was teaming up with Subaru to develop a dedicated electric platform for a new SUV. Now the company's luxury division has told Digital Trends that it is also developing a new all-electric architecture for a future model.

That's not all, though. Koji Sato, the executive vice president of Lexus International, told Digital Trends that the brand plans to “electrify” its entire model lineup, that it has developed a new design language that can better incorporate electric cars, and that it is working to develop new in-wheel electric motors for its electric cars. Toyota has also said it is working on developing solid-state batteries for electric cars.

2016 Lexus RX 450h F Sport

In Lexus's case, “electrification” could also involve fuel-cell cars, since former Japanese Emperor Akihito incentivized Japanese companies to prioritize development of hydrogen fuel cells over batteries. Lexus's parent company, Toyota, sells the compact Mirai fuel-cell sedan for $58,500 in California.

Of course, Lexus's electrification plans could also include more conventional hybrids, such as the ES 300h or RX 450h, the brand's most successful hybrids to date.

Sato told Digital Trends that the company is making a substantial investment in a new dedicated electric-car platform, though it's not clear whether that will come in addition to the electric-SUV joint-venture between Toyota and Subaru or if it's part of the same program.

One thing that could change as a result is Lexus' design language. The most recent theme is built around huge “spindle” grilles that electric cars might not need, because of generally lower (and different) cooling needs.

Lexus design chief Koichi Suga told Digital Trends that the company has developed a new design language with a front end more appropriate for electric cars, but that it has not yet been approved by Toyota president Akio Toyoda. That new design language is likely to debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.

Polestar 2 performance package cues rivalry with Tesla Model 3

Quite a few automakers are gunning for Tesla, especially startup automakers in Silicon Valley and China.

Perhaps the most direct, credible threat, however, comes from Polestar, Volvo division that plans to focus on performance-oriented electric cars.

The Polestar 2, planned to debut late this year, is aimed directly at the Tesla Model 3, with a base price of about $45,000 when it goes on sale next year.

The brand has now confirmed that the Polestar 2 will come with a performance package, similar to the Model 3.

Several details of the performance package have already leaked out, but it wasn't clear whether the high-performance components would be standard, available as individual options, or part of a package.

Autoblog first reported the package last Tuesday. Now Polestar has confirmed to the website that the performance package will include Brembo brakes, Öhlins shock absorbers, 20-inch forged alloy wheels, and unspecified grippier tires. It will also include some eye-catching trim, including body adornments and apparently yellow seat belts.

Polestar 2
Polestar 2
Polestar 2

The launch edition of the Polestar 2 is expected to sell for $63,000, though even that may not have all the elements of the performance package. The Tesla Model 3 Performance starts at $61,100 with delivery. The price of the Polestar 2 Performance Package hasn't been set, but the company is reportedly targeting a price of about $5,000.

Both will include all-wheel drive. The Polestar 2 with its performance package is expected to have 408 horsepower and 487 pound-feet of torque from two electric motors and reach 60 mph in less than five seconds. It is expected to have a 78-kwh battery and Polestar is targeting a 275-mile EPA range rating.

The Polestar 2 is a fastback design based on parent-company Volvo's XC40 small SUV. The XC40 itself will likely be offered with a fully-electric powertrain beginning later in 2020, for the 2021 model year.

Polestar will launch with a high-performance plug-in hybrid coupe called the Polestar 1 later this year. A “low, aerodynamic,” electric Polestar 3 SUV is expected to follow in 2022 or 2023.

Ford will use VW platform to build an electric car for Europe

Ford and Volkswagen announced jointly on Friday that VW will share its MEB affordable electric car architecture with Ford, while VW will join Ford's Argo self-driving effort.

In addition to its own efforts to build electric cars, Ford will build a new electric car for the European market based on Volkswagen’s mass-market MEB platform. Ford CEO James Hackett says the car will be built at a Ford factory in Europe starting in 2023.

Volkswagen will provide the vehicle architecture—including batteries—for up to 600,000 examples of the car. The companies are continuing discussions to build a second MEB-based electric model for Ford of Europe with nearly as large a volume. And VW CEO Herbert Diess allowed that Ford EVs based on the platform could also come to the U.S., though none are currently planned.

Ford will also sell electric cars in Europe (and in the U.S. and elsewhere) based on its own platforms, including the Mustang-inspired Mach E SUV due out in 2021 and the electric F150 it has under development. The company also invested $500 million in EV pickup startup company Rivian in April, which Hackett says is designed to accelerate the automaker's knowledge base on EVs and should be seen separately from product development.

Ford crossover EV teaser photo

One of the biggest challenges in getting more consumers to buy electric cars is to bring prices down to make them more affordable even without tax credits.

Executives from both companies said that sharing the MEB platform is designed to do that. “We will see more collaboration [on electric cars] because the timing is not clear and the market penetration is not clear” said Diess. Sharing the MEB platform with other automakers will increase volume to spread development costs and make EVs “more affordable for consumers, and be better for the environment,” said VW CEO Herbert Diess.

Hackett called MEB, which stands for “modular electric architecture” “an impressive platform.”

VW MEB platform

“I’m very inspired by it, and our teams are excited to work with it,” he said. The MEB platform is one of the first dedicated electric-car platforms designed to be sold in all of the major car markets around the world.

The announcement expands on an earlier agreement between the companies to share development costs on commercial vans and self-driving cars announced in January. Global vehicles developed under that agreement will go on sale beginning in 2022.

As for the self-driving portion of the partnership, Volkswagen will join Ford in taking a $1 billion stake in Argo.AI, and will merge its Autonomous Intelligent Driving self-driving program into Argo. Argo is testing self-driving vehicles in five U.S. cities, including Miami, Detroit, and Washington, DC, in an effort to develop fully self-driving cars.

Union hack: British company offers electric classic Mini conversion

The Mini Cooper SE revealed last week and the planned electric Mini Rocketman city car represent a new push from the official owner of the Mini brand, BMW.

While neither of those models has arrived quite yet, the UK-based company electric bicycle company Swind has already started making a limited number of electric conversions of classic Minis for British customers.

The specs read like something of a cross between the Mini Cooper SE and the electric Rocketman: The classic Minis get a 24 kilowatt-hour battery (about 2/3 the size of the modern Cooper SE) that delivers a potentially similar 125 miles of electric range. An internal estimate from Mini pegged the upcoming Cooper SE at 114 miles on the EPA cycle.

It has 110-horsepower electric motor, which is significantly short of the Cooper SE's 181 horsepower, but in the smaller, lighter original Mini, the effect is only slightly slower acceleration of 0-60 mph in 9.2 seconds. Swind limits the top speed of the electric Mini to 80 mph, which is perhaps wise, since the chassis was never designed to go that fast with its original gas engine.

Classic Mini Cooper electric conversion by Swind
Classic Mini Cooper electric conversion by Swind
Classic Mini Cooper electric conversion by Swind

Swind installs the battery underneath the floor, which it says improves the classic Mini's balance. It's still nose-heavy, with 57 percent of its weight in the nose, versus 68 percent for the original. Taking out the gas tank even leaves 7 cubic-feet of trunk space.

The original Mini is even smaller than the Mini Rocketman concept, which was designed to be a city car to compete with the modern Smart. It's just over 120 inches feet long, 55 inches wide, and 53 inches tall. The tiny Rocketman is more than a foot longer and wider.

The updated cars will offer USB charge ports and heaters for the front seats, windshield and rear windows, and under-floor radiant heat. Buyers can opt to add a navigation system, power steering, air conditioning, and a full-length cloth sunroof in addition to performance upgrades and custom paint colors—but of course these conversions are lacking most modern safety features. Swind offers a one-year warranty.

The classic electric Mini conversion is the latest in a cottage industry of electric-car conversions in Britain, including Jaguar E-Types that the automaker has begun to sell, Porsche 911s, Aston Martins, and Morgan roadsters.

Swind started building the electric Minis in February and plans to make up to 100 of the Mini electric conversions in customers' choice of right- or left-hand drive.

The conversions cost 79,000 British pounds (almost $88,000). With new Mini Cooper SE prices expected to start around $30,000 before tax credits, you could buy three of them for about the price of a converted original.

Brake issue is pausing sales of popular Toyota hybrids overseas, not in US

A potential manufacturing fault relating to brake hardware has prompted Toyota to conduct an investigation that reaches around the globe.

The issue has led to a stop-sale in Australia and New Zealand, among other markets, and affects the hybrid versions of the Toyota RAV4, Camry, Prius, Corolla hatchback, Lexus ES300h, and Lexus UX250h.

Lexus UX 250h concept

While the issue does affect some U.S. models, according to Toyota Motor Sales, there's no such sales stop and all of the affected models continue to be delivered, Toyota Motor Sales confirmed to Green Car Reports.

In what the company called a “pre-delivery correction,” Toyota is holding specific lots of vehicles that may contain a potential manufacturing defect in a brake-system component that is not specific to hybrids and unrelated to Toyota’s hybrid system. The affected vehicles hadn’t yet been delivered but were already in distribution channels.

Toyota issued the following statement: “Toyota Australia has put a select number of vehicles on a temporary sales stop in order to conduct an investigation into those models. Toyota is similarly conducting an investigation of certain vehicles in various regions globally; the specific vehicles involved and details of the investigation varies by region. We are committed to the safety and security of our customers and will take any appropriate action following the conclusion of the investigation. As always, our goal is to provide a smooth flow of quality vehicles to meet customer demand.”

The company declined to comment further regarding the exact nature of the issue, the supplier, or the timeline.

VW holds battery suppliers tight amid anticipated shortages

Volkswagen is taking new measures to hold its battery suppliers close, as battery suppliers are reportedly still skeptical of whether consumers will buy electric cars in large numbers—and hesitant to make the large investments necessary.

So VW is partnering with battery suppliers to provide funding to build and expand battery factories.

Board member Stefan Sommer told Reuters, “We have not been able to build as many cars as we wanted to. Our supplier is not delivering the numbers that we need.”

“We have built up our own expertise, which we share with suppliers, which helps when we build a new plant. It gives us an early indication if there are teething problems,” he said.
If the company still doesn't find enough suppliers for all the batteries it needs, Sommer says it is prepared to build its own battery factories in China.

2020 Volkswagen ID Neo spy shots

The automaker is ground zero for a massive push into electric car production, and has plans to purchase $56 billion worth of batteries through 2028 on its way to building 22 million examples of up to 70 new electric models by 2028. That's far more ambitious—and represents a commitment to acquire far more batteries—than any other automaker in coming years.

The company has said that it will need 150 gigawatt-hours of battery supply in Europe by 2025 and another 150 gigawatt-hours in Asia, to say nothing of North America or the company's plans beyond 2025.

Yet a couple of supply hiccups have already interrupted the VW Group's electric-car plans. Last fall, a Belgian newspaper near the factory where VW's luxury division Audi builds the E-tron quattro, reported that production was delayed over a dispute with battery supplier LG Chem over pricing and supplies.

VW ID family

Then, in May, another battery supplier, Samsung, dramatically cut its supply agreement with VW over disagreements about timing. The dispute could interrupt plans for more than 200,000 electric VWs in Europe.

Volkswagen isn't the only automaker struggling to secure sufficient supplies of lithium-ion batteries for all the electric cars it plans to build. In May, Tesla's global supply manager for battery metals, Sarah Maryssael, told a conference of mining executives and Washington lawmakers that the company is preparing for global shortages of battery raw materials.