Author: Green Car Online News

Israel plans to end internal combustion car sales by 2030

Better Place new car parking lot, showing multiple new Renault Fluence ZE electric cars, Israel
Add Israel to the list of countries planning to ban sales of cars that run on gasoline and diesel fuel.

The Jewish state, however, has put internal combustion engines on a shorter leash than most other countries that have announced such plans.

By 2030, the Israeli Energy Ministry announced on Tuesday, cars and trucks that run on gasoline or diesel fuel will no longer be available in the country, according to a Reuters report.

The country plans to replace internal combustion cars with electrics and to replace gas and diesel trucks with natural gas.

READ THIS: UK to ban diesel, gasoline car sales by 2040; follows France, Norway, Holland bans

Israel has both greater incentive and easier ability than many countries to execute such a plan.

It is geographically small, about the size of New Jersey, with major population centers near each other, minimizing the amount of new infrastructure required.

And it sits in the politically volatile Middle East, without its own oil and surrounded by adversaries who control much of the world's supplies. Several have policies dedicated to Israel's destruction.

The country briefly had an experiment with its own electric cars, made by Renault, designed to be used with a network of Project Better Place battery swapping stations. Better Place, however, went bankrupt in 2014.

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Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters the challenge is to create a critical mass of electric cars to create an economic incentive for supporting businesses around them—such as charging stations, and service companies with battery expertise—and away from internal combustion cars. That time might come around 2025, when he expects the country to have 177,000 electric cars on the road.

“From 2030, we won't allow anymore the import of diesel or gasoline cars to Israel,” he said. “We are forcing companies to bring electric cars to Israel and for oil and gasoline companies to shift to charging stations in their gasoline or petrol stations.”

The country plans to reduce taxes on electric cars to “almost zero,” he said, and recently funded the installation of 2,000 charging stations.

The government still needs to approve the plan, which is expected to happen by the end of the year.

Does Faraday have a Future? Latest financing disrupted—again

Faraday Future completes first pre-production FF91 on August 28, 2018
Faraday's Future has hit another snag, in a dispute with the company's latest investors.

The development of the luxury electric Faraday Future FF91, has been a roller-coaster ride of winning financing, running into disputes, delaying the car, and finding new investors.

DON'T MISS: Faraday Future gets a $2 billion lifeline to build expensive crossover

The latest round of $2 billion in financing announced in June by a Hong Kong investment company, allowed the company to produce its first production prototype of the FF91 luxury electric SUV.

Now that financing is in doubt after Faraday filed an arbitration suit against Evergrande Health, the Hong Kong investment company saying it hasn't produced the first $700 million round of promised funding. Evergrande responded that Faraday had not met investment targets to release the money.

CHECK OUT: Faraday Future factory completes its first full car (Updated)

In the on-again-off-again saga of Faraday Future's development of a high-end luxury electric car, the company introduced the car with a flashy evening reveal at the Consumer Electronics show in 2017 and broke ground on what was expected to be a massive factory in Las Vegas.

No sooner had the cornerstone been laid than financing evaporated, and the car went into hibernation.

READ MORE: Faraday Future unveils FF 91, its first production electric car; deposits open, no price given

Since then, the company has secured liquidity and run aground twice. An investment last fall allowed the company to lease a former Pirelli tire factory in California's Central Valley. Another round of funding last February quickly evaporated, before Evergrande threw Faraday a lifeline in June.

With Faraday now running into rocky shoals again, it's not clear who or what might bail them our now—and enable the production they'd been working toward.

Tesla again claims higher safety rating than NTHSA gives

Tesla Model 3 NHTSA test
Tesla took a page out of its Model S playbook over the weekend and announced that its Model 3 is the safest car that NHTSA has tested. Only Tesla isn't NHTSA.

In a blog post Sunday night, Tesla said it based its findings on NHTSA data, just as it did with the Model S in 2013.

“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,” the company said in its blog post.

READ THIS: 2013 Tesla Model S Crash Tests: What Cars To Compare It To? (2013)

In response, NHTSA issued a statement on Tuesday that reads, in part: “A 5-star rating is the highest safety rating a vehicle can achieve. NHTSA does not distinguish safety performance beyond that rating, thus there is no 'safest' vehicle among those vehicles achieving 5-star ratings.”

When it made a similar claim about the Model S in 2013, NHTSA responded by banning automakers from advertising safety ratings higher than the agency does.

Many cars achieve a five-star overall rating, including many sedans.

Tesla Model 3 NHTSA test

NHTSA rates cars in three crash tests, and also assigns them a rollover rating. The crash tests include a direct, full-width front crash into a concrete barrier at 35 mph, a side crash at 38.5 mph, and a side crash into a pole. It also rates cars' propensity to roll over, though not their actual performance in a rollover.

The NHTSA uses its five-star rating to indicate the reduction of risk of serious injury in a crash relative to a baseline of 15 percent, based to the 2008 fleet average for new cars. A five-star rating indicates a reduced risk of serious injury by one-third or more, relative to the 2008 model year. A four-star rating indicates a reduction of risk by up to a third; a three-star rating indicates a reduction of risk equal to or greater by one-third. Very few new cars, if any, receive a two- or one-star rating on the NHTSA system.

Other crash tests are performed by the IIHS, which rates cars in a battery of three front crash tests, a side crash test, and a roof strength test that are different than the NHTSA's tests.

DON'T MISS: NHTSA gives 2018 Tesla Model 3 perfect marks for crash safety

Safety experts say that the safest cars are those that perform well on all the tests by both agencies. The IIHS has not yet rated the Model 3 in its crash tests.

The institute also rates cars for the performance of their crash avoidance and mitigation systems, and it rates the performance of their headlights (among other things.)

Tesla Model 3 NHTSA test

The Model 3 earned the highest “Superior” rating for its front crash prevention systems, meaning that the car's automatic emergency braking system avoided a crash at both 12 mph and 25 mph, and that its forward collision warning system meets NHTSA's standards for the operation of such systems.

The Model 3's headlight performance earned the institute's second-highest rating (out of four) of “Acceptable.”

In earlier IIHS tests of six cars with automatic driver safety assist systems, the two Teslas, a Model S and a Model 3, each earned the highest scores for avoiding most accidents, but were the only two vehicles to hit a safety balloon in low speed tests of their automatic emergency braking system.

FCA announces production Jeep Renegade plug-in hybrid in Italy

2019 Jeep Renegade
Jeep said Monday that it laid the groundwork to begin production of a plug-in hybrid version of its small Renegade at the factory in southern Italy where it's produced alongside the Fiat 500X.

The model is expected to go on sale in early 2020, though it's not clear whether it is intended for the U.S. Jeep did not immediately respond for comment on where the Renegade would be sold.

Few technical details are available about the model, such as its battery size or potential electric range. This year, Jeep added an available 1.3-liter turbo-4 to the Renegade's powertrain menu. It's not clear if that engine will pair with a hybrid battery in the plug-in version.

CHECK OUT: Jeep Grand Commander EV leads FCA electrification push

The Renegade plug-in hybrid will be one of 30 different new models worldwide from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to use electric, plug-in, or conventional hybrid drive systems.

Those will include a new plug-in hybrid version of the classic Jeep Wrangler, the new e-Torque mild-hybrid version of the Ram pickup, and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. It is also expected to include a replacement for the small Fiat 500e, which is now one of the oldest electric vehicles on the market, and the one with the shortest electric range.

In all, the company said at an investor meeting in June that it will invest $10.3 billion to ramp up its hybrid and electric-car portfolio, with 12 new powertrains, including battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and conventional hybrids.

READ MORE: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne dies suddenly

FCA's former CEO Sergio Marchionne, who died in July, called the investment to bring the company's products into line with upcoming emissions regulations in Europe, California, China and elsewhere “painful spending.”

In the June presentation, a new plug-in Renegade was announced for sometime before 2022, but it was unclear how soon it might appear. This announcement shows the Renegade plug-in hybrid will be among the first of this new crop of electrified vehicles from FCA.

Earlier this year FCA said it would stop selling diesel engines in its European passenger vehicles. This wouldn't preclude the introduction of new diesel versions of the Jeep Wrangler and Ram 1500 pickup in the U.S. that the company has previously announced.

How will VW price its next-generation electric vehicles? Think TDI

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Volkswagen MEB platform architecture
Volkswagen says that it aims to make “electric vehicles for millions, not millionaires” with its next-generation EVs.

While that’s a clever tagline, what ultimately will matter to many households who want a new electric vehicle in the driveway is whether they can afford one of those models.

Speaking at an event last month previewing some fundamentals of the upcoming modular electric platform (MEB) that it hopes will underpin a million EVs a year by 2025, Thomas Ulbrich, the member of the VW Group Board of Management responsible for e-mobility, gave some important guidance about the automakers intended pricing: These vehicles will be priced at the level of a comparable diesel car.

DON'T MISS: Here's the battery pack behind VW's global electric-vehicle push

“And then we are sure we can convince millions, because then it is no longer a price range for special customers,” said Ulbrich.

VW Electric for All

To look at how Volkswagen priced TDI models just prior to the diesel scandal, a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T SE started at $19,815, while a 2015 Jetta TDI SE started at $24,895—a 25-percent increase. Going upscale to the SUV side of the market, to the Touareg, the gasoline model started at $45,615 while the TDI started at $53,155—about 17 percent higher.

Those models will start arriving in the U.S. in 2020, as previewed by the ID hatchback and ID Crozz crossover, and then in 2022 with the much-anticipated electric take on the Microbus.

CHECK OUT: Will Volkswagen's electric Microbus be made in the USA?

That gap between EVs and equivalent gasoline models will likely close over time, too. Bloomberg New Energy Finance, last year, anticipated that electric cars will reach price parity with gasoline models by 2025, due to falling battery costs. That’s based on U.S. medium-segment vehicle price estimates, and an assumption that prices on internal-combustion vehicles will slightly rise.

What remains to be clarified is whether such a pricing scheme would initially include the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Volkswagen isn’t yet close to reaching its 200,000-unit ceiling for the credit. If Volkswagen prices that first MEB model, rumored to be called the Neo, like a TDI before the tax credit, it could prove very popular indeed.

Circular economy: Magnets from old hard drives could wind up in EV motors

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Axial motor with recycled rare-earth material – ORNL
As some of the world’s largest automakers ramp up production for a generation of electric vehicles, the supply of one of the most important ingredients—rare-earth elements—is surely a cause for concern.

Rare-earth elements—especially neodymium—are in short supply because of their limited production locations, much of them in China. They're needed for the compact, power-dense permanent-magnet motors in many of today's EVs, and increasingly for green-energy sector uses like wind farms.

Now, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratories are experimenting with mining one of our best sources of rare-earth materials—used computer hard drives—for what can be repurposed in an axial gap motor, a type of permanent-magnet synchronous motor that could be used in electric vehicles or industrial machinery.

DON'T MISS: Rare-earth metals in magnets for electric-car motors: what you need to know

It’s just a demonstration so far, but it shows how magnets from devices that are otherwise destroyed could be recycled and reused as part of a circular economy.

Efforts to reduce rare-earth element use, as well as efforts to reuse and recover rare-earths, are frequently mentioned in sustainability reports. Toyota recently announced a way of cutting the neodymium in motor magnets by 20 percent (or up to 50 percent eventually) by substituting cerium and lanthanum, rare-earths that are processed simultaneously but aren’t as high-demand. And Nissan has, with its e-Power hybrid system slated for more models soon, boasted that it’s cut rare-earth elements by 70 percent.

READ MORE: Limits On Rare-Earth Metals To End After China Loses Global Trade Case

Meanwhile, the appetite for rare-earth elements isn’t showing any signs of cooling. While Tesla went with AC induction motors for its Model S and Model X, it’s moved to a permanent-magnet design to power the rear wheels of the Tesla Model 3. Dual-motor all-wheel-drive versions of the Model 3 get an AC induction motor at the front that’s free of additional rare-earths. Likewise, Volkswagen has said that it’s planning to use permanent-magnet motors for rear motors in millions of new-generation electric vehicles arriving in the U.S. starting in 2020. Audi stands as an outlier, as at both axles it’s using a current-excited synchronous motor design that needs no rare-earths.

Volkswagen MEB platform architecture

The supply pinch is nothing new. Two decades ago, the U.S. was a significant producer of rare-earth elements, as was Australia. Eventually China inched into the market and corporations went out of business as they couldn’t match the prices on the Chinese-sourced material. That’s left China with an uncomfortable monopoly on the world’s supply, especially as the electronics and automotive sectors have been increasingly dependent on these materials.

CHECK OUT: Al Gore Versus the Rare Earth Metals

The fragility of the situation was demonstrated in 2011 when China cut off supply of rare-earth elements after a political tiff with Japan. Prices skyrocketed, sending users rushing to stockpile the materials initially, before prices tanked and set off some vicious volatility in recent years.

The researchers say that by simply recycling the 35 percent of hard drives that currently are destroyed, about 1,000 metric tons of magnet material could be recovered per year. While they made no statement about how many vehicle motor magnets that might support, every little bit will surely help.

Electric cars are clean, but can they be profitable? New report casts doubt

Volkswagen MEB platform architecture
A flood of new electric-car models is washing into the market in the next year as automakers scramble to meet regulatory demands for electric cars around the world—not to mention scrambling to compete with Tesla.

The challenge, as with Tesla, is whether they can sell those cars at a profit.

A new report by AlixPartners, a worldwide business consulting firm, shows the transition to electric cars is coming at a steep cost to automakers.

DON'T MISS: VW plans 27 electric cars by 2022 on new platform

The company pegs the cost of building new electric cars at almost $9,000 more than conventional cars, and plug-in hybrids at an additional $5,700.

Worldwide, the report says, established and startup automakers are spending $255 billion to develop more than 200 new electric models that are expected to hit the market by 2022.

Many of these will be low-volume models that will not make a significant dent in the development costs for new powertrains, the report says.

CHECK OUT: Tesla sells 200,000th car, starting phaseout of federal tax credits

Further, the number of new models is likely to exceed customer demand, the report says, meaning that intense competition among these new electric cars may force automakers to sell them at a discount. This hit to automaker profits could be exacerbated by ride-sharing and autonomous car fleets, which would buy cars at fleet prices.

As if to confirm the report, BMW cheif executive Bernhard Kuhnt told Bloomberg Friday, “Tesla is now ramping up their volumes, and it’s putting pressure on that market segment.”

At the same time, the study notes, the overall car market in the U.S. is beginning a cyclical downturn from its record sales of 17.2 million new cars and trucks in 2017.

That's not to say the study expects electric cars to be unsuccessful. AlixPartners forecasts that by 2030, electric cars will make up 20 percent of the U.S. market, 30 percent of European car sales, and 35 percent of car sales in China.

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC

In a consumer survey conducted as part of the study, AlixPartners found that 22.5 percent of Americans say they plan for their next car purchase to have plug-in capability.

A Reuters report on the study notes that auto executives generally concur that the transition to electric cars will be expensive, and that R&D and development costs for electrics may not be paid off any time soon. “What everyone needs to realize is that clean mobility is like organic food—it’s more expensive,” Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel manufacturer PSA told Reuters.

Last month, BMW warned investors that investments in electric-car development and meeting cleaner emissions rules would erode profits. Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz also each warned separately that developing electric cars will cost more than they initially budgeted.

So far tax incentives from many governments, such as the U.S. federal $7,500 tax credit, are designed to offset these higher costs. As automakers begin to sell millions of electric cars, however, these tax incentives may become unsustainable.

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

The hope is that by then battery prices will equal the cost of internal combustion powertrains, but that's not guaranteed. Batteries currently account for 40 percent of the cost of building an electric car, Reuters reports.

AlixPartners reports that commodity costs are up 70 percent the last year compared with 2015, at $884 per car, a six-year high.

“Industry players are sort of caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Shiv Shivaraman, co-head of AlixPartners' American automotive and industrial practice. “If they don’t participate in some way in the ‘new-mobility’ revolution that’s coming, they stand to lose out on what might be the biggest thing ever in this industry. If they do participate, as so many are, they have the chance of benefiting from first-mover advantages, but they also face the possibility of going broke in the process.”

One size won’t fit all for future Kia EVs

2019 Kia Niro EV
For an automaker that’s pitching itself toward the fun side of the Hyundai Motor Group, the tone for the automaker’s sizable electric push soon sounds altogether like pants.

“It’s all about what fits,” said Michael Winkler, director of powertrains for Kia in Europe.

By the end of next year, Kia will offer in the U.S. all-electric versions of both the boxy Soul and the hatchback Niro.

Neither have been officially confirmed by the automaker: the next-gen Soul is still in development, and the Niro EV just made its debut for Europe with no word for a version in the U.S. Confirmation of both for buyers in the U.S. is just a formality.

DON'T MISS: Kia Niro Electric range rated at 301-miles in Europe

The specs for the Niro EV are all but set for the U.S.: 64-kwh battery, 201 horsepower, more than 240 miles of range—if not more. Although what the Niro rides atop is shared with the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, it borrows most of its powertrain components, including battery and motor, from the Kona Electric crossover.

When the Soul EV arrives, it’s likely to share its fundamental layout with the Kona Electric, although its powertrain configuration is less clear.

2020 Kia Niro EV, 2018 Paris auto show

It’s unlikely to get the same 64-kwh battery as the Niro EV, and instead may receive a 39-kwh battery from the European and Korean version of the Niro. If the Soul EV is a funky, urban green car, the Niro EV will be the big, electric family car.

Kia seems content to offer two electric vehicles in their portfolio—at least two—that fit different sizes.

The Niro EV and Ioniq Electric are related, both built on the same corporate platform, and the Ioniq’s paltry 124-mile range could be collaterally improved by the mere existence of the Niro EV. (The Ioniq’s pack is merely 29 kwh and upgrades to the 39-kwh pack, at the very least, does seem like a natural fit.)

READ NEXT: 2018 Kia Niro PHEV gas mileage review: outrunning expectations

Kia hasn’t yet developed its own electric powertrain separate from Hyundai, and it’s unlikely that the two automakers will keep anything from each other anytime soon. Batteries, which are sourced from LG Chem, likely will be shared between the two makes, and the models share similar drive motors.

For now, engineers consider electrified vehicles to be one line of a multifaceted approach to propulsion. Gas, diesel, 48-volt mild hybrid, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, EV, and fuel-cell powertrains are all on Kia’s menu around the world.

“It’s just a question of where the products will go,” said Winkler.

EV sales percentages are single-digit for nearly all markets. In the U.S. it’s around 1 percent and in France it’s just about 2 percent—although there are anomalies such as Norway, where EV sales add up to more than a third of the new-car market. Friendly regulations toward electrified powertrains (and unfriendly policies for diesel) may vault EV demand in the short term to keep Kia scrambling to satisfy the rush.

2018 Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid

Winkel is eager to temper that kind of enthusiasm with the reality that EVs may not be suited for every application. Internal combustion may be a better fit for bigger vehicles meant to go long distances for now. EVs may be best suited for city dwellers with sufficient access to charging stations, plug-in hybrids if they don’t. Diesel still figures heavily into the plans for now, although not in the U.S.

Europe and America seem ripe for multiple electric models from the same automaker, and it seems fairly certain to predict a rising demand.

“All I know about forecasting is, it will be wrong,” Winkler said.

Chinese automaker Borgward built gasoline vehicles in order to sell EVs in America

2019 Borgward BX6
Borgward is unorthodox even among the rapidly evolving cast of 21st-century automakers. It’s a Chinese company, with German heritage, that now wants to bring electric cars to the U.S.

Already in the gas-powered SUV market in China, it has sold more than 100,000 units over the past two years, Now Borgward is eyeing a 2020 or 2021 debut in the U.S. with its next-generation EVs.

Last month, Borgward announced at an artificial intelligence conference in San Francisco that it would open its U.S. headquarters and R&D center in Sunnyvale, California; it also outlined some of its AI safety tech for autonomous vehicles.

DON'T MISS: Borgward SUVs' Geneva debut: new plug-in hybrids, old German name, Chinese owners

President and CEO Jason Yang, speaking to Green Car Reports there, said that his company's strategy of selling gas vehicles before introducing EVs is different than what other new Chinese automakers like Byton and Nio are doing, because it has to be.

“We think EV business is not a profitable business in the short run, and every company needs to survive,” Yang said. “We can't just be burning cash.”

2016 Borgward BX7

Focusing only on electric vehicles would result in just that sort of financial waste, Yang said, but by building gas SUVs first, Borgward can make money as well as share parts and manufacturing facilities between the gasoline and electric models. As proof that his way of thinking is right, he pointed to Tesla.

READ THIS: Tesla founder, Chinese company launch SF Motors electric cars

“I think Elon Musk is a superhero,” he said, calling Musk “a lucky man” for his ability to be so personally tied-in with Tesla’s finances. “Not everyone can be so lucky, so we have to be realistic.”

Part of that realism will show in Borgward's AI platform, which Zhou Xing, Borgward's director of artificial intelligence for autonomous driving, said will be tested with supervised AI learning and repeating virtual tests tens of billions of times.

Yang said that Borgward's in-house AI strategy is better than what major automakers are coming up with. “All of our intelligent technology was designed by ourselves, not a Tier 1 supplier,” Yang said. “So we have our own IP, and we can modify and improve the intelligence system faster than the big automakers.”

CHECK OUT: Why China will beat U.S. in electric-car battle: urgency, regulations

Today, depending on how you look at it, Borgward embodies either much of what its original namesake stood for or very little of it. Originally started by Carl Borgward in Germany in 1919, the company’s products offered a successful combination of style and affordability. The fun ended in 1961, when the company went bankrupt and remained a quiet bit of automotive history—until Carl's grandson Christian set out to revive the brand in 2005.

1957 Borgward Isabella Coupe

In 2008, Chinese investors became involved, and the brand was officially relaunched in 2015, with its first vehicle—the BX7 gas-powered SUV—coming to market in 2016.

Since then, Borgward has sold over 100,000 SUVs, including both gasoline models and the all-electric BXi7. In 2019 in China, Borgward will launch the BXi5 and the BXi6, two new all-electric SUVs that are smaller than the BXi7. Plans for the next few years call for a BX7 plug-in hybrid and a long-wheelbase EV called the BXi3L, alongside BXi3 and BX5 plug-in-hybrid concepts still on the drawing board for 2020.