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Porsche and Boeing are partnering to develop ‘premium’ electric flying cars

The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) industry is heating up, with a lot of companies finding dance partners for what looks like could be a boom industry — provided the significant technical and regulatory hurdles still standing in the way of viable commercial consumer air travel are overcome. Now, automaker Porsche is throwing its… Continue reading Porsche and Boeing are partnering to develop ‘premium’ electric flying cars

Sources: Lilium is looking to raise up to $500M for its electric flying taxis

“Flying cars” — airborne vehicles designed for urban and other short-distance commutes to replace conventional private automobiles — are (at best) still years away from being a reality, with significant safety, technology and business model hurdles to clear before they ever hit the sky. Now, sources tell us that one of more promising startups in… Continue reading Sources: Lilium is looking to raise up to $500M for its electric flying taxis

New Conductive Epoxy for Space-Environment Assembly

Master Bond has expanded its range of adhesives which have passed the NASA low outgassing test with a new two-component silver-filled conductive epoxy, EP21TDCS-LO, aimed at dealing with harsh conditions like temperature and pressure extremes experienced in space-environment assemblies. According to Master Bond, electromechanical assemblies in this sort of environment rely strongly on how robust… Continue reading New Conductive Epoxy for Space-Environment Assembly

Sunderland under threat as Nissan says business model in ‘jeopardy’ after Brexit tariffs

Brexit looms. Access the news and analysis you need now to navigate this monumental shift: The FT provides the most robust Brexit coverage, including: An unmatched number of scoops Expert opinion & regional perspectives Daily Brexit Briefing newsletter Go to Source

Renault board to ‘discuss’ replacing chief Thierry Bolloré

Carmaker will meet on Friday as it seeks to cut another link to former boss Carlos Ghosn Go to Source

ID Light feature inside VW ID 3 electric car communicates without clutter

With its first ground-up electric effort, Volkswagen chose to produce a car that is conventionally practical while embracing the high-tech approach taken with many EVs. One of the ID 3's unique features is an intelligent LED-based communication system designed to deliver alerts and status updates in a simple, easily interpreted manner.

The system is inspired by the LEDs you find on smart home devices. It illuminates in different colors and patterns for different notifications, and reacts to voice prompts with directional animations to indicate whether it is listening to the driver or passenger for additional input.

The LED strip is integrated with just about every vehicle system, including navigation, driver assistance features, infotainment and even the powertrain.

While it may sound like something out of “Independence Day,” the interplay is far more innocuous—not to mention productive. Per VW, strategic lighting design in a car's interior can lend it additional character. Long-time VW fans surely remember the company's use of light blue gauge illumination as a long-standing interior signature.

“For all its innovativeness, ID. Light functions intuitively by using familiar colours. This use of light, makes the vehicle more ‘personable’ and is a very simple and intuitive way of communicating,” says VW UX designer Valentina Wilhelm.

Volkswagen included some of the basic animations in a feature overview released Wednesday. Entry and exit are accompanied by animations reminiscent of a television being turned on and off. Door locking is indicated by an inward red animation; unlocking goes the opposite direction and appears in green. An upcoming turn is indicated by a blue effect running in the desired direction, and an emergency braking indicator is a full-width flash of red. Other notifications modes include incoming telephone calls and battery charge status.

The ID 3 will launch in Europe next year, and while it might eventually be brought to Canada, no U.S. distribution is likely. The first vehicle member of the ID family, a model to be called ID 4 (or ID 4X), hasn't yet been detailed, but look for ID models to share some common interface traits—and this might very well be one of them.

Volvo and Geely merging development for engines, still needed in hybrids

Volvo will offload its development of internal combustion engines to a new joint project with parent company Geely, the two companies announced Monday, allowing Volvo's in-house propulsion engineers to concentrate exclusively on electric powertrains.

While Volvo says it believes ICEs are here to stay for the foreseeable future, it is in the early stages of phasing out cars powered exclusively by fossil fuels. Hybrids will remain a part of Volvo's lineup, which means ICE development is still critical to the company's product plans, but that work doesn't necessarily need to be done by Volvo's engineers.

By the middle of the next decade, Volvo expects half its global sales to be EVs and the other half hybrids, the announcement said, and those hybrid engines will be supplied by the new joint operation. Both companies have already begun to spin off their ICE programs from their core operations in preparation for the merger, the announcement said.

This new business will bring roughly 3,000 employees from the Volvo side and 6,000 from Geely, the two automakers anticipate. Neither company plans to cut overall employment figures at all.

“Hybrid cars need the best internal combustion engines. This new unit will have the resources, scale and expertise to develop these powertrains cost efficiently,” said Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson, in the announcement.

Volvo's electrification push is well underway. The company already offers several plug-in hybrid models (though not all are sold in the United States just yet) and its first dedicated EV model, based on the new XC40 crossover, will make its formal debut later this month.

Geely is also pursuing electric cars; the company announced its first BEV for global distribution, the GE11 fastback, earlier in 2019.

Tesla Gigafactory China: Mud, “Basically An Open Field,” Not Gonna Happen — Skeptical Claims Revisited

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Published on October 3rd, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Gigafactory China: Mud, “Basically An Open Field,” Not Gonna Happen — Skeptical Claims Revisited

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October 3rd, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

We reported yesterday that Tesla was ending Model 3 Standard Range shipments from the US to China because it was starting to produce the base Model 3 trim in its new (and still under construction) Shanghai gigafactory, “Gigafactory 3.” It may surprise even Tesla optimists that the company was able to go from no construction at all to Model 3 production in such a rapid time, but it surely surprises Tesla skeptics the most. In fact, in light of the milestone, I thought I’d remind people of a handful of claims about Gigafactory 3 from just earlier in the year, a couple of quarters ago. Most of these were published within one month of Elon Musk joining a little ceremony for the Gigafactory 3 groundbreaking on January 7th, but note that skepticism about the factory has been common throughout the year.

In a January 7th article titled “Elon Musk Sees a Future in China for Tesla, and It’s Muddy,” the Bloomberg writer doesn’t say the plan is impossible or unrealistic, but he comes close, while writing about Elon Musk in an unflattering fashion throughout the article. If, at the end of the article, you got the impression that one should be skeptical of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 plans and the future of Tesla, you would digested exactly the narrative he was pushing.

On January 14th, Forbes published an article titled “Not So Fast: Can Elon Musk Really Open Tesla’s China Gigafactory This Year?” The article, exuding an air of authoritative skepticism, started off like this: “Elon Musk rarely shies away from setting bold targets for Tesla, despite a mixed record for achieving them when promised. So it was in character when he announced the electric-car company’s first Chinese Gigafactory could be operational in about 11 months.

“‘We’re looking forward to hopefully having some initial production of the Model 3 towards the end of this year and achieving volume production next year,’ Musk said at the Shanghai groundbreaking January 7.

“He may be disappointed.

“There’s no precedent for building a large, modern auto-assembly plant and starting its production in under a year, manufacturing experts say. In fact, even Tesla’s official goal of ramping up to 3,000 Model 3 electric sedans per week at some point in 2020 won’t be easy.

“‘Unless he’s mastered some approach that I’m not aware of to do everything in a more effective and efficient way, that lead time to build is going to be really challenging,’ said Laurie Harbour, CEO of manufacturing consultant Harbour Results Inc. in Southfield, Michigan. ‘It definitely seems completely optimistic.'”

Optimistic? Or realistic?

After claiming that Tesla was not known for meetings its production goals (note that Tesla is on track to nail Elon Musk’s 2014 forecast for 2020 production and delivery goals), Business Insider writer and frequent Tesla critic Linette Lopez expressed great skepticism about Elon Musk’s plan to have Tesla producing the Model 3 at its Shanghai gigafactory by the end of 2019. “So far, the China plant is, um, basically an open field with some digging going on,” she said. “It’s harder and harder to believe that there will be Model 3s coming out of the Tesla China gigafactory by the end of the year.”

A February 8th article on GuruFocus by the president of Almington Capital — Merchant Bankers, short Tesla [TSLA] at the time, was titled “Tesla’s Shanghai Plans Don’t Add Up.” The article contained paragraphs like these: “Tesla has been talking about China for a number of years, but not much material came of all that talk. Then, in October, the company announced it had leased a plot of land in Shanghai’s Lingang area. The swampy land had found little interest among potential domestic anchor developers, which goes some way to explaining the slightly below-market $140 million price Tesla agreed to pay. …

“When Musk broke ground at Gigafactory 3, the plot was still nothing but a field with a temporary wall erected around it (and a worryingly muddy field at that). Tesla had claimed to be ramping up construction efforts even before the official groundbreaking, but there was little sign of construction activity, despite the convenient presence of heavy construction machinery at the event.

“Since then, updates have been somewhat scant. Some intrepid observers, however, have provided independent status reports via aerial drones. The most recent video footage of the site was recorded and released on Feb. 5. It shows little in the way of progress. There appears to be some poured concrete, yet there is virtually no visible work activity or sign of life around the place. That is certainly inconsistent with Tesla’s own extremely aggressive timetable.”

To be fair, there’s still mud on the site. But I think you get the point.

Is Elon Musk a magic maker? Or are people just too skeptical? Or have they simply been pushing an agenda, for one biased reason or another, that we can now see was completely disconnected from Tesla’s future in the physical world?

If you’d like to buy a Tesla — whether you believe it exists or is simply elaborate vaporware — and also get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the CEO of Important Media. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.

Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA] — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in this company and feels like it is a good cleantech company to invest in. But he offers no investment advice and does not recommend investing in Tesla or any other company.

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China Tesla Demand Is Spiking

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Published on October 3rd, 2019 |

by Guest Contributor

China Tesla Demand Is Spiking

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October 3rd, 2019 by Guest Contributor

Originally posted on X Auto and EVANNEX.
By Iqtidar Ali

Tesla Model 3 and Model X demand are skyrocketing in China, especially since the Chinese government gave a 10% car purchase tax exemption to Tesla last month — a sign of aggressive electric vehicle policy implementation by China.

A large number of Tesla Model 3, Model S, and Model X vehicles outside the Beijing Department of Motor Vehicles (Source: Jay In Shanghai)

There are several reports coming out of Beijing and Shanghai about massive amounts of deliveries happening via Chinese Tesla stores. As evidenced in the featured image above, Teslas have flooded Beijing’s Department of Motor Vehicles in order to obtain license plates. In addition, below is a short video from outside the Beijing DMV that shows a long line of Model 3s at the facility.

Meanwhile, Chao Zhou is consistently updating the Tesla community about Gigafactory 3 developments by reporting directly from the ground. Chao recently visited the Tesla Shanghai Jinqiao Store and the number of Model 3 sales he saw at the location was nothing short of astonishing.

According to Chao’s meeting with Tesla staff at the Jinqiao Store, a surge in Model 3 orders occurred post-tax exemption. Crunching the numbers, the Jinqiao Tesla Store alone is expected to accumulate 3,000 orders by the end of this month.

It’s quite conceivable that Tesla China will deliver these cars by the end of October, which should bolster Tesla’s Q4 delivery report.

In addition, large numbers of Model X vehicles also await delivery — proof of the popularity of Tesla’s SUV in China. It turns out even Elon Musk used a Model X convoy on his Shanghai visit recently.

China’s 10% tax exemption drops the purchase price of the Tesla’s electric cars by up to 99,000 yuan ($13,960), according to Reuters. Needless to say, this big discount is attracting a lot of attention from Chinese auto buyers searching for a reliable, premium electric car.

The Tesla China website states that the maximum tax break obtainable on a Model 3 is ¥52,000 ($7,345). This tax break can be realized on Model 3’s highest priced variant. For more details, Tesla’s website has a tax incentive info page covering the policy details of every Chinese region.

And it’s not just new Teslas in high demand. According to Quartz, “Nobody wants a used electric vehicle in China, unless it’s a Tesla.” It’s reported that, “A Tesla’s residual value—basically the future value of a car after a certain amount of use—at one year is more than 70% of its original price, far higher than the value of any Chinese EV model at the same mark.”

Tesla’s traction in China (YouTube: CNA)

Meanwhile, Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 buildout remains in “ludicrous” mode. The company’s Model 3 assembly lines are already in place and other parts of the huge complex are nearing completion.

According to Reuters, “Tesla Inc’s China factory aims to start production this month.” Furthermore, CleanTechnica reports, “Tesla will cut off orders of the Model 3 Standard Range after October 13th in anticipation of the start of production at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China.”

To that end, in the coming months, Tesla China customers will be able to get their Model 3s delivered far quicker (in larger quantities) from Shanghai’s Gigafactory 3.

Featured image via Tesla

About the Author

Guest Contributor is many, many people. We publish a number of guest posts from experts in a large variety of fields. This is our contributor account for those special people. 😀

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No-deal Brexit ‘to jeopardise’ Nissan Europe arm

Japanese carmaker Nissan has warned that a no-deal Brexit would make its European business model unsustainable. The firm’s chairman, Gianluca de Ficchy, said if a 10% export tariff was introduced after the UK left the EU it would put its operations in “jeopardy”. This would be case if the UK moved to World Trade Organization… Continue reading No-deal Brexit ‘to jeopardise’ Nissan Europe arm