OEMs – Page 4881 – I wish I had more to offer

BMW Investing Heavily in Electric Vehicles, CEO Krueger Says – Bloomberg

BMW Investing Heavily in Electric Vehicles, CEO Krueger Says Bloomberg Harald Krueger, BMW AG chief executive officer, discusses the company’s relationship with the Trump administration and its electric-vehicle plans from the 2018 … Go to Source

New Audi and Mercedes-Benz vehicles will hit the road loaded with HERE traffic data

“ Audi and Mercedes-Benz vehicles arriving in 2019 will be equipped with a new set of innovative features for their drivers: HERE Real-Time Traffic. Just one year ago, HERE CEO Edzard Overbeek wrote that Collaboration and partnerships Will pave the way to the Autonomous worldThat’s a brilliant directive, but when the time comes to take… Continue reading New Audi and Mercedes-Benz vehicles will hit the road loaded with HERE traffic data

Daimler wants to sell self-driving trucks within ten years

Daimler wants to invest half a billion euros in autonomously driving trucks and create a good 200 jobs for it. Computers should control these vehicles predominantly. Electric trucks of the brand Freightliner from Daimler Monday, 07.01.2019 19:18 clock Half a billion euros invested Daimler in the coming years in the development of highly automated trucks.… Continue reading Daimler wants to sell self-driving trucks within ten years

Designworks Collaborates with The North Face to Imagine New Camper Concept.

LAS VEGAS – January 8, 2019 – In Las Vegas today, BMW Group subsidiary Designworks unveiled a new camper concept and virtual reality experience, in partnership with The North Face, to imagine the future of protection from the elements. The lightweight camper concept and virtual experience were designed by Designworks to showcase a new fabric… Continue reading Designworks Collaborates with The North Face to Imagine New Camper Concept.

Volkswagen to become a power supplier

The Volkswagen Group is establishing a Group company for energy offerings and charging solutions – underlining its strategic goal of becoming a leading provider of sustainable mobility. Elli Group GmbH with headquar-ters in Berlin is to develop products and services connected with energy and charging for the brands of the Group. Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen brand… Continue reading Volkswagen to become a power supplier

FCA Appoints Smiley to Global Purchasing and Supply Chain Chief

January 8, 2019 , Auburn Hills, Mich. – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (“FCA”) (NYSE: FCAU / MTA: FCA) today announced that effective immediately Carl Smiley is appointed to the new role of Chief Purchasing & Supply Chain Officer. Smiley is also named to the company’s Group Executive Council (GEC), the highest operational body within FCA. Smiley… Continue reading FCA Appoints Smiley to Global Purchasing and Supply Chain Chief

Tesla Model Y Price Rumors & Specs, + Urban Supercharger Specs

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Published on January 8th, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

Tesla Model Y Price Rumors & Specs, + Urban Supercharger Specs

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January 8th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

Tesla has been quiet about the upcoming Model Y, probably not wanting to hurt demand for the Model 3. As far as anyone knows, the Model Y will be based on the Model 3 platform, which makes perfect sense. Beyond that, very little hard information about Tesla’s compact SUV has made it into the public domain. Will it have falcon-wing doors? Range? Price? All of that information has stayed locked away inside the company. …

Until now.

“The Tesla Show” says it got dished some inside information from “a little birdie” and shared that with the world in a tweet on January 6.

There are some interesting tidbits in there. First, the Model Y will be all-wheel drive only (which was expected if not previously stated). A base price of $35,000 to $40,000 tracks nicely with prices for the Model 3, which will start at $35,000 (eventually) for the standard range version. The dual motor option on the Model 3 is a $5,000 upgrade.

Second, Tesla may be planning a Hardware 3.5 upgrade that will add more cameras and radar to the existing Hardware 2 package. Hardware 3 will include the new Tesla-designed and -engineered self-driving computer that is 1,000 times faster than the Nvidia Drive PX2 used in the cars being manufactured today. It will be interesting to see how the extra inputs affect the Autopilot experience and whether they can be retrofitted to existing cars.

As to whether the new information is accurate or not, Ryan McCaffrey, host of the “Ride The Lighting” podcast, confirmed that the same “little birdie” provided him with the same supposed insider scoop. The official reveal of the Model Y is expected sometime in the spring, possibly in March.

Urban Charger Details
Also on January 6, Tesla aficionado Vincent tweeted a photo that provides details about Tesla’s Urban Charger, which is more powerful than a home charger but not as powerful as the Superchargers that accompany major transportation routes.

Twitter user David Rees added these details and a tweak on the use of ‘new’ in the tweet: “Those aren’t that new, Tesla has been using these stalls for a while, around Sept 2017. They are called ‘urban’ Superchargers and max out at 72 kW. The original style pairs two plugs to one cabinet capable of 330A continuous, max 120 kW per plug. Urban plugs always deliver 72 kW max, where the others you can start off slower if someone else is paired off the same cabinet. Always look for an unpaired plug at the 120 kW stations for max charge rate! They are almost always clearly marked 1A/1B, 2A/2B, etc.” Oh, I actually wrote about these Urban Superchargers back in September 2017.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk indicated recently that Tesla is concentrating on bringing chargers like the one shown above to urban areas, particularly apartment and condo dwellers who do not have easy access to private chargers. Not every Tesla owner has a private garage. Expanding the charging infrastructure will be critical for sales to reach as many potential customers as possible.

About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may take him. His motto is “Democracy is socialism.” You got a problem with that?

You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.

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New members – December 2018

RT @SMMT: WATCH: 2018 was an important year for – See how we are tackling all the biggest challenges https://t.co/IWR2I0zJwc…

AUDI AG: Hildegard Wortmann to take charge of Sales and Marketing

Hildegard Wortmann will be in charge of the Sales and Marketing division of AUDI AG latest as of July 1, 2019. She will succeed Bram Schot, who took over as the company’s Chairman of the Board of Management at the beginning of this year. Wortmann has many years of international experience in product management, marketing… Continue reading AUDI AG: Hildegard Wortmann to take charge of Sales and Marketing

A Look Inside The Tesla Cold Weather Testing Facility

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Published on January 7th, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

A Look Inside The Tesla Cold Weather Testing Facility

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January 7th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

All automakers test their cars in cold conditions to see how freezing temperatures affect their operation. Tesla is no exception. It uses a cold temperature testing facility out in the middle of nowhere about 2 hours south of Fairbanks, Alaska. It is a private compound used by the military to test tanks and armored personnel carriers, among other things. Tesla has created its own test track at the site, complete with twisty roads, steep hills, and skid pads that allow its engineers to learn how well the cars handle slippery roads and Arctic conditions.

Photo by Kyle Field, CleanTechnica

Cold weather and electric cars are not friends. Batteries are like people. They are happiest when the temperature outside is between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold batteries don’t charge or discharge as fast as they do when they are warm. Heating systems eat up a lot of battery power. All those range estimates you see quoted by the EPA are determined by tests conducted indoors at room temperature with the heater and air conditioner turned off.

When a CNET Road Show writer visited the area — the first journalist allowed inside — he found the Model S P100D he was given to make the drive from Fairbanks to Delta Junction where the testing facility is located got about 30% less range than expected. Some of that may be attributed to the Pirelli Sottozero winter tires fitted to the car. Some of it may be due to snow and ice on the road surface. And some of it may be down to the heater working overtime to keep Stevens warm during the journey.

Most people who have driven an electric car in sub-freezing weather would probably not be surprised by the results. My 2015 Nissan LEAF also gets about 1/3 less range when the mercury in my thermometer goes into hibernation during the winter. It’s a common occurrence with all electric cars, one that the manufacturers seldom talk about at the time of sale.

During his time in Alaska, Stevens had a chance to drive a Model S, a Model X, and a Model 3 through their paces on snow and ice. For some of the driving, Tesla engineers turned off the stability and traction control systems that normally protect drivers from hazardous conditions, something owners cannot do themselves. Here’s some of what he had to say:

“With everything off, I cut onto the freshly groomed field of snow at 65 mph and jerked the wheel left and right and then was instantly thrown into one heck of a tank slapper. The car swerved back and forth as I frantically sawed at the wheel to keep up. I tried this maneuver a number of times and maybe caught it twice, but that’s with a decade of high-speed ice driving experience at my disposal. While I mean no offense to your average Model S owner, your average Model S owner would have spun every time.

“Re-enabling the car’s stability and traction controls took a quick reboot and then I went and tried it again. Same speed, same field of snow, and try as I might I couldn’t get the car to spin. I yanked the wheel left and right with all the finesse of a thoroughly endorphin’d Crossfitter and yet the car always kept itself inline, moving quickly enough to miss the imaginary moose, then calmly settling itself.”

Stevens explains that all Teslas have open differentials — the kind that deliver power to the wheel with the least traction. Older readers may recall this is what made driving your mom’s Pontiac station wagon on snowy roads such a challenge. But Tesla uses the brakes on each individual wheel to stop them from spinning. Combining that with precise control of how much torque each motor delivers permits the car to tame the most outrageous slides.

A video popped up on YouTube recently of a Model 3 traveling on an icy road with Autopilot activated. That’s not a smart thing to do — ever! — but you don’t have to be smart to own a Tesla. The car was on the brink of spinning out completely when the Autopilot caught the skid and returned the car to a safe path.

The driver, Eric Lapierre, noted that he didn’t touch the wheel at all. Of course, he shouldn’t have been using Autopilot at all in those conditions, but he proudly posted the video from his dash cam anyway.

Stevens was impressed by how the Model S and the Model X handled the snow and ice. A 30% slope coated with ice down center “resulted in a slow and occasionally unnerving but ultimately clean ascent. With the e-differentials disabled (again, not something you can do at home), the thing started the climb, spun its tires, and then promptly (and rapidly) skidded backwards down the hill.”

The Model 3 Performance, however, blew him away with its ability to tolerate extreme slip angles without spoiling the fun until the car was poised to tip over the edge into a full fledged disaster. “In Track Mode, the Model 3 will let you hang the tail way, way out, getting some properly lurid drifts going before it cuts the fun. Yes, it will cut the fun if you get things too far out of shape, killing the car’s power and automatically deploying the brakes at the appropriate corner. But, the car gives you an awful lot of rope to hang yourself with before it kindly and reliably steps in to lift the noose from your neck.

“By building the Model 3’s control software in-house, Tesla’s engineers have even more ability to vector torque from front to rear both under acceleration and under regenerative deceleration. This means the car can react more quickly and more precisely, again letting you push it that much further before cutting in.” The Tesla engineers told Stevens an upgrade to Track Mode is in the works that will allow the driver to manually adjust the torque split between the front and rear motors. First we’ve heard of that!

Finally, Stevens addressed some issues Model 3 owners in cold climates have experienced — things like frozen door handles and windows that won’t go down when the world outside is frozen. Tesla has addressed the latter with a software update, but a solution to the door handle issue is still in the works. Stevens says, “Every new model has some teething problems. It’s how the company reacts that’s the important thing.”

How Tesla reacts is one of the greatest assets the company has. It doesn’t hide behind legalese or excuses. It steps up and addresses problems in a forthright and proactive manner, often with direct responses from the CEO on Twitter. What was his name again? …

When something goes wrong and a company stands behind its product, that’s a bonus that costs the manufacturer next to nothing but can be priceless to the customer.

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