FCA – Page 1031 – I wish I had more to offer

I’m a driver for both Uber and Lyft — here are 7 reasons Uber is the clear winner for me – Business Insider

My fiancée’s biggest concern with me driving, especially late at night, is safety. And I don’t blame her. I’m driving around the busy roads of South Florida letting strangers into my car. If I were in her shoes, I would be concerned too. While over 99% of my passengers are extremely nice and normal people,… Continue reading I’m a driver for both Uber and Lyft — here are 7 reasons Uber is the clear winner for me – Business Insider

FCA extends 3rd shift at Windsor Assembly to end of year

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One Up, 299 More to Go: FCA Raises First Piece of Steel on Site of New Assembly Plant

August 13, 2019 , Detroit – FCA marked a milestone today as it raised the first piece of steel for the nearly 800,000-square-foot paint shop being built on the site of the former Mack Avenue Engine Complex. The Company announced in February that it would invest $1.6 billion to convert the two existing Mack facilities into… Continue reading One Up, 299 More to Go: FCA Raises First Piece of Steel on Site of New Assembly Plant

Tesla Model 3 = 67% of US Electric Vehicle Sales in 2nd Quarter

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Published on August 10th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Model 3 = 67% of US Electric Vehicle Sales in 2nd Quarter

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August 10th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

I prefer comparing the Tesla Model 3 to its gasoline competitors, but it’s also logical to compare the Model 3 to other electric vehicles. In the old days, these were simply called “EV sales reports,” but the US electric vehicle market is so unbalanced at the moment that it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room — there’s the Model 3, and there’s everything else.

In fact, even that is unbalanced, as the Model 3 accounts for 67% of US electric vehicle sales, according to 2nd quarter sales data and estimates.

The reason for the dramatic divergence in sales is up for interpretation. One reason might be that the majority of people who want an electric car don’t see anything that beats the Model 3 — or at least not for anywhere near its price point. Another reason might be that the Model 3 is the only electric vehicle that blatantly and commandingly outcompetes all of its gasoline competitors in ways that normal consumers care about. Another possibility is that word of mouth about the Model 3 has gotten around so much that it’s clearly the new “it” product for certain portions of the population. Or, more practically, consumers in a more mainstream wave of EV adoption have simply learned about the many benefits of the car.

In any case, the story in EV world is that the majority of EV sales are Tesla Model 3 sales. Tesla’s more expensive models (the Model S and Model X) held the #2 and #3 spots in the 2nd quarter, while the Chevy Bolt and Nissan LEAF were the only other models to score over 3,000 sales in the quarter. (GM’s and Nissan’s top electrified models used to see more than 3,000 sales a month.) The Audi e-tron, BMW i3, and Volkswagen e-Golf each had over 1,000 sales in Q2 — approximately as many Model 3s as Tesla sells in 2–3 days in the USA.

The charts can tell the rest of the story.

A handful of electric models are not included here because the parent companies don’t release sales data for them. Those include the Honda Clarity EV, Hyundai Ioniq EV, Hyundai Kona EV, Kia Niro EV, and Fiat 500e. However, if I plug in estimates from InsideEVs, they’re so insignificant that the Model 3 retains its 67% share of the market.

I hesitate to beat a demolished piñata, but it’s perhaps worth noting that many of the electric models in these charts were at various times deemed “Tesla killers” by certain members of the media. It appears there was a miscalculation in those forecasts.

If you prefer a fun chart over a static one, below is an interactive chart in which you can toggle between Q1 and Q2 sales.

If you are interested in buying a Tesla Model 3 (or Model S or X) and need a referral code to get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging, feel free to use ours: http://ts.la/tomasz7234

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species). He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and Solar Love. 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, and Canada.

Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.

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New FCA paint shop vertical column set

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EU engine-tech project could help gas catch up with gasoline

Some biofuels, like biogas from landfills—or synthetic methane—are attractive for use in vehicles as they have a potentially low energy cost to produce. They also have lower criteria emissions, of the sort that affect human health and cause smog.

These engines should easily be cross-compatible with those using compressed natural gas (CNG). Up until now, however, passenger-car engines haven’t been optimized for these fuels (even natural gas, in most cases) and those designed to burn these fuels have often been adapted versions of gasoline engines, with some traits of diesels added.

As a result, gaseous-fuel-burning engines have lagged gasoline engines in thermal efficiency, despite their potential to do better than gasoline.

Tech talk-through for gaseous-fuels emissions reduction

That was the subject of a $26 million EU project called Gas On. The four-year project just concluded in March, with more results revealed in May. The goal was to design a gas-only internal combustion engine that reduced carbon-dioxide emissions (and thus fuel consumption) by 20 percent compared to best-in-class 2014 vehicles using compressed natural gas (CNG), with a “gasoline-like vehicle driving range.”

Aiming to step up efficiency for light vehicles

The project included a consortium of 20 members, including Volkswagen Group, Ford, Renault, and Fiat, and it sought innovative concepts for direct injection, ignition, and boosting systems, advanced exhaust aftertreatment, and systems that detect the gas composition and quality.

Volkswagen Group Lean CNG Combustion Concept

The best engine achieved the targeted 20-percent reduction in fuel consumption (based on WLTP-cycle calculations for a mid-size passenger car), with a peak efficiency of more than 45 percent and more than 40 percent efficiency reached over a wide operating range.

The efficiency gains are a step in the right direction, if the technology ever stands a chance, as gasoline development keeps nudging efficiency upward, battery electrics catch on, and energy experts continue to point to larger utility-scale power production as the best hope for these gaseous fuels.

Could be a hard sell for consumers, companies

With major gains for gasoline engines on one side, and growing momentum around electric vehicles on the other side, the industry faces some challenges for deploying biogas vehicles on any large scale.

2016 Toyota Prius Unveiling

The arrival of the fourth-generation 2016 Prius signalled the latest round of improvements for gasoline engines, as Toyota claimed a 40-percent thermal efficiency for its engine. The Hyundai Ioniq and Kia Niro that soon followed also claimed 40 percent. And now the Dynamic Force Engine that’s being installed in the new Camry and RAV4, among others, is rated at 40 percent in standard versions and 41 percent in hybrids.

Hyundai is reportedly targeting 50 percent for at least one next-generation engine. Meanwhile Mazda has claimed a thermal efficiency of up to 44 percent for its Skyactiv-X engine, which is likely to come to the U.S. in the next year or two, and it anticipates—from some reports—an efficiency in the range of as high as 56 percent for the next generation of its Skyactiv gasoline technology.

Better used for power generation?

Thermal efficiency is directly related to fuel economy and emissions and, simply put, how much work is produced from the fuel energy input. Natural-gas powered plants, while controversial at times, can already approach 60 percent efficiency.

2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas

Real-life use is also an important point. According to the EPA, EVs actually convert 59 to 62 percent of grid energy to power at the wheels, but typical internal combustion engines convert 17-21 percent. For some of those hybrids with the most efficient engines, the total-vehicle figure may be close to 30 percent today.

While the official part of the Gas On project is over, the next step will be for the automakers to conduct some real-world testing with fleets—echoing what happened about a decade ago when the last round of light-duty natural-gas vehicles, like the Honda Civic Natural Gas.

With electric cars more widely seen as a future replacing internal combustion gasoline tech, it’s going to be an even tougher argument this time around.

French company makes EV conversions easy for old clunkers

Off-the-shelf EV conversions aren't just for classic cars like Prince Harry's Jaguar anymore.

French startup Transition One plans to make it easy to convert a wide variety of average old cars in the country to electric power by building a standard conversion kit. The company says the kit will fit several top-selling models in Europe, including the Renault Twingo II, Fiat 500, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo, and VW Polo.

The kit will sell for about $9,400 (8,500 Euros), and buyers can receive a 3,500 Euro tax credit in France, bringing the equivalent cost down to about $5,500. The company plans to complete each conversion in about four hours, once production is up and running.

The company has started by building a prototype electric car from a 2009 Renault Twingo, a small hatchback about the size of a Toyota Yaris. It uses Tesla battery modules in three packs under the hood, along with the motor and power electronics, and two more battery packs where the gas tank once sat.

Classic Mini Cooper electric conversion by Swind

The packs weigh 265 pounds, giving it about 18 kilowatt-hours of energy, which the company says will deliver about 112 miles of range in the Twingo.

In an interview with Bloomberg, company founder Aymeric Libeau said, “I’m selling to people who can’t afford a brand new 20,000 Euro [$22,200] electric car.”

The plan might be compared to that of Montreal's Ecotuned—aiming to convert old Ford F-150s with dying gas powertrains to electric power for fleets. The types of large, body-on-frame trucks that Ecotuned converts are as plentiful in North America as the small cars that Transition One plans to convert are in Europe. Other conversion companies—and some automakers—have begun focused conversion efforts on certain classics, such as the Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911, and the original Mini Cooper.

Libeau still needs to get his conversions approved by European regulators, which he says he expects to receive by the end of the year. Transition One is also seeking financing to buy a factory to produce up to 400 of the conversions a year, and plans to open orders in September to test the market demand.

Glickenhaus Teases New LMP1 Hypercar With BAT-Like Wings – Motor1.com

The niche automaker is up for something tasty – and it’s going to be road-legal. James Glickenhaus of the niche automaker Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus is up to something tasty recently. In a Facebook social media post, the automotive entrepreneur put a rear image of a red supercar or hypercar with the caption “Glickenhaus LMP1.” Based on the… Continue reading Glickenhaus Teases New LMP1 Hypercar With BAT-Like Wings – Motor1.com

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles says it has fix for Jeep 'Death Wobble'

Original Article

H1 2019 results confirm 2019 guidance with improved cash flow

UNVEILING OF FIRST HYBRID SERIES-PRODUCTION SUPERCAR, SF90 STRADALE Total shipments of 2,671 units, up +8.4% Net revenues of Euro 984 million, up +8.6% or +6.8% at constant currency Adj. EBITDAof Euro 314 million, up +8.7% with an EBITDA margin of 32.0% Adj. diluted EPS of Euro 0.96 (+13.9%) Industrial free cash flowgeneration of Euro 139 million,… Continue reading H1 2019 results confirm 2019 guidance with improved cash flow