Author: Green Car Online News

ChargePoint users can now access networks in Canada, Europe

2014 BMW i3 REx fast-charging at Chargepoint site, June 2016 [photo: Tom Moloughney]
Plugging in an electric car should be as easy as making a call on a cell phone—only it isn't always.

Now a series of new agreements—similar to cell-phone roaming agreements that let users make calls on other networks—are beginning to make that easier.

The latest, announced Tuesday morning, is an agreement between ChargePoint, America's largest charging network, and FLO, the largest network in Canada.

DON'T MISS: ChargePoint commits to build charging stations for 2.5 million cars by 2025

The agreement will allow electric-car drivers with ChargePoint accounts to see FLO chargers in their ChargePoint apps when they're traveling in Canada and to plug in to any one of them using their ChargePoint account—and vice versa.

ChargePoint signed a similar agreement last Tuesday with EV Box, one of the leading providers of charging stations in Europe. The EV Box agreement will allow travelers renting an electric car on either continent to use their ChargePoint or EV Box account from the other. EV Box operates in 45 countries.

READ MORE: ChargePoint launches electric-car charging activated by smartphone (2017)

Such interoperability agreements depend on a common set of new charging standards used by networks, automakers, and charging station producers called Open Charge Point Interface.

It bundles billing, account, charger location and availability information, among other things into a common protocol communicated between the car, the charging station, the network, and its app to allow drivers simply to plug in and go.

Before drivers show up at a charger on any of the apps, they can see whether the charger is available, working, or in use, and the price to charge.

Behind the scenes

The announcements come on the heels of an announcement by Hubject, another company working behind the scenes to integrate the data streams of different chargers and charging networks and their apps into one common standard to enable agreements like those between ChargePoint, FLO, and EV Box.

Hubject has promoted such interoperability movements across Europe and in Israel, Japan, and Canada, and announced in June that it is setting up shop in the U.S., to bring such agreements to North America. The company works with EV Box and Ionity, a large fast-charging consortium supported by automakers in Europe. Its service includes integrating navigation directions to available charging stations within the network's apps.

The eventual goal, Hubject executives say, is for drivers not to even have to get out a credit card, but for payment to be handled automatically when the car is plugged in.

BMW recalls chargers for 2018, 2019 plug-in models

2018 BMW i3s
BMW issued a recall for the charge cords of virtually all the 2018 and 2019 plug-in vehicles it has built for sale in the U.S.

According to the recall notice on the NHTSA's website, capacitors in the charge cords could fail, resulting in a shock hazard or a fire.

DON'T MISS: Ford recalls Focus Electric, Fusion Energi, and C-Max Energi charge cords

The recall affects BMW's plug-in hybrid models. They include the 330e; 530e and 530e xDrive; 740Le xDrive iPerformance; X5 xDrive 40e; and the Mini Countryman S E All4. It also includes all 2018 BMW i3 hatchbacks, with and without the gasoline range extender, and all 2019 BMW i8 and i8 Roadster models.

In all, the recall covers 3,501 cars.

CHECK OUT: 2019 BMW i3 to get bigger battery with 153-mile range

Owners should expect to be notified beginning in mid-November to take their vehicles to a dealership, where the charge cord will be inspected. If dealers find damage they will replace the charge cord for free.

The recall notice on the NHTSA's website warns, “An electrical shock or fire can increase the risk of injury or death.”

The recall does not affect charging the cars with permanently installed home chargers, Level 2 chargers, or charge cords bought from third parties, only the cords BMW supplied with the cars.

British company resurrects classic MGB and Jaguar XKSS as electrics

RBW electric MG Roadster
First, it was the Porsche 911, then the Jaguar E-Type. Now it's the MGB.

Converting classic old cars into electrics has become the rage across Europe.

The latest comes from RBW Classic Electric Cars in the UK, which isn't taking classic MGBs and modifying them, but recreating new classic MGBs with electric powertrains.

READ MORE: Royal couple's electric Jaguar E-type Zero coupe will go into production

The bodies will come from British Motoring Heritage, which builds replacement parts and body shells for classic British cars.

The powertrain will come from Zytek Automotive, a division of automotive supplier Continental, which provides powertrains for everything from electric Smart cars to Formula E and LeMans racers.

According to third-party sources, the car will have 94 horsepower and will deliver 0-60 mph acceleration of about 8 seconds, and a top speed of 105 mph. Range is estimated at 155 miles.

RBW electric MG Roadster

Pictures show the car with LED headlights with signature rings, and a charge port offset to the side of the rear of the car where the classic MGB's fuel filler was.

RBW is accepting orders for 13 of the $110,000 the e-MGBs for 2019.

Buyers can order them in either left- or right-hand drive configuration.

CHECK OUT: Electric Jaguar E-Type whisks royal couple from Windsor Castle

In case three of the most iconic sports cars of the 1960s aren't enough, RBW has another trick up its sleeve.

It is developing an electric version of the Jaguar XKSS, a classic road-going version of the D-Type race car that won Le Mans three years in a row from 1955 to 1957, and made famous as one of actor Steve McQueen's favorite sports cars.

The RBW electric XKSS is reported to cost more than $197,000.

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.

DON'T MISS: China wants all electric cars: will it work? Reasons and reactions

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.”