Electric vehicles – Page 9198 – I wish I had more to offer

GM unveils Chevrolet Menlo EV electric car – a Bolt EV utility vehicle

GM has unveiled the first official images of the Chevrolet Menlo EV, an electric car that is expected to become the utility version of the Bolt EV. In October 2017, GM outlined its “All-Electric Path to Zero Emissions” and announced a new electric offensive with 20 new all-electric vehicles to launch by 2023. The automaker also,… Continue reading GM unveils Chevrolet Menlo EV electric car – a Bolt EV utility vehicle

Chevy Bolt EUV Revealed As Chevrolet Menlo EV In China

The new EV crossover will be officially presented at the Chengdu Auto Show in September. The Chevrolet Bolt SUV is currently still under development, but that does not prevent GM from having other electric crossovers to play with. At least in China. While the Bolt EUV has not yet shown up for American customers, perhaps… Continue reading Chevy Bolt EUV Revealed As Chevrolet Menlo EV In China

Urban Electric’s Pop-up EV Charging Hub

Deployed as fast charging hubs in residential streets and on-street public parking bays, the fully retractable UEone hubs will facilitate overnight smart charging of the biggest EV battery packs, whilst minimising the impact on the power grid and the urban streetscape.The new funds will support a £3.8-million (€3.67-million) Innovate UK backed project to install up to 18 second generation ‘demonstrator’ pop-up charging hubs comprising more than 100 charge points in Dundee and Plymouth, prior to a full commercial launch.The UEone “has the potential to be rolled out across the whole of the UK.”

Quiet launch: Daimler builds first electric heavy-duty semis for fleet test

Tesla might have been the first to generate a lot of fanfare over an all-electric Semi, but it’s not the first to actually place an electric Semi with customers for full-time use.

That nod would go to Daimler Trucks North America. The initial two Freightliner eCascadia semis were built this week for its Electric Innovation Fleet—funded by a $16 million California grant—and they’ll be placed into duty later this month by the Southern California operations of two companies: Penske Truck Leasing and NFI.

The company’s intent is to test how the trucks fare in large-scale fleet conditions, and the innovation fleet “will inform the final production versions” of its two upcoming electric trucks, the eCascadia, and the medium-duty Freightliner eM2. Daimler also has an Electric Vehicle Council of 38 customers “to identify and address all potential hurdles to large-scale deployment of commercial battery electric vehicles.”

How much range these trucks can achieve, while performing the tasks they’re expected to—year round—has been one of the great challenges for development teams. Daimler has quoted a range figure of 250 miles from the eCascadia pack’s 550 kwh of usable capacity (with an 80-percent charge possible in about 90 minutes), while Tesla has stuck to claims of versions offering 300 and 500 miles.

With both trucks essentially fitting the spatial constraints, that led some in the industry to question the physics involved—including Martin Daum, the head of trucks at Daimler, who told Bloomberg that “for now, the same laws of physics apply in Germany and in California.”

Tech luminary Bill Gates is among those with doubts about trucking going electric; he went so far as to say he doesn’t see them working quite yet. But Daimler sounds bullish on electric.

Daimler Trucks North America president and CEO Roger Nielsen

“The road to emissions-free transportation is going to be driven with battery-electric vehicles,” said Daimler Trucks North America president and CEO Roger Nielsen, as part of the keynote address to the annual ACT fleet conference in April. “I believe the future is electric.”

At that time Daimler called natural gas “an interim solution,” and stated that while it sees the potential for fuel cells it doesn’t see near-term viability. It stressed that three things need to happen: a common vehicle charging infrastructure; cheaper, lighter, and more powerful batteries; and incentives to strengthen electric’s ownership-cost advantages.

Those might not be the only eCascadias to soon be placed in duty. Daimler says that it will put 50 commercial EVs into use by the end of the year in North America, and more deliveries of trucks from the Electric Innovation Fleet will continue through the year.

Freightliner eCascadia electric semi and Freightliner eM2 short-haul truck

The longer-hauling electric truck gets its name from the Cascadia, which is the best-selling Class 8 heavy-duty truck, and both electric Freightliners will be built in Portland, Oregon, with full-scale production in 2021.

Tesla has followed a different strategy. It’s been getting the Semi out for customer test drives—including a long tour last year visiting big-name reservation-holders such as UPS and J.B. Hunt. Tesla hasn’t recently provided a formal update on the Semi, but Green Car Reports has reached out to the company for comment.

The two trucks could actually reach the market within months of each other. The Tesla Semi is now expected for first deliveries in late 2020, while Daimler is targeting full-scale production in Portland, Oregon, beginning in 2021.

Rivian might build upcoming Ford electric SUV

Rivian could be entrusted to build an upcoming Ford electric SUV—due within the next few years—at the startup’s former Mitsubishi assembly plant in Normal, Illinois.

“It would be counterproductive for us to try and make what they have capacity to do in the beginning here, because they've got a factory in Illinois that meets a lot of our criteria,” Ford CEO Jim Hackett told MotorTrend, in a story published Tuesday.

That's a departure from what was announced in April, with the formation of a strategic partnership between the two companies. At that time, Ford said that it will build an all-new battery electric vehicle using Rivian’s flexible skateboard platform, and that the companies would develop this next-generation vehicle together.

Rivian R1T, R1S chassis

The Ford truck project, which is now sounding more like an electric SUV than an electric pickup, will leave much to Rivian. It's due to share all of Rivian’s core components, such as its battery pack, power electronics, electric motors, and electronic architecture, but Ford will develop what sometimes in industry terms is called a top hat—a different or fully differentiated body that fits onto the skateboard, with all the key technical components shared.

Ford may have a little more influence in Rivian’s platform as it moves toward production, however—and potentially, many more models. The partnership was spearheaded by a $500 million minority investment from Ford, and under that, Ford President of Global Operations Joe Hinrichs was given a seat on the Rivian board.

Ford emphasized that the deal doesn’t affect its existing $11 billion investment toward electric and electrified vehicles, including the upcoming Mustang-inspired electric crossover, which is due to arrive next year, or work on a fully electric version of the Ford F-150 pickup.

The Rivian R1T pickup is due to arrive in late 2020, with the R1S SUV to follow in 2021—and the Ford product after that.

A Summer-Long Adventure In My Tesla Model 3

Invest
Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Autonomous Vehicles

Published on August 9th, 2019 |

by Guest Contributor

A Summer-Long Adventure In My Tesla Model 3

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

August 9th, 2019 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on EVANNEX.
By Jonathan David Harris, aka @aPowerTrip

It was late April 2019 when a friend and I arrived at the Glendale Galleria in California to see the new Captain Marvel movie. While my friend took a business call I wandered into the Tesla showroom next door. It was then, for the first time, I encountered a Model 3 up close. I sat in the car and was amazed at the simplicity of Tesla’s interior design. It was impressive to see a single touchscreen control nearly all of the car’s features — even the direction of airflow.

At the St. Louis Arch (Source: @aPowerTrip)

After a quick overview of the car, the Tesla specialist showed me a map of all the Supercharger stations located throughout the US. He told me, “You can now travel freely around the county with the amount of charging stations available.”

In New Hampshire (Source: @aPowerTrip)

I gazed at the red dots across the Supercharger map and announced, “I know what I’m doing this summer.” It turns out I have a background in video production and technology, so an opportunity to put this Tesla Model 3 to the test while taking video and photos all across the country would turn out to be a perfect match. It was decided — I wanted to take a summer-long road trip with my dog without using any gasoline.

Mt. Washington (Source: @aPowerTrip)

I don’t think the specialist believed me any more than my friends or family. When I told everyone I was thinking of taking a summer-long road trip with a Tesla all around the country from Memorial Day to Labor Day, they were in disbelief. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I believed it would happen either. Memorial Day was a month away and I wasn’t even sure I could afford the car. Or the trip.

Over the next week, I figured out a plan. If I could sell my car, old production gear, and other items in my house, rent out my home for the summer, and camp in National Parks around the country (rather than spend money in hotels) — I figured … it just might be possible.

Redwood National Park (Source: @aPowerTrip)

So I sold off the gear and my car, gathered some camping essentials that would fit in the Model 3 trunk and frunk, and managed to find someone to sublet my home. Everything fell into place very quickly. Even the car I wanted — a RWD Tesla Model 3, Midnight Silver, with long-range battery became available for pickup the day after I ordered it.

There were, however, a few speed bumps in those initial prep weeks. The first sublet tenant bailed last minute and I was worried I wouldn’t find a replacement just a few days before my departure. I also found some lumps on my dog Indy, which gave me a scare about her health. Indy is a twelve-year-old terrier I adopted when she was only eight weeks old. She’s named after Indiana Jones, the lead character in my favorite movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Camping at Devil Tower (Source: @aPowerTrip)

Indy turned out to be okay and the vet gave us the green light. Financing this last-minute adventure was a bit of a rocky adventure, with a very rough idea of where we were going.

Brooklyn Bridge (Source: @aPowerTrip)

The plan was to visit National Parks, cross off some bucket list items, visit friends and family, and basically allow the trip to determine our path. In just two months, we’ve put over 12,000 miles on the Model 3 and it wasn’t until August 1st that I finally had to pay to charge the car.

I was fortunate enough to have two people use my Tesla referral code (Jonathan96658), which gave me 6,000 free miles of Supercharging along the way. The other 6,000 miles of charging came from Tesla’s free destination chargers, friends and family allowing us to plug in, and other free public charging spots. I even had a few Quality Inn hotels provide access to their outlets so we could get some extra range in parts of the country that didn’t have ample Superchargers.

Cheers Pub in Boston (Source: @aPowerTrip)

It’s been an incredible journey, with many challenges and bumps in the road, but very few have to do with the Tesla Model 3. There was snow, hail, and storms (especially in the Midwest), road closures, Indy temporarily became ill, my car was towed in NYC, and (yes) a few moments of “will I have enough range to get to the next charger?” But that was typically my fault. I was trying to push the limits of the car.

After a hail storm in Yosemite (Source: @aPowerTrip)

There were a few other hiccups along the way. Although the Tesla specialist told me every Supercharger is conveniently located near a place to use a restroom — that isn’t 100% true. Most Superchargers are close to a restaurant (or located near stores) but if you’re traveling around the country and need to charge early in the morning or late at night, there can be a surprising lack of options for trash removal, cleaning the windshield, or access to restrooms, as everything is usually closed during these off-hours.

Supercharger station late at night (Source: @aPowerTrip)

But these minor issues haven’t taken away from the Model 3’s stellar performance. I do not see myself ever going back to a gas-operated vehicle. Also, thank you Tesla for Autopilot — it’s especially helpful when you’re driving over 10 hours in a day. I can’t wait for Tesla’s updates to Summon, Autopilot, and other refinements that should arrive in the next software update. And, of course, a huge shout out to “Dog Mode,” which keeps Indy safe and cool while I run errands.

In Seattle (Source: @aPowerTrip)

In any event, be sure to look out for lots of videos I’ll be publishing on my YouTube channel when I return from my summer-long road trip. If you already have a Tesla, congrats, but if you’re buying or leasing, please use my referral code — Jonathan96658 — which provides me with free charging and will help get me home in September. In the meantime, feel free to follow my ongoing Tesla Model 3 adventures with Indy via @aPowerTrip on Instagram.

Video: Fox Rochester.

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. 😀

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.

CleanTechnica Clothing & Cups

Skip unveils its first custom electric scooter

Skip is beginning to test the first electric scooter that the startup built entirely in-house. They’re not quite ready for primetime, but Skip expects to deploy them in San Francisco this October. That’s notably when San Francisco plans to allow service providers to deploy electric scooters as part of the city’s first permanent permitting program.… Continue reading Skip unveils its first custom electric scooter

08/14/2019New battery housing from MAHLE reduces weight and CO2 footprint of electric vehicles

New battery housing from MAHLE reduces weight and CO2 footprint of electric vehicles

Stuttgart/Germany, August 14, 2019 – A key factor in the acceptance of electric vehicles is sufficient cruising range. Instead of achieving this by using ever larger batteries, MAHLE offers a newly developed battery housing with integrated thermal management as a solution for increasing the rapid chargingcapability of the battery. This allows traction batteries to be about 40 percent smaller and thus recharged very quickly. MAHLE is thereby not only reducing the CO2 footprint of the electric vehicle, but also lowering the demand for raw materials for battery production, which are becoming increasingly scarce worldwide,

Home

Press

Press releases

Press release [PDF; 156 KB]Press picture [JPG; 770 KB]

New Opel Corsa: Sixth Chapter of Success Story Begins

Direct route to multi-million bestseller: over 13.6million Corsas sold in 37 years Pioneer: Opel introduces top technologies from higher classes in small car Ready for the future: Corsa “Number 6” also with electric version for first time World premiere: new Corsa and Corsa-e at the 2019 IAA Frankfurt motor show Rüsselsheim. A car for mobilizing… Continue reading New Opel Corsa: Sixth Chapter of Success Story Begins

Tesla Model 3 = 3rd Best Selling Vehicle In The Netherlands In July

Invest
Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Cars

Published on August 14th, 2019 |

by Jose Pontes

Tesla Model 3 = 3rd Best Selling Vehicle In The Netherlands In July

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

August 14th, 2019 by Jose Pontes

Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica

The Dutch plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market grew 73% in July, with 2,372 plug-in registrations, which translated into a PEV share of 7%. For January through July, PEV share was at 8.6%, well above the 6% of 2019.

Things could have been better if plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) hadn’t dropped 21% year over year (YoY). Full electrics (BEVs) alone jumped 102%. If we only consider BEVs, the EV share last month was 6.2%, with the 2019 share being 7.4%.

In July, the Tesla Model 3 (590 units) had its best first-month-of-quarter so far, so prospects for beating the all-time BEV record from a single model (2,621 units last December), which is currently in the hands of the Jaguar I-PACE, look good. I can’t wait to see the September results…

But back to July. While the 2nd place finish of the Hyundai Kona EV is not surprising (insert battery constraint comment), the 3rd place finish of the VW e-Golf certainly is, and the German hatchback did it with 231 units, its best result since January. That is a meritable result for a model in sunset mode, which leaves great prospects for the upcoming ID.3. (If VW manages these level of sales with a veteran and overpriced model, imagine how high it can reach with a competitive EV…)

A bit surprisingly, the Nissan Leaf, despite the injection of the 62 kWh version, failed to reach the top 5, ending the month in sixth, just behind the niche (and ageless) BMW i3.

Checking the Japanese hatchback registrations in detail, most of them continue to be of the 40 kWh version, so either volume deliveries of the 62 kWh version are still to come, or the longer range version is not the success Nissan had hoped for.

Looking ahead, the future of the Nissan EV looks somewhat bleak. It is being squeezed from above (Tesla Model 3) and below (revised Renault Zoe, Peugeot e-208, Opel e-Corsa), and the arrival of the VW ID.3 should hit it full frontal. Only deep discounting could keep sales coming in. Now, whether Nissan wants to follow that path is a whole different subject.

Rank
Model
July Sales

1
Tesla Model 3
590

2
Hyundai Kona EV
324

3
VW e-Golf
231

4
Kia Niro EV
221

5
BMW i3
153

Looking at the 2019 ranking, the Tesla Model 3 sits high above everyone else, with almost triple the sales of the #2 Hyundai Kona EV. In fact, the Tesla midsizer is now the 3rd best selling model — on the entire auto market.

While the overall leader, the VW Polo (7,974 units), seems hard to reach for now, the #2 Ford Focus (7,359) is not that far away, and considering Tesla’s sports sedan is expected to have a stronger second half of the year, the runner-up spot could still fall into the Model 3’s lap.

In terms of the model ranking, there wasn’t much to talk about in the top spots. In fact, we have to go down to #16 to see position changes, with the Volvo XC90 PHEV climbing one position. The Mini Countryman PHEV did the same, to #18.

Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica

Highlighting Tesla’s good moment, the Model S returned to the top 20, in #20, thanks to 21 deliveries last month. That was its best first-month-of-quarter this year, while its Model X sibling also had a positive month, with 18 deliveries, also a first-month-of-quarter year best, with the sports-minivan-CUV now only 24 units away from the top 20. If the recovering sales continue, we could see it back at the top 20 soon. Maybe in September?

With the Model S now in the top 20, we have 13 BEVs versus 7 PHEVs, and with the all-electric field said to increase in the coming months (Tesla Model X, Kia Soul EV, Mercedes EQC…), I think we are close to a non-returning point, in which plug-in hybrids will be residual in this top 20.

Oh, and because I love factoids, here’s another one that I picked up: The i-Pace is the best selling Jaguar on Dutch lands…

Source: RAI Vereniging and EV Volumes

In the manufacturer ranking, Tesla (32%) is the clear leader, followed by Hyundai (15%), while the race for the last podium place is hot, with Kia (9%) running ahead of Volkswagen and Nissan (both with 8%).

Tesla Model 3 vs. the Gasoline/Diesel Competition

Rank
Model
2019 Sales

1
Tesla Model 3
6,563

2
BMW 3 Series
3,194

3
Volvo S/V60
3,017

4
Mercedes C-Class
1,825

5
Audi A4
1,189

Comparing Model 3 deliveries against the model’s midsize premium competitors, there’s really no doubt about who is Top Dog. The Tesla nameplate had double the sales (registrations) of the #2 BMW 3 Series.

Will the revised BMW 330e, said to start selling soon, help the BMW model to shorten the distance between it and the Model 3?

Maybe … but I have my doubts.

For comparison sake, the PHEV version of the Volvo S/V60 twins represents less than 10% of sales (9%, to be precise). Even if the 330e reaches a 10% share of total 3 Series sales, the increase will barely be visible in what is a large gulf between the two models.

Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica

Regarding the Tesla Model S & X, a hot topic of recent months, their behavior is far less impressive, as both are below their category’s top 5. Although, the Model S is recovering ground, now in #6, only 31 units behind the #5 Porsche Panamera.

Interestingly, electrification gallops in different rhythms in the full-size vehicle segments than the overall market. In the car category, only one model in the top 5 has more than 20% of its sales coming from plug-ins (#5 Porsche Panamera, 73% of sales come from the PHEV versions).

In the SUV category, only one model (BMW X5, 0%) has less than 45% plug-in sales, with most of the Bimmer’s sales pretty visibly transferring to the PHEV version, once it becomes available. We even have a BEV in the SUV top 5: the Audi e-Tron is the 2nd best selling full-size SUV in the Netherlands!

Tesla Model 3 = 4th Best Selling Vehicle in Switzerland in 1st Half of 2019

Tesla Model 3 = 9th Best Selling Car In USA In 2nd Quarter

Tesla Model 3 = 10th Best Selling Vehicle In Sweden … In July!

About the Author

Jose Pontes Always interested in the auto industry, particularly in electric cars, Jose has been overviewing the sales evolution of plug-ins through the EV Sales blog since 2012, allowing him to gain an expert view on where EVs are right now and where they are headed in the future. The EV Sales blog has become a go-to source for people interested in electric car sales around the world. Extending that work and expertise, Jose is now a partner in EV-Volumes and works with the European Alternative Fuels Observatory on EV sales matters.

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.

CleanTechnica Clothing & Cups