Electric vehicles – Page 9459 – I wish I had more to offer

Volkswagen CEO: More car companies will merge – CNN

VW unveils better, cheaper electric car Get ready for more mega mergers in the automotive industry. General Motors (GM) dumped its European business on Monday — selling its Opel and Vauxhall brands to France’s PSA Group, which makes Peugeot (PUGOY) and Citroen cars. Volkswagen (VLKAY), the world’s biggest carmaker, says that won’t be the last… Continue reading Volkswagen CEO: More car companies will merge – CNN

Interview: BMW CEO Harald Krueger on 3 Series Importance, Future EVs – Motor Trend

It will be a fantastic design, very emotional. You have seen the show car. It will have up to 700 kilometers (435 miles) of electric range. It is much faster than some other cars from 0 to 60. It comes with the latest generation of connectivity, materials, and design. View 94 Photos The BMW iVision… Continue reading Interview: BMW CEO Harald Krueger on 3 Series Importance, Future EVs – Motor Trend

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

Behind the wheel of Daimler’s upcoming electric trucks

Roberto Baldwin / Engadget Daimler has been very vocal that it’s moving to electrify its trucks. From short- to medium-haul delivery vehicles to school buses, the company is making no bones that its future lies in EVs. At CES, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, Fuso, along with Freightliner and Thomas Built Buses gave Engadget the… Continue reading Behind the wheel of Daimler’s upcoming electric trucks

Charging stations from Elli: Volkswagen founds eco-electricity providers for electric cars

VW Golf is loading A car driver puts the charging cable in the front of a VW Golf Hybrid. Loading should be much easier with the help of the new Volkswagen subsidiary Elli. (Photo: AP) Düsseldorf Loading an electric car is not always easy. The standards sometimes change from city to city. Sometimes there are… Continue reading Charging stations from Elli: Volkswagen founds eco-electricity providers for electric cars

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

Volkswagen buys wireless car service from Volvo

Volkswagen MOIA electric ride-pooling van
In automotive electronics news that doesn't come from this week's CES, Volkswagen announced late last month that it is buying wireless automotive technology from Volvo.

The technology is expected to enable VW's upcoming We car sharing program as well as to allow drivers to control some vehicle functions remotely, which could impact things such as charging for electric cars.

Automakers are scrambling to catch up with Tesla's ability to update cars remotely, and also to enable car-sharing services to compete with companies such as Uber, Lyft, and Google in launching self-driving shuttle and taxi services.

READ THIS: The Apple car to finally hit the road, only it's a VW Bus

The deal is worth $122 million, for Volvo's WirelessCar division, which was founded in 1999, which has been a subsidiary of Volvo since 2007.

Microsoft will also provide wireless services aimed at updating VW cars—and almost certainly first models from VW's luxury divisions, Audi and Porsche—over the airwaves.

DON'T MISS: VW updates I.D. Cargo Buzz with solar for LA Show

The companies plan to develop a secure platform to such updates that won't be vulnerable to the kind of attacks that hackers have demonstrated in principle.

Secure communications and the ability to send commands and updates to cars remotely will be necessary pieces for automated taxi services.

CHECK OUT: Electric car-sharing programs expanding in U.S.

For example, such a service could send updated maps with live construction detours to cars that might venture into areas with weak cellular service.

The sale is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019.

Leading the way: Tesla trounces luxury competitors in year-end sales tally

2017 Tesla Model 3
Now that Tesla has released its final sales numbers for the end of last year, we finally have a yardstick to measure the company’s sales success.

In the third quarter, Tesla made a point of noting that, with the Model 3 approaching full production, it became the fifth bestselling—non-SUV—car model in America.

On New Year’s Day, the company reported it delivered 63,150 Model 3s from October to December. That’s up 13 percent from 55,840 from July through September.

READ THIS: Tesla cuts prices $2,000, almost hit 250,000 vehicles in 2018

Taking Tesla's sales numbers at face value for the moment, the company says it sold more Model 3s in the third quarter than some entire brands, including some of its chief competitors, including Acura, Audi, Cadillac, and Infiniti.

Other rivals were also feeling the heat from Model 3 sales. In total Lexus sold 71,107 vehicles and BMW sold 85,949, according to sales numbers from Automotive News (subscription required.)

2018 Tesla Model S and 2018 Tesla Model X

Model 3 sales for Q4 weren’t that far behind entire affordable brands such as Mazda (65,203) and Volkswagen (87,836).

And that’s just one model from Tesla, versus other brands’ entire lineups.

It’s not a direct comparison, because Tesla’s numbers include Canadian sales, while those from other brands are only in the U.S. Still, in the third quarter, Tesla sold about 1,500 Model 3s in Canada, as it focused sales there to delay the expiration of its federal tax credit in the U.S. So the numbers aren’t far off.

Whole lineups

Counting the Model S and Model X (which are exported in greater proportion), the company sold 75,100 cars in the U.S. in Q4, according to Automotive News numbers, more than Lexus (71,107), Audi (55,903), Buick (51,627), Acura (44,451), Infiniti (44,031), Cadillac (41,462), Lincoln (28,307), or Volvo (24,224).

Only BMW and Mercedes sold more, at 95,710 and 101,047, respectively. Using Tesla’s own number of 90,700 sales for the quarter wouldn’t change that order, even though Tesla’s number includes sales of all three of its cars in Canada, and the Model S and Model X around the world.

Head-to-head

When it comes to direct competitors to the Model 3—upscale sedans costing $45,000 to $80,000—the Model 3 trounces all competitors, with the next closest models, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the Lexus ES coming in with about 18,000 and 14,000 sales respectively for the quarter. BMW sold 9,847 3-Series sedans, though it has sliced much of that market into niche products such as the 4-series.

DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 is fifth bestselling car in U.S., production still short of profitability goal

For the quarter, the Model 3 outsold such mainstays of American roads as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler, the Subaru Forester and Outback, and the Honda Pilot. It almost conquered the Toyota Highlander, which had 63,812 sales, and wasn't far behind the Toyota Corolla (68,564) and the Honda Civic (70,724) for the quarter. With its slow production ramp-up early in the year, however, it couldn't approach those top-selling cars for the full year.

Annual sales

Tesla’s slow ramp-up to full Model 3 production was one of the major stories of the year, and the car didn’t start posting big sales numbers until Q3, so many of its sales look less impressive on an annual basis.

For the full year, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, and Audi—even Mazda and VW—sold more cars than Tesla. Many of those brands, though, sell full lineups of cars and SUVs in multiple sizes and formats (front-wheel drive/rear-wheel drive; sporty, luxurious, car- or truck-based, for example.) Tesla sells three models: two luxury cars and a crossover SUV.

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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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Toyota pushes hybrids despite slowing gas-electric auto sales

Toyota

Don't tell Toyota the once hot gas-electric hybrid vehicle is losing its appeal.

The automaker is planning to leverage its dominance in hybrid autos as it grows the number of full- and hybrid-electric vehicles sold in the U.S. and around the world.

“We are working on an entire portfolio of hybrids which we have been selling since 1997, plug-in hybrids, full battery electric vehicles as well as our fuel cell vehicles,” said Bob Carter, executive vice president of sales for Toyota North America. “Those vehicles represent about 9 percent of our sales in 2018. We have set a goal that it will be 15% of our sales next year in 2020.”

Toyota's emphasis on hybrids comes at a time when U.S. demand for the traditional gas-electric vehicle is dropping. LMC Automotive estimates full hybrid sales in the U.S. fell 6 percent last year, while Toyota's hybrid sales dropped 5 percent.

The lower price of gasoline gives potential buyers less incentive to opt for a hybrid over a model powered by an internal combustion engine. Another factor: The growing number of electric models for sale gives eco-friendly buyers the option to plug in and stop pumping gas. In that area, Tesla, not Toyota has become the clear leader.

“Whether it is just sales numbers, whether it is image and awareness and appeal, I think Tesla owns that [the EV market] now,” said Karl Brauer, analyst with Kelley Blue Book. “I think there are plenty of people who wonder if Toyota could or should be further along in the pure electric field.”

Last year, Toyota sold just under 28,000 plug-in electric vehicles in the United States. All of them were the Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid-electric model. By comparison, the auto website Inside EVs estimates Tesla sold just over 191,000 electric vehicles in the United States. (The company doesn't report specific sales for the country.)

Tesla's lead in electric cars is not insurmountable, but Brauer said it will be “highly difficult” for Toyota to change the perception Tesla is the industry leader in EVs.

Adding to the challenge is the coming wave of electric cars that will give buyers more options. Later this year, Audi will start selling its first full electric model, the e-tron. “Americans are going to want vehicles that are electrified,” Mark Del Rosso, CEO of Audi of America, told reporters last week.

Despite the growing competition and growing questions about their game plan, Toyota executives are undaunted. They are developing full electric vehicles and Carter promises more announcements about future models. But for now, Toyota is leveraging the expertise it developed with the Prius. “That hybrid technology in the short term is the best application for consumers today,” said Carter.

— CNBC Producer Meghan Reeder contributed to this report