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Electric start-up Rivian unveils pick-up truck to rival Tesla

American electric car start-up Rivian has revealed its first model, a go-anywhere pick-up truck called the R1T.

Rivian is hoping to have the kind of impact Tesla has made in shaking up the established automotive set and believes it has found a niche with the creation of go-anywhere electric vehicles.

The five-seat R1T has been revealed ahead of the Los Angeles motor show, where it will be joined later in the week by a closely related seven-seat SUV called the R1S.

The first and second in a series of models eventually planned, they are built on a bespoke electric ‘skateboard’ chassis that is modular and can be used on all different types and sizes of vehicles.

The R1T extends 5465mm, which is marginally longer than the Mercedes-Benz X-Class.

Rivian's battery pack is mounted in the floor of its platform. In the R1T, it will be good for a 300-mile range with a 130kWh capacity or up to 400 miles (643 kms) with the 180kWh 'mega pack'. A base-level 105kWh model will follow within twelve months of launch.

Four electric motors, one for each wheel, give four-wheel drive. Each produces 197bhp. Total combined figures through the gearbox are 754bhp and 826lb ft in the 135kWh R1T, resulting in prodigious performance; it’s claimed the truck can crack 0-60mph in just 3.0sec and 0-100mph in less than 7.0sec.

Double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension features, alongside air springs and adaptive dampers. Rivian claims the electric drivetrain and chassis set-up allows for both impressive on-road performance and handling and precise off-road control that surpasses any existing mechanical solutions.

The R1T's flat floor is also reinforced with carbonfibre and Kevlar to protect its battery pack, while it has achieved a five-star crash test safety rating in the US.

It has a distinctive front-end exterior design, while its spacious interior features premium but durable materials that are easy to clean, in keeping with the off-road lifestyle brief. There are also two screens that display Rivian’s own software and graphics.

In addition, there are packs of novel hidden features and clever solutions, including a 330-litre front storage area under the nose and a full-width hole running between the rear doors and rear wheels that’s good for housing golf clubs.

Rivian, founded in 2009, is looking to do things differently to other start-ups by having its entire business plan and funding in place before going public with its intentions, and even then keeping targets conservative.

Its founder and CEO, RJ Scaringe, has already gone through two stillborn versions of the R1T to get to this third, production-ready model.

The US-based company is backed by investors from the Middle East and employs some 560 people worldwide. Its design and engineering centre is in Plymouth, Michigan, and other key sites include a battery development facility in Irvine, California. It has opened an advanced engineering centre in Chertsey, Surrey, too.

Manufacturing will take place at an old Mitsubishi plant in Illinois, which Rivian purchased for $16 million (£12.5m/Rs 113 crore) last year. This has a capacity of up to 350,000 units per year.

Rivian’s initial ambitions are much lower than that initially, with plans to be selling some 50-60,000 of its premium electric off-roaders by 2025/26. It does, however, plan to offer its electric skateboard chassis to other companies, either car makers or indeed any brand looking to launch an electric car, so long as their products do not compete with Rivian’s own.

The R1T will go into production in late 2020, with the R1S following in early 2021. Prices for the former will start from $61,500 after federal tax rebates (£48,000/Rs 43 lakh), with Rivian accepting refundable $1000 (Rs 70,965) pre-order deposits now. Right-hand drive production for the UK will follow around a year later.

Also read: Made in America: Japanese car-making in the USA

Dyson electric car will be built in Singapore in 2021

Volkswagen Touareg is the 30 millionth Volkswagen brand delivery milestone in China

The Volkswagen brand has sold 30 million vehicles in China – the jubilee model is a Touareg

Volkswagen Brand sets record in China, with 30 millionth delivery this November – a Touareg
Stephan Wöllenstein: “This is a unique occasion, and a unique vote of confidence from all our Chinese customers over the years.”
Volkswagen’s product offensive to continue with introduction of 5 new models in 2019 alone; NEV offering to double

GUANGZHOU, China, 20-Nov-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — Volkswagen is speeding up its activities in China, re-energizing the brand under its Move Forward initiative. The brand’s product portfolio was strengthened with no less than 9 new models in 2018. Speaking at Auto Guangzhou 2018, Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Brand China, said, “We reached a fantastic milestone this November, as we delivered the 30 millionth Volkswagen – a Touareg – to a customer in China. And to remain the number one choice for Chinese car buyers, as we have been for many years, our product offensive will continue in 2019.”

As one of the pioneering automotive brands in China, Volkswagen delivered some 2,000 cars to Chinese customers in 1985, in a market that totalled 5,100 vehicles. By 1992, cumulative Volkswagen China deliveries had reached 100,000, and in 1997 Volkswagen’s total number of customers exceeded one million. The 5 and 10 millionth customers were greeted in 2006 and 2011, respectively, while in 2015 the 20 millionth Volkswagen found its way to China’s roads. Just three years later, in 2018, another 10 million Volkswagen vehicles have been delivered: in November, the 30 millionth Chinese car buyer chose a Volkswagen. “This is a unique occasion, and a unique vote of confidence from all our Chinese customers over the years,” said Wöllenstein.

With its joint venture partners, FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC VOLKSWAGEN, the brand is committed to providing more choice to meet the varying needs of Chinese consumers. Volkswagen announced the introduction of another 5 models in 2019, including 3 SUVs. Continued Wöllenstein, “Together with our joint ventures, we also will step up our efforts with our NEV offensive in 2019 – introducing 3 locally-produced battery-electric versions of well-known Volkswagen models. We will also introduce one more locally-produced PHEV and the Touareg PHEV from Volkswagen Import.”

SOURCE: Volkswagen AG

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Exagon Furtive electric GT car – Evo

Exagon Motors has revealed more details of its electric GT car. It says the Furtive eGT marks a return to the French ‘haute couture automobile’. Sitting inside an aluminium subframe and attached to the eGT’s 124kg carbonfibre monocoque structure, two 148 kW Siemens electric motors provide the coupe’s power. Combined output tops 402bhp at typically… Continue reading Exagon Furtive electric GT car – Evo

Salaried-worker layoffs will cut deep at GM

Salaried-worker layoffs will cut deep at GMGeneral Motors Co. will likely have to lay off nearly 6,000 salaried workers after roughly 2,250 employees requested to take the buyout the Detroit automaker offered to North American salaried employees and global executives last month.
The number of employees who asked to take the buyout was outlined in a portion of a memo to employees from CEO Mary Barra, obtained by The Detroit News. GM said Monday it was targeting 8,000 jobs with the buyouts, a benchmark the company will now have to meet with about 5,750 layoffs.
Managers from each department were given cost-cutting goals to meet by the end of the year, which could be met by addressing discretionary spending or leveraging buyouts. The managers still have to approve the buyout requests from their employees before GM knows exactly how many employees it needs to lay off.
The automaker offered buyouts to 18,000 salaried workers on Halloween, and the deadline to accept the offer was last week.
Under GM's buyout offer, eligible employees could receive six months' pay and six months' health care coverage starting in February, though on a case-by-case basis some employees could leave before the end of the year to effectively get eight months' compensation.
The expected layoffs come as GM is also planning to stop production at five plants next year, including Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and Warren Transmission, affecting about 14,300 jobs across the company.
The buyouts and layoffs among GM's salaried workers are part of what the automaker has called a transformation of its workforce. At the same time GM executes some 6,000 layoffs among salaried workers, it is hiring aggressively in emerging automotive disciplines like software development, batter and fuel cell technology and autonomous vehicle development.
GM Cruise LLC, the automaker's self-driving vehicle development arm based in San Francisco, recently surpassing 1,000 workers. A new office in Seattle opening early next year will also add up to 200 new workers.
“We are going to continue to hire,” Barra told reporters Monday. She says GM is focusing harder on the “skillsets of the future”
“You will see us having new employees join the company as others are leaving,” she said. “We still need many technical resources across the company.”
Staff Writer Ian Thibodeau contributed to this report
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Watch what Tesla Autopilot can see in incredible 360º video

We already had a few good looks at what Tesla Autopilot can see, but now we have the best visualization to date with an incredible 360º video representative of the Autopilot’s entire array of cameras. Earlier this summer, we already had a rare look at what Tesla Autopilot can see and interpret from Tesla hackers ‘verygreen’ and ‘DamianXVI’.… Continue reading Watch what Tesla Autopilot can see in incredible 360º video

Hubject announces partnership with MOEV

Two LA-Based Companies Work to End Electric Vehicle Charging Challenges SANTA MONICA, CALIF. (November 13, 2018) – Hubject, the globally recognized leader in electric vehicle (EV) interoperability, has partnered with MOEV, Inc., an EV charger and cloud-based energy management software provider. The two companies will work together to offer seamless charging to EV drivers. “We… Continue reading Hubject announces partnership with MOEV

VW to invest $50B in electric and autonomous tech

VW to invest $50B in electric and autonomous techFrankfurt, Germany – Volkswagen AG, which is negotiating investments and tie-ups with Ford Motor Co., intends to invest 44 billion euros ($50 billion) in the electric and autonomous car technologies expected to reshape the industry. The German carmaker also said it would make battery-powered vehicles more accessible to mass-market auto buyers by selling its new I.D. compact for about what a Golf diesel costs.
The investment plans for the next five years aim to make Volkswagen “a worldwide supplier of sustainable mobility,” Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said Friday. He added that the company is in talks with Ford Motor Co. about possible cooperation in making light commercial vehicles.
The Detroit News has previously reported on those talks on global partnerships between Volkswagen and Ford, as well as negotiations with Volkswagen to invest potentially more than $1 billion in Argo AI, the robotics and technology company majority-owned by Ford. Volkswagen also is considering a separate investment in Ford’s in-house autonomous vehicle business.
Established automakers as well as several U.S. startups are rolling out electric models to compete with Tesla , currently the market leader. Auto companies need electrics to meet new environmental standards in many countries.
In Europe, manufacturers need to sell more battery-powered cars to meet tougher EU limits on carbon dioxide emissions that come into force 2021 and aim to fight global warming. Automakers like Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW risk penalties of thousands of euros per vehicle if they can’t meet requirements for lower average emissions.
Authorities in China, where Volkswagen gets much of its profit, have also mandated a bigger share of electrics and hybrids.
Yet right now, such vehicles remain a niche market due to higher price and lack of places to charge. Battery-only vehicles were only 0.6 percent of the market in the European Union last year. They are running from 1 to 2 percent of U.S. new-vehicle sales so far this year.
Major new models unveiled in recent weeks from Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen’s Audi brand have been expensive SUVs; Audi’s e-tron starts at a German price of 80,000 euros. The starting price for Tesla’s Model X is around $80,700 while the Model S starts around $74,500.
VW’s upcoming I.D. compact could take mass-market buyers from Tesla’s Model 3, a mass-market car with a base price of $35,000 before tax credits. In reality, though, you can’t order one yet for less than $46,000.
Poetsch said the I.D. compact would be about the cost of a Golf diesel today, which is priced at 23,875 euros in Germany, according to Volkswagen’s website, and goes up as options are added. The next model up the scale starts at 30,625 euros.
General Motors, Nissan and Mitsubishi already are selling mass-market electric vehicles, but they’re still more costly than cars with gasoline engines, and they haven’t sold in great numbers.
Higher cost is one reason consumers are not yet buying purely electric vehicles in large numbers. The lack of charging points is another, leaving many owners of electric vehicles to use them mainly in cities or for shorter trips. Volkswagen and other automakers are working together on building a freeway network of fast-charging stations to enable longer trips with battery powered cars.
Chinese automakers as well as U.S. startup companies also are getting into the electric car market. Rivian, a Detroit-area company, plans to unveil a high-end electric pickup and SUV later this month, to go on sale in late 2020. Lucid Motors, a Newark, California, startup whose leadership includes six former Tesla executives, plans to deliver its first cars in 2020 as well.
The shift to electric cars is a big one for a company the size of Volkswagen, which has over 600,000 employees and makes about 10 million vehicles a year.
It is converting three of its German plants from internal combustion to battery car production as it pivots away from diesel vehicles in the wake of its emissions scandal. It says it will increase the number of electric models from six now to more than 50 by 2025.
Ian Thiboudeau of The Detroit News contributed.
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Chinese company begins production of solid-state batteries, possibly for cars

Fisker solid state electrode material – from @henrikfisker
As scientists and companies around the world pour years and millions of dollars into solid-state batteries, many disagree on how soon they could make it into cars on the road.

Now the Chinese Xinhua news agency reports that a startup company in China, Qing Tao (Kunshan) Energy Development Company has begun production of solid-state batteries in the Chinese city of Kunshan.

According to Xinhua, the company has set up a solid-state battery production line capable of producing 100 megawatt-hours worth of batteries for a year, which it expects to expand to 700 megawatt-hours by 2020.

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The plant reportedly cost $144 million.

Solid-state batteries are expected to be the next major technological breakthrough for electric cars because they can be lighter, longer-lasting, and safer than today's batteries which use a flammable organic liquid lithium salt solution.

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It's not clear, given Qing Tao's modest production, whether its batteries are destined for electric cars or for consumer electronics such as laptops or cell phones.

Qing Tao claims its batteries have an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, about 30 to 40 percent higher than today's commercial automotive lithium-ion batteries.

READ THIS: VW confirms it’s planning for solid-state batteries by 2025

Other companies staking early claims to building solid-state batteries include Fisker Inc., which says it will have solid-state batteries in its first car by 2022 (a couple of years after it says the car will go on sale), and British vacuum-cleaner and electronics company Dyson, which is reportedly working on its own electric car.

Volkswagen also says it plans to have solid-state batteries in production for its cars, in relatively low numbers, around 2025.

Other battery makers such as Panasonic, the world's largest producer of lithium-ion batteries, say solid-state batteries won't make it onto the road until closer to 2030.

Volvo’s autonomous trucks tackle mining operations

Six autonomous trucks will move limestone about 5km from the pit to the crusher, through outdoor and enclosed spaces It might not be as flashy as a supercharged Tesla racing up the motorway with no hands on the wheel, but Volvo Trucks’ new contract to haul limestone at a mine in Norway could be more impactful.… Continue reading Volvo’s autonomous trucks tackle mining operations

Ghosn's alleged scheme cost Nisson 'millions'

Ghosn's alleged scheme cost Nisson 'millions'Yokohama, Japan – Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who became one of the auto industry’s most powerful executives by engineering a turnaround at the Japanese manufacturer, was arrested Monday and will be fired for allegedly underreporting his income and misusing company funds, the automaker said.
The scandal reverberated across the globe and abruptly threw into question Ghosn’s future as leader of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which sold 10.6 million cars last year, more than any other manufacturer.
Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said Ghosn was taken into custody after being questioned by prosecutors upon arriving in Japan earlier in the day. Ghosn is of French, Brazilian and Lebanese background and lives in both France and Japan.
Nissan said Ghosn, 64, and another senior executive, Greg Kelly, were accused of offenses involving millions of dollars that were discovered during a monthslong investigation set off by a whistleblower. Kelly was also arrested.
“Beyond being sorry I feel great disappointment, frustration, despair, indignation and resentment,” Saikawa said, apologizing for a full seven minutes at the outset of a news conference.
Yokohama-based Nissan Motor said it is cooperating with prosecutors in their investigation.
Read: Disgraced pioneering UAW official faces reckoning
Saikawa said Nissan’s board will vote Thursday on dismissing Ghosn and Kelly, whom he described as the mastermind of the alleged abuses.
“This is an act that cannot be tolerated by the company,” he said. “This is serious misconduct.”
Saikawa said three major types of misconduct were found: underreporting income to financial authorities, using investment funds for personal gain and illicit use of company expenses.
He said that because of the continuing investigation, he could not disclose many details. But he promised to tighten internal controls, saying the problems may have happened because too much power was concentrated in one person.
“We need to really look back at what happened, take it seriously and take fundamental countermeasures,” he said.
Read: Corrupt Fiat Chrysler exec gets 5.5 years in prison
Ghosn officially still leads the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance as CEO and chairman. But experts said it is unlikely he will be able to stay on there or at Renault, where he is also CEO. Renault said its board will hold an emergency meeting soon.
“The last thing one of the world’s biggest automakers needs is the disruption caused by an investigation into the behavior of a man who has towered over the global auto sector,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in London.
The companies in the alliance own parts of each other and share investments in new technologies, among other things. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan, which owns 15 percent of Renault and 34 percent of Mitsubishi.
Renault SA stock plunged more than 8 percent in France. Japanese markets had already closed when the scandal broke.
Ghosn was at Nissan for 19 years and signed a contract this year that would have run through 2022. His compensation, high by Japanese standards, has been a source of controversy over the years.
According to NHK and the Kyodo News Service, Nissan paid Ghosn nearly 10 billion yen ($89 million) over five years through March 2015, including salary and other income, but he reported receiving only about half that amount.
The allegations are a serious blow at a time when Nissan is still getting over a scandal in which it admitted altering the results of emission and fuel economy tests on vehicles sold in Japan.
Ghosn is credited with helping bring about a remarkable turnaround at Nissan, resuscitating it from near bankruptcy by cutting thousands of jobs and shutting plants. His triumph made him something of a national hero in a country where foreign CEOs of major Japanese companies are relatively rare.
He also looms large in France, where he previously turned Renault around and made it into a global player, notably in electric vehicles. He led the French carmaker through major job cuts and an expensive and contentious bailout, earning the nickname “Le Cost Cutter.”
Ghosn became a nemesis of French unions and left-wing politicians, who saw him as a symbol of capitalism’s excesses, particularly its rich executive pay packages.
Renault shareholders in 2016 voted against Ghosn’s pay package as too generous, but the board ignored the move.
That angered then-President Francois Hollande. Hollande’s socialist government imposed limits on executive pay at state-run companies and tried to do the same in the private sector but backed down amid concerns such action would scare away foreign investment.
Ghosn served as Nissan’s chief executive from 2001 until last April. He became chief executive of Renault in 2005, leading the two major automakers simultaneously. In 2016, he became Mitsubishi Motors’ chairman.
Saikawa said the scandal was a “negative outcome of the long regime of Mr. Ghosn.”
Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
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