Audi Q4 e-tron Production Starts | 24 Mar 2021
Dacia’s new EV starts from €10,920 in Germany | Romanians can buy electric Dacia Spring for only EUR 7,700 | Kia e-Niro launched with grant friendly sub-£35k pricetag | Audi Q4 e-tron Production Starts | VW boss says ‘embarrassing’ rules stop cheap electric car imports | Ford Escape PHEV Battery Problem Solved | Tesla begins accepting Bitcoin | Jeep Wrangler 4xe drivetrain
On today’s podcast:
- Dacia’s new EV starts from €10,920 in Germany
- Romanians can buy electric Dacia Spring for only EUR 7,700
- Kia e-Niro launched with grant friendly sub-£35k pricetag
- Audi Q4 e-tron Production Starts
- VW boss says ‘embarrassing’ rules stop cheap electric car imports
- Ford Escape PHEV Battery Problem Solved
- Tesla begins accepting Bitcoin
- Jeep Wrangler 4xe drivetrain
Show #1030
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Wednesday 24th March. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.
Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.
DACIA’S NEW EV STARTS FROM €10,920 IN GERMANY
"When Dacia first announced the Spring Electric as a concept back in March last year, it led with the claim that it’d be “Europe’s most affordable all-electric vehicle”. Well, now it’s delivering on that promise, because in Germany at least, prices for the production version will start at €10,920. " says TopGear.com: "Technically of course, that’s a €20,490 start price for the base-spec Comfort trim level, but the German government provides a €9,570 grant. Sadly, there are still no plans for the Spring to make it to the UK, but let’s have a quick recap of the specs anyway. It combines a 27.4kWh battery with a 44bhp electric motor (no, that’s not a typo) for a WLTP range of 143 miles."
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/hold-dacias-new-ev-starts-eu10920-germany
ROMANIANS CAN BUY ELECTRIC DACIA SPRING FOR ONLY EUR 7,700
"Romanian carmaker Dacia, part of the French Groupe Renault, has started the production of Dacia Spring, its first electric model.
Dacia has set the starting price at EUR 18,100 while the state is giving grants of about EUR 10,400, so the final price is EUR 7,700. It makes it the cheapest electric car in Romania and beyond. " according to Balkan Green Energy News: "The interest among Romanian buyers is enormous. Dacia received more than 1,500 orders for its first electric model in the first four hours after it made applications available, on March 20, local media reported. For comparison, that’s how many electric cars were sold in Romania in 2019. Dacia said orders are now temporarily closed."
https://balkangreenenergynews.com/romanians-can-buy-electric-dacia-spring-for-only-eur-7700/
KIA E-NIRO LAUNCHED WITH GRANT FRIENDLY SUB-£35K PRICETAG
"Kia has revealed a new long-range 64kWh battery version of its e-Niro electric SUV with a price tag of £34,945. The new model undercuts the recently announced lower maximum list price threshold for the Government’s plug-in car grant (PICG) and so qualifies for the cash incentive. Cars costing more than £35,000 are no longer eligible for the grant" reveals AutoExpress. The new '2' version features the long-range 64kWh battery pack and high-power 150kW motor as higher-specification e-Niro models, while offering a £34,945 on-the-road price: "The new, sub £35k long-range e-Niro is available in ‘2’ trim, which includes an 8.0-inch touchscreen display, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, 17-inch aluminium alloy wheels, a reversing camera system and rear parking sensors. There’s also an adaptive cruise control system that can bring the car to a complete stop and restart it in traffic jams, plus keyless entry and go. Kia claims the e-Niro ‘2’ Long Range is capable of travelling up to 282 miles on a single charge according to WLTP testing, and up to 382 miles in city driving. Indeed, the brand now claims that this new model has the greatest range of any sub-£35k electric vehicle."
Adds to Citroen e-C4 and Vauxhall Mokka-e, and Vivaro-e van.
AUDI Q4 E-TRON PRODUCTION STARTS
Audi Q4 e-tron compact electric SUV production begins in Zwickau, Germany, alongside the VW ID.4.
The Q4 e-tron will be sized between the Q3 and Q5 SUVs, and will also gain a Sportback version next year.
The Q4 e-tron is expected to have specs similar to those of the ID.4's AWD version, optioned with the longer-range 82-kW battery.
Autoweek points out: "The Q4 is set to go on sale stateside at the end of this year, and will be followed next year by the Q4 Sportback. Audi's baby EV will take on the likes of the Volvo XC40 Recharge and the Tesla Model Y, but will likely stay north of the price range of some other new competitors, including the Nissan Ariya and the Kia EV6. After all, there'll be premium price to pay for the four rings on the front."
"Working alongside their colleagues from Volkswagen, more than one hundred Audi employees prepared for the start of production—from production planning and technical development through to quality assurance. The press tools for producing the body parts all come from Audi’s own toolmaking shop. " says GreenCarCongress: "Zwickau and the Audi brand enjoy a long tradition: The Audi car plants were established here in 1909. The Volkswagen plant there has been converted to an all-electric plant and is now an integral part of the Group’s electric offensive. The Audi Q4 e-tron will be unveiled to a global audience in the middle of April and launched on the European markets in the summer of 2021. By 2025, Audi plans to launch more than 20 fully electric models"
https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/a35927317/what-to-expect-from-the-audi-q4-e-tron/
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/03/20210324-zwickau.html
VW BOSS SAYS ‘EMBARRASSING’ RULES STOP CHEAP ELECTRIC CAR IMPORTS
"Managing director of Volkswagen Australia Michael Bartsch says he cannot convince his German head office to supply Australians with the company’s top-selling mid-range electronic vehicles because of “embarrassing” local laws." says Sydney Morning Herald: "As a result, Australians cannot buy models popular in North America and Europe, such as the ID.3 hatchback and the larger ID.4 SUV, which would be significantly cheaper than the range of Teslas. If they were available in Australia they would cost around $50,000 and $60,000 respectively. A spokesman for Energy and Emissions Minister Angus Taylor said the Morrison government would not be “lectured about vehicles emissions by a car manufacturer that has a track record of deceiving motorists and violating clean-air laws.” In 2020, electric vehicles made up 0.75 per cent of new car sales in Australia, up from 0.6 per cent in 2019."
FORD ESCAPE PHEV BATTERY PROBLEM SOLVED
"Ford unveiled the 2020 Escape at the 2019 New York Auto show, promising that a plug-in hybrid variant would arrive for 2020. But that didn’t happen. In August, Ford had to pause selling the Kuga PHEV, the European version of the Escape, due to a fire risk with the battery." sys Motor1: " The company has resolved the issue in Europe, though production for the US is now facing another problem – the semiconductor shortage. However, the delay shouldn’t last much longer."
https://www.motor1.com/news/496212/ford-escape-phev-battery-delayed/
TESLA BEGINS ACCEPTING BITCOIN
"Tesla, the world's biggest electric vehicle company, is accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, according to its founder Elon Musk. Mr Musk made the announcement through Twitter on Wednesday. “Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly," Mr Musk said in the tweet. "Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency.". Tesla has indicated that it will not use a third-party payment processor. Instead, it will start accepting Bitcoin directly and add the cryptocurrency into its own investment portfolio." reports The National News: "In the traditional model, customers first transfer their digital assets from their wallets to a third-party cryptocurrency payment processor. It would then convert Bitcoin into a fiat currency, such as dollars or dirhams, and transfer the final amount to the beneficiary’s account. Currently, telecom company AT&T and technology company Microsoft accept Bitcoin through a third-party payment service provider such as BitPay." Its for the U.S. for now.
JEEP WRANGLER 4XE DRIVETRAIN
" The Jeep Wrangler 4xe’s powertrain is very similar to the powertrain in every other Wrangler model. Like all of those, Wrangler 4xe has an engine up front, the new 2.0-litre turbo four, in this case. It sends power to the transmission, and on through to the transfer case. The transfer case is where that power is split between the Dana axles in front and back, and from there, its power to the ground. To this highly conventional 4×4 driveline setup, a few components are added." explains Driving.ca: "The first of these are a pair of electric motors—one built into the 8-speed automatic transmission, and another attached directly to the engine itself. The front motor applies power to the crankshaft, and the rear motor applies additional electric power through the transmission. Output from the two motors and gasoline engine are managed by a specialized control system that ensures the powertrain is as seamless and invisible as possible from the driver’s seat. By the way, the same hardware that makes that all possible also enhances Wrangler 4xe’s power output considerably. With 375 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of partial-electric torque, drivers can expect throttle response to be off the charts. That’s nearly as much torque as an SRT 392 powered Rubicon, but while using a fraction of the gas."
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