GM Changed Their Logo To Show Off EV Cred | 09 Jan 2021
GM's New EV Focus...and Logo | China's search engine Baidu allies with Volvo's owner Geely | Hyundai's confusion over Apple electric car tie-up | Cadillac Lyriq infotainment system will be 33 inches | German EV Market Reaches Escape Velocity | VW ID.4 Spy Photos Show Odd LED Lights | Allego to use Alpitronic and Tritium chargers | COVID crisis holds peril, but also promise, for Lynk & CO
On today’s podcast:
- GM's New EV Focus...and Logo
- China's search engine Baidu allies with Volvo's owner Geely
- Hyundai's confusion over Apple electric car tie-up
- Cadillac Lyriq infotainment system will be 33 inches
- German EV Market Reaches Escape Velocity
- VW ID.4 Spy Photos Show Odd LED Lights
- Allego to use Alpitronic and Tritium chargers
- COVID crisis holds peril, but also promise, for Lynk & CO
Show #957
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Saturday 9th January. 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.
GM'S NEW EV FOCUS...AND LOGO
"General Motors is changing its corporate logo as it launches a new marketing strategy focused on all-electric vehicles. It is only the fifth time the Detroit automaker has conducted a major redesign of its logo since being founded in 1908." reports NBC News: "The new logo features the automaker’s “gm” initials in lowercase letters with the “m” underlined as a nod to its Ultium battery cell platform that will underpin its new EVs, said Deborah Wahl, GM’s chief marketing officer. The bright blue letters are inside a rounded box of the same color. The new logo, which was designed in-house, accompanies a new “everyone in” tagline and advertising campaign focused on EVs. The “ev” to begin the tagline is in the new blue color while the other letters are in white."
Bloomberg notes: "CEO Mary Barra will tout the company’s electric-vehicle strategy in a speech next week at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, where the automaker will provide a peek at a plug-in Chevrolet pickup truck. GM plans to spend $27 billion on battery-electric and self-driving vehicles and roll-out 30 electric models globally by the end of 2025. Last year, a Wall Street analyst prodded the company to change its corporate name to Ultium, the moniker GM has given to car batteries co-developed with LG Chem Ltd."
CHINA'S SEARCH ENGINE BAIDU ALLIES WITH VOLVO'S OWNER GEELY
"China’s leading search engine, Baidu, has entered the fray to take on Tesla and a clutch of domestic smart electric car makers through a new partnership with vehicle manufacturer Geely." according to the South China MOrning Post: "Baidu, which already runs one of the world’s largest open autonomous-driving platforms, plans to use Geely’s production facilities and development capabilities to reinforce its foray into car manufacturing, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Shares of Geely Automobile shot up by a fifth in Hong Kong on Friday. Baidu joins a crowded field of more than 200 licensed electric car makers of all shapes and stripes, many of them backed by China’s major technology companies. Alibaba Group is invested in Xpeng, while Tencent backs NIO."
HYUNDAI'S CONFUSION OVER APPLE ELECTRIC CAR TIE-UP
"Hyundai has sparked confusion over a possible electric car tie-up with Apple. The South Korean car company initially said it was in the "early stage" of talks with the iPhone maker about a possible electric car partnership. But hours later it backtracked and said it was talking with a number of potential partners without naming Apple." according to BBC News: "Hyundai's share price rose more than 20% when the tie-up was announced. "Apple and Hyundai are in discussions but they are at an early stage and nothing has been decided," it said in a statement which was later revised. Hyundai's value shot up $9bn (£6.5bn) after the Apple announcement. While an updated statement said it was talking to a number of companies about a possible electric car tie-up including Apple, a later version omitted the US tech firm"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55583504
CADILLAC LYRIQ INFOTAINMENT SYSTEM WILL BE 33 INCHES
" Cadillac just dropped more information on the massive infotainment screen going in its upcoming Lyriq EV, and the details are intriguing. The 33-inch LED screen spanning the width of the dash gave them plenty of real estate to get creative. Customizability and flexibility are two elements Cadillac is highlighting. There will supposedly be display themes “to fit the driver’s mood and personality.” " says Autoblog; "One icon we’ll point out is the colorful Google Maps icon in the menu list. Will Cadillac actually use Google Maps as the navigation system from the factory in the Lyriq? Perhaps. It tends to be exponentially better than any manufacturer-designed navigation system. Cadillac says more in-depth info will be available on January 12, so check back for a deeper dive then"
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/01/07/cadillac-lyriq-infotainment-system-info/
GERMAN EV MARKET REACHES ESCAPE VELOCITY
"Germany, Europe’s largest auto market and the 4th largest in the world, achieved 26.6% plugin electric vehicle share in December. This is a stunning ascent from the 4.0% share seen in December 2019. The Volkswagen brand dominated Germany’s full battery electric sales in 2020, taking almost 24% of the market, with Renault runner-up at 16%." reports Dr Max Holland for CleanTechnica: "December’s 26.6% combined plugin share was led by full battery electric vehicles (BEVs) at 14.0% of the market, with plugin hybrids (PHEVs) close behind at 12.6% share. We don’t yet have the full details of BEV model sales for December, but we do have some information on the top 5 best selling BEV brands for the year as a whole. Volkswagen (with the e-Golf, ID.3, e-Up!, and perhaps a few ID.4) strongly led Germany’s full year sales of BEVs, with almost 24% share of the market. However, the year’s single best selling BEV model (by far) was the Renault ZOE, with over 31,000 sales. We can deduce that the runner up was a close race between the Volkswagen e-Golf, and the VW ID.3, with the Tesla Model 3, and Hyundai Kona, not too far behind."
VW ID.4 SPY PHOTOS SHOW ODD LED LIGHTS
"Volkswagen only just revealed the all-electric ID.4 in September. It’ll be the first of the company’s EVs to reach US shores, though spy photos have shown the company is developing another, sportier version called the ID.4 GTX. It’s expected to receive a coupe-like silhouette and more power, as previous spy photos have shown. However, a new batch shows VW might be trying to keep its development under warps." according to Motor1: "That powertrain would include a dual-motor setup that’ll produce 302 horsepower (225 kilowatts) that’ll hit the ground through an all-wheel-drive system. The extra oomph will allow the variant to hit 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in 6.2 seconds, which is far quicker than the 8.5 seconds needed for the single-motor model. However, the extra power will come at a cost. The range is expected to take a hit from 520 kilometers to 470 kilometers (323 to 292 miles) with the WLTP test cycle."
https://www.motor1.com/news/464628/volkswagen-id4-gtx-spy-photos/
ALLEGO TO USE ALPITRONIC AND TRITIUM CHARGERS
"Allego has announced that in the future it will also rely on fast charging columns from Tritium and Alpitronic. Until now, the Dutch operator has mainly relied on DC columns from the Portuguese manufacturer Efacec." says electrive: "The first fast chargers from Alpitronic and Tritium are to be installed at new Allego HPC sites during the first half of 2021. In the image Allego posted on related social media posts about the announcement, an Alpitronic Hypercharger in the 150-kW version and a 50-kW charger from Tritium can be seen in Allego’s white and green colors. The Australian manufacturer Tritium is best known in Europe for its Ionity charging columns"
https://www.electrive.com/2021/01/08/allego-to-use-alpitronic-and-tritium-chargers/
COVID CRISIS HOLDS PERIL, BUT ALSO PROMISE, FOR LYNK & CO
"Lynk & CO is taking an unconventional route to break into Europe, by promoting a month-to-month membership model that encourages sharing and relying solely on social media and events to build brand recognition." says Automotive News Europe: "Lynk & CO has embarked on an aggressive advertising push in the fourth quarter to sign up "members" for a waiting list, either to buy a Lynk & CO 01 (starting price in France: 41,500 euros, or $50,900, while the plug-in hybrid Volvo XC40 starts at 47,400 euros) or to take a monthly subscription at 500 euros. The first vehicles are expected to be delivered in the spring of 2021."
PHEV with 9kWh battery.
https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/covid-crisis-holds-peril-also-promise-lynk-cos-european-debut
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
EV tech is on a rip, but is the constant improvement around an EV a possible reason NOT to buy one? Are people caught in decision paralysis and end up not buying one?
Send me your answer: hello@evnewsdaily.com
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