Audi RS e-tron GT Prototype Impresses
Audi RS e-tron GT Prototype Impresses | Ferrari remains shy on electric cars | Bentley To Become An EV-Only Brand | UK EV sales up 195% | Germany marks October sales records for EVs | Northvolt commissions first public energy storage system | Tesla launches new winter tyres and wheels | Updated: BMW's Change Of EV Philosophy
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On today’s podcast:.
- Audi RS e-tron GT Prototype Impresses
- Ferrari remains shy on electric cars
- Bentley To Become An EV-Only Brand
- UK EV sales up 195%
- Germany marks October sales records for EVs
- Northvolt commissions first public energy storage system
- Tesla launches new winter tyres and wheels
- Updated: BMW's Change Of EV Philosophy
Show #924
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.
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AUDI RS E-TRON GT PROTOTYPE IMPRESSES
"Audi Sport, the division responsible for the automaker’s RS-badged models, has so far not done an electric vehicle. But it is currently putting the finishing touches on its first ever, an RS version of the upcoming Audi e-tron GT electric sedan, and it’s let journalists and influencers have a go in it." says InsideEVs: "Those who have had the chance to try it out, including Carwow’s Mat Watson and Misha Charoudin, were really impressed by the performance and the looks of the vehicle. They not only got to drive the vehicle in a controlled traffic-free environment, but they were also allowed to take the prototypes out on the road. Mat measured its performance with specialist timing gear - he recorded the RS e-tron GT as being able to sprint to sixty in 2.88 seconds and it completed the quarter-mile in 10.94 seconds at almost 130 mph (210 km/h)."
The excellent evo.co.uk says: "Audi’s take on the Taycan is more relaxed than its Porsche counterpart, but will still make you second-guess that RS7 order" but doesn that imply to you like this is an Audi-badged Taycan? It's definitely not. It may share the J1 Performance PLatform but it's not a rebadged Porsche, everything you see (and a lot you can't see) is all designed by the Audi engineers. So you'll see similarities but correlation does not imply causation.
They write: "The RS e-tron GT sits roughly on par with the non-S Taycan Turbo in terms of output. Its front-axle motor develops 175kW (235bhp) through a single-speed gearbox, and the rear 335kW (449bhp) through a two-speed unit and locking diff, for a combined 510kW (684bhp) – 10kW (13bhp) greater than the Taycan Turbo’s peak output. Like other recent Audi Sport models, the RS e-tron GT has a suite of features to keep its mass under control, from four-wheel steering to new three-chamber adaptive air suspension, the latter dropping the car 22mm for aerodynamics at high speed, 10mm in sporty driving, or raising it 20mm at low speeds for extra clearance."
CAR mag says: "Pricing is TBC, but expect a £120,000 ballpark – a circa £20k premium over the non-RS e-Tron GT. Just like the Taycan, there’s a two-speed transmission on the rear axle, and a focus on coasting rather than recuperation to extend battery range. However, the Audi apparently uses its front e-motor a little more for reasons of efficiency, but can switch so rapidly to the rear (5x faster than mechanical all-wheel drive) that the effect on dynamic driving should be minimal. Expect more than 248 miles on the WLTP cycle. Charge times will be equivalent to the Taycan, with a maximum DC charging capacity of 270kW, for a theoretical 62 miles of range in 5 minutes. One engineer said the Porsche was ‘more about every last bit of lap time’, hence Dynamic mode is softer than a Taycan’s Sport, and there’s no Sport Plus equivalent."
"Battery-pack capacity is one spec that makes no match with the Taycan. While the Porsche has a 79.2-kwh Performance Battery or a 93.4-kwh Performance Battery Plus, the E-Tron GT has an 83.7-kwh (net) battery with 396 pouch cells split into 33 modules. " according to Green CAr Reports: "The GT has two coolant circuits running at different temperature levels—a cooler one for the battery pack and a warmer one for the motors and power electronics. There are also cooling and heating circuits for the interior. Between the four circuits, a series of valves allow the systems to be flexibly interconnected, to function as a heat pump for the interior. The potential of the cooling systems is most used during high-performance driving, or during the highest-power DC fast charging"
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/audi/etron-gt/
FERRARI REMAINS SHY ON ELECTRIC CARS
"According to CEO Louis Camilleri, he doesn't believe the Italian brand will ever transition to a totally electric lineup. In fact, he doesn't even think the marque will reach an EV spread of 50%, at least in his lifetime, according to remarks he made during an investor call. Ferrari declined to comment further." says CNET.com: "Ferrari rolled out its first plug-in hybrid last year in the SF90 Stradale and the company thinks it will have an electric car ready after 2025. But, the it's not in a rush to go totally electric. "
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ferrari-electric-cars-ceo/#ftag=CAD-09-10aai5b
BENTLEY TO BECOME AN EV-ONLY BRAND
"Bentley has used their Beyond 100 event to reveal their “bold ambition to be a leader of sustainable luxury mobility.” Under the plan, Bentley will exclusively offer plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles by 2026. The plug-in hybrids will eventually be dropped and the automaker will become an EV-only brand by 2030." reports CarScoops: "This is a huge change as Bentley is the “world’s largest producer of 12-cylinder petrol engines” and they’ll be completely phased out in less than a decade."
UK EV SALES UP 195%
battery electric and plug-in hybrid car uptake grew substantially to account for more than one in 10 registrations as new models continue to increase consumer choice. Demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) increased by 195.2%, while plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) were up 148.7% compared with October last year.
9,335 BEV in Oct and 76k YTD
GERMANY MARKS OCTOBER SALES RECORDS FOR EVS
"According to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), exactly 23,158 electric cars were newly registered in Germany in October, marking a new record. Compared to the same month last year, this segment recorded an increase of no less than 365.1 per cent." reports electrive: "In terms of market share, all-electric passenger cars in Germany reached 8.4 per cent in October – in September the figure was 8 per cent."
https://www.electrive.com/2020/11/04/germany-marks-october-sales-records-for-evs/
NORTHVOLT COMMISSIONS FIRST PUBLIC ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM
Northvolt has commissioned its first public energy storage system at an electric vehicle charging station in Västerås, Sweden.
The battery system is the first that local energy provider Mälarenergi has deployed alongside EV charging infrastructure. The system serves to reduce peaks in electricity demand of the charging station by more than 80%, thereby lessening the demands of electric vehicle charging on the electricity network.
Northvolt has delivered a lithium-ion battery system based around its modular battery system, Voltrack, which provides power output up to 220 kW and a usable energy capacity of 320 kWh.
The battery system functions as a buffer between the electricity grid and EV charging station to enable peak shaving and load levelling. Peak shaving in this way helps utilities to meet demand without relying on peaking generators which are increasingly recognized as a costly and inefficient way to compensate for new demands of EV charging.
https://northvolt.com/newsroom/Rocklunda-Nov2020
TESLA LAUNCHES NEW WINTER TYRES AND WHEELS
"Tesla has launched its Model Y winter tire and wheel package just in time for the first snow and regulations in the north. In the Northeast, many jurisdictions require drivers to install winter tires on their vehicles before a certain deadline in order to improve road safety." according to electrek.co: " Now with the Model Y about to face its first winter, Tesla has released the “Model Y 19″ Gemini Wheel and Winter Tire Package. It comes with PIRELLI WINTER SOTTOZERO™ tires and costs $3,500 in the US and $4,700 in Canada; If your Model Y is sporting bigger than 19″ wheels with summer/all-season tires, we do recommend downgrading to 19″ for the winter, and that’s where Tesla’s wheel and tire package becomes a more attractive option."
https://electrek.co/2020/11/04/tesla-model-y-winter-tire-wheel-package-launch/#
UPDATED: BMW'S CHANGE OF EV PHILOSOPHY
From Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW: " We delivered more than 116,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to customers in the first nine months – a new all-time high and a significant year-on-year increase of 20 percent. This trend became even clearer in October. The MINI Cooper SE has delighted around 13,000 customers since March – and our current order book is just as full. The BMW iX3 will be arriving in showrooms in the next few days. In 2021, the BMW i4 will come out of Plant Munich, with an electric range of up to 600 km. Followed in 2021 by the iNEXT. The Board of Management took the series version for a test drive. I’m sure this car will surprise and delight a lot of people. We expect demand for fully-electric vehicles to continue increasing significantly from 2025 on. Exactly then – just at the right time – we will launch phase III of our transformation. Our new cluster architecture is geared towards electric drive trains. This area reports directly to me. It is organisationally connected to all divisions – from markets, finance, procurement, development and production, all the way to sales and marketing. This gives us greater leverage and makes us much faster – also in our cooperation with partners. The objective is for the new architecture to create an overall optimum. Our new plant in Hungary will play a key role in this, ramping up the new BEV-centric architecture from the middle of the decade."
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