18 Apr 2020 | Karma Revero GTE Is Their First Fully Electric Vehicle
Tesla to report Q1 results on April 29 | Karma Revero GTE Will Become Brand’s First Fully Electric Vehicle | Electric vehicle hopeful Uniti struggles | Nissan licenses li-ion battery tech for low-cost mass-production | BMW X5 xDrive45e plug-in hybrid review | New all-electric commercial van to be tested on Australian roads | China’s stranglehold on electric car battery supply chain | How Coronavirus will supercharge the electric vehicle market | Electric Vehicles Buoyed by a Backlog and Fresh Air
Show #752
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Saturday 18th April 2020. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.
TESLA TO REPORT Q1 RESULTS ON APRIL 29
"Tesla Inc. TSLA, +1.16% said late Wednesday it will post its first-quarter financial results after market close on Wednesday, April 29. Tesla's executives are scheduled to hold a live question-and-answer webcast at 6:30 p.m. Eastern to discuss the company's performance. Analysts polled by FactSet expect the Silicon Valley car maker to report an adjusted loss of 25 cents a share on sales of $6.2 billion in the quarter, which has been marred by factory stoppages due to the coronavirus pandemic." according to Market Watch
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-to-report-q1-results-on-april-29-2020-04-15
Tesla's board of directors learned late Thursday the Gigafactory in Sparks is scheduled to reopen May 4. There will be a new raft of safety measures such as: masks, social distancing, PPE vending machines, gloves, temperature screening (anyone over 100.4 degrees sent home), extra cleaning of door handles and push bars, hourly cleaning of entrances, sanitizer and wipes provided, transport shuttles capped at 30% of max capacity, workstation partitions and at IT helpdesks, conference rooms closed.
KARMA REVERO GTE ANNOUNCED, WILL BECOME BRAND’S FIRST FULLY ELECTRIC VEHICLE
"The Karma Revero lineup is expanding as the company has released the first details about the Revero GTE." reports CarScoops: "Set to become the company’s first fully electric vehicle, the Revero GTE is based on the E-Flex platform and will be launched in the spring of 2021. Karma is staying coy on specifics, but confirmed there will be two versions at launch. The entry-level Revero GTE will have a 75 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that provides a range of approximately 200 miles (322 km). Customers will also have the option of upgrading to a longer range variant which has a 100 kWh battery and a range of roughly 300 miles (483 km)."
Also included 150kW DC fast charging, sub 4-seconds 0-60, will be made available in China and Europe too in 2021.
https://www.engadget.com/karma-revero-gte-all-electric-033208794.html
ELECTRIC VEHICLE HOPEFUL UNITI IS THREATENED BY BANKRUPTCY
"The Swedish electric car Uniti One would come into production this summer. But the company has been in financial trouble. Uniti has been granted corporate restructuring by Lund district court." says an article I found in Swedish and translated from mestmotor.se: "Uniti was started as a spin-off project from Lund University four years ago. Initially, it was said that the car would be manufactured Landskrona and provide a thousand jobs in Skåne. Later, the company decided to move production to England. The latest bid was that they started receiving orders and that production would start in China by the summer of 2020."
The UK website is still operating. The range is 150km with a 12kWh battery and 300km WLTP with a 24kWh pack.
On 29th December 2018 they raised £1.1million on Crowdcube from 1,945 investors.
on 8th April The website digital.di.se says: "So far, the application has not been granted by the district court - but if the restructuring is approved, it means, for example, that the company can get help with state salary support and negotiate debts while the business is protected from bankruptcy. But the process also requires the company, which currently has eight employees in Sweden, to change its business model"
CEO Lewis Horne posted a video update to Twitter on 7th April but only addressed the delays caused by Coronavirus and not this issue.
NISSAN LICENSES LI-ION BATTERY TECH TO APB CORPORATION TO ALLOW FOR LOW-COST MASS-PRODUCTION
"Japanese-carmaker Nissan has licensed its advanced technology to APB Corporation that will allow mass production of lower-cost, safer lithium-ion batteries with increased charging capacity." reports Autocarpro: "Tokyo-based APB is backed by investment from major companies and plans to build a factory in Japan that will use Nissan’s technology to make all-polymer batteries for storage use. Nissan says all-polymer batteries are said to be the next generation of lithium-ion batteries. The carmakers tech, known as bipolar structure all-polymer battery technology, will help consumers and communities to more effectively use low-cost or renewable energy at a lower initial cost. This technology is said to increase charging capacity relative to battery volume, while also enhancing safety by replacing liquid electrolytes with polymers. The simplified structure also lowers cost."
BMW X5 XDRIVE45E PLUG-IN HYBRID 2020 REVIEW
"BMW has one of the broadest ranges of plug-in hybrids available of any manufacturer, with its expertise clearly now working to the firm’s advantage. That’s true of this new plug-in hybrid version of the large X5 SUV." writes Carkeys in their review today: "The petrol engine utilised has gone from 2.0- to 3.0 litres, while the battery size has increased from 9.2kWh to 24kWh. That latter figure gives this new X5 xDrive45e (we’ll call it the X5 PHEV from now on) one of the most impressive electric ranges of any plug-in model – up to 54 miles. Unless you need seven seats or find yourself doing regular motorway journeys, it’s easily the pick of the X5 line-up."
https://www.carkeys.co.uk/car-reviews/bmw-x5-xdrive45e-plug-in-hybrid-2020-review
NEW ALL-ELECTRIC COMMERCIAL VAN TO BE TESTED ON AUSTRALIAN ROADS MID-2020
"A Chinese-made all-electric commercial van will begin testing on Australian roads from mid-2020, and details and specifications of the vehicle have been exclusively shared with The Driven by auto newcomer EV Automotive." says thedriven.io: "Fully configurable with three seating options for up to 14 passengers, the EC11 large electric van is one of several all-electric vehicles pegged for a potential release in Australia by EV Automotive that are built by state-owned Chinese auto manufacturer Dong Feng. Powered by a 72kWh battery, the all-electric EC11 light commercial van will be able to recharge in as little as 1.5 hours using a CCS2 fast-charging plug type with a maximum 60kW charge rate. Fully loaded, the EC11 will offer 220-250km driving range according to a brochure sent by Dong Feng to EV Automotive."
CHINA’S STRANGLEHOLD ON ELECTRIC CAR BATTERY SUPPLY CHAIN
"Nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode chemistries dominate global lithium ion electric vehicle battery production — though Tesla is doing its best to change that." says Mining.com: "EVs still only account for around 7% of overall nickel consumption and with 35% of chemical processing outside China, it’s less lopsided than other parts of the supply chain. A new report by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence shows just what a stranglehold China has developed on the EV battery supply chain. Benchmark says while China only mines 6% of the globe’s manganese, it is this chemical refining step in the supply chain where China has the significant advantage, with 93% of production in 2019: As Benchmark has always advised, you do not need to own the raw material sources to control the global flow of trade in the lithium ion battery supply chain."
https://www.mining.com/chart-chinas-stranglehold-on-electric-car-battery-supply-chain/
HOW CORONAVIRUS WILL SUPERCHARGE THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MARKET
Interview with Charley Grimston, co-founder of Altelium and CEO of CNC Asset Ltd.
1 - Clean refuelling. Firstly, drivers will want electric vehicles because diesel and petrol forecourts will be perceived as unclean.
2 - Preserving environmental gain. Secondly, people will want to do things differently and better. Those who can afford to buy cars will want to play a part in making the world a better, greener place. Already we are seeing how nature is recovery as a result of the lockdown.
3 - Buy once, buy well. And thirdly those investing in new cars, especially fleet owners, will want to buy well. This global lockdown and coronavirus is like nothing we have ever experienced, but what many of us have experienced is recession.
4 - Intelligent planning. Here again the warranty is the catalyst of change. A comprehensive warranty at individual cell level can include service and breakdown cover for the cell in it its second life situation as part of a static energy storage system.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES BUOYED BY A BACKLOG AND FRESH AIR
"As Covid-19 crunches car sales globally, a backlog of orders have helped electric vehicles maintain momentum in much of the world —better than gas-powered cars and trucks." according to Bloomberg: "In New York and other cities in the Northeastern U.S., NASA says air pollution has dropped by 30% in recent weeks. So politicians crafting aid packages to prop up their economies will likely focus on supporting green technology."
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
How can the EV industry help people get into driving electric cars as soon as this is all over?
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