10 Nov 2019 | Audi e-tron S, Karma Revero GT Gets EPA Rated and Question Of The Week Answers

Audi e-tron S Possibly Spied Testing At The Nurburgring Again | Epa Rates 2020 Karma Revero Gt With 61 Miles Of Ev Range | Chevrolet Menlo Ev Makes Global Premiere In China | Honda Works On Second EV | Australian Grid Hits 50% Renewables For First Time | Question Of The Week Answers

Show #637

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 10th November 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.

 

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.

 

EMAIL FROM LISTENER WES ELLIS:

 

We yanks have the awesome service provided by MyEV, but you seem to have all of the good toys for charging your ev. Specifically I am looking for an EVSE that provides features such as the Ohme cable or the Zappi charger. We just had solar installed and would like our EVSE to be solar and tariff aware. Do you know of anyone offering such a solution in the USA or could you reach out to your adoring audience to see if any of them knowS

 

AUDI E-TRON S POSSIBLY SPIED TESTING AT THE NURBURGRING AGAIN

"We first spied a hotter version of the Audi E-Tron in May when our spy photographers caught the E-Tron S at the Nürburgring. We haven’t seen it since then." says Motor1.com but now we have some photos of a new run: "There’s a good chance the E-Tron in the video could be the hotter S version. The intakes that flank the front fascia are bigger than the ones on the standard E-Tron, though not by much. Larger and wider wheels plus a new rear diffuser design hint that this is sportier than the current offering.  When Audi unveiled the original concept in 2015, the E-Tron had a 3-motor setup with two powering the rear axle and one powering the front. The E-Tron on sale today has two motors. This could be the 3-motor E-Tron. In concept form, the E-Tron made 496 hp, and, like the production model, also had a 95-kilowatt-hour battery."

 

https://www.motor1.com/news/381333/audi-e-tron-s-spied/

 

EPA RATES 2020 KARMA REVERO GT WITH 61 MILES OF EV RANGE

"The Environmental Protection Agency has rated the all-electric range to 61 miles or 98 kilometers, making the Karma the next best option after the Polestar 1 performance-oriented grand tourer with plug-in hybrid propulsion." according to Auto Evolution: "Compared to the 2018 Revero, the 2020 model year makes use of a 28-kWh battery instead of 21.4 kWh. Acceleration from zero to 60 takes 4.5 seconds as opposed to 5.4 seconds, and the dual-motor RWD layout features torque vectoring to better handling in the twisties. Total system output? Make that 535 horsepower and 550 pound-feet of torque, translating to a top speed of 125 miles per hour."

 

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/epa-rates-2020-karma-revero-gt-with-61-miles-of-ev-range-138930.html

 

CHEVROLET MENLO EV MAKES GLOBAL PREMIERE IN CHINA

The Chevrolet Menlo EV made its global premiere in China at 2019 Chevrolet Gala Night. The Chevrolet Blazer seven-seat mid-large SUV also was shown for the first time in China at the event." according to Green Car Congress: "The Chevrolet Menlo will be the brand’s first fully electric vehicle available in China. The Menlo has a constant-speed range of up to 410 kilometers (255 miles) under New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) conditions on a single charge. The Chevrolet Menlo has adopted the athletic design of the Chevrolet FNR-X all-purpose sports concept vehicle. The Chevrolet Menlo comes with the new-generation MyLink+ infotainment system. Functions include virtual car key, remote control and intelligent voice recognition."

 

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/11/20191110-menlo.html

 

HONDA WORKS ON SECOND EV, QUITS DIESEL, AND PUTS HYDROGEN ON HOLD

"Why has it taken until now for [Honda] to commit to plug-in power? It’s been a case of biding time, according to Honda Europe’s senior vice president Tom Gardner." says Driving.co.uk: "Now that the final piece of the jigsaw has fallen into place, Honda has a bold new goal: ensuring every car it sells in Europe by 2022 is electrified, facilitated by the launch of six hybrid or pure-electric cars over the next three years. The popularity of the CR-V Hybrid has had no small part to play in this drive towards battery power. While the electrification target is being influenced by demand from car buyers, Honda admits political pressure has also been a motivation. Tough new emissions regulations across Europe and the rest of the world have helped force all car makers’ hands."

 

Honda Europe’s president Katsushi Inoue did nothing to change that perception.

“Our focus is on hybrid and electric vehicles now,” he told us. “Maybe hydrogen fuel cell cars will come, but that’s a technology for the next era.”

 

Ian Howells, Honda Europe’s senior vice president, added: “We’re in the situation where the infrastructure isn’t there either [to support hydrogen fuel cell cars]. There is an infrastructure being developed very rapidly for battery electric cars, but there’s nothing really to talk of about hydrogen, so there’s a way to go yet.”

 

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/honda-embracing-electrified-cars-now-right-time/

 

FROM MATT GROOBY:

AUSTRALIAN GRID HITS 50% RENEWABLES FOR FIRST TIME

"renewables provided 50.2% of the electricity available on Australia’s National Energy Market in the first week of November. The NEM supplies electricity to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania" says Steve Hanley for CleanTechnica: "During those 10 minutes, solar power led the way, providing 32.5% of the available electricity. Wind was next at 15.7%, and hydro provided 1.9%. There are more than 2 million small rooftop solar systems in those 5 Australian states and they provided 72% of the solar power, while solar power plants contributed the other 28%."

 

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/10/australian-grid-hits-50-renewables-for-first-time/

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWERS

 

RAJEEV NARAYAN

I would prefer both incentives for EVs and penalties for polluting but if forced to pick one, I guess I would pick penalties for carbon emissions. I am assuming that would cost governments less than direct cash incentives and therefore be able to be applied more broadly for longer than incentives alone.

 

STEPHEN JAMES

I am definitely a carrot person.

I have solar panels and I really wanted to buy a EV car. I was looking at the MG ZS EV but I could simply not afford the extra £8000 that the same petrol version MG ZS costs.

I bought the petrol MG ZS and I love it but I still feel gutted that the EV version is still out of my price range.

If the government had better incentive programs running to bring the on the road price down I would have definitely purchased the full EV model.

 

BILL POLLOCK

Price Parity...a stick that doesn't look like a stick.

We listeners don't need a moral incentive to choose electric, most people don't.  As the soft barriers of range and charge time fall away what remains is the cost to buy.

In Canada a fully kitted out Jaguar F-Pace costs $85,000; whereas an equally kitted out I-Pace costs $115,000.

So...if you price both the F-Pace and the I-Pace at $105,000, for the time being the added margin on the F's will balance the losses (if any) on the I's.

 

PETER BRYN

I love EVs, but to me they’re a means to an end. The goal is to eliminate emissions, and therefore absolutely the most important policy is a price on carbon.

For listeners who feel the same, please get involved with Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

 

PETE FROM CALIFORNIA

The carrot. Always the carrot. We don't have EVs with comparable range in winter climates so sticks are kind of a rotten nudge right now.

More importantly, I want better carrots. Forget a "per EV basis", how about a billion dollar incentive towards a solid state battery that gets 500 to 800 watt hours per kilogram and can be cut clean in half without thermal runaway, and another billion dollars if it's royalty-free?

What we need is a research solution that makes EVs accessible for every type of vehicle, and tackling things at the battery manufacturing end is what will get us there.

 

SACHA FLEURY

In short , STICKS ! Incentives are often seen by many as giveaway time the wealthy.

While carrots are more positive ,most of the people that I’ve seen insisting they need to burn fossil fuels state cost as being the main driver , proper BEVs are still marginally more expensive at time of purchase for equal functionality but the price of ICE vehicles is lower because it’s practically free to pollute in many countries ...

Therefore we need sticks to  (in the form of non-regressive carbon pricing) : for example , we could make it such that any new non-bev that sells for the median price of a BEV or more would require paying the cost of dealing with the environmental impact of the vehicle (say 30 to 40% of MSRP ) This cashflow then funds the climate change initiatives like charging infrastructure while customers’ purchase decision becomes a lot easier. Doing it this way (as opposed to fuel tax ) won’t impact people with lesser means  - people that can’t afford a new car in the first place.

 

MUNAVER

I prefer the carrot approach as incentives can be offered as money off     On purchase of the car . Others like reduced stamp duty ,registration cost free parking in all paid parking lots , waiving toll road fees and further incentives when trading in ice cars for EV’s .

This would make any  new ice car purchaser think hard and long before purchasing an ice car

 

John Fruhwirth

After much deliberation, I come down on the side of using carrots versus sticks to get people to convert to EVs.

My reasons are as follows:

The case for the carrot

1. It's a good idea to make the right thing to do the easy thing to do.
2. Pleasure is a better motivator than pain.
3. Enlightened self interest is a fabulous motivator.

The case against the stick.

1. Inflicting pain builds resentment and may lead to retribution.
2. People are very creative when devising methods of avoiding pain.\
3. Inflicting pain is debilitating and so counter productive.

 

LUKE MCCArthy

I would say use the carrot for consumers which will in turn drive manufacturer decision making. I think that the consumer uptake of EVs has or is moving from innovators to early adopters using the diffusion of innovation theory. The early adopters or even the early majority already know the upsides of EVs and I would expect there are only a few things holding them back from buying, one being the cost. So in this regard the carrot works best.

 

RICHARD FROM AUSTRALIA

If it has to be one or the other, I'd have to say Stick. If we're serious about tackling the climate crisis and pollution that we've done nothing about since we discovered its impact, we need to introduce harsh measures now to get the mainstream off fossils and move to Electrification. I'd introduce a £1 extra tax on every litre of fossil fuels every calendar year from now on, including for aviation, farming and industry. I'd also remove the ability of companies to claim the cost of fossil fuels as a tax deduction.

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

The MYEV.com Question Of The Week…

 

What do you prefer, the carrot or the stick? Ie incentives for EVs or penalties for polluters

 

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 254 patrons of this podcast whose generosity means I get to keep making this show, which aims to entertain and inform thousands of listeners every day about a brighter future. By no means do you have to check out Patreon but if it’s something you’ve been thinking about, by all means look at patreon.com/evnewsdaily

 

 

PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE (PREMIUM PARTNER)

BRAD CROSBY (PREMIUM PARTNER)

AVID TECHNOLOGY (PREMIUM PARTNER)

 

DAVID ALLEN (PARTNER)

OEM AUDIO OF NEW ZEALAND AND EVPOWER.CO.NZ (PARTNER)

PAUL O’CONNOR (PARTNER)

TRYEV.COM (PARTNER)

GARETH HAMER

eMOBILITY NORWAY HTTPS://WWW.EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM/  (PARTNER)

ALAN ROBSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ALAN SHEDD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ALEX BANAHENE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ALEXANDER FRANK @ https://www.youtube.com/c/alexsuniverse42

ANDERS HOVE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ASHLEY HILL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BÅRD FJUKSTAD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BARRY PENISTON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BRENT KINGSFORD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BRIAN THOMPSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BRIAN WEATHERALL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BRUCE BOHANNAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CESAR TRUJILLO (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CHARLES HALL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CHRIS HOPKINS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

COLIN HENNESSY (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CRAIG COLES (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CRAIG COOPER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CRAIG ROGERS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAMIEN DAVIS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAN FAIRS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DARREN BYRD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DARREN SANT FROM YORKSHIRE EV CLUB (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAVE DEWSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)