25 Oct 2019 | Tesla’s New Solarglass Roof, Byton Starts Pre-Production Of M-Byte and Polestar Opens First ‘Space’
VW CEO Corrects Tesla Critics: "Tesla Is Not Niche" | Version 3 Of Tesla’s New Solarglass Roof Tiles | Byton Starts Pre-Production Of The M-Byte EV | Polestar Launches First European Polestar Space In Oslo
Show #621
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Friday 25th October 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.
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VW CEO CORRECTS TSLA CRITICS: "TESLA IS NOT NICHE"
"Less than a month after Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to share his support for Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, the German auto executive responded in kind, setting the record straight with some reporters at the company’s recent event for the new Golf." reports Simon Alvarez for Teslarati: "Despite the runaway success of the Tesla Model 3, the reporters indicated that they still view Tesla as a “niche” carmaker, capable of making low-volume vehicles well but otherwise out of its league in the mass market segment. This was a comment that did not sit well with the Volkswagen CEO. Correcting the reporters, Diess came to Tesla’s defense"
Herbert Diess: "Tesla is not niche. The Model 3 is a large-series model and they are one of the biggest manufacturers of electric-car batteries. We have a lot of respect for Tesla. It’s a competitor we take very seriously"
https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-volkswagen-ceo-corrects-tsla-critics-tesla-model-3-niche/
Meanwhile Yahoo Finance says: "Tesla shares soared 18% Thursday -- the biggest jump in 6 1/2 years -- following a surprise quarterly profit report. The rally vaulted the company back above General Motors Co. as the top U.S. automaker by market capitalization. The words of praise may have been a response in kind to Musk, 48, who tweeted last month that Diess was “doing more than any big carmaker to go electric.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-no-niche-automaker-anymore-205812663.html
VERSION 3 OF TESLA’S NEW SOLARGLASS ROOF TILES
"Tesla launched the new version 3 of its Solarglass Roof on a public conference call today. Version 3 of the newly renamed Solarglass Roof integrates a number of meaningful improvements to the now larger tiles that promise to improve the cost of the roof while delivering a much faster installation time." says Kyle Field at CleanTechnica: "Tesla has increased the energy density of its roofing product, cut the cost, and increased the manufacturability. Vice president of technology at Tesla Drew Baglino noted that Tesla was aiming to improve the product essentially across the board, improving its cost and beauty as well as manufacturability of the tiles across the board. Version 3 nailed it, delivering significant improvements by:
Increasing the size of the tile
Increasing the power density of the tile
Dramatically reducing the number of parts and sub-assemblies by more than half (made possible by the larger tiles)
Reducing the number of steps in manufacturing (made possible by the larger tiles)
Reducing cost (enabled by the larger tiles)
Changing some of the materials used
Changing the technology that hides the solar cells to something that’s more scalable
From Electrek: "Tesla now lists a base 2,000 ft² roof with 10 kW of solar roof tiles installed will cost $33,950 after incentives. Musk claims that Tesla can quickly ramp up to producing 1,000 roofs per week at Tesla’s Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo. However, the biggest difference with the latest version of the Tesla Solar Roof tiles is that the made it easier to install. Musk said that Tesla will also work with third-party installers to certify them for solar roof installations and expect the program to help grow solar adoption. Installations are starting right now with the existing backlog of orders and the company is taking new orders that should start next year."
https://electrek.co/2019/10/25/tesla-solarglass-solar-roof-v3-price/
Tech site The Verge said: "The billionaire CEO claimed the new roof tiles, which are bigger and more power dense, will help “make roofs come alive,” creating a world “where you look around the neighborhood and the roofs are all gathering energy.” “I think in the future, it will be odd for roofs to not gather energy,” Musk said. The promise of the Solar Roof has always been an enticing one. Pay a premium over standard solar panels, and you can get a normal-looking tiled roof that will suck up the sun’s energy all the same. It won’t be for everyone, though."
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/25/20932831/tesla-new-solar-glass-roof-elon-musk-version-three
TechCrunch reports "“Figuring out how to install it effectively is very non-trivial. And we’re actually going to have […] ‘installathons,’ ” Musk said, which will pit two teams against each other to see who can roof one of two similar-sized/designed roofs faster. Musk reiterated later that there’s “quite a bit of R&D just in the installation process itself.”
Musk also said that while it’s hiring and training specialized installers at first, the plan is to ultimately expand installations to any third-party contractors as well. The total addressable market that Musk sees for this product is somewhere on the order of 100 million houses worldwide, and Musk stressed that the company does indeed intend to make this available worldwide."
BYTON STARTS PRE-PRODUCTION OF THE M-BYTE EV
"The Chinese electric car brand Byton has now started production of the pre-production series of its first M-Byte model at its Nanjing plant. The manufacturer says it already has 50,000 reservations for the EV worldwide." reports electrive: "According to the announcement, the M-Byte will be offered at an entry-level price of 45,000 euros excluding VAT and possible government subsidies. This model has a 200 kW powerful rear engine and a 72 kWh battery (360 km range according to WLTP). Byton did not reveal the price for the 4WD high-performance configuration (300 kW drive, 95 kWh battery, 435 kilometre-range) in their press release. Norway and other Nordic countries will be the priority in the European region, with Norway making up 14,000 of vehicle reservations alone."
https://www.electrive.com/2019/10/26/byton-starts-pre-production-of-the-m-byte/
POLESTAR LAUNCHES FIRST EUROPEAN POLESTAR SPACE IN OSLO
"This week, Polestar launched its first European Polestar Space in Oslo, Norway, joining the change of how cars are sold. In the case of Polestar, sales will be carried out online, while Polestar Space will be kind of like stores to show and demonstrate particular models and to inform customers without salespeople." writes InsideEVs.
Jonathan Goodman, Chief Operations Officer at Polestar said: “The Polestar Space is our way of changing the face of automotive retail. With no salesmen and no vehicles on the forecourt, there is no hard sell, no requirement to shift stock and an entirely customer-focussed journey. Consumers will define how much they interact with the exhibits and Polestar Specialists tailoring their experience to their exact needs, not the brand’s. Once they have found the perfect specification, seamless digital interactivity places the vehicle in the customer’s app, ready to be ordered when it suits them. We will put the fun back into buying a car!”
https://insideevs.com/news/378364/polestar-first-european-polestar-space-oslo/
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
The MYEV.com Question Of The Week…
Set by Chris Meilak: "Would you buy a new EV which only has AC charging (ie Zoe) or CHAdeMO (ie Nissan) today?"
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