20 Oct 2019 | BMW i3 Will Continue, Hummer Could Return As Electric and Question Of The Week Answers
Zipse Promises Continuation Of The BMW i3 | Hummer Revival As Electric SUV Could Actually Happen | California Plug-In Hybrid Maker Karma Automotive Now Accepts Bitcoin | Hitachi Automotive Systems Starts Mass Production Of 800v, High Output EV Inverter | Question Of The Week Answers
Show #616
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 20th October 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.
Welcome to two new Patrons. Thank you to new supporter BILL BEINITZ. And a new PARTNER is always a very special moment. Welcome to EMOBILITY NORWAY. Since 2013, Jan Tore Gjøby has held over 200 courses and lectures on electrical mobility and charging infrastructure. In an engaging and easily understandable way, he talks about the transition to electric mobility and how it affects the environment, the economy and you. Jan's next course is in just a few days, on October 24th in Oslo.
Basic electric car charging
What do laws and regulations say?
What characterizes good charging systems?
Electric car charging in condominiums and condominiums
Payment models and systems
Fleet charging strategies
What the future has to offer, new cars, heavier vehicles, new charging solutions
Find out more at emobilitynorway.com. Also next Wednesday 23rd, Jan is going to visit next the first Polestar Space opening in Oslo.
ZIPSE PROMISES CONTINUATION OF THE BMW I3
"The new BMW boss Oliver Zipse continues the production of the electric model i3. After sales director, Pieter Nota had said in September that there were no plans for a successor to the i3, Zipse now put a stop to rumours of a possible production stop." writes electrive: "He made it clear to the local medium Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: “The i3 will continue to be produced, no question about it. The car is already an icon today. Which car can claim this after only six years? Icons tick according to a different logic, they don’t have a classic successor, they always remain true to themselves in essence.” Today, the i3 is more in demand than ever and will “make another leap in battery and operating concepts”.
https://www.electrive.com/2019/10/19/zipse-promises-continuation-of-the-bmw-i3/
HUMMER REVIVAL AS ELECTRIC SUV COULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN
"The Hummer brand has been defunct for almost 10 years now, but reports about its revival continue to surface. The most recent ones, however, may need future Hummer buyers to find charging stations instead of fuel pumps." according to Motor1: "In an exclusive report by Reuters, GM is said to have plans to build a new line of premium electric utes at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant at the end of 2021. With this new line comes the possibility of reviving the Hummer brand as an electric off-roading truck/SUV. This is according to the news organization's sources – people that are familiar with the said plan. The new line of premium electric utes will be called the BT1 electric truck/SUV project, Reuter's sources said. It will be the main subject of the $3-billion investment in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant to make electric trucks and vans, which is part of the four-year $7.7-billion umbrella investment in GM's U.S. plants – all enclosed within the proposed labor deal between GM and the United Auto Workers union."
https://www.motor1.com/news/377325/gm-electric-hummer-revival-report/
CALIFORNIA PLUG-IN HYBRID MAKER KARMA AUTOMOTIVE NOW ACCEPTS BITCOIN
"Karma Automotive announced Tuesday that it will now accept Bitcoin at its flagship Newport Beach location. " says Green Car Reports: "In addition to dabbling in cryptocurrency for simple transactions, Karma will also explore theoretical blockchain applications outside of the that space, the electric-car manufacturer said in its announcement. This move signals Karma's intent to expand its role as a tech incubator as well as an automaker. Many large-scale manufacturers have entered partnerships or established their own tech incubators to study green energy, mobility and other items outside of the traditional automotive sphere. It also serves to further differentiate the new Karma brand from its roots in Fisker Automotive, from whose ashes the new company was formed. The Revero GT is the only carry-over product; two more models are planned along with a forthcoming in-house EV platform."
HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS STARTS MASS PRODUCTION OF 800V, HIGH OUTPUT EV INVERTER
"Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. has started mass production for its 800V compatible high-voltage and high-output electric vehicle (EV) inverter, which increases EV practicality and enables long-distance driving. The product contributes to both comfortable acceleration performance of the vehicle and faster charging times." according to Green Car Congress: "As most EVs are based on a 400V system, in order to increase the vehicle’s driving range, additional batteries with parallel connection are required. This results in increasing the battery capacity but also the charging time. However, an 800-volt system enables the battery to be charged with the necessary amount of energy over a short period, allowing for fast charging of high capacity batteries."
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/10/20191019-hitachi.html
QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWERS
TOM RAFTERY
The answer is simple. Stop spending money of subsidising fossil fuels. Two birds, one stone ☺
This would immediately make petrol/diesel more expensive, and therefore Evs more attractive! And the wider environmental effects of making fossil fuels more effective would cause a massive shift to renewables for electricity generation.
Peter Ferrett
The government will save money by not subsidising oil as much, this should ofset the lost in tax from fuel.
Søren from Australia
I suspect that stopping the subsidies given to the oil, gas and coal industries would more than cover the lost revenues for petrol taxes.
OPHIR
The best way to compensate for lost gas taxes is to stop subsidizing oil and gas companies!
DUNCAN ARMOUR
I think the question only makes sense if you ignore what is going on around the industry.
The UK government funds the fossil fuel industries to the tune of £490 billion (2014 - the government is very adept at hiding its funding).
Worldwide subsidies for the fossil fuel industries are some USD5.3 trillion (2015).
The nuclear industry additionally receives subsidies which dwarf those of the oil and gas industries.
So, if we stop subsidising industries that are destroying us, we wouldn’t need to pay vehicle tax, and would be receiving huge rebates on our income tax (which would allow us to easily afford solar).
JERRY LEVY
1) Tax carbon emission of ICE cars from emission test result
And
2) Tax electricity used by EV or even household if it is generated from fossil fuel. This will force people to put pressure on local government and utility companies to generate electricity from renewable energy.
KIERAN KENNEDY
Currently, EVs are exempt from road user charges, and this is currently our only form of EV incentive in New Zealand. The government has promised that they won't be charged road user charges until 1st January 2022 or when EVs make up at least 2% of the fleet, which ever comes sooner. It is looking like the 1st January 2022 will come sooner based on current trend, although uptake here is still impressive.
When they do start to charge EVs road user charges, it makes sense to collect the revenue the same way we do for diesel vehicles currently. That is, road user chargers are bought in advance and displayed on your dash. This will have a higher administrative cost than taxing petrol currently, but wouldn't necessarily have to if systems were automated and done online.
DOUG VOWLES
Here in Ontario Canada when vehicle registrations are renewed, the mileage is reported on the form. So an equitable road taxation formula could be:
Yearly mileage X vehicle weight X vehicle type factor X “some constant factor” = $road tax
The vehicle type factor can be adjusted over time to reflect the increasing dominance of electric vehicles, being lower (but not non-existent) now, but rising as EV’s become the only type of vehicle on the road.
ED CORTEEN
the answer is simple and fair (according to me!??), pay per mile driven, where driven and most importantly at what time of day, so city centres at peak times will be expensive, a quiet country road in the afternoon cheap.
How can this be achieved? My 24kW leaf, now a 10 year old design already almost does this, from the app I can see how far we travelled every day, how much power used, how long the journey was and with modern telematics it should be quite simple to automatically gather the data required and send it in, (sadly)!
DAFFYD CHEUNG
I’d suggest, the electricity supplied at public charge points could be taxed in the same way. The more you drive and the less efficient the vehicle, the more you’d contribute per mile/km. Since there’s a handshake between charger and vehicle. A count could be made, of how many kWh had been obtained from public chargers for your vehicle/s in the year or month. Home charging could also be taxed in a similar manner, if a fast charger is utilised
SHAWNE IN PORTLAND, OREGON
Oregon has started a pilot "pay by the mile" program to replace paying at the pump. http://www.myorego.org/
I wonder if a tire tax would work. The bigger the tire, the heavier the vehicle, the more road damage so the higher the tax. 🤷♂️
SACHA
Your question is an important one, many states in the US end up punishing EV owners through special taxes.
Considering the climate crisis , we’re better off increasing tax on fossil fuels as we’re transitioning to EVS (which will also incentivize further transition to clean energy!). We’re probably a decade away from a point where we need to do anything else to compensate for gas/diesel revenue . Adjusting corporate and personal income tax would be appropriate then (we all benefit from roads whether we personally drive a car or order from Amazon ) but that’s hardly necessary
any time soon I would think .
RICHARD, FREMANTLE AUSTRALIA
To me it seems there is a straightforward solution - As VED revenue goes down, simply keep increasing the VED on fossil-fuels to compensate. This will keep the revenue at its current level and incentivise people to switch to EVs in-line with the UK government's declaration of a Climate Emergency. If you want to keep driving on fossil fuels (and I still have a high-powered fossil fuel sports car at my mum's in Bournemouth so I'm including myself in this) then you must pay more and more to keep driving them.
Once EV adoption goes off a cliff and fossil fuels are so highly taxed that they're unaffordable for most people, at that point you can start charging per mile, assessable and payable as part of your MOT payment each year, in line with your EV's official efficiency in kWh per mile. That makes it fair by incentivising efficiency.
JOHN HARCOMBE
Charge tax per mile, which could also be changed on locations and times.
STEVE JAMES
Tax revenue lost on fuel can be replaced by putting fare booths on motorways.
If you drive locally around town there will be no charge but if drive large distances you have to pay for it.
DOGPHLAP
Many places e.g. the UK and Australia have an annual registration fee, a charge could be added to that but I personally would prefer a charge based on distance driven which could still be an annual charge.
The rate could be a function not just of distance driven but also vehicle weight since damage to our roads is very vehicle weight dependent.
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?"
I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 257 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)
BOB MUIR / GINGERCOMPUTERS.COM IN DUNDEE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BRENT KINGSFORD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BRIAN THOMPSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BRIAN WEATHERALL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
CESAR TRUJILLO (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
CHARLES HALL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
CHRIS HOPKINS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
COLIN HENNESSY (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)