27 Aug 2019 | Polestar Opens New Production Centre, Elon Musk’s Rumoured Unveiling and Upgraded VW Plug In Hybrids
Polestar Opens New Production Centre In China | Elon Musk Is Rumored To Unveil First China-Made Tesla Model 3 | The Upgraded VW Plug-In Hybrid | Faraday Future To Restructure | BMW iX3 To Be Available In Europe First In 2020 | Electrified Icebreaker Reaches North Pole | World Premiere For “New Volkswagen” | Utah Gets 12.6MWh Virtual Power Plant | Vattenfall & MHI Vestas Inaugurate 407 Megawatt Horns Reef 3 Offshore Wind Farm | Claims Data Points To High-End Electric Car Risks: AXA
Show #563
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Tuesday 27th August 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.
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10 stories to bring you today.
POLESTAR OPENS NEW PRODUCTION CENTRE IN CHINA
Polestar, the electric performance brand, today opens its first production facility, a key milestone for the rapidly growing car company. The new Polestar Production Centre in Chengdu, China, sets a new industry benchmark in electric vehicle manufacture and will produce the Polestar 1 – an exclusive, carbon fibre-bodied Electric Performance Hybrid. The facility, which has been completed on schedule, will produce vehicles for both China and global export markets with first customer deliveries expected before the end of 2019.
The inauguration underlines China’s maturing industrialisation, an improving reputation for quality manufacturing, and, crucially, access to the right skills.
Five hundred Polestar 1 cars are planned to be built per year in the new Chengdu facility, with a total of 1,500 planned over a three year production cycle.
ELON MUSK IS RUMORED TO UNVEIL FIRST CHINA-MADE TESLA MODEL 3 AT EVENT THIS WEEK
"Tesla CEO Elon Musk is going to Shanghai later this week, and he is now rumored to unveil the first China-made Tesla Model 3 at an event on Thursday." reports Fred at Electrek who does say you should take this one with a pinch of salt: "On Thursday, Musk is set to kick off the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai with a fireside chat with Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma. Musk confirmed that he also plans to launch a Chinese division of his Boring Company during the trip. Both of those things don’t have much to do with Tesla, but Shanghai is also where Tesla is currently building Gigafactory 3, the automaker’s first Chinese factory. Now local media reports are suggesting that Musk also plans to unveil the first China-made Tesla Model 3 at the WAIC."
https://electrek.co/2019/08/27/elon-musk-tesla-china-made-model-3-rumor/
THE UPGRADED VW PLUG-IN HYBRID
"The Volkswagen Passat GTE has been given an EV range boost thanks to a larger capacity lithium-ion battery pack." reports CarAdvice.com.au: "The Passat GTE's battery capacity has been boosted from 9.9kWh to 13kWh. Electric-only driving range under the WLTP standard is now rated at 56 kilometres for the sedan, and 54km in the wagon. With this boost in battery capacity, Volkswagen claims the Passat GTE is capable of completing most commutes around major European cities without any tailpipe emissions. The rest of the drivetrain remains unchanged with a 115kW 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine and an 85kW electric motor built into the six-speed dual-clutch transmission."
https://www.caradvice.com.au/787212/2020-volkswagen-passat-gte-gains-bigger-battery/
FARADAY FUTURE RUMORED TO RESTRUCTURE
"Embattled Chinese electric vehicle maker Faraday Future (FF) has added another chapter to its tumultuous history, as the company is rumored to be restructuring its organization and CEO Jia Yueting will step down as the firm’s leader." according to PenDaily.com: "Following FF’s very public break up with the Chinese real estate giant and lead financier, Evergrande Group, the electric vehicle company lacked the funds to continue much of its operations. FF was forced to lay off many employees and sell its Los Angeles headquarters. With Jia stepping down as the leader of the firm, the company should be able to try and revive itself, whether that is via a joint venture partnership or some other type of structural reorganization."
https://pandaily.com/faraday-future-to-restructure-ceo-to-step-down/
BMW IX3 TO BE AVAILABLE IN EUROPE FIRST IN 2020
"As we approach 2020, the picture of BMW iX3 market launch becomes clearer. This new model, actually the first with the 5th EV generation drivetrain from BMW, is scheduled for production in China in 2020 by BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture in Shenyang." so says InsideEVs: "Unofficially, the first version of the iX3 will be rear-wheel-drive with a 75 kWh battery pack named sDrive75. With more than 200 kW of power, probably up to around 200 miles of real-world range and 150 kW DC fast-charging capability, the most important factor will be the price - it must be competitive with the highly anticipated Tesla Model Y. sales to start in 2020 in Europe, then also in China and North America"
https://insideevs.com/news/367360/bmw-ix3-first-in-europe/
ELECTRIFIED ICEBREAKER REACHES NORTH POLE
"A Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker equipped with ABB’s Azipod electric propulsion system has reached the North Pole as part of an international environmental research expedition." according to electrive: "The KV Svalbard, built in 2001, was on its way in Arctic waters as part of the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment (CAATEX). The expedition aims to place seabed sensors with which scientists could monitor water temperatures in Arctic waters. Such sensors at and around the North Pole are now expanding the researchers’ database."
https://www.electrive.com/2019/08/26/electrified-icebreaker-reaches-north-pole/
WORLD PREMIERE FOR “NEW VOLKSWAGEN” AT THE FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW
At this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the Volkswagen brand is celebrating two world premieres. In addition to the full-electric ID.3, the brand is presenting its new logo and its new brand design to the public under the motto of “New Volkswagen”.
With the new brand design, “New Volkswagen” will become visible and perceptible in the design of the vehicles, in customer contacts and in the corporate presentation as a whole. The objective is to create a new 360° customer experience that is modern and fascinating throughout the world and across all channels.
SONNEN, ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER TO DEPLOY 12.6MWH VIRTUAL POWER PLANT
"Rapidly-globalising energy storage company Sonnen has teamed up with utility Rocky Mountain Power to take its virtual power plant concept to the US state of Utah." writes energy-storage.news: "an apartment complex of 600 homes in Herriman, Utah, will be equipped with 5MW of solar PV and a total of 12.6MWh of battery energy storage, aggregated together from individual units in each apartment. When it is completed by the end of December 2020, with residents set to start moving in this September, Sonnen’s Utah project is claimed to be the “largest fully installed and operational residential battery demand response solution in the United States”.
VATTENFALL & MHI VESTAS INAUGURATE 407 MEGAWATT HORNS REEF 3 OFFSHORE WIND FARM
"Swedish energy group Vattenfall and offshore wind turbine manufacturer MHI Vestas joined with the Crown Prince of Denmark and Danish Prime Minister last Thursday to open the country’s largest offshore wind farm, the 407 megawatt Horns Reef 3." says CleanTechnica: "Vattenfall won the right to construct Horns Reef 3 back in 2015 and the first foundation was laid in October 2017. The first electricity was delivered just over a year later and it is now delivering electricity equivalent to the needs of approximately 425,000 Danish households. Built using the world’s currently most powerful wind turbine platform — MHI Vestas’ 8.3 MW V164 model (soon to be succeeded by a number of more powerful turbines) — Horns Reef 3 is delivering electricity at one of the cheapest prices in Europe"
CLAIMS DATA POINTS TO HIGH-END ELECTRIC CAR RISKS: AXA
"Electric luxury cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) may be 40% more likely to cause accidents than their standard engine counterparts, possibly because drivers are still getting used to their quick acceleration, French insurer AXA said." and reported by Reuters: "The numbers, based on initial trends from claims data and not statistically significant, also suggest small and micro electric cars are slightly less likely to cause accidents than their combustion engine counterparts, AXA said at a crash test demonstration on Thursday. Half of electric car drivers in a survey this year by AXA had to adjust their driving to reflect the new acceleration and braking characteristics."
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
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