19 Apr 2019 | Nikola Reveal Five Zero-Emission Vehicles, Tesla Model S/X Refresh and Audi e-tron Production Is Too Slow
VW I.D. Buggy Would Be Halo EV | Kia HabaNiro Concept | Nikola Wows Huge Crowd With Five Zero-Emission Vehicles | Elon Musk Spoke With Polish PM About Electromobility | Jaguar Is Developing An EV To Join I-Pace | Tesla Captures 45% Of Electric Car Sales In Europe | Tesla Planning Bigger Model S/X Refresh | Canadian Pricing Revealed For Kia Soul EV & Niro EV | VW: “Our Batteries Last The Life Of A Car” | Harley-Davidson Pre-Orders In Europe & Canada For Livewire | Audi e-tron Production Down To 6 Hrs/Day
Show #448
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Friday 19th April 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through every EV story I could find today, and picked out the best ones 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.
PRODUCTION VOLKSWAGEN I.D. BUGGY WOULD BE A LOW-VOLUME HALO EV
- "Volkswagen has developed a penchant for bringing modern takes of some of its most famous vehicles to the world’s auto shows as all-electric concepts. Unfortunately, none of those concepts has made it through to production (yet), and with the Beetle on its way out the door, the German brand’s lineup will soon be without any heritage-inspired models. But the Volkswagen I.D. Buggy could change that." writes Brandon for Motor1.com today: "Speaking to Motor1.com as part of a media roundtable during the first day of the 2019 New York Auto Show, Volkswagen of American CEO Scott Keogh confirmed that his company would like to find a way to put a production I.D. Buggy into showrooms, saying “I think it's a good brand halo and I think it's a good brand building opportunity.” The path to production for the I.D. Buggy is still far from clear, though. According to Keogh, VW is still developing a business case for the car. If it does arrive in dealers, though, it will be as a very low-volume product. But the Buggy is uniquely positioned for service as a halo car."
https://www.motor1.com/news/345334/volkswagen-id-buggy-production-halo-ev/
KIA HABANIRO CONCEPT IS AN AWD ELECTRIC WONDER CAR FOR EVERYONE
- "Kia filled its press release for the HabaNiro concept with so much bombast hoisted aloft by adjectives and acronyms that we don't know what to make of the actual concept" said Autoblog today" Conceived and designed at the Kia Design Center America (KDCA) in California, the HabaNiro's labeled "a whole new category of mobility – 'The Everything Car' or ECEV." The "fully-electric, all-wheel drive, four-seat wonder car" goes more than 300 miles between charges, has butterfly wing doors and Level 5 autonomy. On the other hand, considering this is a concept, the boasts and technology could be considered humble. Kia says "this is no fanciful supercar that will likely never be built, but a prescient look into the future of mobility where automobiles will seamlessly integrate design, capability, usefulness and creativity."
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/04/17/kia-habaniro-concept-nyias/
NIKOLA WOWS HUGE CROWD WITH FIVE ZERO-EMISSION VEHICLES
- "Nikola Motor Company went all out with its big reveal, showcasing five future vehicles, including the Nikola Two, Tre, NZT, Wav, and Reckless." says Steven Loveday for InsideEVs.com: "In a time when many startups are struggling to move forward in the segment, and some legacy automakers continue to push concept after concept with little to show, it’s difficult for companies like Nikola to earn support. Not to mention that it first came along as what seemed to be a “hydrogen only” automaker. Now, it seems that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, Nikola CEO Trevor Milton admitted that hydrogen is not efficient and not practical in many cases. However, for fleet vehicles and military use, it could definitely have its merits."
- Nikola said: "There are currently more than 13,000 Nikola trucks on order. The Nikola trucks feature up to 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 ft-lbs of torque. Nikola recently announced a battery-electric vehicle option for the urban, short haul trucking market.
- In the comments Micke Larrson: "“There are currently more than 13,000 Nikola trucks on order. ” No, there hasn’t been a single order yet. Free reservations for everyone is not an order. It’s not that hard, if you don’t sign anything, commit to anything and don’t pay for anything it is nowhere close to being an order of any kind. And there is still no sign on how they will build, sell and make any kind of economic sense out of these vaporware presentations. It is way too early to call it anything but vaporware."
https://insideevs.com/nikola-wows-crowd-five-zero-emission-vehicles/
TESLA’S ELON MUSK REPORTEDLY SPOKE WITH POLISH PM ABOUT ELECTROMOBILITY ADOPTION
- Plenty of outlets today talked about a possible Tesla Gigafactory in Poland, but I'll pick up from Teslarati: "In a recent statement, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki admitted that he had spoken to Elon Musk about initiatives that could push electromobility further. While it took some time for the conversation to be arranged, the Prime Minister noted that he was able to speak with the Tesla CEO directly. Poland is also among the countries which are looking to be the site for Tesla’s Europe Gigafactory, which Elon Musk has mentioned in the past. Musk discussed Gigafactory 4 (a tentative name for the upcoming facility) back in July 2018, stating that Germany is the leading choice for the Europe-based factory. Poland, for its part, has noted that its initiatives such as its Strategy for Responsible Development and organizations such as the Polish Development Fund will support Tesla if the company builds Gigafactory 4 in the country"
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-elon-musk-polish-prime-minister-gigafactory-4-electromobility/
JAGUAR IS DEVELOPING AN ELECTRIC CAR TO JOIN I-PACE CROSSOVER
- "Straight from nabbing the World Car of the Year award at the New York International Auto Show for the new 2019 I-Pace electric crossover, as well as publicly unveiling the 2020 XE sport sedan, Jaguar's design chief says the brand is also developing a car with a fully electric powertrain." according to Sven Gustafson for Autoblog: "We are doing more battery cars at Jaguar, yes," Ian Callum told Autoblog. "That's all I'm saying." Callum wouldn't divulge further details except to add, "When you're doing electric cars, they're new cars. They're not just batteries put in an old car. You can't do that."
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/04/17/jaguar-electric-car/
TESLA CAPTURES 45% OF ELECTRIC CAR SALES IN EUROPE IN MARCH
- Mark Kane at InsideEVs.com has the latest on the Model 3 sales in Europe: "Sales of new passenger electric cars in Western Europe reached new record levels in March and in the first quarter, mostly thanks to a full month of volume deliveries of the Tesla Model 3. According to industry analyst Matthias Schmidt (schmidtmatthias.de), the total number of registrations amounted to 40,400 in March at 2.5% market share, and 80,900 in Q1 at 2.1% market share. With around 44.8% market share among BEVs, Tesla is a new undisputed market leader, although not as dominant as in the U.S., where 75% share was achieved in March (which is not even a record)."
https://insideevs.com/march-ev-sales-europe-40000-tesla/
TESLA IS PLANNING A BIGGER MODEL S/X REFRESH THAN WE THOUGHT
- Electrek has the big rumour story today: "Tesla is planning a full powertrain refresh that could launch at the same time as the previously reported interior design refresh. Earlier this month, we reported on Tesla’s Project Raven; an electric motor upgrade coming for Model S and Model X. Sources with access to Tesla’s latest software told Electrek that the code shows that the automaker is now working on Model S and Model X vehicles with the same battery architecture based on the 2170 battery cells found in Model 3."
https://electrek.co/2019/04/17/tesla-model-s-x-refresh-upgrade/
CANADIAN PRICING REVEALED FOR KIA SOUL EV & NIRO EV
- One of the Canadian dealers – Brantford Kia – shared info about the two new Kia BEVs that are coming to Canada this year.
- The presentation is a little chaotic, but it includes the prices, which is the most interesting part:
- Kia Soul EV (e-Soul) – $42,595 CAD ($31,852 USD)
- Kia Niro EV (e-Niro) – $44,995 CAD ($33,647 USD)
- *both with 64 kWh battery and 150 kW electric motor
https://insideevs.com/canadian-price-kia-soul-ev-niro-ev/
VW: “OUR BATTERIES LAST THE LIFE OF A CAR”
- Frank Blome, Head of Volkswagen’s Center of Excellence for Battery Cells said in an interview today: "Our aim is always for our batteries to last as long as the cars. We guarantee a minimum capacity of 70 percent for eight years or 160,000 kilometers. But drivers can also influence the length of a battery’s service life. Normal charging is better for the batteries than rapid charging, and charging the batteries up to just 80 instead of 100 percent also increases their service life. Many customers tend to drive short distances, like going to work or going shopping. The battery doesn’t have to be charged 100 percent for that. You do your driving and charge the car when needed, usually at your home wallbox. For our next MEB models we’re currently working with three partners as strategic suppliers of battery cells. They are LG Chem and SKI for Europe, and CATL for China. SKI will also supply our battery cells for the US market."
BATTLE OF THE BIG AUTO MAKERS
- Leaders of the Auto industry have been talking to journalists at New York Auto Show.
- Scott Keogh, CEO of VW U.S, talked openly to the press about TEsla's Model 3: "“Even if it’s 10 percent of the market, we want to pursue it. We have not seen in the history of the auto business, a company going from zero to fourth place in luxury in a matter of a few years.”
- Bob Carter, executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America, said: "The average vehicle today costs $34,000 and for many EVs, the battery costs $34,000. The economics are not there.”
HARLEY-DAVIDSON OPENS PRE-ORDERS IN EUROPE & CANADA FOR LIVEWIRE ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE
- Micah Toll for Electrek notes that another electric bike is now open for orders: "Harley-Davidson has indicated while pre-orders are now open in Europe, there will be a limited supply of LiveWire electric motorcycles available on the continent. LiveWire deliveries in Europe are expected to begin this fall, which will also align with deliveries in the US. The price of the LiveWire in the UK has been set at £28,995 (or about US $37,800). That’s a substantial increase over the US price of $29,799."
https://electrek.co/2019/04/18/harley-davidson-livewire-pre-orders-europe-canada/
ONCE-HAILED ‘TESLA KILLER’ AUDI E-TRON SLOWS DOWN PRODUCTION TO JUST 6 HRS/DAY: REPORT
- "The Audi e-tron, once dubbed by avid Tesla critics as a potential “Tesla Killer,” is reportedly running into production problems due to a constrained supply of batteries and a slower-than-expected delivery of electric motors." says Simon at Teslarati picking up on an article by The Brussels Times: "The local publication’s sources claim that LG Chem is pushing up prices, resulting in Audi having to compete with rival automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz to acquire batteries for the e-tron. This is but half of the e-tron plant’s current issues, according to the Times‘ sources. Audi is reportedly seeing delays in the deliveries of the e-tron’s electric motors as well."
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-killer-audi-etron-battery-production-update/
COMMUNITY
And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…
Would you let your car be used when you’re not drivng it, as part of a self-driving fleet or a ride-hailing service?
I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 215 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)
DAVID ALLEN (PARTNER)
OEM AUDIO OF NEW ZEALAND AND EVPOWER.CO.NZ (PARTNER)
SASCHA PALLENBERG (PARTNER)
PAUL O’CONNER (PARTNER)
ALAN ROBSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
ALEX BANAHENE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
ALEXANDER FRANK @ https://www.youtube.com/c/alexsuniverse42
ANDERS HOVE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
ARILD GEIR SKAALSVEEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
ASHLEY HILL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BÅRD FJUKSTAD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BARRY PENISTON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BOB MUIR / GINGERCOMPUTERS.COM IN DUNDEE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BORISLAV BORISOV (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BRENT KINGSFORD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BRIAN THOMPSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
BRIAN WEATHE...