28 Mar 2019 | Giant Bath For Burning BMW i8, Merger Could Create EV Powerhouse and New Challenge For VW ID-R

Daimler And Geely Create 50:50 Joint Venture To Develop Smart | BMW Will Build Mini Electric In UK Despite Brexit Concerns | Smoking BMW I8 Dumped In Water By Firefighters | Next Challenge For VW ID-R | First Mercedes-Benz eCitaro Starts Service In Berlin | Tesla's Musk Pokes Fun At Ram Trucks 'Puny' Towing Ability | SEAT Electric Strategy Includes Six Electric Cars | GAC Aion S Is Equipped With 58.8kWh CATL NCM811 Battery | Renault Seeks Merger With Nissan And FCA

Show #428.

 

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Read today’s show notes on https://www.evnewsdaily.com

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 28th March 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.

 

A developing story today in the UK. You know I talk about the carrot and the stick, in terms of what is needed to persuade people into EVs? We have the carrot here in the UK with £3500 off a new EV, but I also talk about the success of Norway using the stick. Hitting people with penalties to buy fossil cars. Now today in the UK there's a story about putting up tax on petrol to push people into considering alternatives. More tomorrow.

 

DAIMLER, GEELY CREATE 50:50 JOINT VENTURE TO DEVELOP SMART

• The Daimler-owned Smart brand is something which hasn't been a huge commercial success and yet they've kept investing in it, and more recently, electrifying it. Most famous for making small cars it is being given a new lease of life. "Daimler is willing to give the brand another shot by teaming up with Lotus and Volvo owner Geely to transform Smart into a pure EV brand. Announced today, the deal involving Daimler and Geely represents a 50:50 joint venture in China where a new factory will be built to handle production of zero-emissions models." Says Adrian Padeanu for Motor1.com today: "These future cars will be styled by Mercedes and engineered by Geely, with the first models scheduled to hit the market globally from 2022. Interestingly, aside from ditching combustion engines altogether, the Smart brand will expand into the B-segment, which means the next decade will bring us subcompact cars from a brand exclusively known for its cutesy A-segment cars."
• Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said: “For more than 2.2 million customers, smart represents a pioneer in urban mobility. Based on this success story, we look forward to further enhancing the brand with Geely Holding, a strong partner in the electric vehicle segment. We will jointly design and develop the next generation of smart electric cars that combine high-quality production and known safety standards for sale both in China and globally."

 

https://www.motor1.com/news/315724/daimler-geely-joint-venture-smart/

 

BMW WILL BUILD MINI ELECTRIC IN UK DESPITE BREXIT CONCERNS

• "Despite a number of carmakers saying that they’ll pull out of Britain when Brexit eventually happens BMW is pushing ahead with plans to produce the all-electric Mini over here. According to Automotive News Europe, BMW isn’t planning to implement any major changes to any of its plans in the UK – including the Oxford factory which is earmarked for electric Mini assembly." reports InsideEVs.com today: "The manufacturer is anticipating zero to five percent tariffs on goods if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, something that “won’t change Mini’s business model”. However, BMW’s chief executive officer Harald Krueger has warned that BMW could still move production to countries like the Netherlands at some point in the future should problems arise further down the line. The first electric Mini has been slated to begin production this year, and will become available worldwide, including the US where there is a possibility the brand could become electric-only in the coming years in a bid to boost sales."

 

https://insideevs.com/bmw-build-mini-electric-uk/

 

SMOKING BMW I8 DUMPED IN WATER BY FIREFIGHTERS

• A tweet from the Fire Department in the Netherlands: "This morning an electric car started to smoke in a showroom. The employees of the garage and the fire brigade acted quickly to drive the car outside. Because it is an electric car, inventive action was necessary. The car is immersed in a container of water because extinguishing it in the 'normal' way is difficult with these cars. The car will remain in the water basin for the next 24 hours."
• Chris Bruce at Motor1 raises a good point though: "What's not clear is whether this is the fire department's usual reaction to an electrified vehicle fire. Traveling with a crane and giant water tank doesn't seem very convenient. Plus, if the BMW were already in flames, picking it up and placing the coupe into container doesn't seem safe. What's not clear is whether this is the fire department's usual reaction to an electrified vehicle fire. Traveling with a crane and giant water tank doesn't seem very convenient. Plus, if the BMW were already in flames, picking it up and placing the coupe into container doesn't seem safe."

 

https://www.motor1.com/news/315476/bmw-i8-fire-reponse-netherlands/

 

NEXT CHALLENGE FOR VW ID-R

• The fully-electric Volkswagen ID. R will take on another special challenge in September 2019. Romain Dumas (F) will be back at the wheel of the 500-kW electric sports car for the “China Challenge” on the Tianmen Shan Big Gate Road – a unique stretch of tarmac, featuring 99 corners, which winds its way up Tianmen Mountain, located roughly 1,500 kilometres southwest of Beijing. As no official record exists for the eleven-kilometre mountain road, which is not accessible to public transport, Volkswagen China will run a competition prior to the record attempt, in which participants can set their own virtual time on the Tianmen Shan Big Gate Road. Dumas will then attempt to better the time of the fastest participant under real conditions in September.
• The Volkswagen ID. R, with which Romain Dumas set records at two famous hill climbs in June 2018 – first at the “Pikes Peak International Hill Climb” and then at the “Goodwood Festival of Speed” – is powered by two electric engines generating a total output of 500 kW (680 PS) and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.25 seconds. Before travelling to China in September, Dumas and the record-breaking ID. R will first set their sights on a new lap record for electric cars on the famous Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

 

FIRST MERCEDES-BENZ ECITARO STARTS SERVICE IN BERLIN

• "Berlin Transport Authority (BVG) has received the first out of 15 ordered all-electric Mercedes-Benz eCitaro buses." reports InsideEVs.com: "The other thing is that Mercedes-Benz eCitaro currently is equipped with batteries of 243 kWh, which is enough only for 150 km (93 miles)."
• It's good news, but here's the context: Last autumn, BVG placed an order for up to 950 low-emission Mercedes‑Benz Citaro buses. It is the largest single order ever for Europe’s best-selling city bus. At almost the same time, BVG also ordered 15 fully-electric eCitaro buses.

 

https://insideevs.com/mercedes-benz-ecitaro-berlin/

 

TESLA'S MUSK POKES FUN AT RAM TRUCKS 'PUNY' TOWING ABILITY

• Dodge Ram Owner @RamLover69 You would still be physically fatigued if you tried to haul 12,000 lbs of steel beams like I do every day with my Dodge Ram, 2019s motor trend truck of the year.

 

• @elonmusk 12,000 lbs!? How puny. Do you construct children’s toys?

 

SEAT ELECTRIC STRATEGY INCLUDSE SIX ELECTRIC

• The electric version of the Mii and el-Born will be the brand’s first two fully electric models, while the new generation Leon and the Tarraco will feature a plug-in hybrid version. Furthermore, the CUPRA Leon and the CUPRA Formentor will also have a plug-in hybrid variant. SEAT President Luca de Meo also announced today at the company’s annual media conference that the CUPRA Formentor, the new CUV that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, will be built at the Martorell factory.
• For the first time in the history of the company, SEAT will develop a new vehicle platform in collaboration with the Volkswagen brand, a smaller version of the Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) on which multiple vehicles of the size of around four metres in length by different brands, SEAT among them, will be made. The goal of the new platform is to develop affordable electric vehicles, with an entry level price below 20,000 euros. More than 300 highly skilled engineers will be participating in this project in Spain.

 

https://www.seat-mediacenter.com/newspage/allnews/company/2019/SEAT-will-launch-six-electric-and-plug-in-hybrid-models-and-develop-a-new-platform-in-Spain-for-electric-vehicles.html

 

GAC AION S IS EQUIPPED WITH 58.8 KWH CATL NCM 811 BATTERY

• "The GAC New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. (GAC NE), the newest arm of GAC, recently announced specifications for the upcoming Aion S all-electric sedan, scheduled for market launch in China in May 2019." reports Mark Kane for InsideEVs.com: "The car, which was by GAC compared to the Tesla Model 3, is equipped with the latest NCM 811 battery cells supplied by CATL. The total capacity is 58.8 kWh, which should be enough for 510 km (317 miles) under NEDC. In the real world, we would expect more than 350 km (218 miles) of range."

 

https://insideevs.com/gac-aion-s-58-8-kwh-catl-ncm-811-battery/

 

RENAULT SEEKS MERGER WITH NISSAN AND FCA

• Partnerships among the world’s automakers appear to be increasing, be it a win-win collaboration on technology or a full-blown merger. The latest report from Automotive News Europe suggests the latter, this time between Renault and Nissan that would eventually include Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as well. The information comes from a report in Financial Times (subscription required) that cites anonymous sources allegedly in the know about the deal on both sides of the fence." according to Motor1.com: "During the tenure of FCA’s former boss Sergio Marchionne, there were more than a few rumors regarding mergers and purchases, primarily with Chinese automakers. This new report speaks of a freshly merged Renault-Nissan company seeking to acquire FCA as well, ultimately creating a large corporation with enough clout to compete with the likes of Toyota and Volkswagen. In this scenario from Finacial Times, a Renault-Nissan alliance would go after FCA within 12 months"

 

https://www.motor1.com/news/315686/renault-seeks-merger-nissan-fca/

 

And finally thanks to Fredrik who sent me a link to a site which tracks the VIN numbers and registrations in Norway...

 

Stats for Audi E-tron

Total registered this month:      616

Total registered this year:          734

Total registered:                       741

 

https://www.itanywhere.no/E-reg.php?car=Audi%20E-tron&fbclid=IwAR0jIjpKDWRVxXWDg2sSGXKd1-gUQ8Se9LCgLuxPUe1Y-HH9QRqOhHepo_A

 

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If EV’s are going to cost more than ICE cars in the short term, how much more of a premium are you willing to pay (if any?)

 

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