21 Feb 2019 | Kona Electric Cheapest EV Per Mile, Model 3 Leasing Coming For Employees and Mercedes-Benz EQC Update

Mercedes Benz EQC Update | Hyundai Kona Electric Is U.S. Cheapest Ev Per Mile Of Range | First Electric Volvo Trucks Delivered To Customers | Peugeot Presents New ‘E-Motion’ Electric Brand Signature | Tesla Model 3 Employee Leasing Coming Soon, General Public Later | Elon Tweets! Production Rate Of 500,000 By End Of 2019 | Musk On Autopilot | Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo Electric Wagon Spied Testing In Europe | BMW To Unveil New Generation Of Plug-In-Hybrid Models In Geneva

Show #394.

 

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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 21st February 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.

 

And welcome to the latest three members of the Patreon gang, plus David who increased his support. So first up DAVID BARKMAN joined up in January as a Producer and upped his pledge to EXECUTIVE PRODUCER.  Hello to new Producer BIRKIN and new EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS RAJEEV NARAYAN (thank you for sending me the story about the surge of Model 3 orders in China) and PHIL MOUCHET. And finally LESZEK GRZYL from VR-Here and I’ll tell you more about them at the end of the show.

 

MERCEDES BENZ EQC UPDATE

• A few things I've picked up about the EQC. I didn't realise there were two versions, the EQC 300 is the base model. And then there's the EQC 400. Both top out at 112mph maximum speed. 402 bhp (300kW) and 564 pound-feet of torque.
• There is an optional AMG styling package.
• The horizontal light bar which runs the width of the car is no longer special, you see them on the new Audi's and Porsches. But how about this, a full width horizontal white light bar across the front of the car.
• It's official called the 2021 EQC but will be with dealers in 2020.
• Final calibration is currently being done in icy climates for the front motor, which is for low and medium speed efficiency, and the rear motor for high performance.
• Sport Mode, Comfort Mode and Eco Mode.
• Ground clearance of 5 inches and MB clear it's NOT an SUV.
• 80kWh battery, 110 KW charge speed.
• "In 2018, Mercedes-Benz sold a total of 674,125 vehicles (including Smart) in China with a year-on-year growth of 10.3%. The German premium car brand plans to roll out 15 new models in this country, including the new E-Class, the mid-cycle refresh GLC L, the all-new GLE and the all-new EQC, the automaker told local media on January 29." according to InsideEVs: "The all-new Mercedes-Benz EQC is likely to be produced by Beijing Benz in early 2019 and go on sale in the second half of the year."

 

HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC IS U.S. CHEAPEST EV PER MILE OF RANGE

• Mark Kane at InsideEVs says: "When comparing the all-electric models that are available in the U.S., we found that the Kona Electric has the lowest ratio of price (MSRP + destination charge) per mile of EPA range, by a significant margin – $145/mile ($90/km). The second best result – Chevrolet Bolt EV – is 9% higher ($158/mile)."
• It's interesting how much the Federal Tax Credit comes into play if you assume it applies to all EV buyers, and that it's still the full $7500 for the Kona. "The reason behind the more affordable “price of range” lies in the combination of an attractive price, high battery capacity as well as long-range (energy efficiency). Base price: $37,495. Effective base price: $29,995 after including $7,500 federal tax credit, Battery: 64 kWh and Range: 258 miles (415 km) EPA"

 

https://insideevs.com/hyundai-kona-electric-cheapest-ev-range/

 

FIRST ELECTRIC VOLVO TRUCKS DELIVERED TO CUSTOMERS

• "Volvo Trucks delivered its first all-electric vehicles on 19 February: a refuse truck to waste and recycling company Renova, and a distribution truck to the logistics company DB Schenker and partner haulier TGM, operating in Sweden." reports Green Car Congress: "The Volvo FL Electric trucks are part of a pre-series developed in collaboration with selected customers. Series production of the Volvo FL Electric and its powerful sibling, the Volvo FE Electric, will commence with a limited number of trucks for the European markets in the second half of 2019."

 

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/02/20190220-volvo.html

 

PEUGEOT PRESENTS NEW ‘E-MOTION’ ELECTRIC BRAND SIGNATURE

• Peugeot updated their brand identity today, with more details to be shows at the Geneva Motor Show. It's Motion and eMotion.
• They say: "The addition of an electric “e”, with a green and blue dichroic sheen, now symbolises the brand’s position on the major challenges of the energy transition. MOTION & e-MOTION has already signed the communication campaigns of the PEUGEOT e-Legend Concept and the PHEV technology deployed at the end of the year on the PEUGEOT 3008, 508 sedan and 508 SW. From the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, this new signature will be rolled out in every country and every statement of the brand"

 

TESLA MODEL 3 EMPLOYEE LEASING COMING SOON, GENERAL PUBLIC LATER

• "Tesla employees may be allowed to lease the Model 3 in about two weeks. Does this mean only employees will be able to lease the Model 3 or will it be opened up to the masses?" asks InsideEVs: "The story goes on to say that Tesla did confirm that the email was real. However, the automaker was clear that the email was simply an internal document to prepare employees. The automaker also made it clear that there has been no official decision about when leasing may start, except that it will begin sometime after the timeframe suggested in the letter. So, basically, employees may be able to lease soon, but the general public will have to wait an undisclosed amount to time before leasing is available."

 

ELON TWEETS! PRODUCTION RATE OF 500,000 BY END OF 2019

• “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019”
• “Meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week. Deliveries for year still estimated to be about 400k.”

 

MUSK ON AUTOPILOT

• Elon appeared on ARK Invest’s weekly For Your Innovation podcast.
• Teslarati say: "Musk noted that carmakers that showed interest in Autopilot have requested Tesla to change aspects of the software before it can be shared. Such requests, according to Musk, bring an unnecessary addition to Tesla engineering’s overhead."

 

• Elon said: “Generally, we’ve found that it’s like, it’s not easy to work with traditional automakers. It’s not like; they’re not exactly banging on our doors to work with us. On the patents, they have, that’s very different from say, creating an integrated system. So if there’s an automaker out there that wants to implement this same hardware system as Tesla and use our software, we would be very open to it. But we’re not gonna change it. What has happened is that they’d want to work with us, but they’ll say, ‘Oh, but we want you to change the following, like, six things.’ Like, no, because it’s gonna slow us down massively. If you want to use exactly our thing, that’s fine, but they don’t want to use exactly our thing. We’re open to other automakers using our Supercharger Network; we’re open to them using our Autopilot system — they just need to make it work without a ton of overhead to Tesla engineering.”

 

• And on the subject of hardware: "Musk reiterated a point he made last year, stating that everyone who purchased Full Self-Driving would be getting Tesla’s Hardware 3 upgrade for free. Musk also explained that as neural networks used for Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features get more advanced, it becomes more challenging to optimize software according to a given hardware’s limitations — something that Tesla is already employing in its current NVIDIA hardware. Musk was ultimately optimistic about the improvements offered by Hardware 3, stating that the custom-built solution has not “tapped out” yet despite intensive tests. "

 

• Elon said: "“So right now, we can process on the order of 100 frames a second and we really need to do a lot of work in terms of cropping the frames, and sort of bending the pixels, and not going to full resolution on all cameras, that kind of thing with the current hardware. We’re at full frames, full resolution with the Tesla hardware. All cameras, at full resolution, full frames, and it still hasn’t tapped out.”"

 

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-autopilot-sharing-elon-musk/

 

PORSCHE TAYCAN SPORT TURISMO ELECTRIC WAGON SPIED TESTING IN EUROPE

• "this new batch of photos of the Taycan Sport Turismo wagon might give us our best look yet at the all-electric four-door Porsche." says Autoblog; "The two lower air intakes appear to have flaps that open and close, likely to improve airflow at certain speeds. The sensors for radar cruise control are placed right in the center, similar to the placement on the new 2020 Porsche 911."

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/02/20/porsche-taycan-sport-turismo-electric-wagon-spy-photos/

 

BMW TO UNVEIL NEW GENERATION OF PLUG-IN-HYBRID MODELS IN GENEVA

• "The BMW stand at the International Motor Show 2019 in Geneva focuses on the company’s continuing model offensive in the luxury segment and the ongoing expansion of its range of vehicles with electrified drive systems."
• Just a few weeks after being unveiled to the world, the new BMW 7 Series luxury sedan is making its show debut. In addition, the premium carmaker presents its 4th generation of Plug-In-Hybrid powertrains, setting a clear mark for the importance of this technology aside from fully-electric cars:
  • BMW 745e iPerformance (in three versions: BMW 745e, BMW 745Le, BMW 745Le xDrive)
  • BMW 330e Sedan
  • BMW X5 xDrive45e"

 

 

 

COMMUNITY

And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…

 

Is there room for startup EV makers to succeed or will the oncoming rush of models from the established names stifle any newcomers?

 

From Leszek Grzyl: "My business is called vr-here at www.vr-here.co.uk and it is UK's first virtual reality experience centre featuring full body tracking thats using HTC vive, since we opened in May 2016 many other centres opened around UK. I have been driving EV's since 2012, starting from Peugeot iOn , then first Leaf, then Zoe (had two at one stage) and now due to business needs I have BMW i3rex while my wife still has a white Zoe, 22kWh on battery lease."

 

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 188 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

 

 

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