23 Nov 2018 | Honda Urban EV Spotted Testing, Tesla Reduces Chinese Prices and Navigate On Autopilot Coming To Canada
Navigate On Autopilot Coming To Canada | Carlos Ghosn Officially Out Of Nissan | VW Add EV Section Online | Germany Exempts Electric Trucks From Road Tolls | Honda Urban EV Spied Testing | BMW Group Sold Over 110,500 Plug-Ins Up To Date | Tesla “Absorbing” Import Tariffs To Reduce Prices In China | Bill To Standardise EV Charging Welcomed By AA | EV Sales To 'See A Big Lift' Over The Next 2 To 3 Years | GAC Ne Launches Super E-Car Brand Aion S
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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Friday 23rd November 2018. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through EV story today so you don’t have to.
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 quick bit of news I forgot to mention, thanks to Ray in Canada for reminding me. Tesla's Navigate On Autopilot is coming to Canada according to an ElonTweet. For those with AP2 and Software V9 it will be released in a week.
CARLOS GHOSN OFFICIALY OUT OF NISSAN
- "The board of directors for Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. met today at the company’s global headquarters in Yokohama. At the beginning of the session, the board acknowledged the significance of the matter and confirmed that the long-standing Alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged. After reviewing a detailed report of the internal investigation, the board voted unanimously:
- To discharge Carlos Ghosn as Chairman of the Board
- To discharge Carlos Ghosn as Representative Director
- To discharge Greg Kelly as Representative Director
- To study the creation of a special committee to appropriately take advice from an independent third party regarding the governance management system and better governance of director compensation. Further to the mandate, the three independent directors – Masakazu Toyoda, Keiko Ihara and Jean-Baptiste Duzan – will lead this matter.
VW ADD DEDICATED EV SECTION ONLINE
- A small piece of news, bit important. VW has added a new EV section it's homepage. The 'Electric Cars' section not only sells you on their upcoming range but all the positive aspects of EV ownership. That includes the ID., ID. CROZZ, ID. BUZZ, and ID. VIZZION concept cars. Recently trademark registrations in Europe for numerical brand names could see them renamed as ID 1 to ID 4. VW registered everything up to ID 9 with the IPO.
- This is the first time I know that a consumer facing VW website has gone so big on electrification and, needless to say, I’m delighted.
- Leigh Edwards, Digital Manager for Volkswagen UK said “Electric cars are not just a topic for the future – they are here right now. There is increased focus across the industry, so we wanted to make it even easier for customers to become aware of our electric models, how to charge them, the potential cost savings they offer, and also to start showcasing the future ID. range.”
GERMANY EXEMPTS ELECTRIC TRUCKS FROM NATIONAL ROAD TOLLS
- Electric trucks will be exempt from all MAUT road toll charges in Germany during 2019 and 2020.
- Christian Hottgenroth, Sales Director for Trucks at Scania Deutschland Österreich: "Significant CO2 reductions in combination with better economics drive the shift to sustainable transportation solutions".
- The legislation encompasses vehicles that operate on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as well as battery electric vehicles. Considering distances on toll roads, the MAUT exemption will be most favourable for long-distance transport hauliers.
- For heavy 5-axle Euro 6 trucks the coming MAUT rates will be raised from 13.5 eurocents per kilometre to 18.7 eurocents, which electric vehicles can avoid altogether. For a long-distance truck with an annual mileage of 100,000 kilometres on toll roads, the annual savings amount to EUR 18,700 per year.
HONDA URBAN EV SPIED TESTING IN UK
- Concept cars have a habit of being watered down but Honda promised, with the Urban EV, so stick to the retro styled and very cute design language. A late 1970's Honda Civic, for any car nerd, is where this one is at. Now a right hand driver version has been seen on the road here in the UK and even though it's covered in bulky camouflage, you can see the lines look good.
- It has turned from three doors to five, and of course inside I'd expect the four archairs in the concept to turn into a regular 5-seater.
- The protoype has the invisible door handles of the concept, and no wing mirrors but instead cameras, like the Audio e-tron or the Lexus ES.
- As it's a small city car the range will probably sit around 150 to 175 miles and Honda has said it won't be cheap, rather a premium small car.
- Production starts in 2019 and Honda say you will be able to pre-order it even before the final specs and car have been revealed, so they say they'll work with customers to understand what to expect.
- This looks like competition with the Mini EV, which is anything but mini these days and getting bigger.
https://insideevs.com/2020-honda-urban-ev-spied-testing/
BMW GROUP SOLD OVER 110,500 PLUG-INS UP TO DATE
- October deliveries of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles totalled 13,016 units worldwide, an increase of 38.4% on the same month last year.
- Sales of BMW Group electrified vehicles in the year to date total 110,560 (+41.6%), yet again confirming the company’s position as a leading global provider of premium electrified mobility.
- Electrified vehicles play an increasingly significant role in overall BMW Group sales: in October, 18.4% of BMW 5 Series sedan sales and 23.1% of BMW 2 Series Active Tourer sales was the plug-in hybrid variant. The BMW i3, which has achieved increasing sales ever since it was launched in 2013, grew its sales by 10.8% (3,158) in October.
- The BMW Group offer nine electrified vehicles in its portfolio including BMW 5 Series, the MINI Cooper S E Countryman plug-in hybrid, BMW i3, BMW i8, BMW 225xe iPerformance, BMW 330e iPerformance, BMW X5 40e iPerformance and BMW 740e/740Le iPerformance, plus the BMW X1 xDrive 25Le iPerformance sold exclusively in China.
- The company is expecting to achieve its target of 140,000 electrified sales in 2018 and intends to achieve total electrified sales of over half a million by the end of 2019.
https://electriccarsreport.com/2018/11/bmw-group-sold-over-110500-plug-ins-up-to-date-up-42/
TESLA IS “ABSORBING” PART OF IMPORT TARIFFS TO LOWER MODEL S AND X PRICES IN CHINA
- "Tesla has announced that it is cutting the prices of the Model S and Model X by 12% to 26% despite the ongoing trade war between the United States and the Asian economic powerhouse. Apart from lowering the prices of its two flagship vehicles, Tesla also opted to adjust the price of the Model 3, which is currently open for orders in the country." according to Simon Alvarez at TEslarati: "China has opted to place steep import taxes for vehicles entering the country, resulting in Tesla’s electric cars, which are produced in the United States, being weighed down with a 40% tariff. In a statement to Reuters, Tesla noted that the company would be lowering the prices of its vehicles in the country by “absorbing” part of the 40% import tariffs placed on its electric cars."
BILL TO STANDARDISE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING WELCOMED BY THE AA
- "Bill Wiggin MP presented his Electric Vehicles (Standardised Recharging) Bill in the House of Common this week. He called for current law to be amended to create an industry standard for EV charging in the UK. This includes a single connector type and universal access to charge points
- The bill was deemed a 'breath of fresh air in a complex market' by the AA" says This Is Money.
- "The Electric Vehicles (Standardised Recharging) Bill aims to make provision for standardised payment for charging and vehicle connectors. " reports Fleet News: "In the parliamentary motion from Bill Wiggin MP to introduce the Bill, he pointed out that there is a range of methods for starting and paying for a vehicle charge at public charging points, while chargers have a variety of different connectors that are not all compatible with all cars."
- Edmund King, AA President said: "how to pay for a charge at different charging stations can be baffling. Many charging networks require their own Apps or RFID cards which are necessary to start a charge. Some of these require a subscription; others require pre-loading with funds while some make a separate ‘connection charge’ as well as payment for the energy purchased. A few charging networks accept a contactless debit or credit card as well as a network RDID card and surely this is by far the simplest method. There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at a charger for which you don’t have the appropriate app and then spending time finding, installing, registering and perhaps loading with funds before you can plug in and charge – assuming your smartphone is itself charged and has a signal. Meanwhile the operator has retained your deposit and you may never use that charging network again.”
- "There is already the facility to create uniformity through the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 which enables regulations to be introduced on operators of public charging points to provide the means by which all vehicles can connect to such points and this Bill will enable that to happen."
- I've checked up on the wording of that Act, and it says: "'Regulations may impose requirements on operators of public charging or refuelling points…in connection with the components of public charging or refuelling points that provide the means by which vehicles connect to such points.' "
ELECTRIC VEHICLE SALES TO 'SEE A BIG LIFT' OVER THE NEXT 2 TO 3 YEARS
- "Electric vehicle sales are likely to jump over the next two to three years as prices fall and more options are made available to customers, according to Evy Hambro, BlackRock's global head of thematic and sector investing. Customers will have more opportunities to move away from traditional combustion engines to electric vehicles and their options will not be restricted to only certain auto suppliers, he told CNBC's "Squawk Box." Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency predicted that electric vehicle ownership will jump to about 125 million by 2030, spurred by policies that encourage the purchase of clean-running cars."
- "On Wednesday, American chipmaker Nvidia signed separate deals with Chinese electric vehicle start-ups XPeng Motors, Singulato Motors and SF Motors to develop the self-driving technology, despite the ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China."
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/22/blackrock-electric-vehicle-sales-to-see-big-lift-in-three-years.html
GAC NE LAUNCHES SUPER E-CAR BRAND AION S AT AUTOMOBILE EXHIBITION
- "GAC NE, the new energy vehicle arm under GAC MOTOR unveiled its latest electric car brand Aion S at 2018 Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, along with its other e-car portfolio." according to the Climate Samurai website: "Aion S has a driving mileage of over 500 kilometers and is equipped with L2 assisted driving system and Bosch Body Stability System 9.3. It will be available in the market in 2019. Through GAC NE’s brand-new APP, customers can customize their demands and place orders online. GAC NE is striving to transcend Tesla with series of core technology and sustainable innovation."
- It's one thing to say they want to out-Tesla Tesla. In 10 months of the year they made just 13,928 vehicles. That's a slow three weeks for Tesla. Tesla delivered over 14,000 vehicle to California ALONE in just Q2 of this year.
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And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…
Since most dealers today are not well educated in EVs and don't carry enough inventory, what would you choose: going to a dealer or using a service where an EV of your choice would be brought over to you for a test drive and you will be educated to make an informed decision, but…for a fee?
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