21 Nov 2018 | Panasonic Look To Tesla For Profits, FEDEX Expands With 1,000 Electric Vans and Oil Industry Lobby Against EV Tax Credits

Panasonic Look To Tesla For Profits | Fedex Expands Its EV Fleet With 1,000 Chanje Electric Vans | Industry Groups Ask Congress Not To Extend EV Credit | Tesla Model 3 Production Hits Estimated 125,000 | Catching Up On Elon Tweets | Another Large Semi Order | British Gas Launches Time-Of-Use EV Tariff

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Wednesday 21st 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.

 

PANASONIC LOOK TO TESLA FOR PROFITS

• Profitability isn't just an issue for the car makers but the battery makers too. Much fanfare and fuss was made about Tesla's declaration of profitability recently but the largest cost of an EV is always the battery. So how do the likes of LG Chem, SK Innovation, CATL and Panasonic do.
• Well according to a new Nikkei article Panasonic say that Tesla is "“just about the only place it can secure solid profitability in car batteries.”. And they say: "Panasonic tends to enjoy a healthier margin on the high-capacity batteries it supplies for Tesla’s than on products designed for cheaper hybrids, for instance. Panasonic has also hit the gas on its partnership with compatriot Toyota Motor. The two companies have found success working together on hybrid batteries, and said last December that they were looking into cooperating further in the field, primarily on high-capacity products for electric vehicles."
• I must confess I didn't know off the top of my head who else Panasonic supplies, with Tesla being the most high profile customer. And of course with Gigafactory 1 where Panasonic make the cells hand in hand with Tesla, working much more closely that a simple battery contract supplier. Tesla has the building, and even with Panasonic on cell design, but it's the Japanese who take the lead on manufacturing.
• This follows two things: firstly when Tesla's CTO JB Straubel was quoted recently that if Panasonic can't supply enough then they have other options (I'm paraphrasing).
• And then an ElonTweet: "Tesla will manufacture all battery modules & packs at China Giga, as we do today in California & Nevada. Cell production will be sourced locally, most likely from several companies (incl Pana), in order to meet demand in a timely manner.”
• But it's that partnership which has delivered both the scale needed and the low costs, with a new UBS report saying the Gigafactory batteries are 20% cheaper than LG Chem. In terms of cost, Panasonic Tesla lead the way at $111/kWh, then it's LG Chem, then Samsung SDI and finally CATL down at $148/kWh. Those are only UBS calculations, and with recent deals such as VW seeking battery supply contracts for billions of dollars, you can be sure they are paying competitive prices and I doubt UBS have complete insight into those details.

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Electric-cars-in-China/Tesla-hints-at-seeking-new-battery-suppliers-in-blow-to-Panasonic

 

FEDEX EXPANDS ITS EV FLEET WITH 1,000 CHANJE ELECTRIC VANS

• FedEx is expanding its fleet to add 1,000 Chanje V8100 electric delivery vehicles. FedEx is purchasing 100 of the vehicles from Chanje Energy Inc and leasing 900 from Ryder System, Inc. The purpose-built electric vehicles will be operated by FedEx Express for commercial and residential pick-up and delivery services in the United States.
• The vehicles are manufactured by FDG in Hangzhou, China, and purchased through Chanje Energy Inc., the company’s subsidiary for global business. Ryder System, Inc. will provide support services for all of the vehicles. The electric vans can travel more than 150 miles when fully charged and have the potential to help FedEx save two thousand gallons of fuel while avoiding 20 tons of emissions per vehicle each year. The maximum cargo capacity is around 6,000 pounds. All of the EVs will be operated in California. FedEx has been using all-electric vehicles as part of its pickup-and-delivery fleet since 2009.

 

INDUSTRY GROUPS ASK CONGRESS NOT TO EXTEND EV CREDIT

• Hello to our friends at the Oil and Gas Journal. I'm guessing we disagree on plenty, but we can still be friends! "The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Petroleum Institute, and three other national trade associations asked Republican leaders on Nov. 19 not to extend or expand the federal tax credit for electric vehicles (EV) during the rest of this session of the US Congress."
• “We encourage the House and Senate to build on tax reform and not take a step backward by expanding the EV tax credit this Congress,” said the groups, which also included the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, and National Association of Convenience Stores.
• “Even if the new policy has a phaseout year, once it is included as part of tax extenders, it is very likely to be renewed year-by-year,” they said in their letter to US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.)
• The EV tax credit is particularly bad policy because it’s a giant transfer to wealthy Americans, the groups said. “According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, 78% of the individual filers for the credit make more than $100,000/year and receive 83% of the credits,” they said.

 

https://www.ogj.com/articles/2018/11/industry-groups-ask-congress-not-to-extend-ev-credit.html

 

TESLA MODEL 3 PRODUCTION HITS ESTIMATED 125,000

• Time to check in with InsideEVs Plug-In Sales Scorecard. Mark Kane has been checking up on the Bloomberg Model 3 Tracker which shows production at over 125,000. They use a variety of indicators for this, such as VIN numbers and crowd-sourced feedback. In the past there has been a bit of a lag so it might be even higher, whereas Fred at Electrek has been critical of it in the past. I personally think it's a useful indicator.
• "The current production rate is estimated at 4,344 per week, but again – we don’t know if that’s exactly accurate either. There is a chance that Tesla is above 5,000 now as by the end of this month the automaker hopes for 7,000 per week."

 

https://insideevs.com/tesla-model-3-production-125000/

 

CATCHING UP ON ELON TWEETS

• A note on Superchargers, of which there are 11,400 Superchargers at 1,390 stations around the world.
• "Tesla Supercharger capacity will double by end of next year. Expect to be within range of 95% to 100% of population in all active markets."

 

• "Supercharger V3, which starts rolling out early next year, will also charge much faster"

 

• "Lot on our plate, so it’s either get van gliders (no battery, powertrain or compute tech) from Daimler & produce sooner or do all & produce later. Not a big difference to total vehicles produced either way. Priority list is Model Y, solar roof tiles, pickup, semi, Roadster."

 

• "In order of resource priority, but not necessarily production ramp, as that depends on thousands of parts & processes, which are extremely difficult to forecast"

 

ANOTHER LARGE SEMI ORDER

• "The Tesla Semi has scored a big news customer, ahead of the electric truck’s planned rollout in 2019. Albertsons Companies, a major American food and drug retailer headquartered in Idaho, announced last week that the company will add 10 Teslas to its fleet to service stores in Southern California." reports Inverse: "The decision is a big win for Tesla, which is making a bold move into a new market with the launch of the Semi. Albertsons Companies owns over 1,400 trucks, meaning the Semi order is a relatively small commitment, but a successful rollout could encourage larger industry investments. The Semis will service Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions stores as part of the company’s commitment to promote efficient freight distribution. "

 

https://www.inverse.com/article/50979-tesla-semi-elon-musk-s-electric-truck-just-got-a-huge-new-customer

 

BRITISH GAS LAUNCHES TIME-OF-USE EV TARIFF

• "British Gas has today (19 November) launched a new, green smart time-of-use tariff for electric vehicle (EV) users. The Green Drive November 2020 dual fuel tariff is the first of the company’s suite of EV propositions for residential and business customers. It will offer cheaper electricity at night between 12.30am and 7.30am in order for customers to charge their car."Earlier this year British Gas’ parent company Centrica invested in Driivz, which offers end-to-end software solutions for EV charging, demonstrating its commitment to this market. EVs represent a growing market for energy suppliers and several have launched tailored tariffs in the last year. According to the latest estimates there are currently 200,000 EVs on the road in the UK, forecast to grow to 1.4 million by 2025."

 

COMMUNITY

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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