16 August 2018 | Have Your Own Formula E Racer, New Bentley Plug In Flying Spur and Tesla Energy Has Another Australian Battery Contract
New Shots Of Plug In Bentley Flying Spur | Tesla Energy Moves Forward With More Contracts | Paris Motor Show – EVs To Look Forward To | Are You A Frustrated Formula E Racer? | Alberta Puts $215 Million Into Low Emissions | Increased Charges To Park In The City Of London | Free EV Charging In Germany Thanks To E.On | British Plug-In Electric Car Market Expands
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Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Thursday 16th August edition of EV News Daily. It’s Martyn Lee here with the news you need to know about electric cars and the move towards sustainable transport.
I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 60 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.
NEW SHOTS OF PLUG IN BENTLEY FLYING SPUR
- For those with a little more money to spend but who want something electrified might want to look towards Bentley and a plug in Flying Spur. Now new pics have been seen online
- Yesterday on the podcast I was talking about Porsche hitting the track with the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and the Bentley might have similar specs but in a very different package – 456bhp and 516lb ft of torques.
- Like most of these expensive luxury cars coming over the next couple of years with plugs, mainly to lower emissions but also as a nice way to get some instant electrical power, I’d expect it to have 30 miles of pure ev range.
- Plus many major cities in the future will want cars to be able to run on EV power alone so 30 miles does look to be the golden number for now.
- And as with many of these changes to the range, I don’t expect to see diesels being offered. Partly because of new emissions tests but also because of the changing public of diesel.
- But what an all-electric Bentley. It would be fast and smooth and quiet, plus if VW are making the Taycan (formerly Mission E) they’ve got the high end technology.
TESLA ENERGY MOVES FORWARD WITH MORE CONTRACTS
- As the headlines swirl about taking Tesla private, and the obsession over weekly Model 3 production numbers continue, Tesla Energy are quietly getting on with some major battery contracts.
- Once again the story starts on twitter when Elon musk once promised online that Tesla would have a battery storage system up and running or it would be free. But the story is so much more than that.
- The latest contract is to sit adjacent to another renewables project, this time a giant wind farm down under.
- This site will be a 25MW or 52MWh installation and once again it’s about providing that grid service to react to instant changes needed in power delivery. It’s something which battery packs are particularly good at, far quicker than spinning up peaker plants, being able to deliver power in milliseconds.
- Fred at Electrek reminded us today about something JB Straubel said recently which I think is worth thinking about: “the company has now installed over 1 GWh of energy storage and they aim to deploy another GWh of energy storage in just the next 9 to 12 months. The Powerpack is likely to account for the vast majority of the capacity deployed thanks to several big projects coming up – including the massive ‘up to 1.1 GWh’ Powerpack battery system that Tesla and PG&E are working on.”
PARIS MOTOR SHOW – EVS TO LOOK FORWARD TO
- No Frankfurt motor show this year as one of our podcast partners reminded me of recently (although there is a commercial vehicles event) so the Paris Motor Show is coming in the next few weeks from 4th to 14th October and not only can we expect concept cars as well as major model announcements, but once again I predict electricity will be the theme of the event.
- What will generate all the headlines? Well we’ve seen an all-electric BMW 3-series testing recently with fake tail pipes so that might be something BMW was to go big on. Any announcement about the 3-series would be huge, not just because it’s such an important car to BMW, but because of obvious comparisons to the Tesla Model 3.
- Even if BMW aren’t ready to talk all electric we know there will be a plug in version coming.
- The other cars which are ready and we’re now in the final few weeks of their preparation to be unveiled are the Audi e-tron Quattro which has recently been taking journalists DOWN Pikes Peak to show off how proud they are of their regen system.
- And also the Mercedes EQC, Daimler have made announcements recently about increasing their capacity for their EQ range, which is how all their electric vehicles will be badged.
ARE YOU A FRUSTRATED FORMULA E RACER?
- Did you ever watch Formula E on TV and think you could have a go at that? I certainly have. It’s not as brutal as Formula 1 which requires superhuman fitness to even drive one, because unless you drive a Formula 1 car fast it actually doesn’t work in terms of things like the brakes being up to scratch. But I have sometimes wondered if this slightly overweight 40 year old could at least pootle round in a Formula E car.
- Fortune say: “Before they introduce the second-generation versions in 2019, the company is making the first 40 electric racing supercars available for collectors to purchase. It’ll cost you roughly from $200,000 to $289,000. Every model has an identical chassis and battery, so the value may be driven more by victories, sentiment, and collector demand. Formula E isn’t officially marketing the cars; news is getting around by word of mouth. Formula E owns all 40 of the cars after paying about €16 million ($18.2 million) for them (€400,000 apiece) and then leasing them to the teams. "
- Alejandro Agag the CEO of Formula E said: “The current cars are still fit for purpose. They’ve provided us with four seasons of exciting, intense, and unpredictable racing. I know there’s a lot of interest from collectors and they could even be used for racing purposes.”
- "In the next season, new teams will include Nissan, as well as a private German team called HWA, which is linked to Daimler Mercedes and constitutes the brand’s first, quiet step before it officially joins the circuit in the 2019-2020 season, along with Porsche."
http://fortune.com/2018/08/14/order-formula-e-racer/
ALBERTA PUTS $215 MILLION INTO LOW EMISSIONS
- I love seeing big investments like this into zero- emissions because despite all the doubters and those with vested interests in oil, just follow the money and you’ll see where we’re going.
- Now the Alberta government is making $215 million in grants available for municipalities to purchase low emission or zero emission buses.
- The transportation minister Brian Mason even pointed towards collaboration being rewarded as those municipalities which work with neighbours will be favoured for grants.
- The project also aims to reduce the carbon footprint by getting more people to take transit and put more low emission buses on the road.
INCREASED CHARGES TO PARK IN THE CITY OF LONDON
- Here in the UK let me explain about London, you have various London’s! Greater London area is the wider conurbation whereas there are smaller boroughs and one of those is the City Of London, it’s own bit of the capital right at the heart of the city in the square mile.
- It’s controlled by The City Of London Corporation and they’re introducing charges based on emissions, which is good news for EV drivers, who will pay less to park, which you have to do on their smartphone app called RIngGo. That app has a new Emission Based Parking product which assesses you vehicle when you login using your car rego, and assigns you a tariff.
- It’s part of a wider plan by the City Of London to invest in encouraging electric transport with new chargers and green taxi ranks.
- These new parking charges which heavily penalise those driving polluting vehicles looking to park on the street starts in 4 days on 20th
- On top of this is the ULEZ which will be expanded and charge polluting diesels extra, on top of the existing congestion charge.
FREE EV CHARGING IN GERMANY THANKS TO E.ON
- Good news for all travellers on the German motorway A3: At Autohof Strohofer in Geiselwind, between Würzburg and Nuremberg, electric cars can now charge without long waiting times at E.ON Drive's first ultra-fast charging station in Germany. Batteries of the latest generation of electric cars have a range of 400 kilometres after 20 minutes. By the end of the year, the charging stations are to be upgraded from 150 to 350 kilowatts, which will further accelerate the charging process for future vehicle models.
- The charging station consists of a total of four ultra-fast charging columns and can supply almost all electric vehicles already on the market.
- Thanks to E.ON Drive's new electricity filling station, latest-generation cars are travelling from Munich to Frankfurt and back with a short pit stop in Geiselwind on the A3. The loading is still free until the end of August. This means a free ride for electric mobility during the summer holidays.
BRITISH PLUG-IN ELECTRIC CAR MARKET EXPANDS
- Just checking in with the latest sales figures from InsideEVs: "In total, some 4,550 new plug-in cars were registered, which is 26% more than year ago, at market share of almost 2.8% (close to the all-time record of 2.9% in December 2017)."
- "881 BEVs (up 3.6% year-over-year)
3,669 PHEVs (up 33.5% year-over-year)
33,856 new plug-ins were registered so far this year, at an average market share of nearly 2.9%."
NEW PATREON SUPPORTERS!
PIERRE UKELO - Producer
COMMUNITY
Mark Buckingham who is KiwiAudio has sent me three pics of the new Hyundai Kona EV in New Zealand. Well the first two actually, a red one and the familiar turquoise colour.
Glen Mason talking about his Hyundai KONA delivery: "Afternoon Martyn. Just thought I’d give you an update on my Kona delivery. My car is in the country and should be with me in the next 7-10 days so I assume beginning of September for the new reg. Can’t wait! Just need my Zappi installed now.. 10th September confirmed for pickup. Same as everyone else, based on forum posts. To me it looks like Hyundai want everyone in first two shipments to receive on the same day. Makes sense, better for publicity."
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