11 August 2018 | BMW 3 Series Electric Prototype Spied, Mercedes EQC Seen With Less Camouflage and I-PACE eTrophy Review

BMW 3 Series Electric Prototype Spied With Fake Exhaust Tips | 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC Electric Crossover Spied Nearly Production-Ready | Brawn: F1 Could Go All-Electric In Ten Years | Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Review: 395bhp EV Racer Tested | Tesla Car Chief Returns To Apple 'To Work On Secret Car Project' | Fastned Hope Tesla Model 3 Be Ccs-Enabled In Europe

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Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Saturday 11th 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.

 

BMW 3 SERIES ELECTRIC PROTOTYPE SPIED WITH FAKE EXHAUST TIPS

• "It was back in 2016 when BMW first electrified the 3 Series by introducing the plug-in hybrid 330e, and now the Bavarians are getting ready to remove the combustion engine altogether." says Adrian Padeanu for Motor1.com: "At a first glance, it might look like a fairly regular prototype of the next-generation 3 Series, but the mandatory “electric test vehicle” stickers on the front doors and rear bumper reveal the car’s true identity. The fact it had a closed-off front grille is another obvious sign the test vehicle lacked an ICE that would’ve needed cooling. Yes, it does have two exhaust tips at the back, but those are there just to throw us off, much like Porsche has been trying to do with its Taycan prototypes."
• And those spies that Motor1 has says the electric 3 series was being tested alongside a Tesla Model 3. So BMW will be hyper aware of the type of customers buying a Model 3 and the performance stats coming out on YouTube videos as people take delviery of their P3D's.
• With BMW having a reputation for not only quality but speed and handling, they have plenty of brand equity in the bank, but in a way their life is harder because of all their history.

 

https://www.motor1.com/news/261710/bmw-3-series-ev-spied/

 

2020 MERCEDES-BENZ EQ C ELECTRIC CROSSOVER SPIED NEARLY PRODUCTION-READY

• The camouflage is gradually coming off the new Mercedes EQC test cars. Now shots have surfaced on Autoblog, with allow wheels which look like they would certainly fit the car even if they're being borrowed from another Merc in the range.
• The camo colours are absent from the bottom third of the car, so we can start to get a sense of the final lines.
• Some of the panels on previous cars have been heavily covered to disguise their real shape but this camo is just in the form of a vinyl wrap.
• And the dash is exposed, not all of it, but enough to see a very widescreen colour display, running as one big screen from behind the drivers steering wheel all the way across to the middle of the dash.
• Joel Stocksdale for Autoblog picked up the story: "the headlights themselves are a unique shape that starts thin at the edges and sweeps downward toward the inside. Looking closely, a body panel appears to wrap around the bottom of the grille and match up with the shape of the headlights." Think concept car first shown in 2016.
• However what strikes me as i look at the Mercedes EQC is how conventional it looks, just like every other car which evolved it's styling over the years to accommodate a large diesel lump up front, but rather than take the chance to start again with battery power, you wouldn't pick this out of a line-up as being one of those new fandangled electric wotsits.

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/08/10/2020-mercedes-benz-eq-c-electric-crossover-spy-photos/#slide-endcap

 

BRAWN: F1 COULD GO ALL-ELECTRIC IN TEN YEARS

• "Formula One's motorsport director Ross Brawn says the sport could go all electric within the next ten years if it provides a better spectacle for the fans." according to an eSPN report: "A shift to all-electric F1 cars has not been given serious consideration as yet, but with the amount of electric cars on the road increasing Brawn is not willing to rule it out over a five- or ten-year timeframe. The only all-electric series at the moment is Formula E, which will enter its fifth season later this year with an upgraded Gen2 car. The level of performance will still be a significant step down from Formula One, but the new cars will have double the energy store capacity of the Gen1 car used for the last four seasons and a power output of 250kW."
• Ross Brawn: "Ten years ago I don't think many people would be able to predict where the world is now and therefore I don't know where we will be in ten years, but Formula One will move in the right direction."

 

http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/24328623/f1-go-all-electric-ten-years

 

JAGUAR I-PACE ETROPHY REVIEW: 395BHP EV RACER TESTED

• Ollie Marriage for Top Gear says:
• "The I-Pace eTrophy is for a one make racing series that will support the Formula E championship at ten rounds of next season’s calendar (which starts this December). So think tight and twisty street circuits where the lack of noise is a boon and the tighter tracks keep speeds down and the racing close"
• "It’s closely aligned with the flagship EV400 I-Pace, using the same battery pack, inverters and motors. So still 395bhp and 513lb ft, and the same 4.5sec sprint to 62mph. Top speed is just under 125mph."
• "Stopping first. Whatever Jag has done to the brakes to incorporate regeneration smoothly has worked a treat. Once I had the confidence to attack the brakes I always knew exactly where I was with them and never noticed the regen interfering. "

 

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/jaguar/90kwh-ev400-s-5dr-auto/first-drive

 

TESLA CAR CHIEF RETURNS TO APPLE 'TO WORK ON SECRET CAR PROJECT'

• Thank you so much to George Row because today's first story is courtesy of one of your fellow listeners. A Renault ZOE driver and kindly emailed me when he first saw this story.
• "Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer has returned to Apple to work on the iPhone giant’s secretive self-driving car project." according to Margi Murphy in today's Telegraph newspaper: “Tesla poached Field from Apple in 2013 stating that he had the “leadership and technical talent to develop and deliver outstanding products." Field was in charge of overseeing the Model 3 production line, which was plagued with operation glitches."
• If you remember it was announced he would be taking some time off to recharge, and it was speculated at the time he could come back to manage either the Tesla Semi project or the Model Y project.
• However when we realised Elon was spending all his time at the Fremont factory, sleeping on the floor, working 120 hour weeks at it's very worst, it became clear that perhaps there was more to this story. He clearly felt he needed to be hands on with the Model 3 line and I said at the time on the podcast, that doesn't bode well for Doug Field who should have been doing that role rather than the CEO.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/08/10/tesla-car-chief-returns-apple-work-secret-car-project/

 

FASTNED HOPE TESLA MODEL 3 BE CCS-ENABLED IN EUROPE

• Mark Kane for InsideEVs has been doing some running with this story. Back on Show 183, that's the 17th July 2018, I first reported on a Reddit story from someone who met a Tesla engineer at a Supercharger, for chatting, and he spilling the beans he was busy doing the prep work for CCS Combo chargers added to Superchargers.
• Now Mark says: "Fastned in its business outlook notes that Tesla took half of the new BEV market in the Netherlands (Model S/X) and having CCS could have a significant impact on the business, as Tesla Model 3 drivers would be able to easily use chargers not only without a CHAdeMO adapter, but also at higher power than 50 kW."
• Fastned: “An important question for Fastned is what kind of fast charging options Tesla will offer on the new European version of the Model 3. Currently, Teslas are not compatible with any of the global fast charging standards and can only be fast charged using a proprietary supercharging protocol. Adding a CCS port to Tesla vehicles would give their owners the choice to charge at many other locations – including Fastned stations directly along the highway – at high charge speeds. A decision by Tesla to enable CCS fast charging on its vehicles, especially for the high volume Model 3, will probably influence our short term growth because about half of all EV sales in the Netherlands are still Teslas.”
• I guess I should add, if we're specific, it's the CCS 2.0 standard we're getting excited about That allows up to 350kW power, at up to 500amp current and up to 1000v.

 

https://insideevs.com/will-tesla-model-3-be-ccs-ready-europe-fastned/

 

 

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