02 August 2018 | Elon Says Tesla Q2 Was “Mind-blowing”, 46% Of Toyota Sales This Year Are Hybrids and July Sales Figures Coming In
Tesla Q2 Results Show Jump In Model 3 Production | Nissan LEAF Sales Down In The U.S...Again | 2018 Sales In Europe Show Electric Up, Diesel Down | Toyota Sales Up In Europe With 46% Hybrids | VW Plans Wolfsburg Closure 1-2 Days A Week To Deal With WLTP | Mercedes-Benz EQS Caught In Spy Shots | Tesla Is Working On A ‘Party & Camper Mode’
Read today’s show notes on https://www.evnewsdaily.com
Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Thursday 2nd 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.
Some news in brief first...
- Tesla has increased it's referral round to September 16. Free unlimited supercharging for S, X and Model 3 Performance. Retroactively applied to all existing owners and from today, forward with new orders. I think i have this straight, ALL owners can give their referrals free unlimited Supercharging but only for the purchase of a Model S, Model X, or Model 3 Performance.
- Earnings Call! So where will they get capital for Giga 3, Giga 4, Semi and Y. Are they on target on profitability and cashflow positive in 2018? What's the cash balance, last time it was $2.7bn at start of Q2? Any update on Model 3 production. 6,000/week by End of August? How profitable is each car? If you remember Sandy Monroe took one apart and said there's a much bigger margin in it that some think. I wonder how many financial analysts understand the upside to building EVs? How will service scale with all those Model 3s? Will service Centres continue to be run to break even? Thoughts on the tapering down of the federal tax credit?
- Polestar 1 will debut in North American at Monterey Car Week from 23-26 August.
NISSAN LEAF SALES DOWN IN THE U.S...AGAIN
- Eric Loveday for InsideEV's says: "You win some…you lose some. Or, in the case of the Nissan LEAF, you lose again."
- Eric digs into the monthly data writing: "With just 1,149 LEAFs sold in July, the electric hatch again sees sales down both month-over-month and year-over-year. In the month-over-month area, sales dropped off by 10.4% from the 1,376 LEAFs sold in June. Year-over-year, sales dipped by 8.5%, down from the 1,283 sold last July"
- When you see the InsideEVs estimate of 14,250 Model 3's sold in July alone, knowing it's only going upwards from there, it's painful for LEAF fans such as myself to see it has sold 7,808 all year. ALL YEAR!
- If you're a podcast listener and either have a LEAF on order in Europe, or bought one recently, what was the wait time? Are the orders holding up better over here? I'm not going to compare the Model 3 to a LEAF tough, maybe the exact ASP for a Model 3 Performance will be revealed on the earning call in a couple of hours but if I guess ~$70k, those cars aren't in competition with each other.
https://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-sales-july-2018/
2018 SALES IN EUROPE SHOW ELECTRIC UP, DIESEL DOWN
- In the first half of 2018, EVs were doing very well in Europe: "Alternative Fueled Vehicles (AFVs) performed well, as electrics, hybrids and plug-ins posted an increase of 31% and recorded 450,200 registrations, making up 5.4% of total registrations. They accounted for 56% of the total market in Norway, 13% in Finland and 11% in Sweden. However, AFVs only made up 3.4% of the German market." reports Green Car Congress. "The diesel decline continued during the first six months of 2018, as registrations were down by 17%. The fuel type accounted for just 37% of the total market—its lowest share since 2001. Diesel’s biggest declines took place in Norway (-32%), the UK (-30%), Slovenia (-28%), Finland (-20%) and Belgium (-20%)"
- Felipe Munoz, JATO’s global analyst: "It was certainly a good first half for the European market and this is due to the choice that consumers now have. Car makers continue to update and modernise their traditional models, while the range of SUVs on offer continues to grow and appeal to all kinds of budgets and needs. The diesel crisis certainly affected the speed of growth in the market, but consumers are overcoming this by turning to more attractive gasoline and AFV solutions."
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/08/20180801-jato.html
TOYOTA SALES UP IN EUROPE
- And staying here in Europe can I talk Toyota? They currently have an ad campaign selling soft hybris as being "self charging" because, they claim, it can do a bit of regen. Now the reaction from the EV community has been overwhelmingly negative. For weeks they've been taking heat on social media. My personal opinion? I think it's frustrating because it obfuscates the technology. They claim it's aimed at people who don't understand hybrids, and who don't want a full electric, but i think they should the benefits of hybrid such as lower emissions. Anyway my opinion aside, because it really doesn't matter, how are sales?
- 46% of all Toyota are soft hybrids but against the 521,000 total cars sold, the amount of hybrids sold in a rounding error. They sold 1,693 plug in cars. So of course, against half a million cars, just over 1,500 plug ins is insignificant.
- Expecting them to do anything OTHER than promote soft hybrids at the expense of a a real EV is crazy.
- In response to criticism I've seen Toyota social media protesting they have a strong plan for plug ins, BEVs and fuel cell vehicles. Well this year they sold 101 Mirai's. 100 of which were for a taxi project in Paris. In other words, they sold one.
https://insideevs.com/only-0-3-of-toyota-sales-in-europe-were-plug-in-hybrids/
VW PLANS WOLFSBURG CLOSURE 1-2 DAYS A WEEK TO DEAL WITH WLTP
- "Volkswagen plans to shut its main factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, for 1-2 days a week between August and end September to deal with issues arising from a new engine emissions test cycle." according to Autonews.com: "Volkswagen's plant in Emden will also be closed on some days in the third and fourth quarter due to lacklustre demand for midsized cars."
MERCEDES-BENZ EQS CAUGHT IN SPY SHOTS
- "Spy photographers have recently captured a large electric sedan from Mercedes-Benz testing at Mercedes's headquarters in Sindelfingen, Germany." says Eric Evarts for Green Car Reports: "In line with Mercedes-Benz's naming convention and statements from company executives, observers expect the new sedan to be called the EQS, sitting parallel in Mercedes-Benz's lineup with its flagship S-Class. Previous statements from Mercedes executives have hinted that the EQS will go on sale in 2020, likely as a 2021 model."
- MotorTrend has the pics, they say: "We now have the first spy shots of a large electric sedan to sit alongside the S-Class. Mercedes execs have previously hinted at the car starting production in 2020, which means we'll likely see it arrive in showrooms as a 2021 model."
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117999_mercedes-benz-eqs-caught-in-spy-shots
TESLA IS WORKING ON A ‘PARTY & CAMPER MODE’
- Fred at Electrek picked up on a tweet by Elon Musk: "Tesla has already made available a ‘camper mode’ to let owners sleep in their cars while running things like climate control, but it now sounds like Tesla is going a step further to enable you to power all your outdoor fun."
- Elon tweeted: "We’re adding a “party & camper mode” soon to S/3/X, so your car can maintain air flow, temp, selective lights, music & power devices for 48 hours or more while parked. Big batteries rock"
https://electrek.co/2018/07/31/tesla-party-camper-mode/
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