29 April 2018 | Tesla Driver Banned For Autopilot Misuse, Lynk&Co Start With Hybrids and Dealers Need EV Experts
Episode 104, Apr 28, 2018, 11:01 PM
LYNK&CO Subscription Cars Will Be Hybrids | Tesla Issue Official Response To Teardown | Byton VP Of Design Speaks | Motor Dealers Need More EV Experts | Driving On A Solar Road | Tesla Owner Banned
Sunday 29th April 2018.
LYNK&CO WILL BE HYBRIDS
- Volvo’s sister brand Lynk&Co has announced that the crossovers it will be building in Belgium to serve the European market will not be fully electric, but hybrid. Lynk&Co wants to attract young urban people with a subscription programme, which would allow customers to rent a car for just one month up to a few years and change their car for another model up to four times per year” says FleetEurope.
- Mats Fagerhag, Vice President of Geely Auto Group, said: “From the very beginning of the CMA’s development, the flexibility to support future powertrain technologies, such as PHEV, HEV, BEV, mild hybrid and traditional fuel was very much our vision. The new energy plan for Lynk & Co will be implemented in stages with the goal of following PHEV with HEV and then BEV”.
TESLA RESPONDS TO MUNRO
- Munro and Associates recently talked about the Tesla Model 3 in an Autoline After Hours video, Teslarati noting: “According to Sandy Munro, everything about the Model 3 from its suspension, all the way to its battery pack, are industry-leading, and if Tesla had only ensured that its build quality was as good as its technology, it would have “wiped the floor with everybody.”
- But Mr Munro wasn’t totally complimentary. He thought the build quality wasn’t as good as it should have been, the frame was too heavy, and he hated having no physical latches on the doors. Although on that last point, if you want the video, he does come across as an old man who doesn’t like the technology. Even though he’s clearly an expert, that one point sounded like when you’re trying to set up your parents WiFi.
- Tesla has responded in a statement: “The primary car evaluated by Munro was built in 2017. We have significantly refined our production processes since then, and while there’s always room for improvement, our data already shows that Model 3 quality is rapidly getting better.
- Since we began shipping Model 3 last year, we have been very focused on refining and tuning both part and body manufacturing processes. The result being that the standard deviation of all gaps and offsets across the entire car has improved, on average, by nearly 40%, with particular gap improvements visible in the area of the trunk, rear lamps and rear quarter panel. Today, Model 3 panel gaps are competitive with Audi, BMW, and Mercedes models, but in the spirit of relentless improvement, we are working to make them even tighter.”
BYTON VP OF DESGN SPEAKS
- Recently at the Milan Design Week, Byton showed off their EV concept. BYTON’s VP of Design, Benoît Jacob is the former VP of Design at BMW. During his time at BMW, Jacob was the head of various projects, including both the i3 and i8 electric vehicles. Now, at BYTON, Jacob is responsible for building a concept. “I think the ability to update software, functionality and things like that will be on a day-to-day basis. And this is, of course, something we have to integrate as a technology into the car.”
- BYTON’s SUV will be available in China towards the end of 2019 and in the US and Europe in 2020 with a price starting at $45,000.
MOTOR DEALERS NEED EV-ANGELISTS
- The whole ev-angelist thing is clever but maybe a bit overdone, but that’s exactly what dealers need according to a new report.
- Motor Trader website says “one in three UK dealerships don’t have a single EV trained technician in their workshops but the majority now recognise the need to increase the number of EV trained technicians in their dealerships and train existing sta The Institute of the Motor Industry has been campaigning for some time for the government to give further backing technician training for electric vehicles. In July last year it reported that the percentage of technicians trained to work safely on the high-voltage technology remains at 1%.”
DRIVING ON A SOLAR ROAD
- Elon Musk occasionally likes to counter arguments against solar power by saying that the world is solar powered – the sun being the source of everything.
- Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie have spent just about every day over the past 10 years developing Solar Roadways. He says: “"We signed with our first manufacturing contract in Dayton, Ohio. So, they'll be making the first SR4's. And we're in talks with our first manufacturing company here in North Idaho," he said. "That means we can get the price way down. And our ultimate goal is to have this at a big box store where homeowners can do their driveways, business people can do their parking lots."
- KREM says: The Brusaws got to the next phase with the help of a record-setting crowdfunding campaign back in 2014. It raised more than $2.2 million. After Indiegogo, credit card and other fees, the Brusaws say they got about $1.5 million before the tax man took another huge chunk. This allowed them to buy a Sandpoint building to serve as the Solar Roadways research and development headquarters. They hired a few employees and bought their first small scale manufacturing equipment. Of course, they were not actually made to make solar roads since nobody ever needed machines for that before”
TESLA OWNER BANNED
- The BBC reports that: “A driver who moved into the passenger seat after putting his Tesla into autopilot while at 40mph on a motorway has been banned from driving. Bhavesh Patel, 39, of Alfreton Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at St Albans Crown Court. A witness in another car filmed him sitting in the passenger seat of his Tesla S 60 on the M1 between junctions 8 and 9 near Hemel Hempstead. A statement provided by a Tesla engineer said the autopilot was intended to provide assistance to a "fully-attentive driver", the court heard.”
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