Model 3 Production Ramps, Beverley Hills Against PHEVs and SF Motors | 30 Mar 2018
Episode 72, Mar 29, 2018, 11:32 PM
Model 3 Production Ramps Up | Automakers Team Up With States | Workhorse Debuts EV Van | Genesis Essentia Concept | Beverley Hills Bans PHEVs | SF Motors Reveal
Friday 30th March 2018.
TESLA MODEL 3 PRODUCTION
- Tesla’s earning call will be next week as the quarter ends, and investors will want to know if Model 3 production reached the 2,500 cars per week which was guided. And the answer is…maybe.
- I’ve read a lot of websites toady and read blogs and watched videos, most of which from people who REALLY know what they’re talking about. But here’s the thing, we’ve not heard from Tesla. Bloomberg says they’re making 200 a day and they claim to have an email from Doug Field, Senior Vice President of Engineering, to employees at Fremont factory last week: “The world is watching us very closely, to understand one thing: How many Model 3’s can Tesla build in a week? This is a critical moment in Tesla’s history, and there are a number of reasons it’s so important. You should pick the one that hits you in the gut and makes you want to win. We set high goals at Tesla, but I know we can do this. If we keep climbing from 300 through the end of the week, it will be an incredible victory. Your friends and family will hear about it in the news.”
DRIVE CHANGE, DRIVE ELECTRIC
- The Verge report that a new marketing campaign is on the way to persuade Americans to give batteries a chance, it’s called “Drive Change, Drive Electric”.
- Sixteen major automakers are teaming up with seven Northeastern states to support a new advertising venture with the aim of getting Americans to buy more electric cars. The goal isn’t to make everyone a Tesla owner. Organizers will place a heavy focus on hybrid vehicles, both standard and plug-in hybrids, in the interest of casting as wide a net as possible. “We believe that people owe it to themselves to get behind the wheel of an electric car,” says Steve Douglas, senior director of environmental affairs at the Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers. “They should talk to people who drive electric cars because we believe an electric car should be on their short list.”
WORKHORSE
- Earlier in the week we told you about the new Workhorse van and it has been unveiled in San Francisco. Duane Hughes, Workhorse President and COO, added: Rolling out this history making fleet of N-GEN vans in one of the most innovative cities in America is something myself and the entire team are extremely proud of. This deployment is the rst step towards transitioning the largest growing segment in the truck business into a zero-emission stronghold.
- Workhorse says that the new N-Gen electric van has a range of 100 miles (160 km) on a single charge, which should be enough for most delivery routes, and they can add a 75-mile (120 km) gas range extender.
GENESIS ESSENTIA CONCEPT
- Holy moly this is a gorgeous car. Topspeed write about the new stunner at “2018 New York International Auto Show as the latest concept from Hyundai’s standalone luxury sub-brand, Genesis. It’s called the Essentia, and it’s framed as an all-electric, two-door, Gran Touring model packed with the very latest convenience features. It’s also one helluva looker, in case that wasn’t already completely obvious, and it’s pretty quick as well.”
BEVERLEY HILLS LOVES BEVS
- Beverley Hill is NOT the friend of PHEV owners! Greencarreports say that “As of Monday, April 2, only battery-electric cars will be allowed to park and plug in at any of the city's 35 public charging stations—plug-in hybrids will not. In fact, according to a press release describing the policy dated Monday, plug-in hybrids in those spaces will be treated just like conventional vehicles. Which is to say, if they are in a parking space designated for charging—whether or not they are plugged in and charging—they will be ticketed.
- Beverly Hills will also impose a fee for charging, at 25 cents per kilowatt-hour on top of the parking fees, and a $6 "station fee" after 2 hours regardless of whether a vehicle is charging or not.
SF MOTORS
- Finally SF Motors revealed themselves this week. The company is backed by Chinese investors and they shows off two high powered EV’s in California. The SF5 and the SF7. They claim pre-orders will start in 2019, for the cars which will have 2, 3, or 4 motors and a range of more than 300 miles.
- Verge says “The drivetrain and battery technology apparently comes, in large part, from a company that SF Motors acquired late last year called Inevit. Inevit was started by Martin Eberhard, a cofounder and former CEO of Tesla who clashed with Elon Musk during some of that company’s tougher, early years. Eberhard now serves as “chief innovation officer” for SF Motors. SF Motors has an R&D shop in Silicon Valley (and others around the world), but it will make its SUVs in Indiana. The company bought an old manufacturing plant that used to pump out Hummer SUVs that it is currently retooling for production of its EVs, which it estimates will kick off at around 50,000 per year. However, SF Motors is an American subsidiary of Chinese commercial vehicle company Sokon, so it will also be able to make around 150,000 SF Motors vehicles in China, a market that loves SUVs and is widely considered to be the next frontier for EVs.”
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