VW Leading EV Sales In Europe | 17 May 2021

Show #1085.

 

Today’s big EV stories:

•         Elon Musk says fighters cars 'coming soon'

•         DMV probing whether Tesla violates regulations

•         Stellantis Reminds Us About Affordable EVs

•         VW Leaving BEV Sales In Europe

•         April 2021 EV Sales in France

•         Sandy Munro Says Polestar Should Be Proud

•         Chevrolet Bolt EUV and  EV ship early

•         Every fifth car made in Germany is plug-in

•         LFP cells outnumbers NCM in China

•         SSE Adds Renault Zoe Van 

•         Australia spend $2.3 billion on more oil subsidies

•         Amazon Testing Rivian Electric Vans in San Francisco

•         Model X deliveries will now be October

 

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Monday 17th May. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

 

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

 

After a UFC bought ones of the fighters chose to use the exposure to complain to Elon Musk. HIs name is Beneil Dariush, saying he's been waiting for his Tesla delivery for 6 months, and he needs a good car for his family!

 

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"Tesla is “under review” by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to determine whether the electric car maker misleads customers by advertising its “full self-driving capability” option, the agency told The Times." reports Russ Mitchell for The L.A. Times: "A Tesla equipped with the $10,000 full self-driving package can change lanes, take highway exit ramps, and stop at traffic lights and stop signs on its own, the company says. However, it is not capable of fully driving itself, according to widely accepted engineering standards. social media are rife with videos showing drivers, mostly young men, overcoming Tesla’s easily defeated driver-monitoring system to crawl into the back seat and let the Tesla “drive itself” down public highways. If the DMV finds Tesla is misleading customers, potential penalties include suspension or revocation of DMV autonomous vehicle deployment permits and manufacture and dealer licenses, the DMV spokesperson said."

 

 

"Governments must consider the need to keep cars affordable for the masses and the full lifecycle impact of a vehicle when mandating the switch to full electrification. That’s according to Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares, who wants it to be remembered that “the scientific decision on the choice of this technology hasn't been made by the automotive industry”." says  Autocar: "Tavares said he was committed to bring in EVs as required by legislation, but even more so on reducing emissions. However, he said that governments mandating purely on tailpipe emissions are missing the bigger picture and driving up the cost of vehicles for consumers. Tavares expects Stellantis’s future manufacturing footprint in Europe to stay the same after the switch to electrification - but failure to do so would lead to “social consequences”, likely restrictions and redundancies."

 

 

"Taking an ever bigger step back, we’ve got all electric vehicle sales from the overarching brands or groups/alliances — making a comparison of sales from all of their electric models combined gets us to true electric vehicle sales leadership in absolute terms (relative sales leadership, taking into account these companies’ fossil-fuel vehicle sales, is a different matter)." says Zach at CleanTechnica: "Volkswagen Group pulls away even a little more than the Volkswagen brand itself when you look at the stats from this perspective. It stands in a whole different league than the rest of the pack. Looking at the first 4 months of 2021, Tesla drops down to #5, while the Stellantis alliance (more than 10 automotive brands combined) shines much more than any of its individual brands, even passing up the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Volkswagen Group is on track for more than 150,000 sales in Europe in 2021. (The total should be significantly larger, though, since more capacity is going online throughout the year."

 

Jan to April

VW 53,708

Stallantis 32,221

Renault Nissan 24,942

Hyundai Group 22,729

 

 

"The French plugin market continues on the fast lane, with April's plugin share reaching 15% last month (6.8% BEV), keeping the YTD share at a record 14% (6.9% BEV), which is a 3% increase over the 2020 result (11%), and the 20% share i predicted for the whole of this year looks on target." reports EV Sales Blog: "Interestingly, most of the growth is coming from PHEVs, with plugin hybrids representing 54% of registrations in April, a 2% increase over this year average and a significant jump over the 40% they had in 2020. Maybe it's time to cut subsidies on PHEVs?"

 

 

"In the third episode about the Polestar 2, Munro Live reviews the undercarriage of the car, which usually is the most interesting in the series, due to the vast experience of Sandy Munro. The overall evaluation is very positive. Sandy Munro said that he is pretty happy with what he saw under the Polestar 2 and that Volvo/Geely parent companies should be very proud of the Polestar." says InsideEVs: "Sandy Munro found also a few interesting solutions to reduce wind noise. He of course appreciated the use of big casting parts, referring to Tesla's single-casting approach. It's great to see that new EVs on the market are well-engineered."

 

 

 

"Production of the 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV and 2022 Chevy Bolt EV has started, and first cars are already shipping out to dealerships, GM confirmed Monday to Green Car Reports. Amid many delayed rollouts and arrivals, due to microchips and supply-chain issues, that’s about a month earlier than GM suggested earlier this year. Per the update from GM, first Bolt EUV deliveries will be made by the end of May.  Both models, built in Lake Orion, Michigan, represent a Bolt EV refresh for 2022, but it’s the Bolt EUV that updates the Bolt EV formula with a slightly larger form factor. The EUV is just 6.3 inches longer than the EV, on a wheelbase that’s 2.9 inches longer, but it offers more backseat space and cargo versatility. " says Green Car Reports: "The Bolt EV retains that 259-mile rating with its 2022 refresh, although the Bolt EUV, with its higher curb weight and potential aerodynamic differences, has received a range rating of 247 miles. "

 

 

With Germany being the powerhouse of the European motor industry, manufacturing every third car in the region, or twice the volume of the next largest market, Spain, latest VDA data and Schmidt Automotive Research can reveal that for the first time one-fifth of those German manufactured cars came fitted with a plug. 

During March, 74,000 of the 373,900 passenger cars manufactured were xEVs, meaning they were capable of recharging using an external cable. 

The first quarter combined total (176,600) was down on the final quarter of last year (181,400) due to seasonal effects related to the Christmas holiday shutdown period, among other reasons. 

 

 

"In China, the monthly production of battery cells with the cobalt-free chemistry LFP (LiFePO4) finally surpassed NCM. This is big news! LFP now represents 52 % of all battery cell production in China, but its market share is expected to grow even more in the coming months. In most electric cars NCM will be relegated to more expensive trim levels, while LFP will become the standard battery cell chemistry." writes Pedro fo PushEVs: "While Chinese automakers have been extremely fast to adopt LFP as the standard battery cell chemistry, other automakers will follow this strategy. Tesla, Volkswagen and Renault already stated that LFP will become the chemistry that allows to mass produce electric cars that compete with ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) cars in price and availability."

 

In terms of costs at the battery pack level with the CTP (cell-to-pack) technology:

NCM/NCMA: 90 euros per kWh

LNMO: 80 euros per kWh

LFP: 70 euros per kWh

 

 

SSE, one of the UK’s leading utility providers, has identified the Renault Zoe Van as being the ideal vehicle to help with the electrification of its commercial vehicle fleet.

the UK’s only fully electric car-derived van was recognised as the perfect replacement for several ICE vehicles where the range of existing commercial-focused EVs had previously compromised the transition to pure electric power. 

SSE’s new Zoe Van’s will be used by its supervisors and team leaders to visit the company’s operational sites and developments throughout Scotland.

 

"Australia’s struggling fuel refineries will be propped up by the Morrison government in a multi-billion dollar handout that will see Australia hooked on petrol vehicles, while the federal government continues to snub the fledgling electric vehicle industry." according to the driven.io: "The Morrison government will provide more than $2.3 billion in subsidies to Australian based oil refineries through a new Fuel Security Service Payment that will top up the revenues they receive when fuel prices drop below a certain threshold."

 

 

"After a short stint in Los Angeles, Rivian's electric vans moved on to San Francisco in March.  The latest expansion to San Francisco is part of Amazon and Rivian's initial program to test the electric vans. San Francisco becomes the second city to act as a testing site for Rivian's new electric delivery vans. Amazon plans to expand the program to 14 other cities this year, bringing the total to 16." says futurecar: "With numerous steep hills, San Francisco promises to be a tricky location for Rivian's electric vans."

 

 

"Initially, the tentative date for the delivery was the month of February this year, however, now the customers who ordered the Tesla Model S have been asked to be patient with the delivery and the dispatch of Model X has now been moved to the month of October." says Hindustan Times: "Tesla has hit a rough patch for some time now as its relationship with China, the world’s largest automobile market seems to be on shaky grounds. With all the controversies surrounding spying of data and faulty brakes, the company recently also saw a drop in its sale in China last month."

 

 

 

 

What’s the best specialist vehicle you can think of which would make a great EV? 

 

Email me your thoughts and I’ll read them out on Sunday – hello@evnewsdaily.com