Unplugged Performance Reveals 'Pikes Plaid' | 13 June 2021

Show #1112.

 

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 13th June. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

 

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"On June 10, 2021, Elon Musk formally kicked off deliveries of the 1,020-hp Tesla Model S Plaid. Approximately two days later, on June 12, Unplugged Performance debuted its race-prepped Model S Plaid that's set to compete at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (with our resident pro racing driver, Randy Pobst, behind the wheel). " says Motor Trend: "The interior is almost completely stripped out. After ditching items such as the car's airbags, a center console, and door panels, Unplugged Performance fits this tri-motor Tesla with a roll cage and a racing seat with six-point racing belts. The body is stock except for a huge front splitter and a gigantic adjustable rear wing. Likewise, the Plaid racer retains its factory air springs, however, it employs custom Unplugged Performance/Bilstein dampers and a three-way adjustable rear anti-roll bar. The car rides on Yokohama Advan slicks on custom forged aluminum wheels."

 

 

"Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL), a subsidiary of NFI Group (NFI), unveiled its first all-electric three-axle double-deck bus for North America. Following trials with select transit operators, the vehicle is now launching on the broader North American markets." says electrive.com: "The 45-foot Enviro500EV CHARGE has a passenger capacity of up to 82 seats, including 53 on the upper deck. An electric portal axle with hub motors provides propulsion with 2×125kW peak power output. The battery capacity of the Enviro500EV Charge stands at 648 kWh of energy storage integrated “in the chassis and the rear of the vehicle for a low centre of gravity and great stability”. Charging can be done via industry-standard CCS1"

 

 

"Chinese EV automaker BYD officially introduced its new electric Type D school bus, available in the US in lengths of 10.6, 11.6, and 12 meters, and capable of carrying up to 84 passengers. Most notably, the school bus enables bi-directional charging. According to the company, the bus can be charged overnight when energy demand is low, and feed clean energy back to the school during school hours" says The Next Web: "The bus features a lithium iron phosphate battery and has a range of roughly 250 kilometers on a single charge. That’s 57km more than the electric school buses of Blue Bird Corporation, one of the biggest industry players, can go. Although it’s unclear when and where BYD’s new ebuses will debut, the announcement comes in perfect sync with President Biden’s EV infrastructure scheme"

 

 

"Britain is in talks with six companies for building gigafactories to produce electric vehicle batteries, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people briefed on the discussions." reports Reuters today: "Ford Motor Co (F.N), Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T), LG Corp (003550.KS), Samsung (005930.KS) and start-ups Britishvolt and InoBat Auto are in talks with the British government or local authorities about locations for potential factories and financial support, according to the report. The British government's plan to prohibit the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and hybrids by 2035 will require the country's vehicle plants to shift to producing electric models."

 

 

"The Russian government plans to invest 777 billion rubles ($10.5 billion) into electric and hydrogen vehicle development by 2030, according to documents obtained by the Vedomosti news outlet." says The Moscow Times: "In the next nine years Russia’s electric vehicle (EV) share of the auto market could grow from 0.05% to 15%, officials at the Ministry of Economic Development said. By 2030 there could be 1.5 million EVs on Russian roads, supported by 20,000 new charging stations, according to the plan."

 

 

"While Musk is not likely to step aside at Tesla (TSLA) anytime soon, it's evident he has many more interests — some would call them distractions — beyond electric vehicles. He's been obsessed with cryptocurrencies, especially dogecoin" says CNN Business: "It makes no sense for Tesla to be essentially a one-man show while SpaceX has an extremely adept COO in Gwynne Shotwell, one of that company's first hires, who is capable of stepping in to lead if Musk were unable to do so. Why doesn't Musk have someone like Shotwell at Tesla? Tesla has suffered a bit of a brain drain over the past few years, with several high-profile executives leaving. Most recent, and most alarming to Tesla investors, is this week's departure of Jerome Guillen. The nearly 11-year Tesla veteran had been running the trucking division and previously served in many roles, including president of the automotive division and program director on Tesla's Model S sedan. David Whiston, an auto analyst at Morningstar, said in an email to CNN Business that the only executive left who might make sense as a Musk successor is Andrew "Drew" Baglino, Tesla's senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, who has been with the company since 2006."

 

 

RAJEEV NARAYAN

My Volt makes a strange ethereal moaning sound at low speed, that I am not a fan of.. That being said I understand that regulations mandating these low speed sounds are increasing. It would be interesting if these could be changed, downloaded, or even self made like ringtones today. Perhaps you could even decide which one gets played based on GPS location. As for sounds at higher speeds- I am not a fan of that, one of the things I enjoy about my EV is the quiet ride, thst being said I can see a similar market for customizable / downloaded high-speed sounds- “Ferrari” or “spaceship” may be interesting. 

 

LIAM FROM OHIO

I am not an EV owner but, I think car manufacturers should just put a microphone under the hood of their EVs,✝ and pump the motor sounds through the interior (and exterior) speakers. (Of course with adjustable volume.) I love the sound of motor whine! Have you heard how cool the EV1 sounded even without fake motor sounds?*

 

Regarding my opinion fake motor sounds, Porsche, Audi, and Jaguar have nailed it in my opinion! Although, I don’t really care for the fake sounds that the e-Golf and Mach-E make when accelerating, as they sound too much like combustion engine sounds.

 

JAMES COYLE

I have to agree the Zoe Pedestrian noise, is really is annoying BUT it does come in really useful when driving in busy town areas with lots of people walking around, HOWEVER the button to turn it on/off is in a really awkward place, and you cant turn it on, for instance when reversing, only off.

 

EG: if there was a button to turn it on, on the steering wheel you could click it on and off at will, I'm most cautious when silently reversing slowly out of a super market car parking space, you cant turn it on, it refuses to make any noise whilst reversing, when its at its most quiet.

 

IAN HARRISON FROM HULL

•I am a blind enthusiast of electric vehicles but do worry about not being able to use yet another of my senses while out and about. So few drivers fail to recognise the significance of a white cane or guide dog compared with years ago that crossing uncontrolled roads is always a gamble anyway. Perhaps cars could be taught to notice the cane or the profile of a guide dog and its owner, then perform a beep whether or not your system is switched on.

 

•Silent cars when combined with this fad for shared spaces is a double whammy for both the blind and even parents and small children.

 

•Can I give a shout out to Motability UK who provide leased vehicles to the disabled. They are slowly increasing their range of EVs, including the ID3. I can’t wait to get my wife an electric vehicle next time around.

 

STEPHEN HARRIS

So far as EV sounds are concerned, they should be silent.  However, having the option to change the sound of the horn or have two different buttons for the horn, so that the driver can give an appropriate warning for the circumstance would be ideal.  The usual horn sound can scare the daylights out of unsuspecting pedestrians and I think many sensible drivers are hesitant to use it for that reason, whereas a sound like a bike bell would be enough to get them to turn in the direction of the vehicle and see what is happening.  A bike bell is pretty universally recognised warning to get out of the way.

s (PEVs).  They would be an ideal first and last mile solution and indeed are plenty capable enough to make the whole journey in many instances.

 

MARK ORRICO

No artificial noises please. Inside or out. There are some nearly silent piston cars out there. It’s on the driver and pedestrians to avoid being run over and running people over. When I got my Niro in February I had it 2 days with the reverse beeping and pulled the front bumper off to disconnect the speaker…..my first new car ever and day 2 I’m pulling the thing apart, I got an ev partly for a quieter vehicle not one that was going to wake all my neighbors up when I back out of the garage.

 

ALUN MORGAN

To me it’s very clear, there should be no rules about EV noise at all. Regulations should be technology agnostic: Minimum external noise limits should exist for all vehicles at low speed. I think the current AVAS regs allowing quite a lot of freedom under an “engine like noise” are a good way to go. Equally:

 

Maximum external noise should be regulated, there are standards for drive by noise, but regulations on maximum noise at low speeds are probably a good idea now that a lot of cars simply have a speaker under the hood that could easily be abused. As for internal noise - go for broke, I don’t care if you want your EV to sound like a V12, or your V12 to sound like an EV (good luck with that). The market will provide/decide. I suspect as EVs become ubiquitous, playing faux engine noises from your audio system will turn out to be a fad.

 

 

 

What’s the best way to navigate an EV journey and charge on the way? Do you use our smartphone or use the car’s internal system?

 

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