Is 30 Miles On Electric Enough For A PHEV? | 15 Aug 2021

Episode 1179,   Aug 15, 2021, 12:08 AM

Today’s big EV stories:
• U Spy A Mercedes-AMG EQS Getting Topped Up At A Charging Station
• Norwegian public authorities limited to EVs from 2022
• Tesla pushes new Full Self-Driving Beta update
• Tesla's Elon Musk reiterates supply chain issues
• Tesla reaches 7,000 Superchager installs in Chinese mainland
• 2022 Kia Sorento PHEV will be sold in U.S.
• Ioniq 5 Takes Hyundai Plug-in Sales To New Record In July 2021
• How Does Google Maps Work In Electric Vehicles? Everything You Need To Know
• Abu Dhabi implements unified tariff for electric vehicle charging

Show #1179.

If you get any value from this podcast please consider supporting my work on Patreon. Plus all Patreon supporters get their own unique ad-free podcast feed.

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 15th August. 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.

U SPY A MERCEDES-AMG EQS GETTING TOPPED UP AT A CHARGING STATION

- It is no secret that an AMG-badged variant of the Mercedes EQS is around the corner and our loyal Carscoops reader Ross recently snapped a prototype at an Ionity charging station south of Stuttgart, Germany.

- this prototype only had small areas of bodywork covered by camouflage, namely the rear fascia and front fascia (not pictured). There’s also a tiny bit of camouflage on the A-pillar, perhaps to hide an AMG badge.

- Based on trademark registrations recently made by the automaker a number of AMG models could be launched, potentially dubbed the EQS43, EQS53, and EQS63. The ‘43’ and ‘53’ will probably only benefit from a handful of changes from the standard model while the EQS63 promises to be the highest-performance variant with a claimed 715 hp.


NORWEGIAN PUBLIC AUTHORITIES LIMITED TO EVS FROM 2022

- The Norwegian government is considering a new directive that would require most new vehicle purchases by public authorities to be electric from 1 January 2022. The proposal will now be subject to a three-month period for consultations and comments before it can come into force.

- public authorities will be required to procure only purely electric cars, vans and city buses from the beginning of 2022, with two exceptions. According to a statement by the Norwegian electric car association Elbil, the only exceptions are “cargo vehicles that require more range than is currently available” and city buses powered by biogas.

- the Electric Car Association, says, “We already see that the proposal is incomprehensibly lax on vans, where only vans under 1,760 kg have zero-emission requirements.”


TESLA PUSHES NEW FULL SELF-DRIVING BETA UPDATE

- Tesla has started pushing a new software update for its Full Self-Driving Beta program.
CEO Elon Musk released the improvements in the update and gave us an idea of when the wider release is going to happen.

- The update is only for its early access program, which consists of employees and a select group of Tesla owners chosen by the automaker.

- As for the timeline of the wider release, which has also been referred to as the “download button”, Musk commented that Tesla will still need to release at least one or two more updates to the early access program before v10, which is now the wider release update.


TESLA'S ELON MUSK REITERATES SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES

- Elon Musk reiterated that the company is still facing "extreme supply chain limitations" due to computer chip shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.  "As publicly disclosed, we are operating under extreme supply chain limitations regarding certain "standard" automotive chips," Musk tweeted Thursday. "Most problematic by far are Renesas & Bosch."

- The shortage in semiconductor chips — which power a wide range of products that connect, transport and entertain consumers —  started last summer when the pandemic forced chip factories to shut down, particularly overseas, where the majority of the processors are made.

- By the time they started to reopen, they had a backlog of orders to fill. Chipmakers were then swamped by unforeseen demand, further compounding the issue. As a result, most automakers had to halt production at times, creating shortages and driving up demand and prices.


TESLA REACHES 7,000 SUPERCHAGER INSTALLS IN CHINESE MAINLAND

- Tesla launched its 7,000th Superchargers in Chinese mainland on August 14, the U.S. EV manufacturer announced via its Weibo account, a twitter-like social media platform in China, around seven years after the first China-dedicated one was built in Shanghai.

- Tesla claimed in early March it had deployed over 6,000 Superchargers and operated more than 760 Supercharger stations in over 300 cities across the Chinese mainland.

- Tesla claimed in early Feb. that its Supercharger manufacturing factory in Shanghai started production, less than half a year after the project was officially launched in August 2020.


2022 KIA SORENTO PHEV WILL BE SOLD IN U.S.

- great news today out of Kia for anybody who was hoping the Sorento PHEV would make it to the U.S. It’s officially coming here as a 2022 model! 
Kia was stingy on U.S. market information back when the Sorento PHEV was announced for Europe, declining to comment on the possibility of it coming here.

- Kia says it has a 13.8 kWh battery pack. An estimated 32-mile all-electric range is what Kia is claiming, but this is not the official EPA-tested number. We’ll have to wait for the official figures before making concrete comparisons, but if Kia can get it to 32 miles, that’s an impressive figure


IONIQ 5 TAKES HYUNDAI PLUG-IN SALES TO NEW RECORD IN JULY 2021

- Hyundai reports over a 13% decrease of its global car sales to 137,962 in July (on a manufacturer level), however, the plug-in segment continues to expand and reaches all-time record levels for the third consecutive month.

- The company sold a total of 11,742 plug-ins (up 39% year-over-year), which translated to a new record share of 8.5%.

- The all-new Hyundai Ioniq 5 is the new core of the plug-in lineup with another 8,000+ units sent out of the gate. That's more than two-thirds of the total EV sales.

- Hyundai Ioniq 5 - 8,068 (24,744 YTD)


HOW DOES GOOGLE MAPS WORK IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES? EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

- when it comes to driving an Electric Vehicle or an EV, Google Maps gets a whole lot better, actually. And way more useful too.There’s a couple of things that Google Maps does when it is being used in an EV. Firstly, it will show you where EV chargers are, so you can easily get to one and recharge your vehicle. Secondly, it will also provide you with an estimate of the battery percentage when you get to your destination.

- Google Maps is pretty friendly to EV drivers. But of course, it works even better in Android Automotive, since it is built-into the car.

- type in Google Maps to find an EV Charger to go to, and charge your car. But you get there and all of the chargers are being used. What now? You’re probably pissed, and have even less battery to get to another one.That’s where Google Maps comes into play. It is able to display how many chargers are actually available.

- This seems to really only work for ChargePoint and EVgo chargers. Those from ElectrifyAmerica and others are not able to show you how many are actually available. However, Google Maps can tell you the number of chargers at each location, and the speeds.


ABU DHABI IMPLEMENTS UNIFIED TARIFF FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING 

- Owners of electric vehicles (EVs) in private residences and commercial buildings in Abu Dhabi must instal sub-meters, authorities have announced.
The Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE), in cooperation with the concerned parties, approved a new governance framework for electric vehicle (EV) charging in the emirate on Monday.

- The approved governance framework mandates the installation of sub-meters on EV charging units in private residences and commercial buildings, defines a unified tariff for all registered units with consumption monitored by Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC) and Al Ain Distribution Company (AADC), and enhances the public charging system, which currently has 200 charging units available to the public across the emirate.

- The DoE has given owners of private charging units a grace period until December 31 to have a sub-meter installed


QUESTION OF THE WEEK WITH EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM

On a scale of 1-10, where does ‘environment’ rank for the reason you’re interested in EVs?

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

It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast.

And  if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing.

Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I’ll catch you tomorrow and remember…there’s no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.

PREMIUM PARTNERS
PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE
BRAD CROSBY
PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI
VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST
NATIONAL CAR CHARGING ON THE US MAINLAND AND ALOHA CHARGE IN HAWAII
DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL
RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK
Subscribe
Next
Question Of The Week Answers | 15 Aug 2021
Top episodes