Apple Car Talks Breaking Down Over Batteries | 23 Oct 2021

Show #1253

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Saturday 23rd October. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

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"Two of three potential Apple Car vendors are reportedly having difficulty meeting Apple's production requirements. Specifically, a new report claims that the main stumbling block is manufacturing advanced lithium ion phosphate (LFP) batteries in the United States for Apple, and the effort it would take for exclusivity. Suppliers cited in the report are BYD and CATL. CATL is the world's main battery manufacturer for electric vehicles." reports Apple Insider: "CATL is a Chinese firm, which is said to be complicating matters. It reportedly had difficulty sourcing appropriate staff in the US suitable to assembling a product development team just for Apple. BYD has a plant in the US already, seemingly making it a better choice. However, the company allegedly said to Apple that it would not build a plant just for the Apple Car. The report on Friday morning from Reuters claims that the companies told Apple at some point in the last two months that they were not able to meet Apple's requirements. Since both manufacturers told Apple that they would not be able to meet demands, talks have stalled. Both companies, however, are said to remain open to overtures from Apple."

Read more: https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/224706/apple-car-battery-talks-breaking-down-under-weight-of-apples-demands

"Tennessee lawmakers have approved an $884 million incentive package for the “mega campus” near Memphis where Ford plans to make batteries and electric vehicles, according to the Tennessean. The money — which is coming from Tennessee’s current $2.1 billion budget surplus — is the single largest investment in the history of the state. It comes at a time when many major automakers are looking to build new facilities in the US dedicated to EVs, batteries, or other supply chain components necessary for electric vehicles." writes The Verge: "South Korean battery company SK Innovation, which it calls “Blue Oval City.” Ford is also simultaneously spinning up battery factories in Kentucky. Ford will get $500 million in the form of a grant. The rest is being allocated in a few different ways — the result of a special session held this week where state legislators haggled for three days. The state will commit $200 million for road construction around the site and $138.2 million for other infrastructure and demolition work. Another $40 million will go to building a Tennessee College of Applied Technology site near the campus, and $5 million is being offered up for legal services."

Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/22/22740610/tennessee-ford-blue-oval-city-incentive-package-884-million

"Right now CATL is Tesla’s sole supplier of LFP (LiFePO4) battery cells, but BYD seems to be the next on the list. According to Chinese media, Tesla has secured an initial order of 10 GWh worth of LFP battery cells from BYD, to power the Model 3 and Y in their standard range versions. 10 GWh is enough to assemble more than 181,000 battery packs for the Tesla Model 3 with 55 kWh each, or more than 166,000 for the Model Y with 60 kWh each." writes Pedro for PushEVs: "Currently, the LFP battery packs of Tesla made with CATL’s battery cells only reach an energy density of 126 Wh/kg, but BYD’s Blade battery packs are more energy dense and have already reached 150 Wh/kg. Not only the cobalt-free BYD Blade battery packs have good energy density, performance, safety and longevity, they currently also have the lowest kWh price, estimated at 55 euros (64 USD)."

Read more: https://pushevs.com/2021/10/21/byd-has-reportedly-received-10-gwh-of-orders-from-tesla-for-lfp-batteries/

"Tesla owners using the company's Full Self-Driving beta have great responsibility on their hands. The Level 2 driver-assist system, as defined by the SAE Scale of Autonomy, is not actually self-driving and requires a human driver to pay attention at all times -- and Tesla's trying to allow only the most responsible folks into its beta program. Except it's pretty simple for anyone who ponies up $10,000 to earn a perfect Safety Score, the metric Tesla is using to grant access." reports CNET.com: "deleted Reddit post that guide drivers through the steps to earn the coveted perfect Safety Score (which is also used for Tesla Insurance, by the way). One way is to simply not send the driving behavior data to Tesla; another is to restart the process entirely. Tesla drivers have the option to hold down both scroll-wheel buttons on the steering wheel to wipe the car's Media Control Unit. This also wipes the data used for the Safety Score. If the driver does something inappropriate, or even if they make a minor boo-boo while driving, they can erase it before Tesla even calculates the potential ding to a Safety Score."

Read more: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/its-easy-to-game-teslas-safety-score-system-owners-say/

"Elon Musk confirmed that owners of Tesla vehicles who bought the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package on cars with Autopilot 2.0 are going to need a camera upgrade before they get access to the “FSD Beta.” Starting with the introduction of its Autopilot 2.0 suite of sensors in 2016, Tesla started selling all of its cars with the promise that they have all the hardware necessary to achieve full self-driving capability with future software updates. This promise has helped Tesla sell vehicles, but it turned out to be inaccurate." says Fred @ Electrek: "Last night, CEO Elon Musk was asked whether or not these owners will get access to FSD Beta, and he confirmed that they will but they will need a “camera upgrade”: “Yeah, although early production cars will need camera upgrades, as well as FSD computer (all included in the price).”"

Read more: https://electrek.co/2021/10/22/tesla-autopilot-2-owners-need-camera-upgrade-before-full-self-driving-beta/

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"A VIN decoder appears to have revealed the names of Rivian’s planned vans. The filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seems to indicate they will be called 500 Van and 700 Van. Additionally, it appears the 500 will be available with both left-hand and right-hand drive." says The Truth About Cars: "The number refers to cargo capacity. So 500 equals 500 cubic feet, and so on and so forth. The filing also seems to indicate that Rivian will be offering the vans for fleet duty. Available drivetrains seem to include all-wheel drive with single motors at each axle, single-motor front-wheel drive, and dual-motor FWD."

Read more: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/10/report-rivian-van-names-leaked/

"Nearly one in five vehicles sold in the European Union in the third quarter was an electrified model as sales continued to soar while fossil-fuel cars slumped, according to sales data released on Friday by a trade organization.  The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, which represents major European car, truck, van and bus makers, said that battery electric and plug-in hybrid model sales across the European Union made up just under 19% of all sales." says the Economic Times: "Battery electric vehicle sales jumped nearly 57% to more than 212,000 units, while plug-in hybrid models rose nearly 43% to more than 197,000 units. This is a slower pace of growth than in 2020 when sales almost trebled from a low base. "

Read more: https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/electrified-cars-hit-almost-a-fifth-of-eu-q3-vehicle-sales/87206205

"The first series-produced BMW i4 has now formally rolled off BMW Group Plant Munich. The automaker's home plant, which is now almost 100 years old, now makes all drive variants on a single assembly line. Needless to say, this is a manufacturing and production milestone, significant in BMW's road to electrification." says Motor1: "Apart from the BMW i4, the Munich plant also produces the combustion-powered and hybrid BMW 3 Series Saloon and Estate, the BMW M3, and the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe. Although 90 percent of the existing systems in the Munich bodyshop can still be used for the new model, additional machines and techniques were used to integrate the assembly of the high-voltage battery. According to the release, the integration warranted an investment of €200 million"

Read more: https://uk.motor1.com/news/542898/first-bmw-i4-production-munich/

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/science/climate/philadelphia-electric-vehicle-plan-climate-change-20211021.html

Read more: https://www.whichcar.com.au/car-news/porsche-celebrates-1-21-gigawatt-charging-capability?utm_source=pocket_mylist

When buying a used electric car, how do you feel about servicing? Do you want the previous person to have been back to a dealer every year? Do you care? Some manufacturers like Tesla don’t even have a service schedule so how do you feel about buying a used EV and it’s service history, or lack of.

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