03 Jan 2022 | Tesla Delivers Almost 1 Million EVs In 2021

Episode 1329,   Jan 03, 2022, 01:00 AM

Today’s big EV stories:
• Tesla TSLA Q4 2021 vehicle delivery and production numbers
• Ford jacks up production of electric F-150, cites big demand
• Mercedes-Benz’s vision for the future is an ultra-efficient, luxury EV with 620-mile range
• China: Volkswagen Sold Nearly 14,000 ID. Cars In December 2021
• Chevy Bolt EV, Bolt EUV Owners To Get Certified Window Cling
• EV Sales At Warren Buffett-Backed BYD Tripled In December
• GAF Energy taking on Tesla, to make solar shingles cheaper

Show #1329

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Monday 3rd January. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

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TESLA TSLA Q4 2021 VEHICLE DELIVERY AND PRODUCTION NUMBERS

- Tesla just published its fourth-quarter vehicle production and deliveries report for 2021, and it handily beat analysts’ expectations.

- Tesla deliveries amounted to 308,600 electric cars in the fourth quarter and full-year deliveries amounted to 936,172 vehicles.

- The automaker produced 305,840 fully electric vehicles total during the same period.


- While that isn't the magic 1 million figure the company might have hoped for, it's close — and nearly double the 499,550 Tesla handed to customers in 2020.

- The year gone by wasn't stellar for the Model S and Model X. Deliveries of those higher-end vehicles dropped by more than half in 2021, from 57,039 cars to 24,964. That wasn't a complete shock, though, as many customers wanted to (or had to) wait for S and X revamps that weren't slated to ship until spring, including the high-performance Plaid variants.


- Tesla increased sales despite a global shortage of computer chips, which serve as the brains for a variety of electronics, including engine controllers and touch screens. The shortage forced most automakers to idle some plants for weeks at a time and kept them from producing as many vehicles as they had planned.

- In July, Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, said his company was overcoming the shortage by switching to types of chips that were more readily available and writing new instructions, or firmware, to be embedded into the chip. Tesla can make such a switch because the components in its cars are designed to be controlled largely by software.

- Much of its recent growth has been propelled by sales in Europe and China.


- But more importantly, these results give Tesla an annualized production rate of over 1.2 million vehicles, which is unprecedented for producing electric vehicles.

- The other story is in the mix of cars. Model S/X accounted for only about 2.5% of Tesla’s sales for the year. Obviously the switch to the new models had some downtime, but the mix is overwhelmingly the smaller cars. That means that Tesla is almost entirely selling the Model 3/Y which are both based on a singular vehicle platform.


FORD JACKS UP PRODUCTION OF ELECTRIC F-150, CITES BIG DEMAND

- Ford says it will nearly double the annual production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck based on a high number of advance reservations. The company said Tuesday that it will be able to build at a rate of 150,000 pickups per year at its electric vehicle factory in Dearborn, Michigan, by the middle of next year. Previously Ford had expected to build 80,000 per year at the new factory, which likely will have to be expanded to handle the increased output.


- Currently, production capacity stands at 75,000 F-150 Lightning models per year at Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. A Ford representative confirmed to Newsweek that the company will be slowly ramping up production to that 75,000 mark.

- For the 2023 model year, Ford is targeting approximately 80,000 units per year capacity.As the 2024 model year nears, in mid-2023, Ford expects to hit the announced 150,000 per year F-150 Lightning production level.

- Ford will begin accepting the first wave of reservation converts on Thursday. Additional reservation holders will be invited to place their orders in phases over the next few months.

- Initial reservation conversions will be for 2022 model year vehicles. Once that run is out, Ford will open order banks for model year 2023 trucks.



MERCEDES-BENZ’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE IS AN ULTRA-EFFICIENT, LUXURY EV WITH 620-MILE RANGE | TechCrunch

- Mercedes-Benz revealed Monday the Vision EQXX, a concept vehicle that is meant to showcase what the automaker’s electric future will look like. The upshot? An eye-popping design coupled with advanced engineering that squeezes in power, efficiency and range into a compact and sporty package.

- Instead, the company used the EQXX as a proving ground of how far it can push design and engineering. The company focused on improving the energy density of its battery and boosting overall efficiency by reducing the weight of the vehicle using some lightweight materials including for the battery case and brake discs, an aerodynamic design that produces a drag coefficient of Cd 0.175, ultra low-rolling resistance tires and a new compact electric drivetrain.

- The end result is a vehicle that Mercedes says can travel 620 miles on a single charge and boasts 95% efficiency, which means 95% of the energy from the battery ends up at the wheels.

- Instead of just increasing the size of the battery, Mercedes-Benz and its HPP team developed a new battery pack with an energy density of close to 400 Wh/L.

- The company was able to increase energy density in part from what Mercedes described as “significant progress” in the chemistry of the anodes, which has higher silicon content and advanced composition that allowed it to hold considerably more energy than commonly used anodes.


- With claims of an astounding 621 real-world miles (or more) from a battery pack of less than 100 kwh—amounting to more than 6 miles per kwh on efficiency terms.

- And yet the battery pack of the EQXX—one of many elements that executives hinted are likely production-bound—takes an approach that isn’t used by F1, Formula E, or any of Mercedes’ other modern EVs: passive cooling, otherwise known as air cooling.

- it’s accomplished with intelligent cell management throughout the pack, combined with an integrated cooling plate at the bottom, as well as vents that open as the temperature climbs. 
Simply put, running pumps and circulating liquids through cooling systems—typically two circuits—costs energy, and efficiency.

- As executives emphasized with the introduction of the EQXX, most, if not all, of the key technology pieces exhibited in this concept are production-bound—most of them for the modular MMA architecture that will underpin mass-production compact-to-midsize EVs later in the decade. So while air cooling might not yet be locked in, there must already be a relatively high confidence level in the decision.


- The interior of the Vision EQXX features a massive 47.5-inch screen that stretches the full width of the vehicle, a nod to the company’s new Hyperscreen infotainment display. But unlike the Hyperscreen, which is an amalgam of three separate screens set inside one solid, 56-inch piece of glass, the Vision EQXX’s screen is a one-piece display that will also feature 8K resolution and cutting edge graphics.

- Like most of its competitors, Mercedes is barreling toward an all-electric future at full speed. The company says it will commit €40 billion ($47 billion) to the electrification of its lineup by 2030, including electric versions of Mercedes-Benz’s G-class wagons and AMG high-performance vehicles.

  

CHINA: VOLKSWAGEN SOLD NEARLY 14,000 ID. CARS IN DECEMBER 2021


CHEVY BOLT EV, BOLT EUV OWNERS TO GET CERTIFIED WINDOW CLING



EV SALES AT WARREN BUFFETT-BACKED BYD TRIPLED IN DECEMBER
 

GAF ENERGY TAKING ON TESLA, TO MAKE SOLAR SHINGLES CHEAPER



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