29 Apr 2022 | Tesla Model 3: Europe's Best Selling Car

Episode 1450,   Apr 29, 2022, 11:05 AM

On the podcast today:
• Elon Musk dumps $8.5B in Tesla stock ahead of Twitter buy
• Annual Meeting: Mercedes-Benz Continues Its Successful Transformation
• 62% Of 2017 To 2019 Chevrolet Bolts Have Had Their Battery Replaced
• Jaguar Owner Tata Motors Eyes Chipmaking, Plans for an EV Battery Factory
• The US generated a record 18% of its electricity from wind and solar in March
• Tesla Model 3 was Europe's best selling car in March 2022
• 16 states sue Postal Service over gas-powered mail trucks
• How the Formula E Gen3 is shaping up to be the world’s most efficient race car
• LEVC Celebrates Sale of 5000th TX Electric Taxi in London
• New 14-seat electric commuter bus lands in Australia
• Ex Chargemaster CEO David Martell launches intuitive home charger Evios One
• Kia initiates ‘purpose-built vehicle’ strategy with launch of Niro Plus
• Used EV market set to change with new battery warranties

Show #1450

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily, you trusted source of EV information. It’s Friday 29th April, it’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

ELON MUSK DUMPS $8.5B IN TESLA STOCK AHEAD OF TWITTER BUY

- Elon Musk has sold off a whopping $8.5 billion in Tesla stock this week as he prepares to acquire Twitter for $44 billion – but he insists that the rest of his stake in the electric car maker will remain untouched for now.

- Securities filings revealed Friday that Musk sold 5.2 million Tesla shares via open-market transactions that occurred on Thursday. That brings the total to 9.6 million shares after earlier disclosures detailed earlier stock sales worth $4 billion on Tuesday and Wednesday.

- The stock sales in total amounted to 5% of his stake in Tesla

- Musk still owns nearly 16% of Tesla shares, according to FactSet data cited by the Wall Street Journal.


ANNUAL MEETING: MERCEDES-BENZ CONTINUES ITS SUCCESSFUL TRANSFORMATION

- Focusing on electric vehicles and growing the top-end segment at Mercedes-Benz has paid off. Four figures illustrate this transformation: Group sales of the top-end models increased by 30%, sales of electric passenger cars increased by 64%, sales of electric Vans 118% and adjusted EBIT of the Mercedes-Benz Group grew by 123%.

- This year the company expects to make further progress toward its long-term strategic goal of CO2 neutrality. With the EQS SUV, EQE SUV, EQT and eCitan models more than 10 fully electric vehicles will have been presented by the end of 2022. Moreover, with the Ambition2039, Mercedes-Benz Cars has set itself the target of reaching an important milestone as early as 2030 on the road to CO2 neutrality: to halve CO2 emissions compared with 2020 levels. Here, the most important levers are electrifying the vehicle fleet, charging with green power, improving battery technology and by extensively using recycled materials and renewable energy in production sites. Potential CO2 emissions are also evaluated as a criterion when contracts are awarded to potential suppliers.

- Mercedes-Benz plans to cover more than 70% of its energy requirements in production with renewable energy sources by 2030.


62% OF 2017 TO 2019 CHEVROLET BOLTS HAVE HAD THEIR BATTERY REPLACED

- Chevrolet is now in the process of replacing the battery packs of the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, as these two models’ original pack was had defects that could cause a fire - 18 such incidents were officially confirmed and linked to bad batteries. The manufacturer began replacing the battery packs of all affected vehicles from the 2017 through 2022 model years, and it looks like it’s prioritizing older cars first.

- Chevrolet has already replaced the battery pack in 62 percent of affected Bolts built under the 2017 through 2019 model years. Chevy says that last quarter it changed 26,952 battery packs.

- Another document issued for 2021 through 2022 model year affected Chevy Bolts shows that these newer cars haven’t received new batteries yet - just 701 swaps were performed out of a total 52,414 pool of affected vehicles.

- Owners of Bolt EVs equipped with the new battery are also reporting a range increase with the fresh pack. When our own Tom Moloughney took part in a range test of a Bolt with a newly replaced battery, he found that post swap it was able to travel for around 13.5 percent longer than before.


JAGUAR OWNER TATA MOTORS EYES CHIPMAKING, PLANS FOR AN EV BATTERY FACTORY

- Besides making chips, plans to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles will also be announced soon

- Tata Group are aligned to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to make India a leader in semiconductor production and reduce its reliance on imports amid global chain disruptions.

- “Supply chain is getting very precarious and uncertain,” said Shailesh Chandra, managing director at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles in an interview on Friday. Lockdowns in China have worsened the visibility of semiconductors and the logistics have become the next challenge for Tata Motors given the lack of availability of containers, he said.

- The impact of the chip shortage is more “acute” in electric vehicles than gasoline models, Chandra said. The waiting period for electric vehicles at Tata Motors could be as much as six months, compared with four months for cars with internal combustion engines, he said.

- Tata’s foray into semiconductor making will also help its group firm, Tata Motors, which makes the iconic Jaguar Land Rover brands and has suffered due to these shortages.

- also announced plans to launch its first-ever pure electric car by 2025. The five-seater Avinya will have no gasoline variants, Chandra told reporters in a briefing on Friday.

- Tata Motors currently sells two battery-powered models, the Nexon EV and Tigor EV, but these cars also have variants that run on fossil fuels.


THE US GENERATED A RECORD 18% OF ITS ELECTRICITY FROM WIND AND SOLAR IN MARCH

- Last month, the US generated 18% of its electricity from wind and solar (59 TWh) for the first time. That beat the previous record set in March 2021 (53 TWh)

- In 2015, the US generated just 5.7% of its electricity from wind and solar (229.8 TWh). By 2021, it had more than doubled that, reaching 13% of its electricity from wind and solar (543.5 TWh).

- Wind and solar were the fastest-growing forms of electricity worldwide for the 17th year in a row in 2021 and are projected to be the backbone of the future electricity system.

- Many European countries already produced more than 25% of their electricity from wind and solar in 2021, including Germany, Spain, and the UK, which is helping to rapidly reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels from Russia


TESLA MODEL 3 WAS EUROPE'S BEST SELLING CAR IN MARCH 2022

- The Tesla Model 3 was the number one selling car across Europe in March, even when taking internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles into account.

- According to the figures from JATO Dynamics, the electric sedan took the top spot with 23,013 registrations last month. While that was a slight 3% drop from the same time period in 2021, it was 50% higher than March 2020

- The Model Y was close behind in third place with 18,968 registrations last month.

- When looking at just battery electric vehicles (BEVs), the Model 3 and Model Y were easily the most popular choice in Europe, accumulating 41,981 registrations combined.

- The closest competition came from the Fiat 500 (6,579), Kia Niro (5,217), and Volkswagen ID.4 (5,009).

- “The shift in favour to low emissions vehicles was particularly prevalent in countries such as Switzerland (which had a 28% EV market share vs 14% diesel market share), the UK (23% vs 10%), France (21% vs 16%) and Belgium (24% vs 19%), in addition to the well established trends seen in Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark,” JATO said.


16 STATES SUE POSTAL SERVICE OVER GAS-POWERED MAIL TRUCKS

HOW THE FORMULA E GEN3 IS SHAPING UP TO BE THE WORLD’S MOST EFFICIENT RACE CAR

LEVC CELEBRATES SALE OF 5000TH TX ELECTRIC TAXI IN LONDON

NEW 14-SEAT ELECTRIC COMMUTER BUS LANDS IN AUSTRALIA


EX CHARGEMASTER CEO DAVID MARTELL LAUNCHES INTUITIVE HOME CHARGER EVIOS ONE


KIA INITIATES ‘PURPOSE-BUILT VEHICLE’ STRATEGY WITH LAUNCH OF NIRO PLUS
 

USED EV MARKET SET TO CHANGE WITH NEW BATTERY WARRANTIES


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