23 May 2022 | Hyundai Motor Group to invest $5.5b in Georgia factory

May 23, 2022, 01:30 PM

➤Lithium giant Tianqi to form JV with NIO's semi-solid-state battery supplier WeLion
➤BYD Seal gets 22,637 orders in 7 hours of pre-sale
➤Hyundai Motor Group to build $5.54B EV plant and battery factory in Georgia
➤Nissan & Mitsubishi present compact EV for Japan
➤Tesla Is Building a 'hardcore' Litigation Department to Seek Justice
➤Sysco Intends To Buy Up To 800 Freightliner eCascadia
➤EV Surge Likely After Labor Wins In Australia
➤EVs are avoiding about 3% of global oil demand

Show #1476

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily, your trusted source of EV information. It’s Monday 23rd May. I’m Blake Boland, and I’ve gone through every EV story today so that you don’t have to!

Lithium giant Tianqi to form JV with NIO's semi-solid-state battery supplier WeLion

-Tianqi is one of China's largest lithium producers, with a battery-grade lithium metal capacity of about 2,900 tons in 2020, accounting for almost half of China's total lithium metal capacity.

- Lithium metal has a very small density of 0.534 g/cm3 and a capacity of up to 3,860 mA-h/g, ten times that of the current graphite cathode material (372 mA-h/g), with a higher energy density, WeLion said.

-Nio unveiled plans to offer 150 kWh semi-solid-state batteries when it unveiled its flagship sedan, the ET7, at the NIO Day 2020 event on January 9, 2021, generating much attention for this new battery.

-NIO never disclosed the supplier of the battery, however, on March 27, WeLion chief scientist and founder Li Hong that the company is the supplier of the electric vehicle maker's solid-state battery.


BYD Seal gets 22,637 orders in 7 hours of pre-sale

- As of 10 pm on May 20, pre-sale orders for the Seal reached 22,637 units, just seven hours after pre-sale officially began at 3 pm, according to information shared by BYD today.

- At a time when Chinese car company sales generally plunged in April, BYD saw its NEV sales reach 106,042 units, the second consecutive month of more than 100,000 units.

- In a conservative scenario, BYD expects it to sell 1.5 million units in 2022, with sales expected to reach 2 million if supply chain conditions improve, according to the minutes of a previous meeting.




Hyundai Motor Group to build $5.54B EV plant and battery factory in Georgia

- Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) entered into an agreement with the State of Georgia to build its first dedicated full electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the US. The new EV plant and battery manufacturing facilities represent an investment of approximately US$5.54 billion. Non-affiliated Hyundai Motor Group suppliers will invest approximately another $1 billion in the project.

- The new facility will break ground in early 2023 and is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2025 with an annual capacity of 300,000 units. The battery manufacturing facility will be established through a strategic partnership, the details of which will be disclosed later. 

- The EV and battery manufacturing plant will be located on a dedicated 2,923-acre site in Bryan County, Georgia (the Bryan County Megasite), with immediate access to I-95 and I-16 highways which creates easy access to 250 major metro areas. It is less than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Port of Savannah, the single-largest and fastest-growing container terminal in the US with two Class I rail facilities on-site. Rail service to the site is provided by Georgia Central Railway, a short line railway that connects to CSX in Savannah and Norfolk Southern near Macon in Middle Georgia.



Nissan & Mitsubishi present compact EV for Japan

- Nissan and Mitsubishi have presented a jointly developed electric small car for the Japanese market. It is marketed by Nissan under the name ‘Sakura’ and by Mitsubishi as ‘eK X EV’ and offers a range of 180 kilometres, according to Japanese WLTP standards.

 - The Sakura runs on an electric drive system producing 47 kW and 195 Nm of torque. A 20 kWh Lithium-ion battery allows for the previously mentioned up to 180 km range, while the top speed is set at 130 km/h. Charging takes about 8 hours with a “standard” AC charge, and can be done as quickly as 40 minutes for a “warning light to 80 per cent” charge on a fast charger. A V2H reverse charging capability is also included.

 - Kei-cars are popular in Japan, accounting for about 40% of the car market, and are limited to 3.4 meters in length, 1.48 meters in width and 2.0 meters in height. 


Tesla Is Building a 'hardcore' Litigation Department to Seek Justice

- Tesla is building a hardcore litigation department whose main goal will be to seek justice, not victory at any cost. Elon Musk said the department will never seek victory if a company is justly sued, but will never give up if the case is unfair.
 
 - Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company is building a hardcore litigation department that will directly initiate and execute lawsuits. He said the team would report directly to him. The head of the company made two commitments about how the department would work:
  • The department will never seek victory in a just case against the company, even if it will probably win.
  • The department will never surrender/settle an unjust case against the company, even if it will probably lose.

- Those wishing to apply should send their CV to justice@tesla.com. A CV should contain 3 to 5 bullet points describing evidence of exceptional ability. In addition, Musk asked to include links to cases that the candidates tried. He is looking for real fighters who are ready to fight in the battles for justice in the courtroom.

- ‘There will be blood’



Sysco Intends To Buy Up To 800 Freightliner eCascadia

- According to the Letter of Intent (LOI), the fleet would be deployed gradually between 2022 and 2026, with the first eCascadia delivery expected to arrive at Sysco’s Riverside, California site later this year.

 - In the case of Sysco, the vehicles will be combined with refrigerated trailers, but the press release does not clarify whether the trailer will be powered from the main battery to fully utilize the EV potential.

- In the long-term, Sysco intends to electrify 35% of its fleet by 2030. The site at Riverside, California already is in a process of expansion of charging infrastructure and additional solar capacity installations.

Freightliner eCascadia (Class 8 tractor) specs:
-          up to 230 miles (370 km) of range
-          Tandem drive and 438 kWh battery: typically 220 miles (354 km)
-          Single drive and 438 kWh battery: typically 230 miles (370 km)
-          Single drive and 291 kWh battery: typically 155 miles (249 km)



EV Surge Likely After Labor Wins In Australia

- ‘’Yesterday (Saturday, May 21) witnessed a historic Labor Party win in Australian federal politics. For 10 years, the Liberal federal government has denied climate change science and slow-walked the transition to renewable energy. Yesterday’s historic defeat for this coalition will change all that and likely lead to an EV surge.’’
 - They are not hanging about — Labor’s Electric Car Discount will begin on 1 July 2022, the beginning of the new financial year, and only 5 weeks away!

- ‘’Australians love their cars. Multiple car ownership is common (I used to own three — one for me, one for the wife, and one as a toy). Because of this, passenger cars make up almost 10 per cent of Australia’s CO2 emissions. To move Australians from fossil fuel burning cars to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy, Labor proposes exempting EVs from the 5% import tax and the 47% fringe benefits tax (a similar move to the UK government, which led to a spectacular increase in uptake).’’



EVs are avoiding about 3% of global oil demand

- ‘Plug-in vehicles avoided roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day last year, according to new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That's about one-fifth of Russia's pre-invasion oil exports, Bloomberg NEF said.’

- ‘The oil use avoided by EVs has also doubled since 2015, to about 3% of global demand, according to the analysis.’

- While electric cars tend to get most of the attention, the analysis found that other vehicle types accounted for the most oil avoidance. Electric two- and three-wheeled vehicles—which tend to be popular in Asia—accounted for 67% of the oil demand avoided in 2021, according to Bloomberg NEF.

- Those vehicles had an outsized impact on oil demand. Next in rank were electric buses, which accounted for 16% of avoided oil demand, followed by passenger vehicles at 13%. The latter were the fastest-growing segment, Bloomberg NEF noted.




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