27 May 2022 | Ford starts customer deliveries of the F-150 Lightning

May 27, 2022, 02:20 PM

➤Tesla delivers Megapacks to new Bitcoin mining facility
➤SAIC-GM-Wuling to assemble its mini EVs in Indonesia
➤Electric bike charging stations installed on the West Coast Electric Highway
➤NIO to boost presence in Norway with new NIO Houses and swap stations
➤Tesla moves to expand Gigafactory Berlin on new 250-acre land
➤Ford starts customer deliveries of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck
➤LiDAR developer Luminar Technologies Hires Ex Apple, Tesla and Nvidia Execs
➤ “Tally ho!” First all-electric Mokes roll off production line in UK
➤Mercedes Formula E team unveils high-tech electric bike collection

Show #1480

Well…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 Friday 27th May, my last day of hosting the show while Martyn’s on holidays. I’m Blake Boland, and I’ve gone through every EV story today so that you don’t have to!


Ford starts customer deliveries of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck

- Ford announced that it started production of the electric pickup truck last month, and they have since made their way to dealerships across the US. Some were delivered to fleet customers, but now we learned that the automaker started deliveries to its retail customers as well. 

- Ford quickly accumulated 200,000 reservations for the electric pickup and realized that the demand was much higher than anticipated. The company quickly ramped up its production and is now planning for an annual production rate of 150,000 units by the end of next year. This year, production is expected to be limited to about 40,000 units.

- While this is not much compared to overall F-150 production, it is good to jump-start electric pickup trucks in the US. Next year, the Silverado Electric, Tesla Cybertruck, and more are expected to contribute to the electric pickup truck revolution in the US




Tesla delivers Megapacks to new Bitcoin mining facility

- Tesla has delivered four Megapacks to a giant new Bitcoin mining facility in Texas that is going to be the first to be powered by the automaker’s solar and batteries.

- Last month, the project was announced as a partnership between Tesla, Blockstream, and Jack Dorsey’s Blocks (formerly Square).

- The idea is to build a new 30 Petahashes per second open-source Bitcoin mining facility powered by a 3.8 MW solar farm and 12 MWh Megapack system provided by Tesla.

- Tesla’s involvement in the project is also interesting within the context of the company adopting the cryptocurrency in its own business.

- Early in 2021, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Shortly after, the automaker started accepting the cryptocurrency as payment on new vehicles.




SAIC-GM-Wuling to assemble its mini EVs in Indonesia

- SAIC-GM-Wuling is exporting its popular mini electric vehicles, but unlike other car companies that export vehicles directly, the company is shipping parts overseas and assembling the vehicles.

- On May 24, SAIC-GM-Wuling exported its first batch of new energy vehicle (NEV) parts overseas on a rail liner,

- SAIC-GM-Wuling is aiming for annual sales of 1 million NEVs by 2023, it said in early March.

- As of April, total sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling's GSEV models topped 850,000 units, the company said today.



Electric bike charging stations installed on the West Coast Electric Highway

- The West Coast Electric Highway in the US, which sees electric car charging stations dotting the route from the Canadian border in the north to the Mexican border in the south, is getting a new type of EV charging station as well. Now you’ll be able to charge up your electric bike along the way too, at least in the Oregon section.

- That’s because the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has announced that it has taken the initiative to outfit all 44 of the electric car charting stations along the Electric Highway in its states with extra 110V plugs.



NIO to boost presence in Norway with new NIO Houses and swap stations

- NIO's second NIO House in Norway is expected to open in the third quarter, one year after the opening of NIO's first showroom in the country.

- "NIO is a premium car brand and will create a premium user experience. We are pleased to have found premises that reflect this in Strandgata 15 and are convinced that the users will be rejuvenated," says Marius Hayler, CEO of NIO Norway.

- NIO also plans to open two additional showrooms in Norway in the fourth quarter.

- In addition to additional NIO Houses in Norway, NIO will also build two new battery swap stations in Bergen and a battery swap station in Vestby, according to the Norwegian version of the NIO app.

- NIO announced plans last year to build battery swap stations in five Norwegian cities, with the goal of having 20 facilities in Norway by the end of 2022.




Tesla moves to expand Gigafactory Berlin on new 250-acre land

- Tesla has started to officially move to expand Gigafactory Berlin on a new 250-acre lot with the submission of the construction plan to the municipality.

- The automaker has just started production at the factory, and it is still having issues ramping things up, but that’s not stopping the company from already expanding the plant.
- Now local paper RBB reports that the expansion has officially started this week with the submission of the expansion application with the municipality.




LiDAR developer Luminar Technologies Hires Ex Apple, Tesla and Nvidia Execs

- Tech companies like Apple, Nvidia and Tesla in Silicon Valley often poach top talent from competitors, as the region has always been a highly competitive environment for companies to make a name for themselves.

- Among the new top talent joining Luminar are Taner Ozcelik, the founder of Nvidia's growing automotive hardware business. Ozcelik will serve as Luminar's executive vice president and general manager to oversee lidar product development, R&D, program management, and Luminar's semiconductor subsidiaries. 

- Over the past decade, Ozcelik scaled Nvidia's automotive business into a multi-hundred million dollar revenue business. Luminar also provides the long-range lidar for NVIDIA's DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle platform that's also being used by Lucid Group for the Air sedan. 

- Also joining Luminar is CJ Moore, who served for seven years as director of Tesla's Autopilot software before leaving the electric car company to join computer giant Apple Inc as director of autonomous systems for its secretive Apple Car project. Moore will lead Luminar's software program and contribute to its vision for next-generation safety and autonomy.


“Tally ho!” First all-electric Mokes roll off production line in UK

- The recent revival of the iconic beach buggy the Mini Moke, under the stewardship of British company Moke International, has taken an electric turn for the European summer, with the first full-speed petrol-free models now rolling off the production line.

- Originally designed by the same man behind the Mini, Sir Alec Issigonis, the lightweight utility named after a slang term for a donkey has been “reimagined” as a fully electric vehicle, offering enhanced performance, zero noise and – according to Moke – a range of around 120-140km.

- The starting price for the electric Moke is £29,150 (just under $A52,000), which the website notes is before on road coasts and/or local incentives.

- According to the website, the battery’s range is 144km (which is more than is specified in the press release), with a charging time of around four hours, subject to WLTP testing. Top speed is 100km/h.



Mercedes Formula E team unveils high-tech electric bike collection

- The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team has this week launched a collection of high-performance electric bicycles that the company hopes will stand out as some of the most sophisticated e-bikes on the market.

- The team launched on Wednesday four new e-bike models – the Formula E, Silver Arrows, Silver Arrows Sport, and the new high performance Championship Edition.

- The bikes also incorporate Constant Variable Transmission (CVT) as standard across all but the Championship Edition model, which is a single speed. CVT eliminates the need for manual shifting between gears, with gear changes happening seamlessly as needed, ensuring riders never find themselves in the wrong gear halfway up a hill.

- The cheapest of the four bikes – the $US3,450 ($A4,900) Formula E Team e-bike – boasts 80Nm of torque, 25% more than a standard e-bike.

- All the bikes come with a carbon belt drive that is said to be maintenance free for 32,000 kilometres and a digital dashboard integrated into the handlebar – including speedometer, battery indicator, range – a security system with a password activated security immobiliser, and even mobile phone charging.




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