16 Jan 2020 | VW Says Carmakers Face The Same Fate At Nokia

Show #668

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 16th January 2020. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.

 

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VW CEO SAYS CARMAKER FACES SAME FATE AS NOKIA WITHOUT URGENT REFORMS

"Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) needs to accelerate the overhaul of its business to avoid becoming another Nokia (NOKIA.HE), which lost its dominance in the handset market to Apple (AAPL.O), the German carmaker’s chief executive said." and reported by Reuters today: "VW will cut resources devoted to fuel cells, since they will not be as competitive as battery electric drivertrains for at least another decade. VW will also slash costs at its MOIA mobility services unit."

 

Diess said: "The big questions is: Are we fast enough? If we continue at our current speed, it is going to be very tough. The era of the classic carmakers is over. In summary this is probably the most difficult challenge Volkswagen has ever faced."

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-strategy-diess/vw-ceo-says-carmaker-faces-same-fate-as-nokia-without-urgent-reforms-idUSKBN1ZF1OB

 

FOXCONN AND FIAT CHRYSLER WILL MAKE ELECTRIC CARS FOR CHINA

"iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is getting into the electric vehicle game, thanks to a planned joint venture with Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler (FCA). Foxconn announced on Thursday that the two companies will combine forces to make vehicles for the Chinese market, with FCA handling the manufacturing and the Taiwanese tech giant managing the electronics and software." wrties The Verge: "FCA, which oversees its eponymous brands as well as ones like Jeep and Dodge, has lagged behind its competitors in embracing electric vehicle technology. The company recently kicked off a merger with French automaker PSA Group, which makes cars under the Peugeot and Citroën brands (among others), partly in order to better attack the changing automotive landscape"

 

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/16/21069288/foxconn-fiat-chrysler-electric-vehicles-china-joint-venture

 

PLUG-IN ELECTRIC CAR SALES IN GERMANY DOUBLED IN DECEMBER 2019

From the InsideEVs Sales SCorecard: "Passenger plug-in electric car sales in Germany doubled in December, reaching the second-highest monthly level ever of 11,328 new registrations (up 98% year-over-year). The market share also improved to a near-record level, standing at 4.0%. That's one in every 25 new passenger cars. 2019 ended with 108,629 new passenger plug-in car registrations in Germany, which makes the country the biggest European market for EVs right now. The year-over-year growth amounted to 61%, while the average market share stands at 3%."

 

https://insideevs.com/news/393067/plugin-car-sales-germany-december-2019/

 

VOLVO WILL BUILD NEW U.S. BATTERY PLANT TO HELP LAUNCH ELECTRIC XC90

Volvo will build its own U.S. battery assembly plant as it readies a line of electric vehicles for this market. The expansion is part of a previously announced $600 million project that the Swedish automaker has begun at its plant in Ridgeville, S.C., which includes a second production line and Volvo Car University." says Autonews.com: "Volvo will create an electric version of its next XC90 crossover and build it at the plant starting in late 2022. The factory, 45 miles northwest of Charleston, employs about 1,500 workers building the S60 sedan. The South Carolina plant will become the global production center for the third-generation XC90 flagship crossover"

 

https://www.autonews.com/automakers-suppliers/volvo-building-us-battery-assembly-plant

 

LEAF GETS CHEAPER

"The Nissan LEAF is no longer the front-runner of electric cars and Nissan knows it. However, instead of introducing major changes to the LEAF, Nissan is pushing for a cheaper price to remain relevant." according to Pedro at PushEVs: "Now Nissan introduced a cheaper entry-level trim with a slower 3,6 kW on-board charger and without dual USB ports for the rear seats. Nonetheless, the price difference between the two cheapest trim levels can vary a lot from country to country. The new entry-level trim only seems tempting in Spain where it starts at 25.900 euros, which is 4.000 euros cheaper than the second cheapest trim level available. In other countries the difference between the two cheapest trim levels is a lot smaller and might not be worth it."

 

https://pushevs.com/2020/01/16/nissan-leaf-gets-cheaper/

 

THE CHEVROLET BOLT IS HEADED TO CHINA AS A BUICK SUV

"When spy photos of what appeared to be Chevrolet Bolt EV with some minor front- and rear-end updates circulated last week, Autoblog surmised that GM was working on some sort of Bolt-based vehicle — potentially a crossover — to be sold in China as a Buick." says Byron at Autoblog: "On Thursday, Motor1.com spotted a story published earlier this week on the Chinese site Auto Home which claims that GM has applied to sell an all-electric SUV under the Velite 7 nameplate in China.  There's little differentiating the Velite 7's exterior from the Bolt EV's, apart from bumpers, badges, and a little extra ground clearance. Up front, the bowtie is replaced by a round Buick badge, and the bumper picks up an almost Prius-like appearance thanks to contrasting vertical elements and a thin grille bleeding into the head lights to give it a full-width appearance."

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/16/buick-velite-ev-china/

 

TESLA RESPONDS TO GIGAFACTORY 4 PROTESTS BY SWIFTLY OPENING COMMUNITY OFFICE

"Tesla has responded to local protests at the site of their next factory near Berlin by opening a community office to hear local concerns, according to Der Spiegel.  The office opens Thursday, just a few days after site protests began." reports Electrek: "About 50 protesters gathered at the gigafactory site earlier this week to protest the plan.  Their main concern was about the lack of public participation in the project. Tesla will now open a community office to hear those public concerns, as confirmed by Jörg Steinbach, Brandenburg’s minister of economics. Steinbach hopes that the opening of the community office will help to relax the situation between the protesters and Tesla."

 

https://ww.electrek.co/2020/01/16/tesla-responds-gigafactory-4-protests-swiftly-community-office/#

 

HONDA & MOIXA LAUNCH THEIR FIRST V2G PROJECT IN LONDON

"Honda and Moixa have teamed up to launch the first fruit of their pan-European cooperation. Smart chargers with vehicle-to-grid technology have been installed in London’s borough Islington and foretell a future of bi-directional charging via CCS." says electrive: "For now, the project sees three smart charging stations located at the private parking space of Islington council with two more to come. Honda, together with its Swiss partner EVTec sign responsible for the station design. It is decidedly more compact than other V2G-capable charging stations and offers both ChaDeMo and CCS charging. The latter is a novelty as Honda claims that this will enable the first bi-directional charging capability via CCS, once the Honda E arrives this summer. For the time being, however, Islington Council runs a fleet of five Nissan eNV200 electric vans for a 12-month trial period and staff alone. The EVs charge with ChaDeMo and are capable of pushing energy back into the grid at 10 kW."

 

https://www.electrive.com/2020/01/16/honda-moixa-launch-their-first-v2g-project-in-london/

 

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