18 Feb 2020 | Battery Innovation Drives Forward EV Industry

Show #701

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Tuesday 18th February 2020. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.

 

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

 

TESLA IN TALKS TO USE CATL'S COBALT-FREE BATTERIES

"Tesla is in advanced stages of talks to use batteries from CATL that contain no cobalt - one of the most expensive metals in electric vehicle (EV) batteries - in cars made at its China plant, people familiar with the matter said." in an exclusive Reuters report today: "Adoption would mark the first time for the U.S. automaker to include so-called lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in its lineup, as it seeks to lower production costs amid faltering overall EV sales in China. Tesla has been talking to the Chinese manufacturer for more than a year to supply LFP batteries that will be cheaper than its existing batteries by a “double-digit percent”"

 

Some context on the timeline, on 5th November 2019 Bloomberg reported: "Tesla Inc. has reached a preliminary agreement to start using CATL as a battery supplier for cars made in China from as early as next year"

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-05/tesla-is-said-to-reach-preliminary-battery-supply-deal-with-catl

 

On 3rd February InsideEVs said: "Reuters reported that Tesla added two EV lithium-ion cell battery suppliers to the equation: LG Chem and CATL. We already heard about LG Chem supplying the Tesla Gigafactory 3, so the big news is CATL here."

 

https://insideevs.com/news/396481/catl-confirms-battery-supply-agreement-tesla/

 

Let's go back to Sept 13th and a press release about CATL and cell-to-pack technology: "Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL), China's largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker, unveiled its focus on the development of cell-to-pack (CTP) batteries to improve efficiency and lower costs. To safely and efficiently manage the battery cells mounted in an electric vehicle (EV), battery cells are installed in modules and packs. Generally, a cluster of cells make up a module and a cluster of modules make up a pack. Ultimately, each electric vehicle is installed with one pack. CTP, the company's latest product platform, skips the process of battery modules and allows cells to be directly integrated into packs. CATL can increase mass-energy density by 10 to 15 percent, improve volume utilization efficiency by 15 to 20 percent and reduce the amount of parts for battery packs by 40 percent. A CTP battery can increase the system energy density from 180 Wh/kg to more than 200 Wh/kg. At the cell level, the energy density has already reached 240 Wh/kg in 2019, and by 2024 CATL aims to increase energy density to 350 Wh/kg."

 

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-09/13/c_138389934.htm

 

Dr. Maximilian Holland @Dr_Maximilian

Reuters reports #Tesla & #CATL in talks to use #LFP chemistry in Shanghai Model 3. LFP is less expensive and longer lasting than NCA and NMC and - though less energy dense - has easily enough energy for Model 3 SR+ 250 miles range. LFP has lithium, iron, phosphate, oxygen, and often a bit of manganese. All of these are unconstrained minerals. Only slight challenge is for lithium mining to ramp/scale match the growing demand (no inherent bottleneck). Others very abundant.

 

No nickel in LFP cells. No cobalt either.

 

James Frith JamesTFrith

You could probably fit a 50kWh LFP pack in there. LFP pack would be ~11% heavier, which would have a bit of an impact on range but not too much and would be cheaper.

 

Simon Moores @sdmoores

While LFP lithium ion batteries are heavier & lower range, it’s a sensible cost move for Tesla EVs made and used in China.

 

CADILLAC ELECTRIC CROSSOVER WILL BE REVEALED IN APRIL

"Cadillac will unveil a midsize electric crossover in April, brand President Steve Carlisle told dealers at the National Auto Dealer Association (NADA) Convention Monday. The new crossover will be Cadillac's first all-electric vehicle." reports Autoblog: "Early last year, Cadillac teased the new midsized crossover, telling us to expect it to come in two- and four-wheel-drive flavors and to be offered as a global model. The last we heard of GM's plans to electrify its luxury brand came in December, when Carlisle laid out an aggressive plan to switch over its entire lineup by 2030."

 

Steve Carlisle said: "We enter this decade as an internal combustion engine brand. We want to position ourselves to exit as a battery-electric brand, so we have to manage both at the same time"

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/02/17/cadillac-ev-crossover-april/

 

BILLIONAIRE BEEF: ELON MUSK CHARGED UP OVER BILL GATES’ PURCHASE OF AN ELECTRIC PORSCHE

"Elon Musk seems unhappy about fellow uber rich person Bill Gates’ choice in vehicles.

 

Gates revealed in an interview with popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee that he recently bought a Porsche Taycan, his first electric vehicle." says Geekwire: "Musk, never one to hold his tongue or keyboard, took to Twitter and said his conversations with the Microsoft co-founder have been “underwhelming” after a user questioned why Gates didn’t go for a Tesla.

 

How has Bill Gates not bought an EV before now?

 

https://www.geekwire.com/2020/billionaire-beef-elon-musk-charged-bill-gates-purchase-electric-porsche-tesla/

 

MERCEDES-BENZ TO BUILD NEW E-MODEL IN BREMEN

"The Mercedes plant in Bremen in northern Germany has been awarded the contract to build a new electric model – which one is unknown as of yet. The EQC will continue production at the plant." says electrive: "Production start for the EQC was “seamless” said Michael Peters, Chairperson of the Bremen Works Council.  Currently, Daimler is struggling, not only because of having to cut jobs but also the German giant has just been slapped with a recall of diesel E ad CLS models from the years 2015-19 because of fire danger. Daimler will have to recall some 300,000 diesel models globally, around 100,000 of these in Germany. The EQA planned for this year is the second electric model of the EQ sub-brand after the EQC, and will be built at the Smart plant in Hambach, France, as Daimler announced as early as 2018."

 

https://www.electrive.com/2020/02/17/mercedes-benz-to-build-new-e-model-in-bremen/

 

TESLA ORDERED BY GERMAN COURT TO STOP CUTTING DOWN TREES

"A German court on Sunday ordered Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> to stop clearing forest land near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, a victory for local environmental activists." according to Yahoo Finance: "The court ruling, by the higher administrative court of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, comes after the state environmental office gave a green light to clear 92 hectares of forest for the plant. Lawmakers from the pro-business Christian Democrat and Free Democrat parties have warned that the legal battle waged against the Gigafactory would inflict serious and long-lasting damage on Germany's image as a place to do business"

 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-ordered-german-court-stop-171736081.html

 

NEW FIAT 500 BEV PRODUCTION LINES COMPLETE

"Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) released an update about its progress on the electrification front at its Mirafiori complex in Turin, Italy. As it turns out, the production lines have been completed. Fiat is now busy with manufacturing of the pre-series prototypes of the all-new all-electric Fiat 500 - currently undergoing product and process testing." reports InsideEVs" "The final version will enter series production in June 2020. Another project is installation of 850 charging points at the Turin manufacturing hub, including 750 in employee parking areas. The related endeavour is world’s largest V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) hub with a fleet of 700 Fiat 500 BEV and capable of supplying 25 MW back to the grid."

 

This would line up with the Geneva Motor Show in March for us to see the car in finished form.

 

https://insideevs.com/news/399144/fca-production-fiat-500-bev/

 

ALMOST NO ONE IS GOING TO DEALERS TO RESERVE THEIR FORD MUSTANG MACH-E

"early every reservation for the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E is being made online, documents from Ford reveal. According to a bulletin sent to dealers earlier this week in Southern California, only about 5% of individuals actually bothered to physically go to a dealer to stake their claim on the brand's first all-electric SUV." says Cars Direct: "According to Ford, just 92 out of 1,712 reservations to date in the region were made "in-dealer". With deliveries of the first Mach-Es not scheduled to begin until later this year, Ford has taken unusual steps to carefully manage the vehicle's launch. For example, the automaker isn't letting dealers advertise prices under MSRP."

 

https://www.carsdirect.com/automotive-news/almost-no-one-is-going-to-dealers-to-reserve-their-ford-mach-e

 

BRITAIN SETS NEW DAILY RECORD FOR WIND GENERATION

"Stormy conditions drove wind to a new record-high share of britain’s electricity supply that at one point hit 56% this weekend, said power market analysts. The record level, in the early hours of Saturday 8 February, beat a previous high of 52.4% set in September 2019, said analysis from Drax Electric Insights." reports IEEGA.org: "Saturday also set a new record for highest share of power produced in a single day with 44.26%, said Drax, outstripping both nuclear and gas combined. The wind power records came amid the arrival of storm Ciara, which caused havoc to travel and infrastructure across the UK this weekend – and left thousands of consumers without any power at all. The UK has 13.57GW of onshore wind installed, and a world-leading 8.4GW offshore fleet."

 

https://ieefa.org/britain-sets-new-daily-record-for-wind-generation-topping-44-of-countrys-electricity-consumption/

 

 

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