VW Wants To Dominate With ID.4 | 17 Sep 2020

On today’s podcast:

 

• VW plans to sell 500,000 ID.4 electric cars per year
• Electrify America Introduces New Pricing Structure
• Rimac to acquire Bugatti
• Electric Ford F-150 Will Be Dual Motor
• Tesla Will Soon Start HW3 Retrofit for Model 3 in Europe
• Tesla is quietly building a mammoth Supercharger
• LG Chem to spin off battery unit amid rising EV demand
• Plug-in hybrids are a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'
• Chevy Bolt Becomes Tiny Electric Van

 

Show #891

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 17th September 2020. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

 

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VW PLANS TO SELL 500,000 ID.4 ELECTRIC CARS PER YEAR

"VW is hyping the launch of the ID.4 electric SUV coming next week with new releases, and in a new interview with executives today, the automaker said that it plans to sell 500,000 ID.4 vehicles per year. Now Volkswagen has released an interview with Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the brand, and Thomas Ulbrich, member of the Board of Management responsible for e-mobility, talking about the ID.4. In the interview, Brandstätter said that VW plans to sell 1.5 million electric cars per year by 2025, and they aim for ID.4 to account for ~500,000 of those sales" writes electrek: "Volkswagen is going to fully unveil the ID.4 next week, and deliveries are expected to start in the coming weeks."

 

VW said: "Volkswagen wants to become the world market leader in e-mobility — but that won’t happen by itself. The Volkswagen brand is therefore investing around 11 billion euros by 2024. As a compact SUV, the ID.4 has, in our view, the best prerequisites for being successful in a large scale in all important markets. We therefore expect the Volkswagen brand to produce a total of 1.5 million e-cars per year by 2025. And the ID.4 is likely to account for around a third of this. The ID.4 will thus become the driving force behind our reorientation a hundred thousand times over."

 

https://electrek.co/2020/09/17/vw-plans-sell-id-4-electric-cars-per-year/

 

ELECTRIFY AMERICA INTRODUCES NEW PRICING STRUCTURE

Electrify America today introduced a new pricing structure designed to provide electric vehicle (EV) owners with consistent and transparent rates across its public brand-neutral fast-charging network.

 

Customers will now experience more competitive rates and overall savings in most cases as Electrify America now offers kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing, depending upon the state where the EV is charged. Plus, all session fees have been eliminated.

Electrify America will now charge customers in 23 states plus the District of Columbia by the kilowatt-hour. This update reflects a growing preference by EV drivers for kWh pricing, which bills customers by the quantity of energy they use to charge their vehicle, similar to gas station pricing on a per-gallon basis. More than 78 percent of charging on the Electrify America network takes place in states where kWh pricing will be implemented. Rates start at $0.31 per kilowatt hour. For complete details, visit  electrifyamerica.com/pricing.

In the remaining states where the company operates, Electrify America will continue to offer pricing on a per-minute basis with customers billed for the time spent charging.

 

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/111

 

RIMAC TO ACQUIRE BUGATTI

"VW Group is on the verge of offloading Bugatti to Croatian electromobility powerhouse Rimac Automobili. Bugatti – the luxury brand best known for today's 16-cylinder hypercars and its pre-WWII automotive masterpieces – will likely be transferred to Rimac via Porsche, in exchange for a bigger share in Europe's answer to Tesla. Sources say VW executives approved the deal last week, but it has yet to be signed off by the supervisory board." says Car Magazine in an exclusive report: "Volkswagen Group no longer wants to lavish money and manpower on the so-called hobby brands acquired by the former CEO. Instead, all resources must be devoted to fund the massive investment programme in the future of motoring – electrification, digitalisation and autonomous driving.If the future of motoring is electric – not 1500hp petrol-powered hypercars that sell in the hundreds – then getting their hooks further into Rimac, a company with a reputation for stellar EV tech, sounds very beneficial indeed. Back in 2018, Porsche acquired a ten per cent share in Rimac Automobili. In 2019, they bought another 5.5 per cent. By doing so, Porsche is in good company: other investors include Hyundai, Jaguar, Koenigsegg and Magna. Indeed when CAR visited earlier this year, founder Mate Rimac counted 15 car companies using its tech know-how. Rimac isn’t yet publicly traded, with the founder holding a 51 per cent majority interest. But there is an enormous buzz around the company – the last funding round pegged its value north of £500m. "

 

And: "And, as reported in CAR's August 2020 issue, the Wolfsburg grapevine repeats that Bugatti may not be the only brand set to depart VW for new hunting grounds. Also under investigation are – in this order – Lamborghini, Seat (to be repositioned by merging with Cupra which is due to become the lead marque), Ital Design, Bentley and Ducati"

 

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/industry-news/bugatti/vw-group-rimac/

 

Subscribe to CAR Magazine here: https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/car-magazine

 

ELECTRIC FORD F-150 WILL BE DUAL MOTOR

"Ford announced on Thursday that it would be investing upwards of $700 million in a new facility at its Rouge vehicle assembly complex to build the forthcoming electric F-150. The construction should add 300 jobs, Ford said, which will focus on battery assembly and producing both the electric F-150 and the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid." says CNET.

 

And: "The new all-electric Ford F-150 will also feature a“giant front trunk” to secure important cargo and deliver a safer vehicle. Considering it will still be an F-150, the fact that it is originally conceived to be a combustion-engined vehicle may impose some compromises on the battery-powered pickup truck. Having a battery pack will allow it to provide “more than 40 percent savings for its lifetime total cost of operation” compared to the ICE F-150. Updates will also be made over the air, like any Tesla already does since September 2012." according to InsideEVs.

 

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-f150-electric-pickup-truck/

 

https://insideevs.com/news/444407/all-electric-ford-f-150-mid-2022/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-all-articles

 

TESLA WILL SOON START HW3 RETROFIT FOR MODEL 3 IN EUROPE

"Tesla will soon begin hardware 3.0 upgrades for Model 3 in Europe. This initiative is another sign of Tesla's commitment to expanding its Full Self-Driving functionality rollout, which is expected to reach full-scale in the near future. The HW3 retrofit will be available for electric vehicles equipped with HW2 and HW2.5, whose owners have purchased the company's Full Self-Driving package. The new computer (HW3) has been installed in all new Model S and Model X vehicles since March 2019 and in all new Model 3 vehicles produced since April of that year." reports Tesmanian: "For now, owners from regions such as Europe and Australia have not yet received the promised HW3 block. But this situation may soon change. A Model 3 owner from Europe asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk when the company will begin retrofitting Model 3 hardware in Europe. Musk replied that this should happen soon."

 

https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/tesla-will-start-hw3-retrofit-for-model-3-in-europe-soon-says-elon-musk

 

TESLA IS QUIETLY BUILDING A MAMMOTH SUPERCHARGER

"As noted recently by Tesla enthusiast @bryanMackSC, he recently came across a Supercharger station that’s currently under construction in Firebaugh, California. The site seemed to be fairly new, as even trackers like supercharge.info did not list the site until very recently. What is rather interesting was that the Supercharger in question had over 50 stalls, making it notably larger than the Kettleman site, which is already one of the largest in the world. " says TEslarati: "It did not take long before fellow Tesla enthusiast @MontrealTesla, who tracks updates to the Supercharger Network, was able to retrieve filings for the Firebaugh site. As it turned out, the site will host 56 Tesla Superchargers, and it will be in the same vicinity as a full-fledged restaurant and convenience store. "

 

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-worlds-largest-supercharger-restaurant-pictures/

 

LG CHEM TO SPIN OFF BATTERY UNIT AMID RISING EV DEMAND

"LG Chem is to spin off its battery business in December, seeking to capitalize on rising interest in the sector as global demand for electric vehicles rises. The South Korean company said on Thursday that its board had approved the plan for a new subsidiary, tentatively named LG Energy Solution. The decision is subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting scheduled for Oct. 30." reports Nikkei.coM: "Projected battery demand from EVs produced in Europe is more than five times the volume of currently confirmed battery projects in Europe, according to McKinsey. LG Chem is a leading player in the EV battery market, accounting for one-quarter of market share. The company supplies many global automakers including Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Renault and Volvo."

 

LG CHem said: ""This is the right time for the spinoff as the battery industry is growing rapidly and profits from the EV battery sector are increasing. With the spinoff we can focus on a specialized business sector as well as improve efficiency in management, boosting values for the company and shareholders."

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/LG-Chem-to-spin-off-battery-unit-amid-rising-EV-demand

 

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS ARE A 'WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING'

"Carbon dioxide emissions from plug-in hybrid cars are as much as two-and-a-half times higher than official tests suggest, according to new research. But analysis from pressure groups Transport and Environment and Greenpeace suggest they emit an average of 120g of CO2 per km. That compares with the 44g per km in official "lab" tests" reports the BBC: "The new research is published as the government considers whether to bring forward a proposed ban on the sale of new petrol, diesel and conventional hybrid cars from 2035 to 2030. The BBC understands one suggestion is that plug-in hybrids should be given a stay of execution, with new sales allowed to continue until 2035. That's because they can offer a 20- to 40-mile range as a purely electric vehicle and are therefore potentially significantly less polluting than other vehicles. But this new analysis from Transport and Environment and Greenpeace suggests they don't offer anything like the carbon dioxide savings claimed for them by manufacturers. The motor industry acknowledges that lab tests don't always reflect real-world use but criticised the report, saying it uses emissions data from a test that is two years old."

 

Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeacve head of politics: "They may seem a much more environmentally friendly choice, but false claims of lower emissions are a ploy by car manufacturers to go on producing SUVs and petrol and diesel engines."

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54170207

 

CHEVY BOLT BECOMES TINY ELECTRIC VAN

" if you’re willing to sacrifice the rear seats entirely, you may be able to get a Chevy Bolt that has plenty of cargo space. A commercial version of the Bolt can be ordered with a Rear Seat Delete Package, which increases the Bolt’s nominal cargo capacity from 56.6 cubic feet with the rear seats folded to 66 cubic feet, and greatly increases its usefulness by providing a flat loading floor." says ChargedEVs: "As GM points out, this gives you more usable cargo space than many an SUV, including the Chevy Equinox. This version of the Bolt can only be ordered through GM’s fleet sales program. It’s unclear how, or whether, an individual can go about buying one"

 

https://chargedevs.com/newswire/rear-seat-delete-option-converts-the-chevy-bolt-to-a-tiny-electric-van/

 

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