Rivian’s Generous Return Policy | 25 Apr 2021

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On today’s podcast:

• Rivian’s 7 Day, 1,000 Mile Return Policy
• Porsche plans EV battery cell factory in Germany
• World's Largest Motorcycle Market Will Start Using EV Scooters
• UK replaces France as Europe’s second largest electric car market
• Volkswagen survey shows American SUV owners and shoppers ready to embrace EVs
• Question Of The Week Answers

 

 

Show #1062

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Saturday 24th April. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

 

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.

 

RIVIAN’S 7 DAY, 1,000 MILE RETURN POLICY

"As it prepares to make its very first deliveries of the R1T pickup this coming June, upstart EV automaker Rivian is also taking a few pages out of Tesla’s playbook. That includes opening a handful of showrooms across the U.S. (one of which has prompted a lawsuit), launching its own insurance company, offering online ordering, touchless delivery, and mobile service, and now, Rivian has announced that it will also give buyers a generous return policy that spans seven days or 1,000 miles." reports FordAuthority.com: "This is identical to Tesla’s seven-day, 1,000-mile return policy that was offered until last fall when it mysteriously disappeared from the automaker’s website. Presumably, Tesla determined that it no longer needed to provide this extra bit of peace of mind to its consumers, but Rivian is in a different boat. The Ford- and Amazon-backed upstart hasn’t delivered a single vehicle yet and needs to assure customers that they have a way out if things go horribly wrong."

 

https://fordauthority.com/2021/04/rivian-will-offer-7-day-1000-mile-return-policy-at-launch/

 

PORSCHE PLANS EV BATTERY CELL FACTORY IN GERMANY

" Porsche is speeding up its e-mobility drive with plans for a German factory to manufacture battery cells for electric vehicles, CEO Oliver Blume told a German newspaper." says Automotive News Europe: "European automakers are looking to reduce their dependence on Asian manufacturers as they ramp up production of electric cars to meet tougher environmental rules in the European Union. Porsche will purchase EV batteries from its parent company Volkswagen Group which plans to build half a dozen battery cell plants across Europe. Existing battery suppliers are focusing on volume so that more specialized needs such as Porsche's are falling to the back of the line"

 

CEO Oliver Blume: "Battery cells are a key technology for Germany's automobile industry which we must also have in our own country, Porsche wants to play a pioneering role in this.But there will also be a segment for high-performance battery cells, it's a Porsche domain. Just as we developed high-performance internal combustion engines, we now want to be at the forefront of high-performance batteries."

 

InsideEVs Speculates: "At this point, there are no details about the investment, but we can make some assumptions. For sure there might be battery chemistries that offer higher energy density and power density than in the case of mainstream/premium cars, but they come at a higher cost.  Moreover, there might be battery formats (cell type) that offer better performance but are not used due to higher manufacturing costs. Another path might be cells designed from the beginning for integration with the vehicle as a structural component."

 

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/porsche-plans-ev-battery-cell-factory-germany

 

https://insideevs.com/news/503384/porsche-plans-battery-plant-germany/

 

WORLD'S LARGEST MOTORCYCLE MARKET WILL START USING EV SCOOTERS

"Motorcycle makers have made some splashy announcements about the effort to electrify bikes, but nowhere near as many as carmakers have. Bike makers are taking a slow and steady approach to electrification, but Gogoro and Hero MotoCorp are now teaming up to bring EV scooters to the biggest two-wheel market of all." says Jalopnik: "Gogoro’s battery-swapping network and electric scooters are coming to India under a partnership with Hero, a name you may recognize as one of the world’s biggest bike makers. We may be well on the way to EV bikes! Gogoro, which estimates that there are currently “225 million gas-powered two-wheel vehicles” in the country."

 

https://jalopnik.com/the-worlds-largest-motorcycle-market-will-start-using-e-1846752188

 

UK REPLACES FRANCE AS EUROPE’S SECOND LARGEST ELECTRIC CAR MARKET

"The UK overtook France to become Europe’s second largest electric car market in the first quarter of the year, amid rising demand for cars with zero exhaust emissions." reports the Guardian: "About 31,800 battery electric cars were sold in the UK in the first three months of the year, compared with 30,500 in France, according to analysis by Matthias Schmidt, an independent automotive analyst. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 was the first year in which European consumers bought more than half a million electric cars. That is expected to double to 1m sales in 2021, although pure electrics will still be only a tenth of the total European car market by 2024. Germany is by far the biggest single market for battery electric cars in Europe, with 64,700 sold in the first quarter. That performance was helped in part by generous subsidies."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/25/uk-replaces-france-as-europe-second-largest-electric-car-market

 

VOLKSWAGEN SURVEY SHOWS AMERICAN SUV OWNERS AND SHOPPERS READY TO EMBRACE EVS

Volkswagen of America announced today the results of a new survey that found that momentum and consideration of EVs is growing sharply with American SUV owners and shoppers, along with appreciation of their environmental benefit of no direct emissions, despite many of them having no experience of driving an electric vehicle.

To gauge the appetite for electric vehicles, the new survey polled 1,000 SUV owners and 500 SUV shoppers in the United States—who are looking to purchase one in the next six months—and found that overall, more than 70% had never had the chance to drive an EV. Yet, 65% of owners and 76% of shoppers are more interested in EVs than they were a year ago.

Almost half of owners (45%) and nearly six in 10 shoppers (58%) say they are likely to buy an EV the next time they purchase a vehicle.

 

https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/volkswagen-survey-shows-american-suv-owners-and-shoppers-ready-to-embrace-evs/

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWERS

 

We were asking: would you buy a Chinese made EV?

 

Would you buy a Chinese-made EV?

 

ADRIAN BOND OF COLCHESTER EVS

I think it depends more on the reputation of the manufacture than the country.  If the MG ZS EV had been out in the U.K. when we were ditching our ‘Self Charging Hybrid’ (calm down...) Mk2 Prius a few years ago, we wouldn’t have bought our PHEV Outlander.   MG China had already shown they could build quality vehicles at reasonable prices and the MG ZS EV is a great SUV. And if they build an MG TF EV, an EV version of a  great convertible that they already have the tooling for, I’d fight to be first in the queue.  And after all, a lot of the components used to make EVs are from China anyway, just that final assembly is elsewhere.

 

Thanks again for the great shows!

 

STEVE JOHN

Would I buy a Chinese EV? I am the proud driver of a Polestar 2, and loving every minute of it 👍.

 

STEPHEN TROYER

The fact that a given car is built in China would not turn me away. If it has enough range for my use case, and the price is right, that's fine with me.

 

DAVID AUSTIN

I don't care where something is made as long as the quality is equivalent to what i'm paying for it.

 

HANNAH IN SAN DIEGO

It's not the fact the cars are made in China or any particular country, but more about so many of those names not having any support network over here. All machines will go wrong at some point and that's when you need to know your vehicle can be fixed.

 

PETER THE MODEL 3 OWNER

I think warranties will make a big difference with the Chinese cars, just as the Korean companies like Kia came to the UK with longer warranties than most others, and actaully followed through on them. I've heard that the MG cars have a long warranty but they're more selective with what they cover. Chinese companies coming to the UK can ease worries with a fully inclusive warranty.

 

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK WITH EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM

 

Whats the most effective consumer education regarding EVs?

 

Email me your thoughts and I’ll read them out on Sunday – [email protected]

 

 

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