Arrival list at a $13bn valuation | 25 Mar 2021

Episode 1032,   Mar 25, 2021, 01:00 AM

Arrival list at a $13bn valuation | Rimac opens R&D centre in the UK | Tesla Claims EPA Range Needs A Drained Battery | Europe: More Than 600 Tesla Supercharging Stations | The End of Tesla’s Dominance | The new Normal | Kona EV owners say Hyundai mishandling recall | Used hybrid values slashed | Heavy-duty trucking may be 'next big frontier'

On today’s podcast:

  • Arrival list at a $13bn valuation
  • Rimac opens R&D centre in the UK
  • Tesla Claims EPA Range Needs A Drained Battery
  • Europe: More Than 600 Tesla Supercharging Stations
  • The End of Tesla’s Dominance
  • The new Normal
  • Kona EV owners say Hyundai mishandling recall
  • Used hybrid values slashed
  • Heavy-duty trucking may be 'next big frontier'

 

Show #1032

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 25th March. 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.

 

ARRIVAL LIST AT A $13BN VALUATION

"Arrival, a British startup that produces zero-emission public transit vehicles, has listed on the Nasdaq with a current valuation of $13bn, making it one of the largest-ever listings of a UK tech company.  The company’s founder, Russian telecoms tycoon and former deputy minister Denis Sverdlov, owned a 76% stake in Arrival at the point of IPO, according to SEC filings, making his share worth $9.8bn." says sifted.eu: "For the first five years of Arrival...Sverdlov funded the company himself, piling $450m into it. In 2020, the company raised $300m from investors Hyundai Motor, BlackRock and Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia’s richest people.  It’s developing zero-emission electric vehicles for commercial use: they’re made from a composite material that the company says is lighter and cheaper than steel.  Arrival says its cars can be customised to specific companies’ needs. In October last year, it signed a deal with the United Parcel Service to provide 10k vehicles and an option to buy a further 10k — a deal worth $1.2bn. Arrival will also begin trialling electric buses on public roads in the UK from this autumn in a partnership with British bus operator First Bus.  Arrival said it projects being cash-flow positive by 2023 and generating a gross profit of nearly $4bn by 2024."

 

Their philosophy is about micro factories in, or close to, major cities. They say there are 560 cities with a 1million+ population which have the potential to support a micro factory.  Starting just north of London and Rock Hill, S Carolina.

 

https://sifted.eu/articles/arrival-nasdaq-listing/

 

RIMAC OPENS R&D CENTRE IN THE UK

"Rimac has cut the ribbon on its first R&D office in the UK as it gears up for the launch of the production version of its C_Two electric hypercar" reports Autocar: "Based in Warwick Enterprise Park, Warwickshire, the office is planned to employ 30 people by the end of 2021. However, Rimac said it could “expand significantly in the years to come” as the company progresses its product lines. The office will collaborate with Rimac’s Croatian headquarters, enabling the firm to take advantage of British engineers, whom Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac regards as among the best in the world."

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry-news-environment/rimac-opens-rd-centre-uk

 

TESLA CLAIMS EPA RANGE NEEDS A DRAINED BATTERY

"In response to an independent range test, Tesla has reportedly claimed that the EPA range on its vehicles can be achieved by draining the battery pack beyond the zero-mile displayed range. Last month, [Electrek] reported on Edmunds conducting independent range tests on a bunch of electric vehicles to compare them to their EPA estimates. The results showed that Tesla is using the most optimistic versions of its EPA estimated range in its advertising compared to other automakers." according to Fred at Electrek: "Now Edmunds is out with a follow-up report in which they claim that Tesla reached out to them following their test to state that they should have accounted for the “buffer” that comes after the displayed range reaches zero miles"

 

Edmunds said: "Needless to say, Tesla was not happy with our test results, and we received a phone call. Tesla’s engineers disputed our figures. They argued that we’d underestimated their cars’ true range because our test ran to an indicated zero miles rather than to a stop. Tesla argued that even when the indicated range hits zero, there’s still a safety buffer. The engineers reckoned that if you add this buffer, the distance measured to when the battery is spent, their cars would match the EPA results. Our answer to Tesla’s dismay with our initial results is that, yes, two of the automaker’s vehicles can match the EPA’s range estimates in the Edmunds EV range test. But that’s only under specific circumstances and by driving each vehicle past zero indicated miles of range."

 

https://electrek.co/2021/03/25/tesla-claims-epa-range-achieved-electric-cars-by-draining-battery-beyond-0-mile-range/

 

EUROPE: MORE THAN 600 TESLA SUPERCHARGING STATIONS

"The number of Tesla Supercharging stations in Europe has recently exceeded 600 in 27 countries (with more than 6,000 individual charging stalls). On average, that's 10 stalls per station. The network has grown significantly over about eight years since Model S entered the market (initially in 2013). There were less than 20 stations as of the end of 2013. As of the end of 2014, it increased to more than 110 and then to almost 200 as of the end of 2015. At the beginning of 2020, the number of stations increased to 500 and now it's 600." says InsideEVs: "The largest station in Europe is in Norway at Nebbenes with 44 stalls. Europe is no longer the second biggest market for Superchargers because China has accelerated in 2020 and now has more than 925 stations. That's actually pretty close to the 1,125 in the U.S."

 

https://insideevs.com/news/496754/europe-600-tesla-supercharging-stations/

 

THE END OF TESLA’S DOMINANCE

"He doesn’t date a synth-pop star, publicly puff on blunts, or profess to want to die on Mars, but Herbert Diess is starting to look and sound an awful lot like Elon Musk. The chief executive officer of Volkswagen AG kicked off a March 15 news conference modeled after Tesla Inc.’s “Battery Day”—Diess called his “Power Day”—by declaring that there’s only one way to quickly reduce emissions from transportation: Go electric." writes Bloomberg: "EVs are shifting from what seemed like a one-man show to an extravaganza with an increasingly crowded stage. Although VW has as good a chance as anyone to share top billing with Tesla, what’s less clear is the rest of the cast. Tesla has done to the auto industry what Netflix Inc. did to cable TV, speeding the shift away from internal combustion in much the same way easy access to Breaking Bad and hundreds of other shows spurred consumers to take the scissors to their Comcast contracts."

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-24/tesla-tsla-and-elon-musk-s-dominance-is-threatened-by-volkswagen

 

THE NEW NORMAL

"Central Illinois, best known for auto insurance, corn and soybeans, finds itself hosting a startup that touts its own expertise in lithium ion battery architecture and cloud computing. The majority of new vehicles sold worldwide in 2040 are forecast to be electric, and Rivian appears set on taking a big slice of that pie." reports CNN: "Bloomington-Normal can feel the effects of Rivian's growing significance. Some real estate agents are asking potential home buyers to submit their offers just hours after open houses end, a practice local real estate agent Greg Zavitz said he hadn't previously seen in 35 years of business in the area. Hotels are filling with Rivian employees, defying the national trend of vacancies brought on by the pandemic."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/24/cars/rivian-illinois-town/index.html

 

KONA EV OWNERS SAY HYUNDAI MISHANDLING RECALL

"Some owners of Hyundai Motor's Kona electric vehicles say the South Korean automaker is bungling a major recall with delays and poor communication, and risks losing buyers as it targets the No.3 spot in the fast-growing sector. Hyundai said last month it would replace the battery systems in some 82,000 electric vehicles globally at a cost of $900 million following fires in 15 Kona EVs." says Yahoo! Finance: "But Hyundai has yet to convey a clear plan to owners on when and how they can expect to have a potential fire hazard they are driving fixed, some of the owners have complained."

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kona-ev-owners-hyundai-mishandling-230000921.html

 

USED HYBRID VALUES SLASHED

"The pandemic’s impact on the private hire industry has severely affected second-hand hybrid car values. Non-plug-in models have traditionally been the tool of choice for the likes of Uber drivers, thanks to the reliability and suitability for town and city driving, and this generated good demand and healthy prices for used examples" says Autocar News: "Prices of petrol hybrids at three years and 60,000 miles dropped by 10.1% year on year in January.  Values of used petrol hybrids fell by 16.9% during the week beginning 8 February"

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry-news-environment/analysis-used-hybrid-values-slashed-demand-falls-pandemic

 

HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKING MAY BE 'NEXT BIG FRONTIER'

"Transitioning all of the United States' medium- and heavy-duty trucks to zero-emissions vehicles by 2040 would lead to cumulative pollution-related savings of $485 billion by 2050, according to Jennifer Helfrich, senior manager of state policy at Ceres." says Utility Dive: "California is the national leader when it comes to electrifying transportation, though other states are following suit, according to experts. Zero-emissions vehicles are planned to make up 100% of California light-duty sales by 2035, including short-haul and drayage trucks. The state's full transition to ZEV buses and heavy-duty long-haul trucks is expected to be completed by 2045."

 

 

It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast.

 

And  if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing.

 

Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I’ll catch you tomorrow and remember…there’s no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.

 

 

PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE (PREMIUM PARTNER)

BRAD CROSBY (PREMIUM PARTNER)

PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI (PREMIUM PARTNER)

AUDI CINCINNATI EAST (PREMIUM PARTNER)

VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST (PREMIUM PARTNER)

NATIONALCARCHARGING.COM and ALOHACHARGE.COM  (PREMIUM PARTNER)

DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL (PREMIUM PARTNER)

RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK (PREMIUM PARTNER)

 

DAVID AND LISA ALLEN (PARTNER)

GARETH HAMER (PARTNER)

eMOBILITY NORWAY HTTPS://WWW.EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM/  (PARTNER)

BOB BOOTHBY FROM MILLBROOK COTTAGES – 5* GOLD SELF CATERING COTTAGES (PARTNER)

DARIN MCLESKEY FROM DENOVO REAL ESTATE (PARTNER)

JUKKA KUKONEN FROM WWW.SHIFT2ELECTRIC.COM

RAJEEV NARAYAN (PARTNER)

IAIN SEAR (PARTNER)

 

ADRIAN BOND (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ALAN SHEDD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ALEX BANAHENE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ALEXANDER FRANK @ https://www.youtube.com/c/alexsuniverse42

ANDERS HOVE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ANDREA JEFFERSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ANDREW GREEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ANDY NANCARROW AND LILIAN KASS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ASEER KHALID (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BÅRD FJUKSTAD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BLUNDERBUSS JONES (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

BRIAN THOMPSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

BRUCE BOHANNAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CHARLES HALL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CHRIS HOPKINS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CHRISTOPHER BARTH (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

COLIN HENNESSY AND CAMBSEV (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

CRAIG ROGERS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAMIEN DAVIS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAVID FINCH (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAVID MOORE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAVID PARTINGTON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DAVID PRESCOTT (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DC EV (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

DON MCALLISTER / SCREENCASTSONLINE.COM (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ED CORTREEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ERIC HANSEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

ERU KYEYUNE-NYOMBI (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

FREDRIK ROVIK (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

GENE RUBIN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

HEDLEY WRIGHT (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

HEINRICH LIESNER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

IAN GRIFFITHS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

IAN (WATTIE) WATKINS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JACK OAKLEY (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JAMES STORR (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JAVIER CARMELO DÍAZ PÉREZ (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JIM MORRIS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JOHN SCHROEDER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JON AKA BEARDY MCBEARDFACE FROM KENT EVS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

JON MANCHAK (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)