19 Apr 2020 | Porsche Taycan 4S Arrives In U.S.

Episode 753,   Apr 19, 2020, 12:00 AM

General Motors Begins Work On New Lordstown Battery Plant | Porsche Taycan 4S has arrived in the US—with the longest range of the lineup | Triton Reveals 8-Seat Model H Electric SUV With 700-Mile Range | First peek at VW ID.3 EV owner’s manual reveals cool list of digital features | Record sales of hybrid and electric cars for Kia | Question of the week

Show #753

 

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 19th April 2020. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

 

GENERAL MOTORS BEGINS WORK ON NEW LORDSTOWN BATTERY PLANT

"General Motors has broken ground on the new lithium-ion battery plant it is building near Lordstown, Ohio in partnership with Korean company LG Chem.": says GM Authority.com: "According to local Lordstown publication Tribune Chronicle, GM began grading land at the site where the $2.3 billion battery plant will be built on Wednesday. The automaker was awaiting the correct permits to start work on the battery plant and was granted them this week. Tribune Chronicle says GM is planning to have the battery plant up and running by January of 2022. The plant will mass-produce battery cells for GM’s future battery-electric vehicles, including the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. GM and LG Chem will both own the facility through a new, equally owned joint-venture company called GigaPower LLC. GM will produce its new Ultium battery packs at the plant, which will range in size from 50 kWh to 200 kWh. "

 

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/04/general-motors-begins-work-on-new-lordstown-battery-plant/

 

PORSCHE TAYCAN 4S HAS ARRIVED IN THE US—WITH THE LONGEST RANGE OF THE LINEUP

"The version of the Porsche Taycan electric car with the most affordable price tag and the longest driving range of the lineup—the Taycan 4S—is reaching the first dealerships in the U.S. today." writes Green Car Reports: "How high is that range? Well, don’t get your hopes up too much; the 4S achieves an EPA-rated 203 miles—versus 201 miles for the Taycan Turbo and just 192 miles for the top Taycan Turbo S, which has a larger (600-amp) front inverter. The 4S has a smaller rear motor than the Turbo or Turbo S, and its total curb weight is 178 pounds less than that of the Turbo—probably the most significant factor relating to the range difference.

With its 93.4-kilowatt-hour Performance Battery Plus option, the dual-motor drive system generates a combined 562 horsepower, with 477 pound-feet of torque, when the overboost function and launch control are enabled. A 79-kwh standard version of the 4S, which will have lower performance numbers, will arrive later in the year.  Porsche claims a 0-60 mph time of 3.8 seconds, with a top speed of 155 mph. Just as in the greater Taycan Turbo and Turbo S, the Tay"

 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127849_porsche-taycan-4s-has-arrived-in-the-us-with-the-longest-range-of-the-lineup

 

TRITON REVEALS 8-SEAT MODEL H ELECTRIC SUV WITH 700-MILE RANGE

"New Jersey-based Triton Solar, not known to us before, today announced an all-new all-electric eight seat SUV - Triton Model H - with exceptional specs." reports InsideEVs: "Triton says that the Model H electric SUV will be equipped with a massive 200 kWh battery to get over 700 miles (1,126 km) of range on a single charge! Well, the range might be really long but we are not so sure if a 200 kWh would be enough to go 700 miles in such a huge vehicle. On the powertrain side - there will be four electric motors, one per wheel, for all-wheel drive and a total system output of 1,500 hp (1.1 MW). According to Triton, it should be enough for 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds. The company says that this is the SUV "to carry and pull heavy loads without compromising the driving comfort". The towing capacity will be 15,400 lbs (6,985 kg)."

 

If they say it's too good to be true, it normally is!

 

https://insideevs.com/news/410334/triton-model-h-electric-suv-700-miles/

 

FIRST PEEK AT VW ID.3 EV OWNER’S MANUAL REVEALS COOL LIST OF DIGITAL FEATURES

"A German YouTuber got his hands on a VIN for the upcoming ID.3 electric car and used it to access VW’s online manual. He discovered a set of high-tech features not commonly found on a small, affordable EVs. They’re not groundbreaking, but you can see that VW wants to make its EV a high-tech showcase." says Bradley at ElectreK: "The VW ID.3 provides the percent of SOC during charging, as well as charging controls that are pretty much standard EV fare but still useful: The ability to set the charging limit to anywhere between 50% and 100%. When a charging session is finished, you can set the charging connector to automatically release or not.

You can reduce the current for a home-charging event, for example, to allow another electric device to pull power from the same current. If you have the charger on a timer control, you can set the lower battery charge limit to hit at a specified hour"

 

VIDEO MODE

In video mode, the infotainment system display can play a video from a data medium, from internal memory or a streaming service. The video audio is relayed via the vehicle loudspeakers. The video image is displayed only when the vehicle is stationary. When the vehicle is in motion, the infotainment display is switched off. The video audio can continue to be heard.

 

ECO MODE ASSISTANT

Eco Assistant can also increase brake energy recuperation without displaying a message. This may be the case if you take your foot off the accelerator when there is a vehicle in front, for example. Here, brake energy recuperation is adapted to the vehicle in from without any message being displayed.

 

LANE CHANGE

Auto lane changing is available only on multi-lane motors that are including the navigation data of the infotainment system and from a speed around 55 mph. If adaptive cruise control detects posted speed limits and you’re going too fast, the car can adjust your speed. There is a robust set of self-parking features as well.

 

No roof rack, and no towing.

 

https://electrek.co/2020/04/17/first-peek-at-vw-id-3-ev-owners-manual-reveals-cool-list-of-digital-features/

 

RECORD SALES OF HYBRID AND ELECTRIC CARS FOR KIA

"Kia Motors has seen record European sales for new hybrid and electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2020, despite a decline in total vehicle sales as a result of disruption caused by the spread of coronavirus. Kia also captured its highest-ever share of the European market during the first quarter." acording to newmobility.global: "In the first quarter of 2020, Kia’s battery electric vehicles, the e-Niro and e-Soul (badged Soul EV in the UK), accounted for 32% of all electrified vehicle sales, up from 22% in 2019. Plug-in hybrid models, including new Plug-in Hybrid variants of the XCeed and Ceed Sportswagon, also grew in popularity, and now account for 30% of all electrified Kia sales."

 

https://www.newmobility.global/e-mobility/record-sales-hybrid-electric-cars-kia-motors-europe-challenging-q1/

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

 

RAJEEV NARAYAN

There are definitely many people who would be better served with an EV and just don’t know it, and don’t know anyone who has an EV, such that an EV is too far outside their personal experience to consider buying one. Reaching those people will be crucial. BUT at this moment, EV adoption seems more constrained by battery availability than anything else. Quite simply, there are more people who want an EV than can get one. Government and industry efforts in improving battery manufacturing/availability/cost will probably improve EV adoption the greatest. Once there are more EVs out there, people see them, have friends who own them, I suspect demand and sales will take off.              

 

Steven Bollinger

Test drives, test drives, test drives. Other things like incentives can certainly help. But how many EV enthusiasts didn't think highly of them at all until that moment when they took a drive or a ride in one? How many of us came into the EV community because our minds were blown by that first drive? Get more people behind the wheel, it's absolutely, no question, far and away, the best advertising there is for EV's.

 

Levankay

And here's another way to do that:   Dealers of car makers that offer EVs should issue EVs as loaner cars for folks who've brought their ICE vehicles in for servicing.   Folk aren't likely to turn down the free loaner, especially since they obviously need one, and they get the double whammy of realizing that an EV likely wouldn't have needed whatever service they came in for in the first place, as well as the brilliant driving experience.

 

Suzi Wolf

I remember when Honda's electric Fit went from over $500 month to $279 month for unlimited miles and included insurance - all of a sudden, the availability of their allocation of 500 units in California evaporated. I had seen Bolts last year at around that price without insurance and only 8k miles per year at a dealer in SoCal but I think GM gave up on incentives for the Bolt once the Model 3 sales took off. I bet if Nissan or GM went to 259 to 279 per month depending on battery size, for a 3-year unlimited mile lease and included insurance, they can move all they can make/import.

 

dave w

The best way would be to let (trusted) friends drive your EV. I generally tell people not to drive one until you're ready to buy one, because when you drive one, you'll want one.

 

Alan Osborne

Publicly subscribed to you (1 year)

  • 6 days ago

get people into ev's price price price lots of carrots alan uk

 

Roger Starkey

Build more EV's!

 

-Josh Pritt

Space Coast EV Drivers

Melbourne, FL

A very easy way to get people to switch to EVs once we're back to work is to show the two pictures side by side showing the haze of air pollution over LA a few weeks ago, and the clear air over the city after the stay at home order. 

 

Alex Banahene

I think the best thing legacy automakers can do to boost EV sales post lockdown is train your staff! When I was buying my Zoe I was told by one local showroom that I didn’t want a Zoe I really wanted a Dacia duster and by a different dealer that the Zoe could only go a hundred miles and I should buy a clio instead as it has the same infotainment system.

 

DAVID BARBER

When things are back to normal, having a cost analysis break down printed to give to ppl, so if some one asks how much it costs to run your own electric car, don't explain just give it to them to read later.

 

JENNIFER MONTGOMERY

The US Government could extend the tax credit for EVs.  They could also do a "Cash for Clunkers"-style program for EVs where they force buyers to trade-in their ICE vehicle for an EV & forcing dealers to scrap the trade-in. Tesla could have one of their vehicles become the main star of a movie, like the car in Christine or K.I.T. from Knight Rider.  That would definitely encourage a lot of the public to want one. 

 

JOHN FRUHWIRTH

The industry MUST overcome its addiction to ICEVs and fossil fuels.

It must get out of bed with the fossil fuel industry.

It must realize that the further evolution of ICEVs is over.

It must embrace the revolution that BEVs represent.

It must massively invest in battery R&D.

It must be willing to take a huge hit to its profits.

It must stop downplaying BEVs (e.g your rant against Toyota and its "self charging hybrids").

It must invest in renewable energy technologies (e.g. wind and solar).

 

The industry must make charging easier and faster. Multiple charging networks with incompatible payment methods are ridiculous.

It must develop standards across all charging networks (take a leaf out of Tesla's playbook).

It must promote the many benefits of EVs above ICEVs, economic and environmental.

It must place EVs front and centre in its media product placement (movies, TV programs, etc.).

It must make owning ICEVs as socially unacceptable as smoking is in public.

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

 

Do you prefer to buy new or used EV? And why?

 

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