12 July 2018 | Prototype Electric MINI Testing, Model 3 Test Drives In Performance Models and Why You Should Be An Early EV Adopter
Episode 178, Jul 11, 2018, 11:01 PM
Mini Electric Looks Almost Ready | Tesla Q2 Volumes Almost Equal To Jaguar | Article Says “Mr. Musk Goes To China But Too Late For Tesla” | Tesla Has 100 Model 3 Performance Cars For Test Drives | Tesla Registers More Than 6,000 New Model 3 Dual Motor AWD VINs | Tesla Pickup Times Are The Bottleneck
Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Thursday 12th July edition of EV News Daily. It’s Martyn Lee here with the news you need to know about electric cars and the move towards sustainable transport.
MINI ELECTRIC LOOKS ALMOST READY
- Let's talk about the BMW Mini! I had a petrol one for a year in 2008, black, petrol bags of fun even not the Cooper variant. Around that time before I was interested in EVs there was the original Mini E, it was a pilot program and is now discontinued. I'd have another Mini tomorrow as they're great for British roads, small enough to park and big enough for long journeys. So fast forward 10 years and I'm excited about the Mini EV.
- Carscoops says: "Our sneaky shutterbugs have caught the prototype (both inside and out) undergoing testing out in the wild. The prototype was also spied plugged in to the mains in a dedicated EV charging/parking spot. And the grille is all covered up, suggesting that there’s no internal-combustion engine inside. So unlike the Countryman PHEV, this prototype clearly isn’t a hybrid."
- Carscoops has 14 pics of the mini in yellow swirly camoflouage and I'll put a link in the show notes so you can see, but they do have just one of the inside. The dash has black cloth covering it, another sign they're getting close. There are three extra screens of test equipment, one that looks like a computer monitor on a large box on the passenger seat with two smaller screens about the size of an iPad mini stuck to the dash. In the footwells of the passenger side are a mass of wires. And how about this, you know on a bus or coach or train, you see those metal hammers often behind glass, with a sign which says "in case of emergency, break glass and smash window to escape"? I can just see one of those taped to the drivers door next to the handle...so are the windows either locked up or are the electric windows disabled? Either way I think it's a sign they're getting closer to production.
- Meanwhile, India Times reports: "BMW Group and the biggest Chinese SUV brand, Great Wall Motor, announced a partnership Tuesday to produce electric MINI vehicles in China as global automakers ramp up development under pressure from Beijing."
- Auto brands in China are required to make electric vehicles at least 10 percent of their sales starting next year or buy credits from competitors that exceed their quotas. Later, they face pressure to raise those sales in order to satisfy fuel efficiency requirements that increase annually.
- The last I heard, Western markets will have the Mini EV made here in the UK in Oxford but given the disastrous process of Brexit and trying to untangle British manufacturing from a tariff free customs union, we're really worried that car markers will find it both easier and cheaper to move production to the European Union. Leaving the EU is currently looking very bad for the auto industry in particular.
https://www.carscoops.com/2018/07/mini-electric-looks-almost-ready-plug-ev-market/#lg=1&slide=13
TESLA Q2 VOLUMES ALMOST EQUAL TO JAGUAR
- The market intelligence company AID has been tracking Tesla sales vs Jaguar: "Tesla is already snapping at the heels of Jaguar. The question now is, as AIDs segment observers have put it most topically, based on Teslas latest sales surge it is not if Tesla will outsell Jaguar on the global prestige sector sales scene, but how soon?" They say:" Figures compiled by AID every month reveal that this second quarter, thanks in large measure to the long-expected but belated sales bounce from Teslas all-new Model 3 in its domestic US backyard, worldwide sales of Tesla skyrocketed to 40,740 units, according to Tesla. In a world were almost everything is relative, that directly compares to the only slightly higher 44,124 worldwide Jaguar sales during the same second quarter."
- So as I saw on Kyle Field from Clean Technica say today on Twitter, lazy headline writers might have to stop using the phrase Tesla Killer, maybe they need to start calling Elon Musk #JaguarKiller
- The thing I would like to add is the unknown of the I-PACE sales which Q3 will include.
http://www.eagleaid.com/AID-Newsletter-preorder-1813preview-d-Tesla-already-hot-on-Jaguars-heels.htm
- MUSK GOES TO CHINA, BUT IT IS TOO LATE FOR TESLA
- I know I'm a simpleton who thinks out loud on a wildly unpopular podcast, but I do get confused. Jim Collins at Forbes seems to think Tesla has missed the boat to sell cars in China. Jim says "It Is Too Late For Tesla To Ride The Chinese EV Boom".
- Let see what Jim says in this Forbes article: "Tesla's huge head start in the Western markets for high-end BEVs simply does not exist in China. As evidenced by the rash of senior executive departures in recent months, Elon Musk seems to like to do things on his own. But the Chinese market, which has flourished through so many East-West partnerships, is a very different animal, and Tesla simply does not have the capital to compete there."
- He seems to conclude that because they're dominant in the U.S. they should be dominant in China. I don't think I've ever heard Elon or Tesla say that. Just that they need to build a Gigafactory on every continent in order to make the kind of cars, at the kind of prices, which local people desire and can afford. It's weird, the headline bears little relevance to the article. Has Tesla missed the boat as they say? New Energy Vehicle sales are on target to double, it's a market in massive growth. Unlike in the U.S. where they literally had to CREATE a market for cars, there's an exploding one in China, so that head start which apparently they can't be successful without contradicts the facts that when Tesla launch there wasn't even a race. Let alone a head start. How is it "too late" for Tesla?
ELECTRIC CARS ARE THE FUTURE. HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD BE AN EARLY ADOPTER
- Huffington Post say you should be an early adopter, and not just of cars. But of electric bikes too.
- "Another reason to get on the EV hype early? The chance to try a whole other way of transport. Step up: electric motorbikes.
- Richard Jordan, director of Super Soco, supplies 22 motorcycle dealers with his brand, which has been dubbed the ’Tesla of motorbikes.′ “Our bikes are legally the same as a 50cc motorbike, so they’re light, nimble and nippy through traffic – the ideal commuting machine. Cost per mile is tiny – around 1p – so commuting into London costs under 10p, compared with a travelcard cost of around £7 per day [based on a weekly card]. The battery is removable, so can be charged from the wall at work, or at home.”
TESLA HAS 100 MODEL 3 PERFORMANCE CARS FOR TEST DRIVES
- Elon Musk has tweeted about the Model 3s available for test drives: "Should be very soon. We’ve already made around 100 Model 3 Performance cars for test drives in stores."
- On last week’s edition of Ride The Lightning with Ryan McCaffrey he was speculating if they would rather you took a base model or Performance model for a test, which would be best for customers, so he tweeted Elon and that was the response.
- Looks like they've gone down the avenue of letting people rive the P3D and hoping, if they’d planned on a base model, to up sell them. That makes sense, basic business practice is to try and add value to a customer for a price.
- All that Anti-selling looks over, remember when Elon would tweet Model 3 reservation holders and say they should be buying a Model S?!
- By the way I've been playing too much with the configurator now it's opened up to everyone - i'm thinking white multi-coat paint with white interior is mine.
TESLA REGISTERS MORE THAN 6,000 NEW MODEL 3 DUAL MOTOR AWD VINS
- Simon Alvarez at Teslarati, who incidentally got a retweet from Elon recently, has been tracking VIN numbers too by keeping an eye on the Twitter use @Model3VINs: "Tesla has registered a large batch of 6,032 new Model 3 VINs recently, with almost all of them corresponding to the Dual Motor AWD variant of the compact electric car. The new vehicle identification filings come at a time when Tesla is actively pushing its deliveries for the Model 3. This recent filing stands as yet another sign that Tesla is well on its way to sustaining its production rate of 5,000 Model 3 per week this third quarter"
TESLA PICKUP TIMES ARE THE BOTTLENECK
- With so many people to get a Model 3 out to, Fred at Electrek has obtained an email to customers where Tesla are moving from making handover a one-hour hoopla, where your car is uncovered from a silk cloth draped over it, to a 5 minute quickie. The email says: "Learn about your Model 3: You’ll be driving home in as little as 5 minutes from your arrival, so please review the following resources below before your appointment until you are confident and ready to drive off:
- Watch Model 3 Tutorial Videos
- Review Model 3 Owner’s Manual
- Visit your local Tesla Showroom for any additional questions
- Sign & Drive Pickup Appointment
- Check In
- Paperwork Signing
- 5 minute Vehicle Handoff in which we will show you the essentials to enjoy your drive home:
- Charging Bundle
- Key Access
- Vehicle Start/Stop
- Park/Reverse/Neutral/Drive
- Tesla has produced 9 short videos to show different features of the Model 3 in preparation for this program."
- This was inevitable in some way you can't spend an hour making a song & dance over every buyers. Not when you have 5,000 cars to hand over, and 5,000 next week, and 5,000 the week after! You get my drift. I imagine the Model S and Model X buyers still get a more premium treatment.
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