20 June 2018 | James Bond Spy Saga At Tesla, Outlander PHEV Goes Longer and WWF Report Says Smart Charging Is Key
Correction: Norway's Electric Plane Took Off | Small Fire, Elon Asks Staff To Remain Vigilant In The Face Of Sabotage | 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV ELTP -Rated 45km Of Electric Range | Why Ghosn's Renault Paycheck Depends On EV Sales | How Big Will The Battery Boom Get? Try $548 Billion, BNEF Says | Smart Charging Could Deliver EVs A Decade Earlier | Off Grid Energy CEO Highlights Importance Of Battery Storage Christchurch Airport Leading The Charge To Electric Vehicles
Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Wednesday 20th June 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.
CORRECTION: NORWAY'S ELECTRIC PLANE TOOK OFF
- First of all I can't begin without sorting out my mistake yesterday because I’m an idiot. And I need to learn which day of the week is Monday. On yesterday's show I talked with you about Norway’s electric plane taking off next Monday. Think again genius. It took off last Monday.
- Reuters reports: "Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen and Dag Falk-Petersen, head of state-run Avinor which runs most of Norway’s airports, took a few minutes’ flight around Oslo airport in an Alpha Electro G2 plane, built by Pipistrel in Slovenia.
- "Norway aims to be 100 percent electric by 2040 for all short-haul flights. Avinor, which is responsible for the country's 44 airports, has bought the electric aircraft used Monday. The operator plans to launch a tender offer to test a commercial route flown with a small electric plane with 19 seats, starting in 2025."
https://phys.org/news/2018-06-peek-future-electric-plane-cruises.html
SMALL FIRE, ELON ASKS STAFF TO REMAIN VIGILIANT IN THE FACE OF SABOTAGE
- Tesla said in an email that on Sunday night there had been a "Smouldering in an air filter in the welding area of the body line. The smouldering was extinguished in a matter of seconds. There were no injuries or significant equipment damage, and production is back online." The company did not specify the location of the fire, which Reuters was unable to independently confirm.
- And then came the really big news about sabotage.
- "I was dismayed to learn this weekend about a Tesla employee who had conducted quite extensive and damaging sabotage to our operations. This included making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames and exporting large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties.
- The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what he has admitted to so far is pretty bad. His stated motivation is that he wanted a promotion that he did not receive. In light of these actions, not promoting him was definitely the right move.
- As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die. These include Wall Street short-sellers, who have already lost billions of dollars and stand to lose a lot more. Then there are the oil & gas companies, the wealthiest industry in the world — they don't love the idea of Tesla advancing the progress of solar power & electric cars. Don't want to blow your mind, but rumor has it that those companies are sometimes not super nice. Then there are the multitude of big gas/diesel car company competitors. If they're willing to cheat so much about emissions, maybe they're willing to cheat in other ways?
- Please be extremely vigilant, particularly over the next few weeks as we ramp up the production rate to 5k/week. This is when outside forces have the strongest motivation to stop us.
- Looking forward to having a great week with you as we charge up the super exciting ramp to 5000 Model 3 cars per week!"
2019 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV WLTP-RATED 45 KILOMETERS OF ELECTRIC RANGE
- AutoEvolution is one of a few outlets today reporting on the updated Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV: "A significant update over the previous model year, the Outlander PHEV tops at 135 km/h (84 mph) in all-electric mode compared to the old version’s 125 km/h (78 mph). But being a plug-in hybrid, it’s best to drive the mid-size utility vehicle at lower speeds in order to maximize the efficiency of the drivetrain. In addition to the mechanical improvements, electric range also goes up to 45 kilometres (28 miles) on WLTP."
- The battery gets a bump to 19.5kWh.
WHY GHOSN'S RENAULT PAYCHECK DEPENDS ON EV SALES
- Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has a new incentive to promote development and sales of electric vehicles: A significant part of his pay now depends on it." according to AutoNews.com: "Under the new pay plan, 30 percent of Ghosn's long-term incentives depend on electric-vehicle sales (shareholder return, free cash flow and alliance platform transition, another new category, make up the rest). An increase of 5 percent over internal forecasts will earn him the full 30 percent, but if sales meet targets, he will get only 21 percent."
- "last year the company sold 36,000 all-electric vehicles, including about 32,000 Zoe compact hatchbacks (the remainder were almost all Kangoo small vans). That was an increase of about 10,000 from 2016."
HOW BIG WILL THE BATTERY BOOM GET? TRY $548 BILLION, BNEF SAYS
- "Batteries will attract $548 billion in investments by 2050 as costs fall and homes and businesses push to use more clean energy" according to Mark Chediak at Bloomberg.com: "That’s one of the conclusions of the New Energy Outlook released Tuesday by analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Batteries will become increasingly viable on the grid as demand for electric cars spurs manufacturing of lithium-ion systems, driving down prices. Batteries will allow more solar and wind to meet demand -- even when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing, helping end the era of fossil fuel dominance on the grid by mid-century, BNEF said. Battery prices are expected to fall to $70 a kilowatt-hour by 2030, down 67 percent from today, according to the report. BNEF expects 1,288 gigawatts of new batteries to be commissioned by 2050."
SMART CHARGING COULD DELIVER EVS A DECADE EARLIER
- "Smart charging of electric vehicles (EVs) could cut the cost of integration into the UK power system by over £1 billion compared to standard charging, according to a new report that also found running an EV could be ten times cheaper than a conventional car." on CurrentNews.co.uk: "On top of the financial advantages to grid operators, Vivid Economics also argues such action would have a direct benefit to consumers, who could save substantial amounts on their annual car bill."
- The report says: "“The smartness of the transition to electric vehicles will be the main factor determining how cost effective the transition is, not the speed of the transition" One the big unknowns when it comes to modelling the grid is how much we'll be using Vehicle 2 Grid on our EVs.
OFF GRID ENERGY CEO HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF BATTERY STORAGE
- Danny Jones is the founder and CEO of Off Grid Energy and has stressed the importance of battery storage and smart charging systems as the take up of electric vehicles. He says: "The benefits of deploying these systems are manifold and are absolutely necessary to prevent a delay in EV deployment because of the cost and lead-in times to reinforce the electricity network at substations, not to mention they can start working right away with minimal installation time needed."
CHRISTCHURCH AIRPORT LEADING THE CHARGE TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES
- "Christchurch Airport is the first business in the South Island to sign up to a global initiative,
- EV100, committing to transitioning its vehicle fleet to 100% electric."
- "The airport already has eight electric vehicles (EVs) so its fleet is currently 40% electric. It also hosts Yoogo an EV sharing scheme for community use. EV100 is an initiative of The Climate Group, an international not-for-profit based in London, New Delhi and New York, with the mission of accelerating climate action. EV100 members commit to becoming 100% electric by 2030."
COMMUNITY
Youtube comments.
Hi to Simon Edmads of ElectricHybridVehicleTechnology.com
Hi to the Sussex EV Drivers
And new follower, someone I’ve idolised his tweets for a long time, Prof Ray Wills
You can listen to every previous episode of this podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube, TuneIn, Stitcher, and the blog https://www.evnewsdaily.com/ – remember to subscribe, which means you don’t have to think about downloading the show each day, plus you get it first and free and automatically.
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, and I'll catch you tomorrow.
CONNECT WITH ME!