Elon Musk Gives CBS Tour Of Tesla, More GM Cars On Bolt Tech and Audi e-tron Vision Hits The Track | 14 April 2018
Elon Musk Shows Off Model 3 Production Line |Audio e-tron VisionGT | GM Making Two Cars Based On Bolt Tech || Maven Gig Economy Drivers Boosted By EVgo Fast Chargers | Sharing Economy Applied To EV Charging | BMW On Target For EV Sales | DriveTribe To Promote EVs For Audi | Study Says Ample Grid Capacity For Intelligent Electric Vehicle Charging
Saturday 14th April 2018.
ELON SHOWS OFF MODEL 3 PRODUCTION LINE
- CBS cameras got to see what we’ve always wanted – behind the scenes of the Model 3 Production Line. CBS began by saying “The pioneering electric car company Tesla has suffered a series of very public challenges since the beginning of this year. Its high-profile CEO Elon Musk called this a period of "production hell." Most of the troubles revolve around the company's Model 3 sedan, its first mid-priced, mass-produced electric car.
- Now this is what I’ll do, the audio is 9 mins long if you edit together all the different videos they put out, so I’ll put that out as a special podcast straight after this one. That way if you’re not bothered by Tesla – and whilst it has its fans I know some people don’t want to know every minor details – you don’t have to download it.
AUDI E-TRON VISION
- The Audi e-tron VisionGT, that’s the car which started life as a Gran Turismo computer game car until Audi went ahead and made one for real, has hit the track in Rome. It’s at the Formula E event there. Audi Sport tweeted: “Our first passenger in Rome: Formula Es Alejandro Agag.”
GM MAKING CARS BASED ON BOLT TECH
- Ken Kelzer, GM’s vice president has pointed to GM launching two new electric cars based off the Bolt technology. He also made clear ICE isn’t dead yet even through they’re pushing forward with EVs. “It’s not like we’re leaving internal combustion engines behind — we’re working on both. Depending on what’s going to happen with government regulation and consumer acceptance, that’s when we’re going to find out. Everyone in the industry is working to make internal combustion engines more efficient.”
GM EXPANDS FAST CHARGING NETWORK WITH EVGO
- As electrification of the transportation sector expands, automakers are trying to attract customers by guaranteeing them a place to charge. EVgo's new announcement shows that strategy can extend into the car sharing market, reports Utility Dive: "Maven makes carsharing for the Gig economy easier," Julia Steyn, vice president Maven and urban mobility at GM, said in a statement. The agreement will make charging "seamless," she said. “EVgo will construct an electric vehicle fast charger network for General Motor Co.'s car sharing brand available to Maven Gig Chevrolet Bolt drivers. EVgo operates the largest network of public fast charging stations in the United States, and the agreement builds on work the two companies are already doing in more than a half dozen major cities. The move is a sign more auto brands are associating themselves with specific charging networks. For instance, BMW's ChargeNow program offers two years of free charging at participating EVgo stations.”
SHARING ECONOMY APPLIED TO EV CHARGING
- “EV charging points in the UK could be 100,000 locations if everyone shared their connection. That’s according to low carbon vehicle infrastructure firm Bookmycharge”, says EnergyLiveNews, “which expects this figure to soar following a 13.5% rise in the sale of EVs between January and March, compared to the same period last year. It says there are now more than 85,000 chargepoints operating at homes across the UK, compared with 6,152 public charging locations. Jan Stannard, Co-Founder of Bookmycharge, said: “We want to encourage a ‘sharing economy’ approach so that the EV community has guaranteed access to the wealth of home charging locations across the country.”
BMW ON TARGET FOR EV SALES
- Praise be to BMW who are sharing more sales data than most. ElectricCarsReport points out that “The BMW Group is targetingsales of at least 140,000 electrified models in 2018 and is well on track to achieving that, with global sales of these models totalling almost 27,000 the Q1. First-quarter sales of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles leapt 78.0% in the USA, the company’s largest single market for electrified vehicles. With a total of 5,743 vehicles delivered in the first three months of the year, 8% of all BMW Group sales in USA were electrified.”
DRIVETRIBE TO PROMOTE AUDI EVS
- “Auto publisher DriveTribe has brought aboard one of the world’s biggest car manufactures as its first major partner” according to The Drum, “Audi will use DriveTribe as a hub and lean on its editorial team to tell unique stories about Audi’s electric vehicle plans and products. Additionally, this will promote Audi’s EV push to an audience of engaged car enthusiasts.”
STUDY SAYS AMPLE GRID CAPACITY FOR EVS
- “Electricity distribution networks in Europe run at well below their full potential, finds a new study from the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). The findings show that the unused network capacity could be utilised for charging electric vehicles with little or no need for additional capacity. Smart pricing and smart grid technologies will be the keys” says The Energy Collective: “Shifting EV charging to periods when existing resources are readily available would keep incremental investment in infrastructure to a minimum. All consumers, not just those with EVs, would benefit from spreading the costs of existing infrastructure over more load and minimising risky new investment.”
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