Lucid Air Dream Edition Deliveries Appear Underway | 25 Oct 2021

Episode 1256,   Oct 25, 2021, 12:00 AM

Today’s big EV stories: • MKBHD Drives Rivian R1T • Elon Musk tweets that Tesla is rolling back ‘Full Self-Driving’ • NTSB chair calls on Elon Musk to change design of Tesla Autopilot • Lucid Air Dream Edition Deliveries Right Around The Corner • SAIC-VW launches ID.3 sales in China • VW ID5 GTX Arrives Nov 3rd • GWM-backed SVOLT launches 182.6GWh battery capacity expansion plans so far this year • ‘Tremendous pent-up’ car demand going into 2022: AutoNation CEO • Hyundai Offers to Buy Back Nexo Hydrogen Cars with Stack Defects • UK: Four in 10 parents want their kids to learn to drive in an electric car • Sixt offers travellers choice of hybrid and electric vehicles • Parts and service, the coming EV disruption that nobody's talking about • Royal Caribbean Group to use fuel cell, battery, dual fuel engines • India and the UK plan a 140-country solar grid

Show #1256

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

MKBHD DRIVES RIVIAN R1T
“It's just hitting the streets and for the next 24 hours, I'm going to drive it. I'm going to live with it, spend some time with it, and then I'm going to try to answer all of the questions people have had about it that I possibly can. And there are a lot of questions, because this is a very hyped up vehicle, this is maybe the most promising of any of the EVs coming out of the start-ups. This I think is the most interesting of all of them right now, thanks in part by their background with Amazon and Ford. The basic specs are this: it's quad motors, one on each 21 inch all-terrain wheel, 314 miles of range, 0 to 60 in three seconds flat, which is hilariously quick for pickup truck. And then this is the launch edition with the adventure package, which includes a lot of the most premium interior finishes. It has the off-road upgrade and pretty much all the options. So it starts at just over $70,000 and it can quickly jump up into mid eighties or 90 plus from there. So definitely premium, but it's packing a lot of stuff that makes it feel worth the price.”


ELON MUSK TWEETS THAT TESLA IS ROLLING BACK ‘FULL SELF-DRIVING’
- Tesla is dialing back its Full Self-Driving software, CEO Elon Musk said Sunday, after discovering software bugs in the new batch of the software beta. The company had rolled out a new version of its driver-assistance software to an expanded group of users over the weekend, but Musk said that it proved problematic and that the company was working on fixes.

- Users reported sporadic issues including hard braking events, forward collision warnings and other system misfires that had not been present in previous versions.


Elon Musk on Twitter: “Regression in some left turns at traffic lights found by internal QA in 10.3. Fix in work, probably releasing tomorrow. Seeing some issues with 10.3, so rolling back to 10.2 temporarily. Please note, this is to be expected with beta software. It is impossible to test all hardware configs in all conditions with internal QA, hence public beta.”


- While several posters said the 10.3 update introduces phantom forward collision warnings (FCW), other issues noted included a disappearing Autosteer option, traffic aware cruise control (TACC) problems, and occasional AutoPilot panic. It’s unclear how common these problems are and which ones, if any, caused the rollback, but Musk responded to a tweet about the Autosteer and TACC issues saying the company is working on it.


- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (TSLA.O) said Monday it was aware of reported changes to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta advanced driver assistance system and had contacted the automaker for more information.


NTSB CHAIR CALLS ON ELON MUSK TO CHANGE DESIGN OF TESLA AUTOPILOT
- National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has called on Tesla to change the design of its advanced driver assistance system to ensure it cannot be misused by drivers, according to a letter sent to the company’s CEO Elon Musk.

- The letter, which TechCrunch has viewed, expressed concern that Tesla has yet to implement two safety recommendations that the NTSB issued more than four years ago. The urgency to address those safety recommendations has increased now that Tesla is rolling out more automated driving functions through its so-called “Full Self-Driving” software beta.

- The NTSB can only make recommendations and does not have the authority to enforce existing laws or make policy.

- Homendy also noted that it sent five other automakers that have vehicles with Level 2 driving automation systems a recommendation to apply ways to engage and alert the driver. Those five manufacturers responded to NTSB and described the action they planned to take or were taking to better monitor a driver’s level of engagement, according to Homendy’s letter to Musk.


LUCID AIR DREAM EDITION DELIVERIES RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER
- Lucid has released a photo of a vehicle carrier with six fully packaged Lucid Air electric cars on their way to a destination. We guess that those are the first customer cars - Lucid Air Dream Edition - that within the coming days or weeks will be delivered. The company said a month ago that the first deliveries are expected in October so only several days are left to fulfil the promise.

- The production of the Lucid Air started on September 28 in Casa Grande, Arizona, so it's now been almost a month of a careful ramp up of this all-new, luxury EV.

- Lucid had over 13,000 reservations for the Air when it started production, but we assume that the beginning will be slow, as quality control and satisfaction must be prioritized.

- The initial production run will be 520 Dream Edition units (Range or Performance versions) after which Lucid will move to more regular types and more and more affordable versions - Air Grand Touring, Air Touring and Air.


SAIC-VW LAUNCHES ID.3 SALES IN CHINA
- Volkswagen has started selling the ID.3 in China. Three variants are offered at prices starting at 159,888 yuan, the equivalent of about 21,500 euros. As reported, the compact electric car is produced locally by SAIC Volkswagen in Anting.

- According to the Chinese electric car portal CnEVPost, sales of the ID.3 began on Friday. The entry-level variant is said to cost 159,888 yuan (around 21,500 euros), the other two variants 173,888 yuan (around 23,400 euros) each. The portal does not provide details on these variants. However, various media report that they are both models with 125-kW and 310-Nm rear-wheel drive and the medium-sized 58-kWh battery.


VW ID5 GTX ARRIVES NOV 3RD
Volkswagen News on Twitter: "Ready for a Berlin night? 🌙 Our new #VWID5GTX is an ideal companion: elegant, expressive, electrifying – just like the capital itself. Watch as it shows off its sleek yet powerful body in front of the Berlin Victory Column! Don’t miss the #EVs world premiere on Nov 3rd!”


*AD BREAK*

GWM-BACKED SVOLT LAUNCHES 182.6GWH BATTERY CAPACITY EXPANSION PLANS
- SVOLT, a Chinese EV power battery manufacturer carved out of Great Wall Motor (GWM), for the first time appeared on the list of the global top 10 EV battery manufacturers by monthly power battery installation capacity in August, according to the data from the market research firm SNE Research.

- According to the data announced by SVOLT and complied by Gasgoo, the battery manufacturer released battery capacity plans amounting to 182.6GWh during the first ten months of 2021.

- 80GWh of the total capacity increase announced this year will be in Southwest China's Sichuan province with 29 billion yuan ($4.534 billion) worth of investment involved. Notably, the project for Chengdu was the biggest one signed so far this year in terms of both planned battery capacity and investment value.


‘TREMENDOUS PENT-UP’ CAR DEMAND GOING INTO 2022: AUTONATION CEO


HYUNDAI OFFERS TO BUY BACK NEXO HYDROGEN CARS WITH STACK DEFECTS


UK: FOUR IN 10 PARENTS WANT THEIR KIDS TO LEARN TO DRIVE IN AN ELECTRIC CAR


SIXT OFFERS TRAVELLERS CHOICE OF HYBRID AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES


PARTS AND SERVICE, THE COMING EV DISRUPTION THAT NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT


ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP TO USE FUEL CELL, BATTERY, DUAL FUEL ENGINES


INDIA AND THE UK PLAN A 140-COUNTRY SOLAR GRID


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