All posts by Jo

Continental joins BMW partnership as Germany pushes forward with autonomy

July 11, 2017Autonomous Driving, BMW, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentJo

The joint venture in autonomous driving by BMW, Mobileye and Intel has gained another partner in German automotive parts and tyre company Continental.

As the development of the technology continues at a pace, manufacturers are finding themselves in needs of an alliance with technology companies to ensure they can keep up with the demand required to meet launch targets. The BMW venture will see Continental play a role in the commercialisation of the platform, which will be sold to other vehicle manufacturers.

Frank Jourdan, member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and head of the Chassis & Safety division, comments:

‘We have already had very good experience in working with the BMW Group through jointly successfully completed development and series projects. Contributing development and integration for the partnership is a recognition of our extensive competence in the field of automated driving. The cooperation with the core partners involved represents the unique opportunity to drive ahead and get this technology of the future to our roads more quickly.’

Speaking on behalf of the partnership, Klaus Fröhlich, member of the board of management of BMW AG for development, adds:

‘Every new Tier One partner brings us a step closer to our goal: We intend to bring safe autonomous driving to series production by 2021 and actively shape this technology. With our non-exclusive approach to this technology of the future we will deliver a safe, fast and cost-efficient solution that is highly attractive also for other manufacturers.’

The group added Delphi to the partnership in May 2017, while Mobileye was bought by Intel earlier in 2017, the technology giant seeing the need to integrate the autonomous specialist into its ranks.

BMW 530e PHEV review: An electric car revolution

July 10, 2017530e PHEV, BMW, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentJo

AS ELECTRIC cars become ever-more mainstream this BMW 530e is the latest example of new technology becoming normal.

BMW 530e is another example of how normal electric cars have become

BMW’s new plug-in hybrid version of the already-successful 5-Series could revolutionise the electronic market, especially among business drivers. Plug-in hybrid vehicles work by combining a petrol engine with an electric motor and battery.

That means the car can run on electric power for around 30 miles before the engine kicks in. Alternatively, both the engine and electric motor can work in tandem with the electric one running the car at lower speeds or under light acceleration, switching to or working with petrol when more performance is required.

It takes a sharp eye to even spot that this 530e is the plug-in hybrid version of BMW’s 5-Series saloon, introduced earlier this year. Only details like a blue tint to the grille, blue lining to the BMW badge on the alloy wheels and the eDrive logo on the rear door pillar, as well as the giveaway charge point flap behind the nearside front wheel, mark out this as the ultra-low emission 5-Series.

The car is the new plug-in version of the already popular 5-Series

The plug-in hybrid takes the 5-Series to new efficiency levels, which isn’t surprising as it’s the first rechargeable one. The 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and 83kw electric motor combine to produce 252bhp, returning an average fuel economy figure of 141.2mpg, though that number is entirely dependent on how much time the car runs on electric rather than petrol, and the emissions figure is 46g/km.

That’s important for company car drivers because anything below 50g/km means lower monthly tax bills. It is also eligible for a £2,500 government grant off the purchase price. The battery helps performance too, giving the 530e a 0 to 60mph acceleration of 6.2 seconds. It is electronically limited to 146mph.

There are three driving modes for how the battery and engine work. In the Auto eDrive setting, the car decides whether to use electric or petrol based on how hard the driver is pressing the accelerator and the car’s speed.

Below 60mph and when not accelerating too hard the battery is employed. Push harder or get to higher speeds and the car switches to petrol. It’s essentially like a regular hybrid, such as Toyota’s Prius.

The U.K. Wants to Lead World in Driverless and Electric Vehicles

July 10, 2017Autonomous Driving, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentJo

The U.K. government plans to invest more than 800 million pounds ($1 billion) in new driverless and zero-emission vehicle technology as it seeks to boost its economy while leaving the European Union.

Investment in research and new recharging infrastructure is intended to make Britain a “leader” in electric and autonomous vehicles, Queen Elizabeth II said in a speech marking the state opening of Parliament in London on Wednesday. The technology may be worth 28 billion pounds to the economy by 2035, the government estimates.

In order to deliver on that goal, the government will:

Extend mandatory vehicle insurance to cover the use of automated vehicles
Set a target for almost every car and van to be zero emission by 2050
Allow government to require motorway service areas and large gasoline stations to install electric vehicle recharging points
Require a set of common standards for charging points so they can be used widely across all vehicles
Invest 200 million pounds in researching and testing driverless car infrastructure and 600 million pounds during the course of this Parliament in supporting the ultra-low emission vehicles, sums which had been previously announced

The measures were welcomed by businesses, which had been concerned that Prime Minister Theresa May’s focus on withdrawing Britain from the European Union would push issues like air pollution down the agenda.

“It is encouraging to see the government’s desire to make the U.K. a leader in new industries and enhance its role on the world stage,”

said Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group, an alliance of business leaders, politicians and non-profit groups that’s pressing the Treasury on environmental policies.

Scramble begins for the vast financial prize of electric vehicles

July 10, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentJo

Morgan Stanley is betting that electric cars will corner 70pc of the European vehicle market by the middle of century, leading to a drastic upheaval for the power sector and scramble for dominance of lucrative new technologies.

After a rough start, Tesla’s sales in China are booming. It may soon manufacture in Shanghai for the world’s biggest EV market

Global banks in London and New York are no longer debating whether the switch-over will occur. Research reports have shifted to granular analysis over what this means for large swathes of the economy, and who will be the winners and losers as the old edifice crumbles.

A report this week from Nicholas Ashworth and Carolina Dores at Morgan Stanley says a ratchet effect is underway. It is becoming more costly each year to develop petrol and diesel cars that comply with tightening rules on emissions of CO2 and particulates (NOx), yet the cost of EV batteries keeps falling. The crossover point will arrive in the mid-2020s.

BMW i3 may have the coolest car interior

July 9, 2017BMW, Electric Cars, i3, News, Reviews and CommentJo

Somewhere along the way, throughout the history of the automobile, car interiors started to all replicate each other. Go back five or six decades and car cabins were all remarkably different, with unique ideas and ways of doing things.

However, modern cars are all very, very similar on the inside. Across brands, segments and price points, car cabins are mostly the same, in terms of overall layout, shape and technology. But there is one outlier in the industry and that’s the BMW i3.

Step into the BMW i3 and it’s almost like a different world, compared to other cars. It’s so different from anything else on the market that it’s almost unnerving. Whereas you can pretty much get in any car these days and immediately understand how to control and operate it and its systems, the i3 is different. There’s a learning curve and that throws people at first. And it isn’t even just because it’s an electric car, therefore lacking the need for conventional powertrain, as it differs greatly from every other electric car as well.

It’s sort of funny, as there have been quite a few modern cars that try and attempt a retro look with their cabins. The current Mustang, with its classic dials and dash layout, is one of them. Yet, the BMW i3 takes you twenty years into the future. There’s so much negative space, so much interior room that’s it’s almost shocking. In front of the funky two-spoke steering wheel is a single screen that displays the simplest of information and nothing more. The iDrive screen sort of floats above a section of negative space that’s often covered in eucalyptus wood and surrounded by exposed, unfinished carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

There’s nothing else like the cabin of the BMW i3 on the market. It’s fascinating and charming in a way that nothing else can come close to managing. Like it or not, there’s no denying its departure from the current car norms. This makes it one of the coolest cabins on the planet and the most interesting.

Source: BMW Blog

BMW and PG&E Prove Electric Vehicles Can Be a Valuable Grid Resource

July 9, 2017BMW, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentJo

Nearly 100 plug-in cars and a stack of second-life EV batteries successfully responded to dozens of demand response calls.

The concept of using electric vehicles as a grid resource is no longer just theory. A pilot program recently conducted by BMW and Pacific Gas & Electric successfully demonstrated that electric vehicles can serve as reliable and flexible grid assets, which could eventually save money for both utilities and EV owners.

The BMW i ChargeForward Project is one of the best examples to date of a utility and an automaker working together to develop new technologies and use cases for electric vehicles (EVs) and their batteries.

“One of the things that we really wanted to test here was, how can we work closely with an automaker?”

said David Almeida, electric vehicle program manager at PG&E.

“We are an old company, and we’re a large company. Automakers are old companies, and they’re large companies. We both have our own internal bureaucracies. And so, one of the challenges I wanted to understand when we were setting this up was, how do we make those two independent entities work well together?”

“By and large, we didn’t have any of those institutional challenges that I was [worried about],” he said. “We ended up working very closely, I think partially because we’ve got this common shared goal of increasing electric transportation.”

With the i ChargeForward pilot, BMW was required to provide PG&E with 100 kilowatts of grid resources when called upon, through a combination of delaying charging for nearly 100 BMW i3 vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area and drawing from a second-life stationary battery system built from reused EV batteries, for the duration of 1 hour. The grid services demonstrated in the pilot included day-ahead and real-time signals that were modeled after existing proxy demand resources from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), in order to test whether these resources could eventually participate at the wholesale level.

EVs are ‘clearly’ the future despite slow start, Renault’s Normand says

July 8, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, RenaultJo

The global market for electric vehicles has not grown as fast as Renault expected when CEO Carlos Ghosn announced a bold investment of 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) six years ago to develop the technology, said Gilles Normand, the automaker’s senior vice president for electric vehicles.

Although most EV buyers are in cities or suburbs, increasing numbers of people in rural areas are choosing battery powered cars, Normand says.

However, electric vehicles are “clearly” the future of the automotive industry, Normand told attendees of the 2017 Automotive News Europe Congress here on Wednesday.

In 2011, Ghosn had predicted that the Renault-Nissan alliance would have the ability to produce half a million electric vehicles by 2013. Last year, total sales of electrified vehicles including pure electric and plug-in hybrids from all automakers were about 465,000.

While overall sales figures have not hit Ghosn’s early target, the alliance is the global leader with its Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf electric cars.

Normand pointed to a number of technological and regulatory trends, including stricter clean air and emissions regulations. In China, Normand said, the “airpocalypse” is a real fact and is driving government regulations that aim to have 5 million zero emissions vehicles on the road by 2015. In India the government has announced “massive” investments and wants to see 100 percent electric vehicle use by 2030.

“Electric vehicles are a good short term answer for particulate emissions, and a long term solution for climate and CO2 emissions, together with cleaner energy generation,”

he said.

The spread of fuel economy standards around the world — 83 percent of the global automarket is bound by such standards, Norman said — is forcing automakers rethink their product offerings, he said.

Ford wins contract to make 2,500 all-electric vans for Deutsche Post

July 8, 2017Electric Vans, Ford, News, Reviews and Comment, Streetscooter, Streetscooter XLJo

Ford has won an important contract to further electrify Deutsche Post’s fleet of delivery vehicles.

Deutsche Post has already been deploying electric vehicles in its fleet, but this new contract should quickly add 2,500 all-electric vans on the roads.

The company has already been producing its own all-electric delivery vehicle, the Streetscooter (left), but the new vehicle built on the Ford Transit will be significantly bigger, Streetscooter XL (right)

They will use the chassis of the Ford Transit, which will be equipped with a new battery-electric powertrain.

Ford had already announced plans for a plug-in hybrid version of the Ford Transit for 2019, but it looks like this new contract is changing the plan by using an all-electric version built on the same chassis.

Production is set to start next month and expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Jürgen Gerdes, member of the executive board of the Deutsche Post AG, commented on the news:

“I consider this partnership another important boost for electro-mobility in Germany. This step emphasizes that Deutsche Post is an innovation leader. It will relieve the inner cities and increase the people’s quality of life. We will continue working on completely carbon neutral CO2-neutral logistics!”

Along with the new contract, Deutsche Post plans to double its production of the Streetscooter to 20,000 units per year – making the logistic company a significant EV manfacturer.Read more: electrek

First electric vehicle charge point set up in Brent as council looks to tackle poor air quality

July 7, 2017Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Source LondonJo

The first of 33 electric vehicle charge points has gone up as the council looks to have them placed in 24 different locations throughout Brent

Brent’s first Electric Vehicle Charge Point is up and running on Dudley Road (Photo: Brent Council)

Brent council has erected its first electric vehicle charge point in the borough as it looks to tackle poor air quality.

Dudley Road is the home to the first of 33 charge points for electric cars in the area as the council aims to set them up in 24 locations.

Cabinet Member for Environment, Councilor Eleanor Southwood, said:

“This is a really proactive step forward in the move towards greener energy sources in the borough.

“We want to make it easier and more convenient for existing owners of electric vehicles in the borough and create the infrastructure so that more people are able to switch to electric vehicles in the future.

“Poor air quality is one of the biggest issues facing London and we will work hard to find innovative ways to improve air quality in Brent.

“Everyone has a part to play when it comes to reducing air pollution and we will continue to work with residents, schools and businesses to improve things in all parts of the borough.”

Source: GetWestLondon

Polestar becomes fully standalone brand alongside Volvo to take on Tesla

July 7, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, VolvoJo

Volvo is to turn its Polestar unit into a global standalone brand for higher-performance electric vehicles (EVs) as it sets its sights on creating a Tesla rival.

With its product and commercial plans to be revealed in the autumn, Polestar’s brand will now be placed at the same level as that of Volvo, and its cars will no longer bear the Volvo logo. This places the brand alongside high performance, high-margin EV brands such as Tesla, and could therefore give it a marketing edge over EV sub-brands such as BMW’s i and VW’s ID. Its motorsport credentials will also likely gain new momentum, which will probably see it entering Formula E.

The brand previously was a sub-brand for Volvo’s high-performance models, acting in a similar way to sub-brands such as Mercedes’ AMG and BMW’s M. Establishing Polestar as a full brand alongside Volvo forms part of Chinese Volvo parent Geely Automotive’s ambitions to create a vast portfolio of brands to rival that of global sales leader Volkswagen Group.

Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said:

‘With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.

Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high-performance electrified cars.’

Volvo veteran design chief Thomas Ingenlath, who helped realise Volvo’s sales renaissance through leading the design of models including the XC90, will be the new CEO of Polestar.

Samuelsson said:

‘Thomas heading up the Polestar organization shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group.’

Ingenlath added:

‘I am really excited to take up the challenge of establishing this exciting brand, developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channelling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team.

‘The next chapter in Polestar’s history is just beginning.’