Several automobile manufacturers have made pledges in recent months to halt or drastically reduce producing cars with internal combustion engines between 2030 and 2035.
Fuel Included BMW i3 on static display (Image: T. Larkum)
The latest was Audi, a subsidiary of Germany’s Volkswagen, which pledged Tuesday to launch only fully electric vehicles from 2026 and halt manufacturing cars with internal combustion engines by 2033. Here’s a look at other major automakers who have already set a deadline for their model line-ups to go fully electric.
BMW
The German carmaker has increased its electric vehicle sales targets as stricter EU emission limits are pushing all manufacturers to make the shift.
Over the coming decade, BMW now wants to sell 10 million fully-electric vehicles, up from its previous target of four million.
If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:
The BMW i3 happens to be one of the top 10 best-selling electric cars globally.
BMW announced that the cumulative production of the i3 model just reached 200,000. The jubilee i3 was completed on October 15, 2020.
The i3 has been produced in Leipzig, Germany for almost seven years. It’s the first series-produced all-electric car from BMW Group (there is also the i3 REx version with a small emergency ICE generator).
BMW i3 120Ah (Image: BMW)
The BMW i3 achieved a milestone of 150,000 in May 2019, so we can estimate that it needed one and a half years to add an additional 50,000.
As the Group so far sold well over 600,000 plug-in cars (mostly PHEVs), the i3 is responsible for close to one third and remains the best selling plug-in in the lineup (cumulatively).
According to the German manufacturer, the i3 “is still enjoying strong demand”, which is kinda cool after all those years and growing competition from a growing number of newer BEVs on the market.
Currently there are two versions of the i3 BEV: standard (125 kW/170 hp) and sporty i3s (135 kW/184 hp), both equipped with the 44.2 kWh battery pack (almost twice bigger than initial 22.6 kWh 7 years ago). The WLTP range varies between 285 and 310 km (177-193 miles).
The i3 is quite unique, as it utilizes carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) on an unprecedented scale for a series-produced cars:
Since 2019, parts from the i3s (like the drive unit) are used also in the all-electric MINI Cooper SE.
The next step for BMW is the fifth generation of BMW eDrive technology and the new wave of electric models, starting with the BMW iX3.
The Leipzig plant in particular will start production of new battery modules in 2021.
If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:
One of the biggest concerns about electric cars is what happens to the batteries
They are historically difficult to recycle and could result in waste mountains . BMW UK has partnered with Off Grid Energy to provide second-life solutions for batteries decommissioned from its electric cars. Batteries are being used by the energy storage firm for mobile charging stations. Prototype device has been built using lithium-ion modules from a Mini Electric.
One of the biggest criticisms of electric cars is what happens to their high-powered batteries once they degrade and have to be decommissioned from plug-in vehicles.
Not only are EV batteries expensive for owners to replace, high-skilled workforces are required to extract valuable metals inside them, and even then they are difficult to recycle – and this could lead to huge waste mountains, experts have warned.
German car maker BMW says it has found a resolution for its high-mileage electric vehicles, giving their batteries a second-life use as mobile power units to provide charging solutions for other plug-in cars.
BMW i3 and i3S 120Ah (Image: BMW Group)
The auto brand will supply a British energy storage firm with decommissioned battery modules from electric BMW and Mini models that can be used in mobile power units.
The aim is to provide a sustainable second-use model for the batteries, which lose capacity over time and after years of use are deemed no longer efficient for electric cars.
As part of a new partnership with the car giant, Off Grid Energy has produced its first prototype mobile charging device, which is powered by lithium-ion battery modules extracted from a Mini Electric development vehicle.
It has a 40kWh capacity delivering a 7.2kW fast charge and will be used at BMW and Mini UK events over the next year.
As more battery modules become available over time, it says it can produce combined systems with a capacity of up to 180kWh from multiple electric vehicle batteries, which will be able to provide charges at rates of up to 50kW.
‘When these units are used to displace conventional ways of generating temporary power, the battery modules will at least double the CO2 reduction achieved in their original use in the car, continuing their positive impact in reducing carbon emissions,’ says the energy storage company.
Commenting on the partnership, Graeme Grieve, ceo at BMW Group UK, said: ‘BMW Group will have 25 electrified models on the roads by 2023 – half of them fully electric.
‘We are delighted to work with Off Grid Energy to find a sustainable way of continuing to use these valuable batteries, even after they have put in many years of service in our electrified cars.’
Like many electric models on the market, batteries in BMW and Mini cars have a warranty of eight years or 100,000 miles.
After this period the battery could still retain up to 80 per cent of its initial capacity, according to the vehicle maker.
However, it concedes that it is ‘inevitable’ that as EVs get older their batteries will no longer function at an optimum level for the car.
According to battery degradation calculations by Canadian firm Geotab, the average capacity loss for electric and plug-in hybrid cars is an estimated 12 per cent after six years – essentially dropping 2 per cent capacity annually.
BMW says despite its car batteries declining in performance – significant enough to retire the unit from a vehicle – it can continue to serve a secondary use purpose as a mobile power source as part of its sustainability and resource efficiency strategy.
BMW Group ceo, Oliver Zipse, said: ‘How we use resources will decide the future of our society – and of the BMW Group. As a premium car company, it is our ambition to lead the way in sustainability. That is why we are taking responsibility here and now.’
Earlier this year, Warwick University announced it had created a ‘fast grading’ system for second-life car batteries to determine if they could be purposed after being decommissioned from vehicles, using Nissan Leaf EV power supplies for the study.
If the battery’s end of life capacity is less than 70 per cent, the report says they can be reused for less demanding second life applications such as domestic and industrial energy storage.
The university said: ‘Graded second-life battery packs can provide reliable and convenient energy storage options to a range of customers: from electric roaming products – providing electricity for customers on the move, to home storage products – enabling customers with solar panels to store their energy generated.
‘More crucially, the packs can be used for storage allowing increased intermittent renewable energy sources on the grid, without putting security of supply at risk.’
Professor David Greenwood from WMG, University of Warwick, added: ‘Automotive batteries deliver some great environmental benefits, but they consume a lot of resources in doing so.
‘Opening up a second life for batteries improves both the environmental and the economic value we draw from those resources before they need recycling.’
If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:
When it comes to more sustainable driving, there is a whole host of options now and it can be confusing knowing what’s what. In the olden days you pretty much had the choice of diesel or petrol, but with the ever-evolving market of low-emission vehicles, there’s more choice than ever.
When it comes to “EVs,” you can choose from BEVs, PHEVs, HEVs, or FCEVS, all of which are classed as ULEVs. But what do all these acronyms actually mean?
If you need some quick pointers on what all these acronyms stand for and what they refer to specifically, look no further.
BEV
Let’s start with the most common type of EV, and the type of vehicle we usually refer to when we’re talking about EVs: the battery electric vehicle, or BEV.
As the name suggests, a BEV is an electric vehicle that uses batteries to store and deploy power which powers electric motors to drive the wheels. It’s also common to see words like “pure electric,” or “all-electric” when you read about battery electric vehicles.
Popular BEVs include cars like the Nissan Leaf, the whole range of Teslas, the Polestar 2, the BMW i3, Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia Soul EV, VW’s ID.3 and e-Golf, the Jaguar i-Pace — you get the idea.
Tesla Model 3 (Image: Tesla.com)
PHEV and HEV
Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are perhaps the most confusing of the partially-electric vehicle world. There’s one key difference, though: plug-in hybrids can be charged up like a battery electric vehicle by plugging-in to an EV charge point, regular hybrids cannot.
It gives you the flexibility to drive and use your PHEV like it was a BEV and not rely on the combustion engine, for very short journeys at least. They typically have very small batteries and are only capable of driving between 30 and 50 miles on all-electric mode.
Popular PHEVs include the Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai Ioniq, MINI Countryman PHEV, and the Volvo XC60 T8.
Regular hybrid vehicles (HEVs), like the original Toyota Prius, can’t be plugged in and the only way to charge their batteries is from regenerative braking or by using the engine like a generator.
Some companies have even referred to these vehicles as “self-charging hybrids,” as if not having to plug them in is a benefit. That phrase has been branded as misleading, and Toyota and Lexus ads in EV loving Norway using the tag line have been banned for being misleading. In reality, to charge them, you need to fuel them with gasoline.
FCEV
FCEV stands for, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle. These are a small offshoot of EVs that use hydrogen fuel cells to create an electrical charge that’s used to power motors that drive the wheels.
Most FCEVs use a small battery or super capacitor to act as a buffer between the fuel cell and the motors to ensure power delivery is consistent and reliable.
Some tout fuel cell vehicles as a better option than batteries for the future of sustainable transport. They can be filled up in the same way as a combustion engine vehicle, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the world, and their only waste product is water vapor.
If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:
Driving from Northampton to Surrey to visit my family over Christmas I was due to go past the new Milton Keynes Charging Hub so took the opportunity to call in.
The Hub was developed by Milton Keynes Council with a government grant, with the charging infrastructure provided by BP Chargemaster. I had heard on social media that the hub was recently completed. However there’s been nothing in the mainstream press about it – I’m guessing there’ll be an official launch soon.
Milton Keynes ‘Mushrooms’ Charging Hub (Image: T. Larkum)
It is quite difficult to find. It is tucked away at the far corner of the Coachway bus station (near Junction 14 of the M1) and there’s no signage in place yet. There were fresh road markings in place though.
The location is pretty good, not just because of proximity to the motorway. Being co-located with the bus station means that while you wait to charge there’s easy access on foot to its cafe and toilets (though you have to pay 30p for the latter).
The hub consists of a triangular island with 8 rapid chargers around its edge (why not 9?) all covered over with three large concrete ‘mushroom’ canopies for rain protection. I was there mid-week and it was pretty quiet, however two other EVs did call in even during the short time I was there topping up my i3.
Charging is through BP Chargemaster’s Polar network so requires either the Polar Instant app or Polar Plus subscription as described previously.
BP Chargemaster Rapid Charger at Milton Keynes Charging Hub (Image: T. Larkum)
The Hub is a great idea and seems to be implemented well. It also gives an exciting view into the future of organised EV charging, being potentially a bit like using an airport lounge. It represents another nail in the coffin of fossil fuel motoring – who would want to relax and eat at a petrol station?!
If there’s a criticism it’s just the usual one of uneven rapid charger allocation, and one can hardly blame MK council for taking every opportunity to support EVs. But for sure MK alone has more rapid chargers than anywhere else in the UK, including the entire country of Wales.
Strong demand for electric vehicles (EVs) saw values rise 0.9% in September, while average used values remained static, says Cap HPI.
Particular strength has been seen for pure battery electric cars with values increasing for as diverse models like the Renault Zoe, BMW i3 and Tesla Models S and X.
At three years and 60,000 miles, average used values didn’t move in September, while newer cars have increased by a negligible 0.1% at the six month and one-year points. Older cars have dropped slightly, but the 0.3% decrease at five-years-old is again negligible.
Over the past 3 years, BMW has been running a trial of its ‘ChargeForward’ program with BMW i3 owners willing to automatically delay the charging of their vehicle at the request of their local electric utility, PG&E, in order to offset peak demand.
BMW is presenting the results of the trial and says that electric car owners can turn i3 into ‘cash cow’ and use more solar power with controllable load technology
The idea is quite simple. Under the program, PG&E can request BMW to delay the charging sessions of BMW i3 owners by up to an hour in order to reduce the load.
Instead, the owners are incentivized to charge for cheaper when renewable energy production is higher.
In return, owners are compensated for the possible inconvenience. For the first trial run, owners received a $1,000 “gift card” at the launch of the program and they were able to get up to $540 more based on how their charging sessions were affected. BMW is actually reducing the rewards for the second round, presumably because they realized that it was a lot of money for what they were asking of the i3 owners.
It’s important to note that owners can easily temporarily opt out of the program before starting a charging session if they absolutely need to charge. But if your car needs to charge, but it’s not urgent, you plug it in and if PG&E needs to offset demand, they will delay it and your car will take up to one more hour to charge.
By the middle of the next decade, the world as we know it will end. This end is not written in stone, it was not predicted by the Mayans, and it was not foretold by UFO religions.
This end has been sung in the past few years in press releases, statements and interviews. It is the prophesied end of the internal combustion engine. And its killers, the three horsemen of the apocalypse, are finally here, waiting for the fourth to join them.
Until September 2018, the electric car segment has been one of marginal delight, laughter, and discord. Caught between the flamboyant statements showing the impressive sale figures for the Nissan Leaf, the pot-smelling tweets of Elon Musk, and promises made from all over the industry to go all electric, the world watched in amusement and amazement what until now amounted to nothing more than good television.
But no more. The big boys came out to play this month, and their way of playing the game will change the industry. As Turkish used to say, Ze Germans are here. And they are here because they saw something they like.
The three heralds of doom are Daimler, BMW, and Volkswagen. All three, be it in their own name or that of some of their subbrands, revealed in the past two weeks the three horsemen that will shape the future: the EQC, the Vision iNext, and the e-tron SUV.
BMW i3 All-Electric (Image: BMW)
How will they end the ICE world? Through sheer strength, numbers, and services.
Strength. The three are the biggest players in the automotive industry, period. Combined, their power – read sales numbers, financial figures, pretty much everything – dwarfs any competition.
And it is power that gets noticed. Try as it might, Tesla is incapable of single-handedly change centuries of habits and patterns, of changing rules and regulations, of getting enough government support. But when the likes of Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen step into the room, everything changes.
Numbers. Daimler plans to have on the roads ten different all-electric cars by 2022. BMW has 12 of them in the works, all to be released by 2025. Volkswagen shames both of them with plans to launch 80 new models across its brands by the same year.
June was the second-best month all time for plug-in electric car sales in Europe with more than 38,000 units put on the road.
With year-over-year growth of 37% in June, market share jumped to 2.4% (2.2% for the first half of the year).
The total sales in the first six months nearly hit 185,000 (43% more than a year ago) and it’s expected that more than 400,000 is possible in all of 2018.
Ultra-low emission registrations up (Image: OLEV)
The top five best selling models in Europe – for the year are:
Nissan LEAF – 3,377 and 17,944 YTD
Renault ZOE – 3,425 and 17,016 YTD
BMW i3 – 2,002 and 11,301 YTD
Volkswagen e-Golf – 1,447 and 9,796 YTD
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – 2,174 and 9,662 YTD
Renault ZOE this time managed to beat Nissan LEAF and close the gap a little bit in the race for the best selling model.
As usual, the last month of the quarter brings some decent numbers from Tesla – 2,105 Model S and 1,829 Model X in June and 7,699 and 5,600, respectively for the year-to-date.
The German plug-in electric car (PEV) market grew 23% in June, to 5,709 registrations, with plug-in hybrids (+25%) and fully electric cars (+21%) growing at a similar pace. In 2018, all-electrics are reaching 1% share, while plug-in hybrids have also grown their share to 1%, resulting in a total PEV share of 2%.
But the most interesting story on the fuels mix is the Titanic-like drop of diesel vehicles sales. In June, their sales sank 16%, to the benefit of all other kinds of fuels. Diesel now represents only 31% of the market. At this pace, diesel sales could be tot in this market by 2021. Inconceivable? Well, in 12 months, diesel lost 9% share, going from 40% to 31%.
Fuel Included BMW i3 on static display (Image: T. Larkum)
Looking at June best sellers, BMW had a 1–2 win, with the i3 scoring 509 units, a new year best, while the 225xe Active Tourer registered 500 units, a new record for the German MPV.
The Renault Zoe was 3rd, while the surprise of the month was the #5 Mini Countryman PHEV. With 300 deliveries, it had its best result ever in Germany.
Just outside the top 5, the VW e-Golf registered only 290 deliveries, its worst performance in 11 months. Is the German brand already starting the sunset mode of its BEV hatchback?
