Category Archives: Tesla

News and reviews of Tesla electric cars (including plug-in hybrids).

Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales July 2020: The Market Takes Off

September 14, 2020Electric Cars, Hyundai, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Sales, Tesla, ZOERepost

Tesla exceeds 200,000 YTD, while 9 other brands sold more than 10,000 passenger plug-in cars.

After about a year of relatively low growth or noticeable decline inf global plug-in electric car sales, July 2020 finally brings us a strong bounce up.

With close to 248,000 sales (the 4th best monthly result ever), sales improved by 76% year-over-year, and market share is up too, at 3.7% (7% decline in the overall car sales helped a little bit).

All-electric cars hold the majority of plug-in car sales (64% and 67% YTD), although growth of 63% year-over-year in July is significantly lower than in the case of plug-in hybrids (up 106% year-over-year).

During seven months of 2020, almost 1.2 million passenger plug-in cars were sold globally, which is 5% than a year ago at this point, but the perspective is positive as Europe is booming and China has returned to growth.

Model rank
The top selling models last month were:

Tesla Model 3 – 22,461 (#1 YTD: 164,800)
Renault ZOE – 9,410 (#2 YTD: 46,511)
Tesla Model Y – 7,540 (#11 YTD: 20,955)
Wuling’s Hong Guang MINI EV – 7,348 (outside top 20)
Hyundai Kona Electric – 6,257 (#4 YTD: 25,549)
The Model 3 is pulling forward quickly and is so far ahead that we can already assume it’s the best-selling car of the year 2020, just like in 2019.

Renault ZOE is really strong and clearly stands out from the rest of the pack. The time will tell whether it will be caught by others, like Model Y or Wuling’s Hong Guang MINI EV (with over 50,000 orders).

By the way, Hyundai Kona Electric passed the Volkswagen e-Golf and is now targeting the Nissan LEAF.

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Electric showdown: Tesla Model 3 vs Polestar 2

September 12, 2020Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, VolvoRepost

We pit the world’s most popular electric car against its first true rival to see if the sales charts are due a shake-up

The year is 2010 and I’m explaining to you that, a decade from now, Volvo’s almost-unknown motorsport partner will be wrestling for supremacy with an American car company whose only product to date is an electric take on the Lotus Elise. You laugh, because it all just sounds so implausible. Tesla Motors will soon become the first US manufacturer to go public since Ford in 1956 and Polestar is starting to flex its appeal here in Europe, building go-faster versions of Volvo’s regular but increasingly attractive saloons. But the two hottest mass-market properties in an emerging low-carbon world order by 2020? Come on. Surely the German and Japanese giants would never let that happen…

Yet here we are, at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, with a Tesla Model 3 and a Polestar 2. The former needs scant introduction. The reptilian-eyed Model 3 remains the most popular electric car in both North America and China – and before Renault refreshed the Zoe, Europe also. Some treble, that. People gravitate towards Tesla because its cars tend to go further and charge faster than anything else, and even the lowliest Model 3 – the Standard Range Plus, which at £40,490 is the most junior Tesla and uses one motor, not two – can out-accelerate even something as rapid as Honda’s Civic Type R. Tesla also sets itself apart from established manufacturers ideologically, but you could write a book on that subject alone. The takeaway is that, for those keen to wean themselves off petrol, the Model 3 is one hell of a package.

One thing it never had was a true rival, until now. The 2 is an electric car of Chinese, Swedish and, yes, British provenance (Polestar has a research and development base just off the M69, adjacent to where Rolls-Royce plc makes aeronautical fan cases) whose deadpan presence gives it the aura of something that could have escaped from a clandestine military facility. At £51,900 when fitted with the Performance Pack (which adds Brembo brakes, 20in wheels, gold detailing and, if you hadn’t heard, manually adjustable Öhlins dampers), it costs roughly what this Model 3 costs, and the quoted 292 miles of WLTP range certainly isn’t buried by the 329 miles of its rival.

Back to top
True, were you to go for the Long Range version of the Model 3 rather than the Performance tested here, you would cut the price from £56,490 to £46,990 and extend your one-hit reach by 19 miles. But equally, if you ditched the Performance Pack, the 2 would cost a near-identical amount.

As for pace, the Model 3 Long Range can accelerate from 0-60mph in 4.4sec and the 2 takes 4.7sec, so regarding the one metric that the EV evangelists just love to quote, there’s little in it. Or at least that would be true were our Model 3 not a Performance. Its 3.4sec sprint time is closer to that of the McLaren F1 than the 2, but in broad terms, these cars are still deliciously closely matched.

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Captain of the Green Plate Club – Accelerating EV Adoption?

July 24, 2020Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Sales, TeslaRepost

The pandemic is likely to have lasting effects on traditional business models as we adapt to homeworking, social distancing and see aspects of a public policy shift away from globalisation, writes Mark Richards, partner and co-leader for Energy, Environmental & Infrastructure at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.

The transport sector has been hit hard, as airline operators wrestle with record slumps in demand, airports underutilised and traditional mass transit systems operators deal with a fraction of usual daily commuter passengers.

The need to socially distance has led to an increase in commuters utilising their cars to get to and from their workplaces, especially those keyworkers who are unable to undertake their jobs remotely. But these keyworkers are only a fraction of the typical commuters heading into our big cities, most are currently home working.

The combination of the lockdown imposed by the Government and continued homeworking has significantly reduced traffic volumes in our cities, which in turn has led to significant improvements in air quality and noise reduction.

Can these benefits be maintained and indeed accelerated through the adoption of zero-emission vehicles?

There are few industries enjoying double-digit growth in 2020, the EV sector is one of those – in July 2020 we have seen Tesla Inc. market capitalisation exceed Toyota, to become the largest car manufacturer in the world.

So in the UK with a push to net-zero by 2050, along with a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vans by 2035, is there more than can be done to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, especially if investment in industries supporting (and the adoption of) electrification of mobility is a COVID-19 recovery response?

The UK Government can already be commended for the recent tax incentives put in place to attract company car drivers to switch to electric vehicles, this comes after the UK Government’s commitment to the sector through its ‘Road to Zero’ strategy announced in July 2018, providing ambitious targets for a new car and van sales.

The Government continues to promote electric vehicle adoption and has enacted various pieces of legislation to promote the e-mobility transition including the Autonomous and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 and Alternative Fuels Directive/The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulations 2017.

These pieces of legislation in most place focus on the conditions for creating electric vehicle charge points.

So, on balance, the current policies from the UK Government are creating a very positive ecosystem for the greater adoption of zero-emission vehicles, however, more can be done.

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Tesla upgrades Model S with 402-mile range

June 30, 2020Electric Cars, Model S, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

Tesla has upgraded the Model S, its flagship electric sedan, with a new range of 402 miles — thanks to several improvements, including new wheels.

Earlier this year, Tesla released a new “Long Range Plus” version of the Model S with an EPA-rated range that was later updated to 391 miles on a single charge.

The new version of the vehicle was achieved through several small changes over the last year, and Tesla needed to change the name in order for the EPA to give it new rating.

Around the same time, CEO Elon Musk claimed that Tesla is close to having a 400-mile electric car.

During Tesla’s Q1 2020 results, Musk claimed that they already achieved it because the EPA made a mistake when testing the new Model S Long Range Plus.

The CEO claimed that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) left a door open with the key inside the vehicle during their cycle test — resulting in the electric car not going to “sleep” and draining the battery a little too much.

The EPA has denied that.

Now a few months later, Tesla is announcing that it achieved an official EPA range of 402 miles:

This significant achievement reflects Tesla’s obsession with efficiency and energy frugality, and is realized through several changes, both iterative and transformational, in core hardware and system architecture development by the Tesla engineering, design, and production teams. These changes went into production earlier this year when we first started manufacturing Model S Long Range Plus at our factory in Fremont, California. All Model S Long Range Plus vehicles will receive the new 402-mile rating.

It should mean that all Model S Long-Range vehicles produced since February should achieve this range.

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Why Electric Vehicles Are Going To Take Over The World

May 21, 2020Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, Tesla, VolkswagenRepost

Interesting times in the electric vehicle market, as more and more carmakers try to position themselves in what looks like a second phase of growth.

In the luxury market segment, the announced launch of Tesla’s Cybertruck has galvanized a market that, in the United States, buys two million vehicles each year. What at first looked like a prototype of a prototype, has turned out to be a completely revolutionary design that combines a unique-looking vehicle with much lower manufacturing costs than expected. With more than half-a-million orders on its books, the company is now prioritizing its production over the Roadster.

The reason is simple: the Roadster appeals to a relatively marginal market and, from a target audience point of view, does not contribute much to the segments in which the brand already had significant appeal, whereas the Cybertruck, if successful, could allow it to dominate a very important and iconic part of the market that is fundamental to achieving mass popularity in a country like the United States.

In the economy segment, Volkswagen has announced plans to launch a family of electric vehicles priced at below $22,000, targeting city dwellers and not originally designed for the US, which was originally going to be launched under the Seat brand. Affordable mobility is an important segment that could shift a lot of units.

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Is Elon Musk going to war with Britain’s Big Six? Tesla chief plans to supply UK homes with electricity

May 13, 2020Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

US carmaker Tesla has applied for a licence to generate electricity in the UK
The application was made to the UK Gas and Electricity Markets Authority
Purpose of the licence may be to introduce the company’s ‘Autobidder’ platform
Autobidder is a real-time trading platform currently operating in South Australia

Tesla has applied for a licence to generate electricity in the UK, according to documents, sparking rumours that Elon Musk is going to war with Britain’s Big Six.

The US carmaker is mainly known for its electric vehicles but also has operations in battery energy storage and solar panel and solar roof tile manufacturing.

The purpose of the licence may be to introduce the company’s ‘Autobidder’ platform, according to a company source speaking to The Telegraph.

Having built a significant battery business in recent years, the carmaker is now preparing to enter the UK market with its technology, industry sources claim. The application, made to the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority by Tesla Motors Co. on Tuesday, does not specify the reasons for seeking a licence.

However, it is suspected it will aim to introduce Tesla’s Autobidder – a real-time platform which provides independent power producers currently operating at Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR) in South Australia – to Great Britain.

Autobidder claims that, through market bidding, it has ‘added competition to drive down energy prices’, according to its website. This looks to give executives at the UK’s Big Six suppliers – British Gas, EDF Energy, E. ON, Npower, Scottish Power, and SSE – a headache.

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Tesla Model Y seats and cargo shown, range nudged to 316 miles

March 27, 2020Electric Cars, Model Y, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

Just before deliveries of the Tesla Model Y began Friday (according to various accounts on Twitter, at least), Tesla showed more views of the interior, and nudged the top EPA range rating up to 316 miles.

That’s a one-mile increase from the 315 miles quoted by Tesla in January. At the time, the automaker said it was raising the top range rating from the previous 280 miles thanks to “continuing engineering progress.”

Published on the Model Y page of Tesla’s website—but not yet confirmed by the EPA—the 316-mile range applies to the Long Range version of the all-wheel drive Model Y. The Performance version is rated at 315 miles.

As the name implies, the Performance is the sportier of the two. It will do 0 to 60 mph in as little as 3.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 145 mph, according to Tesla. Figures for the Long Range variant are 4.8 seconds to 60 mph and a top speed of 135 mph.

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Tesla Model 3 wins UK Car of the Year 2020 award

March 13, 2020Electric Cars, Kia, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Niro EV, TeslaRepost

Tesla’s Model 3 has been crowned UK Car of the Year 2020, making it back-to-back wins for electric vehicles at the awards following the Jaguar I-Pace’s victory in 2019.

After emerging triumphant as Best Executive car when the category winners were announced on February 12, the Tesla battled it out against eight other category winners for the overall title.

Three of these cars were electric vehicles (EVs) and the popularity of another one of the trio – the Kia e-Niro – ensured the closest-ever winning margin in the history of the UK Car of the Year Awards.

John Challen, director of the UK Car of the Year awards, said: “Game-changer is an often-overused phrase, but the Tesla Model 3 has shaken up the executive segment and got many brands thinking. Electric vehicles attract a broad spectrum of opinions, but it’s clear that with its technology, performance and range, the Model 3 is converting a lot of people….

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Leasing customers look to snap up EVs before subsidies end

March 10, 2020Electric Cars, Leaf, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan, Sales, TeslaRepost

Personal leasing customers are rushing to electric vehicles (EVs) ahead of next month’s expiration of the £3,500 subsidy for plug-in vehicles.

Latest figures from Leasing.com show that pure EVs accounted for 5% of all leasing enquiries in January – almost twice that of their share of the overall new car market (2.7%).

The Nissan Leaf proved to be the most popular all-electric model in January. With a range of around 168 miles, the 110kW N-Connecta 40kWh Nissan Leaf derivative proved most popular, ahead of the Tesla Model 3.

The Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) is spread evenly across the term of the lease and can reduce the monthly cost of a 36-month contract by around 25%, or £100 a month, according to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA).

Leasing.com and the BVRLA are calling for the grant to be extended to continue to acceleration the uptake of zero-emission vehicles

Paul Harrison, head of strategic partnerships at Leasing.com, said: “Leasing customers are responsible for the purchase of tens of thousands of electric vehicles each year and the PICG is vital in helping more consumers make the transition from petrol or diesel to electric vehicles.”

“Now that hybrid vehicles appear to have been added to the government’s ban, and speculation it could happen as early as 2032, more urgently needs to be done to continue to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles by consumers.”

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Let’s spark the electric car revolution now — there’s no time to stall

March 2, 2020Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, Sales, TeslaRepost

For those of you thinking that electric cars didn’t exist before Elon Musk and Tesla, think again.

Those stepping out into the manure-strewn streets of Manhattan in 1897 could have hailed a battery fuelled, as opposed to horse drawn, taxi. In 1900, more than 1,000 electric cars were made in the US, 28 per cent of total American car production that year.

A few years later, however, Henry Ford produced the petrol-powered Model T and the electric starter motor replaced the hand crank. From that point on, the electric car was seemingly doomed: not enough power, not enough range and, as petrol stations proliferated, not enough charging points.

To be fair, electric vehicles still managed to flourish in niche areas. The humble milk float had a maximum speed of around 15mph, could travel roughly 25 miles (following a seven-hour charge) and blocked the streets of Britain for decades. Floats were cheap to run and could easily be charged at the milk depot after the day’s deliveries (a model that could be used in the 21st century if we end up with huge fleets of self-driving cars). Still, floats could never compete with a Ford or, for that matter, a Ferrari.

Tesla, however, can. And, increasingly, so can other manufacturers of electric cars, one reason why the Government is now planning to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035. Range is less of an issue than it once was. The cars — unlike milk floats — are quick. Fuel-wise, they’re incredibly efficient: they don’t rely on the controlled explosions taking place in an internal combustion engine (which creates too much by the way of heat and too little by the way of miles). And, over time, the maintenance bills will be a lot lower: no gearboxes to go wrong, no spark plugs to clean, no engine oil to be changed.

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