The first in a new wave of Chinese electric cars stands out for its looks but little else in a crowded market
There’s something to be said for making a splash when launching a new brand or product.
Good or bad, an eye-catching design and an interesting name can help establish a brand in the minds of the public and pave the way for future plans. So Ora is certainly onto a winner with the Funky Cat which not only has a name you won’t forget but brings a wide-eyed and unusual look that’ll stand out in most car parks.
Ora is one of a wave of Chinese brands setting their sights on the UK with a host of electric cars, and the Funky Cat is its first offering, aiming to compete with models such as the Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, Volkswagen ID.3 and MG4 in the electric hatchback segment.
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
We’re largely past the days of Chinese cars being carbon copies of European models but there is an element of Mini to the Funky Cat’s front end and smidge of first-gen Leaf to the sloping, wide tailgate. It looks better in the metal than in photos, which don’t do its proportions any favours, but it still divided opinion during our time with it and is likely to be a bit of a Marmite prospect on the roads.
Under the funky skin, the Funky Cat packs a 48kWh battery and a 169bhp motor. That offers fairly middle-of-the-road performance, with 0-62mph of 8.3 seconds and the usual initial surge tailing off as speeds rise.
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Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) participated in a new reliability study by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC) in Germany where their electric Model 3 crushed its internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts.
It should come as no surprise that electric vehicles (EVs) are generally more reliable than their fossil-fuel-powered counterparts, given their remarkable mechanical simplicity. The superiority of EVs in terms of reliability has been emphasized in a recent study conducted by the ADAC, a German vehicle analysis firm. The study found that the Tesla Model 3 outperforms a large majority of gas-powered vehicles, further solidifying the reliability advantage of electric cars.
Tesla Model 3 Unveil (Image: Tesla)
The ADAC study is an annual analysis that primarily examines vehicles that are older than three years. The group’s latest study encompassed four electric vehicles available in the German market: the Tesla Model 3, BMW i3, Volkswagen ID.3, and Renault Zoe. According to the findings from the ADAC’s data, electric vehicles not only outperform their gasoline counterparts on average, but the Tesla Model 3 exhibits a significantly higher level of reliability compared to both gasoline vehicles and other electric cars.
The study found that only 1.1 out of 1,000 2020 model-year Tesla Model 3s broke down annually, which is, surprisingly, a slight increase from the 2019 Model 3, which only had 0.9 breakdowns per 1,000 units. Comparatively, the average gas vehicle had 6.9 breakdowns per 1,000 units, and the average EV had 4.9 breakdowns per 1,000 units.
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Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to clients on Friday that global EV sales will grow 50% or more next year, while sales of internal combustion engine vehicles are expected to grow 2% to 5%. He also predicted that global EV penetration will rise from 4% to 31% by 2030.
Those predictions may or may not come true, but one thing is certain and that is 2021 is shaping up to be a critical year for EV adoption. Mercedes-Benz just announced its Tuscaloosa plant will build large, electric SUVs starting from 2022 as part of what it calls its electric-vehicle “fireworks display”. Aiming to take the lead in premium EVs from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), Mercedes-Benz announced plans to deliver eight new all-electric models starting from early 2022.
But near-term, Europe remains the most fertile EV ground. Stricter emission regulations and government subsidies that make these vehicles much more affordable are speeding up the de-adoption of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Here are six electric vehicles that could bring on the “ICEpocalypse” to European roads.
Volkswagen’s ID.3 And ID.4
Volkswagen’s (Pink: VWAGY) ID3 was the top-selling EV in Europe only one month after being launched. But Europe has been shifting toward larger vehicles, so the ID.4 should grow in popularity quickly and, with its highly competitive price considering the range and specs, it should give the ID.3 a run for its money.
Renault ZOE
ZOE (Pink: RNLSY) has been the top-selling electric vehicle on the continent in most of the last decade. As it continues to improve and range increases, the ZOE should replace the Clio, which sold 230,000 units in Europe during the first 10 months of the year. Although the ZOE, which was the top-selling EV in Europe until the ID3 came along and took its throne in October, was at 73,403 units, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches 100,000 in European sales per year. But it needs to fend off the competition and grow a backbone.
The improved Renault Zoe has a longer range and posher interior (Image: Renault)
Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y
Tesla’s Model 3 is the top selling EV in the world. In Europe, it is second on the top-selling list. It’s not exactly on track to beat 100,000 sales in 2020, but Tesla is determined to win over Europe considering its ambitious developments at its upcoming Berlin factory. However, it has been ordered again to suspend its preparations due to a successful court injunction by environmentalists. This time round, Tesla was stopped by snakes and lizards. But its Model Y will arrive to Europe eventually and it is probably going to sell considerably better than the Model 3, due to its features and an overall preference for its class of vehicle.
Peugeot e-208
Peugeot’s (Pink: PUGOY) 208 was the 7th best-selling vehicles in the first 10 months of the year. So, while the e-208 had only about 25,000 sales in that time period, it could gradually rise up the rankings as tech improves, range increases, and cost drops in the coming year. It is considered by many as one of the best European EV offerings on the market, a testament to Peugeot’s upswing.
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Competitive EV hatchback is pleasing to drive and attractive to sit in – but doesn’t change the game
What is it?
“Can I be geeky and take a closer look?” asks a man charging his Nissan Leaf, no sooner than I’ve plugged the VW ID 3 into an Instavolt charger in Banbury. Why of course you can, sir, although one question: as an electric vehicle convert, driving the world’s most populous EV, does the arrival of the new ID 3 still feel like a significant moment? “Absolutely.”
Interesting. You can already buy an electric vehicle that does everything an ID 3 does. You’ve even been able to buy an electric Volkswagen before now. But, somehow, the ID 3, in the UK here in ‘1st Edition’ trim, still feels like a waypoint on the road.
It sits, as you’ll doubtless know, on Volkswagen’s MEB electric architecture, so although, at 4.3m, it’s about the length of a Golf, it has a longer wheelbase and, it’s claimed, much more interior space.
The battery (this one is the mid-range 58kWh unit with a WLTP range of 260 miles and a 100kW charge capacity) sits beneath the floor, with the motor (at 201bhp, the higher powered of two offerings) at the back axle. The ID 3 is rear motored and rear-wheel drive, like the original Beetle but, alas, because there’s an inverter and lord knows what else in the front, it doesn’t have a frunk.
Instead, the boot has a high load lip and the rear seats split and fold, revealing that this 1.6m-tall car is a practical hatchback, with plentiful head room front and rear. Cabin fitment is good but material choice is pretty scratchy in places, including the door tops. Not such a biggie further down the range, one suspects, but the UK price for a 1st Edition with the middling battery is £35,215 (after the government grant).
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
Someone will be along shortly to argue that overall ownership costs are no more than a lower-priced internally combusted car, which is true if you get your electricity cheaply enough, but if you always have to refill on the road, probably isn’t.
What’s it like?
There aren’t many buttons inside. VW has promoted/relegated everything it can to a touchscreen, save for light switches, steering wheel shortcuts or voice control, plus iffy temperature buttons and a couple of menu selectors.
This approach works at both cleaning up an interior and worsening its functionality, making adjusting the temperature harder than I’ve known in a Volkswagen bar my own 1973 Beetle. Perhaps that was the inspiration. You can verbally whinge to the car that you’re cold, but then I feel like a child asking their dad to turn the heating on in September.
The driving position, and much of the driving experience, is pure Volkswagen – and perhaps that’s where the impression that this is an EV ‘moment’ comes from. It’s an interestingly designed car and not too ‘weird’. The stalks are VW, the instrument pack plain and clear, steering smooth and linear if perhaps short on self centring, and the driving experience as seamless and quiet as an EV gets; the sort of thing that makes them really agreeable to scooch along in smoothly. It doesn’t feel its 1794kg.
I’d want a back-to-back test with a rival to assess rolling comfort (one is on the way, handily), but it seemed fine to me, even on 19in rims. It’s not a driver’s car in the traditional sense, like a Ford Focus is, but there’s a different driving pleasure to be had. I’d rather the level of lift-off energy regeneration was variable by wheel paddle, as on an Audi E-tron, rather than a reach to the gear stalk.
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In what is perhaps the clearest sign that German carmaker Volkswagen is not joking around when it comes to its plans of becoming the planet’s largest electric car producer, the group announced at the end of last week a major shift in the production plan of its factory in Zwickau, Germany.
Having rolled its lines for the first time in 1990 for VW (the facility dates back to 1904, and was used by others as well, including Audi and Trabant), the site was mainly tasked with making the Volkswagen Golf (it also made Polos and Passats), and in the 30 years that have passed since, over 6 million units of the carmaker’s most successful car were produced there.
But no more. Last week, the last ICE-powered Golf rolled off the assembly lines. Starting this week, the facility will begin churning out electric vehicles only, starting of course with the ID.3.
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
For next year, the carmaker has a planned production output of 330,00 vehicles, as it will add production of electric cars made with the logos of Audi and SEAT as well. With this development, Zwickau is set to become Europe’s largest EV manufacturing hub.
“Zwickau is steeped in German automotive tradition. Our team has always delivered excellent performance and built vehicles with excellent quality,” said in a statement Jens Rothe, Chairman of the General Works Council at Volkswagen Sachsen.
“We have gained the trust in the Group to become the first location to start fully electric large-scale series production. The Zwickau plant is therefore well-equipped for the future.”
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Battery-electric car sales in Europe are holding up well, even as regular internal combustion engine (ICE) demand crashes around them, but forecasters are scaling back much stronger pre-coronavirus predictions.
Projections may yet take a hit if the year’s most important battery electric vehicle (BEV) launch – Volkswagen’s designed-from-the-ground-up to be electric ID.3 – is delayed beyond its promised summer debut date. Delays in software development had threatened that launch, but VW said it still expects an August start to sales.
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
And there is a variation on the old adage at work here – it’s an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Manufacturers like Audi and Porsche had whipped up a formidable demand for their new electric cars, but shortages of batteries would have led to failures to deliver on time. The fact that the edge has been taken off new BEV demand has spared manufacturers the embarrassment of disappointing these well-heeled customers.
2020 was supposed to be the year when European BEV demand finally accelerated into an unstoppable high gear. These sales are crucial because of European Union (EU) regulations, forcing manufacturers to ratchet up the number of electric cars, with massive fines for those failing to do this. But despite the horrendous market conditions in Europe, where sales of regular ICE vehicles in April might be barely perceptible and most forecasts now reckon overall sales for the year may be down about 20%, BEVs are holding up well.
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Experts are predicting that 2020 will be the year of the electric car as sales continue to rise.
Figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that the number of battery-electric vehicles registered in November increased by 228.8 per cent compared to the same month in 2018 – with over 4500 new EVs hitting the roads.
So far this year, nearly 14,000 electric cars have been registered in the UK, compared to 38,500 plug-in hybrids and nearly 80,000 hybrids. Mild hybrids have also seen a dramatic increase in popularity, with registrations of mild-hybrid diesels increasing by more than 450 per cent last month.
Peugeot e-208 (Image: Peugeot)
Car manufacturers are rushing to launch new electric cars in a bid to meet new emission targets set by European Union legislators. By 2021, they face strict fines if their average CO2 emissions for each car exceed 95g/km. By selling more electric vehicles (with zero tailpipe emissions) and hybrids (with reduced tailpipe emissions), average CO2 emissions will drop.
Kia recently admitted that it has 3000 customers on a waiting list for the e-Niro – something it says it intends to clear in the first half of 2020, despite previously having to halt orders as it couldn’t keep up with demand.
Volkswagen is set to launch its new electric ID range with the ID.3 hatchback, while the Volkswagen Up, SEAT Mii and Skoda Citigo city cars are also going electric-only for 2020. Vauxhall’s new Corsa is available as a pure-electric model, as is the closely-related Peugeot 208.
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Volkswagen, Tesco and Pod Point are determined to provide shoppers with free charging points as motorists increasingly turn to electric vehicles as they become more and more convenient to run
Electric car drivers can now charge their vehicles for free while doing their weekly shop at over 100 supermarkets across the UK.
Volkswagen has partnered with Tesco and Pod Point to provide shoppers with free charging points – with a further 2,000 units in the pipeline.
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
It is estimated a typical EV driver who spends 50 minutes shopping each week could get more than 1,000 miles of free electricity for their car over a 12 month period.
The free charging points are a response to the growth of electric cars in the UK, with sales up by 125 per cent this year according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
And demand is set to rise, with Volkswagen’s survey of 2,000 UK motorists revealing 41 per cent are considering leasing or owning an EV as their next vehicle. This figure increases to 61 per cent among the 25-34 age group.
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VW has officially started production of the ID.3, its first electric car on the new MEB platform, and it marks the start of the conversion of its massive Zwickau factory from gasoline-powered car production to EV production.
The German automaker unveiled the ID.3, a small electric hatchback, in September earlier this year.
It is offered in different variants, with between 300 and 500 km of range starting at “under $33,000 (€30,000).”
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
Today, VW announced the official start of production of the ID.3 at its Zwickau plant in Germany.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said at the ceremony for the production start:
The ID.3 will make an important contribution to the breakthrough of e-mobility. It makes clean individual mobility accessible to millions of people and is a milestone for our company on the road to becoming climate-neutral by 2050.
Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen Brand Board Member for E-Mobility, added:
The ID.3 is a high-tech car from a high-tech factory. With some 1,700 robots, driverless transport systems and fully automated manufacturing processes, Zwickau gives a contemporary insight into the shape of forward-looking high-volume production of EVs. Ultimately, though, it is the people who build the cars who are the key to success: Our team in Saxony mastered the two-year conversion phase culminating in today’s SOP with much know-how and dedication. An outstanding team achievement!
Before the conversion, the Zwickau factory was producing several variants of the VW Golf, as well as bodies for the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus.
The 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung), was a strange and different experience compared to the last time I was there.
The road trip in itself was a +1000 mile long and very satisfying experience in my Tesla Model 3, which I will dedicate another post to cover. In the following article, though, I will try to put into words the puzzling buzz of change in the realm of passenger cars from a consumer perspective.
Quick IAA 2017 Recap
I wrote about my trip to the IAA in 2017 on EVObsession, and apart from apologizing deeply that I drove in my son’s knackered 1994 VW Golf, because it would have been a nightmare to drive my own 1st-gen BMW i3 with what would have been around 30 charging stops in total, I also had this thought on the long drive home:
“When the German brands start offering a wide range of fully electric models, that are comparable to the current fossil fuel models, German EV sales will explode. The question is, will the German auto industry make the transition fast enough, and will they be able to keep up with demand? These heavyweight companies probably think they have a loyal customer base, but what if these people get tired of waiting and begin ordering Teslas? Or even Chinese models? The clock is ticking.”
Well, German auto giant Volkswagen Group may just make it in the nick of time, because what I think I saw at IAA 2019 was a whole lot of people ready to spend money on electric cars!
Pending Avalanche In The Electric Compact Segment
How was IAA 2019 different from 2017? When I entered the large exhibition hall housing VW, Porsche, Audi, Seat, and Skoda, it was very clear something had changed. I mean, there was an actual waiting line to enter the hall! And inside it was mayhem. This was Saturday, midday, and it seemed every German family, their kids included, was in that hall. Kids? Sure, it’s not unusual to see an occasional parent bring a child that has an interest in cars, but this was like Disneyland!
Slowly it dawned on me what was going on. The VW brand occupied half the hall, with all the I.D. vehicles center stage, which in itself was grand and sparkly, but not so many people were pushing to get to see the models on stage. No, because VW had cleverly placed several ID.3s all over the place and this is where the pushing and shoving was taking place, mostly by kids!
Volkswagen ID.3 electric car (Image: Volkswagen.com)
I recently had my Tesla Model 3 at a local town fair, and about 30 kids where crawling inside and out of my car, playing video games on the center screen and looking for buttons to push, all the while shouting at their father: “Buy one dad!” Father was glancing at mother, who was whistling through her teeth: “No!” (Because nobody has realized the Model 3 is considerably cheaper than the Model S). But here these ID.3s were filled with kids crawling all over and pushing all the buttons (yes, it has more buttons than the Model 3), and parents where nodding at each other and clearly thinking: “Yes, this could work!”
It was like the ketchup effect, propelled by the neighborhood effect. The last time I was here, I heard people who where looking at the prototype EVs and going: “Yeah, maybe it’s the future, but hey look, the new VW T-Roc is cool!” As if it would be embarrassing to even suggest the next family car could be electric. This time around everybody was fondling and probing the affordable compact electric vehicles, hardly noticing their internal combustion ancestors glooming in the corners.
