Hey guys and welcome to Charge Up News, a weekly roundup of EV stories from
around the globe. This week's show will include the petrol and diesel bans in
Israel and Denmark, some African desert testing of the Audi e-tron, making
electric cars a little bit noisy and sales begin for the electric version of
the iconic Vespa. But first up, Porsche is one manufacturer that seems to be taking
the threat from Tesla very seriously. With six billion euro in investments and
over 1200 new employees for the launch of the Taycan alone, Porsche is
undergoing massive change while firmly committing to electric mobility. Their
management is predicting that 50% of Porsche models delivered from 2025 will
be electrified. But one of the best things for me is their sustainability
plans. The Taycan production process will be carbon neutral while the future
goals in production is to establish a factory with no environmental impact.
What we know so far about the Taycan is that it will be an eight hundred volt,
600 horsepower 4WD sports car with a zero to 100 kilometer per hour
time under 3.5 seconds, zero to 200 in less than 12 seconds, range around 500
kilometers, much less than the upcoming Tesla Roadster but Porsche de sticking
to the idea of speed instead of weight. Porsche will build 400 high-power
charging stations with a capacity of 350 kilowatts per charging point across
Europe by the end of 2019 and is also planning to install more than 2000 AC
charging points at destinations such as hotels. The recharging could be as fast
as 15 minutes for 400 kilometers or if you need a quick 100 kilometer top up,
a four minute charge.... amazing. Audi has released footage of their brand new e-Tron
desert testing in Namibia in Southwest Africa. Now you would expect an
Audi Quattro to be good off-road as they have been refining the four wheel drive design
since the original Quattro was released in the 80s where it completely dominated
the world rally championship. But it is still awesome to see this new generation
of electric cars coming through with little to no compromise in performance
or handling. As you can see from the footage, Namibia is an
extremely dry place. They have battled with recurrent and devastating droughts
and floods in recent years and on the back of the latest report from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which looks specifically the
impacts on water stressed countries, it seems perfectly appropriate to test and
showcase a zero emissions vehicle in a country which will have so much to lose
if we don't make some serious changes. Speaking of the IPCC report, twelve years
is the amount of time the world's leading climate scientists have given us
to make unprecedented changes to transform energy and food production
in order to prevent climate catastrophe and Israel Denmark are the first countries
to act immediately on the research. Both countries have made statements that from
2030 onwards new sales of petrol and diesel cars will be banned with only
electric cars being available in Israel while Denmark will phase out all new
hybrids by 2035. The two countries have very few plug-in battery cars at
present so it will be interesting to see how the incentives, infrastructure
and availability of cars progresses with the full support of their respective governments.
Bollinger Motors has announced that they will also build a pickup
version of their all-electric sport utility truck. Sharinging the same internals
as the B1 with its dual motor all-wheel-drive hydropneumatic
suspension and 120 kilowatt hour battery pack, incorporating more cargo options
was a priority from b2. The rear tray will be the same size as a traditional
six by four trailer and for carrying 16 foot lengths of timber it will also have
the same pass through design as the B1. With 520 horsepower and 0-60 mile per
hour time of 6.5 seconds, a 100 mile per hour
top speed, 10 to 20 inches of variable ground clearance, a 7 a half thousand
pound towing capacity, 200 mile range, room for four adults, fast charging and a
portable power supply for tools, machines and even off-grid cabins, this could be
the only vehicle you need for the rest of your life
I showed my partner these and she definitely wasn't all that complimentary
about the looks but for me, as I've been a big fan of the Land Rover Defender ,I love it !
In Valencia Spain, Nissan has made their
debut in the fifth season of the Formula E championship at Circuit of Ricardo
Tomo. Driven by former Series champion Sebastien Buemi, Nissan finished the day
in eighth place with a time of 1:18.1 with lap times being nearly three
seconds faster than last year. The energy storage capacity has been doubled
compared to the generation 1 car so with new batteries. aerodynamics and no mid
race car swaps, the expectation is that there will be fast, close racing from the
22 drivers. If you want to see some crazy some crazy on board footage, then check out the YouTube
video of Sebastien Buemi with his front wheels coming off at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix.
I'll put a link in the description. Now I'm a bit conflicted about the next
story. One of the best things about EVs is their lack of sound. The smooth almost
silent, effortless gliding along the road makes for an incredibly relaxing driving
experience but unfortunately this attribute can be a bit of a problem in
urban environments for pedestrians and especially for those who are visually
impaired. Ahead of new UK legislation which comes into effect in july 2019,
Jaguar has developed an audible vehicle alert system for the I pace which is
permanently active at speeds up to 20 kilometers per hour.
Have a listen to what they've come up with...
Now I totally understand the need for cars to make some noise but can you
imagine in ten to twenty years when there are millions of EVs on the road, the
potential cacophony of whining and beeping sounds coming out of vehicles
every time they're moving at less than 20 km/h. the Piaggio group in Italy has
started the online booking campaign for the Vespa elettrica where European
customers can reserve the first versions of the iconic scooter.
Performance-wise the scooter will be similar to the 50 cc models but with
much better acceleration and Hill starts The scooter will have a maximum range of
100 kilometers, a four-hour recharge time from the onboard charger using a
standard power point and a retail price of 6390 euros. Twist and go scooters
a perfect around town and if I didn't already have a electric cargo bike, I would
definitely consider one of these.
In our last story for the week, Alta motors, the
electric motorcycle company in California, has continued their
impressive performance racing against gas bikes with the latest podium finish
at the Carnegie Classic hill climb in Tracy California. Competing against
heavily modified race bikes up to 700cc, the nearly standard Redshift EXR
with an extended swing arm, managed to come in fourth place while in the enduro
climb shootout, a head-to-head battle through enduro obstacles before
heading straight up the hill to the finish line, they came in second.
Just as was putting this show together I came across a report that said that Alta
Motors had ceased operations while they look for new investors. This is really
disappointing as they've made some fantastic bikes but hopefully it's just
a small hiccup and not the end for this awesome company.
So thanks for tuning in to the show.
As always if you'd like to keep up to date with the latest EV news
and you're not subscribed to the channel already, then hit the red button below
and II will see you on the next one.
No comments:
Post a Comment