AD #3112 – Battery Fire Prevention System Developed; MINI Going for New Look?; Renault Aims for Affordable EVs
June 30th, 2021 at 11:43am
Listen to “AD #3112 – Battery Fire Prevention System Developed; MINI Going for New Look?; Renault Aims for Affordable EVs” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:20
0:07 Canada Announces ICE Ban
0:41 Great Wall Develops Battery Fire Prevention System
1:35 Hyundai Celebrates Boston Dynamics Acquisition
2:42 Is MINI Going for a New Look?
3:34 Renault Aims for Affordable EVs
4:40 Transportable EV Charging Station
6:16 Mercedes Introduces eActros
7:15 Volta Trucks Develops Prototype Chassis
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CANADA ANNOUNCES ICE BAN
Several dozen countries have announced plans to ban ICEs and now Canada is adding its name to the list. It will prohibit the sale of any vehicles with tailpipe emissions by 2035. Norway is banning ICEs starting in 2025 and a bunch of European countries will follow in 2030. More join the list in 2035, including California. If they all stick to their plans, we’re going to see a massive drop off in sales of cars and trucks with piston engines.
GREAT WALL DEVELOPS BATTER FIRE PREVENTION SYSTEM
Seems like every car company has to have its own Battery Day, and Great Wall Motor announced it’s coming out with a new generation battery that it will start using next year. The big news is that it’s designed to prevent thermal runaway events, which are those uncontrollable battery fires you’ve likely seen videos of. The battery is called Dayu after a legendary Chinese king who first initiated flood controls. It uses NCM 811 cells, or nickel, cobalt, and manganese. Great Wall says it uses a multi-echelon converter system, a multi-level targeted explosive disposal system, and a fire extinguisher box to prevent it from catching fire. Interestingly, Great Wall says it will make its patents for the battery available for free.
HYUNDAI CELEBRATES BOSTON DYNAMICS ACQUISITION
Last week, Hyundai completed its acquisition of the robotics company Boston Dynamics. And to celebrate, the two companies put together this YouTube video of robots dancing with Korean boy band BTS. If you haven’t seen Boston Dynamics’ robots dancing before you should check it out. It’s an interesting mixture of cool and creepy.
IS MINI GOING FOR A NEW LOOK?
Last year MINI looked into the future of mobility with a concept, called the Vision Urbanaut. It has about the same footprint as a typical MINI, but is more like a lounge on wheels with flexible seating and adjustable lighting that can be set to the mood of the passengers. While it debuted in digital form, the BMW Group says it will make a physical model of the Urbanaut for people to interact with and hopefully start to understand its future vision. What we find interesting is that it doesn’t have the MINI look. With a lineup of vehicles that all look the same it’s possible that Mini pigeon holed itself into attracting a limited amount of customers. And based on sales performance it seems like MINI might have done that. But the Urbanaut suggests to us that MINI wants to expand beyond the MINI look and get into new segments.
RENAULT AIMS FOR AFFORDABLE EVs
Renault continues to reveal more information about its transition to EVs. It’s going to work with French startup Verkor to co-develop high-performance, locally-sourced and sustainable batteries by next year. A compact e-powertrain will allow Renault to cut costs by 30% and reduce wasted energy by 45%, which it says will give its EVs an extra 20 kilometers or about 12.5 miles of range. This will help make its cars more affordable. An electric version of the Renault 5 will cost 33% less than a ZOE, which should put its price around 15,500 euros or about $18,400. The ability to send power back to the grid will generate up to 400 euros per year for owners of EVs that stay plugged in 8 hours a day. Lastly, Renault will offer health certificates of batteries in used EVs that can be used to increase the residual value up to 500 euros.
BEAM DEVELOPS TRANSPORTABLE EV CHARGING STATION
Jeep wants to install charging stations at off-road trail heads so EV owners have a place to fill up before hitting the trails. But, no doubt, someone will eventually get stranded somewhere. That’s what a company by the name of Beam Global wants to help avoid. Its EV ARC system is a charging station that’s transportable and can be easily deployed almost anywhere. Because it uses solar panels, it doesn’t need a connection to the grid or use any generators or liquid fuel. It’s capable of charging up to 6 EVs at a time and is able to provide up to 265 e-miles in a day. Beam envision both military and civilian use of the EV ARC system.
MERCEDES INTRODUCES eACTROS TRUCK
Mercedes officially introduced the electric version of the Actros, its first mass-produced electric truck. Called the eActros, it includes two electric motors along with a two-speed transmission. It’s available with three or four battery packs that have a capacity of about 105-kWh. That means it can have a total capacity of 420-kWh, which provides a range of up to 400 kilometers or just under 250 miles. However, Mercedes says that’s in ideal conditions without a trailer. With three battery packs, the truck can charge from 20 to 80% in a little more than an hour. Production of the eActros kicks off in Germany this August. It will initially be available in most west European countries before making its way to other markets.
VOLTA TRUCKS SHOWS PROTOTYPE CHASSIS
And speaking of electric trucks, the startup Volta Trucks, unveiled its first running prototype chassis, which it designed and developed in just six months. The chassis is for its Zero model that Volta claims is the world’s first purpose-built, fully-electric, 16-tonne commercial vehicle. The Zero will have a range of 150 to 200 kilometers or 95 to 125 miles. The next step is to test the chassis at the proving grounds, followed by pilot tests on public roads by the end of the year before heading into full-scale production by the end of 2022.
Ford shocked the industry when it said it was coming out with a pickup truck that costs $20,000 and gets 40 miles to the gallon. And we’re going to learn a lot more about the Maverick on Autoline After Hours tomorrow. We’ve got Trevor Scott, the marketing manager, and Chris Mazur, the chief program engineer, coming on the show. We’re already getting questions from viewers about things they’d like to learn about the truck. And if you’ve got a question, post it in the comments section, send a tweet to @Autoline, or send an email to [email protected].
Then join John and Gary as they go live at 3 pm eastern time.
And a programming note here. The Autoline crew will be off next week for our summer break, but we’ll be back on July 12th.
And that’s it for today, thanks for watching.
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Comments (26)
June 30th, 2021 at 12:10 pm
why no cruise control on maverick xl? does trevor scott or chris mazur believe someone would replace a vehicle that has cruise contol with one that doesnt? seems like a poor decision on their part.
June 30th, 2021 at 12:14 pm
Does the new maverick have Aluminum body and pick up box as the F-150?
June 30th, 2021 at 12:18 pm
Would the previous administration allow Hyundai/Korea to buy an advanced robotics company like Boston Robotics that can be used to weaponize robots to fight? Chilling. Is anyone awake in Washington?
June 30th, 2021 at 12:35 pm
Prediction; 2034 ICE vehicle sales surge 20% followed by used ICE vehicles jumping in value after 2035 in Canada and a dozen other countries.
So what’s cheaper? Having a slow solar mobile charging station which is great as long as its daylight. Or just being towed to a connected charging station? Soon those emergency road side assistance vehicles will have to carry a generator/charger.
June 30th, 2021 at 1:08 pm
It’s trendy for countries to announce the end of the ICE, but at least in Canada, that totally ignores the reality. Trudeau only represents city people, so likely is not aware of this. If you exclude Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, most other major cities are at least an hours drive apart. There are LOTS of places that are MUCH farther apart. When I visit family in New Brunswick, leaving from south west Ontario, It’s a 20 hour drive over 2 days. A drive from Toronto to Winnipeg can be 24 hours. Find me an electric that can do 600 miles on a charge and you can have my ICE.
June 30th, 2021 at 1:08 pm
Renault is onto something!
June 30th, 2021 at 1:09 pm
4) My prediction is that technology will not catch up in time for charging infrastructure, charge times, and more importantly cost. The politicians will simply push the ban timing out another decade citing technology readiness and then soak the tax payers for more tax money to support infrastructure and continued subsidizing of EVs.
June 30th, 2021 at 1:18 pm
7 Yes that more likely. What really baffles me is the eagerness to ban ICE meanwhile no push or efforts to eliminate coal burning powerplants. Seems everyone is fine with transferring the pollution but not really solving the problem. So I guess as long as its out of sight its out of mind.. Meanwhile we are expected to buy 50K cars that are far more inconvenient than our ICEs. Sounds like politics as usual.
June 30th, 2021 at 1:41 pm
For Kit: If interested, here’s link to the ’22 ordering guide. https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqazFjMU1waDNid3dqOGtUZFVFUHZoSVo4S21CZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuVUZvSXRWeHZya0xWN0xTS2J6blE0T1FyN0p4dGctbFhKVkcycEp5bGJNQWZzQ21YMG0zZDM5RE1pWnpiREViZ3g1dzVDd2ktc3ZVRXlqSUlFakpWVkhnY0hXWWU4ZGtZcDFzeFNvYzFyYzFzYzZXaw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F11FzNMSPH6D6XGKnp8wfGIKB8CTQ_NQ9Y%2Fview%3Fusp%3Dsharing
June 30th, 2021 at 1:42 pm
Sorry, disregard post 9; try this link instead.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11FzNMSPH6D6XGKnp8wfGIKB8CTQ_NQ9Y/view
June 30th, 2021 at 1:52 pm
3 Hyundai bought most of the premier quadruped dancing robot company from a Japanese bank. Somehow, I don’t see that as a major security issue, and didn’t see Japanese ownership as a security issue either.
June 30th, 2021 at 1:52 pm
9,10 Thanks.
June 30th, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Governments making silly rules for decades in the future is par for the course. By making these far future rules, they don’t have to do anything. Some of them won’t even be alive when the ban is introduced. It’s a way to keep everyone happy and do nothing.
June 30th, 2021 at 2:11 pm
Oh they are all for banning coal fired power plants , just in Asia where the bulk of the world’s pollution is being generated now . China and India have many many new coal plants being built as we speak. So while they are building coal plants that run on cheap coal the western world is living on this pie in the sky solar and wind fantasy. 2 sources that can not be counted on reliably .
June 30th, 2021 at 2:16 pm
Lambo and keep in mind those EVs use less parts , less labor and cost twice as much. Must be commoncore math they are using.
Above should have read just NOT in Asia .
June 30th, 2021 at 2:17 pm
13 I suspect some, or many of the ICE bans will be delayed, when reality sets in, with lack of charge infrastructure, battery manufacturing capacity, and other factors.
As far as governments making “silly rules,” how long would it have been before exhaust emissions were cleaned up, had California not dragged the car companies, kicking and screaming, into developing emission controls? The car companies wouldn’t even make seat belts standard, without government mandates.
June 30th, 2021 at 2:25 pm
14 China leads the world in wind and solar electricity production, with more than twice as much wind, and almost triple the solar capacity of the U.S. Yeah, China and India are rapidly developing, with huge increases in A/C usage and other power use, so they are increasing coal capacity, for now.
June 30th, 2021 at 3:35 pm
3 South Korea is a newish democracy and a close ally. I also happen to like quite a few Korean TV/Netflix series.
The real question has to be why not a single US company thinks it’s capable of benefiting from or worth the effort to leverage the robotics in question for long-term gain.
Even Boeing has fallen victim to the relentless quest for substance abuse, ie. squeezing short-term gains from complex, specialized, working high-knowledge enterprises that require constant investment, attention, and yes, competition.
14 TX has by far the most wind power generating capacity in the US, and is very rapidly closing in on CA regarding solar – at utility scale, the cheapest electricity available. Numbers are all out there.
And for once, the US is actually top of the class in construction speed as measured from applying for permits through to the finish. This is worthy of note, I think.
While China and India have built a whole lot of new coal power plants (the former with atrocious capacity utilization thanks to massive overbuilding), China is the world wide number one in building out renewables. And India sees photovoltaics as strategic assets.
Er, anyway, what Kit said.
Oh, cars! Totally forgot. The Tesla Model S Plaid driven up Pike’s Peak was returned to a normal setup with a steering wheel, while the Bentley Continental GT3 race car features a very nifty, truly gamer-inspired yoke.
See Bentley Media – https://bit.ly/3jwhC6T
June 30th, 2021 at 4:29 pm
@1 I agree with that question. In the age of complexity reduction, it’s hard to believe it isn’t worth giving away cruise control in the XL. I didn’t know they even had steering wheels without the cruise control buttons anymore.
I also would like to hear the answer to the question posed earlier about the possibility of an AWD HEV variant. Since the Maverick is based on the Escape, it would seem like the technology is available. Unless the fuel tank blocks the drives haft package.
June 30th, 2021 at 4:38 pm
the far east has 350 new coal fired power plants under construction right now. 184 in China 52 in India 13 in Japan and 7 in South Korea , but the US is being held to standards no one else is.
June 30th, 2021 at 4:43 pm
18 I’m seriously wondering if Tesla will actually use the yoke thing in the production Model S Plaid. It’s not like a Formula 1 car, where the total lock-to-lock steering wheel rotation is about 250 degrees.
I bet the Bentley gamer’s yoke will be pricey, for a video game item.
June 30th, 2021 at 4:53 pm
19 Ford is just making cruise control a $2300 option, by not having it in the base Maverick. I’m surprised they are doing that, though. Now, even the cheapest Kia or Hyundai would have cruise control, the cheapest Corolla has adaptive cruise control.
June 30th, 2021 at 5:34 pm
18 Kit – Yes they are using the yoke-thing. Even in the normal Model S, I gather. I really don’t follow Tesla here. “The Thing” goes from 60-130 mph in 2021 4.71s – really needs no gimmicks. (2021 McLaren 765LT (stock): 4.76s)
Source reddit https://bit.ly/3AhwNHi
20 XA351GT – Actually, a lot of countries are seriously going for a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions now. Even Germany is finally definitely moving. As is South Korea.
The US has enormous renewables resources to tap. I’ll just reiterate that solar is the cheapest energy now – by so much it can even make sense of the balance-sheet variety to add battery storage rather than operate a gas peaker plant.
Also, the lowest-cost-circle-the-drain part of the value chain isn’t where advanced economies thrive.
Though here in the heart of Europe, you’ll see US rice, sweet potatoes, or even wine priced at the low end… that points to extremely high automation and efficiency in agricultural output. Agribusiness of the genetic variety will benefit the most. Heck, California-made (probably on German machinery) high-tech socks are competitive here because they cater to the market.
I do remember how many years ago, I used to tell people that China was adding the entire coal generation capacity of the UK – every year. Just to explain the speedily rising manufacturing output when it wasn’t evident yet. Hardly anyone took that seriously…
But now, the UK produces far more wind energy than coal, and as I’ve written above, China’s spanking new (cleaner) coal power plants are atrociously inefficient, because not long ago, regional governments were incentivized to just build. That is changing.
June 30th, 2021 at 6:24 pm
I notice a lot of the new EV vans have profiles like the old VW MicroBus. VW is ignoring their EV MicroBus market and may not see sales.
July 1st, 2021 at 7:24 am
24) I agree. There are leaked images of their new electric van. Looks generic. Not enough styling cues to the original microbus and of course not very close to the concept. It will sell about as well as any other $50,000 minivan does.
July 1st, 2021 at 7:27 pm
While they are building NEW coal power plants in asia they also generate much the same renewables as the US (China 32%/India 38%/US 38%) even though china and India have near zero local gas-oil reserves. Most (near brand new) Asian coal plants are running way less than 100% as did most of US (ancient) Coal power. Meanwhile power demand rockets up in both countries (both 1billion+ citizens) vs flat demand in the US.
As for ICE bans- Europe is playing catchup with Tesla and China for EV car knowledge supremacy. Detroit is still just starting. When citizens ask their governments for climate change bailouts in the billions will an ICE ban seem so far fetched as bigoil pretends its not their fault and car makers ask for more bailout cash to switch away from badly efficient ICE engines? Who will listen to the deaf from their canoe/desert baked property.