Category: Electric Car News

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LG Chem signs battery deal with Volkswagen [VIDEO]

LG Chem has agreed to supply electric-vehicle batteries to Volkswagen, a company executive said Tuesday.

"Volkswagen has designated LG Chem as one of its key battery-sourcing channels to push its electric car projects," the executive said by telephone on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue. "LG is going to supply battery packs and solutions to the German carmaker."

The deal with Volkswagen is not as big as similar deals between LG and other leading carmakers such as General Motors and Ford, said the executive.

The partnership also involves collaboration on various products the German car manufacturer is working to develop as part of its electric-vehicle projects, part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

For example, Volkswagen is working to attain "ultra-low-carbon mobility" for its new eGolf electric vehicle, said officials.

The vehicle is a fully electric version of Volkswagen's popular Golf.

"LG Chem will join futuristic electric car business projects such as [projects to develop] plug-in hybrid electric vehicles led by the German carmaker thanks to the latest battery deal," said the official.

An LG Chem spokesman declined to confirm.

LG Chem has been in talks with Volkswagen over the past four years regarding a business partnership involving batteries for electric vehicles.

The executive said it was Beijing's approval to proceed with LG's plans to build a battery joint venture in China that helped the LG Group affiliate land the partnership with Volkswagen.

Volkswagen plans to spend more than $2 billion on models and on two new facilities in China, increasing total investments in the world's biggest auto market to nearly $8 billion.

LG Chem Chief Financial Officer Cho Suk-jeh told investors and analysts that the company aimed to generate nearly 2 trillion won in revenue from its large battery business, including energy systems, by 2016.

The petrochemical business is the biggest cash cow for LG Chem, accounting for 77 percent of its 5.87 trillion won in sales in the second quarter. Batteries accounted for 12.3 percent and electronic information materials 12.1 percent.

LG Chem is gradually cutting its reliance on petrochemical products as part of an effort to diversify its revenue sources.

On a related note, in 2016 the company plans to begin providing carmakers with batteries capable of powering electric vehicles for at least 200 miles (322 kilometers).

LG Chem currently supplies lithium-ion batteries to General Motors, Ford, Hyundai-Kia, Renault, Volvo, and other carmakers. The 200-mile-plus range of the new batteries is roughly double that of the company's current, first-generation electric-vehicle batteries.

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WORLD FIRST: Electric Racer beats field of petrol powered cars.. twice

With less than 4 weeks to go until the inaugural FIA Formula E race in Beijing China, an electric race car in Australia has already made history.

In what is believed to be a world first, a battery powered Radical SR8 entered by ELMOFO in the NSW SuperSports State Championship has become the first electric car to win a race against petrol vehicles in a sanctioned race event. To prove it was no fluke, it won twice!

Not only did the EV win two of the three races comprising round four of the championship, held 17th August at Wakefield Park Raceway, the ELMOFO Radical, driven by Garth Walden, also set the fastest lap time for the entire meeting (57.6870 sec) beating all other categories which included Formula 3 and Sports Sedans.

The ELMOFO Radical is similar in concept to the current Nürburgring EV lap record, the TMG EV P001 built by Toyota Motorsport GmbH and the TMG EV P002 modified by TOYOTA Racing Development U.S.A. to tackle Pikes Peak in 2013.

The race winning electric Radical SREV was built by Newcastle based Solar PV systems firm Solar Power Australia. The car delivers 280 kw (375 hp) and 570 Nm (428 ft-lbs) of torque almost instantly from its twin sequential BLDC motors. Power is controlled by dual Rinehart Motion Systems inverters which are fed voltage from a 37 kWh lithium ion battery pack controlled by a Batrium BMS. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels via a single speed limited slip differential. Performance specs for the all-electric racer, built on a Radical SR8 chassis, include 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.5 seconds, 0 to 160 km/h (100 mph) in 6.5 seconds with a top speed of 265 km/h (165 mph).

The 2014 CAMS NSW SuperSports Championship is mostly a one-make series for Radicals, with a couple of Stohr WF1 single seaters also contesting the series. The ELFOMO team have worked hard over the previous three rounds to debug the car and the wins are a just reward for achieving solid reliability. Since the beginning of the season the car has demonstrated it had raw speed by routinely qualifying on the front row of the grid. In only round 4 of the championship the battery powered racer dominated from the front with Walden blasting well ahead of the pack for the first 4 or 5 laps and then backing off a little to preserve the car.

The ELMOFO team would like to thank Rinehart Motion Systems, AM Racing, Batrium, Garth Walden Racing, Royal Purple and the Supersports Racecar Club Committee who have been very supportive of the car, scheduling some races of a length that the battery powered vehicle could complete to ensure it’s inclusion in the series.

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Silicon Valley startup Renovo Motors unveil $529,000 EV supercar [VIDEO]

When they started their company in 2010, the founders of Silicon Valley startup Renovo Motors saw a hole in the market for a pure electric supercar.

Today they revealed their first product, the $529,000 Renovo Coupe, scheduled to launch in the United States next year.

Performance specs for the all-electric two-seater, built on the Shelby CSX9000 chassis, include 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, with a top speed of 120 mph. The company says the car will deliver 370 kw (500 hp) and 1,356 Nm (1,000 ft-lbs) of torque almost instantly from its twin sequential axial flux motors. Power is controlled by dual RMS inverters which are fed high-voltage from a 740 volt lithium ion battery pack, with output power transmitted to the rear wheels via a single speed differential.

After developing the car in secrecy for the past four years, Renovo launched the running prototype last weekend at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The company plans to begin taking orders for a production run of less than 100 cars, with the first cars due to be delivered in California next year.

Renovo’s founders, Christopher Heiser and Jason Stinson, previously worked at the computer security company Verisign and chipmaker Intel. Though they are new to the industry, they hope to find space in the supercar market alongside venerable names such Ferrari and Lamborghini, and relative newcomers such as Pagani and Koenigsegg.

Though many luxury brands and exotic car companies are starting to offer plug-in hybrids and pure EVs, including Ferrari and McLaren with their LaFerrari and P1, Heiser said in an interview Thursday that no one offers a product like the Renovo Coupe. That includes their Silicon Valley neighbor and inspiration of sorts, Tesla Motors Inc., which stopped selling its Roadster sports car in 2012.

Source: Renovo Motors

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Tesla Model S Drive Unit now has Infinite Mile Warranty

Following recent negative reports about Tesla Model S drive unit reliability, Tesla has increased the Model S drive unit warranty to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, the most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period. Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced.

The drive unit is now covered under the same provisions as the existing battery warranty, so owners with an 85 kWh battery will benefit from eight years of coverage with no mileage restrictions, while 60 kWh owners have up to 125,000 miles.

The drive unit issue, described as a grinding or “milling” noise that increases over time, was picked up by Motor Trend Magazine who reported that they had to have a drive unit replaced in their Model S. The issue really hit the headlines when Edmunds reported they are on their 4th drive train.

Tesla had transmission issues with the Roadster. The two-speed transmission designed for the Roadster by a previous supplier proved not to be durable so in 2008 Tesla Motors selected BorgWarner for the production of a single-speed gearbox.

The source of the current 9.73:1 Model S gearbox is not known. Anecdotal evidence suggests the Borg Warner eGearDrives supplied for the the Ford eTransit Connect has quite a high failure rate but as the Model S transmission casting is integrated with the AC Induction motor enclosure and without knowing which component has suffered premature wear, it's too early to attribute blame for the design fault.

When you take into consideration how common transmission failures are within the automotive industry and how high performance the Tesla Model S is, it's not so surprising to find the powertrain needs some mechanical debugging. For example, Subaru have been making the Impresa WRX since 1992 and after two decades in production they're still prone to transmission failure. The only sure way to avoid mechanical transmission issues is to not have one by using direct drive wheel motors.

The standard warranty for Tesla Model S is 4 year, 50,000 mile (80,000 km). In April last year Tesla announced an unlimited "no-fault" battery warranty. Elon Musk says that in hindsight, the infinite warranty should have been policy for the powertrain from the beginning of the Model S program. If they truly believe that electric motors are fundamentally more reliable than gasoline engines, with far fewer moving parts and no oily residue or combustion byproducts to gum up the works, then the warranty policy should reflect that.

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BYD Electric Bus Goes 1,200 km in 24 hours

The Antelope Valley Transit Authority’s (AVTA) new electric BYD bus is performing better than advertised! AVTA and BYD operators put the electric bus to the test this weekend during a 24-hour marathon ride that looped from Rosamond to Palmdale a total of 18 times.

The BYD bus managed to travel an astounding 746 miles (1,193 kms) over the 24-hour period, operating in three shifts. Each shift logged between 240 and 256 miles before recharging the battery. “This is tremendous news and it proves the BYD electric bus can be a transit work horse like its diesel counterpart,” stated Board Chair Norm Hickling. “We are looking forward to putting our electric buses into service on local transit routes to further evaluate their true performance under all weather and road conditions.”

This weekend’s 24-hour marathon began on Saturday at 1:04 in the afternoon starting from the BYD factory in Lancaster. AVTA’s electric bus was loaded with 5,250 lbs. of sand bags to simulate the weight of 35 passengers. The bus traveled a total of 240 miles before its first battery charge, which is nearly 100 miles more than BYD advertises and 30 miles more than is needed to service an average transit route in the Antelope Valley. The air conditioning system ran during most of the test except during the early morning hours when it was cold outside.

This is the second test for AVTA’s electric bus. Its first unofficial test was July 29 when it traveled to Los Angeles to pick up the consul general of the Chinese Consulate who was scheduled to tour the BYD manufacturing facility in Lancaster. AVTA offered to pick up the Chinese delegation using its new BYD bus in order to test the zero emission vehicle’s performance on the 14 freeway. After circulating downtown, the electric bus easily climbed the 14 Freeway grade which has an elevation change of nearly 4,000 feet. The 92-mile trip ended in Lancaster, CA with 64% of the bus’ battery life still remaining.

“We are ecstatic to see our electric bus performing so well. Our 12-month demonstration project is now off the ground and we could not be more pleased at the early results,” stated Executive Director Julie Austin. “We are also hopeful our plans to install wireless charging stations at AVTA’s two main transfer centers will extend the battery life of our electric buses even more than BYD technology can guarantee.”

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Smart electric drive drag race [VIDEO]

The smart fortwo electric drive is a champion of urban mobility. But is it a champion of the drag strip? Against some of the fastest cars in the city?!

Remember, in urban driving top speed means nothing, it's the first 5 meters that count!

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Brammo Expands into Australia and Welcomes ELMOFO to Dealer Network

Brammo has announced the appointment of ELMOFO (Electro Motive Force) as their importer and distributor for Australia.

Brammo is excited to partner with ELMOFO, who have a deep understanding of the Australian EV market and the challenges associated with building premium electric vehicles.

Commenting on this latest appointment, Founder and CEO of Brammo Inc., Craig Bramscher, said, “Our vision continues to be to bring our world-class motorcycles to leading global markets. This partnership marks a significant milestone in our expansion. We look forward to being part of the Australian EV market and working with ELMOFO.”

"Over the past two years, ELMOFO has been searching globally for the best two wheel EV company to provide electric motorcycles to the Australian market. Brammo offers award-winning, leading-edge technology that will bring a real world impact to Australian riders," said Brett Sutherland, CEO of ELMOFO.

ELMOFO have been racing a battery powered Radical, the current electric lap record holder, the only electric powered vehicle in a field of petrol powered cars in the NSW SuperSports State Championships.

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Silicon Carbide Power Electronics Can Slash $6,000 From Cost of Tesla Model S

Wide bandgap (WBG) materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are best positioned to address emerging power electronics performance needs in electric vehicles (EVs), with SiC displacing silicon as early as 2020, according to Lux Research.

As silicon struggles to meet higher performance standards, WBG materials are benefiting critically from evolving battery economics. On Tesla Model S, for example, a 20% power savings can result in gains of over $6,000 in battery cost, or 8% of the vehicle's cost.

"Efficient power electronics is key to a smaller battery size, which in turn has a positive cascading impact on wiring, thermal management, packaging, and weight of electric vehicles," said Pallavi Madakasira, Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report titled, "Silicon vs. WBG: Demystifying Prospects of GaN and SiC in the Electrified Vehicle Market."

"In addition to power electronic modules, opportunities from a growing number of consumer applications -- such as infotainment and screens -- will double the number of power electronic components built into a vehicle," she added.

Lux Research analysts evaluated system-level benefits WBG materials are bringing to the automotive industry, and predicted a timeline for commercial roll-outs of WBG-based power electronics. Among their findings:

  • Power saving threshold lower for EVs. At 2% power savings, if battery costs fall below $250/kWh, SiC diodes will be the only economic solution in EVs requiring a large battery, such as the Tesla Model S. However, for plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs), the threshold power savings needs to be a higher 5%.

  • SiC ahead in road to commercialization. SiC diodes lead GaN in technology readiness and will attain commercialization sooner, based on the current Technology Readiness Level (TRL). Based on the TRL road map, SiC diodes will be adopted in vehicles by 2020.

  • Government funding is driving WBG adoption. The U.S., Japan and the United Kingdom, among others, are funding research and development in power electronics. The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Motors is spending $69 million this year and defining performance and cost targets; the Japanese government funds a joint industry and university R&D program that includes Toyota, Honda and Nissan.