G. David Felt

Tesla Fanboy logic is not just here @ C&G, it is crazy funny to read all the comments posted on this one about Tesla Semi Truck. Tesla Semi recall suggests production is still slow | Electrek

AEHRA is an Italian EV startup that believes they can deliver a vision with a mission to the world. This company was assembled with an introduction of their leadership team in June 2022. AEHRA Vision Synthesize the elegance of Italian design global engineering, and American customer service with the future of EV monobodied manufacturing. AEHRA is intensely-focused on creating a driving experience that is always extraordinary. For business or pleasure, AEHRA is a valued necessity to everyday life that is as beautiful as it is functional. AEHRA Mission The mission of AEHRA is to provide customers with an unparalleled driving experience that is beautiful, environmentally respectful, and functional. AEHRA is led by a team of industry experts who has deep auto credentials including the fact that they brought in former Lamborghini design boss Filippo Perini who is the Chief Design officer that is overseeing both their SUV and Sedan. While the SUV was revealed in November 2022, the sedan was revealed at the 2023 Milan Motor Show this past Friday, June 16th 2023 to what one would call an Auto Fashion Show. What is AEHRA? The company in their press release has stated that they will be a new global ultra-premium electric automotive brand. AEHRA EVs will have an exceptional three-meter (108 inch) wheelbase, providing class-leading occupant space, setting new standards for comfort, technology, materials and usability. AEHRA believes that their bold strategy unlocks the full potential that only an EV focused platform affords. The AEHRA platform offers an avantgarde exterior design, while delivering a revolutionary interior concept. The AEHRA EVs exceptionally short overhangs, long wheelbase and completely flat floor have enabled their designers to create unique solutions that transforms the interior environment for drivers and passengers. While AEHRA has not shown an actual interior for the autos, they did release the following interior design drawing. AEHRA dashboard is what they call the HMI or Human Machine Interface. To quote them: "The screen sits in a lower position, to display all the information the driver requires, such as speed, range, heating and ventilation settings and navigational instructions. The two outer areas of the screen serve as virtual exterior mirrors, relaying high-definition images from two front exterior side cameras. When the vehicle is parked, occupants can choose to extend the screen upwards, instantly transforming the AEHRA into a home theater or an office environment. This is a direct result of the game-changing approach taken by AEHRA to the exterior shape of its EVs. In traditional vehicle layouts the interior dimensions do not allow the front row passengers to operate such a flexible and expansive HMI screen because it would sit too close to their eyes. AEHRA has filed a patent for this solution, and it believes it will set new standards in terms of productivity and entertainment inside a vehicle." To quote AEHRA Chief Design Officer Fillippo Perini: “With the screen fully extended, the occupants can relax and enjoy a movie, perhaps when the car is charging or when a parent is waiting to pick up a child from school or a party. And for those who have work to do, the screen and the spacious interior afford the perfect solution for video conference calls. Instead of staring at your smartphone or laptop, you can sit back and not only see all the participants on the call-in perfect high-definition clarity, but also listen to them with crystal-clear, pitch-perfect audio quality.” As one can see in the pictures above, there is a secondary smaller touchscreen, this enables both front-seat occupants to control many of the vehicle's functions such as navigation, heating, ventilation as well as entertainment. The aeronautic industry has been drawn on for inspiration in strength from lite weight design. As such, the seats have been created for low-weight, high-strength construction and optimum comfort levels. The seats will be constructed from Aluminum, recyclable carbon fiber composite and leather as one would find in first-class aircraft accommodations. Rear seats will have reclining levels greater than the front seats and on par with business class airline accommodations. Where you have the SUV above, the Sedan also has the same inspired aeronautical seats but with a slight door difference. AEHRA has stated that production will start in 2026 for both the SUV and the Sedan. The only other specification given at this time is that the driving range will be 800km or 497 miles of range for the sedan, a little less for the SUV. The rest of the specification will be released when reservations are opened to the public. AEHRA-SEDAN-finale-lq-transcode.mp4 AEHRA-Video-SUV-lq-transcode.mp4 AEHRA Electric Sedan and SUV - Cheers & Gears (cheersandgears.com) View full article

Very cool, new EV connectors for newly built and conversion/restoration autos. Eaton’s Power Connections Employing Innovative Sealed High-power Lock Box Connectors | Business Wire Pretty cool as more and more parts are being built for the EV market which also brings up the benefits to conversion/restoration of having decent solid power connector blocks. New Contactor for Electromobility C801 / Schaltbau

First, what actual proof are you quoting for the ATP of $82,000 for Mercedes? First of all I will point out that Mercedes is falling behind, for the second year in a row, BMW is outselling Mercedes. BMW Outsells Rival Mercedes-Benz for Second Straight Year - Bloomberg BMW and Mercedes needs to wake up to their bloated overrated ego of Luxury as Cadillac CT4 alone is eating their market share. Cadillac CT4 Sales Outpace Mercedes And BMW In Q1 2023 (gmauthority.com) Here is a comparison of Mercedes to Cadillac in the EV segment and the ATP is below MSRP for Mercedes. Compare 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB vs. 2024 Cadillac Lyriq | U.S. News (usnews.com) Then you look at the Lyriq versus EQS and the reviews have the Mercedes far below Cadillac. Compare 2023 Cadillac Lyriq vs Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV | CarBuzz Tesla has nothing in the Sub $30,000 range and all of Musk saying they will have one is Vaporware. Tesla is and continues to be late on delivering new products let alone updates. Yes you are correct that Tesla Model Y is the #2 selling SUV in the U.S. for the first 4 months of this year. Wait till GM has their EVs out and Hyundai, Kia, Genesis ramp up U.S. production as well as Ford gets their additional EVs out. As more and more choice comes out, it is logical to expect Tesla to fall. Their quality issues continue and people who have moved over to other EVs has stated that other than the Supercharging network, there is no reason to go back to Tesla for an EV. Cybertruck WILL NOT be taking market share next year as the truck will be sold from the high end to new truck buyers, aka Tesla Faithfull. With Ford and GM having their trucks out at a lower price point, it is very doubtful that Tesla will have any truck to compete with them.

First off, Tesla reports quarterly so that registration figure is not accurate due to one big issue, Tesla Loaners. They have had to increase loaners and that requires registration of vehicles that they will later sell as demo vehicles. Registration does not clarify how many are private ownership and company ownership. 10 to 20% of those registrations could be for Tesla Loaners for all we know. Per Tesla own website: “loaners are give for warrantable repairs estimated to take longer than 24 hours”.

Seems many anouncements over the last 72hours at various electrical events in Europe and the U.S. At Intersolar 2023 the following anouncement was made by SolarEdge. Intersolar 2023: SolarEdge Unveils New Bi-Directional DC-Coupled Electric Vehicle Charger DC-coupled architecture allows simultaneous EV charging directly from PV, home battery and AC grid, enabling charging of up to 24kW Paves way forz EV batteries to function as large home storage solutions, on and off-grid Munich, Germany and Milpitas, California (June 14, 2023) – SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (“SolarEdge”) (NASDAQ: SEDG), a global leader in smart energy, today unveiled its new Bi-Directional DC EV Charger (“Charger”) at Intersolar Europe. The new charger will enable solar-powered Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) functionalities and is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2024. Based on SolarEdge’s innovative DC-coupled architecture, the Charger is expected offers several benefits: Charging the EV directly from PV with no unnecessary AC-to-DC power conversions Fast charging of up to 24kW by simultaneously drawing electricity from the PV array, the home battery and the grid, bypassing the home’s AC infrastructure and the limitations of the car’s onboard EV charger Charging the EV with excess PV, leveraging the SolarEdge inverters DC to AC oversizing (up to 200%) In addition, SolarEdge’s ONE energy optimization system will offer enhanced savings by applying smart algorithms to calculate dynamic utility prices and autonomously charge and discharge the EV battery. This will enable homeowners to receive payments from their electricity supplier during demand response events, by discharging their stored EV battery power back to the grid (V2G). In addition, the EV battery can function as a large home battery storage solution of up to 50kWh, both on and off grid, enabling homeowners to use their EV to back up their homes for extended periods during an outage (V2H). The Charger will be compatible with both 400V and 800V EV powertrains via a standard CSS connector. SolarEdge Unveils New Bi-Directional DC-Coupled Electric Vehicle Charger

January 26th, 2022 Mercedes-Benz signed a partnership with ProLogium in developing next-generation batteries for electric vehicles. Mercedes has committed to a complete all electric auto portfolio starting in 2030. As such, having easily accessible supplies of battery packs would be needed on top of planning for next generation battery cells known at solid-state. Mercedes with a heavy financial commitment to R&D under ProLogium and a seat on ProLogium's board is looking for ways to increase energy density and reduce costs as they change into EVs globally with a 2030 commitment to no longer producing ICE auto's. Through the 2022 calendar year, ProLogium took a solid-state concept for next generation battery cells and took it into a physical form and tested to validate that said design. While current Lithium-ion battery cells such as the famous 2170 or newer 4680 design are very safe, there have been the occasional time where a battery pack has caught fire and burnt down. Still safer than gasoline auto's, the understanding is for mass adoption of EVs globally, that battery cells will need to move to Solid-State design removing all chance for fires while increasing energy density. June 14th to 16th in Munich Germany at the ees or electrical energy storage tradeshow, ProLogium revealed their break-through innovation in a next-generation solid-state battery cell design called Large-Footprint Lithium Ceramic Battery or LLCB. ProLogium has committed to having evaluation units into European auto companies by the end of 2023 as they have started to build their first mass-production LLCB plant in Dunkirk, France. This $5.2 Billion Euro investment for a planned battery capacity of 48 GWh with room to expand will serve as a manufacturing base to supply the European EV market. This will allow ProLogium to localize R&D and supply chain ahead of competitors for the european market. ProLogium has pointed out that to reduce the number of cells in a battery pack is an effective way to optimize the battery pack while reducing the cost of the pack. This is why the industry is moving away from 21x70mm cells (2170) to 46x80mm cells (4680). This same concept can be applied to the solid-state cells. Taking advantage of the solid-state unique structure and manufacturing process, ProLogium has surpassed the liquid type limits of the 2170 or 4680 cells and has developed a large-footprint, high-capacity battery pack cell. LLCB flat shape have superior thermal conductivity allowing for less complex cooling system, optimizing space utilization. The design of the LLCB flat pack allows for simplified pack structure giving ease of maintenance and reduction of ownership costs. ProLogium see's greater design flexibility for EV's. As Simon Wu, Assistant VP of ProLogium stated: “For the same space as the mainstream 2170 EV battery pack, the LLCB pack’s volumetric energy density can be nearly doubled, and for the same total energy, the LLCB pack’s weight can be cut by up to 115 kg. More importantly, the LLCB production processes will produce less waste in terms of substrate materials, and the reduced number of cells will require less raw materials, which means increased sustainability and affordability.” What this means is that as an example, the EQE 350+ that has a 90 kWh battery pack could go with a lighter battery pack and a weight savings of around 254lbs. Or Mercedes could stay with the over all current size of the battery pack and double the power to 180 kWh, increasing the driving range by 79% in the EQE 350+. Polun Cheng, Global Project Management AVP of ProLogium Technology stated the following: “ProLogium is currently cooperating with FEV, a globally leading engineering provider in the automotive industry and internationally recognized leader of innovation across different sectors and industries, to carry out verification tests of the LLCB and design applicable solutions. Samples are targeted to be delivered to European car OEMs for testing as early as the end of 2023.” Third party validation in testing the LLCB across a wide range of different sectors and industries will confirm and validate the benefits of LLCB cells. View full article

According to the news story from NIKKEI Asia The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has designated battery cells as a crucial part of Japan's economic security and has secured $330 Billion Yen in supplementary fiscal budget to support the Japanese sector. Beneficiary of this is that $120 Billion Yen or $853 million dollars will go to Toyota Motor Corporation to support their R&D in developing the 900-mile solid-state battery that Toyota talked about in their revolutionization of the auto. Toyota New Technology to Revolutionize the Future of Autos - Toyota - Cheers & Gears (cheersandgears.com) This financial aid comes as China, Korea, Europe and the U.S. governments have decided to invest in R&D to support home grown battery production. Japan currently holds less than 10% of the automotive battery industry with the bulk of this being Tesla supplier Panasonic, while Chinese suppliers' control over 50% and the remaining 30ish percent is from Korea, Europe and the U.S. Toyota has had to commit yen to yen to qualify for this state aid. Toyota has stated that this subsidy will go into expanding the Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, a joint battery venture with Panasonic, Japan's leading EV battery manufacturer. Toyota says that the battery R&D will allow them to increase their range on all Hybrids almost immediately as well as develop class leadership in EV battery packs for EV production in 2026 or 2027. The Ministry also stated that $160 billion yen will go to Honda Motor and GY Yuasa for their battery investment plans. These investments will cover about 1/3rd of the capital investments for building the new assembly lines and about half of the R&D costs. Japan once led the automotive battery industry with over 50% market share at the end of 2015 but have now been replaced by Chinese and Korean companies that have greater production and supply for the EV segment. Japan currently relies on raw materials from China and finished cells from Korea to build their battery cells for use in EVs. China leads the world in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Toyota is working on Bipolar LFP technology, which is seen as a alternative to the Chinese cells. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last year includes incentives aimed at bolstering the EV supply chain in the U.S. which is seeing massive investment from South Korea with global Automakers as they ramp up to take advantage of the IRA benefits. This has Japan trailing Korean, European and U.S. auto companies that have or are currently moving EV production to the U.S. to take advantage of these financial benefits. View full article