31 Mar 2019 | BMW i3 Successor To Be Cheaper, More Used EVs Going Up In Value and Apple Take...
Show #431 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 31st March 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through every EV story I could find today, and picked out the best ones to save you time. Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too. Hello to MIA OPPELSTRUP who sent me a note to say she’s happy to be an EXECUTIVE PRODUCER of the podcast. HOUSEKEEPING – UPDATE ON THE MINI ELECTRIC FROM PETER GLASS “I can assure everyone the Mini EV will be built in Cowley. Our EV group booked a tour for 15 of us last week to go around the BMW Mini Oxford plant. It's quite amazing in particular the first construction hall welding the steel pressings together called "Body In White", making 3 body shell types. This is a £500million recent investment with over a thousand £150k robots [work that out] and it's clearly going nowhere soon. The philosophy there is 'cell manufacture' not linear production line [final assembly is done in long lines] with separate cages of clusters of robots. While we weren't allowed anywhere near it, they were building the construction cells for the variation required in the Mini Cooper body, mainly the floorplate, to hold the batteries in a "T" under the back seat and former transmission tunnel.” GERMAN CITY OF STUTTGART BANS OLDER DIESEL VEHICLES FROM APRIL 1 "A ban on older diesel vehicles in the German city of Stuttgart will take effect on April 1 and will include car owners who live in the city, the city said on Thursday, following a local court ruling last year." Reports Reuters this week. "The city said it would ban vehicles with engines conforming to the Euro 4 emissions standard from driving or parking in the city unless they are given an exception. Vehicles with engines conforming to the Euro 5 emissions standard will not be affected at the moment but a decision on whether to ban will be made after examining emissions results in mid-2019, the city said." As Kyle Hyatt points out though, Euro standards mean little to those listeners I have in the U.S.: "Essentially the Euro 4 ban encompasses all diesel passenger cars registered from December of 2010 and earlier. Euro 5a began in January of 2011 and Euro 5b ended in December of 2013." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge... https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/st... NEW TOP GEAR MAGAZINE OUT NOW: ELECTRIC SPECIAL "Electric cars are no longer the ‘future of motoring’ – they’re already part of the mainstream. And what better way to prove that than with a features run solely devoted to the EV. So, in this month’s Top Gear magazine - out now - we take an in-depth look at two cars trying to make battery power cool. At one end of the spectrum there’s the retro-looking Honda E Prototype – a little city car with boxy styling and six screens in its interior. Then there’s the Pininfarina Battista. A 1,900bhp electric hypercar from the famous Italian design house, and further proof that speed-freaks will be catered for in the EV world. We also ask our man Paul Horrell to answer four of the biggest questions surrounding ownership of electric cars. How green are they really? Where will all of the electricity come from? Can I have one if I live in a flat? Find out the answers in the new issue." https://www.topgear.com/car-news/elec... BMW i3 SUCCESSOR SET TO BE MUCH CHEAPER "Aside from being BMW's first all-electric model, the i3 was special due to its carbon fiber construction something usually associated with high dollar sports cars not small city carse. Building the i3 with so much carbon fiber seemed like a great idea for weight saving but it caused production issues for BMW early in the car's life cycle. Carbon fiber is also expensive to produce, which contributes to the i3's high price." Reports CarBuzz.com: "If BMW does build a second generation, it will likely rely on more conventional lightweight materials like steel and aluminum. We know BMW plans to release 12 new electric models by 2025, so it will be interesting to see if a next-generation i3 makes the cut. Manager Magazine says BMW could use the 'i2' name, likely signifying that it will be cheaper than the current i3. The i2 could arrive in 2024 with a starting price of around 30,000 euros (approximately $33,821)." https://carbuzz.com/news/bmw-i3-succe... THESE USED ELECTRIC CARS ARE INCREASING IN VALUE As electric cars begin to become more and...
