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UK electric car inquiries soar during fuel supply crisis | Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars

As petrol stations in parts of the UK started running out of fuel on Friday, business at Martin Miller’s electric car dealership in Guildford, Surrey, started soaring.

After what ended up being his company EV Experts busiest day ever, interest does not appear to be dying down. This week the diary is booked up with test drives and the business is low on stock.

“People buy electric cars for environmental reasons, for cost-saving reasons and because the technology’s great,” he said. “But Friday was one of those moments where people said, ‘Do you know what, this is a sign that we need to go electric’.”

While scenes of chaos play out at petrol stations across the country amid shortages, for many electric vehicle (EV) dealers the fuel crisis has led to an unexpected surge in inquiries and sales.

EVA England, a non-profit representing new and prospective EV drivers, reports a rise in electric car inquiries and in interest at EV dealers, particularly in the last week.

“Saturday was bonkers but Friday even surpassed that, it was very strange,” said Miller, who founded his company four years ago. “I’ve now got trade-in cars with no petrol to move them.”

Along with existing factors such as the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone, the fuel crisis has proved to be another trigger point, he said. “People were using it as ‘this is the moment where I’m not going to put this off any longer’.”

The EV market is no longer the preserve of innovators and early adopters, he said, with the most popular models the Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen ID 3 and Jaguar I-Pace.

Ben Strzalko, the owner of Electric Cars UK in Leyland, Lancashire, said that as a small business it would take a few months to feel the knock-on effect of the fuel crisis on sales.

But every time there are problems with petrol or diesel, he said they acted as “one more tick for people making that transition to electric cars”.

He said “a lot of electric car owners will be chuffed to bits this last week” being able to plug in their cars at home. And as an EV driver himself, he admitted feeling a little smug as he drove past queues of 20 cars outside petrol stations over the weekend in his Tesla.

Matt Cleevely, the owner of Cleevely Electric Vehicles in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, which specialises in used EVs, had a surge of inquiries over the weekend and on Monday morning from customers citing the fuel crisis as a reason for switching to electric.

He expects enthusiasm to continue rising, with petrol shortages adding “fuel to the fire”.

Although he feels sorry for non-EV drivers who have been unable to get fuel, he said as an electric car owner it was “very nice” not to have to worry about where to get petrol at the weekend.

“It’s very convenient that we’ve been able to just fuel up on our driveway. It’s one of the biggest pros of having an electric vehicle.”

The National Franchised Dealers Association also said multiple dealers have reported a spike in EV enquiries since the start of the crisis.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported “bumper growth” in the sale of plug-in cars in July, with battery electric vehicles comprising 9% of sales. Plug-in hybrids accounted for 8% of sales and hybrid electric vehicles nearly 12%. Also in July, more electric vehicles were registered than diesel for the second consecutive month.

The UK has pledged to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and of new hybrids by 2035.

Warren Philips, the volunteer communities director at EVA England, said the tipping point for EVs had already been reached but the fuel crisis “underlines how electric cars could work for the majority of people”.

He added: “The interest is already there, this just adds to it. And going forward with things like Cop26, with the climate crisis, with the cost of fuel probably going to rise … people will start looking at electric cars where you just skip that entire step.”

‘False choice’: is deep-sea mining required for an electric vehicle revolution? | Deep-sea mining

At the Goodwood festival of speed near Chichester, the crowds gathered at the hill-climb circuit to watch the world’s fastest cars roar past, as they do every year. But not far from the high-octane action, there was a new, and quieter, attraction: a display of the latest electric vehicles, from the £28,000 Mini Electric to the £2m Lotus Evija hypercar. Even here, at one of the biggest events in Britain’s petrolhead calendar, it’s clear the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered.

As countries strive to meet stringent carbon-emission targets, and vehicle-makers phase out combustion engines, 145m electric vehicles are predicted to be on the roads within a decade, up from 11m last year. The car batteries they require, along with storage batteries for solar and wind power, have sent demand for metals soaring, taking mining firms to the bottom of the sea in the hunt for those metals.

Thousands of metres below the ocean’s surface lie millions of potato-sized rocks known as nodules: a rich source of nickel, copper, manganese and cobalt. In June, an application was filed to start mining these deposits in two years’ time. As well as the demand for minerals for smartphones and other electronic devices, and the difficulty of extracting them from the land in a sustainable way, the companies behind deep-sea mining say we have no choice: if we want to make the transition to renewable energy, we must plumb the ocean depths.

Q&A

What is deep sea mining?

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Deep-sea mining involves retrieving mineral deposits from the area of the ocean below 200 metres down to the sea bed, which is the largest and least explored environment on Earth, occupying 65% of the planet’s surface. Mining firms say that metals found there, such as copper, nickel, aluminium, lithium, cobalt and manganese, are needed to make batteries, smartphones and solar panels. 

When will it happen?
So far, 31 exploration licences have been granted by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN body, and 1.5m sq km has been set aside, equivalent to an area the size of Mongolia, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as along the mid-Atlantic ridge. The decision by Nauru to trigger a rule forcing the ISA to approve a Mining Code – a set of rules “to regulate prospecting, exploration and exploitation of marine minerals in the international seabed area” – will likely lead to full exploitation contracts in less than two years.

Why is it a problem?
Mining could do huge damage to the deep sea and the creatures and ecosystems that exist there. Underwater ecosystems such as volcanic mountains, hydrothermal vents and deep-sea trenches are still poorly understood. Many endemic deep-sea species could be wiped out by the creation of a single large mine, and many other creatures will be affected by noise, light pollution and plumes of mining sediment. 

What can be done? 
An immediate moratorium on deep-sea mining must be instituted while scientists assess the potential damage to biodiversity, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Fundamentally, the IUCN also says people need to recycle and reuse products so there is less demand for extraction of natural resources. New types of batteries are also being designed that do not require metals from the sea bed. 

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“We now have the technology available to us to explore more of the ocean in the next 10 years than we have had in the last 10,000,” says Oliver Steeds, founder and chief executive of Nekton, a deep-sea research foundation and a participant at Goodwood’s Future Lab. His team uses technology such as autonomous underwater vehicles, or robots, to map the deep sea – not for mining, but to promote ocean conservation. Nekton led a deep-sea mission to the Indian Ocean in 2019, which broadcast live from a submersible 200 metres below the waves.

Manganese nodules on the seabed off the Cook Islands.
Manganese nodules on the seabed off the Cook Islands. Proponents of deep-sea mining argue that we have no choice but to exploit these minerals as we move towards a zero-carbon future. Photograph: USGS

The advances in mining and exploration technology represent “an extraordinary opportunity for progress”, Steeds says. “But also it represents a threat, whether through deep-sea mining or further industrialisation and overfishing.

“Too often, the ocean is out of sight, out of mind. But we need to discover what’s there before we destroy it.”

More than 90% of the estimated 2.2 million species in the ocean remain undescribed. And the two-year countdown to deep-sea mining has prompted warnings from scientists that we have not sufficiently understood its potential impact on biodiversity and ecosystems.

Douglas McCauley, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and director of the Benioff Ocean Initiative, says the potential impact of deep-sea mining keeps him up at night.

Electrification of vehicle fleets is a “positive pathway” to reduce carbon emissions, says McCauley. But he accuses deep-sea mining companies of a “false narrative” that we must mine the ocean to meet renewable energy’s demand for metals.

“There are some very significant questions being raised by scientists about the impacts of ocean mining,” he says. “How much extinction could be generated? How long will it take these extremely low-resilience systems to recover? What impact will it have on the ocean’s capacity to capture carbon?”

Campaigners highlight the uncertainty in assumptions behind often wildly different projected metal demand. In July, Greenpeace researchers showed many projections for metal demand by 2050 assumed ongoing use of cobalt and nickel-dependent lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and storage, despite alternatives being developed, including Tesla’s use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, which require neither metal.

Kevin Bridgen, senior scientist for Greenpeace Research Laboratories, says: “People are saying ‘we are not going to have enough metals if we carry on doing as we’ve always done’, but changes are already taking place.”

Increasingly, car companies are joining in the revolt. In March, BMW and Volvo, with Google and Samsung, became the first global companies to sign up to the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. In backing the call, WWF says, the companies committed to not sourcing any metals from the seabed, to exclude them from their supply chains and not to finance deep-sea mining, until the risks are better understood and the alternatives exhausted.

In calling for a ban, Claudia Becker, BMW’s expert in sustainable supply-chain management, says she fears mining the deep sea could have “irreversible consequences”.

“We came to the conclusion we are missing an understanding of the biodiversity impacts of deep-sea mining. We wanted to send a clear signal to the industry that until these issues are resolved, minerals from the deep seabed are not an option for us.”

The safety car for a Formula E race
The safety car for a Formula E motorsport race. It is estimated that there will be 145m electric cars on the roads within a decade. Photograph: CJM Photography/Alamy

Alternatives

One of several alternatives being explored is to build batteries using widely available metals, instead of the rare and expensive minerals used today.

Becker believes mining the seabed could be avoided by turning to alternative, less damaging metals, or by designing batteries that require fewer minerals. She cites China-based BYD (Build Your Dreams), the world’s second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer, which announced this year it would no longer use cobalt in batteries.

Claes Eliasson, senior vice-president of media relations at Volvo, says that its AB Volvo division – which makes lorries, buses and construction equipment – is betting on three vehicle types: electric, hydrogen and biofuels. It is collaborating with Daimler Trucks to produce hydrogen fuel cells for long-haul vehicles.

There are also growing calls for better recycling – including taking old batteries from rubbish dumps. “We are accumulating metal-rich lithium-iron batteries,” McCauley says of these waste sites. He is optimistic about recycling, seeing “exciting developments” in recovering minerals from batteries, and because he believes there is a “huge amount of money to be made” from pioneering a cheaper, energy-dense battery.

Researchers are tackling how to recycle the millions of electric vehicle batteries manufacturers expect to produce over the coming decades. Electric vehicle (EV) batteries are not designed for recycling, says Andy Abbott, professor of physical chemistry at Leicester University. “Most EV batteries have very small cells, which are put into modules and the modules put into packs. To give an idea, the Tesla Model S has got 4,600 cells in it,” he points out.

The difficulty, he says, is to find a cost-effective way to separate the cells, which are held together with tough and highly toxic glue, to access the metals inside.

“Some people are suggesting glue-less cells and making disassembly easier,” says Abbott. “We’re looking at using robots that can pull apart batteries. We’ve shown that, economically, it’s better if you can disassemble it.”

Product design and “planned obsolescence” is another major hurdle for metal recycling. In 2019, 53.6m tonnes of electronic waste was generated globally, only 17.4%, or 9.3m, of which was recycled. But this too is set to change, with the International Telecommunication Union setting a target of 30% recycling by 2030.)

In 2018, China began to hold vehicle manufacturers responsible for ensuring that batteries are recycled and the country now recycles more lithium-ion batteries than the rest of the world combined. Last year, BYD launched the blade battery, which stores flat cells directly inside, allowing them to be removed by hand.

Abbott predicts lithium-iron batteries will be recycled more efficiently in the next “10 to 15 years”. But he adds that they almost certainly will not be the main technology in 20 to 30 years’ time. “It’s an evolving market,” he says.

Robots assemble cars in the BYD electric car factory in Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
Robots assemble electric cars in the BYD factory in Xi’an, Shaanxi. China now holds carmakers responsible for recycling batteries and the country now recycles more lithium-ion batteries than the rest of the world combined. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA

The Metals Company, formerly DeepGreen, one of several companies planning to mine nodules in the Pacific, has accused BMW, Volvo and the other companies of “irresponsible” claims. In a statement in March it asked: “Where exactly will BMW get the battery metals it needs to fully electrify its products, and with what impact to our climate?”

But its claim that mining metals from the ocean had the “least planetary impact” has been called into question.

In July, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Greenpeace USA and Global Witness sent a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, questioning DeepGreen’s environmental impact and feasibility statement.

“DeepGreen is offering a false or dystopian choice” between destroying the rainforest or the ocean environment, says Matthew Gianni, co-founder of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “We don’t need to do either. We, as a society – whether consumers, private companies and/or, in particular, governments investing in renewable energy technologies – can and should use substitute materials and metals in the construction of electric batteries for vehicles and other energy storage technologies.”

TMC declined to comment for this article.

It is not just activists who are concerned. BMW’s Becker says that at least mines on land, although often beset by allegations of child labour, deforestation and pollution, can at least be inspected and held to account.

“I’m not saying that every mine in the world is perfect,” says Becker. “But we have tools, like due diligence standards, that we can apply to mines operating under these standards and we can improve them.”

“Looking at the machinery involved in deep-sea mining, it has hardly been tested at all, smaller versions maybe. But without testing, how do we trust these methods?”

Eliasson, at Volvo, says: “If all the specialists were telling us deep-sea mining is a simple easy option with no impacts on biodiversity, we would have no problem with it. But to date, the research is not there.

“Deep-sea mining in a very sensitive environment is not a good idea until science has come up with a good way to do it. We’re not there yet.”

McCauley agrees. “We have an exciting opportunity, and obligation, to harness the full power of science and human ingenuity to accelerate the mass production of electric vehicles in a way that doesn’t create a new environmental disaster in our ocean, and that minimises the impacts of mining on land.”

TMC were approached for comment but did not respond.

Ford Will Build 4 Factories in a Big Electric Vehicle Push

The top wage for a Ford assembly line worker represented by the United Auto Workers is $32 an hour under a contract the company and union reached in 2019. Unionized workers at parts factories typically make less than those assembling cars.

Other big automakers are also pouring billions into battery and electric car plants. G.M., which said this year that it aimed to end production of internal-combustion vehicles by 2035, plans to build four battery plants in the United States over the next few years. Ford expects electric models to make up 40 percent of its production by 2030.

Even companies that have resisted electric cars have been changing their tune. Toyota Motor, in a sudden shift in strategy, said this month that it planned to spend billions of dollars over the next decade to build battery factories and hoped to sell two million electric cars a year by the end of the decade. Previously, Toyota planned to focus on making hybrid cars and trucks and expressed doubts that fully electric vehicles would take off.

Several other automakers, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Hyundai and Stellantis, which was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s Peugeot, are also investing billions of dollars to produce electric vehicles.

“All these companies are building battery plants because you have to have your own production if you’re going to make E.V.s in high volume,” said Mike Ramsey, a Gartner analyst. “The fact they are spending billions of dollars means they’re saying: ‘There’s no turning back. We’re really going to do this.’”

But Mr. Ramsey said it was not clear how quickly consumers would embrace electric vehicles, which are still more expensive than conventional cars and trucks even after federal and state incentives. Charging stations will also have to expand significantly as more electric models hit the road.

“There’s grounds to have real concerns about where demand will actually be,” Mr. Ramsey said.

Ford’s new truck plant and battery factory in Tennessee will be in Stanton, about 50 miles northeast of Memphis. To be called Blue Oval City, the campus will cover six square miles, substantially larger than the Ford Rouge plant that Henry Ford built in the Detroit area a century ago. The Tennessee campus is expected to employ 6,000 people and will house suppliers and a battery recycling operation as well as the truck and battery factories. Ford and SK Innovation will invest $5.6 billion at the site.

Electric vehicle investments in Tennessee lead the southeastern U.S.

Ford Motor Company’s announcement on Monday to create a massive industrial campus in Jackson marked the biggest — but not the first — major investment in the electric vehicle industry in Tennessee.

The state, after all, leads the southeastern U.S. in electric vehicle manufacturing.

Since 2013, Tennessee is the home of more than 152,000 electric vehicles and more than $6.2 billion in related capitol investment, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

In Spring Hill, General Motors has invested more than $4.3 billion during the last 18 months to manufacture electric cars and the batteries that charge them.

In Clarksville, Tennessee’s fifth-largest city, a nine-digit industrial investment is coming, part of the electric-powered automotive movement. Also in Middle Tennessee, Nissan, which in 1983 opened the state’s first automobile factory in Smyrna, helped to build interest in Interstate 840.

GreenPower Motor Company Announces Participation in Upcoming Electric Vehicle, Consumer and Investor Events

VANCOUVER, Canada, – GreenPower Motor Company Inc. (NASDAQ: GP) (TSXV: GPV) (“GreenPower”), a leading manufacturer and distributor of zero emission electric powered vehicles serving the cargo, delivery, shuttle, transit, and school bus markets, today announced the company’s event and speaker participation at key industry conferences for the remainder of September and October.

The GreenPower team will be highlighting multiple points of interests including showcasing their all-electric zero emissions vehicle line, meeting with consumers, the investor community, as well as participating in featured speaker and guest panelist opportunities.

See below for a full GreenPower itinerary for September through December events and opportunities:

National Parking Convention and Expo, September 27 – 29, 2021 in Las Vegas, NV:
The NPA Convention and Expo is a forum with the purpose of connecting parking professionals with those looking to learn about products and services and engage in connected conversations. Lisa McGhee, Director of Business Development at GreenPower Motor Company will facilitate an open-mic forum with John Groden, General Manager, Parking Concepts Inc. for airport and off-airport parking entrepreneurs, owners, and operators.

Airport / Off Airport Operators Tuesday, September 28, 4:00 PM.
Hear how this important parking sector has rebuilt its business this year. There will be plenty of topics for our facilitator to address from shuttle operations to governmental regulations on CO2 and business development opportunities.

Florida Association of Governmental Fleet Administrators (FLAGFA) Fall Conference and Expo September 29 – October 1, 2021 in St Pete Beach, FL. FLAGFA is the largest and oldest association of local government fleet management professionals in the United States representing most cities, counties, state agencies within Florida.

MOVE America, September 28 – 29, 2021 in Austin, TX:
Move America is the world’s most important mobility event, and both GreenPower CEO Fraser Atkinson and President Brendan Riley will be speaking on September 28, 2021.
Fraser Atkinson, CEO is participating in the panel discussion: Is the electric bus revolution under way?. Tuesday, September 28, 2020 at 2:55 p.m. CT Dan Raudebaugh, Executive Directors, Center for Transportation and the Environment (moderator). Fraser Atkinson, Chairman and CEO, GreenPower Motor Company, Diana Kotler, Executive Director, Anaheim Transportation Network, Elizabeth Presutti, CEO, Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority, Brendan Riley, President will present “Transitioning to zero-emission buses” Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 11:30 a.m. CT, Jacksonville Electric Authority for National Drive Electric Week, October 2, 2021 in Jacksonville, FL.

The Jacksonville Electric Authority is hosting the EV event at the Museum of Science and History with the North Florida Clean Fuels Coalition. GreenPower’s EV Star will be on display via Jacksonville Transit Authority.The event will have local EV drivers sharing their experience, available EVs and dealerships, ride + drives, etc.

GSE Expo (GSE 2021), October 5-7 in Las Vegas, Nevada:
The GSE Expo is a forum for showcasing the latest products, services, equipment and technologies for the global ground support industry. Airlines, Airports, Contract Service Providers, FBOs, Ground Handlers and Military come together to learn what’s new and what’s next for the future.GreenPower will be showcasing its freight transport capabilities with their EV Star Cargo LD Micro Main Event, October 12, 2021 in Los Angeles, Calif.

The LD Micro Main Event has become the preeminent convention for the most powerful people in the small-cap world. GreenPower will be presenting to LD Micro’s large community of analysts and investors. 2021 CALACT Autumn Conference & Expo
October 26 – 29, 2021 in Monterey, Calif.

GreenPower will be exhibiting in booth #207 with the EV Star ADA. The Conference and Expo represents the interests of small, rural, and specialized transportation providers.
56th CA Transit Association. November 2-4 in Sacramento, Calif. The 56th annual CA Transit Association is bringing together diverse public transit professionals for action, collaboration, education and networking.GreenPower will be showcasing its passenger transport capabilities with their EV Star ADA.

APTA Transform Conference and Expo, November 8-10 in Orlando, Florida:
APTA’s Transform Conference and Expo is the world’s most comprehensive public transportation showcase for exhibiting technology, products and services. GreenPower will be displaying their EV Star ADA vehicle and GreenPower executives will be available for briefings.

STN EXPO,December 4-9 in Reno, Nevada:
The School Transportation News Expo brings together industry leaders and consumers to discuss topics and have conversations that make a difference in the school bus industry.
GreenPower will showcase its new all electric BEAST school bus which shines a spotlight on its expert student transport capabilities.

“Participation in these events is essential to promoting awareness as to the type of impact GreenPower is having on the future of transportation and sustainability.” Riley continued, “We look forward to engaging with business owners, investors and consumers alike and are excited to connect with other visionaries doing similar work,” said Brendan Riley, GreenPower President and Director.

About GreenPower Motor Company Inc.
GreenPower designs, builds and distributes a full suite of high-floor and low-floor vehicles, including transit buses, school buses, shuttles, a cargo van and a double decker. GreenPower employs a clean-sheet design to manufacture all-electric buses that are purpose built to be battery powered with zero emissions. GreenPower integrates global suppliers for key components, such as Siemens or TM4 for the drive motors, Knorr for the brakes, ZF for the axles and Parker for the dash and control systems. This OEM platform allows GreenPower to meet the specifications of various operators while providing standard parts for ease of maintenance and accessibility for warranty requirements. For further information go to www.greenpowerbus.com.

NHBC report gives housebuilders direction on electric vehicle charging 

Electric vehicle charging, NHBC report, NHBC

The NHBC Foundation has published a new report looking at one of the critical aspects that housebuilders and developers will need to consider as the UK aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions

The new report, ‘Plugging in to the future – electric vehicle charging and new homes’, gives advice and guidance to housebuilders on the key issues which need to be considered on all new developments.

The government has stated that the UK should achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and has put many policies in place, including that by 2035 all new cars and vans should be fully zero emissions, as a result, electric vehicles (EVs) will become increasingly common.

This will have significant implications for housebuilders, planners and architects since the resulting increase in electric vehicles will require homes to be provided with the necessary equipment for residents to charge their EVs where they live.

The report urges housebuilders to engage with the relevant Distribution Network Operator (DNO) at the very earliest stage to ensure that the electrical supply to the site has sufficient capacity for the number of charge points being installed and to carefully consider the location of the points.

‘Plugging in to the future – electric vehicle charging and new homes’ also examines the various types of EVs currently available and the different connecting cables and charge points being deployed.

Meeting the government’s ambition of net zero emissions by 2050

Richard Smith, NHBC’s head of standards, innovation and research, said: “We believe our new report will act as essential advice for housebuilders, developers and architects in what is unquestionably a fast-moving context. The industry will need to be ready to face into the many challenges related to charging points and EVs over the coming years as new petrol and diesel cars begin to be phased out.

“It is without doubt a sizeable challenge to meet net zero emissions. It is estimated that the UK needs more than 4 million EV charge points by 2030, from a figure of around only 182,000 just two years ago.

“We hope that this new report will help the housebuilding industry on its journey in helping to meet the government’s ambition of net zero emissions by 2050.”

Download the free report here.

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Honda Calls EV Tax Credit Bill ‘Unfair’

Battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles are projected to make up 40% of Honda’s North America sales by 2030.

Battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles are projected to make up 40% of Honda’s North America sales by 2030.

Local automakers are keeping an eye on a budget bill recently passed by the House Ways and Means Committee, which if approved by Congress, would expand the consumer EV tax credit and provide an additional $4,500 for vehicles made by union labor.
 
The bill introduced by Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., would extend the $7,500 EV tax credit through 2031 but limit it to sedans costing less than $55,000, while price tags for vans, SUVs and pickup trucks could not exceed $64,000, $69,000, and $74,000, respectively.
 
The tax credit would go up by $4,500 if the EV meets “domestic assembly qualifications” in which “final assembly of such vehicle occurs at a plant, factory or other place which is operating under a collective bargaining agreement,” according to the bill.

Torrance-based American Honda Motor Co. Inc. said in a statement that it was “disappointed” in the proposal. It described the union portion of the proposed legislation as “unfair.”

Honda, which operates nonunion factories in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio, announced in April that it expects battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles to comprise 40% of its sales in North America by 2030 and 100% by 2040.
 
“If Congress is serious about addressing the climate crisis, as well as its goal to see these vehicles built in America, it should treat all EVs made by U.S. auto workers fairly and equally,” Honda executives said. “We urge Congress to remove discriminatory language tying unionization to incentives from its budget reconciliation proposal.”
Honda’s first battery-powered electric SUV, Prologue, is on track to launch in early 2024, along with an all-electric Acura SUV.

Both vehicles will feature a modular EV platform and batteries built by General Motors Co., with Honda developing the exterior and interior designs. The two competitors announced the EV partnership in November, citing the potential for substantial cost efficiencies in North America.

The new legislation would also remove the cap that provided credits for vehicles made by manufacturers with less than 200,000 units sold, which excluded
Detroit-based GM and Palo Alto-based Tesla Inc. There’s also a credit of up to $2,500 for buying used EVs.

Consumers looking to buy vehicles from Fisker Inc. may benefit from the EV bill should the company’s U.S.-based manufacturing operations materialize. The Manhattan Beach-based automaker signed a memorandum of understanding with Foxconn Technology Group to jointly develop a “breakthrough electric vehicle” it named Personal Electric Automotive Revolution, or Pear, which is proposed to be built by Foxconn and sold under the Fisker brand in North America, China and Europe. Fisker is reviewing locations to manufacture Pear in the United States, which may include Foxconn’s site in Mt. Pleasant, Wis.

Fisker also plans to launch its Ocean SUV in late 2022. The Ocean will be made by Magna International Inc. at Magna’s plant in Graz, Austria. While Ocean’s price tag of $37,500 is well below the $55,000 limit, it does not meet the “domestic assembly qualification” stipulated in the new budget bill.

Canoo Inc. in Torrance and Gardena-based Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. are in a similar boat with offshore manufacturing in place while the domestic operations are underway.

Canoo plans to open an electric vehicle plant in Oklahoma by 2023. It hired Netherlands-based independent contract factory VDL Nedcar to produce vehicles for the U.S. and European markets in the meantime.

Faraday is investing about $90 million to remodel a factory in Hanford, about 200 miles north of Los Angeles, where it plans to build its FF 91 crossover, scheduled to launch in 2022. The facility is expected to come online by year-end and have the capacity to produce 10,000 vehicles daily. Another manufacturing plant in South Korea — a former GM factory — is slated to open in 2023 and would produce up to 270,000 vehicles a year.

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Lotus Unveils Modular Lightweight Electric Vehicle Architecture For Two Sports Cars And Perhaps A 2+2 GT

Last week, Lotus unveiled its Lightweight Electric Vehicle Architecture, or LEVA, a highly modular and mutable battery-electric architecture that will serve as basis for two upcoming sports cars and potentially a 2+2 GT. To better understand LEVA, I reached out to Richard Rackham, Head of Vehicle Concepts at Lotus.

“The structure is fully adaptable to provide a platform for a range of EVs with variable layouts, wheelbase lengths, battery sizes and configurations,” says Rackham.

“As the animation shows, all three layouts feature a common lightweight rear end structure and suspension. This rear end structure can accommodate propulsion units of differing complexities and performance, single or twin motor,” says Rackham. Same basic rear structure, defined attachment points for motors and suspension arms, and a defined strategy for crash protection. From one architecture, many cars. The same sort of modularity is employed throughout the architecture, stem to stern, to ease development of interior components like dash, and readily change bodywork.

“The LEVA architecture can be configured to accommodate two different types of battery: an underfloor slab [a variation on the now-classic skateboard] and a mid-mounted ‘chest.’ The batteries are of differing capacities depending upon the required vehicle attributes and number of occupants. All batteries are combinations of a common module,” says Rackham. For 2-seat sports cars, the architecture offers two wheelbase lengths and also smaller and larger wells to hold the batteries directly behind the passenger cabin. With the larger battery, the rear structure will take twin electric motors. The third variant is for a longer wheelbase 2+2 GT car, with the batteries laid under the floor, with the option of a single or twin motor set-up.

“We assume 800 Volt or higher will be demanded during the lifetime of the platform,” says Rackham, this being the standard Germans and other Europeans are working to. “An 800 Volt charging infrastructure enables faster charging due to lower connector current. For the HV systems, the higher the better, with the limitation being available components.”

Unlike the $2 million Lotus Evija hypercar, which has a carbon-fiber structure, LEVA will rely on Lotus’s proven expertise in extruded and chemically bonded aluminum structures, pioneered in the highly innovative Lotus Elise more than two decades ago.

“LEVA is an extruded and bonded aluminium chassis. The rear subframe uses a high-strength high-ductility BD1 aluminium compound developed as part of the Project LEVA collaboration by Brunel University London,” says Rackham.

“The advantage at Lotus is that we are material- and process-independent. We are not tied to using a specific material or manufacturing process and will use what is best for the application. This is a huge advantage to our engineering consultancy client base and we will work with whatever process or material we are required. However, we pioneered the bonded and extruded chassis technology in automotive applications and therefore, there is no other manufacturer that knows more about this than Lotus. For the LEVA program, this technology and material is the best solution in terms of weight, strength, stiffness and efficiency,” says Rackham.

Lotus Managing Director Matt Windle stipulated that the battery of the sports car needed to match the weight of the existing supercharged 3.5-liter Toyota V6 used in the outgoing Evora and incoming Emira, an ambitious goal considering all the engineers and scientists in the world have yet to deliver the Holy Grail, a major efficiency breakthrough in battery chemistry and packaging dimensions.

“We have achieved that goal, but we are still pursuing weight optimization of the battery so have no definitive figures at this point. But it is not just the weight of the battery, but where it is positioned,” says Rackham, and herein lies the promise of an exceptional lightweight and agile electric sports car. Keep in mind that most electric cars weigh close to or more than 5000 pounds. If the battery and electric motor(s) weight is close to the same as an internal combustion engine, its gearbox and full fuel tank, Lotus will have a sports car perhaps comparable to super sports cars that weigh just over 3000 pounds. Or at least that is the hope.

“For a sports car and our EV hypercar, the Evija, the battery is mid-mounted, where the engine and gearbox would be in an internal combustion car. For the ‘chest’ battery behind the occupants the resultant vehicle center of gravity is further forward and lower than that of a conventional 3.5-liter V6. This gives the benefit of agility from the low polar moment of inertia and means that the driver and passenger will sit lower, a vital perception for a sports, super or hyper car. However, LEVA can take both chest batteries and slab [underfloor skateboard] batteries all of varying sizes for particular applications.”

With this positioning of the battery, weight distribution should be close to optimal, and the car should change directions with characteristic Lotus immediacy. According to Rackham, the mass and packaging of the battery, cabling and motor(s) approximates the weight and physical dimensions of a comparably powerful internal combustion powertrain. If this proves true, Lotus will have extraordinary electric sports cars.

It’s important to note that Lotus is not using a 2-speed gearbox in the Evija hypercar, which indicates that any future battery-electric Lotus sports cars will not have the added weight of a gearbox. But here Rackham will not provide definitive information, though in the video it’s hard to see where a 100-150+ pound gearbox might be packaged. Purist sports cars for the road deliver exquisite balance and a sense of immediacy at speeds below 120 mph. A gearbox likely will not be needed.

“Lotus Evija is single speed—we aren’t chasing 0-60 mph times with the Evija, although it is phenomenally quick over that sprint. But the rate of acceleration from 60 mph to 120 mph and from 120 mph to 180 mph doesn’t change—it reaches 180 mph in less than nine seconds with each 60-mph acceleration interval being less than three seconds.” Acceleration in Evija is unrelenting up to 180 mph. But how much engineering cascades from Evija to the LEVA? One is carbon-fiber, the other aluminum-intensive.

“First of all, we have been conducting advanced R&D into EVs and hybrids as part of the Lotus Engineering consultancy for many years,” says Rackham. Remember that the very first Tesla was essentially a Lotus Elise with a stretched wheelbase to accommodate the batteries. “However, specifically from the Evija, we have learned a lot in a number of areas of engineering and design, including the efficient management of air not just over and around the car, but also through the car. This leads to much greater aerodynamic downforce and efficiencies and is made possible by the differences between EV powertrains and internal combustion in terms of packaging.”

Proof is found in any examination of the rear fenders and rear panels of Evija, where one notices enormous and carefully contoured tunnels that start ahead of the rear wheels and exit above the rear diffuser. One might mistake these “venturis” for exuberant design, the guys with felt tip pens a little out of control. But the venturis offer aerodynamic advantage allowed by the compact physical dimensions of electric motors and the forward placement of the batteries. They are similar to venturis seen on the Ford GT, but are far larger, more aggressive, and package better than on the internal combustion Ford.

“We have also a much greater understanding of how power and torque in EVs are applied compared to an internal combustion car where maximum torque is at lower rpm. We have learned how these extreme performance figures [of electric vehicles with 100 percent of torque available at 0 rpm, instantly] can be managed and optimized for the best driving experience possible. We do stand ‘For The Drivers’ and it is extremely important that we continue to provide the best and most enjoyable driving experience in everything we do!” Managing torque delivery and also torque vectoring, meaning how much torque is applied across the axles to the individual wheels—left to right, to the inside and outside driven wheels during cornering—has been an engineering and scripting exploration among all electric vehicle makers. The ability to meter torque at both the motor itself instantly and accurately at each wheel under all cornering conditions can lead to tremendous gains in handling. Combine that with the proven method of applying millisecond touches of braking to individual wheels to prevent loss of traction and a car can achieve almost cat-like balance—how terribly Lotus.

Unlike the most recent European high-performance electric vehicles, Lotus does not intend to use motors on the front wheels, at least for now. “Front motors are being considered, but we have to protect the fundamental Lotus principles of light weight, agility and steering feel,” says Rackham, the same argument that applies to use of a 2-speed gearbox. This differentiates Lotus from Rimac, Pininfarina and the most aggressive all-wheel-drive Porsche Taycans. Clearly the goal is to retain purity of steering feel and keep vehicle weight as low as possible.

In LEVA, Lotus has also defined their battery strategy for their first-generation of electric vehicles.

“A common battery module is used throughout; the number of modules varies to suit the required performance. The ‘slab’ configuration is the smaller block laid flat,” says Rackham. This is shown in the animation, the battery laid out flat directly under the passenger cabin, a variation on the now-classic skateboard.

“LEVA will be able to accommodate alternative modules as battery technology develops. We won’t give away the weight distribution yet, but we can say that in recent years all our cars have been mid-engine and have around 40:60 front to rear and that is certainly the best solution,” says Rackham.

“Lotus is always about innovation, not just evolution. With our high-level backing from our shareholders, we now have the resources and expertise to lean on the globally influential and rapidly growing Geely,” says Rackham. “There is a huge enthusiasm and desire from the global market for Lotus to diversify beyond sports cars, and while the sports cars are vital to the business, we will have an expanded product range to include SUVs and sedans and these are already in development and the first of which will come out next year—2022. It is a very exciting period ahead, but this is now a reality which Lotus has been working towards over the last 73 years.”