Be The Change

Day: October 22, 2021 (Page 1 of 2)

2021 Volkswagen ID.4 RWD earns NHTSA 5-Star overall safety rating

Volkswagen announced that the VW ID.4 RWD (rear wheel drive) has earned a 5-Star overall safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The all-wheel-drive ID.4 has achieved a 5-Star combined rating in the frontal test and 5-star ratings in the side tests. The all-wheel-drive ID.4 is expected to undergo testing for rollover to complete the overall ratings in the near future.

The ID.4 RWD joins the 2021 and 2022 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport, 2021 Jetta and Jetta GLI, and 2021 Golf and Golf GTI as Volkswagen vehicles with a 5-Star overall safety rating.

To help protect occupants, the ID.4 provides a combination of both passive and active safety systems. It features six airbags as standard—front and side airbags for front passengers, and side curtain airbags for outboard seating positions. The ID.4 is also equipped with Volkswagen’s IQ.DRIVE advanced driver assistance technology, featuring hands-on semi-automated capability. This safety-enhancing technology is designed to help monitor the driver’s surroundings and alert the driver of potential obstacles.

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BMW started production of the BMW i4 electric vehicle

The first series-produced BMW i4 has today rolled off the production lines at BMW Group Plant Munich. The company’s home plant now manufactures all drive variants on a single assembly line.

“For the plant and team, the launch of the BMW i4 is a milestone on the road to electric mobility,” said Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG Board Member for Production. “By 2023 more than half of all vehicles from our Munich facility will have an electrified drive. The majority will be fully electric. So Munich goes fully electric.”

Setting up production of the fully electric BMW i4 in the confines of the almost 100-year-old plant, the conversion and installation of systems proved particularly challenging.

The main difference between the BMW i4 and conventional architectures is the electric drive and high-voltage battery. About 90 percent of the existing systems in the Munich bodyshop can still be used for the new model.

Another highly complex area was the integration into assembly of the high-voltage battery. The battery pack is now bolted onto the body by a new, fully automated battery assembly system that works from below.

More » BMW Press Release

Elsewhere » DW / Green Car Congress / We Go Electric / Electric Vehicle Web / Auto123 / The Driven

 

Sweden’s Jetson Aero has unveiled the Jetson ONE personal eVTOL

The Jetson ONE is an ultralight recreational all-electric personal vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

Loz Blain, New Atlas »

Sweden’s Jetson Aero has already sold out the 2022 production run of this cute little single-seat kit build, which is capable of zooming along at 63 mph (102 km/h).

The Jetson One is a simple design purely dedicated to muckin’ about and having fun. Its single seat is suspended in an aluminum/carbon fiber spaceframe. It’s a straight-up drone-style multicopter, with eight props mounted coaxially on four arms, putting out a total peak of 88 kW (118 horsepower). Jetson says it’ll fly safely if one motor dies, but frankly I’d be more interested in landing safely at that point.

The pilot flies it with a throttle lever on the left, a joystick on the right, and a pair of pedals, presumably controlling yaw. There’s some very basic system information displayed on a little dash that frankly looks like a smartphone in a cradle.

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Video below.

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Proposed US EV tax credit could seriously harm Canadian auto sector

US government proposals to create new electric vehicle tax credits for American-built vehicles could harm the Canadian auto industry and fall foul of trade agreements.

David Shepardson and David Ljunggren, Reuters »

In the letter dated Oct. 22, Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng told U.S. lawmakers and the Biden administration that the credits, if approved, “would have a major adverse impact on the future of EV and automotive production in Canada.”

She said this would raise the risk of severe economic harm and tens of thousands of job losses in one of Canada’s largest manufacturing sectors, adding that U.S. companies and workers would not be immune from the fallout. The auto industry in both nations is highly integrated.

Ng said the proposed credits were inconsistent with U.S. obligations under the USMCA and the World Trade Organization.

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Elsewhere » The Detroit News

Creating a sustainable EV revolution

Jim Witham – CEO of GaN Systems, via Forbes »

Changes in human attitudes and public policy must exist alongside the development and maturation of energy efficiency and battery storage technologies to create the optimal conditions for the mass-market adoption of EVs. The levers of change for EVs include:

Government policy.

• Consumer attitudes and behaviors.

• Auto manufacturer priorities and investments.

• Renewable power grid.

• Charging station infrastructure.

• EV technology advances.

We are at the beginning of a game-changing revolution in the way we power our vehicles that will substantially impact the quality of our environment. Such significant change will only be achieved if we can continue to align the power of government policy, mainstream consumer behavior and technology innovation in radically new ways.

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