Be The Change

Day: October 28, 2021 (Page 1 of 2)

Kia EV6 is crowned the 2022 German Premium Car of the Year

Kia Press Release »

The all-new Kia EV6 electric crossover has been voted ‘2022 German Car of the Year’ in the ‘Premium’ category of the ‘German Car of the Year’ (GCOTY) awards. The prestigious accolade comes at a time when the innovative crossover continues to make its highly anticipated debut across Europe.

The EV6 fought off competition from a series of contenders to take the top honour, with the innovative crossover beating a diverse set of rivals that included the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron, Skoda Enyaq and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, among others. A jury consisting of 20 automotive journalists evaluated new models with a base price of between 25,000 and 50,000 euros to determine the overall category winner.

In addition to the three main categories that included ‘Compact’, for vehicles priced under 25,000 euros, ‘Premium’, for vehicles priced between 25,000 and 50,000 euros, and ‘Luxury’, for vehicles priced over 50,000 euros, the competition also included an additional category called ‘New Energies’, which represented electric vehicles powered solely by batteries or hydrogen. The Kia EV6 was also ranked second in this category.
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Insufficient power grid doomed the first generation of electric cars

With a more robust infrastructure, internal combustion engine (ICE) cars might have been a minority today.

The Economist »

“All is rotary, beautifully perfect and wonderfully efficient,” said one evangelist for electric vehicles (evs). “There is not that almost terrifying uncertain throb and whirr of the powerful combustion engine…no dangerous and evil smelling gasoline and no noise. Perfect freedom from vibration assures both comfort and peace of mind.” Translated into Twitter-ese, such views would not sound out of place from Elon Musk. But their author was Thomas Edison, pioneer of the light bulb, in 1903.

The authors consider various causes of petrol’s triumph in 1900-10. Cost is unlikely, since until 1910 petrol-powered cars and evs of the same model type were similarly priced. As for range, evs managed a respectable 90 miles (145km) by the 1910s. Had this been evs’ principal handicap, battery-swapping stations, which replaced depleted batteries with charged ones in seconds, could have become as common as petrol stations did.

The study then used a statistical model to predict how automotive history might have differed if the power grid had developed faster. It finds that if the amount of electricity America produced by 1922 had been available in 1902, 71% of car models in 1920 would have been evs (though long-distance motorists would still have chosen petrol cars). Accounting for the extra power generation such a fleet would need, this would have cut America’s carbon-dioxide emissions from cars in 1920 by 44%.

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Are green(er) jet fuels ready for takeoff?

Wired »

Each engine burned about 600 gallons during the flight, according to United, and created about the same carbon emissions (12,660 pounds). But because the sustainable fuel is made from plant-based sources instead of petroleum, and because plants consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, it has a carbon footprint that’s about 70 percent smaller.

“What we were trying to do is demonstrate that the aircraft can operate in the same capacity with sustainable fuel as with blended fuel,” says Lauren Riley, United’s managing director for global environmental affairs and sustainability. “It did. This is a true step in the path of decarbonization.”

Imagine sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, as part of a big plant-fuel-engine carbon recycling loop, rather than a one-way ticket that sends carbon from a subterranean oil patch directly to the atmosphere. In fact, federal government and industry estimates hold that using SAF can reduce lifetime carbon emissions from 50 to 80 percent depending on the feedstock and type of energy used during manufacturing. The Houston test flight was the first time a commercial aircraft ran at least one engine on 100 percent SAF, which is currently limited to a 50/50 blend on passenger flights.

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Also » United Airlines flies first commercial jet on sustainable fuel from IAH » Huston Chronicle

Audi increases range of 2019/2020 EVs with free software updates that increases efficiency

Audi e-tron Sportback 55 quattro

Owners of an Audi e-tron from the 2019 or 2020 model years can now travel farther on a single charge. A new software update offers an efficiency enhancement that extends their car’s range by up to 20 additional kilometres.

Audi isn’t limiting newly developed efficiency increases to new models, but also boosting the efficiency of 34,000 Audi e-tron 55 quattro EVs already on the road.

Along with increased battery capacity, the new software update optimizes the control of the front electric motor. In normal driving mode, the motor at the rear axle is responsible for propulsion. For improved efficiency, the front electric motor is now almost completely disconnected and powered off – and only when more power is needed do both motors come into play. This makes it possible to even more effectively exploit the major advantage of the asynchronous motor concept, i.e., currentless operation without electrical drag losses.

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Drivers are interested in EVs. Dealers don’t know how to sell them.

Bloomberg »

“The big challenge to selling EVs is training” car dealers, Pieter Nota confided over dinner one night during the Munich Auto Show.

Nota, the board member of management at BMW AG, was talking about the company’s network of 348 distributors across the United States. He was speaking with a small group of journalists who had joined him for a Bavarian repast in Munich to celebrate BMW’s launch of its first-ever electric SUV and electric sedan.

Nota declined to say how many of the company’s new EVs it hopes to sell in their first year. But the power and resources behind them are staggering. BMW will offer a fully electrified vehicle in nearly every one of its segments by 2023, he said. By 2024, BMW will have stopped making internal combustion engines at its main manufacturing plant in Munich. By 2025, it will have invested more than $32 billion in EV research and development.

“We are hitting the market exactly when the time is right,” Nota said. “When demand is rising and when charging is making strong progress.”

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Some BMW i4 electric sedans are already sold out

Joel Patel, Cars Direct »

BMW introduced the all-electric i4 sedan earlier this June with the model entering into production earlier this month. While the i4 hasn’t been available for preorder that long, deliveries of both the i4 eDrive40 and M50 trims are sold out.

BMW’s preorder page for the i4 claims that the first deliveries of both trims, which are scheduled for June 2022, are already sold out. Consumers that didn’t put down a $1,500 refundable deposit on an i4 trim are looking at waiting until summer 2022 for the next batch of deliveries.

Pricing for the i4 eDrive40 trim starts at USD$56,395 with destination. The trim comes with one electric motor on the rear axle that produces 335 horsepower. The base model can travel roughly 300 miles on a single charge and can get to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. The i4 M50 costs USD$66,895 but brings far more power. It features two electric motors for all-wheel drive and 536 hp. Range is expected to be around 245 miles while getting from zero to 60 mph takes just 3.7 seconds.

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Elsewhere » InsideEVs

Mitsubishi unveils the redesigned Outlander PHEV SUV

Mitsubishi has introduced the redesigned plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) model of the Outlander crossover SUV.

Mitsubishi boasts that the redesigned Outlander PHEV has an increase of around 40 percent in the output of the front and rear motors and drive battery. The large capacity drive battery with total capacity of 20 kilowatts (kWh) and raising the equivalent all-electric range to 87 kilometres.

The all-new PHEV model of Mitsubishi’s flagship SUV will be available in Japan starting December 16, followed by Australia and New Zealand in the first half of 2022, and North America in the second half of 2022.

Elsewhere » Motor Illustrated / Auto123 / Electric Car Report / Green Car Reports

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