Cars

here’s-how-jaguar-will-relaunch-as-an-all-ev-brand

Here’s how Jaguar will relaunch as an all-EV brand

Cars, Formula E, jaguar, Jaguar Land Rover / /
A rendering of three futuristic coupes

Enlarge / Its unlikely the next electric Jaguar will look much like these extreme coupés, designed by the brand for Gran Turismo.

Jaguar

MONACO—It may be hard to remember, but not too long ago, Jaguar made a very nice electric vehicle. The I-Pace arrived in 2018, and it was the only EV other than the bare-bones Chevy Bolt that could compete with a Tesla on range. It was great to drive, too. An electric replacement for the XJ sedan was meant to be next until it was canceled months before production was supposed to begin.

“I’d seen the car, it was a beautiful car, but when I look at the designs that we have now, when I look at the technology that we’ll bring in the vehicle, it’s night-and-day different,” said Rawdon Glover, managing director of Jaguar. “I think that previous car would have been sort of a segue into something else, where we’re doing a step change.”

And a step change is what Jaguar Land Rover CEO (and Glover’s boss) Thierry Bolloré wants for Jaguar: for it to move upmarket, the way Range Rover has. Tearing up the electric XJ was a bold step—it meant the only new electric Jaguars to debut from 2021 until 2025 would be the brand’s Formula E race cars.

Racing driver Nick Cassidy is one of the few people to drive a new Jaguar this year, as he and his teammate Mitch Evans race in Formula E for the OEM.

Enlarge / Racing driver Nick Cassidy is one of the few people to drive a new Jaguar this year, as he and his teammate Mitch Evans race in Formula E for the OEM.

Jaguar Racing via Getty Images

But 2025 is getting close. Later this year, production of the XF, E-Pace, and F-Pace will all end, as will the I-Pace. The F-Pace production line at Solihull in the British midlands will be revamped to build the first of three models built on an all-new EV platform, Jaguar Electric Architecture. That first model will be a four-door electric GT, a space that’s about to get very competitive as the established Porsche Taycan is also joined by alternatives from Lotus and Polestar.

Jaguar is not quite ready to start talking specifics of that JEA platform, although Glover told me to expect about 400 miles of “real-world range” (700-plus miles, according to the WLTP test cycle) and a battery pack that can fast-charge to 80 percent in 15 minutes. I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to finding out more—Jaguar’s history has often featured financial troubles, but it’s also been jam-packed with innovation.

Formula E is making future Jaguars better EVs

I met with Glover on the day the team’s cars took a 1–2 victory on the streets of Monaco. They put on a good show—unlike Formula 1, Formula E cars can actually race around this place—three wide at times, and overtaking happens (occasionally, memorably, into a corner where most people think you can’t overtake).

The ePrix can’t quite compare to the F1 Grand Prix in terms of glamour, but it’s not too far off; the harbor had a decent complement of yachts packed with important sponsors in need of some VIP treatment. As an event to visit as a spectator, you’ll see better racing and have to battle smaller crowds if you choose the ePrix, not to mention save some euros in the process.

Here’s how Jaguar will relaunch as an all-EV brand Read More »

am-radio-law-opposed-by-tech-and-auto-industries-is-close-to-passing

AM radio law opposed by tech and auto industries is close to passing

AM radio, Cars / /

looks like it’ll pass —

A recent test of the emergency alert system found only 1 percent got it via AM.

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Woman using digital radio in car

Enlarge / Congress provides government support for other industries, so why not AM radio?

Getty Images

A controversial bill that would require all new cars to be fitted with AM radios looks set to become a law in the near future. Yesterday, Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass) revealed that the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act” now has the support of 60 US Senators, as well as 246 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, making its passage an almost sure thing. Should that happen, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be required to ensure that all new cars sold in the US had AM radios at no extra cost.

“Democrats and Republicans are tuning in to the millions of listeners, thousands of broadcasters, and countless emergency management officials who depend on AM radio in their vehicles. AM radio is a lifeline for people in every corner of the United States to get news, sports, and local updates in times of emergencies. Our commonsense bill makes sure this fundamental, essential tool doesn’t get lost on the dial. With a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate, Congress should quickly take it up and pass it,” said Sen. Markey and his co-sponsor Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

About 82 million people still listen to AM radio, according to the National Association of Broadcasters, which as you can imagine was rather pleased with the congressional support for its industry.

“Broadcasters are grateful for the overwhelming bipartisan support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act in both chambers of Congress,” said NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “This majority endorsement reaffirms lawmakers’ recognition of the essential service AM radio provides to the American people, particularly in emergency situations. NAB thanks the 307 members of Congress who are reinforcing the importance of maintaining universal access to this crucial public communications medium.”

Why are they dropping AM anyway?

The reason there’s even a bill in Congress to mandate AM radios in all new vehicles is that some automakers have begun to drop the option, particularly in electric vehicles. A big reason for that is electromagnetic interference from electric motors—rather than risk customer complaints from poor-quality audio, some automakers decided to remove it.

But it’s not exclusively an EV issue; last year we learned the revised Ford Mustang coupe would also arrive sans AM radio, which Ford told us was because radio stations were modernizing “by offering Internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, digital and satellite radio options,” and that it would continue to offer those other audio options in its vehicles.

In response to congressional questioning, eight automakers told a Senate committee that they were quitting AM: BMW, Ford, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo. This “undermined the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s system for delivering critical public safety information to the public,” said Sen. Markey’s office last year, and AM radio’s role as a platform for delivering emergency alerts to the public is given by supporters of the legislation as perhaps the key reason for its necessity.

Tech and auto industries aren’t happy

But critics of the bill—including the Consumer Technology Association—don’t buy that argument. In October 2023, FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission conducted a nationwide test of the emergency alert system. According to CTA, which surveyed 800 US adults, of the 95 percent of US adults that heard the test, only 6 percent did so via radio, and just 1 percent on AM radio specifically. Instead, 92 percent received the alert pushed to their smartphone.

“Requiring the installation of analog AM radios in automobiles is an unnecessary action that would impact EV range, efficiency and affordability at a critical moment of accelerating adoption,” said Albert Gore, executive director of ZETA, a clean vehicle advocacy group that opposes the AM radio requirement. “Mandating AM radio would do little to expand drivers’ ability to receive emergency alerts. At a time when we are more connected than ever, we encourage Congress to allow manufacturers to innovate and produce designs that meet consumer preference, rather than pushing a specific communications technology,” Gore said in a statement.

AM radio law opposed by tech and auto industries is close to passing Read More »

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Tesla’s 2 million car Autopilot recall is now under federal scrutiny

Cars, NHTSA recall, tesla autopilot, Tesla recall / /

maybe ban it instead —

NHTSA has tested the updated system and still has questions.

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A 2014 Tesla Model S driving on Autopilot rear-ended a Culver City fire truck that was parked in the high-occupancy vehicle lane on Interstate 405.

Enlarge / A 2014 Tesla Model S driving on Autopilot rear-ended a Culver City fire truck that was parked in the high-occupancy vehicle lane on Interstate 405.

Tesla’s lousy week continues. On Tuesday, the electric car maker posted its quarterly results showing precipitous falls in sales and profitability. Today, we’ve learned that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is concerned that Tesla’s massive recall to fix its Autopilot driver assist—which was pushed out to more than 2 million cars last December—has not actually made the system that much safer.

NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has been scrutinizing Tesla Autopilot since August 2021, when it opened a preliminary investigation in response to a spate of Teslas crashing into parked emergency responder vehicles while operating under Autopilot.

In June 2022, the ODI upgraded that investigation into an engineering analysis, and in December 2023, Tesla was forced to recall more than 2 million cars after the analysis found that the car company had inadequate driver-monitoring systems and had designed a system with the potential for “foreseeable misuse.”

NHTSA has now closed that engineering analysis, which examined 956 crashes. After excluding crashes where the other car was at fault, where Autopilot wasn’t operating, or where there was insufficient data to make a determination, it found 467 Autopilot crashes that fell into three distinct categories.

First, 221 were frontal crashes in which the Tesla hit a car or obstacle despite “adequate time for an attentive driver to respond to avoid or mitigate the crash.” Another 111 Autopilot crashes occurred when the system was inadvertently disengaged by the driver, and the remaining 145 Autopilot crashes happened under low grip conditions, such as on a wet road.

As Ars has noted time and again, Tesla’s Autopilot system has a more permissive operational design domain than any comparable driver-assistance system that still requires the driver to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road, and NHTSA’s report adds that “Autopilot invited greater driver confidence via its higher control authority and ease of engagement.”

The result has been disengaged drivers who crash, and those crashes “are often severe because neither the system nor the driver reacts appropriately, resulting in high-speed differential and high energy crash outcomes,” NHTSA says. Tragically, at least 13 people have been killed as a result.

NHTSA also found that Tesla’s telematics system has plenty of gaps in it, despite the closely held belief among many fans of the brand that the Autopilot system is constantly recording and uploading to Tesla’s servers to improve itself. Instead, it only records an accident if the airbags deploy, which NHTSA data shows only happens in 18 percent of police-reported crashes.

The agency also criticized Tesla’s marketing. “Notably, the term “Autopilot” does not imply an L2 assistance feature but rather elicits the idea of drivers not being in control. This terminology may lead drivers to believe that the automation has greater capabilities than it does and invite drivers to overly trust the automation,” it says.

But now, NHTSA’s ODI has opened a recall query to assess whether the December fix actually made the system any safer. From the sounds of it, the agency is not convinced it did, based on additional Autopilot crashes that have happened since the recall and after testing the updated system itself.

Worryingly, the agency writes that “Tesla has stated that a portion of the remedy both requires the owner to opt in and allows a driver to readily reverse it” and wants to know why subsequent updates have addressed problems that should have been fixed with the December recall.

Tesla’s 2 million car Autopilot recall is now under federal scrutiny Read More »

toyota-will-spend-$1.4-billion-to-build-electric-3-row-suv-in-indiana

Toyota will spend $1.4 billion to build electric 3-row SUV in Indiana

battery factory, car factory, Cars, Toyota / /

more jobs —

This is a different new 3-row EV from the one Toyota will build in Kentucky.

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An aerial photo of the Toyota factory in Indiana

Enlarge / This Toyota factory in Indiana is getting a $1.4 billion investment so it can assemble a new three-row electric SUV for the automaker.

Toyota

US electric vehicle manufacturing got a bit of a boost today. Toyota has revealed that it is spending $1.4 billion to upgrade its factory in Princeton, Indiana, in order to assemble a new three-row electric SUV. That will add an extra 340 jobs to the factory, which currently employs more than 7,500 workers who assemble the Toyota Sienna minivan and the Toyota Highlander, Grand Highlander, and Lexus TX SUVs.

“Indiana and Toyota share a nearly 30-year partnership that has cultivated job stability and economic opportunity in Princeton and the surrounding southwest Indiana region for decades,” said Governor Eric Holcomb.

“Toyota’s investment in the state began with an $800 million commitment and has grown to over $8 billion. Today’s incredible announcement shows yet again just how important our state’s business-friendly environment, focus on long-term success, and access to a skilled workforce is to companies seeking to expand and be profitable far into the future. Indiana proudly looks forward to continuing to be at the center of the future of mobility,” Holcomb said.

Curiously, Toyota says this will be an entirely different new three-row electric SUV from the one that it will build at its factory in Georgetown, Kentucky. That plant upgrade, which was made public last summer, will cost Toyota $1.3 billion.

Part of the improvements to the Princeton plant include a battery pack assembly line, which will use cells produced at a $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina, which is due to open next year.

Toyota will spend $1.4 billion to build electric 3-row SUV in Indiana Read More »

updating-california’s-grid-for-evs-may-cost-up-to-$20-billion

Updating California’s grid for EVs may cost up to $20 billion

Cars, charging, electric grid, Electric vehicles, green, Science, Sustainability / /
A charging cable plugged in to a port on the side of an electric vehicle. The plug glows green near where it contacts the vehicle.

California’s electric grid, with its massive solar production and booming battery installations, is already on the cutting edge of the US’s energy transition. And it’s likely to stay there, as the state will require that all passenger vehicles be electric by 2035. Obviously, that will require a grid that’s able to send a lot more electrons down its wiring and a likely shift in the time of day that demand peaks.

Is the grid ready? And if not, how much will it cost to get it there? Two researchers at the University of California, Davis—Yanning Li and Alan Jenn—have determined that nearly two-thirds of its feeder lines don’t have the capacity that will likely be needed for car charging. Updating to handle the rising demand might set its utilities back as much as 40 percent of the existing grid’s capital cost.

The lithium state

Li and Jenn aren’t the first to look at how well existing grids can handle growing electric vehicle sales; other research has found various ways that different grids fall short. However, they have access to uniquely detailed data relevant to California’s ability to distribute electricity (they do not concern themselves with generation). They have information on every substation, feeder line, and transformer that delivers electrons to customers of the state’s three largest utilities, which collectively cover nearly 90 percent of the state’s population. In total, they know the capacity that can be delivered through over 1,600 substations and 5,000 feeders.

California has clear goals for its electric vehicles, and those are matched with usage based on the California statewide travel demand model, which accounts for both trips and the purpose of those trips. These are used to determine how much charging will need to be done, as well as where that charging will take place (home or a charging station). Details on that charging comes from the utilities, charging station providers, and data logs.

They also project which households will purchase EVs based on socioeconomic factors, scaled so that adoption matches the state’s goals.

Combined, all of this means that Li and Jenn can estimate where charging is taking place and how much electricity will be needed per charge. They can then compare that need to what the existing grid has the capacity to deliver.

It falls short, and things get worse very quickly. By 2025, only about 7 percent of the feeders will experience periods of overload. By 2030, that figure will grow to 27 percent, and by 2035—only about a decade away—about half of the feeders will be overloaded. Problems grow a bit more slowly after that, with two-thirds of the feeders overloaded by 2045, a decade after all cars sold in California will be EVs. At that point, total electrical demand will be close to twice the existing capacity.

Updating California’s grid for EVs may cost up to $20 billion Read More »

why-are-groups-of-university-students-modifying-cadillac-lyriq-evs?

Why are groups of university students modifying Cadillac Lyriq EVs?

Cadillac Lyriq, Cars, EcoCar EV Challenge, Features / /
A Cadillac Lyriq EV

Enlarge / For the previous EcoCar 3 competition, student teams turned Camaro sportscars into hybrids. For the EcoCar EV challenge, their job is to improve on the Cadillac Lyriq.

EcoCar

Across the country, teams of students at 15 different universities are in the middle of a four-year project, dissecting an electric vehicle and figuring out ways to make it even better. The program, called the EcoCar EV Challenge, was founded more than three decades ago by the US Department of Energy and is run by the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.

Over the last 35 years, more than 30,000 students from 95 universities have participated in the EcoCar Challenge, part of the DOE’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition. Each segment spans four years, with the most recent cycle beginning in 2023 with a new Cadillac Lyriq donated by the General Motors automaker.

The students take this competition very seriously, as participation alone brings a lot of benefits, including the potential for a lifelong career path.

Mobility advancement in progress

One of the organization’s goals is to challenge teams to “identify and address specific challenges with equity in the future of mobility through the application of innovative hardware and software solutions” while working with underserved populations. Through this process, the student-run teams are discovering untapped potential for future EV development and finding solutions that could help local and national communities.

The entire first year is packed with intense research and planning. Students don’t even get to put their hands on a car until year two; meanwhile, they learn how to work together and communicate as a team. They run simulations with propulsion controls and modeling, and by the time they have access to a vehicle, they’re ready to dive in.

University of Alabama student Corban Walsh explains that during the prototyping process, automakers like Cadillac end up with a fleet of pre-production vehicles that can’t be resold. Walsh and his team were given a practically new all-electric Lyriq with just 17,000 miles (27,400 km) on it, and they decided their goal was to transform it from a rear-wheel-drive to an all-wheel-drive configuration and boost the horsepower from 300 to 550 (223 to 373 kW). With tasks like that, one might think this is an ideal club for car fanatics. But Walsh says the team has diverse interests and is in fact very software- and planning-focused.

Year one is research and planning.

Year one is research and planning.

EcoCar

“In some ways, we attract the ‘car guy’ type of person, but at the end of the day, you don’t have to be a car guy,” Walsh says. “You can even forget it’s a car sometimes.”

Any student can join the EcoCar EV Challenge, and general onboarding familiarizes them with the tracks and teams they can join. First, they take a lab tour and view required safety videos; then, they choose a subteam under the general categories of hardware, integration, and software development. The Connected and Automated Vehicle Features subteam, for example, integrates sensor hardware and software, stitching together the data.

Along the way, small tasks lead to big advances. One of the first orders of business for the Lyriq was to obtain a clean title and registration as a salvage vehicle to be considered road-legal. Teams strip the cars down as far as they can, sometimes moving forward through a series of trials and errors. They read all the manuals they can get their hands on, consulting with their GM mentor when they get stuck.

GM also supplies some parts, allowing students to order a limited number from the catalog. The University helps defray some of the cost, and companies like American Axle donate critical components like motors. Natick, Massachusetts-based Mathworks provides the simulation software the team needs for planning. Students learn how to use the resources available on campus, too.

“One of the hardest but coolest things we’ve worked on was when we had to plan mountings for two new motors,” Walsh says. “We decided to use the on-campus foundry where we can cast these parts.”

The foundry had excellent advice for the team, Walsh says, helping them figure out how to make mountings that were strong enough to hold the motor and won’t cause corrosion. They 3D-printed the part and made a ceramic mold, then burned out the plastic and let the metal harden.

Why are groups of university students modifying Cadillac Lyriq EVs? Read More »

this-ai-controlled-jet-fighter-has-now-flown-against-human-pilots

This AI-controlled jet fighter has now flown against human pilots

Ai pilot, Cars, darpa, USAF, X-62A / /

no breaking the hard deck —

After flying against simulated opponents, the AI agent has taken on humans.

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A two-seat F-16 that's painted red white and blue

Enlarge / The X-62A VISTA Aircraft flying above Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Kyle Brasier, U.S. Air Force

An AI test pilot has successfully flown a jet fighter in dogfights against human opponents. It’s the latest development for DARPA’s Air Combat Evaluation program, which is trying to develop aerospace AI agents that can be trusted to perform safely.

Human test pilots have a bit of a reputation thanks to popular culture—from The Right Stuff to Top Gun: Maverick, the profession has been portrayed as a place for loose cannons with a desire to go fast and break the rules. The reality is pretty far from that these days, especially where DARPA is concerned.

The agency instead wants a machine-learning agent that can safely fly a real aircraft autonomously, with no violations of training rules. After all, neural networks have their own reputation—at this point well-earned—for finding ways to exploit situations that hadn’t occurred to humans. And the consequences when controlling a real jet fighter can be a lot more severe than just testing in silico.

In this case, the jet fighter is called the X-62A Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA. It began life as an F-16D (Block 30) two-seater, which spent most of its 32-year career working at the US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB.

Over the years, the plane, previously designated the NF-16D, has been modified to simulate the flight characteristics of other aircraft while in flight. “It has given almost a thousand students and staff members the opportunity to practice testing aircraft with dangerously poor flying qualities and to execute risk-reduction flight test programs for advanced technologies,” said William Gray, chief test pilot of VISTA and the USAF Test Pilot School.

That made it a natural candidate for DARPA’s ACE program, and in 2021, the process of modifying the aircraft began once again as it became the X-62A.

The USAF and DARPA started conducting X-62A test flights under AI control in December 2022, logging 17 hours by the time we first learned of the program in early 2023. Although DARPA’s AI agent flew the X-62A, there was always a pair of human pilots onboard to monitor the test flight and, if necessary, take control. But in those early tests, the X-62A flew against simulated adversaries.

By September 2023, the program had completed 21 test flights, including the first-ever AI versus human aerial engagement within visual range, flying against a human-piloted F-16. During that time, DARPA says the team made over 100,000 lines of flight-critical software changes, which it called “an unprecedented rate of development.”

That’s certainly an achievement, but just focusing on the dogfight is a mistake, according to Gray. “That misses the point. Dogfighting was the problem to solve so we could start testing autonomous artificial intelligence systems in the air, but every lesson we’re learning applies to every task we can give to an autonomous system,” he said.

This AI-controlled jet fighter has now flown against human pilots Read More »

tesla-recalls-all-3,878-cybertrucks-over-faulty-accelerator-pedal-cover

Tesla recalls all 3,878 Cybertrucks over faulty accelerator pedal cover

Cars, Tesla, Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla recall / /

they’re blaming soap —

This time there’s no over-the-air software patch.

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Tesla's boxy Cybertruck pictured driving around a corner.

Enlarge / The Tesla Cybertruck.

Tesla

On Monday, we learned that Tesla had suspended customer deliveries of its stainless steel-clad electric pickup truck. Now, the automaker has issued a recall for all the Cybertrucks in customer hands—nearly 4,000 of them—in order to fix a problem with the accelerator pedal. It has come at an inconvenient time for Tesla, which is laying off more than 10 percent of its workforce due to shrinking sales even as CEO Elon Musk asks for an extra $55.8 billion in compensation.

The problem, which affects all 3,878 Cybertrucks delivered so far, has to do with the EV’s accelerator pedal. Tesla has fitted this with a metal-finish cover to match the brushed metal appearance of the truck itself—no word on whether the pedals rust, too—but it says that at some point, “an unapproved change introduced lubricant (soap) to aid in the component assembly of the pad onto the accelerator pedal. Residual lubricant reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal.”

Thanks to the profile of the Cybertruck’s under dash, if the pedal cover becomes partially detached it can slide up and become trapped in place, wedging the pedal down and unleashing all of the Cybertruck’s substantial power—the dual-motor truck boasts 600 hp (447 kW) and can reach 60 mph (98 km/h) in just over four seconds.

  • This cover became partially detached from the accelerator pedal.

  • And then became stuck underneath some trim, jamming the accelerator on full.

Fortunately, applying the brake overrides the accelerator and cuts torque immediately, but that still didn’t prevent one owner from allegedly crashing into a light pole before he was able to bring his Cybertruck to a stop.

Tesla is no stranger to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s official recall process, but this time there is no software fix or over-the-air patch. Instead, the trucks will need to be physically inspected and reworked if necessary. The company says that it will notify its stores and service centers about the recall “on or around” today, and that owners will be contacted in due course.

Tesla recalls all 3,878 Cybertrucks over faulty accelerator pedal cover Read More »

ev-fast-charging-comes-to-condos-and-apartments

EV fast-charging comes to condos and apartments

ADS-TEC, Cars, dc charging, EV charging / /

30 min and go —

A battery-buffered DC charger is an alternative to a bank of shared AC chargers.

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A woman plugs a Rivian SUV into a fast charger.

Enlarge / The Marina Palms condo development in Miami recently added an ADS-TEC ChargeBox DC fast charger for its residents.

ADS-TEC

Right now, the electric vehicle ownership experience is optimized for the owner who lives in a single-family home. A level 2 home AC charger costs a few hundred dollars, and with a garage or carport, an EV that gets plugged in each night is an EV that starts each day with a 100 percent charged battery pack. Plenty of Ars readers have told us that a 120 V outlet even works for their needs, although perhaps better for Chevy Bolt-sized batteries rather than a Hummer EV.

However, about a third of Americans live in large multifamily developments, often in cities that stand to benefit the most from a switch to electrification. And electrifying the parking lots of existing developments is often easier said than done. Some developments will allow individuals to install their own dedicated charger, and newly built developments may even have planned ahead and put conduits in place already.

For many others, the parking spaces will be owned by the condo association or co-op, complicating the idea of giving each EV driver their own plug. Here, shared solutions make more sense, perhaps starting with one or two shared level 2 chargers as a pilot—often this won’t even require extra work to the electrical panel. Costs are a little higher than for a home level 2 charger—between $7,500–$15,000 per charger, perhaps.

But for larger developments, scaling up level 2 chargers can quickly become prohibitively expensive. Older buildings may well need their electrical infrastructure to be upgraded, and running copper wiring across parking lots starts to add up fast.

Faced with the install costs for a dozen 2 chargers, a battery-buffered DC fast charger starts to look like an attractive alternative. These use an existing electrical feed to trickle-charge a lithium-ion battery pack that can then DC fast-charge an EV, rather than requiring hundreds of kilowatts. Instead of taking 6–10 hours to recharge with AC power, about 30 minutes is usually sufficient to return most EVs to 80 percent state of charge with a DC fast charger.

A condo building in Miami, the Marina Palms, recently made just this decision after a boom in the number of residents with EVs created a need for more charging capacity than its six existing level 2 chargers could offer. It went with a ChargeBox from ADS-TEC Energy, which is capable of charging at up to 320 kW.

“That was one of the biggest appeals, that we didn’t have to work with the electrical infrastructure of our development or grow it or whatever, just to get this charger installed. I think we have 200 kW in the power grid on that side, and we’re using 100 kW. The other way [with multiple level 2 chargers] we would be using a minimum of 140 kW, if not the whole thing, and then we have no buffer for something else we might be doing like—for instance a car lift or that type of thing,” explained George Barriere, general manager for the Marina Palms.

If the costs are comparable, there’s another benefit to picking a DC fast charger in place of a bank of AC plugs—it takes up less room. “We didn’t use anything from our inventory of parking, which is the biggest problem for condos—lack of parking. So, we would have to have 20 parking spaces for 20 level 2 chargers in order to service the same number of vehicles that we’re doing with two parking spaces [with a single level 3 charger],” Barriere told me.

“Our deployment at the Marina Palms Yacht Club and Residences serves as a model for other large condominium and apartment complexes in Miami and elsewhere in the US,” said Thomas Seidel, CEO of ADS-TEC. “The lack of charging infrastructure is still a deterrent in driver adoption of EVs. ADS-TEC Energy is solving this problem with our solution. We look forward to rolling out additional installations across the US this year. The advantages we provide will be a huge step for the US in building a strong and reliable charging infrastructure.”

EV fast-charging comes to condos and apartments Read More »

tesla-to-lay-off-more-than-10-percent-of-its-workers-as-sales-slow

Tesla to lay off more than 10 percent of its workers as sales slow

Cars, layoffs, Tesla / /

🙁 —

“Cost reductions and increased productivity” needed, says Musk.

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Aerial view of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory on June 2, 2023 in Shanghai, China.

Enlarge / Tesla’s Shanghai factory in 2023.

VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Times are starting to get tough for Tesla. The electric vehicle automaker had been riding high, with quarter after quarter of successive growth and plenty of profits in the process. But lately, that success has mostly been due to a series of price cuts meant to tempt customers to buy into an aging lineup. This March, the company reported its first quarterly decline since 2020.

Now, it plans to lay off more than 10 percent of its workforce, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk told employees in the memo.

Musk has pursued a strategy of relentless cost-cutting, but all those price cuts have meant Tesla’s once-envied profit margins are now nothing special.

“As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10 [percent] globally. There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative, and hungry for the next growth phase,” Musk wrote.

Tesla’s limited aging product portfolio is starting to become a problem in the face of stiff competition in China. Its newest vehicle is the Cybertruck, a large and controversial pickup with limited appeal outside of North America’s wide roads and parking spaces. And plans for a cheap two-seat Model 2 have been axed in favor of a robotaxi.

Tesla to lay off more than 10 percent of its workers as sales slow Read More »

cybertruck-owners-allege-pedal-problem-as-tesla-suspends-deliveries

Cybertruck owners allege pedal problem as Tesla suspends deliveries

Cars, Cybertruck, Tesla, Tesla Cybertruck / /

glue that pedal cover on, yo! —

Owners will have to wait until April 20 for deliveries to resume.

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A Tesla Cybertruck in a Tesla store

Enlarge / The Cybertruck remains a divisive vehicle.

Jonathan Gitlin

Tesla’s troubled Cybertruck appears to have hit yet another speed bump. Over the weekend, dozens of waiting customers reported that their impending deliveries had been canceled due to “an unexpected delay regarding the preparation of your vehicle.”

Tesla has not announced an official stop sale or recall, and as of now, the reason for the suspended deliveries is unknown. But it’s possible the electric pickup truck has a problem with its accelerator.

Tesla has been accused of making cars that have sudden unintended acceleration problems. In 2017, the company was the subject of a class-action lawsuit based on at least 23 accounts of Tesla Models S and X suffering from this problem. Tesla vehemently denied any such problem, and in 2020, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declined to investigate.

But in 2023, a safety researcher in Minnesota published a white paper with a potential mechanism, showing how a voltage spike in Tesla’s inverter could cause a car to experience an acceleration event. That same year, a leaked trove of Tesla documents to the German publication Handelsblatt included more than 2,400 customer complaints alleging sudden unintended brake problems. By July 2023, NHTSA decided it was time to investigate the problem.

This time, the potential culprit might be a lot easier to identify than a defective inverter experiencing a random voltage spike.

Yesterday, a Cybertruck owner on TikTok posted a video showing how the metal cover of his accelerator pedal allegedly worked itself partially loose and became jammed underneath part of the dash. The driver was able to stop the car with the brakes and put it in park. At the beginning of the month, another Cybertruck owner claimed to have crashed into a light pole due to an unintended acceleration problem.

  • This cover became partially detached from the accelerator pedal.

  • And then became stuck underneath some trim, jamming the accelerator on full.

  • The accelerator pedal without the metal cover.

Lending this theory credence, Whole Mars Blog, a social media account with close links to the automaker, stated on Saturday that “Tesla has stopped all Cybertruck deliveries for 7 days due to an issue with the accelerator pedal.”

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“ban-chinese-electric-vehicles-now,”-demands-us-senator

“Ban Chinese electric vehicles now,” demands US senator

BYD, Cars, Chinese EVs / /

BYD in the crosshairs —

China’s EV industry benefits from billions of dollars in government subsidies.

–

A row of BYD vehicles on a dealer lot in Berlin.

Enlarge / BYD electric cars stand at a BYD dealership on April 05, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, is a Chinese manufacturer that went from making solar panels to electric cars. The company is seeking to gain a foothold in the German auto market.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Influential US Senator Sherrod Brown (D–Ohio) has called on US President Joe Biden to ban electric vehicles from Chinese brands. Brown calls Chinese EVs “an existential threat” to the US automotive industry and says that allowing imports of cheap EVs from Chinese brands “is inconsistent with a pro-worker industrial policy.”

Brown’s letter to the president is the most recent to sound alarms about the threat of heavily subsidized Chinese EVs moving into established markets. Brands like BYD and MG have been on sale in the European Union for some years now, and last October, the EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into whether the Chinese government is giving Chinese brands an unfair advantage.

The EU probe won’t wrap until November, but another report published this week found that government subsidies for green technology companies are prevalent in China. BYD, which now sells more EVs than Tesla, has benefited from almost $4 billion (3.7 billion euro) in direct help from the Chinese government in 2022, according to a study by the Kiel Institute.

Last month, the EU even started paying extra attention to imports of Chinese EVs, issuing a threat of retroactive tariffs that could start being imposed this summer.

Chinese EV imports to the EU have increased by 14 percent since the start of its investigation, but they have yet to really begin in the US, where there are a few barriers in their way. Chinese batteries make an EV ineligible for the IRS’s clean vehicle tax credit, for one thing. And Chinese-made vehicles (like the Lincoln Nautilus, Buick Envision, and Polestar 2) are already subject to a 27.5 percent import tax.

An existential threat?

But Chinese EVs are on sale in Mexico already, and that has American automakers worried. Last year, Ford CEO Jim Farley said he saw Chinese automakers “as the main competitors, not GM or Toyota.” And in January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he believed that “if there are no trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world.”

BYD, which recently debuted a sub-$10,000 EV called the Seagull, is reportedly looking for a factory in Mexico. That would allow it to build cars for the US market that aren’t subject to the 27.5 percent tax.

But not if Congress gets its way. A few weeks ago, Joshua Hawley (R-Mo.)—using very similar language to Brown—called for a tax increase on Chinese EVs. Hawley wanted to raise the base tariff from 2.5 percent to 100 percent, which would result in Chinese EVs being subject to an overall 125 percent import tax, up from today’s 27.5 percent. Hawley also wanted to apply those rates to Chinese EVs assembled in Mexico.

“A surge in Chinese EV sales would cripple the domestic manufacturing base, including critical inputs from parts suppliers to steel, tires, and glass producers,” wrote Brown, noting also that Chinese EVs could “undermine efforts to reshore semiconductor production.” Brown is similarly down on allowing made-in-Mexico EVs from Chinese brands.

It’s not just the potential damage to the US auto industry that has prompted this letter. Brown wrote that he is concerned about the risk of China having access to data collected by connected cars, “whether it be information about traffic patterns, critical infrastructure, or the lives of Americans,” pointing out that “China does not allow American-made electric vehicles near their official buildings.”

At the end of February, the Commerce Department also warned of the security risk from Chinese-connected cars and revealed it has launched an investigation into the matter.

Brown doesn’t just want a tariff on Chinese EVs, though. “When the goal is to dominate a sector, tariffs are insufficient to stop their attack on American manufacturing,” Brown wrote. “Instead, the Administration should act now to ban Chinese EVs before they destroy the potential for the US EV market. For this reason, no solution should be left off the table, including the use of Section 421 (China Safeguard) of the Trade Act of 1974, or some other authority.”

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