+++ The upcoming all-new BMW executive saloon based on the firm’s Neue Klasse EV platform will use battery technology familiar with today’s electric cars, but the firm is still planning to introduce solid state batteries in the near future. The brand remains tight-lipped on when such batteries could enter the mainstream market, but it has repeatedly pledged a commitment to introducing solid-state technology as a means of increasing range and reducing costs. It has said that it will deploy the technology in a demonstrator vehicle by 2025. That is likely to be in the vein of the new fuel cell-powered iX5 Hydrogen, which will be used for customer trials but isn’t yet planned to go on general sale. As well as offering enhanced usability by requiring fewer charges, the solid-state batteries will also be recyclable in line with BMW’s ambitious sustainability pledges and will be produced “in a European value chain”, as confirmed earlier this year by the firm’s R&D boss, Frank Weber. The introduction of solid-state batteries will mark another step change in the evolution of BMW’s electric cars and is tipped to be crucial in bringing them much closer in line with their petrol and diesel equivalents in terms of price, thanks to vastly reduced manufacturing costs. The electric saloon, currently known by its internal working name NK1, will recieve BMW’s sixth-generation electric powertrain, rapid-charging capability, lightweight construction, and a new mix of sustainable construction materials. It is set to be sold alongside combustion-engined saloons and new EV models, with an expected launch date of 2025. It is unclear whether solid state technology will be commercially viable during NK1’s lifespan, or if it will be the next generation of road cars that will recieve the new batteries. +++
+++ FORD looks to be testing a hybrid version of its hot Puma ST at the Nürburgring, which means a more efficient yet more potent powertrain option could be on the cards. The car was spotted with ST-Line badging but sported several of the design features bespoke to the full-fat ST, including its unique alloy wheels, bumpers and red brake calipers. The yellow sticker on the rear windscreen indicates a hybrid element in the powertrain. There was no charging flap on display, ruling out the possibility of a plug-in powertrain. That means the model undergoing tests was either a full-hybrid or mild-hybrid set-up. The latter is more likely, given the Puma is not offered with the 2.0-litre engine common to all full-hybrid Ford models. The standard Puma is currently sold with a mild-hybridised 1.0-litre Ecoboost triple producing 125 hp, but the Puma ST is not yet available with an electrified powertrain. The model currently offers 200 hp, so a move to hybrid power would be likely to push the model over the 200 hp barrier while delivering improved economy figures. The performance crossover is already set to receive a hybrid powertrain in a motorsport capacity in line with new World Rally Championship regulations in 2022, which will see all competing cars equipped with hybrid engines. Ford’s new Puma-based WRC racer, built in partnership with Cumbria-based racing and motorsport engineering firm M-Sport, was revealed at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed and is driven by a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine mated to a 136 hp electric motor, producing far more power than the road-going version. +++
+++ The HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP has unveiled its first overseas digital R&D facility in Shanghai, as it speed up efforts to build vehicles that appeal to local Chinese customers. The facility, which will focus on autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and shared mobility, will see more cooperation with local Chinese technology companies including Baidu, said the South Korean carmaker. Lee Kwang-guk, president of Hyundai’s China operations, said the facility is an example of the carmaker’s campaign to deepen local research development in the country. Lee said the facility will fuel the Hyundai’s transformation towards digitalization in the country as well. Also, Hyundai showcased Level 4 autonomous driving and smart cabin solutions developed in collaboration with Chinese company Baidu. The autonomous technology, called Apollo valet parking, enables vehicles to park themselves after the drivers get off. The DuerOS operating system for vehicles, which is installed in Chinese joint venture Dongfeng Yueda Kia’s Ace, is capable of functions from navigation to entertainment via voice commands. This digital R&D facility is part of a broader campaign to boost Hyundai’s performance in China, the world’s largest vehicle market, unveiled in April this year. Hyundai said it plans to launch electric vehicles in China every year starting from 2022 to enhance its presence in the world’s biggest new energy vehicle market. The total number of new energy vehicles in China, including hybrids and fuel cell vehicles, will reach 21 by 2030, said the company. Hyundai is building its first overseas fuel cell system production plant in China, with completion aimed for the second half of 2022. “We hope to play a role in China’s transition into a hydrogen society”, said Lee. The plant, located in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, will be wholly owned by Hyundai, and investment is expected to total 8.5 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) by 2030. +++
+++ LOTUS is confident it can generate revenues from its new bespoke EV hardware, in much the same way the original Elise’s bonded-aluminium architecture went on to underpin a raft of sports cars from other manufacturers. The best-known Elise-based sports cars are the Opel Speedster and Tesla Roadster, but the platform’s chief engineer, Richard Rackham, estimates there have been “probably 10 times as many”, highlighting that use of Lotus’s expertise is wider than broadcast, and underlining just how influential that lightweight structure was. It’s impressive enough that, adapted for the Exige and Evora, it created a family of Lotus models that kept the firm relevant for the next 25 years. Now Rackham is working on a new Lotus platform for the electric era that could end up matching the Elise underpinnings for both longevity (if required) and for model proliferation, both within Lotus and outside. “We’re way ahead of the game now”, he told. It can be stretched from the size of the Porsche 718 Cayman to the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and will be offered to anyone. “This platform will underpin many vehicles from different manufacturers”, he confirmed. This is the E-Sports platform, which we already know will underpin a Lotus sports car from 2026 and an Alpine one from 2025. It’s adaptable enough to fit the batteries either behind the driver to keep occupants nice and low or under them to expand the cabin, affording a 4-seater. It won’t produce saloons or SUVs, though. That side of the future Lotus range, starting with an electric SUV from next year, will use platforms created by parent company Geely. Although the electric Lotus sports car is still five years away, Rackham and his team have already designed the most complicated bit: the rear structure that supports the battery box, drive unit (with 1 or 2 motors) and suspension. Lotus claims this structure is 37 % lighter than that of the V6-engined Emira. That’s a 1.405 kg car, nearly twice as heavy as the 731 kg Mk1 Elise of 1996, but comparing the weight of the 2 is pretty meaningless given how much the market and legislation have changed. The point is that Lotus is innovating again as it looks to convert Geely’s cash into a dynamic electric sports car platform that reduces the impact of heavy batteries as much as possible. One element remains the same: the structure is made of aluminium, mainly because it’s light and the parts can be put together without the need for huge investment. For other car makers, Lotus can supply not just the platform but also the whole electric and electronic architecture, including the infotainment and active safety devices it sources from within Geely. The idea is that the customer designs the body, specifies outputs and for little effort can theoretically start building a car that doesn’t have to be a stripped-out track tool but can be a sophisticated car catering to modern tastes. “This is an entry ticket into vehicle production”, Rackham said. “It’s a wonderful thing to be able to offer it”. +++
+++ Aston Martin expects over half of its sales to be electric models by 2030, according to its top executive said. “I would say a minimum of 50 percent of our sales will be electric, possibly more”, CEO Tobias Moers said. Aston Martin is the latest LUXURY CAR MAKER to announce its electric ambitions as the global auto industry is seeing an accelerating shift away from gas and diesel to battery power. Late last month, Rolls-Royce announced that it will stop selling gasoline powered vehicles by 2030. All its vehicles will be all electric from then on, said the British carmaker, which is owned by BMW. The automaker also announced the name of the first electric Rolls-Royce, the Spectre, which will go on sale in about two years, but did not provide details on the expected driving range or performance attributes of the vehicle. Bentley, owned by Volkswagen, was the first among British luxury carmakers to announce electric plans. Its CEO Adrian Hallmark in November 2020 that all of its products will be plug-in hybrids or electric ones by 2026, and they will be electric 4 years later. “By 2030, no more combustion engines”, Hallmark said. “The future of Bentley will be fully electric”, he said. “We are not only working on one electric car but a full family of electric cars”. Racing car makers are shifting towards electrification as well. Italy’s Ferrari unveiled its first plug-in hybrid in June. The company known worldwide for red racing cars has promised its first full electric model in 2025. “It’s a process which has started a couple of years ago”, said Ferrari chief marketing and commercial officer Enrico Galliera. “We’re working to cope with regulation and the task of reducing emissions”. Porsche, part of Volkswagen, already offers an electric model called Taycan in the market. Lamborghini, another brand owned by Volkswagen, said it will launch its first electric car in the second half of this decade. Lamborghini president and CEO Stephan Winkelmann said the new model will be a daily vehicle for four people, without giving more details. In the meantime, the company will make all its existing models into plug-in hybrids by 2024, and the first of them will be unveiled in 2023, he said. +++
+++ From aging electric batteries to old engines and rearview mirrors, the auto industry is revving up RECYCLING efforts as it faces pressure to reduce its colossal carbon footprint. The world’s automakers are investing in facilities to salvage old parts, but the industry is also looking to recycle the millions of electric batteries that will be used in the cars of the future. While electric cars are cleaner than their fossil fuel forebears, the raw materials needed for their batteries are extracted from mines in Africa that are often accused of environmental damage and using child labor. “As demand for these materials increase, the pressures on these economically marginalized regions are likely to be amplified, risking the goals of a socially and ecologically sustainable renewable energy system”, according to the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney. How the auto industry will manage its electric transition is likely to be among the hot topics at the 2-week COP26 climate summit set to be hosted by the United Kingdom from October 31. The sector produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire European Union, with 20 % of it coming from manufacturing, according to the World Economic Forum. Batteries can account for as much as half the price of electric cars, with a life expectancy ranging between 8 and 15 years. Recycling them could have a considerable impact. It could reduce demand for lithium by 25 %, cobalt by 35 % and nickel and copper by 55 % in 2040, the Institute for Sustainable Futures said in a report in April. But new mining projects are also underway, with “the potential for adverse impacts on local environments and communities, including pollution of soil, air and water, human rights abuses and unsafe working conditions”, the Australian institute said. It is technologically possible to recover over 90 % of the metals used in batteries, but the effort is “limited by the lack of a strong economic driver or policy that could encourage the use of recycled materials”, the report said. The European Commission wants to require that 12 % of the cobalt, 4 % of lithium and 4 % of nickel used in electric batteries be from recycled material from 2030. China is ahead of the game, according to experts, with battery-maker CATL recently announcing the construction of a 32 billion yuan ($5 billion) recycling plant in Hubei province. Redwood, headed by one of the founders of U.S. electric car champion Tesla, raised $500 million in July to expand its recycling facility. Swedish startup Northvolt (a Volkswagen and BMW partner) plans to launch next year a factory capable of recycling 25.000 metric tons of batteries per year. The company has pledged that 50 % of its battery components will be made from recycled materials by 2030. The project, dubbed Revolt, is part of the company’s promise to be the greenest battery-maker in Europe. Northvolt’s chief environmental officer, Emma Nehrenheim, warned that all market forecasts have underestimated the growth of battery production. “Production is constantly growing”, Nehrenheim said. “I’m more worried about the fact that Europe won’t be ready. I see lots of interest, but there could be some gaps. Readiness is needed. We have to act now”, she said. French nuclear giant Orano is launching a project to apply techniques used for extracting uranium to recycle batteries. And waste management company Veolia, also French, has a pilot project at a plant in eastern France that recycles smartphone and computer batteries. At the plant, batteries are stripped of their plastic covering and the aluminium foils that hold the cells, which are then shredded to dust to extract the different metals. It is not just electric batteries that are being recycled as the industry aims to one day produce “circular cars”; vehicles with a net-zero carbon footprint. In France, a joint venture of automaker Renault and utilities group Suez dismantles 5.000 cars per year for their parts. The company, Indra, has taken its industrial process to Belgium, Portugal and Switzerland. Workers empty fuel tanks and strip a car of its engine, tires, dashboard, rearview mirrors and other parts (around 35 % of the weight of the vehicle) within 2 hours. Each car can fetch up to €400 in salvaged parts, which are sold to repair shops or private consumers. The rest is pressed, melted, burned or recycled for other sectors. Jaguar Land Rover also has a project to recycle aluminium from scrapped vehicles, which the company says could cut carbon dioxide emissions from production by 26 % . +++
+++ German auto part supplier Bosch is capable of meeting half the SEMI CONDUCTOR needs of Chinese auto companies at present, with the percentage expected to rise to 80 to 90 percent next year, according to Bosch China president Chen Yudong. Bosch China purchases semiconductors from companies such as STMicroelectronics and Infineon in Malaysia, whose semiconductor production has been severely impacted by the pandemic in recent months. Chen said during the worst months of July and August, Bosch China could only meet 20 percent of its clients’ orders. Chen predicts that Bosch China’s supply in the 4th quarter of this year will be very low, and it will not be able to return to the same capacity as the first half of this year until next year. “It is currently impossible to meet all market needs. A shortage of 10 percent to 20 percent will be normal”, Chen said. He added that alternative products from local chip manufacturers will not be available for a relatively long time, and there will not be immediate change in the current situation. Chip shortages have led to a five-month drop in Chinese auto sales. Data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that China’s auto production and sales in September were down 17.9 percent and 19.6 percent year-on-year, respectively. At the Bosch Technology Innovation Experience Day held last week, the company also showcased its achievements in carbon neutrality. In the past two years, Bosch has invested more than 100 million yuan ($15.59 million) in China and initiated more than 300 energy saving projects since 2019, saving around 480 million kilowatt hours. The company has adopted pure electric and plug-in hybrid solutions for passenger cars and hydrogen fuel for commercial vehicles. In August, the first hydrogen fuel commercial vehicle developed by Bosch and Qingling Motors was delivered in Chongqing. In the next 2 years, Bosch’s hydrogen fuel technologies are expected to be used across all applications of commercial vehicles. In March, Bosch’s hydrogen fuel cell center in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, was put into operation. It is Bosch’s first fuel cell center outside Germany. +++
+++ The market for compact sports cars is shrinking but TOYOTA and Subaru both agree that the 86 and BRZ were worth updating for a second generation. The outgoing 86 and BRZ only account for a tiny percentage of U.S. sales for the Japanese automakers. Toyota sold only 2.476 examples of the GT86 last year, accounting for just 0.13 percent of its U.S. sales. Meanwhile, Subaru shifted 2.267 units of the BRZ in 2020, or 0.37 percent of its U.S. sales. However, Toyota has delivered nearly 80.000 examples since the model’s introduction in 2012 while Subaru has sold nearly 43.000 BRZs. Vice president of vehicle marketing and communications at Toyota Motor North America, Mike Tripp, said there was enough demand for the 2 sports cars for them to get a new generation for the 2022 model year. “No doubt there’s a significant shift to SUVs”, he said. “The reality is there is still a good-size market for individuals who love the joy of driving”, Tripp added that while “it’s a shrinking market”, the automaker has been taking its “motorsports and track experience and bringing that into a vehicle that’s not only fun to drive but also at an attainable price point”. Tripp says that Toyota U.S. expects to sell 800 to 1.000 GR86 models each month, predominantly to Gen Xers and millennials. He also said that appealing to the import tuner crowd is a key part of the company’s plans to market and sell the car. “We have a wide range of GR accessories that we’re introducing with this vehicle that are not just accessories for look but also performance-based, which we think goes very well with the vehicle”, Tripp said. “Additionally, we’ll work with SEMA on a measuring session so that other partners can look at what accessories they can bring to market. We think the range of accessories for this type of vehicle is significant”. +++
+++ VOLKSWAGEN is in talks with Chinese technology company Huawei to build an autonomous driving joint venture. Huawei will primarily act as a supplier for Volkswagen, which will be the majority shareholder of the joint venture. Huawei will provide technology, including software technology and chip IP. The German carmaker confirmed that it will work with Chinese companies to offer autonomous driving solutions in the Chinese market. “The approach in China is somewhat different from what we see in Europe and the US”, said Stephan Wöllenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China. Wöllenstein said the carmaker will make the most of its global experience but will do it in a China-specific way in partnership with local companies. “We believe we need a strong Chinese partner or two on our side in order to comply with the forthcoming frame of autonomous driving in China”, he said. In the US and Europe, Volkswagen is working with US autonomous driving startup Argo. “We try to keep the global synergies but in a China-specific way. We cannot do it alone”, he said. Wöllenstein did not reveal the names of possible Chinese candidates but he said they are in intense talks and Volkswagen is “coming to conclusion very soon who this partner will be”. Volkswagen is already working with Chinese drone maker DJI on advanced driving assist functions to be used in vehicles produced in China. Outside of China, Volkswagen and Argo unveiled the first version of the ID Buzz AD van in Munich, Germany, earlier this year. In 2025, Volkswagen’s subsidiary Moia will commercially launch the ID.Buzz in Hamburg, Germany, as part of a self-driving ride-pool system. Volkswagen chairman Herbert Diess said autonomous driving will entirely change the world, because it will change how the people will use vehicles. Diess expects the mobility market to double in size in 2030 because of autonomous driving. +++
+++ VOLVO is recalling another 195.000 vehicles in the U.S. because the front driver’s airbags could explode and send shrapnel into the cabin. It’s the company’s third U.S. recall for the issue with air bag inflators made by supplier ZF/TRW. It stems from the death of an unidentified U.S. driver. In all, the recalls cover nearly 768.000 older vehicles worldwide, according to Volvo. The latest recall by U.S. safety regulators covers XC70 and V70 wagons from the 2001 through 2007 model years that were built from February 22, 2000 through May 4, 2007. The problem is similar to widespread trouble with airbag inflators made by bankrupt Japanese airbag maker Takata. The company used ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate the airbags. But the chemical can deteriorate over time when exposed to high heat and humidity and burn too fast, blowing apart a metal canister. At least 19 people in the U.S. and 28 worldwide have been killed by exploding Takata inflators. More than 400 have been injured in the U.S. The Volvo inflators do not use ammonium nitrate, but the propellant can still deteriorate when exposed to high heat and humidity, according to documents by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Volvo said in the documents that the fatality is the only inflator rupture case that it knows of. ZF/TRW said the inflators were not sold to any other automakers in the U.S. The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Livonia, Michigan, near Detroit. Earlier this month Volvo recalled nearly 260.000 older cars in the U.S. for the same problem. That was in addition to a recall from November of 2020. Volvo said Thursday that it will contact owners of all the recalled cars and tell them how to get the vehicles repaired. Dealers will replace the driver’s air bag “with a modern state-of-the-art propellant/inflator”, the Volvo documents say. Owners in the latest U.S. recall will be notified by letter starting December 14. +++