1325: 30 Dec 2021 | European Northvolt Gigafactory Sparks Into Life - a podcast by EV News Daily

Show #1325

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 30th December. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

- Sweden's Northvolt said on Wednesday its new gigafactory in northern Sweden has assembled its first battery cell, making it the first European company to design and manufacture a battery on the continent.

- The cell is of a prismatic cell format - a variety of thinner and lighter battery - and came off the assembly line on Tuesday.

- Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson had told Reuters that the new factory would produce a battery this year "even if it means the first battery is made on New Year's Eve".

- The company is aiming for the Skelleftea plant to achieve production capacity of 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) as it aims for at least a 20-25% market share in Europe by 2030.

Original Source : https://www.reuters.com/technology/northvolt-produces-first-battery-cell-sweden-gigafactory-2021-12-29/

- Tesla is due to launch its first factory in Europe shortly and Asian rivals have significant operations in Poland and Hungary - but no European firm had yet operated a significant facility until now.

- The new factory, dubbed "Northvolt Ett" (Northvolt One) in Swedish, already employs 500 people and will likely have as many as 3,000 staff once it reaches full capacity.

- The Swedish company, which has already raised funding of several billion euros, was founded in 2016 by Carlsson and Italian Paolo Cerruti, both former Tesla employees.

- Its location, some 200 km from the Arctic Circle, was chosen because it is near important sites of renewable production in northern Sweden, including hydropower.

Original Source : https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/12/31/northvolt-powers-up-europe-s-first-homegrown-ev-battery-gigafactory-in-a-bid-to-beat-tesla

- Volkswagen of America announced that the ID.4 model is among the fastest-selling VW vehicles in the U.S. with nine out of ten buyers identifying as first-time EV buyers. The number of gross reservations (since the ID.4 introduction in March 2021) has increased to more than 40,000 (as of mid-December), out of which over 15,000 cars were sold.

- Assuming that there were not many resignations, there are still some 25,000 ID.4 buyers waiting for Volkswagen to ramp up production and sales, which is not easy considering production constraints and high demand also in Europe.

- The good news is that in 2022, the company intends to launch localized production of the ID.4 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Battery cells for the cars will be supplied by SK Innovation's SK On from the new battery plant in Commerce, Georgia.

Original Source : https://insideevs.com/news/557901/us-volkswagen-id4-reservations-40000/

- By the middle of 2022, the Lucid Air electric luxury sedan may be the best car in the world.

- After a day driving the new EV and another touring Lucid’s Silicon Valley HQ/tech center, I’m convinced the fast, elegant and advanced Air is, like the iPhone, one of those rare products that won’t just succeed: It will change its industry, inspiring customers to demand more, forcing companies to do better.

- I can’t dismiss the Lucid EV’s early-production software glitches. An automaker’s Prime Directive is to produce vehicles that open their doors and drive off on the first attempt, just as a telephone that struggles with audio calls is flawed, no matter how marvelous its other capacities.But five years from now, nobody will remember the glitchy door handles I experienced in early-production vehicles.

Original Source : https://eu.freep.com/story/money/cars/mark-phelan/2021/12/29/2022-lucid-air-care-electric-vehicle-luxury-sedan-review-price/9016627002/

- The Tesla Model 3 has only been in Europe for a couple of years now, but it has been an instant hit. In 2021, it is expected to be the best-selling EV there, topping competitors like the Volkswagen ID.3 and the Renault Zoe, according to a new report. You can see why Tesla CEO Elon Musk is so anxious to get Tesla’s factory in Germany up and running.

- That report, published in Automotive News, also says that, unsurprisingly, Tesla will be the best-selling EV brand, too, though Volkswagen will be the best-selling EV company, by virtue of selling EVs not just with the Volkswagen marque but also electric Audis, Cupras, Skodas, and Porsches, too.

- Sales of the Model 3 jumped 84 percent to 113,397 through November, according to data from JATO Dynamics market researcher. Volkswagen’s ID3 compact hatchback is likely to be at No. 2. ID3 sales rose 125 percent to 63,109 in the first 11 months.The Renault Zoe, 2020's best-selling EV is on track to be No. 3. Through 11 months, Zoe sales were 60,551, down 27 percent.

Original Source : https://jalopnik.com/europes-best-selling-ev-is-the-tesla-model-3-1848287478

- We are now learning that the first Ryzen-equipped Teslas are rolling out of Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California.

- The information comes to us via Teslascope, which posted an image of the vehicle system information screen confirming the inclusion of a Ryzen CPU. For those not in the know, the Ryzen (formerly Atom) is responsible for handling infotainment duties on Tesla EVs. It’s directly responsible for the screen's responsiveness when activating menus, playing games, loading apps like YouTube or Netflix, and swiping around the navigational map.

- The first Model 3 and Y vehicles with MCU3 (Infotainment Computer with AMD Ryzen) are now being produced and delivered in North America!

- One other notable change coming alongside the Ryzen chip is the inclusion of a new, smaller Li-ion battery to power the vehicle’s 12-volt system. This replaces the antiquated 12-volt lead-acid batteries found in almost every other internal combustion engine vehicle and previous Teslas. The Li-ion battery, which is shared with newer Model S and Model X vehicles, weighs just 4 pounds compared to 27 pounds for its lead-acid predecessor and should last the life of the car (instead of 2 to 4 years).

Original Source : https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-tesla-model-3-model-y

- Tesla Inc. is on track to meet its employment goal at its South Buffalo factory and avoid a $41.2 million penalty, according to new job figures from the state.

- The company had 1,536 full-time jobs at its South Park Avenue factory on Nov. 10, along with 21 part-time positions.

- That tops the 1,460 jobs that Tesla was required to have in Buffalo by the end of the year under its agreement with the state in exchange for spending more than $950 million to build and equip the plant.

- With Tesla's solar energy business now stagnating at levels that are less than half of what they were five years ago, the company has been shifting other types of work to the Buffalo plant.

- It also has hired hundreds of people to work on its autonomous driving programs for electric vehicles, although many of those positions are for data annotation work that only requires a high school diploma.

- the state subsidies for the Tesla factory work out to more than $620,000 per full-time job.

Original Source : https://buffalonews.com/business/local/tesla-on-track-to-meet-buffalo-job-target-avoid-41-million-penalty/article_30660284-6819-11ec-b86b-1fe1c855acd9.html

- The new Audi RS Q e-tron will contest its first Dakar Rally from January 1 to 14, 2022. For Audi as the inventor of quattro, TFSI, ultra, e-tron and many other future technologies in motorsport, this marks the beginning of a new era in cross-country rallying.

- A total of 80 people from Audi and Q Motorsport – from the rally drivers and those responsible for technology and logistics to the team doctor and physiotherapists – will be moving through Saudi Arabia for two weeks. The 2022 program includes twelve stages with daily distances of more than 800 kilometers in some cases.

Original Source : http://www.automobilsport.com/race-categories--24/race-categories--24,232585,Audi-RS-Q-e-tron-ahead-of-its-first-Dakar-Rally---On-the-threshold-of-a-new-era,news.htm

- Germany's BMW plans to create up to 6,000 new jobs next year to prepare for growing demand for its electric vehicles, the carmaker's chief executive told daily Muenchner Merkur.

BMW is on a very good path through the transformation and has its plants prepared for e-mobility, Oliver Zipse was quoted as saying in an interview published on Wednesday. "That is why we will increase our workforce by up to five percent next year."

Original Source : https://www.carandbike.com/news/bmw-to-create-up-to-6-000-new-jobs-next-year-ceo-2679445?

Original Source : http://www.china.org.cn/china/2021-12/30/content_77960248.htm

Original Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-cut-new-energy-vehicle-subsidies-by-30-2022-2021-12-31/

Original Source : https://insideevs.com/news/558128/plugshare-over-1million-downloads-2021/

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