1363: 03 Feb | Rolls-Royce and Bentley Expand Luxury EV Market - a podcast by EV News Daily

Show #1363

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Thursday 3rd February. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

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In January 2022, 9 out of 10 first-time registered new passenger cars had cables, and as many as 19 of the "Top 20" were electric cars. Market share of 83.7 per cent for full BEV.

And for the first time ever, more new Porsche Taycan electric cars than new petrol cars have been registered in one month.

That very many new rechargeable hybrids were registered before the turn of the year, explains a low registration number for this type in January. The numbers now are special anyway, pointing in many directions and heralding an exciting car year. That as many as 19 of the Top 20 first-time registered new passenger cars in January are electric cars is completely unique, says director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen of the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV).

no other country can point to such a brand and model distribution in the Top 20 in a month. The six best-selling new cars did not exist in Norway a year ago,

Sales of pure petrol and diesel cars have been declining for a long time, and of 7,957 first-time registered new passenger cars in January, only 387 petrol and diesel cars in total.

in January, 181 of the electric car model Porsche Taycan were registered, while a total of 175 petrol cars were registered,

Norway's by far most popular car in 2021, the Tesla Model 3, ended up in 48th place on the registration statistics in January.

80% of all new cars for the private market in January were fully battery-powered, figures from the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) show.

There are now 24 fast charger stations by Ishavsveien open to all EVs, plus six SuperChargers for Tesla cars in Finnmark region, making it a no-brainer to cross an area larger than Denmark in size. Even at freezing cold polar night with temperatures dropping down to minus 35°C.

Using big tax incentives has helped Norway towards the goal set by the government that every new passenger car and mini-vans sold should be a zero-emission vehicle by 2025. The incentives include zero sales tax, reduced road toll, free parking and reduced ticket price on ferries.

Even in the remotest parts of Finnmark, the distance between each charging station is not be more than 100 kilometers. The fast chargers and SuperChargers available provide for 50 kW to 250 kW

In 2015, only 3% of new cars in Finnmark were electric. In 2019, the share increased to 11%. In 2020, it was 23%, in 2021 the market share hit 34% and now in January, every four out of five new cars sold is without an internal combustion engine.

The one-off was designed by Polestar chief chassis engineer – and trophy winning rally driver – Joakim Rydholm, who said he took on the challenge in order to improve the accuracy of the Polestar 2’s handling.

Rydholm and his team tweaked the Long range Dual motor version of the Polestar 2 in order to make it more agile on snow and ice. Changes include: a raised ride height (+1.18 in / +30 mm), increased power and torque output (469 hp / 350 kW and 502 lb-ft / 680 Nm) and custom-made 19-inch studded winter tires

The three-way performance dampers, supplied by Swedish suspension manufacturer Öhlins, were also tweaked to include springs that are 30 percent softer than those found in a road-going Polestar 2.

Polestar’s intense winter testing program runs annually for 15 weeks from December to March and sees teams of engineers pushing prototypes — and themselves — to the limit.”

As with the Taycan, expect Porsche to launch the upcoming model in a high-performance ‘Turbo’ trim headlined by an ungodly acceleration figure.

What we can be most certain of is that the Macan EV (and Q6 E-tron sibling from Audi) will be based on VW Group’s ‘Premium Platform Electric,’ a modular EV platform developed from the Porsche Taycan. Though we aren’t expecting Taycan-level drama, such a setup could conceivably manage up to 700 horsepower with a motor driving each axle.

the Spectre features a more aerodynamically efficient shape than your typical blocky Rolls-Royce, which makes sense given its electric powertrain. Drag is huge killer of range. It also looks like the Spectre will have split headlights, likely to help reduce the visual weight of its tall front end.

The Spectre will utilize a version of Rolls-Royce's own aluminum space-frame platform that debuted in the current Phantom. Given the 2023 launch date, the powertrain will most likely be parent company BMW Group's fifth-generation EV technology which supports battery sizes up to 120 kilowatt-hours, or enough for a range approaching 400 miles on a charge.

anasonic Corp. is renovating a facility in Japan to start testing mass production of a new type of lithium-ion battery that’s championed by Tesla Inc. as the key to unlocking cheaper electric vehicles.

Panasonic will start test production of a next-generation “4680” battery at a facility in Japan’s western Wakayama Prefecture, Chief Financial Officer Hirokazu Umeda said Wednesday at a briefing on the company’s quarterly financial results. The company will also set up a prototype production line for the batteries early this year in Japan.

The 4680 batteries -- named after their dimensions of a 46-millimeter diameter and 80-millimeter height -- hold more than five times the capacity of the smaller 1865 and 2170 cells Panasonic currently supplies to Tesla. This means that fewer cells and related parts are needed in an EV, which in turn has the potential to lower its overall cost.

The Japanese company has said it will seek to sell the batteries to EV makers other than just Tesla.

We’ll first prioritize supplying Tesla once the verifications are complete

The 4680 production site is close to Panasonic’s corporate headquarters in Osaka, allowing it to easily dispatch veteran engineers to fine-tune its machinery.

2022 RIVIAN R1T'S FAST-CHARGING PERFORMANCE IS BEHIND THE BEST

 

FIRST BENTLEY EV SET TO REPLACE MULSANNE AS FIRM'S RANGE TOPPER

 

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