TEN Transport Evolved News Episode 477 – The New Van Life, Audi Q6 e-tron, Tesla Delivers Early
Today’s Show is sponsored by the electric vehicle association join up to support the electrification of transport and get the help you need to finance your own EV or clean energy future and by energy Sage visit the link in the description to find local verified solar experts Community projects and heat pump
Specialists in your area and by Atmos Financial Bank better with a financial technology company that’s powered by a portfolio of clean energy Investments welcome back to another episode of te transport evolved news thanks for joining me there are a record breaking 47 stories in today’s show so let’s get on with it don’t forget that we also have chapter marks to allow you to skip around to the stories you want to hear
So you don’t have to watch it all we start Today’s Show with the official reveal of the European spec Volkswagen Buzz GTX an all Drive variant of Volkswagen’s electric Microbus you’ll note I said European spec and that’s because Volkswagen has been explicit that this version revealed won’t be the
GTX variant we see in North America but for other markets I think you can look forward to a choice of two wheelbases long or short two battery pack options 79 kwatt hours or 86 KW hours and up to 335 horses at the wheels that’s 250 k Kow both variants promise faster
Charging and the ability to tow up to £4,000 1,89 kilos full pricing and specs to follow rivan and Tesla have flipped their respective switches to allow rivan customers access to Tesla’s supercharger Network in North America joining Ford which got access a few weeks back rivan is the second automaker to get
Supercharger network access for all of its owners using approved n adapters it’s great to see more charging options become available but remember if you’re one of those who now has supercharger access be mindful of where you park and charge because your car’s charging Inlet location may require you to park
Strangely potentially blocking access for other EV owners Chevrolet is expected to be on the list of Brands to get access next in North America with postar confirming this week that it’s got access to the supercharger Network in China this week week earlier this year Ford confirmed that it has a
Special team of Engineers working in a skunk works with a goal of developing a brand new lowcost EV platform this week Bloomberg fleshed out some of the details of said scun Works citing Anonymous sources within Ford that suggests the new platform will likely be used on three new Global EV models from
The blue oval a compact SUV a ride sharing vehicle and a brand new small pickup truck bloom ber claims the first vehicle from the project will arrive sometime in late 2026 with a Target price of around $25,000 Ford hasn’t confirmed any of this yet but we’d guess the first
Vehicle will be the compact SUV to allow Ford to crush shop against Tesla and Volkswagen’s confirmed similarly priced future models Audi held its official unveiling of the PPE based q6 rron this week and promised we can expect many more new EV models from the brand this year the Audi badged sibling to the
Porsche Maan EV two battery pack capacities will be offered at launch 83 kwatt hours net or 94.9 KW hours net depending on Market alongside a choice of single or all-wheel drivetrain while Audi will offer a sporty sq6 Ron variant with 4.2 second Sprint time the Quattro all-wheel drive variant will have a
5-second Sprint time and should offer around 300 M 482 km of range per charge and up to 270 KW of fast charging capabilities it starts from just under 75,000 yearo in Europe with other Market pricings to follow perso unveiled an allnew e58 SUV this week and while it’s entering into an already crowded
Marketplace in midsize SUVs it’s packing quite a lot of punch built on stellantis Stellar medium platform the e58 promises a range of up to 700 km 434 Mi on the overly optimistic nedc test cycle which if proven accurate in the real world will put it ahead of Rivals like the Kia
Ev9 and Volvo ex90 all while offering seating for up to 7 there will be shorter range less powerful variants available when they launch this coming Autumn one important thing to note though is that while it is built on the brand new Stellar medium platform there will also be a hybrid and eventually
Plug-in hybrid variant of this vehicle so don’t expect EV only packaging like we see and the Kia ev9 Ford’s semi-autonomous hands-off driver assistance technology blue cruise is now under official investigation at the hands of the US national Transportation safety board according to the NTSB a blue Cruise ecrypt Ford
Mustang Mark E hit the rear of a Honda CRV that was stationary on Highway 10 in San Antonio Texas killing the driver of the CRV while Reuters reporting of the accident stes a police report that states the Mark E was in quote partial automation end quote at the time of the
Accident both the NTSB and the US national highway traffic safety administration along with Corporation from Ford is investigating if blue Cru was active at the time of the incident our sympathies go out to the families of those involved D in this collision and as I should remind you semi-autonomous Vehicle Systems require constant
Supervision from you the driver it’s long been known that for the most part small fun funky hatchbacks from Europe and Asia rarely make their way to the US and Canada because pickups and SUVs but this week Volkswagen group America CEO Pablo Dei suggested there’s a possibility the Volkswagen ID GTR
Could come to the US and Canada as an affordable hot hatch talking during Volkswagen’s annual media conference he said that quote it would make sense if we hit the right price point seeming to suggest that the Volkswagen GTI badge could live on in North America after all
Based on the id2 which itself is due to launch in 2026 as Volkswagen’s smallest Meb based EV I’ve got to admit that I would love to see the GTI itch get scratched as frankly North America has too many big vehicles BMW unveiled the second of its concept vehicles based on
Its all new EV platform this week the BMW Vision new class evx following on from the vision new class sedan the vision new class evx is an sa or a sport activity vehicle The Styling is most certainly a little controversial at least from the front the kidney grill
Lights up to look like two very large nostrils and the interior is a run-of-the-mill BMW concept vehicle but what’s really interesting is not easily on view the car’s 800v battery pack which unlike production EVS from BMW to date uses cylindrical cells that the company says are both more energy dense
But also allow for a higher fast charging rate when compared to Prismatic cells it’s capable of adding 186 M 300 km of range in just 10 minutes in optimal condition we can expect production Vehicles based on the concept in the near future Tesla CEO Elon musk’s controversial interview
With Don lamon went live this week on both YouTube and x and during it Elon Musk made some comments about Tesla’s long promised second generation Roadster during the wide ranging interview in which Elon Musk stated that quote we are all descended from slaves end quote Elon
Said he did not quote want to put a th on the scale end quote of the US election and added he did not go to Florida to meet with former president Donald Trump but rather that he was visiting a friend and Donald Trump happened to drop by for breakfast Elon
Musk promised that the Tesla Rosa first unveiled in 2017 would indeed be built in collaboration with SpaceX and quote would be something that’s never existed before end quote with quote Jetson’s Vibes end quote musk now says it will enter production next next year the US EPA has finalized its new emission
Standards for new vehicles made between 2027 and 20132 and given the size of the US market it will affect the Global Auto industry following heavy lobbying from large parts of the Auto industry on Capitol Hill the EPA targets were softened from what was previously promised shifting from the originally
Proposed industry Target of hitting a market share of 67% EV sales by 2032 to a market share made up of 56% EV sales by the same time along with at least 133% market share plug in hybrid on top the end goal of the Biden administration’s transition Remains the
Same however meaning that while initial speed of change has been lessened subsequent targets will increase far more rapidly than originally anticipated and while this might not appear to directly impact sales where you live since most automakers make vehicles at Global targets and Trends in mind this could affect EV sales globally for the
Foreseeable future our short shorts are coming in a second but first a word from a longtime sponsor of the channel energy Sage energy Sage helps homeowners connect with local verified solar installers across the US and now heat pump specialists in select markets who really know their stuff they can help
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And now it’s time for short shorts store do has officially opened a 5,800 ft advanced technology campus in Irving California the company’s North American R&D headquarters for xfc Batteries will allow the firm to better collaborate with us automakers Evo has officially commissioned the first charging location built using prefa fabricated fast
Charging stations by building charging stations are top metal plates that can be deployed on location it says its first location that uses prefab units in Texas is the first of many Hyundai Motor Group is recalling 147,000 EVS in the US over a software glitch in the
ICCU that could cause a sudden loss of power while driving models impacted include Hyundai EV Kia EV and Genesis EV model models two men have formerly been charged by the US attorney’s office in the eastern district of New York with trying to sell a company’s Trade Secrets pertaining to Eevee battery pack
Manufacturing filling in the blanks it appears that the company in question was Tesla Volvo Germany’s head of online business Alex anusen told Automotive news Europe this week that Volvo customers are willing to wait it out to get the delayed ex90 and ex30 because they are quote the right products at the
Right time end quote reporting from K Global and Reuters suggests that Nissan is in advanced talks with skon to establish a new battery production facility in the US for Nissan North American models neither firm has confirmed the rumors at this time Citroen has published pricing of the new
Eell lingo and its sibling the espace tourah in the UK fitted with a 50 KW hour lfp battery pack the E Bingo will start from $3,990 Sterling with its espace toura sibling costing 7 Grand more Chinese EV company xang posted its yearend 2023 financials this week showing that while
Its deliveries have increased 17.3% year-over-year and its Revenue increased 14.2% its losses widened by 135% as well an ongoing legal battle between Tesla and fastet over high power fast charging structure at German rest stops is dramatically slowing down the deployment of new fast charging infrastructure in the country it’s reported the court case
May not be resolved for an entire year Volkswagen confirmed this week that it’s intensifying its partnership with mobile ey in order to accelerate autonomous vehicle goals mobile ey has already worked with Volkswagen on various vehicles and its technology will feature heavily in future Volkswagen group cars shell has confirmed plans to essentially
Close up to $1,000 of its shell branded filling stations this year in order to further concentrate on deploying EV charging infrastructure it’s all part of a new road map strategy document published to investors earlier this week charging Hardware specialist I charging has announced that its blueberry cluster and bluebery plus charging
Infrastructure can now support a maximum power capacity of 900 KW shared between multiple different Vehicles charging at the same time a joint partnership between Dominion Energy Thomas built buses and multiple school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia is celebrating after its Fleet of more than 125 electric school buses crossed over
The 1.5 million EV Milestone the Indian government has finally given the green light for a new program designed to lower import duties due on EVS imported to the nation as part of the deal however Tesla and other EV companies must agree to set up Indian factories make an investment in the
Country and import no more than 40,000 EVS made overseas the rumored partnership between Nissan and Honda we reported on last week is Now official confirmed this week during a joint press conference the two rival firms have confirmed they have started a feasibility study into the possibility of a strategic partnership on
EVS vinf fast’s founder and CEO has announced a new vinfast branded company V green it’s designed to be a charging Network owned and operated by the brand and it’s already installed its first bank of vgreen charging stations at location in Vietnam Swedish electric hydril specialist kendella has closed
Its latest funding round with a total of 24 a half million euro in the bank the largest round of funding in the company’s history kendella is rapidly expanding its production capabilities to Electrify watercraft around the world New York city mayor Eric Adams has announced a new $77 million Federal
Grant program to fund a massive School Bus electrification effort in the city as well as establishing a first in the US Electric truck charging Depot at the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center Luna’s group split between Luna’s design and Luna supplied Technologies has entered into restructuring and halted
All operations the company filed a note of intent that says it aims to appoint administrators shortly it’s the latest in a long line of UK firms hitting Hard Times Volkswagen owned luxury brand Bentley has confirmed that it would be pushing back its first EV blaming technical problems with vehicle software
And says it will not become a Pure EV company until 2033 3 years later than it originally planned the California energy commission has awarded $3 million of Grant funds to Bor Warner for M energy and lion electric to undertake a new vehicle to grid test project focused on
California school buses it will leverage school buses capable of bire charging to make the grid less stressed a trial between the UK National Grid and octopus energy in the UK is proving that even can help Balance power demands by leveraging fleets of EV customers to operate as virtual power plants reducing
The need for pea power plants and high carbon electricity generation newly published data from the American clean Power Association and wood McKenzie shows that the US grid tide energy storage HIIT a record for deployment in the last quarter of last year totaling a massive 4,230 megawatt hours of additional power
Capacity a team of researchers and Australia have developed a new method for producing roll-to-roll printable flexible perovskite solar cells that offer lab scale efficiency of 11% while less efficient than many solid cell Technologies these printed flexible cells can be put pretty much anywhere the UK government has extended its
Electric vehicle charge Point grant program to include Street side charging Furniture meaning those who do not have off- street parking can now use the grant funding to help install Street side charging next to their home although Tesla is currently offering some sweetness to encourage people to
Buy a model y before the end of this quarter it’s now binging out the sticks too telling customers they face a $1,000 price hike on April 1st and no we’re not joking while Fiat had previously only intended to bring all electric versions of its Fiat 500 to the US and Canada
Rumors this week suggest that the automaker might be about to change that with Automotive news Europe claiming in internal combustion engine variants will return as well San Francisco Bay Area startup Amber has announced a new extended warranty plan for Teslas that are out of their original warranty period unlike many extended warranties
Amber says it will cover high voltage battery packs and drivetrain units coverage starts from $40 a month video footage intended for apera investors is leaked online in the video up Tera motor’s co-founders Steve farro and Chris Anthony discuss everything from a potential o to Future models based on
The video aptera does look like it might eye an IPO around production launch BD’s market share of new energy vehicles in its Home Market of China is fast approaching 50% according to the company’s CEO The Firm currently represents 48.2% of all EV and plug-in hybrid cars sold in China Panasonic and
Subaru have signed a quote basic Cooperative agreement endend quot covering the supply of Panasonic Automotive grade lithium ion battery packs to Subaru for use in future all electric vehicles and covers cylindrical rather than Prismatic battery cells the national renewable energy laboratory has published a new study in which it lays
Out the tough numbers namely that the US needs to dramatically increase the number of public and private EV charging stations in order to service the more than 33 million EVS it now says might be on the nation’s roads by 2030 General Motors appears to be considering new battery pack design with
A difference according to patents filed this week the automaker is considering a novel pack design made up of irregularly shaped cells similar to Tetris blocks designed to improve overall pack cooling a for F-150 Lightning owner has covered 93,000 m in 21 months and has posted details of a recent battery health check
And even after all of that travel reports the truck’s extended range battery pack has 97% of its original capacity Which is far in excess of what any mandated battery warranty would suggest following on from its record-breaking range test last year mercedes-benz’s eqx X concept car has traveled
Will be more next week our final two stories are next but first I have a quick word from one of today’s video sponsors Atmos Financial imagine a bank where your savings not only grow but also go towards Growing a Greener World that’s exactly what Atmos Financial does
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Love knowing that I’m helping save money and making sure that my investment doesn’t end up funding the fossil fuel industry and now it’s time for those last two stories despite claiming that it was in the process of finding new funding opportunities just one week ago it appears we’re in the Death Watch mode
For Ev startup fisa this week it made an SEC filing on Monday confirming that its production partner is pausing all EV production for the next 6 weeks as it searched for new funding opportunities it failed to file its form 10K with the SEC on March 15th putting it in default
Under its convertible notes due in 2025 and while its investors waved their rights to convert those notes as it worked to file its form 10K things aren’t looking good at the same time fisa opted not to pay an $8.4 million interest payment that was due on the
Same date noting that while it had the liquidity to pay the loan on time it’s trying to improve its Financial situ uation it has about 3 weeks left to pay that amount or it will officially be in default of that loan as well and finally I am personally often accused of
Having a vendetta against Tesla and Elon Musk and I’ve lost count of the number of people who claim that we never say positive things about either Tesla or Elon well today it’s time to give some much needed praise to Tesla after its team and I don’t know if Elon mus was
Involved or not broke with all of the company’s standard protocols to ensure a Tesla cybertruck customer with stage 4 cancer was able to take delivery of their Tesla cyber truck ahead of plan schedule in addition to helping the customer jump the queue Tesla even made
A point of making a celebration of it at the customer’s home bringing along additional cyber trucks and a little cyber truck flag to place on the driveway I have personally lost a father and a sister to cancer way too young and I’m the only person in my family who has
Not had cancer so I just want to reiterate my praise here thank you to whomever it was at Tesla who made this happen I mean it when I say good job and on that note we are in fact done for today as always a massive thank you to the electric vehicle association for
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Welcome to today’s show!
On today’s show: Volkswagen unveils the all-wheel drive ID. Buzz GTX, Audi reveals the Q6 e-tron, and a Tesla Cybertruck customer with stage 4 cancer gets their truck early.
These stories, and many more on today’s show!
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00:00 – Start
00:31 – Welcome!
00:52 – Volkswagen unveils ID. Buzz GTX
01:41 – Rivian gains access to Tesla’s Supercharger network
02:30 – New Reporting suggests Ford’s Skunkworks EV projects will include low-cost small EV Pickup, SUV, and Ride-Share car
03:20 – Audi unveils the Q6 e-tron
04:11 – Peugeot unveils the e-5008 EV
05:09 – BlueCruise under investigation by NHTSA, NTSB
06:09 – Volkswagen North America CEO suggests Volkswagen ID. GTi could come to the U.S.
07:03 – BMW unveils the Vision Neue Klasse X SAV Concept
08:05 – In controversial interview with Don Lemon, Elon Musk says second generation Tesla Roadster is coming next year
09:00 – The U.S. EPA publishes its new, revised emissions targets for 2027-2032
11:06 – Storedot finally opens its California research facility
11:24 – EVgo deploys its first prefabricated charging stations
11:41 – Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis EVs recalled in the U.S. and Canada
11:59 – Two men charged with trying to sell battery secrets of an unnamed US automaker. Could it be Tesla?
12:14 – Volvo executives explain why Volvo customers are willing to wait for their new cars
12:31 – Nissan, SKOn rumored to be working on a new battery factory for the U.S.
12:46 – Citroen prices the e-Berlingo and its siblings for the UK market
13:06 – Xpeng posts its year-end financials for FY 2023
13:23 – Conflict between Tesla, Fastned is holding up fast charging deployment in Germany
13:40 – Volkswagen, Mobileye intensify their autonomous vehicle partnership
13:55 – Shell prepares to get rid of 1,000 gas stations on its road to a cleaner future
14:10 – i-charging increases the power capabilities of its charging units to 900 kW
14:24 – Dominion Energy, Commonwealth of Virginia, celebrate 1.5 million all-electric school bus miles
14:40 – India approves Ev imports from overseas – with some pretty big caveats
15:00 – Nissan, Honda, confirm they are working on an EV partnership
15:15 – VinFast Founder, CEO, announces new company called V-Charge, focused on Ev fast charging
15:31 – Candela closes its largest funding round to date
15:47 – NYC announces new electric bus and commercial charging programs from federal funding
16:03 – Lunaz Group enters into administration
16:20 – Bentley pushes back its EV plans
16:36 – California Energy Commission awards $3 million to a new V2G bus study in California
16:51 – Early data from National Grid, NSO trail with Octopus energy shows Evs can help reduce grid demand when smart charging tech is used
17:10 – US Battery storage power capacity set new records last quarter
17:27 – Researchers in Australia set a new efficiency record for printable flexible perovskite solar cells
17:45 – UK extends its EV charging grant o include on-street charging
18:00 – Tesla warns Model Y Prices will increase on April 1
18:14 – Fiat reportedly considering bringing the ICE Fiat 500 back to the U.S.
18:32 – California startup Amber announces new Ev warranty program for Teslas
18:49 – Aptera video intended for investors is leaked online
19:06 – BYD nears 50% market share for all NEV sales in China
19:20 – Subaru, Panasonic, ink preliminary agreement on battery supplies
19:38 – NREL reiterates that we’re going to need a LOT of public charging
19:55 – GM patents tetris-shaped battery pack modules to improve EV cooling
20:13 – F150 Lightning with nearly 100,000 miles on the clock is still at 97% battery SOH
20:33 – Mercedes-Benz EQXX sets new record in the Arabian desert – even with AC on!
21:01 – Sponsored Segment: Atmos Financial
22:06 – Fisker’s future looks bleak
23:07 – Tesla team breaks its own rules, delivers a Cybertruck to a Stage 4 cancer patient early
