Tag: ev

Cybertruck Designer Says Tesla Stainless Steel Pickup is No Experiment

The angular, polarizing design of the Cybertruck will help boost the Tesla brand, the electric vehicle maker’s chief designer said on Thursday, adding that the pickup was no experiment.

“Love it or hate it, it’s a conversation starter, and it gets people talking about the brand,” Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen said at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, which is adding Cybertruck models to a Tesla exhibit.

The long-delayed Cybertruck starts at a price of $60,990, over 50% more than what CEO Elon Musk had touted in 2019, with a smaller range than originally promised.

But it is drawing interest from people who have never owned a truck, with some potential owners queuing up for it at some Tesla showrooms, von Holzhausen said.

“Just because it looks different doesn’t mean that it can’t be potentially a high volume vehicle,” he added, saying the pick-up measures up to the performance of traditional rivals. “There seems to be this air of doubt.”

“We’re bringing people into the market that never would have owned a truck before,” von Holzhausen said. “And so I don’t think it’s an experiment.”

The stainless-steel clad truck is all angles, in part because a traditional press can’t bend the steel into curves. The Lamborghini Countach, also an aggressively angular car, had also inspired the design, as had Lockheed’s F-117 Stealth Fighter jet, von Holzhausen said.

“It looks like it shouldn’t do what it does, yet intelligent engineers figured it out,” he said of the F-117.

The Tesla design studio was also inspired by the car-turned-submarine in the 1977 James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me,” which Musk bought.

The Cybertruck’s launch has not been without glitches.

In 2019, von Holzhausen threw a metal ball at the truck during at its launch event, shattering two of its fortified glass windows. At another an event last month where the first trucks were delivered, he lobbed a baseball at the windows without any damage.

A recent viral video also showed the Cybertruck carrying a Christmas-tree being pulled up a slope it was unable to climb by a gasoline-powered car.

Von Holzhausen, however, defended the car, saying his kids love being picked up from school in the Cybertruck, and he has been mistaken for Musk by people when driving it.

(Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; writing by Peter Henderson; editing by Miral Fahmy)

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Xiaomi EV Technology to be Showcased at Company’s December 28 Stride Event

Xiaomi has confirmed that the company will soon unveil its EV or electric vehicle technology. The Beijing-based firm is currently known to be one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers. The company said in 2021 that it would enter the electric vehicle market, with the debut of its first such vehicle expected for 2024. Earlier this year, an electric vehicle from the company, codenamed ‘Modena’, was seen being tested in cold, snowy terrains. The upcoming launch event will, however, not see any product reveal.

Xiaomi announced in a post on X that Xiaomi’s EV Technology will be unveiled at the Stride launch event to be held on December 28 at 2 pm Beijing time (11:30 am IST). Lei Jun, Xiaomi founder and CEO, claimed that Xiaomi EV aims to integrate “automotive, consumer electronics, and smart ecosystems” and, therefore, redefine the technology of the automotive industry. He also clarified that the December event will only showcase EV technologies and not introduce any products.

The company reportedly won the approval of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the body which regulates investments and production capacity in the country’s auto industry, to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs). Xiaomi pledged to invest $10 billion (roughly Rs. 82,700 crores) in this sector spanned across a decade. It planned to mass-produce its first set of cars within the first half of 2024.

In January this year, the testing of an EV model by Xiaomi, codenamed ‘Modena’ in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was spotted, which was supposedly a test of the vehicle’s battery performance in extreme cold conditions. The company had confirmed previously that it hired over 500 experts from around the world to develop the in-house autonomous driving technology.

The images seen in the testing of the Xiaomi Modena show the EV as a sedan with an aerodynamic shape, with a long hood and a swooping roofline that drops gently towards the back of the car. It also showed retractable door handles and LiDAR sensors on the roof of the vehicle.

Will the Nothing Phone 2 serve as the successor to the Phone 1, or will the two co-exist? We discuss the company’s recently launched handset and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Reliance Showcases Multipurpose, Swappable Batteries for Electric Vehicles

Reliance Industries showcased its swappable and multipurpose battery storage technology for electric vehicles (EVs) on Wednesday, as it makes a big push on clean energy.

Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, displayed removable and swappable batteries for EVs that can also be used to power household appliances through an inverter at a renewable energy exhibition.

The idea is that a person can use one battery for mobility as well as for powering appliances at home, company executives at the event said, requesting not to be quoted as they are not authorised to speak with media.

The batteries can be swapped at Reliance’s battery swap stations or re-charged by households using rooftop solar panels, which also it plans to sell, the executives added. The executives did not clarify when the company planned to start selling these batteries.

Development of battery storage solutions is a part of Reliance’s bigger $10 billion green push towards clean energy projects. The company aims to cut dependence on its mainstay oil-to-chemical business and be net zero carbon by 2035.

The company acquired two battery companies for about $200 million in 2021 and 2022, respectively — UK-based Faradion that makes sodium-ion batteries, and Lithium Werks, that produces lithium iron phosphate (LFP)batteries. Reliance displayed LFP chemistry-based battery at the exhibition.

A company presentation at the event showed it is also working on customisable batteries for business and individual usage, intelligent swap stations and integrated charging networks. Reliance doesn’t plan to get in to EV manufacturing but will partner with EV makers, the presentation showed.

Reliance won an incentive last year to set up a 5-gigawatt hours (GWh) battery manufacturing facility under the government’s $2.4 billion programme that aims to boost local battery cell production.

The factory will be set up by 2026 and will make batteries and containerised energy storage solutions.

Clean auto technology is central to the country’s strategy of cutting pollution in major cities and reaching its broader climate goals. Electric vehicles currently make up a fraction of total sales in the country, mainly due to their high price as the batteries are imported, and a lack of charging infrastructure.

The government is trying to encourage swappable batteries to bring down costs and promote wider adoption of EVs.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Apple Car Unlikely to Go Into Mass Production in Next Few Years: Ming-Chu Kuo

Apple has been launching its regular slate of products — most recently the iPhone 15 series, the Apple Watch Series 9, the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and a refreshed pair of AirPods Pro — without noticeable hitches, but its long-gestating, ambitious electric vehicle faces an uncertain future. Riddled with repeated delays and development problems, the Apple car project, internally known as Titan, seem to have hit new hurdles. According to prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s car plans have “lost all visibility,” and the Cupertino, California-based tech firm must look at alternate strategies to make headways into a highly competitive automotive space.

TF Securities analyst Kuo, in a post on X on Wednesday, cast doubts on project Titan, Apple’s bet on a self-driving electric vehicle. “The development of the Apple Car seems to have lost all visibility at the moment,” Kuo’s post read. “If Apple doesn’t adopt an acquisition strategy to enter the automotive market, I doubt that the Apple Car can go into mass production within the next years.”

Kuo’s comments seem to suggest that Apple must seek a partner with expertise in the automotive industry to collaborate and help see through its car project to market. It’s worth noting that Apple officially has not commented or confirmed its plans to bring an electric car to consumers. The Apple car, however, remains an open secret in the tech and automotive industry, especially as Apple has sought out talent in the same field over the past few years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said as much way back in 2016. “It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it,” Musk had then said over Apple’s plans to rival Tesla in the EV space.

Kuo did not elaborate on his claims in his post on X (formerly Twitter), but his comments are in line with the widely reported stuttering development on Project Titan. Back in December last year, Bloomberg had reported that Apple had delayed the launch of its electric car to 2026, missing its expected 2025 target. Far more concerning was the claim that the tech giant was pulling back on plans of an advanced self-driven electric car as present technology reportedly did not reconcile with the company’s vision for a fully autonomous vehicle. Apple had initially planned for the vehicle to ship without a steering wheel and pedals; that has been put on the backburner in favour of a more traditional car design that would support self-driving on highways.

Apple had also reportedly come down on its pricing estimates for its planned EV and was looking to price the vehicle under $100,000 (roughly Rs. 82 lakh), much less than its initial projections of over $120,000 (roughly Rs. 1 crore). As mentioned before, there has been no official communication from Apple over its car project, with Project Titan reportedly stuck in “pre-prototype” stage without a final design for the vehicle. The only bit of official information related to Apple’s efforts in the automotive space came out when the US announced charges in five cases involving technology theft that allegedly benefited China, Russia, and Iran. These included a former Apple engineer, 35-year-old Weibao Wang, who was accused of targeting the company’s technology on autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China.

While plans to release an electric vehicle remain in limbo, it hasn’t stopped Apple from flexing its brand strength, even in a sector where the tech firm is a novice. Even as the company remains years away from launching a vehicle, a survey published last year showed that a sizable number of customers in the US would buy a car from Apple. Surprisingly, Apple came out third in a list of 45 automotive brands considered to maintain a high bar for quality by customers.

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Tesla Said to Have Proposed Plans to Set Up Battery Storage Systems in India

Tesla has drawn up plans to make and sell battery storage systems in India and submitted a proposal to officials seeking incentives to build a factory, two people aware of the plan said, as Elon Musk continues a push to enter the country. 

Tesla has been in talks about setting up a new electric vehicle (EV) factory in India to build a car priced around $24,000 (nearly Rs. 20 lakh) for weeks, with discussions overseen directly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Its renewables push, however, has not been reported so far.

In recent meetings in New Delhi, Tesla proposed supporting the country’s battery storage capabilities with its “Powerwall”, a system that can store power from solar panels or the grid for use at night or during outages, said the sources who declined to be named as the matter is confidential.

Although Tesla sought a number of incentives to set up a battery storage factory, Indian officials conveyed these would not be available, one of the sources said. But they added that the government could help create a fair business model for the company by offering subsidies to those purchasing such products. 

While both Tesla and the Indian government remain keen on the proposal, and New Delhi continues to review it, it is not certain if the plan will be realised, said the first source.

The Powerwall proposal is part of the US company’s plans for a broader presence in India, thinking beyond EVs, the second source said, adding Tesla was keen to find residential as well as industrial customers for its battery storage systems.

“Large policy level calibration will be required. Tesla’s intent is to have the Powerwall business in India,” said the source.

Neither Tesla, the Indian government’s chief spokesperson nor the commerce ministry responded to requests for comment. 

India has boosted electricity supplies to towns and villages but still faces peak-time shortages as demand surges. It is largely dependent on coal-based power generation as storage technologies are expensive and not yet widespread.

Last year, India faced its worst power crisis in more than six years due to coal transportation problems, while delays to adding coal and hydropower capacity have increased the risk of nighttime power cuts, when solar energy is not available. 

The country is targeting an increase in non-fossil fuel power capacity to 500GW by 2030, from 186GW now.

Powerwall

Tesla’s Powerwall is a sleek unit around a meter high designed to be hung in a garage or outside a house. 

During a 2015 visit to Tesla’s California campus accompanied by Musk, Modi reviewed the product and later said he had enjoyed discussing how battery technology could help farmers.

Powerwall is aimed at domestic and light commercial use but Tesla could look at developing larger solutions for industry if the India plan comes to fruition, the second source said, without elaborating further.

Indian officials have also conveyed that Tesla will have to work on reducing the cost of its battery storage products, the first source said, adding that the government could help to unlock the market with demand expected to be high. 

With incentives, Powerwall costs more than $5,500 (nearly Rs. 4.6 lakh) in California, with additional costs for solar panels. It is eligible for US federal tax credits and local state and utility incentives for solar and energy storage.

Powerwall users in Houston and Dallas, in a first, recently agreed to sell their surplus power back to the Texas electric grid.

© Thomson Reuters 2023 

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Ola Electric Plans to File Paperwork for Its $700 Million IPO by End of October: Details

India’s Ola Electric plans to file regulatory papers for its up to $700 million (roughly Rs. 5,815 crore) IPO before the end of October as the e-scooter maker fast-tracks its listing move, three people with direct knowledge said. Backed by investors including Singapore’s Temasek and Japan’s SoftBank, Ola Electric was valued at $5.4 billion (roughly Rs. 44,852 crore) in a recent fundraising.

In an email to its bankers and lawyers on Sunday, an Ola Electric executive asked external advisers on the IPO – including the investment banking units of India’s Kotak and ICICI, as well as foreign banks including Bank of America and Goldman Sachs – to give “utmost priority” to meet a five-week deadline, said the sources.

Ola Electric and Kotak did not respond to a request for comment while the other three banks declined to comment. The sources did not wish to be identified as the communication is internal.

Ola’s IPO project is internally codenamed “Project Himalaya”, and the memo came with a request to bankers and lawyers: do not plan any “long leaves to ensure availability”, said the sources.

IPO-bound Indian companies typically do not instruct senior bankers and lawyers to not take leaves, they said.

Once the IPO papers are filed, they will be reviewed by India’s markets regulator who can also send queries, indicating any possible listing is still some months away.

Ola Electric is targeting IPO roadshows for early January or February, said one of the sources.

The company, India’s market leader in e-scooters with a 30 percent share, was founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and has seen its popularity surge as the country promotes the use of electric cars and scooters.

He has said his affordable e-scooters, which start retailing at $1,080 (roughly Rs. 89,700), are for the masses, and in an interview this year said “Tesla is for the West, Ola is for the rest.”

Ola Electric, though, still makes losses. It recorded an operating loss of $136 million (roughly Rs. 1,129 crore) on revenue of $335 million (roughly Rs. 2,782 crore) in the fiscal year ending March 2023, Reuters has reported. 

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Audi Executive Says Lowering Import Tax on EV Will Help Test India Market

Volkswagen-owned Audi’s India unit said on Friday that any potential cut down on electric vehicle (EV) import taxes would help the German carmaker experiment better with models and pricing in the world’s third-largest car market. “If we get a window of three to five years where the government is able to reduce the duties, it will let us experiment with what models make sense for India and help in terms of pricing points,” Audi India head Balbir Singh Dhillon told Reuters on the sidelines of a showroom launch in Bengaluru.

Reuters reported last month that the Indian government is working on a new EV policy that would slash import taxes for automakers that commit to some local manufacturing.

Dhillon said that the India arm is in talks with the German parent to initiate assembling “some” of its electric cars locally, but declined to provide details on timeline or potential models.

Audi is trying to catch up with its peers, BMW and Mercedes, in the transition to electric. Currently, the company’s India arm only makes internal combustion engines locally, which are used in its petrol cars.

India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, said earlier in the week that the government will consult with the industry and come out with a new policy to attract greater EV investments.

The efforts come as India pushes towards greener mobility, with the government hoping to increase electric car sales to 30 percent by 2030 from current nascent levels of 2 percent. Of this, luxury EVs are a fraction.

After four models launched last month, six out of 16 models in Audi India’s offerings are electric cars, which are entirely imported and sold in the country priced between $136,000 (roughly Rs. 1.12 crore) and $234,000 (roughly Rs. 1.94 crore).  

 

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Tata Motors Testing EVs in Global Markets, Plans to Open Dealerships in India

Tata Motors, India’s biggest electric carmaker, is testing its electric vehicles in some global markets where it could look at a potential launch if the experiment succeeds, its managing director told Reuters.

The tests are in early stages and based on how the cars perform, Tata may need to make some changes to the product before it can finalise and develop a “go to market” strategy, Shailesh Chandra said in an interview. 

“It is about which markets I should be in, with what products and with what kind of distribution strategy. We are assessing some markets, running our cars, discussing with business partners,” he said.

Chandra said it was too early to discuss details of the export markets and there would be more clarity next year.

Tata also plans to roll out new car dealerships over coming quarters in some Indian cities that will exclusively sell EVs as sales of its clean cars gain momentum and it lines up faster launches of new electric models, Chandra said.

Sales of EVs globally have been growing as tighter emission regulations push carmakers to increase the share of electric cars in their portfolio. While Tesla still leads the EV race, Chinese rivals like BYD are catching up with new factories and aggressive exports.

Tata Motors, which already sells three EV models, launched its fourth electric car in New Delhi on Thursday — a new version of its Nexon electric SUV with a starting price of Rs. 1.5 million, which can be driven for 465 kilometres on a single charge. 

The EV maker has a more than 80 percent share of India’s electric car market, which is small but growing, and where it competes with China’s MG Motor and home-grown Mahindra & Mahindra. Tesla is also eyeing an India factory and is in talks with the government to build a $24,000 (nearly Rs. 20 lakh) car. 

Electric models made up about 2 percent of total car sales in India of 3.9 million last fiscal year and the government wants to grow this to 30 percent by 2030. 

The Mumbai-based automaker has said it plans to have 10 electric cars in its portfolio over the next 3-4 years with EVs making up 25 percent of its total car sales by 2025. Chandra said the company is on track to meet its targets, including plans to sell around 1,00,000 EVs in the current fiscal year.

Growing sales and the new Nexon EV have become the catalyst for its plan to launch EV-only dealerships, Chandra said.

“It is not going to be a pan-India roll out, it is going to be a progressive roll out. We want to understand fully the implication of an exclusive outlet versus what we were selling with the existing outlets,” Chandra said. 

Tata has a country-wide dealership network for its gasoline and diesel cars through which it currently also sells its EVs. Chandra said the roll out of new EV outlets would be in small and big cities, depending on its current network of dealerships.

Tata’s ability to ramp up production of its EVs and launch new electric car models at a faster pace will also support its plan for new dealerships, which can now offer a broader portfolio, making them more viable, Chandra said. 

“Earlier, the bigger problem was our lack of assessment of demand… today we are very well prepared to deal with a faster ramp up,” he said.

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Xiaomi Says EV Plans Running Ahead of Schedule Amid Revenue Drop Report

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi reported a 4 percent revenue drop in the second quarter, tracking a shrinkage in China’s handset market, but said its move into making electric vehicles was running ahead of schedule.

Sales dropped to CNY 67.4 billion (nearly Rs. 76,450 crore) from CNY 70.17 billion (nearly Rs. 80,650 crore) in the same quarter a year earlier, but beating analysts’ estimates of CNY 65.13 billion (nearly Rs. 74,860 crore).

Net income rose to CNY 5.14 billion (nearly Rs. 5,830 crore) over the period, an increase of 147 percent from CNY 2.08 billion (nearly Rs. 2,390 crore) a year earlier, also beating expectations. The company put the increase down to cost cutting and efficiency improvements, particularly in its physical stores.

“Despite the macroeconomic headwinds in the global market we continue to expand our footprint,” Xiaomi President Lu Weibing said on an earnings call. 

“Several of our peers already exited from certain areas in this challenging environment, but no matter how hard it will be we will reinforce our presence across regions and markets,” Lu said.

Consumer demand in China’s smartphone market continued to shrink in the second quarter, dropping 5 percent to 64.3 million units, according to Canalys, a consultancy that tracks the smartphone industry.

Xiaomi’s shipments declined by 19 percent to 8.6 million, while in major overseas market India, shipments fell 22 percent to 5.4 million units, Canalys said.

In light of declining handset sales, Xiaomi is planning to move into the manufacture of electric vehicles (EVs) and has received approval from China’s state planner, Reuters reported this month.

The company has pledged a $10 billion (nearly Rs. 82,600 crore) investment over a decade in the automobile business.

Lu said the company’s plans to start mass production of EVs in the first half of 2024 remains unchanged. “Our current progress is ahead of expectations and of the original production schedule,” he said.

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Mercedes-Benz India Planning to Launch New EVs in Coming Months, Expects EV Portfolio to Grow

Betting big on the growing electric vehicle market in India, luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz is expecting its EV portfolio (present and future) to make up 25 percent of its total car sales in the next three years, growing from the current levels of three to four percent. Mercedes-Benz on Thursday launched the GLC, its new petrol/diesel SUV, in Hyderabad.

Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India Santosh Iyer said the automaker is planning to launch three to four EVs in the coming 12 to 18 months in India.

“For India as well we feel that there would be a rapid adoption as and when new cars launch, and at this stage we are looking at three to four new EVs in the next 12 to 18 months time. So, slowly but surely we should increase penetration. And in the next three years we feel that 25 percent of our sales would be EVs in India as well,” Iyer told PTI.

According to him, it would be easier for Mercedes-Benz car users to adopt electric vehicles as most of them already have charging facilities at home or office and may not depend on public infrastructure.

He hoped that some states which are still levying road tax on EVs would give an exemption to the segment.

He further said the German car maker’s plant spread over 100 acres in Pune has the capacity to produce 20,000 units annually, which can be ramped up to 40,000.

“Our current investments are close to Rs 2,700 crore in the plant. With GLC (car model launched recently) we have invested an additional Rs 100 crore. This capacity to make 20,000 cars in India (can) go up to 40,000… The first phase of 20,000, we should be seeing very soon. In the next two to three years, we should be reaching those numbers,” he said.

On sales figures, Iyer said the high-end automobiles maker sold over 8,500 cars during the first half of the current year and expects double-digit growth for the full year.

Iyer said the new petrol/diesel SUV launched today has already garnered over 1,500 bookings so far across the country, and there is a waiting period of about four months for new bookings.

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