Whoosh of the Week #2
News snippets - V2G, lithium en-mass, quick battery swaps,solid-state batteries and some other car news
The death of the ICE age1 is ongoing2, so accordingly the “Vroom” will be substituted with a “Whoosh”. That should be more appropriate! But perhaps some small “Vrooms” will show up.
e-Macan out for road testing
This model update I mentioned in my Car Design section from earlier, now it is hitting the roads for additional testing, prior to its’ market launch in 2023.
Digitalization taking big steps at Porsche also, 20 digital prototypes/models of the Macan that are being used for simulation and testing3.
“Bring me the chips” - microchips supply shortage
The continued shortage of microchips for the automotive industry, has according to data from the Detroit Free Press resulted in almost 1.6 million lost vehicle production4. This shortage will prevail for the coming years, according to Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger5. Advanced manufacturing and semiconductor production are part of strengthened national strategies, according to prof. Göran Roos, speaking on the See Beyond podcast show6.
Gordon Murray Automotive with successful fund raising
Over the next five years, some GBP 300 million are being invested in the GMA company7. And surprise, surprise - the company will developed electrical vehicles/vehicle technology…T.50 still planned to be put in production in 2022.
Official launch of the Fulminea Hypercar
Torino Auto Museum, a fantastic place for the birth of a new Italian hypercar - event held on May 13th8. The intention is to build an Italian gigafactory for solid-state batteries - this sounds interesting and will be followed up in later issues. The energy density is said to be 500 Wh/kg or 1.2 kWh/l. The launch you can watch on YouTube:
Rising software costs for cars
As reported in EETimes9, the software costs are increasing, but at the same time, the opportunities for adding services, value and use, the pricing will most probably absorb all the cost.
Battery swapping race - Geely’s one-minute swap
Recently I reported about NIO’s international expansion coming with the start in Norway, where they will also deploy the automated battery swapping stations. Now Geely announces their own approach on the battery swapping solution, able to do it in one minute, which Geely’s ride-hailing service CaoCao is offering10. See for yourself - and leave a comment: is this the way to go in stead of fast-chargers?
V2G by the German “MacGyver” - “Die Deutsche Energiewende” with Ioniq 511
V2G - Vehicle-to-Grid, or even V2H - vehicle-to-Home - here is a practical demonstration of what it can become: Get your home appliances to run with the help of your stored power in the Battery Electric Vehicle. WARNING: DON’T TRY THIS! This is not possible to do at your home without certified electricians and conversions of your electrical system, as told in the video. See this as a guidance to what can be possible in the future! (German sounds with cc in English). V2X is very much in development, trials and piloting - see my recent article12 and V2X map13 for more information on this channel.
And let’s continue with German news:
Massive lithium sources beneath the Rhine river.
The estimations with geologists are that there should be enough lithium for 400 million electric cars, making it one of the world’s largest lithium deposits14. The location is in the Black Forest region.
So what’s the fuzz about lithium - let’s look at the biggest automotive user in 2020 that was Tesla:
Tesla biggest user of Lithium in vehicles
According to data compiled by the Green Car Congress15, Tesla used 18,700 tonnes of lithium in 2020, more than the next four automotive OEMs accumulated.
BIG news from Detroit - all-electric F-150 Lightning to be announced16
Live stream event scheduled for May 19 - reporting next week!
Let’s move over to some other car tail:
Planned Road Trip - what is mobility in 2050
As announced in the article17 recently, I will take my “time machine” from 1991 and bring it back to its’ birthplace, Zuffenhausen, in September. It will also be a journey to explore the views on the future of mobility, with podcast interviews, site visits and articles. Follow the planning and preparations on this channel.
See Beyond Podcast with Sandy Munro from “Munrolive” as guest: https://mikatienhaara.substack.com/p/we-live-in-an-age-when-everything
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/internal-combution-engine-obituary
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2021/products/porsche-all-electric-macan-prototype-initial-testing-proving-grounds-weissach-24423.html
https://eu.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2021/05/03/ford-gm-semiconductor-chip-super-duty-kentucky/4918434001/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-02/intel-s-new-ceo-won-t-be-anywhere-near-as-focused-on-buybacks
https://mikatienhaara.substack.com/p/s1e9-fighting-for-minerals-and-advanced
https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/gordon-murray-group-announces-major-expansion-plans-and-investment-for-future-growth/
https://www.museoauto.com/en/presentazione-della-hypercar-fulminea-di-automobili-estrema/
https://www.eetimes.com/projections-for-rising-auto-software-cost-for-carmakers/
http://zgh.com/media-center/story/8-reasons-why-geelys-battery-swapping-tech-is-the-future-for-evs/?lang=en
https://efahrer.chip.de/solaranlagen/ioniq-5-als-powerbank-fuer-ein-haus-youtuber-testen-die-v2h-funktion_104801
https://mikacars.substack.com/p/v2x-the-connectivity-race
https://mikacars.substack.com/p/v2x-map-1st-version/comments
https://chargedevs.com/newswire/german-firms-plan-to-exploit-massive-lithium-deposits-beneath-the-rhine/
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/05/20210505-adamastesla.html
https://eu.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2021/05/10/ford-lightning-electric-reveal-livestream/5020183001/
https://mikacars.substack.com/p/the-drive-into-the-future