SF Motors reveals two electric SUVs with 300 miles of range

Nicole Lee / Engadget

While much of the automotive world is focused on the New York Auto Show, a small car startup has unveiled its first-ever vehicles on the other side of the country in Santa Clara, California. SF Motors, the US arm of Chinese company Sokon, has just announced two cars -- the SF5 and the SF7 -- as part of a whole new line of electric vehicles. The SF5 is a medium-sized crossover SUV, and the SF7 is a full-size crossover. The SF5 will be available for pre-order by the end of this year and will ship in 2019.

Both vehicles boast a proprietary powertrain that promises 1,000 horsepower and the ability to accelerate to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds. They utilize a LiDAR system for adverse weather, road conditions and more. According to SF Motors, it also developed a "range-extension platform" that helps to extend the driving range of the vehicles thanks to a "high-power onboard generator."

Interestingly, SF Motors also states that it developed its own proprietary battery cells that apparently have a range of more than 300 miles (500 km) per charge. It incorporates a so-called advanced Battery Management System, liquid-cool thermal management and "unique mechanical structures." And thanks to the acquisition of InEvit, a battery module startup last year, SF Motors is also working on a next-gen battery module system that directly integrates into the vehicle chassis.

Gallery: SF Motors new EVs (press shots) | 11 Photos

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And once those batteries are spent, they don't need to be tossed away. SF Motors is also proposing a battery recycling solution whereby they can find second use in homes and offices.

We attended the car unveiling in Santa Clara but we weren't given a chance to get inside the vehicles themselves. Still, the cars do look pretty great up close. They're quite large and roomy as you might expect SUVs to be. I was especially enamored by the large touchscreen instrument cluster and unique head's up display. I love that all the controls, as well as the speedometer, are within easy view. An SF Motors spokesperson said they were designed to be in a straight vertical line between your eyes and the road, for less distraction.

Sokon is a well-known maker of vans, trucks and sports utility vehicles in China, but none of them are EVs. A couple of years ago, the company decided to launch a company in the US dedicated to EVs and autonomous vehicles, which is how SF Motors was born. In just two years, SF Motors has made significant strides in creating its first car. It set up its HQ in Santa Clara, California, a research and development center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and now has seven R&D facilities in the US, China, Germany plus an upcoming one in Japan.

Thanks to the backing of a large company like Sokon, SF Motors is able to make its own investments. As mentioned above, In 2017, it paid $33 million to acquire InEvit, a battery module startup started by Martin Eberhard, whom you might recognize as one of the original co-founders of Tesla. SF Motor had even hired Eberhard as a consultant prior to the acquisition. Now, he serves as SF Motors' chief innovation officer.

SF Motors also seems well-poised to make a serious run at vehicle production. It purchased the AM General Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, Indiana last year, which was previously used to make vehicles from the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Hummer. It kept around 400 or so employees from the factory and will apparently be the only pure EV company to have manufacturing facilities in both the US and China.

SF Motors isn't just about EVs; it's interested in autonomous tech as well. It just started self-driving tests in California, Michigan and China. The cars will also have "protective autonomy" -- basically Level 3 autonomy -- which are cars that can handle most driving tasks with "limited input" from humans. According to SF Motors, this technology uses deep neural network-based computer vision as well as LiDAR sensory perception. With all of that in mind, SF Motors hopes to get their "protective autonomy" vehicles on public roads by 2020.

As flashy as today's reveal is, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. We would've loved to get a better look and feel of the car's interior, as well as how it drives. Plus, we still don't know how much it costs, which will be an important consideration for most potential customers.

"From the creation of our 'protective autonomy' technology to our e-powertrain and battery achievements, we are on our way to becoming a global OEM and a vertical integrator," said SF Motors CTO, Yifan Tang, in a statement. "And, as much as we thrive on developing new ideas, our technology is meant for the roads, not the lab."

BEST PERFORMING ELECTRIC VEHICLE STOCKS

There are two ways to make money on a stock. You can buy it and hope it goes up. Then you can sell it and pocket the difference (after paying capital gains tax, of course). Or you can buy a stock that pays a dividend. Every quarter, the company will send you a check equivalent to the latest dividend per share multiplied by the number of shares you own.

For instance, let’s say you own 100 share of Ford Motor Company, whose most recent dividend for the 4th quarter of 2017. The company declared a dividend of $0.15 per share, so you will get a check in the mail for $15.00. Assuming you own Ford for the entire year and the dividend is the same every quarter, you will receive $60.00 during the year. Divide that by the amount you paid for the stock to determine your return on investment for the year.

According to TheStreet.com, “The automobile industry is going through incredible amounts of change as electric cars are encroaching upon the dominance of internal combustion engine powered ones and autonomous cars are set to hit the roads in just a few years. Experts believe that as much as 8% of all vehicles sold by 2020 will be electric and perhaps as many as 21 million autonomous cars by 2035.

As the pace of change — from Detroit to Silicon Valley and everywhere in between — rapidly increases, investors in the space can see outsized returns, provided they know where to look.

Several nations and many countries are proposing plans to prohibit the sale of conventional cars with internal combustion engines beginning in 2030. That just over a decade from now. Every year, nearly 100 million new cars are sold throughout the world.

If they are all going to be electric or plug-in hybrids in a few short years, the upheaval in the marketplace will be enormous. And that will create tremendous opportunities for savvy investors.

recommends three stocks it thinks will lead the parade: Tesla, Nvidia, and MobilEye. Everyone is familiar with the Tesla, the company that Elon Musk says will worth a trillion dollars in years to come. It is focused on making electric cars and trucks that have the ability to drive themselves once the software is perfected.

Nvidia and MobilEye provide the hardware that makes self driving cars possible. That includes sensors like cameras, Lidar, radar, and ultrasonic devices. They also make the computers that process all the data collected in real time to guide the cars safely down the road. Nvidia’s latest “supercomputer in a box” is so powerful, it actually has to be connected to the car’s cooling system to keep it from overheating.

For smart investors, CMC Markets offers a variety of sophisticated investment tools that permit them to do more than just buy a stock and hold it. For instance, there is spread betting, a tax-efficient way of speculating on the price movement of thousands of global financial instruments, including indices, shares, currency pairs, commodities and treasuries.

There are major changes coming to the automobile business both in the US and globally as companies transition to making plug-in hybrid and battery electric cars. Some old line companies may falter while new companies may appear. Change creates new opportunities for making money in the stock market.

GM Increasing Chevrolet Bolt Production

GM is accelerating Chevrolet Bolt production due to strong demand.

In a speech by CEO Mary Barra at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, she made remarks regarding the increase in the number of EV miles driven, with exponential growth from Dec. 2012 to Dec. 2017.

“In December 2012, the Chevrolet Volt was GM’s flagship electrified vehicle, and its owners hit a milestone 100 million all-electric miles just two years after it went on sale, “ wrote Barra in a speech. “By December 2017, drivers of five electrified models, including the Bolt EV, racked up more than 2.6 billion EV miles.”

In a nutshell, Bolt EV sales grew nearly 50 percent from Feb. 2017 to Feb 2018, with roughly 26,000 total vehicles sold versus 579 Bolts in 2016.

Production will take place at GM’s Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, which will also create new jobs with the total number of new employees and other logistics with existing employees to be determined.

Also, the speech marked a strong play by Barra to appease energy industry leaders in building out EV charging infrastructure, along with an expansion of tax credits and unification of fuel economy and emissions standards, where the government would have one set of requirements for all states to follow.

In a Jan. 2018 draft analysis by the NHTSA, Trump’s administration has considered lowering the average fuel economy standard from 46.6 miles per gallon to 35.7 miles per gallon by 2020. This mandate may considerably low the number of all-electric and hybrids produced. Any automakers who do not meet standards would be hit with fines or other penalties. At the moment, some states have more stringent standards than others, hence Barra’s call for unification.

Audi prices e-tron starting at €80,000; new Audi Sport e-tron GT promised for 2020

Audi’s first fully electric series-produced model, the Audi e-tron, will be available in Germany starting at €80,000 (US$98,800), said Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management, at Audi’s annual press conference in Ingolstadt. Audi will stage the world premiere of the battery-electric vehicle this summer in Brussels. The Audi e-tron Sportback will follow in 2019.

Rupert Stadler with the Audi e-tron prototype.

Stadler also presented a design sketch of a fully electric gran turismo: the Audi e-tron GT. This spearhead from Audi Sport will be produced at the Böllinger Höfe plant near Neckarsulm as of 2020.

Sketch of e-tron GT.

Stadler said that Audi will leverage the Modular Electric Toolkit that Volkswagen is developing for the compact segment as well as its own premium-architecture electrification to be used for electric vehicles in the mid-, upper-, and luxury-range. Through this cooperation with Porsche, Audi will reduce development costs by a three-digit million euro amount.

By 2025, Audi will have approximately 20 electrified models in its product offering across the entire portfolio. More than half of them will be fully electric; the others will be plug-in hybrids. Furthermore, all core model series will be equipped at least with mild hybrids. Audi already offers cars with some degree of electrified drive systems in half of its core model series.

Ford to electrify most SUVs, promises to pass Toyota in hybrids

Ford hasn’t given up on hybrids and electric cars, despite letting its existing models languish since 2013.

That was the message conveyed by various executives at an event Thursday morning at the Ford Product Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

The company will build a hybrid version of five SUVs it sells by 2020, promised Jim Farley, Ford's president of global markets, and produce six battery-electric vehicles by 2022.

Buyers, however, should no longer expect Ford’s hybrids and plug-in models to be all about the highest fuel efficiency.

Taking a page from Elon Musk’s playbook at Tesla, Farley said that to amortize the high cost of electric-car batteries today, the company will focus on performance and utility vehicles for its hybrid and electric vehicle.

“We don’t think people should have to go to a car to get that benefit,” he said.

Ford's future hybrid and PHEV lineup

In addition to a hybrid version of most SUVs it produces, from the tiny EcoSport to the large Explorer, the company has already announced that its next F-150 full-size pickup truck will include a hybrid version.

That model will come complete with a generator for contractors off the grid, RVers, and even home backup power.

Ford will also offer a hybrid version of the Mustang, which it had previously said more than a year ago. In fact, he said, it aims to pass Toyota in hybrid models as soon as 2021.

No announcement was made as to whether the Focus Electric compliance car, now in its seventh model year, will continue into the next generation.

The C-Max Hybrid that was popular in its first model year but has languished in sales since is already on its way out, with production to end within a few months. The C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid went of out production late last year.

The announcement implies that there will be hybrid versions of the new Bronco and the Expedition, as well as any new versions of the Escape and the Explorer.

Ford's future product planning

The only notable vehicle that leaves out, beyond traditional cars is the new Ranger midsized pickup truck, based on a Southeast Asian design, which will offer four-cylinder turbo and diesel options.

The Escape Hybrid was the first crossover utility vehicle available as a hybrid when it debuted in late 2004. These days, a new Escape Hybrid would have plenty of competition from the popular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid as well as the Nissan Rogue Hybrid.

Buyers in the past have been slow to adopt hybrid systems in large pickups and SUVs, complaining that they compromise utility and don’t offer the impressive 50 mpg-plus fuel economy figures that they expect to come with any hybrid badge.

GM offered five different full-size SUV and pickup truck models with hybrid powertrains between 2008 and 2014, but they failed to sell for a host of reasons and were withdrawn after 2014.

In reality, larger hybrids can bring more fuel savings, because standard versions of big SUVs and pickups drink fuel like pirates on a raid. That means that a 20- to 40-percent improvement saves far more gallons of fuel than in smaller, more efficient compact models.

That consumer reluctance has made big pickup trucks among the last types of vehicles to benefit from automakers’ investment in batteries and electric powertrains.

Ford's upcoming small off-road crossover SUV

Ford’s counterparts in Detroit have recently announced different strategies for improving fuel economy in big pickups.

General Motors will introduce a new 6-cylinder turbodiesel in the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, joining the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel and the new Ford F-150 Power Stroke that use 3.0-liter V-6 turbodiesels.

Meanwhile, Fiat-Chrysler will also offer a mild-hybrid version of the new Ram, but it doesn’t plug in.

Combined with higher performance and such features as a generator in a new F-150 Hybrid, hybrids in trucks might be more appealing going forward.

-- Eric C. Evarts

CALIFORNIA EXECUTIVE ORDER DOUBLES DOWN ON EV MANDATE

Following the signing of a new executive order by California Governor Jerry Brown, the official target for all-electric vehicle sales in the state is now 5 million electric cars on California’s roads by 2030.

That target builds on the earlier target of 1.5 zero emissions vehicles by 2025 by quite a bit. The move demonstrates that Governor Brown’s previous comments about pursuing further actions to support clean tech regardless of federal policies weren’t just glib talk. The recently signed executive order states that it will function, “to curb carbon pollution from cars and trucks and boost the number of zero-emission vehicles driven in California.”

“To reach the goal, California will spend $2.5 billion between now and 2025 to install more charging stations and hydrogen fueling stations throughout the state. It will also beef up its incentives and rebate programs for people who buy zero emissions cars. Right now, there are about 350,000 zero-emissions vehicles on the road in California. Increasing the number 15 fold in 12 years will be a daunting task.

“The plan calls for expanding the number of EV charging stations in the state from 14,000 today to 250,000. Fast charging stations will increase from 1,500 to 10,000 and hydrogen refueling stations will jump from 31 today to 200. Some of the cost of expanding the charging infrastructure will be paid for money Volkswagen has agreed to pay to settle claims connected to its diesel cheating scandal. Proceeds from California’s cap & trade carbon emissions will also pay part of the cost.”

“California, joined by nearly a dozen other states, could seek to enforce existing emissions rules, even if the Trump administration softens the federal 2022-2025 requirements,” Reuters adds. “Automakers want the White House and California to reach agreement because a legal battle over the rules could result in lengthy uncertainty for the industry. They want changes to address lower gasoline prices and a shift in US consumer preferences to larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles.”

While this news is of course worth taking consideration of, it remains to be seen what it will amount to in practice. One thing that is certain, however, is that this move will definitely upset the Trump base and his Administration’s EPA!

By James Ayre, originally published by EVObsession.

MEET THE TERRIFYING 1,914 HP RIMAC C TWO ELECTRIC SUPERCAR

The rumors surrounding the all-new Rimac C Two strained the imagination. It would have 2000 HP, they said. It would sprint from 0-60 MPH in less than two seconds, it would cross the finish line at a 1/4 mile drag strip in just 9 seconds and, given enough road, would hit the 300 km/h (186 MPH) mark less than 3 seconds later. It would, Rimac promised, be a world-beater- and, the kicker: it would be 100% electric.

Now, here it is. Meet the 1,914 HP, 1,696 TQ all-electric Rimac C Two. And, if I might comment on the general state of the supercar business, the only thing more impressive than its spec sheet- which includes a 258 top speed and a 400 mile driving range- is the fact that it’s actually nice to look at.

With this kind of follow-up supercar act and a lofty ambition to become a leading supplier of OEM EV components, Rimac, it seems, is the real deal. But Rimac isn’t stopping at big, bad EV bits. It’s pushing the boundaries in other areas, too.

To that end, Rimac has promised that each C Two would pack the computing power “of 22 MacBook Pro” laptops and deliver level 4 autonomous driving features. Keeping the car out of the wrong hands falls to advanced facial recognition software that can read your mood and adjust the car’s settings- thing like throttle response and traction control interference, probably- based on how you’re getting on behind the wheel. Which, you know, will probably help you not die.

None of that matters, though, because you and I will probably never get to drive one. I mean, I might- but I’ve lucked into so much track time behind the wheel of high-strung exotic cars already that the universe is probably going to cut me off soon, you know? Check out the 12-picture Rimac photo gallery, below, then let us know how you feel about Rimac’s odds of taking on Tesla in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Rimac C Two | 2000 HP Electric Hyper Car

Source | Images: Rimac, via Jalopnik.

Electric-car pioneer Paul Scott looks back on 15 years of plugging in

Paul Scott and Barbara with Zero electric motorcycle [photo: Charles Ryan-Barber]

Most of the U.S. was unaware that modern electric cars got their start in California between 1996 and 2002.

Many of the earliest owners and EV advocates from those days remain involved 20 years later, though their names may be familiar only to a small group of activists.

One of those people is Paul Scott, who's been part of several important events in the early history of modern EVs.

What follows are his words, lightly edited for style and clarity by Green Car Reports.

Life is a journey. I was a young hippy from San Antonio who found a new home in Eugene, Oregon, until a visual effects company offered me a job in Santa Monica, California.

After 23 wonderful years in Eugene, I had little notion of how life-changing that move would be. Shortly after the move, my life changed forever at age 49 when I received some sobering news from my doctor. 

When death knocks at your door, you tend to think about what you have done with your life and what you always wanted to do.

In that moment I decided it was time to get serious about going clean, meaning clean energy. I would get the solar-power system I’d always wanted, so if nothing else, I’d leave a legacy of clean energy.

Researching solar panels and installation, I came across an electric-car website talking about the first-generation Toyota RAV4 EV electric car.

I was intrigued, and asked the group if there was any way I could test-drive one. The next day Bob Seldon brought his RAV4 over and let me take it for a spin.

I was floored by how nicely it drove, and Bob encouraged me to buy one. Toyota was willing to sell its electric cars, even then, while other makers were only leasing them—including the General Motors EV1.

I took a deep breath, accepted Bob’s advice, and went for it. On my 50th birthday, the solar-panel installation was completed, and our first electric car arrived a couple of months later on December 21, 2002.

My wife and I were now powering both our home and our car on sunlight. It was an incredible feeling to know we had eliminated most of our personal pollution.

That gave me a new-found passion in my life: clean energy and driving electric.

Cast and crew of 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' at Sundance Film Festival

Around that time, I discovered DontCrush.com, a website sounding the alarm that the manufacturers of those limited numbers of first-generation electric vehicles were taking them back and destroying them.

A group of EV advocates—Doug and William Korthof, Alexandra Paul, Linda Nicholes, Mike Kane, Sherry Boschert, Chelsea Sexton, and Marc Geller— began to organize events to publicize this.

Director Chris Paine had attended nearly all of our meetings, and ended up filiming and documenting our events for almost three years.

We began as a tiny group wanting to save a single vehicle—and our small but mighty team managed to save 200 trucks in the end. That gave us the confidence to go bigger, and we did. 

One day, I received a phone call from Chris Paine, saying his movie—Who Killed The Electric Car?—had been accepted into the Sundance Film Festival.

With that validation there was no looking back.