Battery Shortages Lease to Audi e-Tron Production Delays

Building electric cars is harder than it looks.

According to a report last week in the Brussels Times, Audi is delaying the production of its planned E-tron Sportback and slowing production of its E-tron SUV following battery shortages from supplier LG Chem.

The factory that builds the e-tron has cut back from eight hours of production a day to six, and is reported to be planning to cut back from running five days a week to four, leading to a day of unemployment for workers there. The moves would cut production of the long-awaited electric car by 10,000 cars annually, from more than 55,000 to just over 45,000 in 2019, according to the Brussels Times. In the report, Audi declined to comment on the delay.

Many automakers ramping up production of plug-in hybrids and electric cars depend on LG Chem for cells, including Hyundai, Volkswagen, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW. LG's dominance in supplying batteries to electric cars gives it power to control prices.

A report last year by Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper suggested that LG Chem raised prices on its batteries for the Audi E-tron by 10 percent, leading to the production shortage. Waiting lists for the car in Europe have reportedly expanded from 4-5 months to 6-7 months, as demand has also increased by 15 percent. Audi's Belgian spokeswoman Sofie Luyckx told the Brussels Times, that is "not an exceptional waiting time for an all-new Audi."

At the New York auto show last week, Audi E-tron product manager Matt Mostafaei said that the company has U.S. orders for the car, which is expected to go on sale here in May, but would not specify how many.

The delays could also be impacted by a shortage of the car's electric motors following a strike at the Hungarian factory that produces the motors.

The reports say the introduction of the E-tron Sportback, a smaller hatchback version of the E-tron SUV, has also been delayed from late this year to 2020.

Audi is planning a whole line of electric E-tron models, including the SUV, the Sportback, the e-tron GT sports sedan, a new smaller Q4 E-tron SUV, and reportedly a new E-tron GTR supercar to replace its R8 flagship, according to a new report in British auto journal Car.

If it's going to fulfill all those dreams, the company will need to secure a large and reliable source of batteries and, if these hiccups are any indication, it still might not have that.

Audi Claims 100 Euro Per Kilowatt Hour Battery Cost

When the Audi e-tron quattro arrives in 2018, its battery cost for the all electric SUV may cost as little as €100 per kilowatt-hour. That’s according to Dr. Peter Martens, who was named the company’s head of research and development last month. Speaking to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, Martens was asked why Audi decided to make its first electric car a relatively large sport utility vehicle.

“We opted for a top-down strategy, because most buyers will be found there today in this segment. Currently, a kilowatt hour costs about 100 euros, depending on the model.” That certainly makes sense, given that such vehicles are the most popular vehicle style in most major markets around the world today. “Only when we come well below that price, will E-mobility in volume segments be interesting,” Martens added.

Last week, Audi announced that it will put its e-tron quattro Sportback (someone at Audi really needs to take a class in capitalization) into production in 2019. The Sportback is a sleeker, more stylish version of the SUV specifically aimed for folks who want little to no utility included in their sport utility vehicles.

It is a continuation of a new fad in the automobile industry to build large vehicles that can carry a basketball team inside — together with a whole lot of basketballs — but look like swoopy coupes instead of a boxy box on wheels.

Both cars will be nearly identical under the skin and both will have a 95 kWh battery. If Martens is correct, that battery should cost Audi about $10,000 per vehicle. Martens told AMUS that Audi expects to make a profit on the new cars but not as much as it does on its traditional offerings.

Bear in mind that the cost of battery cells is one thing. Putting them together into a battery pack with sophisticated cooling and battery management systems in place can raise the total cost considerably.

Despite the happy talk from Martens, workers at the company are less than thrilled with senior management at Audi. A report by German newspaper Bild am Sonntag last week claims an internal memo is being circulated that is sharply critical of CEO Rupert Stadler. In it, Stadler and the board are slammed for not adequately preparing the company for the future, citing “disastrous” indecision at key junctures in the recent past.

Elon Musk has been begging mainstream manufacturers to make “compelling” electric cars for years. Beginning in 2018, several companies, including Audi, will start marketing the cars they think will meet Musk’s challenge. “We’ll see,” said the Zen master.

Source: Inside EVs

European Electric Carmakers Announce Major Ultra-Fast Charging Network

If things go to plan for a pervasive ultra-fast charging network in Europe, by 2020 automakers will make publically recharging electric cars as convenient as a fuel station stop.

That’s the takeaway from an ambitious collaboration announced today by BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche.

As they anticipate a profound ramp up in plug-in electric cars starting now, the major automakers say they are investing in an initial 400 ultra-fast charging 350-kW sites along critical highways.

“By 2020, consumers should have access to thousands of high-powered charging points,” said Ford on behalf of fellow collaborators in outlining the undertaking.

While estimated recharge times were not given – and ultimately will depend on how large a battery needs to be filled – the up-to 350 kW charge standard is significantly above anything now in service, including Tesla Superchargers.

Tesla cars cannot presently use CCS fast chargers. They can use CHAdeMO chargers via an adapter that Tesla sells for $450 in the U.S. That adapter is limited by specification to CHAdeMO’s existing 125A specification (really 62.5 kW but sometimes called 50 kW) specification.

Indeed, the planned faster network using a competing charge standard, while not stated by the collaborators, appears to be a direct response to Tesla’s Supercharger network, Tesla has also announced aggressive EV expansion plans and recently said it plans a new joint Gigafactory battery plant and car assembly plant in Europe.

On that note, the collaborators have agreed to use the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard, with the aim of being as inclusive – not exclusive – of as many EV makers as possible, assuming they also design cars compatible with this standard.

At the Paris Motor Show, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche introduced its new EQ brand. The move parallels ongoing initiatives by VW Group and BMW.

The automakers, who will be equal partners in the collaboration, say their next-generation battery electric vehicles will be optimized to take advantage of the quick fill, and they invite other automakers to join in.

“Vehicles engineered to accept the full power of the charge stations can recharge brand-independently in a fraction of the time of today’s battery electric vehicles,” said Ford on behalf of the collaborating manufacturers. “The network is intended to serve all Combined Charging System-equipped vehicles to facilitate battery electric vehicle adoption in Europe.

Unstated is exactly how much money all this will cost.

“The automobile manufacturers intend to make substantial investments to create the network, underscoring each company’s belief in the future of electric mobility,” said Ford.

Otherwise, the chief executives of the different brands all gave their take on why they are doing it, led off with BMW which has its i-brand represented by the i3 and i8.

“This high-power charging network provides motorists with another strong argument to move toward electric mobility,” said Harald Krüger, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG. “The BMW Group has initiated numerous public charging infrastructure projects over the last years. The joint project is another major milestone clearly demonstrating that competitors are combining forces to ramp up e-mobility.”

BMW was one of the companies who in October said it wants 15-25 percent of its sales coming from plug-in electrified cars. While it got an early head start on electrification, it’s caught criticism for being slow to develop new i-series models faster.

Today’s news indicates it has not at all lost the vision, which in turn is shared by rival Daimler AG which in October announced its EQ brand, and plans for 15-25 percent of all sales to be plug-in by 2025.

Generation EQ.

“The breakthrough of e-mobility requires two things: convincing vehicles and a comprehensive charging infrastructure. With our new brand EQ, we are launching our electric product offensive: by 2025, our portfolio will include more than 10 fully electric passenger cars. Together with our partners, we are now installing the highest-powered charging infrastructure in Europe,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “The availability of high-power stations allows long-distance e-mobility for the first time and will convince more and more customers to opt for an electric vehicle.”

Audi e-tron Quattro.

And not to be forgotten is the VW Group, which intends 30 battery electric cars spread among its 13 brands by 2025, and said this year it wants 20-25 percent of sales coming from plug-in cars by 2025.

Brands Americans know, aside from VW, are Porsche and Audi.

“We intend to create a network that allows our customers on long-distance trips to use a coffee break for recharging,” said Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of AUDI AG. “Reliable, fast charging services are a key factor for drivers to choose an electric vehicle. With this cooperation, we want to boost broader market adoption of e-mobility and speed up the shift toward emission-free driving.”

The one U.S. based carmaker doing business in Europe that’s collaborating in the charging network initiative, Ford, says it too is on board, as it otherwise reinvents itself into a mobility company.

“A reliable, ultra-fast charging infrastructure is important for mass consumer adoption and has the potential to transform the possibilities for electric driving,” said Mark Fields, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company. “Ford is committed to developing vehicles and technologies that make people’s lives better, and this charging network will make it easier and more practical for consumers across Europe to own electrified vehicles.”

“There are two decisive aspects for us: ultra-fast charging and placing the charging stations at the right positions,” said Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board of Porsche AG. “Together, these two factors enable us to travel in an all-electrically powered car as in a conventional combustion engine vehicle. As an automobile manufacturer, we actively shape our future, not only by developing all-electrically powered vehicles, but by building up the necessary infrastructure as well.”

The carmakers call the initiative an “unprecedented collaboration” but more will need to be seen. Plans are to get started in 2017 and appear to add substance to the push to make EVs mainstream.

Behind it all are of course regulations forcing automakers to clean up their fleets. The Paris Accord on climate change in 2015 also saw 195 nations agree that the world faces a deadline to slow the rate of global temperature increase.

These forces backed by threat to the ecosystems and environments of the world are the lever that appears to be moving formerly reluctant players to embrace electrification.

These are truly unique times in the history of motorized transportation.

Long-Range Electric VW Microbus Concept To Debut At CES

The rumor of an electric Volkswagen Bus concept to be shown at next month's Consumer Electronics Show first appeared in September, just before the VW diesel emission scandal erupted.

In the wake of a pledge to boost its vehicle electrification efforts, Volkswagen has now confirmed that it will show a concept for an electric Microbus at CES.

But one phrase stands out in the VW press release issued yesterday.

The sentence in question reads, "The world premiere marks the beginning of a new era of affordable long-distance electromobility."

And it's the "affordable long-distance" part that's really interesting--because, thus far, the two future electric vehicles VW Group has discussed so far are both luxurycars.

They're the production version of the Audi e-Tron Quattro Concept SUV (possibly to be known as the Q6), and the next-generation Volkswagen Phaeton large luxury sedan, now postponed until 2020 or so.

2011 Volkswagen Bulli Concept live photos

An "affordable" new VW Bus with a fully-electric drivetrain that provided long-distance travel (200 miles or more) would be a major step forward for VW's so-far theoretical plans to pump up its plug-in electric portfolio.

As a smaller and lighter vehicle than either of the luxury cars, it might be able to use a lower-capacity battery to achieve the same range.

And that might give VW its first affordable 200-mile electric car--and a stylish, iconic one to boot.

The company has shown two concepts for new VW Bus vehicles over the years, starting in 2001 with the VW Microbus. A decade later came the Volkswagen Bulli Microvan Concept of 2011 ("Bulli" is the bus's nickname in Germany).

In the spirit of the old bus, the Bulli featured a split-folding front bench seat, another bench behind, and the ability to stow the rear seat for more cargo capacity.

It could even be made into a camper by reclining the seats to make a sleeping platform--just like the old Sixties and Seventies VW campers.

Original Volkswagen Microbus and the 2016 Transporter

This year, during a roundtable at April's New York Auto Show, then-board member Heinz-Jacob Neusser said VW developers and engineers were working on a revived Bulli, powered by a battery pack in the floor that feeds an electric motor driving the front wheels.

The small size of a front electric motor would let the new van have a short, blunt nose--one of three design cues required to make it a "real" VW bus, according to Neusser. (The other two are a boxy center section and a wide rear roof pillar.)

Yesterday, the British magazine Autocar reported that VW had signed off on the new bus, which could go into production as early as 2017 at its assembly plant in Puebla, Mexico..

That means the new bus almost surely uses the company's MQB architecture, which will underpin up to 4 million cars a year.

Volkswagen Microbus Concept, 2001 Detroit Auto Show

They range from the current Golf compact hatchback up to a future mid-size seven-seat crossover, but the electric Microbus seems likely to be smaller than mid-size.

A new VW Bus is likely to be more van-like than that SUV, which is to be built at the Tennessee plant where the Passat mid-size sedan is now assembled.

Meanwhile, the VW van concept for CES will also demonstrate "the increasing interconnectedness of the car" and "new display and operating concepts," VW says.

It will be revealed during a keynote speech by Dr. Herbert Diess, chairman of the Volkswagen passenger-car brand, that kicks off at 8:30 pm on Tuesday, January 5.