BMW Group to build future MINI E vehicles in China with Great Wall Motor

The BMW Group and Great Wall Motor have launched a new joint venture—Spotlight Automotive Limited—and are building a joint plant in China, where the BMW Group will produce future fully-electric models of its MINI brand.

The plant will have a standard capacity of up to 160,000 vehicles per year, which will require around 3,000 employees after the ramp-up phase. Both partners will together invest around €650 million (more than five billion CNY). The construction phase is planned for 2020 to 2022.

In summer 2018, the 50:50 joint venture agreement was signed in Berlin in the presence of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

As well as production, the innovative joint venture model also includes joint development of battery-electric vehicles in the world’s largest market for electromobility.

The joint venture envisages production of future electric MINI vehicles, as well as several models and brands for Great Wall Motor. Following the launch of the brand-new first-generation fully-electric MINI, which will be built at Oxford and come to market in the first quarter of 2020, this is another important step towards the MINI brand’s electrified future.

MINI Plant Oxford, which recently built the 10 millionth car since the brand’s launch in 1959, will remain the heart and home of MINI manufacturing, while the Spotlight Automotive joint venture will provide additional capacity and flexibility.

Zhangjiagang was chosen as the location of the Spotlight plant because of its solid supplier network, skilled workforce and good infrastructure. Jiangsu is also one of the leading provinces for finance, education and technology.

The BMW Group is firmly committed to continuing its successful cooperation with established sales structures and channels in China. The joint venture will not be creating an additional sales organization in China for future electric vehicles. Every joint venture partner will use their own sales channel for their specific brands.

The BMW Group is already a leading supplier of electrified vehicles. By the end of 2021, the company aims to have more than one million fully-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the roads worldwide.

At that point, the BMW Group will offer five fully-electric production vehicles. Alongside the BMW i3, which saw demand increase by approximately 20% so far this year, production of the fully-electric MINI will also begin at the Oxford plant (UK) this month.

More than 78,000 customers have so far expressed an interest in the MINI ELECTRIC. In 2020, production of the fully-electric BMW iX3 will begin at the Shenyang plant (China), followed in 2021 by the BMW iNEXT, which will be built at the Dingolfing plant (Germany). The BMW i4 is also due to go into series production at the Munich plant in 2021.

By 2023, the company will already offer 25 electrified models—more than half of which will be fully electric. Flexible vehicle architectures, which allow a model to be driven fully electrically, as a plug-in hybrid or with a combustion engine, form the basis for this, as well as a highly flexible production system.

BYD, Toyota jointly to develop battery electric vehicles for Chinese market

BYD Company Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have signed an agreement for the joint development of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The two parties will jointly develop sedans and low-floor SUVs as well as the onboard batteries for these vehicles and others with the aim to launch them in the Chinese market under the Toyota brand in the first half of the 2020s.

BYD was founded in 1995 as a battery business and has grown into a total energy solution company, manufacturing not only electrified vehicles but other products such as large-size energy storage cells. Core parts for electrified vehicles such as batteries, motors and power electronics are among the products that BYD develops in-house.

In 2008, BYD became the first company to sell mass production of plug-in hybrid electrified vehicles (PHEVs). Since 2015 onwards, BYD’s sales of BEVs and PHEVs have been ranked first in the world for four consecutive years.

Since the launch of hybrid electric vehicle production in 1997, Toyota has become a pioneer of electrified vehicle development, and accumulated a rich array of technologies and experience in the development, production, and sales of electrified vehicles.

In terms of BEVs, Toyota is now developing a wide range of vehicles, from pedestrian-zone (or walking-area) BEVs to ultra-compact two-seater BEVs, as well as conventional-size passenger vehicle BEVs, among others.

Toyota has already announced its plan to gradually have more than 10 BEV models available worldwide by the first half of the 2020s, starting with a rollout in China in 2020.

Going forward, BYD and Toyota will make use of the electrified vehicles, and battery development technologies they have acquired through their market introductions and will work together to further develop BEVs that are attractive to customers and in further promoting their widespread adoption.

LG Chem Signs Deal With Daimler, Becomes World’s Largest EV Battery Supplier

Korea’s LG Chem is now the world’s largest EV battery supplier, having just inked a deal with Daimler to provide batteries for the upcoming Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, which is scheduled for production in 2016. LG Chem also supplies batteries to Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai, Renault, Audi, Chevrolet, Kia and GM. In all, LG Chem supplies 13 of the world’s top 20 brands.

In a press release accompanying the signing of the new contract, Young Soo Kwon, the President of Energy Solution Company, LG Chem, said, “LG Chem’s battery business and technology have been world-widely acknowledged once again as our products are continuously being installed by major automobile makers from their commodity brands to premium vehicles. LG Chem will continue to lead the EV battery market with differentiated technology to make us stand up as global No.1 battery manufacturer.” The new deal with Daimler supposedly makes LG Chem the largest battery supplier in the world, though I wonder what Panasonic reps might say to that.

Daimler hosted a Supplier Day in Stuttgart in February. LG Chem was the only battery maker invited, which gave its representatives an opportunity to talk shop with other Daimler suppliers from around the world. It will manufacture the battery cells and ship them to Daimler, which will assemble them into battery packs and install them into vehicles.

LG  Chem has had a mixed history in the US. It built a factory in Holland, Michigan, 30 miles from Detroit with the help of $300,000,000 of federal incentives and tax breaks. Initially, the factory was supposed to provide batteries for the Chevy Volt, which went on sale in December of 2010 but production didn’t begin until 2013. Batteries from the Holland factory are scheduled to be part of the redesigned 2016 Volt, which should be in showrooms later this year.

A recent report by B3 Solutions suggests that the market for lithium ion vehicle batteries will grow to more than $18,000,000 a year by 2020. That’s the primary reason why Tesla and Panasonic are investing heavily in the Gigafactory in Nevada, so they can cash in on that burgeoning market. LG Chem is currently the biggest lithium ion manufacturer, but can they hold on to that lead? There are lots of other companies snapping at their heels.

Source: AutoBlog

Plug-In Car Sales Up 350% In China

After several false starts and broken promises, 2014 was the breakthrough year for plug-in car sales in China. Nearly 75,000 plug-in hybrid and electric cars were sold in China last year, a 320% increase over 2013, reports Green Car Congress. Could 2015 see China take the lead in world plug-in car sales?

It’s seem like a distinct possibility, especially once you break down the numbers. Of the 74,763 plug-in cars sold in 2014, 48,605 were battery-electric vehicles, while 29,894 were of the plug-in hybrid variety. So despite concerns about the lack of a proper charging infrastructure, in the span of a year Chinese plug-in car sales have almost caught up with the largest market, America, which barely broke 100,000 sales this year.

Why have Chinese plug-in car sales tripled in the course of a single year? Just one word; incentives. China’s national and city governments have launched a barrage of incentives aimed at getting people into cleaner plug-in cars, from offering free license plates (valued at over $15,000 in many places), no taxes, and no wait to register. This has helped domestic car manufacturers (and joint partnerships) sell increasing numbers of plug-in cars, and 2015 should see even higher sales. The government is also investing $16 billion into a new EV charging infrastructure to further increase to appeal of plug-ins.

Numerous figures in the auto industry have said that China could become the largest market for plug-in cars in short order, and that prediction seems to be coming true already. Not a second too late either, as China’s air quality continues to rate somewhere between “dystopian” and just “dismal.”

1905 Woods Electric Coupe- a Chicago Original

As the recent 1898 Porsche barn-find pointed out, electric and hybrid cars have been around for a long, long time. What many people, even “car people”, may not know, however, is that there were nearly five hundred carmakers trying to dominate the market in the early days of the twentieth century- and many of them were EV specialists. Take, for example, this gorgeous 1905 coupe built by Chicago’s Woods Motor Vehicle Company.

The guys at ConceptCarz found this fantastic example of the breed at a Hershey, PA auto auction back in 2010. They were able to dig up some of the early EV’s interesting history as it crossed the auction block, which we’ve shared, below …

1905 Woods Electric Chicago Coupe

The Woods Motor Vehicle Company was organized in Chicago in 1899. From the beginning, the company was destined for success as it had considerable financial backing, including $10 million in capital stock. The list of wealthy backers included a number of Standard Oil executives and wealthy men from Toronto, Canada. New York’s August Belmont, the American financier and builder of the famed Belmont Park racetrack, was another.

The company purchased the patents of Clinton E. Woods in hopes of challenging the electric-vehicle dominance of the East Coast-based Electric Vehicle Company. Woods had been designing electric vehicles since 1897 and was hired as superintended of the new company bearing his name, but was quickly ‘eased’ out of the company and returned to designing and manufacturing his owned designs by 1901. His operations soon went into receivership. His next venture was as an automobile dealer.

The Woods Motor Vehicle Company produced high quality and expensive vehicles, with many prices in the $3,000 range – a considerable sum for the era. They offered an extensive line of electric vehicles with wheelbase sizes ranging from 69-inches to 86-inches. The company would remain in production through 1918, when the company faded from existence as gasoline-powered automobiles began to dominate the marketplace.

This vehicle is a Style 214A Queen Victoria Brougham Electric that has a wheelbase size of 73-inches. It is believed to be the only surviving example. It is equipped with a removable cap for open-air touring and has seating for two passengers.

… you can see several more high-resolution photos of this classic, all-original Woods Electric EV over at the ConceptCarz website, but I’ve picked a few of my favorite shots to share of the ultra-rare survivor, here. Enjoy!

Source | More Photos: ConceptCarz, via EVObsession.

GM brass release tidbits about electric vehicle plans

General Motors executives continue to be pleased with Chevrolet’s sales performance in general and cautiously optimistic toward the Volt in particular.

Regarding the company as a whole, the “heartbeat of America” brand that goes along with baseball, hotdogs and apple pie has also now been shown to make two-thirds of its sales in foreign markets.

“Chevrolet is one of the top five American brands in the world,” said GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson recently to the Detroit Free Press, “Parenthetically, it’s the only one of the top five who grew market share last year. We sell a Chevrolet in the world every 6.35 seconds. We’re proud of that, too – it used to be 7.5! When we sell one every second, I’ll be happy.”

Moving forward tentatively, GM says the Volt has a long road ahead of it.

As for the Volt, noteworthy numbers have come forth for it as well.

According to President of GM North America Mark Reuss, as GM attempts to hit sales targets this year, Chevrolet will make available nearly as many Volts in October as were thus far sold.

“[O]ur availability of the Volt this month will be close to 4,000 units,” Reuss said, while conceding GM is still feeling its way, and does not yet have an accurate gauge for its real demand.

“Right around [the second or third quarter] of next year, we will actually know what the demand for Volt is,” Reuss said.

This said, Reuss added that GM is optimistic about the future of electric vehicles and said from what GM can tell, demand does justify producing an entire portfolio of electric cars – in due time.

How much time remains a mystery, although Britta Gross, GM’s director, global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization, recently hinted at GM electric vehicles to come in partnership with battery maker A123 Systems.

And speaking of batteries, Akerson again confirmed that getting the Volt’s battery costs down remains a priority.

“The Volt is going to see significant cost reductions,” Akerson said without mentioning whether this will equate to sales price reductions.

“We look at cost per kilowatt-hour. There are 16 kilowatt-hours on a Volt. When I first came, it was over $1,000 per kilowatt-hour. The number is roughly half that today,” Akerson continued. “We are going to make about 10,000 this year [for U.S. consumption] … We overproduced on our track by 30 in September. I’m watching this. … And we hope to hit 60,000 next year [for U.S. and overseas markets]. The real cost savings begin to hit next summer, early fall … “

Akerson explained further nuances to GM’s rationale for approaching cautiously. He said initial thoughts were to produce Volts on a more ambitious schedule, but notching it back to mirror the Prius’ original roll out ought to be enough.

“We were going to ramp up for a huge jump [in production]. My fear was, five years from now [there could be a battery technology revolution] and I’m stuck with old technology, and then I’m screwed again,” Akerson said. “”You don’t want to lose your lead. If we put 60,000 in the marketplace next year, I think Prius for the first four or five years ran at 70,000. This would be a good start. We do not want to lose money doing this. We at least want to break even.”

So, aside from mystery surrounding what will actually come out of the A123 deal, a limited EREV portfolio for the moment is conservatively serving GM’s purposes, Akerson said, as he reiterated Chevrolet’s overall appeal.

“Roughly one-third of our Chevrolet buyers has not been in a GM store in over five years. … I think Chevrolet has the best lineup, and it will only get better over the next few years,” Akerson said. “From the Sonic, to the Cruze, the Eco Cruze, the (upcoming) diesel Cruze — you look at Malibu with eAssist (hybrid technology), and then you look at the Impala being upgraded – and you throw in some trucks and crossovers – it’s in pretty good shape. And you say to yourself, what a better time to have customers you haven’t seen in multiple years visiting your stores.”

Source: GM-Volt.com

Nickel Nitride for Li-ion anode material with good reversible capacity

We can't begin to tell you how many articles like the following we have heard and even posted. What is scarcer than hen's teeth are the follow up stories trumpeting a breakthrough chemistry that can be reliably used in automotive applications. Someday (hopefully sooner rather than later), you will read about it here.

From Green Car Congress:

Researchers in France and Spain have designed a nickel nitride material for use as an anode in Li-ion batteries that shows good reversible capacity. A paper on their work is published in the RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry.

Nickel nitride was prepared through different routes involving ammonolysis of different precursors (Ni(NH₃)₆Br₂ or nickel nanoparticles obtained from the reduction of nickel nitrate with hydrazine) and thermal decomposition of nickel amide obtained by precipitation in liquid ammonia.

The electrochemical behavior against lithium was tested in all cases, the specific capacity being much larger for the latter (1200 mA h g^-1 compared to 85 mA h g^-1 and 125 mAh g^-1 respectively). Ni₃N ‘cast’ electrodes exhibited good rate capability, with 500 mAh g^-1 reversible capacity maintained after 10 cycles at a rate of 1 Li per h.

—Gillot et al.