On this week’s show : Tesla releases its
Q2 earnings, How you could get paid for not
charging your BMW i3, and we ask just how
popular the Toyota Mirai is proving thus far
with prospective buyers?
These stories and more, coming up next, on
TEN.
Enjoying today’s show on Youtube and and
want to read the stories we’re referring
to today?
Just head to our website at www dot transport
evolved dot com forward slash TEN, where you’ll
find today’s show notes -- as well as links
to the latest future car news, buying guides,
tech primers, and car reviews.
It’s Friday, August seventh, twenty fifteen,
I’m Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, and I’m certified
security exploit-free… unless my implanted
heart monitor is hacked, that is…
Continuing a trend from the first quarter
of twenty fifteen, Californian electric automaker
Tesla Motors has posted increasing losses
during its second quarter of the year, widening
total losses to $61 million using the non-GAAP
method and $184 million using the GAAP method.
But despite the widening losses, the rest
of Tesla’s Q2 earnings -- released mid week
-- show a company that’s continuing to grow
in both its market share and the number of
vehicles being made.
During Q2, Tesla reports it made a total of
12,807 Model S electric sedans and delivered
an impressive 11, 532.
A record on both counts, the disparity between
the two is most likely explained by some of
those vehicles being in transit to International
customers when the quarter ended, thus not
being eligible to be counted.
But there was worrying piece of news: Tesla
quietly adjusted its total vehicle production
estimate for the year from 55,000 vehicles
to somewhere between 50,000 and 55,000.
We’re not sure why that is, but it does
hint that perhaps there will be a slower ramp
up in Tesla Model X production than previously
thought.
As more and more people make the switch to
plug-in cars, city planners and utility companies
alike are facing new challenges to ensure
that mass-market electric car adoption doesn’t
translate to an overloaded electrical grid
as owners plug in at the end of their long
work days.
That scenario has generally been dismissed
thanks to time-of-use metering and timers
on electric cars to let you charge overnight,
but this week we learned about a new project
being piloted in the San Francisco bay area
between local utility company PG&E and BMW.
Called the BMW i Charge Forward Program, PG&E
and BMW will pay BMW i3 owners a total of
just under $1,500 to allow PG&E to remotely
stop and start charging of their cars at home
in response to the grid demand.
If the local utility grid is struggling to
keep up with demand, for example, the system
allows the utility company to ask BMW to turn
off charging on customer’s cars who don’t
need the charge.
Then when demand drops, it can turn charging
back on again.
It’s not a new idea, but it’s one we’ve
yet to see embraced by large automakers -- so
we’ll be watching this pilot program with
interest to see if the idea catches on.
Almost eight months after it was officially
unveiled at the North American International
Auto Show in Detroit, the 2016 Chevrolet Volt
has been given its official fuel economy ratings
by the U.S. EPA.
And they’re not too shabby at all: 53 miles
per charge of its 18.4 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion
battery pack at a calculated 106 MPGe, and
a gasoline fuel economy of 42 miles per gallon
for when the on-board battery pack is depleted.
The increase in range -- up from 37 miles
in its predecessor -- should mean that more
than 90 percent of trips made by most Volt
owners will now be all-electric, up from 80
percent with the outgoing twenty fifteen model.
There’s no news yet on eligibility for U.S.
Federal tax rebates or state rebates, but
we’re guessing those -- as well as crash
test ratings -- will be coming in the not-too
distant future, as deliveries are due to start
later this summer.
Last October at the same Southern California
event where Tesla Motors unveiled its new
dual-motor Model S, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also
told us Tesla’s plan for including auto-pilot
hardware on every new Tesla Model S made from
that period onwards.
The hardware, he promised, would be activated
in about a years’ time via an over-the-air
software update for all equipped Tesla Model
S cars, making it possible for the high-end
luxury car to take over some of the more laborious
duties associated with driving.
Well this week via his usual social media
outlet Twitter, Musk disclosed that the next-generation
of Tesla’s Model S operating system -- the
one which will turn on auto-steer and autopark
functionality -- is super-close to being released.
Originally planned for September, Musk said
that Tesla was “almost ready” to release
the update, with a few minor tweaks -- namely
lane following on faded streets -- the only
hurdle left to clear.
So if you’ve got a Model S made in the last
ten months or so, you could soon let it do
some of the driving for you.
Very cool.
It’s probably one of the most expensive
cars Toyota has ever made -- at least in terms
of its production costs -- and later this
year, the 2016 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel
cell sedan will go on sale at eight select
dealers in California.
And this week, we learned from Toyota North
America that it has amassed a total of 600
interested people in ten days eager to get
behind the wheel of the company’s first
production hydrogen vehicle, an average of
60 enquiries per day.
But as we explained this week, Toyota’s
special website where people can register
interest doesn’t mean Toyota has 600 willing
buyers.
It means Toyota just has 600 people who want
to find out more.
Some will inevitably buy, but we also know
of several people who have put their name
down simply to get a test drive.
And with just 600 people interested so far,
Toyota has a long way to go to reach the kind
of figures we’ve seen for other future fuel
cars in recent years -- but with only a few
hundred cars due to make it to the U.S. this
year, it might work out alright after all.
As everything from our toasters to our cars
get connected up to the Internet of things,
we’ve seen a rise in the number of scary
stories involving the kind of security exploits
that could supposedly give ne'er-do-well script
kiddies and hardened hackers the chance to
wreck automotive havoc on the world without
ever leaving their mom’s basement.
Well this week, we heard about a new security
exploit involving the Tesla Model S, in which
two security researchers managed to gain remote
access to the luxury electric sedan, to do
everything from remotely controlling door
locks through to turning the car off while
it was in motion.
Scary stuff right?
The exploit itself is due to be detailed tomorrow
at the Def Con Security Conference in Las
Vegas, and involves a pre-requisite that the
hacker first gain physical access to a Model
S in order to deposit exploited code.
But as we also told you this week, those folks
at Tesla Motors have jumped right on the problem,
uploading a patch in the kind of time that
most software companies only dream of achieving.
Patched and taken care of…
That’s the way to do it.
More than a year after German automaker Audi
launched its A3 sportback e-tron plug-in hybrid
in its home market of Germany, the five-seat
sporty plug-in hybrid has been given official
pricing for the U.S.
Announced yesterday by Audi North America,
the headline entry-level price of $38,825
includes a mandatory $925 destination and
handling fee, but does not take into account
any Federal or state incentives.
Like its European cousin, the U.S. market
A3 sportback e-tron is powered by the same
1.4-litre TFSI four-cylinder gasoline engine
and six-speed dual clutch transmission as
the Volkswagen Golf GTE.
Hiding inside the gearbox bell housing, there’s
also the same 75 kilowatt pancake electric
motor found in the Golf GTE, while the same
8.8 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery provides
enough power to operate the A3 sportback e-tron
in all-electric range for between 20 and 25
miles of real world range.
Deliveries will start this October, so head
on down to your local Audi dealer if you want
to find out more info.
And finally… here’s a new ad that’s
bound to make you smile because it combines
the awesomeness of grandparents with an electric
car coming to the rescue -- and it’s part
of Nissan’s latest ad for the LEAF electric
hatchback.
In it, this delightful grandmother gets a
phone call from her stranded grandson who’s
been hit with a tiny bit of range anxiety
in his car after running out of fuel in the
middle of Death Valley, California -- and
can’t find an open gas station.
Luckily, Martha’s got a fully-charged Nissan
LEAF to come to the rescue, so jumps into
her car and saves the day.
She even manages to expertly deal with a couple
of park rangers curious as to why her car
doesn’t have a tailpipe.
It’s a cute and slightly fantastical ad
-- but we love it anyway.
And we’re wondering how many of you have
been either rescued by an electric car or
recused someone who has run out of fuel in
your electric car.
Let us know in the Comments below.
Talking of running out of juice, I reckon
we’re just about done for today so I’m
going to go and find some Nikki fuel of my
own.
I’m also going to give you a little heads
up that in just under three weeks, I -- and
all of this -- will be emigrating to a new
life in Portland Oregon USA.
And that means for a couple of weeks, we’ll
be operating on something of a skeleton schedule.
Think of it as our very stressful, slightly
scary summer vacation.
Having said all that, we will be here next
week with a full studio one last time for
the usual show, before the chaos descends
-- but in the meantime, you can find all the
other news that’s fit to print on our website
at www dot transport evolved dot com, chat
to us on twitter at transport evolve, or head
to our YouTube channel to catch up with our
latest shows.
As always, there’s a lot we haven’t managed
to fit into today’s show, including the
rebirth of the Brammo Enertia as the Victory
Empulse TT, Why you’re going to have to
wait until 2017 for the next-generation all-electric
smart car, an auto-industry executive tries
to compare electric cars to broccoli, and
Tesla temporarily shuts its Fremont production
facility to ready it for the Model X
So when we’re done, be sure to head to our
site to read them all.
Thanks for watching, I’m Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield,
have a great weekend, and until next time,
keep evolving!
