Why do automakers utilizing cylindrical battery cells boast longer driving ranges?
What ingredient in whiskey may be good for EV battery supplies?
That is our look again on the Week In Reverse—proper right here at Inexperienced Automobile Studies—for the week ending October 15, 2021.
This week we drove the quickest model of the Ford Mustang Mach-E but, referred to as the Mach-E GT Performance, and located it very satisfying although we expect severe fans will probably be wanting extra out of its dealing with and dynamics.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Efficiency
Ford is sending its personal network of “charge angels” out to locations with problematic fast-charging stations, to assist in giving networks a nudge forward of subsequent yr’s launch of the F-150 Lightning electrical pickup.
We additionally prolonged some reporting and evaluation on Lucid, after spending a while with its government staff just a few weeks in the past. With its emphasis on expertise and effectivity and totally different priorities than different EV startups, is Lucid the first true rival to Tesla? And Lucid, Rivian, and Tesla each use cylindrical cells and high their respective lessons for vary. Is that this coincidence? We checked out what just a few automakers have stated about their format selections—and thought of Rivian’s disclosure, as a part of the paperwork related to its IPO, that it is considering manufacturing its own batteries.
Lucid Air DreamDrive
Lucid this week additionally revealed extra about its suite of DreamDrive driver-assistance features—together with premium DreamDrive Professional {hardware}, with lidar, headed to high Dream Version and Grand Touring fashions.
We checked out up to date manufacturing specs for the 2022 BMW iX electric SUV, which is shaping as much as be a rival for the Audi E-Tron SUV and Sportback. There nonetheless aren’t any vary rankings out for this mannequin, due in early 2022, besides a continued EPA prediction of “round 300 miles.”
Jay Leno checks out a prototype for Aptera’s 1,000-mile electrical car
How does the 1,000-mile, “never charge” Aptera three-wheeled EV drive? Jay Leno was capable of finding out—and present us in a drive of the prototype this week. And the corporate nonetheless claims returns of as much as 40 miles a day in Southern California simply from the solar.
Mitsubishi offered a primary have a look at the 2023 Outlander Plug-In Hybrid this week, and photographs revealed extra driving modes and maybe extra off-road skill. We already know that it’ll provide greater than the 26 electrical miles of its predecessor.
2023 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid
GM introduced Tuesday that it had reached an settlement with LG Electronics over battery defects that have led to the recall of the Chevrolet Bolt EV for fireplace issues. LG will offset $1.9 billion of the $2.zero billion of expenses related to the recollects—successfully masking the trouble as mapped out at this level, though GM hasn’t but began changing packs.
Hyundai has teamed up with Shell for passenger-vehicle hydrogen infrastructure within the U.S. Particularly, so-called Undertaking Neptune will assemble 48 hydrogen stations and improve two current ones; the work begins this yr.
Hyundai Nexo crossovers selling Shell hydrogen-infrastructure partnership
Stable Energy, backed by Ford and BMW, this week launched third-party assessments that it says present its solid-state battery tech to be safer than current lithium-ion tech. The following step is to measurement it as much as the large-format pouch cells that Ford particularly plans to make use of sooner or later. And in different information of battery innovation, the battery provider CATL is offering its cell-to-pack expertise for the fleet-focused electric van from ELMS, with remaining meeting in Indiana; the mannequin will even provide battery-swapping tech through the startup Ample.
Farther out, there was information that peat, which is usually used as a fertilizer or for flavoring whiskey, may presumably be used as a supply of raw materials for affordable sodium-ion EV batteries. So declare researchers in Estonia—though there’s no signal that the method is near commercially viable but.
Honda just lately paralleled Tesla in some sudden methods. The Japanese automaker revealed it’s engaged on avatar robots and rockets—though its 2030s timeline is sort of a bit totally different than Tesla’s 2023 Bot prototype.
Lyft automotive selecting up a rider
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon College have discovered that the damning effects of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft go nicely past the additional emissions of the “deadhead miles” coated on the way in which to and from rides; there are social prices of extra congestion, crashes, and noise, too.
And final weekend we thought of a string of caveats behind Toyota’s Guinness World Report for the longest distance driven by a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle—845 miles, with simply 12.four kilos of hydrogen, albeit driving very slowly.
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