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Quiz
What place did Audi get in the Dakar Rally?
- 1st
- 2nd
- 7th
- 14th
EV News
BMW's CEO, Oliver Zipse, has announced that electric BMWs will be the benchmark in charging, range and, pricing, during a conference call with analysts. This statement is in line with BMW's plan to become a leader in the electric vehicle market, by expanding its electric lineup and investing heavily in research and development of new technologies. BMW's new Neue Klasse (“new class”) EV platform, which was previewed at CES, includes new cylindrical cells that are expected to improve energy density, charging speeds, and overall range by 20-30% compared to its current battery tech, and BMW is also investing in solid-state battery technology to further improve its EV offerings.
In other EV News
- Hertz and Uber announced a European expansion of their successful North American partnership. Hertz will make up to 25,000 EVs available to Uber drivers in European capital cities by 2025 with models from Tesla and Polestar.
- In 2022, Audi increased deliveries of all-electric cars by 44% with high demand for the all-electric models Audi Q4 e-tron, Audi e-tron GT quattro, and Audi e-tron. A new model, the Audi Q8 e-tron, is set to launch in spring 2023.
- Indonesia is close to finalizing deals with BYD and Tesla to produce EVs in the country.
- FortisAlberta, an electricity distributor in Alberta, is launching an Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Pilot to understand how increased demand for EVs will impact the province's electricity distribution grid. As part of the pilot, EV owners will be asked to share data about their charging habits, which will be used to understand and manage the increased electricity demands
- eLeapPower has developed an integrated inverter technology that allows EVs to charge faster and operate more efficiently. eLeap has integrated the EV motor's copper winding into the inverter circuitry, saving the cost and weight of an onboard charger and voltage converter.
- EV sales in New Zealand reached a record high of 20% in December, driven by increased awareness of the climate crisis, high petrol prices and, a government rebate scheme, according to official figures. The market share for new petrol vehicles also fell to 35% of light vehicles, down from 51% a year earlier.
- Tritium, an EV charging equipment provider, announced that it has received the largest customer order in its history (from BP) and reported record sales in 2022. Tritium achieved record revenue in the range of $95 million to $102 million in the calendar year 2022.
Ned's Corner
Apologies up front for the poor image quality, garage lighting is always rough.
It's interesting to see what kind of alternative arrangements folks come up with for EV charging when they don't have CaaS. We recently put in 8 stations at a multi-residential development and I found their old arrangement…
About Ned
Ned is an EV professional with experience with chargers from 1 to 500kW and EVs ranging from unicycles to buses and class 8 trucks. An EV owner since 2014, he is currently a Technical Solutions Manager with Electrada. He develops and refines charging solutions for fleets using his engineering experience to drive for high uptime, reliability, and efficiency.
AV Corner
Tesla blogger Whole Mars Catalog has successfully driven a Model S 31 miles through heavy Los Angeles traffic using its FSD system. The test drive was live-streamed on YouTube and demonstrated the car’s ability to handle a range of complex driving scenarios, including merging onto a highway, changing lanes, and exiting a freeway.
In other AV News
- Alibaba is partnering with Geely to develop smart car systems and drive deeper into the autonomous driving market. This marks Alibaba's efforts to gain a foothold in the autonomous driving market.
- The second annual Indy Autonomous Challenge at CES 2023 saw Team PoliMOVE from Italy's Politecnico di Milano and the University of Alabama set a world record for the fastest autonomous vehicle on a racetrack at 180 mph. Nine teams representing 17 universities in six countries competed with driverless race cars at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Mobileye’s CEO, Amnon Shashua, argues that its acquisition has been a success despite the company's valuation at the IPO being equal to its purchase price by Intel five years earlier. He explains that the company has grown from 780 to 3,200 employees, and revenues have grown from $500 million to $2 billion.
- ComfortDelgro, Singapore's largest taxi company, is investing $4 million into Ottopia, a self-driving software startup.
- The Autonomap shows how autonomous vehicles are serving the public around the world.
Answer
Team Audi Sport competed in the 2023 Dakar Rally with their innovative and electric Audi RS Q e-tron. Despite various setbacks, including punctures and accident-related retirements, the team managed to score 14 podium results on 15 event days but was only able to secure 14th place.
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