Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope you are wearing green, if not, you know what happens. Our newsletter this week includes news about In-Road Charging, GM, Ford, Volvo, Dubai, and more. We’re also launching our EV of the Week. We will pick an EV every week and highlight some of the features.
Have an amazing green day and don’t forget to share us.
Electric Vehicles
In other EV News
- The University of Central Florida and NASA have developed a ‘power suit’ for electric vehicles and spacecraft. Layered with carbon composite material, the suit functions as an energy-storing, supercapacitor-battery hybrid device. Sounds heavy, but according to officials, the suit is lighter than aluminum. The suit can increase an EV’s range by 25%.
- On Tuesday, GM announced the company will begin production of Lyriq customer units on Monday, March 21, 2022, at its plant in Tennessee. The Lyriq is the first of a new lineup of EVs and SUVs for the brand and starts at around $59,990.
- Volvo’s plug-in hybrid versions, like the Volvo XC60 and XC90 SUVs, S60 and S90 sedans, and V60 station wagon, will be getting larger battery packs, a more powerful rear-axle electric motor, and changes to their internal-combustion engine. Some vehicle models will have a one-pedal driving feature. The models will now boast 41 miles of electric range, while previously they ran about 22 miles.
- Ford has announced plans to launch seven new EVs (three passenger and four commercial) in Europe. The ultimate goal is zero emissions in Europe by 2035.
- Advances in machine intelligence and electrification have accelerated smart manufacturing in the past couple of years, increasing EV production rates. The role of smart manufacturing in EV production encourages more innovation with technology in the vehicles.
- The financially troubled Chinese company, Evergrande, has been given the green light to start sales of its electric vehicles. Evergrande has been facing some challenging times, but finally received some good news and will start accepting pre-orders for its Hengchi 5 in Q2 of this year. The model starts at 200,000 yuan.
EV of the Week
This week’s EV of the week is the BMW i4 M50. I grew up a BMW fan because of my dad. The idea of an electric M car is exciting, and BMW is heading in that direction with the i4 M50. With a range of 270 miles, a 0-60 in the 3.3-second range, and an electric soundtrack produced by Hans Zimmer, BMW is doing some fun things. -John at Mobility EVo
- MSRP: From $65,900
- Range: 270 mi battery-only
- Horsepower: 536 hp
- Curb weight: 5,018 lbs.
- Battery charge time: 8.25h at 220V
Autonomous Vehicles
Finally, the moment we have been waiting for. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) removed the requirement for fully automated vehicles to feature manual driving controls. At the moment, Level Four and Five AVs are a bit away, but carmakers can revel in the freedom to remove steering wheels and pedals.
In other AV News
- BMW is collaborating with Qualcomm and Arriver to expand its AV technology to Level 3 self-driving for BMW models by 2025. The goal is to have Level 3 tech in the new iX and 7-series.
- Tesla’s FSD Beta 10.11 has been pushed out with a lot of upgrades including upgraded modeling of lane geometry, improved creeping profile, improved controls for nearby obstacles, and much more. Click here to learn all about them.
- Dubai’s police force exhibited a self-driving patrol car at the World Police Summit. The prototype vehicles were built internally by Dubai Police and Metropolis and are set to hit the roads later this year or early 2023. Along with the AV, the force also announced drones to monitor the road and the skies.
- Solo Advanced Vehicle Technologies wants to start building a heavy-duty electric autonomous truck. Solo AVT’s truck will have no seat or steering wheel and is expected to be on the road by 2024.
EPG and Mobility EVo
Mobility EVo is brought to you by EPG. EPG is an electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle recruiting and staffing company. We created Mobility EVo to bring you latest news on the Electric Vehicle and Autonomous Vehicle industry through our newsletter. Whether it’s Tesla, Ford, Mobileye, Cruise, Waymo, GM, Rivian, we bring it to you. We also have some electric vehicle merch too. Check out our EV hats, EV Shirts, EV Hoodies, etc… We have something for everyone.