This Week in EV: Falling Behind
We kick off this week with an EV that will never see the light of the day. Apple has been rumoured to be working on an EV for over a decade called project titan. The EV was meant to be self driving but as others have shown self driving cars have been harder than many expected and Apple are no different. Having poured tens of billions in developing the Apple EV the company has pulled the plug. To make the jump from prototype to production was always going to be a leap and when they looked at the margin they would be making on an Apple car versus any of their existing product sets I suspect the commercials no longer made sense for them. Read more
Mercedes-Benz had previously committed to going all electric from 2030 and no longer produce combustion engine but now the german car manufacturer is rolling back on the commitment and there is no longer an expiry date on the combustion engine for the company with Mercedes remaining “strategically focused” and “tactically flexible,” they are also spending $3.3bn on share buybacks. Read more
Another car manufacturer delaying things on the EV front is Aston Martin. The company is delaying the launch of its first electric car to 2026 from 2025. The company has previously signed a supply agreement with Lucid last year with plans to launch Aston Martin EV in 2025 with the company citing a lack of consumer demand at the moment. Read more
Whilst some are pulling back MG are doubling down with the launch of a new upmarket brand called IM to target the more premium market segments. The IM models will go on sale in the UK in the middle of 2025 and are expected to come with a range of upto 500 miles and ultra rapid charging speeds of upto 396kW, for context the fastest chargers you’ll find right now are 350 kW so these are some incredibly fast charging speeds! Read more
The desire for faster charging is seeing Ford planning to move to an 800V charging architecture for its future EV’s following the likes of Hyundai and Porsche. According to new Ford patents the company is looking at 800Vs for its next generation of EV’s. Given the Hyundai Ioniq 5 can charge in half the time of a Ford Mustang Mach e moving to 800V makes a lot of sense. Read more
One of the complaints from those who have yet to make the switch to EV is the lack of noise and vibration. Well Dodge is looking to solve this made up problem and with its new DOdge Charger EV due out next year be able to simulate a vibrating engine. The car will provide you a ICE experience with fake engine noises provided through the “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust” and provide vibration through its “Active Vibration Enhancement.” One of the joys is the quiet that comes with an EV so i’m not convinced this is a great idea! Read more
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