Promise of Virtually Double Max Range shows intent to Get in the Game
During the most recent company update from Dailmer AG, Mercedes-Benz teased a new breakthrough in electric car innovation. The automotive manufacturer talked about its plans for developing the Vision EQXX, an EV with more range than ever before.
To be exact, the Vision EQXX aims to have a battery that can go 750 miles off of a single charge; that is the distance from Beijing to Shanghai, in the automakers’ words. Right now the longest range of any EV is just 373 miles, which Tesla only achieved recently with the Model S Long Range.
In order attain this audacious goal, Mercedes insists on not just packing the EQXX with an oversized battery, but developing new technology that offers unprecedented efficiency. Research is already being done at the Mercedes factory in Stuttgart and the Mercedes-Benz F1 HPP group in the UK.
“This is a serious project, chasing next generation technologies. We intend to incorporate the learning into the next generation of series production cars.”
Markus Schafer / head of Mercedes-Benz R&D
The project is still in its earliest stages, though. Right now, there is no word about when Mercedes might release a prototype or even any design concepts for the EQXX. We don’t know if it will run on the same kind of Electric Vehicle Architecture as Mercedes’ previous EVs—all EQE sedans and SUVs still in development—or if it will have an entirely different infrastructure.
50% by 2030 if Ambitious but will need to Be Minimum is Planet to Survive
Regardless, Mercedes reportedly hopes EVs will account for 50 percent of sales by the end of the decade. If it achieves the 750-mile range goal, then the EQXX will be a huge leap for technology as well as business.
Likewise, it will drive the market in a capitalist society. Car manufacturer Lucid is already trying to surpass Tesla with a 500 mile range EV. If Mercedes then ups the ante even further, it will cause all the competition to play catch up and optimistically lead to even more innovations.
At the end of the day, the growing EV market is dependent on innovation. While SpaceX once had dominance over EVs with Tesla, traditional car companies from Mercedes to Ford to Volkswagen are now joining the party. In order to stand out, these automakers will need to think big and get creative.
And in the process, it will make for a cleaner planet.
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Ford announced that the company will be adding an all-electric model of its best selling cargo van the Transit. The electric cargovan is scheduled to be released in the U.S. and Canada by 2022. Ford is already in the works for its European launch of the electric Transit for 2021.
Currently, Ford does not have any fully electric vehicles on the market. With the Transit – that now makes at least 3 electric vehicles in Ford’s lineup, including the Mustang Mach-E crossover unveiled last November and the electric pickup truck F-150.
Sales for Ford’s US trucks and vans have risen 33% since 2015 with the expectation for that number to grow as e-commerce continues to increase.
With the insurgence of EV popularity amongst consumers, there is a clear tipping point for many big name auto makers taking steps to transition towards more clean energy and sustainable transportation options. Ford is following suit, as the company has recently invested $11.5 billion towards electrification and going digital.
“As leaders in this space, we are accelerating our plans to create solutions that help businesses run better, starting with our all-electric Transit and F-150. This Ford Transit isn’t just about creating an electric drivetrain, it’s about designing and developing a digital product that propels fleets forward. “
– jim farley / chief Operating Officer for Ford Motor Company
Global Director, Ted Cannis made the announcement of the electric Transit during a work truck show on March 3rd, 2020.
The Electric Transit will be Optimized for Maximum fleet performance
Teaser Image of the All-Electric Transit Courtesy of Ford
Consumers will have the options for varying configurations including: cargo van, cutaway, chassis cab and three different roof and body lengths.
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The all-electric Transit will offer cutting edge smart technology including high-speed data, equipped with a FordPass modem with 4G Wi-Fi hotspot, cloud-base services and tools like GPS tracking, geofencing and diagnostics, all to best optimize fleet performance.
Driver-assist technology will include: Pre-Collision Assist, Automatic Emergency Braking, Pedestrian Detection, Forward Collision Warning, Post-Collision Braking, Lane-Keeping System and auto high-beam headlamps.
There is no additional information on pricing, images or other details on the Transit have been made available yet but will surely be provided closer to release date.
The Tipping Point is Behind us Now, It’s only a question of When EV’s Market Share will Overtake ICE
The most talked about car in 2019 has been Tesla’s Model 3, an electric vehicle from Tesla that is sleek, modern looking, and highly desirable. In Tesla’s latest quarter alone, the company has sold nearly 80,000 Model 3s, sustaining it as the most popular EV on the market.
This is not Tesla’s only achievement for the year. The company’s Cybertruck and Semi have received copious attention; its Model X and Model S continue to be popular; and consumers are eagerly awaiting 2020’s releases of the Model Y and Roadster. It’s been a long time coming, but thanks to Tesla, EVs are growing market share at an extremely rapid pace.
Other car manufacturers, even ones that have been stubbornly committed to ICE vehicles, have had to accept that the tide is turning. Naturally, many of these companies do not want Tesla to have a monopoly on EVs, and they want to have their own stake in the market before it’s too late. For that reason they appear to have capitulated and there is now a large and public shift towards the EV market.
Car companies from General Motors to Ford to Mercedes to VolksWagen and more are now hopping aboard the EV train, announcing new full electric models aimed at competing with Tesla in the upcoming year.
In addition, longer term multi-billion dollar investments to fund an infrastucture and development shift toward sustainable and EV systems have been announced. There has been some scepticism that these are more of a PR effort, with possible changes at anytime, likely due to the extremely poor efforts of the last 25 years, and even the perception that they were trying to intentionally “fail” with EVs just to postpne any meaningful transition away from fossil fuel based transportation.
While the oncoming change in car-culture may be attributed more to Tesla’s sexy, ulta-modern designs than it is to environmentalism, the widespread transition towards electric vehicles is still an enormous win for the battle against climate change.
Transportation is the top CO2 buring category and automobiles are the largest contributors to carbon emission from transport across the globe. The systemic reliance on gasoline makes cars even more environmentally harmful, as their very fuel comes from big oil companies that drill the earth without much regard for balanced ecosystems.
Finally, there has been a Major Shift in Thinking in the Auto Industry
In just the past year, however, we have seen a noticeable increase in the number of charging stations for EVs, and certain governments have started cracking down on vehicle-related greenhouse gas emissions. These changes in infrastructure and politics reflect evolutions in consumer behavior—evolutions that bode well for our planet.
Between the VolksWagen ID.4, Ford Mustang EV, Mercedes ESQ, and all the upcoming Tesla models, there are about to be a whole lot more electric cars on the market, which will (hopefully) create healthy competition.
There remians skepticism in the automobile industry, implying that this could, indeed be some sort of elaborate head fake. In response to General Motor’s recent announcement to invest $2.3 billion in an EV battery factory, for example, Toyota Executive Bob Carter warned of an “electrified armageddon” for the industry. Indeed, despite EVs recent surge in popularity, gasoline-powered cars continue to dominate the streets. To invest so much in EVs at this point is a bold, somewhat presumptuous move for all of the companies, and they run the risk of overshooting consumer demand.
There is Still only one EV Company that Stands Above in Every Way
And the Toyota response while both tone deaf and likely misguided, is not wrong in the sense that a worldwide shift away from a fossil fuel based economic system will certainly lead to hardship and immense challenges and a long time. The problem with trying to wish away that fact is that, by extending the intentional sate of denial that has persisted for over a half century, things will only be worse when the inevitible and necessary changes finally come.
This exposes the brilliance of Tesla’s approach of starting with high end luxury vehicles, spurring demand and desire and then building downmarket into more afforable vehicles as economies of scale begin to kick in. And, even more prescient is Tesla’s stated mission “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” which removes any ambiguity or hesitation and signals a 100% clear commitment to the most important goal a transportation and energycompany can have.
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Nevertheless, while this “plays” as an example of corporations displaying a logical reaction to the market for the benefit of the environment, it could, in actuality, more likely be an example of corporations playing the market to make money as per usual. The less cynical among us must hope, nevertheless that this is truly at least partially an ecological conscious choice that happens to transparently project an immediate economic benefit. If these companies are correct, and EVs do ultimately lead the car market, then it will not just satisfy the executive’s bottom line, but it will also help make the planet a cleaner and safer place.
LA Takes Tackling Smog and CO2 Emissions Seriously
Technology leaders from the city of Los Angeles recently announced what they are calling the Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0. In this outline, the leaders propose a plan by which the bustling metropolis reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% within the next eight years—an ambitious and unprecedented goal that outdoes both the California State and Paris Climate Accord proposals.
Los Angeles is known as a progressive place, filled with creative people willing to adapt to new ideas and fight for just causes. Nevertheless, the SoCal city is also known for its soul crushing traffic. Even with four million residents, finding an Angelino without reason to complain about the town’s constantly congested crisscrossed freeways and lack of reliable public transportation is nearly impossible.
The Californians who devised this plan were not unaware of LA’s traffic issues. Since Many of them live in the city, these tech leaders can tell from the air pollution alone that vehicles are Los Angeles’ heaviest contributors to carbon emissions. If they are serious about their plan, which appears to be the case, then they will have to do something fast about all the cars and trucks smogging up the roads.
The obvious solution would be to create a more effective mass transit system in Los Angeles. However, with an infrastructure unfit for trains and countless failed attempts to move LA drivers onto buses, such a change is unlikely to catch on now. Instead, the planners are looking to the future of electric vehicles for a possible answer to the city’s pollution problems.
The Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0 focuses heavily on LA’s transition towards EVs. Specifically, by 2028, the plan aims for EVs to account for 80% of all vehicles sold in the city. Simultaneously, it wants LA and the surrounding area to create more EV-compatible infrastructure and zero-emission goods, rebranding the City of Angels as the EV Capital of the World.
City Proposed Solutions as Federal and State Level Options Failed
Of course, not all vehicles emit equally. If Los Angeles wants to achieve its goal by 2028, then it first needs to attack the heavy-duty, gas-guzzling vehicles—buses and trucks. Luckily, as of this year especially, there are many plus-sized EVs for the city to choose from. Tesla recently released the Cybertruck, and many even larger zero-emission vehicles are on the way from a wide variety of car and truck manufacturers. The California Air Resource Board is even proposing an Advanced Clean Truck regulation, which would require one out of every five trucks sold in the state by 2030 to be zero-emission models.
Earlier this year, however, the state of California lost a battle against the Trump administration (as well as a few car manufacturers) for the right to set its own emissions standards. While the Golden State was denied the right to hold itself to a higher ecological standard than the federal government mandates, individual cities have a little more wiggle room. Therefore, Los Angeles is not just creating these standards for itself; it is hoping that these efforts will inspire other municipalities in California and around the nation to follow suit. If the federal government will not solve the problem, and the state governments are barred from taking action, then perhaps it is up to the local governments to evoke change from the bottom up.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is in full support of the plan. Known to be an environmentally sensitive politician, Garcetti proposed a Green New Deal to the city back in April, outlining ways for LA to combat climate change. The Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0 is therefore in his wheelhouse, as it accelerates the already ambitious conservation goals set out in the previous proposal. Also supporting the plan are the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and the Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP) as well as private sector partners Tesla, BMW, Audi, BYD, Greenlots, and Proterra.
The main factor preventing carbon emission reductions? Over-reliance on fossil fuel for energy & transport
As the climate crisis rages on and protests for climate action happen all over the world, peoples and nations worldwide struggle with implementing a sustainable alternative to the biggest cause of carbon emissions: fossil fuels.
The backbone of the fossil fuel strangle-hold on the world economy is cars and, particularly in the US, a transportation infrastructure based on solo drivers and individual cars. Because of this, a fossil fuel alternative is hard to obtain without the use of fossil fuels themselves throughout the process.
The European Union, for example, despite being the top funds provider for global projects aimed at fighting against the climate crisis, has also provided funding and subsidies for fossil fuels at the same time. However, on Friday, November 8th, the European Union Finance Ministers backed a declaration to end all fossil fuel funding for the first time.
After previously only agreeing to end funding for coal power plants, they issued a joint statement with the EU calling “to phase out financing of fossil fuel projects, in particular those using solid fossil fuels, taking into account the sustainable development, and energy needs, including energy security, of partner countries.”
The European Investment Bank’s official decision regarding the matter is unclear as a number of countries push for the continuance of gas funding in the face of the EU’s general fear that those countries would turn to Russia for help. The EIB board will meet on November 14th to further discuss this policy issue.
Tesla’s Mission and Vision is Coming to Fruition
Fortunately, Tesla has been aware of this complex socioeconomic issue from its establishment, and they are the leading cause of change and innovation that combats this issue on all fronts.
On May 9, 2019, Tesla’s twitter account released a thread detailing the company’s mission and how they plan to execute it in a multitude of ways as they go forward. Their mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
The first part of their “Master Plan” to realize this mission is to influence the auto industry to transition to electric power because the current leading cause of global CO2 emissions is the constant use of fossil fuels for transportation, especially in the U.S., where its infrastructure primarily relies on transportation via solo, gas-powered cars with individual drivers.
Tesla accomplished this by designing the Tesla Roadster, Model S, Model X, Model 3, and the upcoming Model Y to prove that “people didn’t need to compromise to drive all-electric” in order to benefit the environment.
Tesla’s planned impact on the auto industry is clearly a success as various hybrid and all-electric model cars are set for deliveries in 2020.
Tesla Successfully Influences Auto Industry to Embrace EVs as ‘Sexy & Fun’
As Tesla’s founding ethos of making sustainable transportation fun and ‘sexy’ is proven to be successful, many car manufacturers are following suit by moving towards producing hybrid and/or all-electric vehicles that guarantee a high quality that lives up to, or even surpasses, their long-established, gas-powered, vehicle brand names.
https://youtu.be/o0F9Uktpgtk
On Sunday, November 17th, it looks like Ford is about to jump on this trend first introduced by Tesla and incorporated into the recent practices of renowned car manufacturers, like Lamborghini, Porsche, and Jeep.
Porsche and Jeep have already produced hybrid plug-in versions of their iconic Cayenne and Wrangler models as a movement towards sustainable energy, but Ford’s Mustang Mach-E is going to be the first all-electric SUV to bear a name originally reserved for a trademark, powerful, gas-powered, “muscle” car.
This marks a major shift in values for traditional automakers. At first, car manufacturers would produce moderate-to-low quality electric vehicles just to pacify the environmentalist demographic, essentially putting the carbon emissions reduction burden on consumers, who rightfully find that sacrificing the quality transportation that they deserve in the name of saving the planet is too inconvenient, rather than themselves for failing to give consumers a compatible alternative to their gas-powered vehicles.
But now, with Tesla’s burgeoning global success in high-quality EV sales, the demand for electric vehicles has finally increased to a level that traditional auto companies were unable (or unwilling) to achieve. As a result, high-quality EV production is finally at the top of production priorities in heightening the possibility for a real start toward a sustainable future.
BMW i4
Auto Companies Rushing Forward to Ramp Up EV Production in Fear of Losing the Market to Tesla
Audi, Mercedes and BMW all have big projects for EV production, and have, in essence, capitulated and conceded that EVs will be 100% of the car market in the relatively near future, within a decade for example. They are now concerned that Tesla will dominate with a massive market share if they do not start working to catch up. And if this shift isn’t seen in the various hybrid and electric models coming out in 2020, it demonstrates a clear trend, based on recent auto company investments and factory expansions.
On Wednesday, November 13th, Volkswagen unveiled an $800 million investment into an expansion project for their Cattanooga, Tennessee factory to be turned into VW’s main base for electric vehicle manufacturing in North America. They also expect to introduce 1,000 new jobs at the factory through the 564,000-square-foot body shop addition that’s part of the expansion.
In light of their 2015 emissions cheating scandal, the expansion is also a piece of Volkswagen’s broad plan to turn away from diesel, which globally entails a $50 billion commitment towards EV development and production.
Photo / Volkswagen
Volkswagen’s expansion will also enable the production of their all-electric compact SUV, the VW ID.4, by mid-2022, which is expected to compete with Tesla’s Model Y, which will begin production in early 2020.
Thanks to Tesla’s success, this insurgence of EV popularity amongst consumers is forcing auto companies to measure up to the high-quality Tesla standard, which indicates that the tipping point leading to a clean energy future through sustainable transportation has arrived.
