BMW UK Introduces Point System For Electrified Vehicles, Earn As You Drive

Posted on Aug 5, 2021Written by admin

BMW has released their ‘BMW Points’ scheme, giving users an enthusiastic nudge to support the future of electromobility as electric and hybrid BMW owners are now rewarded for every mile they drive in the UK or Europe.

The program applies to you if your own a BMW 330e, 530e, 545e, 745e, X3 30e (models produced after August 2021) and BMW X5 45e owners who are equipped with the 7.0 operating system.

The premise is simple, adding a bit of loyalty and gamification to the EV driving experience. Drivers will be awarded two points for every electric mile driven, with that doubled for every electric mile driven in designated eDrive zones — of which BMW have already geo-fenced to ensure their electrified cars switch to an EV-only mode once entered. These eDrive zones can be found in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and Limerick. Collected points can then be used in exchange for free charging.

Read: The First EV Safety Car For MotoE Electric Motorcycle Championship Is BMW i4 M50

This initiative has been implemented to bring down pollution caused by BMW owners in the UK, especially as the country struggles to control C02 emissions within their highly-populated zones.

BMW has also promised their users 20 bonus points every time their vehicle has been charged longer than 15 minutes, along with a monthly bonus of 500 points for users who charge their vehicles more than 20 times a month for more than 15 minutes per session.

Points will be awarded to those who have registered for BMW Points via the My BMW App, where miles will be automatically logged by the vehicle. The points scheme is one way in which BMW is driving the company’s directive towards a greener future.

Drivers who have collected 3,200 points will be rewarded with a £10 charging credit to be used across the BMW Charging network. At 7,500 points, customers will receive £25 and at 14,500 points a £50 free charging credit. Moreover, any e-miles driven in Europe will be recorded too.

The UK isn’t the first market to receive this concept, with the system already in place for customers in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

QOTD: What Do You Want To See In Bugatti’s Future After Rimac Partnership?

Posted on Jul 10, 2021Written by admin

After months of ‘will they or won’t they,’ Bugatti and Rimac made their relationship official as the two companies announced plans for a joint venture.

This opens up an assortment of exciting new possibilities for Bugatti and it appears the two companies are already laying the foundation for an eco-friendly future, which will see an expanded lineup that includes hybrids and electric vehicles.

While details are elusive, that brings us to our question of the day: what do you want to see in Bugatti’s future?

Also Read: Bugatti And Rimac Officially Joining Forces, Will Jointly Develop Future Models

There’s no debating the Veyron and Chiron are impressive, but I’m hoping Bugatti will spice things up a bit more often under the watchful eye of Rimac. The Veyron stuck around for nearly a decade and spawned a ridiculous number of special editions, which didn’t feel terribly special for the most part.

Thankfully, it changed course with the Chiron as it has spawned the Divo, the Centodieci and the La Voiture Noire. Each of these feels distinctive, rather than iterative. Hopefully this trend will continue in the future as a marque as exclusive as Bugatti deserves an air of excitement.

Of course, the most interesting aspect of Bugatti’s future is an expanded lineup. The company hinted at this possibility with the Galibier concept and the automaker intended to put it into production. However, reports have indicated it was a case of “too many cooks in the kitchen” as executives and consumers demanded “far-reaching visual modifications” that are said to have added an extra 60 inches (1,524 mm) to the vehicle.

The resulting car was slammed by Bugatti Design Director Achim Anscheidt, who said the “uber Rolls-Royce Phantom” was a “patchwork of overly ambitious and conflicting Excel sheet demands” that was “bound to fail.” The monstrosity was mercifully killed before reaching production and sullying Bugatti’s name.

Despite that close call, it will be interesting to see if Bugatti decides to take another stab at a Royale successor. That being said, what would you like to see from the brand?

Toyota Keeping Its Options Open, Won’t Commit To An EV-Only Future

Posted on Jun 20, 2021Written by admin

Toyota believes that electric vehicles are not necessarily the only way forward and thus it will offer vehicles with many propulsion technologies for the foreseeable future.

“It’s too early to concentrate on one option,” said director Shigeki Terashi at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, per Automotive News. The comment was in response to a question about why the company wasn’t making a bold EV plan like Honda or GM.

Terashi argued that different technologies must be allowed to compete against each other in the marketplace in order to find the solution that best serves it. That’s why Toyota will continue to invest in hybrid and fuel-cell technologies in the years leading up to 2050.

“Some people love battery-electric vehicles but others don’t see the current technologies as convenient,” Toyota’s Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said. “In the end what matters is what customers choose.”

Toyota recently competed in a 24-hour race with a hydrogen-powered Corolla that used a converted combustion engine from a GR Yaris in order to prove that hydrogen engines can be a better, carbon-reduced solution for long distances.

The automaker also pointed to lifecycle emissions, which remain high for EVs, despite their low local emissions. Batteries, in particular, are carbon-intensive to mine and manufacture, though Polestar found that its vehicles gain a carbon advantage over gas-powered vehicles after just 31,000 miles on the road. Another study argued that the cost of producing hydrogen, especially if there was a sudden, intense demand on the supply, could lead to a fossil-fuel backslide.

Toyota recently came under fire from investors for what they felt was an incorrect stance on green technologies and its anti-environmental governmental lobbying efforts. That led to a public recommitment to green technologies.

Indeed, despite its commitment to multiple fuel types, Toyota is actually investing in EVs, like the recently announced bZ4X that it’s making in partnership with Subaru.

Tiff Needell Experiences The 613 HP All-Electric Rallycross Car

Posted on May 26, 2021Written by admin

While rally cars have historically been all about popping engine notes and fire-breathing exhausts, the all-electric Projekt E Rallycross car developed by STARD shows that you can still have fun in a rally car without all of those sounds.

Unveiled last year prior to the start of the electric rallycross championship, STARD’s car has a powertrain with no less than three electric motors that combine to pump out 613 hp and 740 lb-ft (1,002 Nm) of torque. Tiff Needell from Lovecars was recently given the opportunity to put the car through its paces and was very impressed with what he found.

The car features a two-speed transmission and can hit a top speed of 149 mph (240 km/h). However, what is most impressive is how this thing lurches off the line, pushing the driver back into their seat despite spinning up all four tires. Which, of course, is to be expected as it will hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in roughly 2 seconds.

Watch Also: Ken Block Destroys Tires With His Electric Rallycross Car

While the car weighs more than a ICE-powered Rallycross car, most of this weight is located low down meaning it doesn’t negatively impact the handling. Throughout the test, Needell powerslides the car through various corners of the track in Greinbach, Austria and seems to be having an absolute ball while driving it.

Given how much power the car has, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that it can’t travel all that far on a single charge. However, STARD has already thought of that and has designed the battery pack in such a way that it can be removed and swapped in just 15 minutes.

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Study Claims Electric Vehicles Are More Efficient, Less Risky Than Hydrogen And E-Fuels

Posted on May 11, 2021Written by admin

New research suggests that electric vehicles are a more efficient solution for powering cars than hydrogen. Moreover, the analysis suggests that the cost of creating hydrogen for cars as well as e-fuels could lead to a deeper dependency on fossil fuels.

Although electric propulsion seems to be taking over the automotive world, automakers like Toyota and Porsche are still making a fuss about hydrogen and e-fuels. These can be put directly into existing engines with little to no modifications and are sometimes seen as a way to save internal combustion.

The trouble is that the energy required to make these fuels is still greater than the energy required to power electric vehicles, per the study published in the Nature Climate Change journal. According to Falko Ueckerdt at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who led the research, that might lead to a backslide.

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“Hydrogen-based fuels can be a great clean energy carrier, yet their costs and associated risks are also great,” Ueckerdt told The Guardian. “If we cling to combustion technologies and hope to feed them with hydrogen-based fuels, and these turn out to be too costly and scarce, then we will end up burning further oil and gas.”

That doesn’t mean that there’s no need to explore hydrogen and e-fuels. In fact, for industries like long-haul trucking and long-distance flight, electric power may never be a suitable solution.

Keeping the majority of vehicles and home heating electric may allow these industries to flourish without overtaxing the electrical grid. According to the research, e-fuels require five times more electricity than EVs, so supplying the industry may in fact require a turn back to fossil fuels.

“We are currently far from 100% renewable electricity,” Romain Sacchi, a member of the study team, told The Guardian. “If produced with the current electricity mixes [in Europe], hydrogen-based fuels would increase – not decrease – greenhouse gas emissions, [compared with] using fossil fuels.”

Rhine River Area With Enough Lithium For 400 Million EVs Could Reduce Germany’s Dependence On Imports

Posted on May 3, 2021Written by admin

Germany may look to mine an area thousands of meters below the Rhine river that is believed to be one of the world’s biggest deposits of lithium.

Geologists believe that the area of the Upper-Rhine Valley in the Black Forest area of southwestern Germany has enough lithium for more than 400 million electric vehicles. German-Australian start-up Vulcan Energy Resources believes the deposit can reduce the German car industry’s reliance on imported lithium and wants to built five power stations in the area.

“The lithium deposit we’re talking about here is gigantic and its properties are ideal for our goal of producing high-quality lithium on a large industrial scale in Germany,” Vulcan Energy Resources co-founder Horst Kreuter told Reuters.

Kreuter added that the company plans to invest €1.7 billion ($2 billion) to build geothermal stations and facilities that will extract the lithium. The company claims that it would be extracting up to 15,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year at two sites by 2024. From 2025 onwards, a second phase of extraction could see it achieve an output of 40,000 tons per year at three additional sites.

The European Union has estimated that the region will need 18 times more lithium by 2030 than today and 60 times more by 2050. Most of the lithium imported into Europe comes from remote Australia and the deserts of South America where the lithium is produced by the evaporation of salt flats. Portugal is the biggest lithium producer in Europe but most of its lithium is sold to the ceramics industry.

Hyundai Pony EV Is A One-Off Design Concept With Modern Tech

Posted on Apr 13, 2021Written by admin

Hyundai has quietly unveiled a one-off design concept based on the Pony from the 1970s but updated with an electric powertrain.

The project was led by Hyundai’s chief interior designer Hak Soo Ha and is currently on display at the automaker’s customer center in Busan, South Korea. It was once an original two-door Pony hatchback and has been overhauled and given a modern touch with some features reminiscent of the all-electric Ioniq 5.

To give the Pony EV a unique look, it has been fitted with modern headlights while the rear has LED taillights similar to those of the Ioniq 5 that feature the same pixelated design. It also has camera-based exterior mirrors mounted on the fenders and sits on a set of retro-inspired wheels.

The interior of the Hyundai Pony EV has undergone an even more comprehensive overhaul than the exterior and includes a unique three-spoke steering wheel, as well as a distinctive instrument panel unlike any you’ll currently find on the market.

Hyundai removed the original powertrain of the Pony and replaced it with an all-electric one, although there are no details about it. The concept will be on display at the Hyundai Motorstudio in Busan until June 27, 2021.

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Porsche’s Next Hypercar Won’t Come Before 2025 Because Battery Tech Isn’t Ready

Posted on Mar 21, 2021Written by admin

Production of the 918 Spyder ended in 2015, yet a new Porsche hypercar won’t be coming anytime soon as the German carmaker has put its plan for a new flagship model on the back burner, shifting its attention on EV technologies.

Porsche’s CEO Oliver Blume said that while a flagship hypercar is still on the cards, other projects such as the development of pure electric cars and their relevant technologies are a priority for the company.

Porsche 917 Living Legend concept pictured

“We will return to Le Mans with a prototype, with which we will be able to win the big classic races like Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona. Ferrari has already joined in the past few weeks, so it will be a very close, tough competition and we are very happy about it,” Blume told Autocar.

Ever since Porsche announced that it will return to Le Mans in 2023, there’s been talk of a road-going version of the new endurance racer. However, Blume’s latest comments indicate that the German carmaker will wait until the battery technology is sufficiently advanced in order to engineer a new electrified hypercar.

“In terms of following the 918, a hypercar is always something we are thinking about at Porsche, but for the next few years, our concentration is on the electrification of our model range.”

“Before 2025, we won’t have a hypercar. Later on, it might be possible.”

Porsche announced it’s working on its own battery cell technology with silicon anodes instead of graphite ones, which will allow the battery pack to comfortably operate at higher temperatures, making them suitable for high-performance applications.

“The battery will be the ‘cylinder’ of tomorrow, so we still have to investigate high-power, high-density cells. We will invest in these cells, and when we have the right cell for a high-power car, then will come to the point, but I don’t think about this car before the second half of the decade.”

We’re Driving The 402HP Volvo XC40 Recharge EV And Volkswagen ID.4, Anything You’d Like To Ask?

Posted on Mar 15, 2021Written by admin

Volvo and Volkswagen are switching on to electric power and we’ll be climbing behind the wheels of the XC40 Recharge and ID.4 SUVs in a couple of days to find out if Tesla should be worried.

The XC40 Recharged is Volvo’s first electric vehicle, period, and the ID.4 is Volkswagen’s first electric SUV. Both are compact crossover-style SUVs, but the Volvo is both more expensive and more powerful.

Like twice as powerful. The XC40 sends a serious 402hp to its four wheels thanks to an electric motor connect to each axle, and can crack 62mph (100km/h) in 4.7 seconds. It can cover 208 miles (335 km) on a charge and costs $53,990 before any tax credits are applied – though at £53,155 in the UK the XC40 is too expensive to qualify for any grant in Britain.

The ID.4, meanwhile, only serves up 201hp, and that goes exclusively to the rear wheels, while zero to 62mph (100km/h) takes a much more leisurely 8.5 seconds. That’s according to Volkswagen – we’ll be sticking our Racelogic VBOX timing gear to the ID.4 to see if we can’t improve on VW’s often conservative figures.

On the plus side, the ID.4 is substantially less expensive: prices start at $39,995 (£40,800 in UK) before tax credits, and its 250-mile (402 km) range is better than the Volvo’s.

So they’re not exactly direct rivals – a hotter ID.4 with enough performance to worry the XC40 comes later, as does a cheaper, slower version in some markets – but we thought it’d be interesting to drive them back to back to see if the Volvo is worth the extra money, and if the Volkswagen feels embarrassingly slow with half as much power.

Want to know anything about either car? Let is know in the comments below.

We’re also driving the facelifted 2022 Hyundai Kona Electric and battery-powered Lexus UX at the same time, though those come with a couple of caveats. The Kona is the lower-powered 136hp version of the two Konas available in Europe, but America will only get the 201hp version. And Lexus doesn’t offer the 300e electric version of its UX compact SUV in the US at all.

Do you think Lexus and Hyundai should change theirs mind and brings those cars to the US? Again, let us know in the comments below.

The all-electric 2021 Lexus UX 300e is not offered in North America

Alpha’s New Wolf Electric Pickup Looks Like It Came Back From The Future

Posted on Mar 12, 2021Written by admin

The fourth in the company’s growing range of vehicles, the Alpha Wolf is a small electric pickup truck that can handle more than just tiny jobs.

The design, while following the aesthetic details of the brand’s other electric models, also adds a touch of 1980s with its boxy shape and accessories, bringing to mind Marty McFly’s 1985 Toyota SR5 truck.

The little pickup is based on the same platform as the JAX, which you might remember being unveiled in February. Alpha says the Wolf can be equipped with a 75-85 kWh battery pack earning it an estimated 275 miles of range. Motors can either power the front or all wheels.

More to the point, though, despite being 23-inches (584 mm) shorter than a Ford Ranger at 188 inches (4,775mm) long, 76 inches (1,930 mm) wide and 66 inches (1676 mm) tall, Alpha is aiming for a pretty reasonable towing capacity of 3,000 lbs. It can also hit 60 mph from a standing start in just 6.2 seconds.

With just two seats, the pickup’s bed takes up most of its length and is 65-inches (1,651 mm) long by 59-inches (1,498 mm) wide and 16-inches (406 mm) deep. That won’t hold a 4×8 plywood sheet, but it will net you 34.5 cubic feet of storage in the bed’s truck. If you want some more secure storage, there’s a frunk, too.

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Images show a large solar panel covering the bed of the truck. Although official details on this feature are frustratingly scant, we can presume that it will help charge the battery a bit while you’re trekking out away from the grid.

Inside, the Wolf looks a lot like Alpha’s other creations. The interior is uncluttered but modern and features a tablet-style infotainment screen and a digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. Alpha promises lots of charging ports for your electronics as well as lots of storage for your belongings.

One of the most affordable electric trucks

Prices will start at just $36,000 running up to $46,000 before you even consider federal EV tax credits. That’s less than the JAX CUV, which is priced between $38,000-$48,000, but more than the standard Ace coupe, which starts at just $32,000. In any case, it’s one of the least expensive electric trucks in the North American market.

As with its other models, Alpha is accepting reservations on the Wolf, though exactly when deliveries are expected to start is a little less clear.

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Tag Archives: MimboloveElectric Vehicles

BMW UK Introduces Point System For Electrified Vehicles, Earn As You Drive

QOTD: What Do You Want To See In Bugatti’s Future After Rimac Partnership?

Toyota Keeping Its Options Open, Won’t Commit To An EV-Only Future

Tiff Needell Experiences The 613 HP All-Electric Rallycross Car

Study Claims Electric Vehicles Are More Efficient, Less Risky Than Hydrogen And E-Fuels

Rhine River Area With Enough Lithium For 400 Million EVs Could Reduce Germany’s Dependence On Imports

Hyundai Pony EV Is A One-Off Design Concept With Modern Tech

PHOTO GALLERY

Porsche’s Next Hypercar Won’t Come Before 2025 Because Battery Tech Isn’t Ready

We’re Driving The 402HP Volvo XC40 Recharge EV And Volkswagen ID.4, Anything You’d Like To Ask?

Alpha’s New Wolf Electric Pickup Looks Like It Came Back From The Future

PHOTO GALLERY

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