Tag: EVS

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Ford reportedly has plans for another electric pickup truck

Production of the Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck is in full swing at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, but Ford seems to have its attention on a new electric truck.

Announced by Ford CEO Jim Farley earlier today at an event to celebrate the F-150 Lightning’s production, the new truck will be built at Ford’s new BlueOval City manufacturing complex in Stanton, Tennessee.

Not much else was revealed about the new truck.

Ford’s F-150 Lighting has been in development for the last four years and is the follow-up to the Mustang Mach-e revealed in 2019. The truck starts at $58,000 and offers a range of 370km. The more tricked-out ‘XLT’ version starts at $68,000 and can drive 483km per charge.

In other electric vehicle-related news, check out MobileSyrup staff reporter Bradley Bennett’s review of the new BMW iX.

Source: Ford Via: TechCrunch

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Tesla delivers 310,000 vehicles in Q1 2022 amid ‘exceptionally difficult’ quarter

Tesla delivered roughly 310,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of approximately 20,000 compared to the last quarter in 2021 when the company delivered 308,000 EVs.

As usual, the company sold way more Model Y and Model 3 vehicles (295,324) compared to its more expensive Model S and Model X trims (14,724).

Musk tweeted that the quarter was “exceptionally difficult” due to supply chain issues and the lockdowns at the Shanghai Tesla factory.

That said, the company is still growing quarter over quarter. It also opened a new factory in Berlin recently and has plans to open another in Austin, Texas. These should help increase production and deliveries even more.

Source: @ElonMusk Via: The Verge  

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Volkswagen’s ID Buzz electric micro bus only seats five

Volkswagen has finally revealed the modern ID Buzz, an electric van with retro stylings and a very modern-looking interior.

The van, like most of the VW ID series, is built on the company MEB battery platform and can accept direct CCS charging rates up to 170 kW. Volkswagen says that this allows drivers to top up the vehicle to 80 percent in roughly 30 minutes.

However, Canadians won’t need to worry about this much since the van is only launching in Europe this year. There’s a North American launch planned at a later date, likely sometime in 2024.

The van is only launching as a five-seater, but wording in VW’s press release suggests a six-seater with a bench seat in the front might eventually be available.

The company has yet to share the range of the van, but it can hit a top speed of around 145km, according to The Verge. 

Inside the displays and instrument clusters carry forward regular Volkswagen ID designs with a large screen in the centre that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Source: Volkswagen Via: The Verge

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Canada gets closer to building first EV battery refinery

The Government of Ontario is starting to warm up to electric vehicles (EVs) as it invests $250,000 into the development of North America’s first battery-grade nickel sulfate facility.

The government is investing this money alongside another $250,000 from Electra and $100,000 each from Glencore plc and Talon Metals.

The goal of these companies and the Ontario government is to study and collaborate on potentially building a nickel sulfate plant and a battery precursor cathode active materials plant beside an existing cobalt refinery and recycling factory.

Ideally, building these factories within the same area allows the companies to work more efficiently to transform raw metals and other mined materials into battery parts. In the future, Electra is hoping to supply 1.5 million EV batteries to the world annually.

The bodies involved are all hoping that Canada’s reliance on renewable hydroelectricity and the proximity to the feed materials will make the materials made in Canada some of the lowest carbon footprints around.

“The low carbon North American alternative that we are proposing is much more compatible with the transition towards zero-emission vehicles to lower global greenhouse gases,” said Electra CEO Trent Mell, in a press statement.

Electra is the company spearheading this operation, and it hopes get all of these buildings commissioned and under construction by 2025 at the latest. However, the company is getting closer to building the battery-grade cobalt sulfate refinery, so construction could launch as early as 2023.

Source: Electra

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Tesla to disable self-driving feature that rolls through stop signs

Rolling through a stop sign is likely to result in a failed road test in Canada (I can attest to that), as it’s a potentially dangerous maneuver. The act is also likely to get you a ticket if a police officer spots you. So why do some of Tesla’s self-driving vehicles include this feature embedded in their software?

To be fair, the rolling through a stop sign isn’t as risky as it sounds. To roll through a stop sign, a Tesla must be travelling below the speed of 5.6 mp/h (about 9 km/h) while approaching an intersection, and the vehicle needs to identify that there are no moving cars, pedestrians or bicyclists nearby

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Tesla’s Full-Self Driving (FSD) Beta allows vehicles to pass through a four-way stop sign without first coming to a complete stop, which can increase the risk of a crash

About 53,000 affected Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model X and Model Y vehicles will receive an OTA (over-the-air) software update that disables the vehicles from autonomously performing a rolling stop through a stop sign.

According to The Verge, “Tesla says it is not aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities related to the use of the feature.” The carmaker says it will notify Tesla owners with vehicles that require the OTA update via a letter mailed before March 28th, 2022.

This comes soon after Tesla announced that it has been testing an improved version of its FSD software. The beta version of FSD will reportedly finally release in Canada sometime in February.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Via: The Verge

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk says self driving Teslas will be on roads and safer than humans in 2022

After years of delays and hype-filled tweets, Elon Musk now claims that Tesla’s full self-driving feature will release in 2022 and that the technology is safer than human drivers.

The exact quote from the most recent Tesla investors call is, “I would be shocked if we do not achieve Full Self-Driving safer than human this year. I would be shocked,” according to a report from Electrek. 

Tesla has been testing its fell self-driving beta software on public roads for the past several years, but if the current state of the software is any indication of the system’s progress, then Elon is likely hedging his bet here. Electrek notes that around 60,000 cars in the U.S. are in the beta program.

As far as we know, the beta hasn’t officially rolled out in Canada, but it’s reportedly coming soon.

Source: Electrek

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Lithium-Sulphur batteries move closer to revolutionizing electric vehicle industry

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed and recharged a Lithium-Sulphur (Li-S) battery that can theoretically fast charge roughly 1,000 times, pushing EV battery tech closer to a revolution.

The current issue with EV batteries is that they take a long time to fill up and they typically only last roughly 600km under peak conditions.

Li-S batteries aim to solve this problem by being able to store up to fives times more energy than regular Lithium-ion batteries that are featured in vehicles now. The issue with these batteries is that they can’t be recharged enough to make them commercially viable. However, this new research may change that.

The team at Michigan University is using nano kevlar fibres from recycled bulletproof vests to help limit the growth of dendrites and other chemical deposits that form in batteries.

Lead researcher Nicholas Kotov says that the battery his team has developed is close to reaching its theoretical limits and can even withstand extreme temperaturesm making it ideal for cars.

You can read the full report on the university’s website. 

Source: University of Michigan 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Tesla adds TikTok and better blind spot detection in winter update

Tesla has started rolling out its usual holiday software update with several useful and fun new features, including the first Sonic that originally released on the Sega Genesis, more useful blindspot cameras and the TikTok app.

The part of the update the drivers are likely to interact with the most is the new blind spot detectors. This means that once you trigger the signal lights to change lanes, a view of the blind spot on that side of the car will pop up on the screen.

This feature was first announced in the summer of 2020, so it’s nice to see it rolling out now. It’s also present in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and is a handy feature.

The Tesla team has also added a new multi-waypoint update to the in-car navigation and simplified a few other controls regarding the car’s user interface, according to Elecktrek.

Headlining the update, of course, is the addition of TikTok. The worst part is that this update is a few years too late and would have been much more helpful on the old vertical displays since that app could play in full screen. Since TikTok is so optimized for mobile, I’m interested to see how it works on the vehicle’s dashboard.

Looking at some photos of the update that a user posted to Imgur, it also appears that Tesla programmed a light show, added a customization option to the app launcher, and Sudoku.

Source: Imgur, Electrek

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Tesla adds TikTok and better blind spot detection in winter update

Tesla has started rolling out its usual holiday software update with several useful and fun new features, including the first Sonic that originally released on the Sega Genesis, more useful blindspot cameras and the TikTok app.

The part of the update the drivers are likely to interact with the most is the new blind spot detectors. This means that once you trigger the signal lights to change lanes, a view of the blind spot on that side of the car will pop up on the screen.

This feature was first announced in the summer of 2020, so it’s nice to see it rolling out now. It’s also present in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and is a handy feature.

The Tesla team has also added a new multi-waypoint update to the in-car navigation and simplified a few other controls regarding the car’s user interface, according to Elecktrek.

Headlining the update, of course, is the addition of TikTok. The worst part is that this update is a few years too late and would have been much more helpful on the old vertical displays since that app could play in full screen. Since TikTok is so optimized for mobile, I’m interested to see how it works on the vehicle’s dashboard.

Looking at some photos of the update that a user posted to Imgur, it also appears that Tesla programmed a light show, added a customization option to the app launcher, and Sudoku.

Source: Imgur, Electrek

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Ontario Government invest $56 million to help province develop EV tech

The Ontario Government is doubling down on its previous $85 million Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network with a new six-step plan and a $56.4 million investment into making the province a leader when it comes to electric vehicles (EVs) and smart transportation.

The six main areas the government will leverage and grow with this investment are as follows:

  • Bridge Ontario’s technology and manufacturing clusters to support the growth of Ontario’s automotive sector.
  • Advance the growth of regional clusters and world-class testing locations to drive the deployment, adoption, and piloting of smart mobility technologies across the province.
  • Deliver ongoing support for SMEs in commercializing technologies, scaling-up, attracting investment, and accessing global markets.
  • Strengthen Ontario’s automotive and mobility workforce and talent pipeline through skills development and training programs.
  • Drive public education, research, analysis, thought leadership activities, and raise awareness of the opportunities for Ontario – and our global competitive advantages.
  • Convene stakeholder groups, act as a bridge for collaborative partnerships, and serve as a concierge for new entrants into Ontario’s thriving ecosystem.

Overall, this investment appears to be a way to help the people of Ontario keep up as the world’s automotive industry transitions electric vehicles. Ontario is already stocked with skilled workers in tech, automotive and mining industries, so it seems logical for the provincial government to invest in bridging the three groups.

Quebec appears to be moving in a similar pattern regarding electric vehicle adoption and it makes sense that Ontario’s plans should align with its neighbouring province.

Source: Government of Ontario