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By now, everybody is aware of that electrical autos don’t actually have a gross sales drawback. What they’ve is the trade’s main producer hitting the skids, which is skewing gross sales figures general. In the meantime, different automakers are scrambling to fill the hole. That features Volkswagen, which has simply set the Intertubes on hearth with the announcement of a brand new $5 billion three way partnership with the US EV maker Rivian. That’s not the one current large increase for Rivian, by the way in which.
From Dieselgate To Electrical Autos
The brand new take care of Rivian is one other step in Volkswagen’s journey from the darkish days of the “dieselgate” emissions scandaland it’s a very attention-grabbing step, too.
Again in 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency alleged that Volkswagen offered 590,000 diesel autos within the US, from mannequin 12 months 2009 to 2016, that sported some uncommon laptop software program. Described as “defeat devices” by the EPA, the software program was designed to cheat on emissions checks, in violation of the federal Clear Air Act.
Now right here we’re in 2024 and the highlight continues to be on software program, however in a great way.
“The partnership fits seamlessly with our existing software strategy, our products, and partnerships,” enthused Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume in a press assertion concerning the new three way partnership.
“We are strengthening our technology profile and our competitiveness,” he added.
There are fairly just a few angles to unpack within the software program division. On April 15, for instance, Rivian described an A-to-F system for scoring the reliability of EV charging stationsand integrating these scores with journey planning.
“When a Rivian driver plugs into a fast charger on any network, including Tesla Superchargers, the vehicle logs relevant data such as the charger’s average top speed, payment success and overall charge session success,” the corporate explains. “When enough Rivian drivers have used a given charging site, we dynamically assign that site a reliability score from A (highest) to F (lowest) based on those critical performance factors.”
“Rivian drivers can now see how reliable a fast charger is based on real-world charging experiences, with industry-first charging scores now available in every R1T and R1S via our latest over-the-air update,” the corporate provides.
That’s only one instance. Take a look at the corporate’s software program information web page for extra highlights together with snow mode, kneel mode, camp mode, and pet consolation.
Bringing The Value Of Electrical Autos Down, One Wire At A Time
In a press assertion on June 25, Rivian made a lot of the cost-cutting options of the {hardware} a part of the three way partnership, too. One of many highlights in that class is one thing referred to as zonal structure, which is a flowery approach of claiming that Rivian’s flagship fashions want loads much less wiring.
Rivian launched its second-generation R1 fashions earlier this month, emphasizing a variety of different cost-cutting enhancements.
“We have updated over half the vehicles’ hardware components, including a wide range of engineering improvements to the body structure, battery packs, wire harness, electrical system and closure systems. Much of the body structure now uses a 50% more efficient manufacturing process,” the automaker explains on its web site.
“Our second generation R1 vehicles feature an entirely new electrical architecture and compute platform developed in-house by our hardware and software team,” Rivian elaborates. “This significant update to our onboard computing system makes our vehicles more robust, less costly to produce and easier to service.”
Additional elaborating, Rivian explains that zonal structure helped cut back the variety of digital management models (ECUs) from 17 to simply 7.
“Shifting to a zonal system enabled us to remove over 1.6 miles (2.6km) of wiring from each vehicle, shedding 44 lb (20kg) of weight. This reduction in wiring, along with the elimination of 10 ECUs, greatly reduces production costs,” Rivian provides.
The corporate additionally notes that the zonal structure and compute platform system “dramatically improves scalability for deployment in future vehicles.” In the event that they imply transferring down the size to small city-sized vehicles, that may be one other alternative to chop prices.
Because it stands, although, Rivian followers on a finances should wait. “The new R1S starts at $75,900. R1T starts at $69,900. Dual-Motor configurations are available immediately, with Tri Max expected late summer and Quad Max to follow,” the corporate notes.
Rivian’s Electrical Autos Coronary heart Renewable Vitality
The brand new VW three way partnership is just not truly a factor but, however the two companions plan to shine off the small print earlier than the tip of this 12 months. Within the meantime, Rivian has been making some big strikes to attach its clients with renewables.
Across the center of this month, stories surfaced that Rivian is teaming up with the up-and-coming UK vitality agency Octopus to supply a 100% renewable vitality plan, with houses included in addition to electrical autos.
“The plan, which is exclusive to Rivian customers, features a time-of-use energy rate with an overnight off-peak rate discounted by up to 50%,” reported SolarQuarter on June 17.
Octopus is set to comply with by means of on its promise of 100% renewables for electrical autos. On June 18, the corporate introduced its first US funding, with the objective of spending $2 billion by 2030.
Beginning issues off with a bang, Octopus acquired two new photo voltaic farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania, for a mixed complete of 100 megawatts. Within the context of immediately’s photo voltaic farm scale, that’s not notably spectacular, however Octopus factors out that it at present manages a world photo voltaic portfolio totaling 2 gigawatts.
“It also has a further 1.7 GW of green energy projects such as onshore and offshore wind farms around the world, including in Europe and Australia, with projects in the pipeline in Asia and Africa too,” Octopus says of itself. The corporate additionally notes that it not too long ago inked two offers within the US, one with the floating wind startup Ocergy, and one other with the nature-focused startup Cultivo.
About That Gross sales Droop…
As for that stoop in gross sales of electrical autos, CleanTechnica is among the many information organizations following the ups and downs of the EV trade, with specific consideration to the long-lasting EV industry leader Tesla in addition to Rivian and Volkswagen.
Final fall, the headlines have been screaming about an trade stoop in gross sales, particularly after Ford introduced a cutback in its EV manufacturing plans. By April of this 12 months, I used to be calling the so-called EV sales slump extra a case of “misdirected expectations” than a everlasting drop, based mostly on the record-setting tempo of global EV sales in January. Ford additionally not too long ago let unfastened one other trace about its not-so-secret “skunkworks” EV projectsuggesting continued curiosity in the way forward for electrical autos.
Extra not too long ago, auto trade observers have taken observe that Tesla’s current drop in gross sales is exclusive to Tesla, and it doesn’t mirror extra strong exercise in the remainder of the electrical car market.
Alternatively, simply final week, the Automobiles.com American-Made Index listed the Tesla Model Y at #1 in US gross sales for the third 12 months in a row, indicating that the automaker nonetheless appeals to the hearts and minds of US electrical automotive consumers regardless of enduring an extended slog of destructive publicity over the previous 12 months or so.
Detrimental publicity apart, auto trade observers have predicted that Tesla will start to lose market share as legacy automakers make the lengthy, sophisticated pivot from inner combustion engines, bringing their trusted model names to the market.
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