EV means electric vehicle, which is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that has a lot of space and can go really far on a single charge. It's designed to be a luxury option for people who want to drive an eco-friendly car.
The Buick Electra L7 is a new electric car from Buick, a brand that makes comfortable cars. This model is designed to be stylish and use electricity instead of gas.
Smart charging is a way to charge electric cars at the best times, usually when electricity is cheaper and cleaner, helping save money and the environment.
Vehicle to grid means electric cars can give power back to the electricity network, which can help keep energy use balanced and can even earn money for car owners.
Tesla is a car company that makes electric cars. They also have a network of charging stations called Superchargers that help people charge their cars quickly while traveling.
The Supercharger network is a group of fast charging stations for Tesla cars. They help drivers charge their cars quickly, especially when traveling long distances.
DC fast charging is a way to charge electric cars quickly using special charging stations. It helps drivers recharge their cars faster, making long trips easier.
Kilowatt is a way to measure how much power something uses or produces. For electric cars, it tells you how fast the car can charge or how much power the motor has.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is a new electric SUV that has the Mustang name. It offers a special California package that gives it some unique looks and features.
The Ford Mustang is a famous car that many people love for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for a long time, and when people talk about the 'GT' version, they mean a faster and sportier model that has special features.
EPA estimates are numbers given by a government agency that tell you how far a car can go on a full charge or tank of gas. It's a way to know how efficient a car is.
The Chevrolet Bolt is a small electric car that is affordable and good for everyday driving. It's a popular choice for people who want to drive electric.
The Chevrolet Bolt EUV is a bigger electric car that has more room for passengers and cargo. It's designed to be practical and affordable, making it a good choice for families who want to go electric.
DC fast chargers are special charging stations that can quickly charge electric cars, allowing them to drive longer distances without waiting too long.
CO2 fleet rules are laws that say car companies can only produce a certain amount of carbon dioxide from all their cars. This helps reduce pollution and encourages cleaner cars.
CO2 grams per kilometer tells us how much carbon dioxide a car releases for every kilometer it drives. The lower the number, the better it is for the environment.
Zero emission credits are like rewards for car companies that make electric cars. They can use these rewards to avoid fines for not meeting pollution limits.
The Nissan Leaf is an electric car made by Nissan. It's popular because it doesn't produce any pollution while driving, making it better for the environment.
The Rivian R1S is a new electric SUV that can take you on adventures while being good for the environment. It has a lot of space inside and cool tech features, making it a great choice for families or outdoor lovers.
The Rivian R1T is a new electric truck that can handle tough terrains and is great for outdoor activities. It has special features that make it powerful and good for the environment.
The Porsche Panamera is a fancy car that has four doors, so it's more practical for families. It’s known for being fast and comfortable, and there are versions that can use electricity to help save fuel.
The Porsche Taycan is a new sports car that runs on electricity instead of gas. It's really fast and has a lot of cool features, showing that Porsche is moving towards more eco-friendly cars.
The Porsche 911 is a well-known sports car that many people admire for how fast and stylish it is. It's been around for a long time, and the 'GT3' version is a special type that is built for racing and high performance.
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for more information. Welcome back to the podcast. Today Volvo offers free home charging,
GM's affordable EVs and fast charging growth in the US. Plus stay tuned because later in the show
I'll tell you why we need to go EV as soon as possible to clean up the air in schools.
On EV News China today we're talking about the Buick Electra L7. Very impressive sedan.
If only they'd sell those Buicks outside of China. The Fang Cheng Bao off-roaders and Zika's 7X.
And join me later for a bonus show called the Top 10 Forgotten EVs from current manufacturers.
It'll be live tonight for patrons and all Patreon exclusives go into the free feed after
seven days. If you want the content first that's just one of the many member benefits. A bit like
going ad free on the podcast feed and joining the Patreon exclusive members chat called Killer
What Confidential. Anything and everything goes in there. It's an amazing group of people. I don't
have an agenda for it. We just chat about anything that's on minds and questions asked and I put
stuff in there. And you can join that only as a paid member of Patreon, patreon.com slash
evnews daily five or $10 a month to be an exec producer. It's how I earn a living these days.
Patrons are really important part of my income. So that's why apologies. I have to ask for support
now and again. Now Volvo cars will provide buyers of new fully electric Volvo models in Sweden
a year of free home charging and that starts in February next year. The scheme covers up to 5,150
kilowatt hours per year. That's on a big EX90 on the WLTP cycle would be about 25,000 kilometers
and it's available to private customers who buy or lease fully electric Volvo's in Sweden subject
to an active electricity retail contract with Vattenfall. Now participants must enable smart
charging in the Volvo cars app and that charging then shifts to lower cost lower carbon periods.
The app records energy usage and battery status while Vattenfall credits the electricity cost on
your monthly bill and Volvo will treat the Swedish program as a pilot to inform a wider European
rollout with local energy supplies and intends next year to add vehicle to everything vehicle to
home vehicle to grid vehicle to load capability so that bidirectionality is a key part of future
Volvo's. I think it's really interesting so offering free home charging if you go through
the Volvo app with a certain provider like Vattenfall and it records it in the app. I think we are
heading towards by the way energy metering for EVs because we pay 5% VAT on home electricity
and also the 20% VAT on public charging and so we get a cheap rate to charge our car at home.
Now I'm not saying that they're going to charge more for EV charging but I think
over the long term actually in the medium term so five to ten years I suspect more and more
things like this will happen that will nudge you because there's a benefit for you from Volvo and
Vattenfall. You get your free charging for a year but I think there is a general movement
towards metering EVs. Now if they put a meter on the side of your EV charger or as a display coming
up and you see it ticking over I think people would just plug in the old three kilowatt granny
charges or whatever and plug from a three pin socket and that's dangerous and you shouldn't
do that at home if you can possibly avoid it. So I think we're being nudged towards metering
EV and then we can build get build separately octopus do it with the octopus intelligent go
tariff they changed it in 2025 and so now you get your cheap home electricity not for the whole
house you only get the cheap one if you plug in on your EV and so little things like that happening
yeah I think we're moving towards some sort of metering but not so obvious that it makes
people push back and go I don't want you to know how much energy I'm putting in my car it's like
the government knowing when I go to the petrol station so all right let's move on let's talk
about US public fast charger additions continuing in Q3 slowing slightly uh Paran reports 699
oh just one shy of 700 uh new fast charging stations came online in the United States
between July and September actually that's down a little bit from Q2 uh Paran's count differs from
the US Department of Energy's count because Paran track stations that have been switched on the DOE
looks at installed stalls that may not be energized just yet deployment favoured large
sites and high power equipment Q3 added 4,061 ports in the United States of which Tesla supplied
1,820 of them that's more than the next nine networks all combined the supercharger network
is growing at such a rip it brings the US total to 34,328 stalls um Tesla's share of DC fast charging
though uh was 53 53.2 percent uh I think a year ago now it's 44 percent so as a share of the US
Tesla is getting smaller uh but last quarter Tesla installed like I say more supercharges than
the next nine all added together which is it's just like one of the best bits the Tesla business
isn't it the supercharging is just incredible not just because of how many they're building
and because generally they're good enough okay they're not 400 kilowatt beasts uh or the 1.3
megawatt charges that we see the likes of you know or megawatt charging from BYD in China
but it's it's like a lot of Teslas it does a job right it's probably a cost but they're
putting in a lot of them and I'd rather have more charges that charge at maybe 200 kilowatts
than fewer charging at crazy speeds more non-Tesla drivers are now using supercharges and that's
of course another revenue stream for Tesla now let's move on Mustangs Mac E gets a California
package Ford is reviving the old California special on the 2026 model year Mac E echoing
the 1968 option that honored the brand's Californian dealers this package adds new
exterior accents in rave blue and navy pier upholstery it's not exactly like for like the
60s Californian edition it's a two and a half grand option and order start tomorrow the GT
you have to get the GT by the way the Mustang Mac E GT and then you can put California package on
top of it 480 horsepower dual motor all-wheel drive and the EPA estimates GT's driving range at 280
miles now thanks to a fellow listener Rajiv who sent this one in from car and driver General Motors
is planning to expand the Chevy Bolt into a low-cost family of compact EVs that's GM president Mark
Reus saying on the inside EVs plugged in podcast there were a bit of a roll right now they had
RJ Scarridge from Rivian on recently and now from GM he turns up the president's talk about
their new family of cheaper EVs the revived Bolt returns next year and he said it's the first of
a family of bolts now they first used that phrase at an investor event a little while ago and said
it again on that inside EVs podcast what is a family of bolts I wonder well a series of we
know compact EVs I don't think it will it won't be like the Bolt and the Bolt EUV or maybe it will
maybe there'll be a crossover maybe there'll be a sedan Bolt I don't know as long as they're all
around $30,000 and allow more people to get into electric mobility gets a big thumbs up from me
Porsche has opened its ninth brand exclusive charging lounge this one is in lower Saxony
in Evendorf beside the Evendorf Autobahn exit on the a7 which links northern and southern Germany
it's the second Porsche lounge on the a7 alongside Estenfeld the site provides six DC fast charges
no it's only six but it is only it's also Porsche exclusive right up to 400 kilowatts
so Porsche says full power is available when all six are in simultaneous use which is a really nice
thing no load balancing going on there when all of a sudden a bunch of tycons turn up
current generation tycon will do 10 to 80 in 18 minutes while a McCann takes 21 minutes
access and lounge use require a Porsche ID you can link your license plate inside the Porsche app
and that triggers the barrier to open as you drive up to it now customer amenities include
covered seating a nice little speaker system some lounge chair soft drink snacks a coffee machine
soft drinks and sorry water two indoor washrooms and free wi-fi so if you have a Porsche and you
want to go along to this exclusive I'm not personally I love this it's no skin off my nose
I don't drive a Porsche I don't care but like Tesla supercharging used to be back in the day
charging is a really interesting thing as an incentive as a moat if you like the other
charging lounges are in bingen am rhein hamburg englishtat leonberg and ring shine probably
moored all of those names apologies to my German listeners plus they have one in kurblak in austria
and neon in switzerland now nissan has joined up with byd here in the european union nissan's
applied to join the emissions pool with byd now that's because there's co2 fleet rules in place
and so if you join with other oems that might have excess credits you can avoid avoid paying
fines other japanese oems that have plans to pool with tesla the likes of toto susuki master and
Subaru according to automotive analyst matthew schmitt the EU raised the targets by 15% versus
the previous five-year period setting a weight-based average fleet target of co2 grams per kilometer
through to 2029 with adjustment mechanisms and a three-year average assessment over the first
three years now we see nissan and byd pooling their credits nissan historically pooled with reno of
course part of the alliance so it's moved to byd suggests reno either lacks sufficient credits
to offset the nissan fleet maybe nissan's leaf rollout is happening slower than they thought
and they need some more zero emission credits kba data for the first nine months of the year
show nissan's average german co2 fleet was 133 grams per kilometer a reminder the limit is 93
so nissan has worked through byd of course selling mostly zero emission vehicles some plug-in hybrids
as well 7.5 grams per kilometer so plenty spare there as well nice revenue stream for byd 2 for
not doing too much extra but like tesla have been used to in many places around the world for
a very long time rivian has delayed their new features the kick turn and the rad tuner software
features that were announced in june and we're going to be with the new rivians r1s is i1t's
by the end of checks my watch last month the company has said both will now arrive as a free
update sometime before the end of the year rivian confirming this to the drive website
saying the features are unlike anything on the roads today and they're going to fine tune their
performance the kick turn will only come to the quad motor versions of r1s r1t not for the first
generation quads either that use the bosh motors or the original electrical architecture all right
let's talk some more rivian right now rv tech is actually the name of the joint venture company
between rivian and volkswagen so they're seeking new headquarters and they want to put them in palo
alto and that's really interesting the company is targeting uh according to this article three
floors totaling 75 000 square feet according to the san francisco business times new headquarters
supporting rapid growth of rv tech uh the joint venture between rivian and volkswagen rivian treats
palo alto as its second home after the ervine headquarters big autonomy ai software hardware
work is all based there for rivian and mechanical engineering finance software sales legal teams
also have offices there according to the linkedin post uh by rv tech locations of the new rivian
volkswagen joint venture include ervine palo alto vancouver in canada and belgrade at serbia most
open roles are for infotainment apps while in europe rv tech is recruiting in berlin volkswagen
was founded there of course before moving their headquarters to volksberg and now that's where
they're setting up a new office for this this joint venture uh rivian opened their first european
r&d center back in 2022 now let's talk sodium batteries and a research by the frownhofer
research production battery cell and the university of munster finds sodium ion batteries are close
to industrial mass production and viable today for applications that don't need high energy density
the researchers say targeted material improvements will enable broader use like evs over the medium
term sodium ion cells tend to be less damaging to the environment but currently store less energy
than lithium ion cells but they particularly pronounced volumetric deficit versus lithium
ion phosphate not gravimetric which is weight uh the authors report that optimizing the active
materials and cell chemistries will narrow the volumetric and overall energy gaps and get closer
to lfp replacing the synthetic graphite with hard carbon lowers environmental impact because
synthetic graphite production is very energy intensive while hard carbon can be produced
in a very climate friendly way overall the study positions sodium ion technology as
near market options for lower density and for mainstream ev use very close hey
let's take a break and when we come back we'll talk about evs on the water germany's plan for
commercial vehicle charging and a hardcore panamera plug-in hybrid stick around back in the mo
all right welcome back to the podcast now let's talk a little bit about going electric on the
water let's go to italy and lake garter i've been on holiday i'd love to be back in italy's
lake garter right now aqua superpower unveiled its first marine fast charger called the aqua 75 dc
you won't be surprised to hear it can supply 75 kilowatts of dc power they use the ccs2 standard
a second station is being installed on the lake's opposite bank to enable zero emission voyages
for boaters on lake garter which is absolutely stunning and if they that if that can go zero
emission one day and take combustion off the water it just fits in perfectly with such a picturesque
place nautica feltranelli is based on lake garter's western shore and was founded in 1919
by the feltranelli family whose boat building history goes back to the 17th century the shipyard
shipyard acts as an exclusive italian importer as well for austrian luxury boats and now adding
marine fast chargers that's such a cool little story isn't it now let's talk a little bit about
a plan in germany i'll call it the master plan because well that's what germans have called
this master plan i'm taking this from electrive.com which is in itself a german website so i'm going
with the german federal ministry of transport and the master plan charging infrastructure
2030 germany's master plan was weird saying it so it says that explicitly they will target
heavy duty vehicles this is in consultation phase at the moment presented by the federal
transport minister it builds on the earlier frameworks and defines 40 measures grouped into
five action areas boosting demand and investment simplifying how ev charging gets rolled out
enhancing competition and pricing transparency improving integration with the grid and user
friendliness and so the plan prioritizes what they say is market driven growth over individual
subsidies for the commercial sector using faster approval processes that's a really
important thing sometimes stuff gets tied up in paperwork and red tape not just in germany but
sometimes especially in germany for a really long time from next year new funding will support
charging in multifamily buildings and upgrades to electrical systems where similar programs for
vehicle and bus depots remaining subject to budget approval the government reconfirms a
nationwide fast charging network for electric trucks along motorways and for seas equipping
about 350 german rest areas with high-powered charges for electric truckers regulatory simplification
grid integration bi-directional charging also in focus and the plan proposes extending the
electric mobility act so that we also pay attention to different abilities and needs now the Porsche
panamera is a vehicle that i'm not sure i've mentioned in the the last couple of years it's
there it's out there it's a plug-in hybrid hasn't got a particularly big battery and has been around
for what seems like an absolute age it's got better batteries over the time but anyway there
seems to be like there's a new panamera that takes inspiration from the Porsche Taycan which
is all electric and going really hardcore with it in a plug-in hybrid form so at the minute they
make a turbo se hybrid one which is like 760 horsepower and they think that also auto car
magazine says that spy shots show this could be the turbo gt version so big vents and front wings
a big fixed wrist spoiler a big diffuser round tail pipes and we think this could be the equivalent
of Taycan's visac package plug-in hybrids versions of the panamera get the active ride
control lift the car up and down the new model will be more powerful than the top one at the
moment the most powerful Porsche you can buy is the Taycan turbo gt so the best car they make at
Porsche is an electric car this will be the second best one they make and it'll be a plug-in hybrid
interior images show a roll cage behind the front seats so two seats like i say visac package
like a 911 gt3 or a Taycan turbo gt future panameras would have been on the ssp platform
sorry ssp sport platform for the third gen panamera but i think development on that has been halted
now this is a great story to finish with but it's an entirely frustrating one for me
you may agree or disagree london will install new air quality filters in more than 200 schools a new
2.7 million pound program is being rolled out by the london mayor sir sadeek khan which cuts classroom
p.m 2.5 this is a good story right we're spending a ton of money on filtering out p.m 2.5 but you
can see where i'm going with this the rollout will prioritize schools in areas with the highest
deprivation which is normally a line with the areas of highest air pollution we have areas where
people can live that have the least affordability around often major routes major roads and the
air quality for the poorest people in society is the worst and it's the same in california it's the
same in london now one particular school that was highlighted in this bbc article says that they've
done other things like they're having to build big barriers between them and the main road that
goes past this school in the middle of an area of deprivation uh which to try and deflect some of
the co2 they are trying to get their parents to not idle and turn off the cars outside school which
is really difficult because it's now approaching that time of year when your car gets all messed
it up and you get cold inside it and so mums and dads often just sit idling cars going nowhere for
minutes on end and they're putting air quality monitors around the school city hall conservatives
in london called the measure welcome news for air quality but warned it would offset the removal of
congestion charge exemption uh so yeah london next year is going to start charging evs to go
until now we've enjoyed some benefits of driving an ev in london conservative assembly member
thomas turrell saying the filters are good news for classrooms but aren't going to reduce pollution
across london city across the capital i should say because the city of london's a small bit of it
they're now going to dissuade evs from going into there big by charging evs a lot of money to drive
into london uh they accuse the mayor of pulling the rug out from under ev drivers
you mean you beat me to the punchline here haven't you why are we driving around in disgusting dirty
diesel and polluting cars and there are still car makers out there that are fighting ev Toyota is so
anti ev in their online ads we choose not to plug in the future is hybrid evs are dirty and
so much anti ev marketing and it just seems so obvious to me why are we letting the car makers
do what they want which is make hybrid vehicles because it suits them suits the car makers to
make more money from hybrids rather than going full electric we let them do this and they pull
up the wool over the eyes of politicians to say well we'll take the jobs out of your country etc
etc they blackmail them it's not Toyota thing it's all car makers not picking on Toyota they'll often
do sometimes but it's it's all of them it's about oh you'll lose votes and we'll pull jobs from
your country and they pressure them into these concessions and negotiations and compromises
and then because we treat our children so badly with disgusting air quality in their classrooms
then we have to go and retrofit pm 2.5 filters at the cost of millions of pounds or we could not
encourage shabby hybrids which still have massive engines or plug-in hybrids or e revs which still
are big polluters because we have a technology that's not just new but it's starting to mature now
in pure electric vehicles and it makes absolute sense to clear up the air and instead we make
the air dirty and then we spend a ton of money once our kids get sick putting a little filter
in the side of their classroom and we pat ourselves on our back and that's your podcast for today
thanks to our premium partners Porsche of the Village and Cincinnati Audi of Cincinnati East and
Volvo cars of Cincinnati East national car charging on the US mainland and the loha charge in Hawaii
and octopus electroverse global public charging makes simple with one app and one map have a good
and say tomorrow and remember there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid
About this episode
Volvo is launching a program in Sweden that offers one year of free home charging for buyers of new electric models, aiming to promote EV adoption. Meanwhile, GM plans to expand its affordable EV lineup with the Chevy Bolt, while Tesla continues to dominate the fast charging landscape in the U.S. The episode also discusses Porsche's new exclusive charging lounge and the potential of sodium-ion batteries for mainstream EV use. Additionally, the conversation touches on air quality initiatives in London and the ongoing debate over hybrid vehicles versus full electrification.
