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Author Topic: Electric Vehicles  (Read 46504 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #435 on: July 28, 2018, 04:07:55 pm »
Green Car Reports

2018 Nissan Leaf battery technology, a deep dive

Jul 27, 2018

2017 Nissan Leaf showing battery pack (Source: Nissan)

When the first-generation Nissan Leaf debuted in 2011, it quickly became the best-selling electric car in history, with no real competition.

By the time the most recent version debuted in 2017, it was nearly outdated before it left dealers’ lots due to a shorter range than rivals from Tesla and Chevrolet.

The biggest issues with the first-generation Leaf involved low range and the lifespan of the battery pack.

After experiencing higher problems with its battery pack than other electric cars in the first generation Leaf, Nissan has focused attention on the battery pack in the new model, so we dug into what has changed and how the new pack stacks up to the competition.

To improve the range, Nissan has almost doubled the Leaf’s battery capacity from 24 kwh (and 30 kwh in the last models) to 40 kwh in a package with the same volume as the first-generation car.

It has 67 percent more capacity and a 37 percent higher output compared to the 2010, though it’s just 0.9mm thicker. This is a 33 percent increase from the 2017 vehicle.

2017 Nissan Leaf battery cell diagram (Source: Nissan)

The nickel manganese cobalt cells Nissan uses in the latest 40-kwh Leaf battery pack use a new layered molecular spinel structure that is cheaper and delivers more power than the lithium manganese oxide cells in the original Leaf battery.

The battery still has 192 cells but they are arranged in 24 modules of eight cells each, rather than 48 modules of only four cells.

The pouch construction of the new battery creates fewer hot spots compared to other cell construction methods, Nissan says.

2017 Nissan Leaf battery pack and cell construction (Source: Nissan)

A single-layer pack with laminated cell structures keeps the modules cool, Nissan says, despite doubling the battery’s capacity and output.

The company has not modified the cell monitoring, or cooling systems, which has been a key concern for some observers, who worry that the new pack may not last any longer than the originals.

As we reported in April, Nissan slows down charging time if the car is fast-charged multiple times.

Nissan says this significantly reduces battery degradation, though some customers have complained that it also significantly lengthens the time needed to make long-distance road trips.

—J.R. Lance Anderson

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117928_2018-nissan-leaf-battery-technology-a-deep-dive
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #436 on: July 28, 2018, 07:51:25 pm »
Tesla Model S high-speed police cruisers deployed in Luxembourg


By Simon Alvarez Posted on April 30, 2018 

Finally, after a long wait, Luxembourg’s Tesla Model S high-speed police ⚡ cruisers have been deployed to the field.

News of the police cruisers’ deployment was reported by local news site Luxemburger Wort, which noted that the two electric ⚡ vehicles have been in service as of Thursday last week. Just like any other ICE cruiser, the all-electric ⚡ vehicles — designated with numbers AA 5242 and AA 5243 — conduct regular patrols across the state.

The high-speed all-electric ⚡ police cruisers are currently driven by a few, specially-trained police officers. Over the past few days, eight officers were trained on how to utilize the Model S as a quick-response emergency vehicle. The initial eight who were trained for the electric ⚡ car will be tasked to teach their colleagues later on, where they are expected to cover the Model S’ capabilities and functions.

The two Tesla ⚡ Model S police cruisers are part of a program from Luxembourg’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, with the electric pursuit vehicles initially set to be released after autumn last year. Last January, however, reports emerged that the rollout of the Model S police cars will be delayed due to problems with the vehicles’ setup.


As we noted in an earlier report, the blue emergency lights of one of the cruisers failed the technical specification standards of the Technischer Überwachungsverein (TÜV), a German company that conducts certification services. Based on last week’s news report, however, it appears that the Model S cruisers have successfully passed the TÜV’s standards.


Luxembourg’s decision to utilize the Tesla Model S as a high-speed pursuit vehicle is quite similar to the Swiss Police’ decision to replace its fleet of diesel cruisers with the ⚡ Model X.

According to the Basel-Stadt police department in its announcement, the Model X electric ⚡ SUVs are cleaner, cheaper to maintain, and faster than their diesel fleet.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was ultimately impressed with the Swiss Police’s decision, even joking that the “bad guys will definitely not escape.”

Tesla’s electric ⚡ cars have also been used by law enforcement in the United States. Back in 2015, the LAPD announced that it would be adding a Tesla Model S to its fleet as part of a test to determine if the electric cars can be used for regular police work. While the vehicles met the police’s requirements for speed, performance, and range, the car suffered from a steep price tag. The Denver PD also unveiled its own Model S police car, though the vehicle did not see any action at all, as it was used primarily for community outreach events.


https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-s-police-cruisers-luxembourg/

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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #437 on: July 29, 2018, 04:24:27 pm »
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Taking My Electric “City Car” On A Long-Distance Journey

July 29th, 2018 by Andy Miles


Water Feature at Gloucester Services

Charging at Gloucester Services

Article with video:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/07/29/taking-my-electric-city-car-on-a-long-distance-journey/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #438 on: July 31, 2018, 10:25:29 pm »
 

Japan wants all new cars to be electric by 2050

LAST UPDATED ON JULY 27TH, 2018 AT 4:13 PM BY MIHAI ANDREI

Japan has announced a new plan under which, by 2050, all new passenger cars will be electric or hybrid. The government will also set up a new group to help manufacturers source cobalt for batteries.

The race for car electrification just got more intense as Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, announced plans to switch to electric cars in under two decades. The government panel also set a goal for emissions reduction: by 2050, all emissions from passenger vehicles must drop by 90% compared to 2010 levels.

The panel also includes members from major automobile companies such as Toyota and Nissan, who will work together on acquiring the much-needed cobalt for the cars’ batteries. This collaboration is particularly significant as Chinese investors are aggressively securing deposits of the rare resource. It’s very rare for carmakers to agree to this type of deal, which seems to bode well for the overall success of the initiative.

Overall, the fleet of light-duty plug-in electric vehicles in Japan ranked as the third largest in the world, trailing only after China and the US. However, the rate of growth of the plug-in segment has dropped somewhat, particularly due to the heavy promotion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles over plug-in electric vehicles. Even though these vehicles hit the market only in 2015, they steered some of the Japanese buyers away from electric cars even before that year.

Now, Japan’s leaders want to infuse new life into the electric car market and continue to reduce emissions associated with transportation. Hiroshige Seko, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, said:

Quote
“Japan would like to contribute to achieve zero emissions on a global scale by spreading electric vehicles worldwide.

“That’s a goal only Japan, home to the top level of the auto industry, can set.”

However, while Japan’s initiative is certainly laudable, it’s far from being a unique objective. Germany wants to make all cars electric by 2030, while France has announced a ban on gasoline and diesel cars by 2040. The UK plans a similar ban by 2040, but the country which seems lead this race is Norway. More than half of all cars sold in Norway are already, and the percentage is growing steadily.

Still, only a handful of countries have concrete plans to do this. It’s delighting to see Japan step in, and we can only hope other countries join in.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/renewable-energy-ecology/japan-electric-cars-27062018/
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #439 on: August 09, 2018, 02:04:49 pm »
INSIDEEVs

August 8, 2018

Watch TC-X Doorslammer Lay Down Record Electric ⚡ 1/4-Mile Run🏁


BYDOMENICK YONEY

But still slower than a Silver Bullitt  ;)

The world’s fastest doorslammer is now officially the TC-X from True Cousins Racing with a run of 7.9822 seconds at 170.69 miles per hour. It’s even listed in the records books of the National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA).

The Danish team has been building super-quick electric vehicles since 2007 and the fruits of that labor has finally paid off in the quarter-mile.

If the footage above doesn’t portray the drama of that feat well enough for your tastes, we have a bonus video below of its previous attempt that was a hundredth of a second slower.

https://insideevs.com/true-cousins-doorslammer-drag-record-video/

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #440 on: August 09, 2018, 02:24:54 pm »
INSIDEEVs

August 9, 2018

BY MARK KANE

Hyundai Kona Electric Arrives In Norway With 20,000-Order Backlog  :o


On August 4, Hyundai unloaded the first batch of Kona Electric in Drammen, Norway

Hyundai Kona Electric in Norway

This is the all-new all-electric CUV that is expected to shake up the EV scene.

For Hyundai in Norway, the Kona Electric will represent tremendous change as there are more than 20,000 people that are willing to buy one with 7,000 orders on hand.

That’s a lot even from the Norwegian perspective, where Hyundai delivered less than 2,300 cars in the first seven months of this year. Now you can understand that even several thousand Kona Electric would shoot the brand to the somewhere near the top of sales in the country.

The first batch is more than 100 Kona Electric. Hundreds of additional Kona Electric are now on ships from South Korea.

All of the Kona sold in Norway will be the 64 kWh versions with 482 km (300 miles) of WLTP of range. Pricing starts at 325.900 kr.

And by the way, just look how beautiful Norway is:


(more short pretty scenery videos 🌟 at link)
https://insideevs.com/hyundai-kona-electric-arrives-in-norway-with-20000-order-backlog/
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #441 on: August 09, 2018, 02:26:59 pm »
Hyundai Kona Electric ⚡ review part 1

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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #442 on: August 09, 2018, 07:14:24 pm »

Electric CAR Conversion! From GASOLINE 🦕  to ELECTRIC ⚡ car in ONE video!

119,262 views

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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #443 on: August 09, 2018, 07:48:05 pm »
Is Elon Musk Taking Tesla Private❓ ???

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Two Bit da Vinci

Published on Aug 7, 2018

At 12:28 PM on August 7th Tesla issued a bombshell announcement via Twitter, that they are thinking about taking the company private. This has some very significant implications, and we thought we’d take a moment to talk about their reasons, and what this means for Tesla believers, and shareholders alike.

As of August 7th, Tesla shares were trading at around $379, and at a price of $420, would put Tesla’s market cap at $71.3 Billion dollars. He revealed all this information on twitter and you’re probably wondering if that’s somehow illegal, and well, it’s certainly unprecedented! The argument Musk and Tesla will make is that he has 22M twitter followers, his tweet was seen by many, and simultaneously broadcast over the financial news within the hour. So it isn’t like he’s secretly told a select few in private, offering some kind of insider information. But this should prove interesting, to say the least. Also, this would be the ultimate nail in the coffin of all the Tesla short sellers, who’ve lost billions since their Q2 earnings were released, and would never give them a chance to win any of it back.

So naturally after trading for the stock resumed after a brief pause, it has begun to surge closer to what investors are thinking is a buy out price of $420. It is important to note, that nothing has happened yet. Elon made it clear a final decision would hinge upon the votes of the shareholders. Be sure to subscribe, we’ll keep you updated on the news at it happens.

So why would they do this, why take a publicly traded company private? Let’s break down these reasons into a few categories.

The first category has to address the high volatility, speculation, quarterly focused earnings, and threat of short sellers. A publicly traded company is subject to quarterly earnings reports, which can send stock prices soaring or crashing. Q2 Earnings of Facebook, though pretty good, missed some analyst expectations, especially around new active users, and this sent their stock price crashing by 20%. That was a record for the most value a company has every lost on a single day. This is troubling for Tesla, especially when their vision looks far into the horizon, to years, and decades, not month to month. If you’ve followed Elon on Twitter, you know how vocal he’s been about the fear mongers spreading Fear uncertainty and doubt, and taking Tesla private, would insulate them from all that bad publicity.

This makes a lot of sense for Elon, because he’s already proved this model once, with Space X. Space X manages a private fund for their shareholders, and is also a employee owned company. Space X needs to spend millions in R&D, and can’t really expect to turn profits on a quarterly scale. This is the same reason NASA is a government agency, and not a publicly traded company. It’s important to note that Space X and Tesla will still be two completely different companies, with different management structures and funding.

The greatest risk public companies face, is the need to meet expectations in the short term. This drives decisions around the innovation of a product, vs. quickness to market. It facilitates mass hirings and firings, rather than slow and steady growth. It also explains why some well established brands seem complacent and unwilling to take on risk. It works for some companies like Apple, who are officially a Trillion Dollar Company as of August 2018. But Apple has a very simple product line, a phone or a watch, and spends very little on R&D, compared to the scale of something like Tesla. Tesla is building Gigafactories, and doing things that many believed impossible just 10 years ago.

Musk fears the obsession of quarterly profits will deter them from the very long term vision which was and will always be to “Accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Quarterly profits are a big reason why established car manufacturers aren’t chasing Electric vehicles. Because to do so would require quarter after quarter of losses, due to increases in R&D spending. Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes Benz, knows this all to well, as their stock has been on the decline in 2018, due to their larger investment in the EV future.

For Musk, it’s incredibly simple, he wants to change the world. That clarity actually makes this monumental decision incredibly easy. He wants to do what’s right, and doesn’t want to answer to investors every few months. This moonshot approach is sure to be risky, because now private investors aren’t required to get quarterly earnings reports. The investors who follow Tesla into being a private company, will be the true die hard fans, and those who truly believe in the company. The road has been long for Tesla, and there is now a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. They’re making thousands of cars a week, and are already outselling other luxury car makers.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #444 on: August 09, 2018, 08:04:37 pm »
Is the $35K Tesla Model 3 a Lie

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Two Bit da Vinci

Published on Jul 20, 2018

Is the $35K Tesla Model 3 a Lie?

After making our Tesla Model 3 True cost of ownership video, we were amazed at all the insightful comments. So we decided we’d take a list of all the top comments, and cover them one by one, starting with a comment we get quite a bit: “You can’t compare the Model 3 at $35,000 because you can’t get a Model 3 for $35,000!”

Clearly, this is an important topic, especially when talking about the first mass production, affordable Tesla. So the question is, is the $35,000 Model 3 a lie? Or can you actually buy one with any hope of one day seeing it on your driveway? To answer this question, let’s first look at your purchase options when considering a Tesla Model 3.

For $35,000 you get the vaunted base model in any color you want, so long as its black. Yes, any other color will cost you $1000. But before you get flashbacks of hand cranking the windows and being without A/C, you should know the base model is pretty well equipped. It comes with one-touch power windows all around, the 15” touch display which is years ahead of anything else and even wifi. The base model comes with a 50 kWh battery pack good for 220 miles of range, it’ll do 0-60 MPH in 5.6 seconds with a top speed of 130 MPH.

Now if you want to go further, you’ll have to shell out an additional $9,000 for the long-range option. This increases the battery pack from 50 to 75 kWh and increases driving range from 220 to 310 miles. And with more batteries to draw from, the 0-60 time is reduced to 5.1 seconds, and the top speed is increased to 140 MPH.

Next up is the Autopilot features. The first tier is the “Enhanced Autopilot” package which costs $5,000. On top of more ubiquitous features like forward collision mitigation, or blind spot monitoring, with this Package, your Tesla, will be able to change lanes for you, navigate freeway interchanges, and even exit and park at your destination. This upgrade includes a lot of the hardware and sensors needed for a fully autonomous car. But if you actually want your car to be fully autonomous, you’ll have to get the Enhanced Autopilot package, and then add the $3,000 Full self-driving package.

They aren’t even taking reservations yet for the base model car, and they expect wait times of 6-9 months. So is the $35,000 base model a lie, well not. But you’d better be prepared to wait until probably mid 2019 to get one. This might all seem a bit backward, delivering the promised $35,000 EV last, after all the other models, but fear not, Elon Musk knows what he’s doing.

Remember that Tesla’s software and machine learning for self-driving cars helps them on all their platforms, not just the Model 3. The same self-driving technology can apply to the Model X or the Tesla Semi, so adding it to a Model 3, doesn’t really directly cost them anything. In fact, it helps them, since they’ll have more cars on the road collecting data, to feed their algorithms, making them even better.

If we first consider that battery production is the limiting factor in the Model 3, then a $35,000 base model would need 50kWh worth of batteries and yield Tesla just $2,000 in profit or a profit of $40 / kWh of battery required. Compare that with an extended range car with premium package and autopilot, that needs 75 kWh of batteries, but yields a profit of $15,000. That’s a profit of $200 / kWh. So if batteries are the limiting factor, it makes sense that Tesla would want to make as much money as they can up front, to help further the production process. Inversely, if there was a surplus of batteries, and the production bottleneck was caused by some other part, then it would still behoove Tesla to create more extended range cars, to use as many batteries as they have for higher profits, rather than having them sit around, waiting on cars.

So if you’re a fan of Tesla, and really want that base model 3, relax, it’s coming. Elon has worked through a lot of sleepless nights, and it finally looks like Tesla is out of production hades for the Model 3. And if you’re one of the early Model 3 adopters who’s purchased a highly appointed car, well bravo, you’re quite literally keeping this one of a kind company afloat.

Tesla is sure to make headlines, and lately, it has been a mixed bag, of production targets and fake news about skipping crucial final stage safety tests.

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #445 on: August 09, 2018, 10:05:23 pm »
Aug 8, 2018

Sono Sion solar car starts testing in Germany

By Eric C. Evarts

Sono Sion solar charged electric car

Solar cars are like sunny days—always waiting for tomorrow.

Now the dawn may be breaking on that tomorrow with the small, crowd-funded Sono Sion solar car in Germany.

The company has raised enough online funding to begin testing, according to a Reuters report carried by Autoblog.

The car is mainly battery-powered, but the roof, doors, and hood are covered with 330 solar cells. The battery has a total range of 155 miles between charges.

Sono Sion solar charged electric car

Sono believes the solar cells can provide about 18 miles of that range a day in the summertime (such as the heatwave blanketing Europe this summer). In the winter, the solar range could drop to as little as three miles a day, but drivers can still plug the car in and get the full 155 miles of range.

The Sion's solar panels are embedded in the car's polycarbonate body panels.

Sono's founder and CEO Laurin Hahn says the car could be a good solution for apartment dwellers who don't have a place to plug it in.

READ THIS: Sono Sion solar electric car promises 18 miles of range from solar panels

Hahn said the car will have seat heaters and air conditioning, a smartphone connection, as well as automatic emergency braking and other safety features to get a top score in European crash tests.

The company is preparing to take the Sion on tour of 42 cities in 10 countries to demonstrate the concept and give people an opportunity to drive it.

Sono plans to introduce the car late in 2019, and says it already has 5,000 orders at a price of $18,540


https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1118108_sono-sion-solar-car-starts-testing-in-germany
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AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #446 on: August 10, 2018, 10:48:47 pm »
 
Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here to subscribe.

August 10, 2018




Myth Bus-ting the Misleading Attacks on Electric ⚡ Busses

We’ve heard about how the Koch network 🦕🦖 is attacking public transit, and last year targeted electric cars. Now, it seems there is a similar sort of campaign afoot to combine those two and go after electric buses.

The timing of this makes sense: LA, NYC, and San Francisco are committing to 100% EV bus fleets, while other major cities like Chicago and Dallas are greening their fleets. Globally, the Chinese city of Shenzhen has a full EV fleet, with over 16,000 ⚡buses. 👍

Transitioning the US bus fleet to EVs could save more than 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year. As a July UCS study shows, regardless of the electricity source, EV ⚡ buses are cleaner.   

And as the good EV bus news comes, so must also come the pushback. Over the last couple of weeks, the conservative but generally-not-crazy Washington Examiner ran four pieces, three in quick succession, attacking electric buses. One was by Ross Marchand, of the Koch’s Taxpayers Protection Alliance , and the other three by a commentary writer for the Examiner, Philip Wegmann 👹.

The four pieces have barely enough rhetoric between them to scrape together one argument. Marchand claims in his piece that the buses’ expense is a problem, but neglects to mention that the fuel, maintenance and health savings from an EV replacing a diesel bus[/color] is well worth the initial cost, leading to a net savings. He also claims that EVs may be dirtier than conventional ones, citing the Koch’s Manhattan Institute. This, simply put, is false. Particularly for busses.

Wegmann offers even less in the way of substance than Marchand. In one of his pieces, he implies electric buses are unreliable because of some problems between the headlights and radios on a grand total of four buses. In another, he calls the city of Santa Monica stupid for buying electric buses, decrying “the lunatic fanaticism” of liberal cities that think it’s important to provide public transit, even if it’s not popular.

But in the first example, published in late July, Wegmann hits on some reality. In a piece that starts by proclaiming that “the wheels on the bus roll toward communism in Los Angeles,” Wegmann 😈 rehashes a legit LA Times story from back in May about problems with the Los Angeles EV Bus fleet. However, problems with one particular company’s subpar EV bus performance is hardly an indictment of the entire industry.

Unless, of course, you’re worried the success of the industry will harm you, like the Kochs are.

And Wegmann, as it turns out, is something of a Koch acolyte. His Twitter bio notes he’s a fellow of the Steamboat Institute, which is “a 501(c)(3) educational organization promoting Liberty, Free Markets, and the Founding Principles of the United States.” Though there are no obvious Koch-funding links, the Steamboat Institute is a member of the Koch’s State Policy Network.In Wegmann’s bio on Steamboat’s site, we see that he was a fellow of the Koch’s America’s Future Foundation writing program.

As for his writing career, Wegmann appears to have gotten his start in 2010, when he won a college scholarship from the NRA, then won an essay contest by Fox’s John Stossel and featuring pardoned felon Dinesh D’Souza. Then he wrote a couple things for his college paper, like “What texting hath wrought,” but was apparently “lucky enough to stumble into a job shortly” after graduating.

It looks like that job was writing at the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation publication, the Daily Signal, in 2015. Then he went to the Federalist for a few months, then back to the Signal, then stepped up to the Examiner.

To be clear, we have absolutely no evidence that Wegmann went on this anti-EV bus kick at the Koch’s insistence. But that’s sort of the point of the Koch’s strategy when it comes to blurring the lines between journalist and Koch operative. After getting trained by the Koch’s writing program, starting his career at the Koch’s Daily Signal, and enjoying a fellowship at a Koch-adjacent group, Wegmann probably doesn’t need marching orders to toe the Koch party line.

Then again, news that Wichita, Kansas was buying EV buses broke just three days before Wegmann’s first EV bus hit piece.

Wichita, of course, is the home of Koch Industries.  
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #447 on: August 11, 2018, 04:51:46 pm »
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The Big Short Burn … Er, Explosion Implosion  ;D

August 10th, 2018 by Zachary Shahan

You don’t get much props for predicting something after it happened. This is sort of lame: “I knew that would happen. I didn’t say it, but I knew it.” So, I’m going out on a short limb and am making a prediction here in the open while the market remains irrational.

Well, to be honest, you don’t get much props for predicting something that someone else already predicted either. I’m just going on some simple, direct statements from a person who has shown for years that he’s exceedingly honest and often provides hints of things he knows are coming months in advance. He has also accomplished — several times — things that experts said were “impossible.” The task at hand here is not at all impossible.

That said, the stock market is acting as though Tesla CEO Elon Musk is either an idiot or a liar. In the age of a reality TV president, I guess this is par for the course, but it is shocking me yet again. If you’re just skimming the headlines and major media commentary about Tesla this week, you may well think Musk’s plan to take Tesla private is a dishonest, impractical, highly unlikely scheme. Perhaps you even think Musk is going to jail, just because the SEC is doing one of its basic jobs — very likely nothing more than some simple due diligence. Headline after headline makes it seem like a serious SEC investigation is growing and growing, but then I look into the details and nothing notable has changed. From what I have read, they are checking with Musk to make sure he does indeed have financing secured (as he tweeted) to take Tesla private. Given that he followed that up with the statement that all that was really a question mark at this point was whether shareholders voted for the plan — that doesn’t sound like someone I know to be honest fudging the facts.

So, no, I’m not concerned that Musk was serious. My first assumption isn’t that Musk was manipulating the market and has no one lined up to finance taking Tesla private. I don’t beat animals, dead or alive, but to further emphasize a point that I think doesn’t need to be emphasized: Musk has said for years that Tesla would probably be better as a private company, and he reportedly tried to convince Japan’s SoftBank last year about helping to make this happen. In other words, the man has been working on this for a while. This is not a joke. The chance that he did indeed get enough of a financial commitment to bring this proposal to the Tesla board of directors and the public is close to 100%, in my humble opinion. If you absolutely think that’s not true, you may as well skip the rest of this article.

I’ll get to Tesla short sellers in a moment, but first, let’s have a look at who owns Tesla. Thanks to some research and calculation work from Maarten Vinkhuyzen, this is how Tesla ownership breaks down (known, non-institutional shareholders are in red):

Owner                                           Date                        Shares                Value               Size

Elon Musk                                                                        06/13/2018                       33,737,921               $ 11,890,930,256       19.87%

PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/                                03/31/2018                      15,625,798               $ 5,507,312,505          9.20%

FMR LLC                                                                        03/31/2018                      14,214,496               $ 5,009,899,115         8.37%

BAILLIE GIFFORD & CO                                                06/30/2018                      13,171,801               $ 4,642,401,262          7.76%

TENCENT                                                                                                                 8,489,684               $ 2,992,189,214        5.00%

VANGUARD GROUP INC                                               03/31/2018                         7,123,666               $ 2,510,736,082         4.20%

BLACKROCK INC.                                                       06/30/2018                         6,459,236               $ 2,276,557,728         3.80%

CAPITAL WORLD INVESTORS                                       03/31/2018                         4,449,216               $ 1,568,126,179         2.62%

JENNISON ASSOCIATES LLC                                       06/30/2018                         4,332,187               $ 1,526,879,308         2.55%

SAUDI ARABIA Wealth Fund                                                                                      3,395,874               $ 1,196,875,686         2.00%

BANK OF MONTREAL /CAN/                                               06/30/2018                         3,308,742               $ 1,166,166,118        1.95%

STATE STREET CORP                                                       03/31/2018                         2,488,466               $ 877,059,842        1.47%

BAMCO INC /NY/                                                       03/31/2018                         1,657,488               $ 584,181,646        0.98%

INVESCO LTD.                                                               03/31/2018                         1,427,089               $ 502,977,518            0.84%

MORGAN STANLEY                                                       03/31/2018                         1,395,354               $ 491,792,517        0.82%

SUSQUEHANNA INTERNATIONAL GROUP, LLP               03/31/2018                         1,278,592               $ 450,639,750        0.75%

PRIMECAP MANAGEMENT CO/CA/                               03/31/2018                         1,097,040               $ 386,651,748        0.65%

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC                                       03/31/2018                         1,055,539               $ 372,024,721        0.62%

GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC                               03/31/2018                         1,032,506               $ 363,906,740        0.61%

BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORP                               06/30/2018                            937,605               $ 330,458,882            0.55%

DEUTSCHE BANK AG\                                                       03/31/2018                            881,309               $ 310,617,357            0.52%

NORTHERN TRUST CORP                                               03/31/2018                            835,851               $ 294,595,685            0.49%

ALLIANZ ASSET MANAGEMENT GMBH                               03/31/2018                            799,486               $ 281,778,841            0.47%

NORGES BANK                                                               12/31/2017                            788,319               $ 277,843,032            0.46%

J&P(CHINA)CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CO.,LTD                       09/30/2017                            781,379               $ 275,397,029            0.46%

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO                                               03/31/2018                            769,800               $ 271,316,010            0.45%

MITSUBISHI UFJ TRUST & BANKING CORP                       03/31/2018                            708,321               $ 249,647,736            0.42%

AMERICAN CENTURY COMPANIES INC                               06/30/2018                            619,585               $ 218,372,733            0.36%

BARCLAYS PLC                                                               03/31/2018                            576,101               $ 203,046,797            0.34%

SUMITOMO MITSUI ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LTD  06/30/2018                            540,971                $ 190,665,229           0.32%

CREDIT SUISS AG/                                                      03/31/2018                             520,227               $ 183,354,006            0.31%   

LEGAL GENERAL GROU PLC                                              03/31/2018                             516,632               $ 182,086,948            0.30%

ILDER G GNON HOWE & C   LLC                                      06/30/2018                             514,365               $ 181,287,944            0.30%

Now, let me be clear — there’s very little info out there about how these institutional investors view the offer. Even for large shareholders, like Baillie Gifford, that think Tesla is worth far more than $420, it’s unclear if they have limitations that would prevent them from carrying over a large portion of their shares in a private Tesla. Furthermore, some may simply prefer the public accountability and stock market pricing system — even if that means a lot of FUD bringing the brand down.

As it goes, experts in the field who I respect seem to be throwing their hands up and just guesstimating that 50% of those institutional shares would transfer over to private shares. If you add that onto Elon Musk’s 20%, Tencent’s 5%, and the Saudi Arabia Wealth Fund’s 2%, you’re at about 54% of the shares. If you cautiously (I’d say pessimistically) consider that half of the remaining retail investors are interested in going private, that’s 64%.

Now, this is not an evaluation of whether shareholders will vote for Tesla to go private. Again, perhaps many of those institutional investors would rather Tesla stay public. However, if you assume that the shareholders do vote to go private, there’s another very interesting matter to consider here. Actually, this is a matter that could be highly relevant even before the vote.

As it stands, there is an enormous short position on Tesla. Approximately 35 million Tesla shares are “loaned” out to shorts/short sellers. Basically, shorts have “borrowed” the stock from a shareholder and then loaned it out to someone else, with a commitment to buy it back at some undetermined point in the future in order to give it back to its rightful owner. (See our extensive articles on short selling and Tesla shorts on the bottom of this article for more info on this topic.)

A “short squeeze” is sort of, kind of like a “run on the bank” (which you’ve probably learned about from It’s a Wonderful Life). Basically, if a company you’re shorting has strongly positive news, it would be smart of you to immediately buy back the share you borrowed and lent out. The stock price is likely to jump up, and if you wait too long, you’re going to have to buy that share back for much more than you lent it out.

The Tesla [TSLA] stock price jumped up rapidly earlier this week when there was news of the Saudi Arabia wealth fund investment and then more so when Musk tweeted about potentially taking Tesla private at $420/share. But a couple of interesting things happened. First, trading was halted for a couple of hours. This is standard in the situation we were in, but the point is that it gave everyone some time to think about the news and decide what to do. The much more interesting thing is that by and large short sellers by and large didn’t cover — they didn’t start buying back shares they loaned out.

This gets us back to the top of this article. Short sellers 😈 👹 didn’t buy the news. They seemingly didn’t believe that Musk would take Tesla private and that he had financing lined up (they’ve been claiming he lied about that). Some others seemed to think $420 was a ceiling for their losses anyway, but that theory doesn’t appear to be grounded in reality from what I’ve read. We’ll get to that in a second.

Some longs have added onto their holdings as well. (Full disclosure: With my meager opportunity for this, I was one of them.) However, many longs also seem skeptical that the deal is going through. They want more evidence before buying in at $350–370. Given that there have likely been hundreds of mainstream media articles and TV talking heads scaring people about a potential SEC violation and ruminating on the slim possibility (which they consider not so slim) that Elon Musk lied about securing financing and there’s no way that Tesla is going private, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. (Even normally pro-Tesla tech sites like ArsTechnica — an early inspiration for CleanTechnica — have been spreading the fear, uncertainty, and doubt.)

So, now we get to predictions. Here’s the thing I think is going to happen (but am not providing as investment advice!):

I, like Gene Munster, think that shareholders will vote to take Tesla private (or delist it if that’s what we’re actually talking about). Since some major shareholders think Tesla is worth far more than $420/share and since this will be the last chance for many people to buy into Tesla — for a long time at least (since it is going to be much, much harder to buy shares in private Tesla than in public Tesla) — I think the share price will jump. People who don’t plan to hold onto the stock would hold at least until $420 since Tesla would cash out their shares at that price.

Meanwhile, short sellers will finally get the message: Yes, Tesla is going off the market, and they need to buy back the shares they loaned out in order to return them to their rightful owners. Furthermore, they should finally understand that $420 is not a cap on the buyback price for them. If the stock price jumps to $1000 because people value private shares in Tesla that high, then they still need to buy back the shares they don’t really own in order to return them to owners. ;D

Furthermore, if the price gets up that high, the privatization deal may get dropped or have to be revised. $420 is not a ceiling. In fact, it’s more of a floor for short sellers if the deal moves forward. ;D

So, we are back to the point that approximately 35 million TSLA shares are shorted right now. If there’s a sprint for the door, those short sellers will be fighting to buy shares back — and shareholders can wait as long as they like to sell them back.    If they think the share price will go up to $500, they can wait till then. Furthermore, if they value the private shares at $2000 each, they may have no interest in playing games and selling to shorts until the price is $2001. Institutional investors surely understand this. Many of the retail investors understand this. Who the heck is going to sell a short a share for $420? You must be high to think that’s going to happen in a large volume.

The most epic short squeeze in history seems to be a Volkswagen short squeeze that happened in 2008. The short interest in the stock before this happened was approximately 13%. The short squeeze resulted in the stock price increasing multiple times over at its peak (see that link above for details). Approximately 20% of Tesla shares are shorted right now. 👀   

Perhaps the shorts with billions and billions on the line don’t want to believe the possibility of a short squeeze. Perhaps they are so obsessed with the idea that Elon Musk is a liar and a fraud that they can’t believe the simple tweets he sent earlier this week represent exactly what they say. If they are wrong, holy hell in a hot air ballon — this is going to be the most epic short squeeze in history. 🧐


I watched that video after writing this article. Even if you read the full piece above, I recommend watching it. A tip of the hat to JRP3 for sharing it.

Update: This article was updated shortly after publishing to fix a couple of errors.

Related stories:

Our Tesla Bankwuptcy archives 👍👍👍

The Tesla Short Thesis Just Collapsed — CNN, CNBC, Forbes, & Business Insider Are Still Lost In Shortsville
Tesla Model 3 — 7th/8th Best Selling Car In USA — In A Class Of Its Own
Tesla Executes
How I Learned To Stop Worrying About My Tesla Shares & Love The Short Sellers (Part 1)
How I Learned To Stop Worrying About My Tesla Shares & Love The Short Sellers (Part 2)
The Fascinating Tesla Short Story
Stormy Weather In Shortville Will Soon Look Like A Day On The Beach — Epic TSLA Tsunami Coming
Coming Tesla Short Squeeze? Will Stock Go “Supernova” In 3 Weeks? Elon Implies It Will
A Sinister Cellar Of The TSLA Short Story?
Jim Chanos’s Anti-Tesla Short Seller Arguments Debunked (Video)
Is The Possibility Of Perception Perversion The Real Reason Jim Chanos Is Short Tesla?
Elon Musk vs TSLA Shorts Is Personal, Not Business
Tesla [TSLA] Short Sellers Have Lost $1 Billion In 2018


Full disclosure: I am long TSLA. Because, duh.  😀
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #448 on: August 11, 2018, 06:30:42 pm »
NauticExpo e-magazine

{Seawork} Sunshine Superstar

Marine Propulsion / Underwater Works and Pollution Control

EVENTS  /  July 17, 2018

By Tony Slinn

Formerly editor-in-chief of IHS Maritime, Tony Slinn is an independent maritime journalist.

The ECOCAT (Courtesy of Torqeedo) 

purely solar-powered zero emissions electric ⚡ ferry with deployable and retractable pneumatic wings—that’s ECOCAT and it took Seawork’s Maritime Sustainability Award 🌟.

An 18 m-long, 8 m-wide, 120-passenger aluminum catamaran built by Metaltec Naval in Cantabria, Spain, ECOCAT has an integrated propulsion system from Torqeedo of Starnberg, Germany, relying 100% on its solar-battery system with no auxiliary internal combustion engine.

“It has two 50 kW Torqeedo Deep Blue motors driven by eight 30.5 kWh BMW i3 high-voltage marinized lithium ion batteries, four in each hull,” a Torqeedo spokeswoman told NauticExpo e-magazine. “Power is generated by 120 photovoltaic solar panels on the vessel’s roof. To maximize that area, Metaltec designed a set of deployable and retractable pneumatic wings.”

“Top speed is 9.7 knots—normal operating speed is 7 knots—and the vessel’s cruising range is eight hours running on batteries without sunshine. ECOCAT will go into service on Spain’s Mediterranean coast and the operator expects to average six 13 km trips daily.”

“ECOCAT’s power system provides significantly lower operating costs over internal combustion engines,” she concluded, “with zero fuel costs, lower maintenance and a long battery life.”

The vessel is the first of Metaltec’s new ECOBOAT series of environment-friendly aluminium vessels. The company also has designs for a monohull solar-electric boat as well as a twin-hull hybrid vessel.


http://emag.nauticexpo.com/sunshine-superstar/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Electric Vehicles
« Reply #449 on: August 13, 2018, 02:24:20 pm »
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie.

Mate Rimac’s Electric Odyssey (Video)

August 12th, 2018 by Roger Atkins


Following a hugely interesting presentation on Mate’s “rimaculate perception” I got the chance at EV Momentum to ask a few questions about the man, the mission, and the methodology that brought him to this point.

A well informed audience was also invited to pose a few questions on such things as strategy, and the Porsche investment that had been announced only 24 hours earlier.

If you have an interest in EV I’m certain you’ll enjoy what he has to say!

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/12/mate-rimacs-electric-odyssey-video/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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