This week, Opel has revealed its concept car and renewed their intention to release four BEV/PHEV by 2020 and an ambitious complete electrification of its lineup by 2024.

Earlier this year, Opel announced plans to build its own electric cars as its Chevy Bolt EV deal with GM isn’t working out.

The newly unveiled concept car will be released in the competitive Compact SUV segment of the market.

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[Fred Lambert - Electrek - 23 Aug 2018]

STEVE AND DEE WEST ARE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTORS AT EV WORLD NZ 2018

Two of the founders of the Better NZ Trust, Steve and Dee West, were recognised at EV World 2018 for the outstanding work they have put into the EV space in New Zealand.

Driving Collaboration and Overcoming the Barriers for EV Adoption

Panel Members: David Vincent, Ken Shirley, Gavin Young, Oz Jabur, Steve West

One of the most relevant topics for the Better NZ Trust’s #LeadingTheCharge campaign at the EV World conference was the Leaders Panel: Driving Collaboration and Overcoming the Barriers for EV Adoption.

Because if there are legitimate, insurmountable obstacles preventing people from purchasing electric vehicles, then the work the Better NZ Trust carries out, would be as frustrating and futile as taking a child window shopping in a candy store.

The first step in overcoming barriers in EV Adoption is to identify them. And the first speaker in this session was David Vincent who has been doing just that in his role on the government initiated EV Leadership Group. The group is an amalgam of government departments and the industry sector. An initial mandate instilled by former Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, and reinforced by the Associate Minister of Transport, Julie Anne Genter, was ‘to identify the impediments for the uptake of EVs and make recommendations as to how to get over them.’

Read the full transcripts from the panel discussion below.

To summarise, the main barrier to EV Adoption is in the heavy fleet area, with lithium-ion batteries being impractical for high payload vehicles like tractors. Although stop/start vehicles like rubbish trucks and buses or long-haul semi-trucks are slowly and successfully being introduced. 

The second major issue is the high initial purchase price. Used imports are driving uptake and stocks are unlikely to dwindle in the near future, but will eventually be joined by ex-fleet vehicles, buoying the second-hand market.

Other issues that are often touted as prime barriers, such as lack of off-street parking or multi-dwelling buildings will not be a problem with technology already available to overcome these issues or tech that will be available by the time mass adoption occurs. 

In the past year, customer EV-IQ has increased with intelligent questions being asked and industry representatives report that their own response to these questions has improved with ongoing training. A recent survey of Mercury customers around the country indicates that nearly 50% of people are seriously considering an EV for their next vehicle purchase.

Tesla plans to open-source its vehicle security software for free to other automakers for safer self-driving future

Read the 6th part of our series "Busting EV Myths" by clicking this link here

Topics Covered:

Myth: Batteries Have Short Life Spans

Myth: Batteries Can Not Be Recycled

Myth: Lithium is Rare

Professor John Goodenough, celebrated his 95th birthday last year An immigrant to the United States, a World War II veteran, a graduate from Yale University, a physics doctorate from the University of Chicago, a research scientist at MIT, a tenured departmental head at Oxford University, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, an emeritus professor at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, a multi-award recipient, and a multi-society active and honorary member, has been involved in lithium batteries since at least 1980 when he was 57-years of age. Now, at the tender age of 96-years old he continues to develop the field.

Battery Breakthrough

A low-cost, safe, high-energy-density, long-life, and low-degradation battery has been designed in a paper co-authored by John Goodenough, Maria Helena Braga, Chandrasekar M Subramaniya, Andrew J. Murchison (all four from the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Program at The University of Texas at Austin) and Maria Helena Braga (from LAETA, Engineering Physics Department, FEUP, at the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.)

It overcomes every single problem of current battery technology. In my (Eric Cosak) opinion, this happens as a result of overcoming both the lithium-ion SEI (solid electrolyte interphase) battery problem and material degradation due to volume expansion.

[Eric Cosak - EV Obsession - 23 July 2018]

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Part 5 - view hi-res image here

EVworld organiser Conferenz has announced the finalists for its ‘champions’ awards – set to be revealed at the August event.

The awards recognise the pioneering individuals, businesses and towns who are committed to championing the uptake of EVs in New Zealand.

[Richard Edwards - EV Talk - 18 July 2018]

We know electric cars make sense – but we need a financial push to buy one

From tax incentives to cash grants, ‘price signals’ are the key to increasing the uptake of electric vehicles in New Zealand, writes Victoria University’s Lisa Marriott. ...

"If we are genuinely committed to meeting our carbon targets, words need to be supported by action. Weak policy tools will not achieve strong behavioural change. The road transport sector is one where global experience shows that significant beneficial results are achievable when the tax system is used to influence the price of vehicles. What are we waiting for?"

[Lisa Marriott - The Spinoff - 16 July 2018]

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