U.S. Government Will Pay Tesla to Open its Charger Network to Non-Tesla EVs
Tesla has agreed to open up its charging network to non-Tesla electric vehicles after the U.S. government said it would foot the bill. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, promised to provide 7,500 open-access chargers in the U.S. by the end of 2024, according to Biden administration officials. Taxpayer dollars will pay for the conversion of existing Tesla chargers or the construction of new ones to accommodate cars built by Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, Volkswagen, and other electric car makers, reports Los Angeles Times. The Tesla deal is part of the Biden administration’s $7.5-billion plan to fund 500,000 EV chargers throughout the U.S., mostly along major highways at 50-mile intervals. The spending was approved by Congress in 2021. Tesla’s proprietary Supercharger network is by far the world’s largest and most reliable and is considered a key competitive advantage for the automaker. By opening its network to outsiders, however, Tesla is positioned to boost its charging revenue and profit margins. (The company had said it would charge higher prices for non-Tesla charging if and when it opened the network.) Click here for the full story.
BMW & Valeo to Develop Next-Generation Level 4 Automated Parking Technologies
The BMW Group and Valeo have announced their cooperation for the co-development of fully parking technologies up to Level 4. Ranging from Automated Maneuver Assistance to Level 4 Automated Valet Parking, all functions will be based on technology and sensors in the car. Infrastructure based services will also be jointly developed to experience fully automated parking and charging in enabled public parking facilities and sites. Autofutures reports the software functions are based on the current automated parking software stack first launched with the BMW iX in 2021. In the next generation it will be further extended by a powerful computing platform hosting the jointly developed algorithms. Automated Valet Parking offers drivers and passengers a fully automated and driverless parking experience. At a drop-off zone the driver leaves the car and the vehicle takes over tasks such as autonomously finding a parking spot, the necessary maneuvers for parking in and out and can also drive back to a pick-up zone to return the vehicle back to the driver. Click here for the full story.
Electric Vehicle Sales Top $1 Trillion in Wake-Up Call for Carmakers
Global spending on electric vehicles is surging. According to a new report published by BloombergNEF on investment in the energy transition, annual spending on passenger EVs hit $388 billion in 2022, up 53 percent from the year before. With the 2022 tally included, the total value of electric vehicles sold to date in the passenger vehicle segment has now crossed $1 trillion. There are a few ways to look at that figure. At the most basic level, if an automaker didn’t have a decent EV strategy, they missed out on their share of a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity over the last decade. That sounds like a big number, but global auto sales are worth around $2.5 trillion a year. So, over the last 10 years since EVs first showed up in the modern era, the value of total car sales has been roughly $25 trillion. In that context, the cumulative value of EV sales is relatively modest. Total profits from EVs also are much lower. Still, growth rates matter, and almost 60 percent of total EV spending occurred in just the last 18 months. Click here for the full story.
Americans Will Have to Wait Years for Blinding Headlight Solution
American drivers are saying they're getting blinded by car headlights, and it's not because headlight legislation has changed. Carbuzz reports, Business Insider published an in-depth study of the matter, and the bad news is that it will take a few years to sort out. If you need proof, look no further than the various online forums, communities, and social media pages dedicated to changing laws. There's an ongoing petition on change.org, and at the rate the numbers are going up, it will soon be one of the top petitions on the famous website. Business Insider spoke to John Bullough, the program director at the Light and Health Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Bullough is likely the foremost expert on the topic in the USA and is actively working with OEMs and third-party light manufacturers to find a solution. But before a solution can be found, the problem needs to be identified. Click here to learn the three main issues according to Bullough.
Volkswagen ID.2 to Spawn New All-Electric Golf
Volkswagen radically alters its plans for the upcoming ID.2, providing the entry-level electric model with a completely new exterior and interior design that is tentatively scheduled to be previewed on a concept car in March. Set to go on sale in selected global markets in 2025 at a targeted price of $24,000, the compact 5-seater will receive VW’s iconic Golf name, according to insiders at the automaker’s Wolfsburg headquarters in Germany. Wards reports, they also hint a GTi performance variant has been discussed during recent strategy meetings for the new model. The ID.2 will be the first VW to be based on the MEB-Plus platform – an updated version of today’s widely used MEB electric-vehicle architecture featuring new LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) prismatic battery cells and charging speeds between 175 kW and 200 kW, among other developments. In place of the controversial crossover design previewed by the ID.Life concept at the 2020 Munich auto show, the heavily revised ID.2 will receive a more conventional hatchback shape developed by a team of designers headed by VW’s new design boss, Andreas Mindt. Click here for the full story.
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