Pedro Lima

SOL or Sihao in Chinese is a car brand launched by JAC-Volkswagen’s joint venture for affordable electric cars. Volkswagen originally planned to call the brand SEAT, but the Chinese government didn’t allow it. After some deliberations they decided to go with SOL, which means sun in Spanish (also in Portuguese). SOL recently unveiled three new electric cars, the E10X, E20X and E40X at the Guangzhou Auto Show. Sihao is one of the thirteen brands of Volkswagen. Since June 2020, the strategic joint venture between Volkswagen Group and Jianghuai Automobile Group has been fully launched. After Volkswagen has acquired 50% of the shares of Jianghuai Automobile Group, it has followed Volkswagen Global Electric The development of new energy products, channel construction, and brand promotion of Sihao New Energy have been accelerated.

While cylindrical and prismatic battery cells already heavily rely on standardized dimensions, pouch cells are still a mess and made in a wide variety of sizes. The main advantage of using battery cells with standardized dimensions is that it enables automakers to use multiple battery suppliers and prevent battery supply constraints. For battery cell makers, it enables them to focus in fewer products and increase production efficiency. LG Chem had previously made battery cells in a variety of lengths depending on customer orders. This was one of its strengths thanks to it making pouch batteries that can accommodate this diverse lengths. But this also led to constant readjustment of its production line depending on customer’s size requirements. These adjustment periods would last around a month and halt lines.

Currently the most popular electric car from SGMW (SAIC-GM-Wuling) is definitely the Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV, as you may have noticed from multiple articles I wrote. However, the reality is that this is a very spartan electric car without basic safety features required by European or North American standards. The much better equipped electric cars Baojun E300 (two-seater) and Baojun E300 Plus (four-seater) also built by SGMW have much better chances to become world-class affordable electric cars.

The prices of the new all-electric FIAT 500 in Germany and Portugal are finally available. Let’s see the prices before any government subsidies in different countries and compare them. New FIAT 500 trim-levels The trim-levels listed below are ordered by price, from the cheapest (Action) to the most expensive (La Prima). La Prima (The First), as the name suggests is the limited edition that came first, better equipped and more expensive.

Only behind CATL and BYD, Guoxuan High-Tech Power Energy is China’s third biggest battery cell maker with an annual production capacity expected to reach 28 GWh already this year - enough for more than half-million (560.000) battery packs with 50 kWh each. Recently the giant German automaker Volkswagen acquired 26 % of Guoxuan’s parent company Gotion that is now preparing for a fast growth. Not only in production capacity, but also in technological advancements.

In this article I’ll show you how easy it’s to estimate the on-board charger efficiency of an electric car by using WLTP ratings. I’ll use WLTP ratings in this article, but you can also use EPA or NEDC ratings, since they also measure plug-to-wheels consumption, this means that they include charging losses. It’s important to notice that for measuring the consumption the charging was made by using a domestic socket at low current (10 A) and some on-board chargers are not very efficient at low currents.

According to Reuters, the South Korean battery cell maker LG Chem is now looking for a site to build a new factory in Europe. LG Chem is looking for a site to build a new factory in Europe, as it plans to more than double its global car battery capacity to 260 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2023, from 120 GWh this year. LG Chem already has two battery cell plants in Europe and both are in Poland where most of LG Chem’s global battery cell production is located. If production capacity is expanded at its already operating plants, LG Chem can produce 120 GWh annually and this would be enough to assemble more than 2 million (2.400.000) battery packs with 50 kWh each.

Last month ORA sold 6.619 electric cars in China and its best selling model was the ORA R1 (Black Cat) with 5.141 units delivered to customers. ORA is the affordable EV brand of the giant Chinese automaker GWM (Great Wall Motors) that also owns the battery cell maker SVOLT. Ever since the launch of its first model, the iQ in late 2018, ORA made clear that the ultimate goal is to brings its electric cars to Europe.

On October 8, the first 200 units of the DFSK SERES 3 were shipped to Germany and should arrive next month. This electric car has similar dimensions to the Kia e-Niro, a starting price of 32.500 euros and a 52,56 kWh cobalt-free LFP (LiFePO4) battery. Let’s see some of its specs. Length: 4.385 mm Wheelbase: 2.655 mm Width: 1.850 mm Height: 1.650 mm Ground clearance: 180 mm Curb weight: 1.690 kg Gross weight: 2.065 kg Seats: 5 Motor: 120 kW and 300 N.m of torque Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 8,9 seconds Battery: 52,56 kWh cobalt-free LFP chemistry with 8 year warranty Range: 405 km in NEDC Fast charging: 20-80 % in 30 minutes Slow charging: 8 hours Starting price: 32.500 euros (before subsidies) In the more realistic WLTP test cycle the range should be around 300 km and the consumption 17,5 kWh/100 km.

Tata Nexon EV is an affordable Indian electric car that was revealed on 19 December 2019 and is already being delivered to customers in India. This electric car looks good and has decent specs for its starting price of 1.399.000 Indian rupees (16.163 euros). In some ways it’s similar to the upcoming Dacia Spring. Let’s see what the Tata Nexon EV has to offer. Length: 3.993 mm Wheelbase: 2.498 mm Width 1.811 mm Height 1.606 mm Curb weight: 1.400 kg Boot space: 350 L Motor: 95 kW and 245 Nm of torque Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 9,9 seconds and 0-60 km/h in 4,6 seconds Max speed: 120 km/h On-board charger: 15 A, charging 10-90 % in 8 and half hours DC fast charging: 0-80 % in 60 minutes via CCS 2 Battery: 30,2 kWh (liquid cooled) Range: 312 km (MIDC) Motor and battery warranty: 8 years or 160.000 km Vehicle warranty: 3 years or 125.000 km Notice that the MIDC (Modified Indian Driving Cycle) is even more unrealistic than the now obsolete Europe’s NEDC. In the more realistic WLTP test cycle the range would be around 200 km and the consumption around 17 kWh/100 km.

GAC Aion S was probably the first electric car to be available with NCM 811 battery cells and expectations were extremely high for this model. However, its 58,8 kWh (96 x 3,6 V x 170 Ah) battery pack made with NCM 811 cells from CATL suffered some serious safety problems that damaged the reputation of this battery chemistry. After three spontaneous combustions GAC decided to abandon NCM 811 from CATL and adopt safer NCM 523 cells from CALB.

The Wuling EV50 and BYD V3 are two new electric vans that share the same body, but they have different cobalt-free LFP batteries. Let’s start with the Wuling EV50 that gets a 60 kW motor and two batteries options. Pack 1 Capacity: 43,2 kWh Weight: 332 kg Energy density: 130,12 Wh/kg Range: 300 km (186 miles) Pack 2 Capacity: 41,86 kWh Weight: 308 kg Energy density: 135,91 Wh/kg Range: 245 km (152 miles) Wuling says that the LFP battery packs will last for at least 2 million kilometres and the starting price for the Wuling EV50 is 108.000 yuan (13.596 euros).