Electric planes- Pieter Elbers, CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, said he thinks we are likely to see electric planes used commercially within the next 15-20 years. This is counter to the forecast made by Alexandre de Juniac, former CEO of Air France, who said that commercial electric planes will be a reality within 15 years and the announcement of EasyJet, in 2017, of its plans to deploy electric planes in partnership with Wright Electric by 2027. "I don't believe," said Elbers, "that the first electric planes will appear within the next five or six years... however, I appreciate the ambitious plans. I think we should all make much greater efforts to broaden our knowledge and develop in this area." Read more
CEO James Dyson confirmed that Dyson have regretfully pulled the plug on their EV project, citing lack of commercial viability. He intends to funnel the $2.7b towards other ventures notably including solid state battery technology aimed to improve range and reduce charging times. Read more
Toyota- As EV batteries are lasting longer than anticipated, Toyota have announced that they will now extend the warranties on their hybrid batteries from eight years and 100,000 miles to 10 years and 150,000 miles. The new warranty is currently the longest one offered in the industry which covers not only first ownership but also all subsequent owners. The extension will apply to all new 2020 Toyota hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell models. Heather Updegraff, General Manager Vehicle Marketing & Communications in Toyota, said that “People still have hesitations about owning a hybrid vehicle... Our goal is to minimize that concern and this new warranty extension for the hybrid battery is just another way we are leading the industry and putting our customers first.” Read more
Hungary- Samsung SDI has announced that it is planning to expand their production capacity of their EV battery plant in Hungary with an investment of more than €1bn. Hungary is well positioned geographically to host this plant as it is near large European car-makers and EV markets and will make Hungary a key provider of batteries for the European car industry. The plant will provide enough batteries to supply 50,000 EVs per year. Woo-Chan Kim, Samsung SDI CEO, said that the company is committed to expanding its local operations. Read more
Yamaha- In the Tokyo Motor Show 2019 which will take place later this month, Yamaha will be presenting a wide range of new electric vehicles, some of which they have already revealed to the public. Among the vehicles is the E01 electric scooter with fast charging capabilities, the YPJ-YZ electric mountain bike which looks a lot like a racing machine, the TY-E electric trials bike which has already been enjoyed by professional rider Kenichi Kuroyama who won 2nd place in the FIM Trial-E cup motorcycling competition in both 2018 and 2019. The Yamaha Tritown is a three-wheel 'leaner' which the rider stands on and leans in order to control the scooter using their balance. Read more
"Consumer excitement might go flat because New York City ranks at the bottom among cities offering charging stations" says John Aidan Byrne from the New York Post. New York, which has been ranked lowest out of the US states in terms of number of charging stations (43 per million residents compared with >100 per million in some of the other states), has one of the highest demands for EVs; it is reported in a survey that 57% of the population intend to buy an EV in the next 24 months. Read more
