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Tag: car

  • Delhi To Deregister Diesel Vehicles Completing 10 Years On January 1, 2022

    Delhi To Deregister Diesel Vehicles Completing 10 Years On January 1, 2022

    The Delhi government has announced that it will deregister all diesel vehicles that will complete 10 years on January 1, 2022. Owners of said vehicles will be given a No Objection Certificate (NOC) which will allow them to re-register the vehicle in other places. The Delhi government has taken this decision in compliance with the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directions relating to restrictions on registration and plying of 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in the city. While owners of petrol cars that have completed 15 years will get the NOC from the transport department, the same will not be issued for diesel vehicles that have completed 15 years or more on the date of applying for it.

    An order issued by the transport department said, “the department will deregister all such diesel vehicles in Delhi on January 1, 2022, which have completed or would be completing 10 years on that date”. The department has been deregistering vehicles that have completed their lifespan. Owners of diesel vehicles, which are 10 years old, and petrol vehicles, which are 15 years old, can get the NOC for any place in the country. However, it is subject to the condition that NOC will not be issued for the places which are identified by states as restricted areas for re-registration. To facilitate this, the NGT had directed states to identify areas where the dispersion of air is higher and vehicular density is less.

    Interestingly, the transport department has said that owners will also have the option to convert their 10-year-old diesel or 15-year-old petrol vehicles to electric vehicles in case they want to continue using them in Delhi. Of course, this means the vehicles will need to be retrofitted with impaneled electric kits via agencies approved by the department. The empanelment process for electric kits is under process.

    For vehicle owners with diesel vehicles that are older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, scrapping is the only option. Transport department and traffic police teams are impounding such vehicles and sending them for scrapping by authorized vendors.

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  • Volvo Cars And Northvolt To Open Joint R&D Centre For Battery Development In Gothenberg

    Volvo Cars And Northvolt To Open Joint R&D Centre For Battery Development In Gothenberg

    Volvo Cars and Northvolt will open a joint research and development (R&D) center in Gothenburg as part of a SEK 30 billion investment in battery development and manufacturing. The R&D center, which will become operational in 2022, will create a few hundred jobs in Gothenburg. Following the partnership announced by both companies earlier this year, Volvo Cars and Northvolt have now signed a binding agreement this week to create a joint venture for the development and sustainable production of batteries for the next generation of pure electric Volvo cars.

    The establishment of the new R&D center in Gothenburg will be followed by the construction of a new manufacturing plant in Europe. It will produce next-generation state-of-the-art battery cells, specifically developed for use in next-generation pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars. The exact location of the plant is expected to be confirmed in early 2022.

    The R&D center will be in close proximity to Volvo Cars’ own R&D operations and to Northvolt’s existing innovation campus, Northvolt Labs, in Sweden, ensuring synergies and efficiencies as it develops battery technologies.

    The partnership will focus on developing tailor-made batteries that give Volvo drivers what they want, such as range and quick charging times. Volvo Cars is working with Northvolt to create a true end-to-end system for batteries, whereby it develops and builds the batteries itself.

    As for their joint battery plant, Volvo Cars and Northvolt are in the final phase of a selection process to find a suitable location in Europe. The plant will have a potential annual capacity of up to 50-gigawatt hours (GWh), which would supply batteries for approximately half a million cars per year. It will start construction in 2023, with large-scale production in 2026, and is expected to employ up to 3,000 people.

    Alongside battery supply agreements, the partnership with Northvolt secures the European battery cell needs that are part of Volvo Cars’ ambitious electrification plans. It aims to sell 50 per cent pure electric cars by the middle of this decade, and by 2030 it aims to sell only fully electric cars.

    The partnership with Northvolt is key to Volvo Cars’ ambition to become a leader in the premium electric car segment and sell only pure electric vehicles by 2030. It also represents an important step in strengthening Volvo Cars’ own development capabilities.

  • November auto sales rise to year high as government halves registration fee

    November auto sales rise to year high as government halves registration fee

    November saw the highest monthly auto sales this year of 38,656 units as a discount in registration fees sent buyers scrambling to dealers’.

    The figure represented a 30 percent rise from October and a 6 percent increase year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association.

    The government cut registration fees for locally produced cars by 50 percent for six months starting December 1.

    November was the third month in a row in which auto sales rose after five months of declines between April and August as the fourth wave of Covid-19 hit sales.

    In the first 11 months of this year, 257,390 units were sold, a 3 percent rise.

    Thaco, an assembler of Mazda and Peugeot led with 88,967 units, up 5 percent, followed by Toyota with 55,109 units, down 7 percent, and Mitsubishi, Ford, and Honda made up the top five.

    Last year sales fell by 8 percent to 296,634 units as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the economy, people’s incomes, and discretionary spending.

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  • U.S. Safety Agency Discussing Tesla Camera Replacements

    U.S. Safety Agency Discussing Tesla Camera Replacements

    The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Thursday it is discussing with Tesla its decision to replace cameras in some U.S. vehicles. CNBC reported on Monday Tesla was replacing front fender cameras in several hundred Model S, X, and 3 vehicles due to faulty circuit boards inside but had not issued a recall. NHTSA said it is “monitoring all data sources” including consumer complaints, and also urged “the public to let NHTSA know if they think their vehicle may have a safety defect that isn’t part of a current recall.”

    U.S. law “prohibits manufacturers from selling vehicles with design defects posing unreasonable risks to safety,” the agency said, adding it has “robust enforcement tools to protect the public, to investigate potential safety issues, and act when we find evidence of non-compliance or an unreasonable risk to safety.”

    Consumer groups said the regulator needs to look into whether Tesla should have recalled the defective parts.

    A malfunction of front fender cameras would likely create a safety risk, says David Friedman, a former acting administration at NHTSA and now Vice President at Consumer Reports.

    “Reports of a service campaign repair to malfunctioning front-end cameras that are critical to Tesla’s driver assistance suite is important enough to the safety of the vehicle to merit exploration by NHTSA,” said Jason K. Levine, executive director at Center for Auto Safety.

    “The reality is that the auto industry has a long history of choosing to conduct service campaigns instead of recalls, but it is too early to say whether that’s the case here.”

    A malfunction of front fender cameras, safety systems used for blind-spot monitoring, would likely create a safety risk, said David Friedman, a former acting administration at NHTSA and now Vice President at Consumer Reports.

    “If people are losing reliable access to blind spot images, or the effectiveness of autopilot or automatic emergency braking is being hampered, the malfunction would seem to pose an unreasonable risk,” he said.

    Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

  • Infiniti Teases Electric Concepts, Commits To Being EV First By 2030

    Infiniti Teases Electric Concepts, Commits To Being EV First By 2030

    Infiniti has joined the pantheon of US-based automakers which have pledged to transition mostly to electric powertrains by 2030. In its video, Infiniti also hinted that it will be also be leveraging hybrid powertrains, “we will not let the size of our battery alone define us, but rather, empower customers to choose the power source that fits their lifestyle,” said the company in its video.

    In the video, Infiniti shows off three unnamed vehicles, one of which is a crossover, though it is not known that these cars have some flow over with Nissan’s out concept vehicles. Of course, Infiniti is owned by Nissan, which has for years pushed electric cars along with Renault.

    The concept cars shown off are low-slung and even have a tachometer which means these are likely hybrid cars. Infiniti now joins the likes of many muscle and sports car brands that have pushed electric and hybrid powertrains. Recently, we have heard from the likes of Dodge which has also hinted that it will be going all-electric and will be retiring its iconic hellcat motors.

  • Toyota Promises 100% Zero Emissions Sales In Europe By 2035

    Toyota Promises 100% Zero Emissions Sales In Europe By 2035

    In an about-face from its anti-EV stance, Toyota has now pledged to have 100 percent zero-emissions sales in Europe by 2035 something which is revealed in a recent media event in Brussels, Belgium. This goal is a follow-up to a commitment of at least 50 percent zero-emissions vehicles sales in Western Europe by 2030. Toyota has still not given up on hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles as its plan is based on a combination of EVs and fuel cell-based cars. This comes after the company launched its first EV and is preparing to launch another affordable EV in partnership with BYD. This commitment could be bolder should customer demand be higher than what the Japanese giant has envisioned.

    “Moving beyond 2030, we expect to see further ZEV demand acceleration and Toyota will be ready to achieve 100% CO2 reduction in all new vehicles by 2035 in Western Europe, assuming that sufficient electric charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructures are in place by then, together with the renewable energy capacity increases that will be required,” said Matt Harrison, Toyota’s CEO for Europe.

    Toyota is still not committing on its own account but is rather been forced to do so after the new European Green deal which proposes a 55 percent reduction in new car emissions by 2030 and a 100 percent reduction by 2035. A number of nations have already agreed to a 2040 mark following the recent COP26.

    What’s interesting is that unlike some major automakers like Daimler, Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, GM, and Ford, Toyota’s commitment is restricted to only Europe, not globally. Why so? Because Europe is the place where laws are being enacted to ban the internal combustion engine – and hence it has no choice, if it wants to operate in the continent.

  • ARAI Developing Fast Chargers For Electric Vehicles

    ARAI Developing Fast Chargers For Electric Vehicles

    The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is developing fast chargers for electric vehicles to address the issue of charging infrastructure, Union Minister of Heavy Industries Mahendra Nath Pandey said on Saturday. As reported by PTI, the Minister said that the Automotive research and development body has already developed a prototype of the product while replying to a query at a press conference on the sidelines of the ‘Round Table To Promote Electric Mobility’ event organised by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

    When asked about the challenges related to the usage of electric vehicles, he said, “This issue is being talked about that it consumes more time (to charge an e-vehicle battery). ARAI has been directed to work on it. In fact, they have developed a prototype of a fast charger and the product is expected to be ready by December 2022.”

    He also informed that the ARAI has been asked to complete the project by October 2022, so that it can be made available to the customers by December. The fast chargers will address the issue of charging infrastructure and boost demand for battery-driven vehicles. The minister also said that research is still underway and specific charging time of electric two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler e-vehicle can be determined only after its completion.

    He further mentioned that his ministry is also in talks with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for EV chargers installation at 22,000 petrol pumps across India. The charging stations would be installed at an interval of 25 km on highways and within a radius of 3 km in cities.

    Transport ministers of various states, other government and industry officials attended the ‘Round Table To Promote Electric Mobility’ event to deliberate ways for promoting EVs in the country.

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  • Ford Aims To Be World’s Second Largest Electric Vehicle Maker Within Two Years

    Ford Aims To Be World’s Second Largest Electric Vehicle Maker Within Two Years

    Ford Motor expects to be the world’s second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer within two years, with an annual production capacity of nearly 600,000, a top company executive said Friday.

    The automaker’s optimism stems from the increasing demand for its next new EV, the Ford F-150 Lightning pickup, with retail reservations approaching 200,000, Lisa Drake, chief operating officer of Ford North America, said.

    Reuters reported on Wednesday that Ford likely would be vying with Stellantis for third place in the EV race by 2025, behind Tesla and the Volkswagen Group, based on production forecast data provided by AutoForecast Solutions.

    Speaking at an investor conference, Drake said Ford is working to vertically integrate more EV components, including power electronics and e-drives, at existing facilities that build parts for combustion vehicles – a modern take on founder Henry Ford’s pioneering work in building many of his own components.

    “We haven’t used ‘vertical integration in this industry in a long time,” Drake said, but “you’re going to hear it a lot more” as Ford and other automakers transition from combustion to electric vehicles.

    She said Ford working with five global battery suppliers to manufacture and help develop battery cells for its future EVs, aiming to build 240 gigawatt-hours of production capacity globally by 2030. Those suppliers include SK On, LG Energy Solution, CATL, BYD, and Panasonic.

    Ford expects to reduce EV battery cell cost to $80 per kilowatt-hour at the pack level “well before the end of the decade,” Drake said.

    The automaker is looking at different cell chemistries, including cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate, and cell-to-pack structural batteries to help reduce costs.

    Ford and BMW are working with Colorado-based startup Solid Power on developing solid-state batteries, which Drake said should be commercialized “well before the end of the decade.”

  • Honda Sets Up Battery Sharing Subsidiary In India

    Honda Sets Up Battery Sharing Subsidiary In India

    Honda has announced setting up a new subsidiary in India, which will focus on the supply chain side of the electric vehicle industry. Called Honda Power Pack Energy India Private Limited, the new subsidiary for battery sharing service in India will offer service for small mobility players. In a statement, Honda has said that the company plans to start battery sharing service for electric auto-rickshaws from the first half of 2022 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and expand the operations in other Indian cities in a phased manner.

    Swappable batteries will offer subscribers fully-charged batteries at the stations which can be swapped in a matter of minutes, instead of waiting to charge the vehicle.

    “The company will offer battery sharing service for small mobility, which will accelerate the penetration of electric vehicles by solving three issues of electric vehicles: limited range, long charging time, and high cost of batteries,” Honda said in the statement.

    Honda’s all-new portable and swappable batteries will be called “Honda Mobile Power Pack e,” and the company’s battery sharing service subscribers can avail of the services from the nearest battery swapping station. At the battery swapping station, subscribers can swap the used batteries with fully charged ones, and need not wait for charging and can get back on the road in marginal time.

    The company has invested ₹ 135 crore, and will work closely with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who wish to integrate Honda’s battery into their vehicles, by providing necessary technical information for an interface. By expanding vehicle OEMs, applications, and service areas, the company aims to onboard more drivers which will further enhance service convenience.

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  • Car demand up following news of registration fee cut

    Car demand up following news of registration fee cut

    Car dealers have seen the number of customers triple after a 50 percent registration fee discount for locally assembled cars was announced last week.

    Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Mazda dealers in Cau Giay District reported 30 and even 50 customers a day last weekend, compared to the average 10-15 .

    The number of signed contracts rose from an average 10 a day to 30.

    A Peugeot dealer locked in seven deals on the weekend even though it was often deserted.

    Customers were still viewing cars at 8 p.m. during the two days, while on normal days the last customers often leave at 6 p.m., a manager of a Toyota dealer in Ho Chi Minh City said.

    “We needed six employees, double from before,” he added.

    The surge in demand for cars came as the government announced a decision to cut car registration fees by half for six months starting Dec. 1.

    This is the second time in the last two years that such a cut is introduced to mitigate difficulties faced by the auto industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    For this reason, accountants and managers had to show up at dealers to finalize contracts when needed.

    Some salespersons said they sold two or three cars last week, while before it often took them several days to sell one.

    Customers can be divided into two main groups: those who want to prepare for the registration process when the fee drops by half starting Wednesday, and those who want to learn more about cars.

    Dealers have ended some prior promotions because of the fee discount, which urge customers to come and make purchases.

    “I am selling my existing car to buy a new one,” said Le Luan, a customer, adding he plans to put down a deposit Tuesday fearing promotions would end Wednesday.

    Registration fees are calculated based on car prices in each locality. The rates are 12 percent in Hanoi and Hai Phong, and 10 percent in HCMC.

    In the first six months last year, 17,600 cars were bought on average each month. In the second half, when the 50 percent cut took effect, sales doubled.

    Last year, car sales had fallen by 8 percent to 296,634 units as the Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the economy, hitting incomes and discretionary spending.

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  • Car registration fee cut by half again

    Car registration fee cut by half again

    A government decree has cut registration fees for locally made cars by 50 percent for six months starting December 1.

    This is the second time in the last two years such a cut is being made to mitigate the difficulties faced by the auto industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    In the first six months of last year, 17,600 cars were bought on average each month. In the second half, when the 50 percent cut took effect, sales doubled.

    The registration fees are calculated based on car prices in each locality.

    The rates are 12 percent in Hanoi and Hai Phong, and 10 percent in HCMC.

    Last year, car sales had fallen by 8 percent to 296,634 units as the Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the economy, hitting people’s incomes and discretionary spending.

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  • Daimler To Produce First In-House Electric Motor At Berlin Plant

    Daimler To Produce First In-House Electric Motor At Berlin Plant

    Daimler will produce the first in-house electric motor at its oldest plant in Berlin, the carmaker said on Thursday, providing relief to workers worried that the diesel motor production site was on the brink of deep job cuts.

    Workers who feared for their positions after Daimler said in September 2020 its Berlin site would end production of the 6-cylinder diesel motor within a year would also be offered retraining in software and coding, the German company said.

    Around 450 of the plant’s 2,300-odd workers have applied to attend a pilot 160-hour training course in software development, works council chairman Michael Rahmel said on a press call, with around fifteen selected for the first round of training.

    Investment in the 120-year-old Berlin-Marienfelde plant, previously pinned at a two-digit million euro amount, will rise to a low three-digit million euro amount in the next six years, Daimler said.

    The motor, known as an axial-flux motor and designed by the British startup YASA which Daimler acquired earlier this year, weighs a fraction of its diesel equivalent and can boost the range of an EV by up to 7%, YASA’s founder Tim Woolmer told Reuters in July.

    Woolmer said at the time that Daimler had briefed YASA to bring costs down in future iterations of its motor so the carmaker could use them across its entire EV range.

    The e-motor is simpler to produce than its diesel equivalent, meaning the plant will eventually require less workers – but the exact number of future job losses was not yet clear, head of production Joerg Burzer said on a press call. A start date for the production of the motor was not provided.

    The factory’s employees are guaranteed their positions until the beginning of 2030 under an existing union agreement.

    The digital training campus, which Daimler partnered with Siemens in March to develop and which will go live in 2022, would also create new jobs, Burzer said.

    “If we make an effort here in coming years, there could even be more jobs than before,” head of IG Metall Berlin Jan Otto said.

    Production of the 6-cylinder diesel motor and some components would continue at the factory in the short-term but was being wound down, Burzer and union representatives said.

    The factory’s employees are guaranteed their positions until the beginning of 2030 under an existing union agreement.

    “A year ago, we didn’t know what would happen at the plant. Today we’re embarking on what will hopefully be a successful transformation with our heads held high,” Michael Rahmel, works council chairman at Berlin-Marienfelde, said in a statement

  • Nissan Plans 50% Electric Vehicle Sales By 2030

    Nissan Plans 50% Electric Vehicle Sales By 2030

    Automaker Nissan wants half its global sales to be electric or hybrid vehicles by 2030 and plans to plough billions of dollars into the effort, it announced Monday. The move follows in the footsteps of other major global automakers, which have increasingly signaled a move towards electric and hybrid vehicles as concern about climate change grows.

    Unveiling its new long-term plan, Nissan said it will launch 23 new models, including 15 new electric vehicles, in a bid to reach the 2030 goal.

    Last year, only around 10 percent of Nissan’s global sales were EVs or hybrids, and the firm said the new target would help it achieve carbon neutrality across the lifecycle of its products by 2050.

    Nissan has been battered by a series of problems in recent years, ranging from weak demand even before the pandemic, to the fallout from the arrest and subsequent escape of former boss Carlos Ghosn.

    Last year, only around 10 percent of Nissan’s global sales were EVs or hybrids

    After falling behind rivals during the pandemic, it has begun clawing back performance, tripling its full-year net profit forecast earlier this month despite the impact of a global chip shortage.

    In a statement, Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said the long-term plan announced Monday would “transform Nissan to become a sustainable company.”

    It’s a move seen across the auto industry with Sweden’s Volvo pledging to switch all sales away from traditional fuel cars by 2030, and Japan’s Honda setting the same target by 2040.

    Top-selling Toyota says by 2030 all the vehicles it sells in Europe will be electric or hybrid models, with a goal of 70 percent in North America and 100 percent in China by 2035.

    Nissan said 20 of its new electric models would hit the market in the next five years, setting a target for electric cars to make up 75 percent of sales in Europe by fiscal 2026.

    The Japanese automaker said it will invest two trillion yen ($17.5 billion) over the next five years to speed up electrification, aiming to launch electric vehicles with its proprietary batteries by 2028.

    Electric and hybrid vehicles are being increasingly adopted in the face of concern about climate change, with Britain moving to ban new sales of diesel and petrol cars in the UK from 2030.

    US President Joe Biden earlier this year announced a target for half of all ears sold domestically by 2030 to be zero-emission.

    At present, around 10 percent of European car sales are EVs, but the US figure is just two percent.

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  • Car registration fee cut by half again

    Car registration fee cut by half again

    A government decree has cut registration fees for locally made cars by 50 percent for six months starting December 1.

    This is the second time in the last two years such a cut is being made to mitigate the difficulties faced by the auto industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    In the first six months of last year, 17,600 cars were bought on average each month. In the second half, when the 50 percent cut took effect, sales doubled.

    The registration fees are calculated based on car prices in each locality.

    The rates are 12 percent in Hanoi and Hai Phong, and 10 percent in HCMC.

    Last year, car sales had fallen by 8 percent to 296,634 units as the Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the economy, hitting people’s incomes and discretionary spending.

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  • Audi recalls 104 cars in Vietnam over lock nut issue

    Audi recalls 104 cars in Vietnam over lock nut issue

    German auto brand Audi is recalling 104 cars in Vietnam due to a lock nut issue on the rear suspension that could cause a loss of control and crash.

    Certain lock nuts on the trailing arm of the rear axle can break due to corrosion, which can change the wheel alignment on the rear axle, according to a notice the company submitted to Vietnam Register.

    If the rear axle suddenly moves in the wrong direction, the driver could lose control and crash, it added.

    There has been no known accidents reported.

    The company will contact each owner about a free replacement of the lock nut, which would take around 1.5 hours.

    The recall lasts from Nov. 15 to Nov. 14, 2024.

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