Every Ford passenger vehicle sold in Europe in five years’ time will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid, and by 2030 the range will be completely all-electric. Similarly, Ford’s entire commercial vehicle range will be zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2024, with two-thirds of Ford’s commercial vehicle sales expected to be all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.
Jaguar Land Rover CEO, Thierry Bolloré has announced that the Jaguar brand will be a 100 per cent electric vehicle marque by 2025. The announcement, which came as part of the company’s “reimagine” global announcement, also saw JLR initiate a journey to become a net zero carbon business by 2039. Specifically, Jaguar and Land Rover will offer pure electric power, nameplate by nameplate, by 2030. By this point, in addition to 100 per cent of Jaguar sales, it is anticipated that around 60 per cent of Land Rovers sold will be equipped with zero tailpipe powertrains. At the same, executives emphasised the company’s British identity and sought to differentiate between its Jaguar and Land Rover flag brands.
The automotive aftermarket has been encouraged to embrace electric vehicles or risk getting left behind in an exclusive webinar titled “Auto industry skills shortage & tackling electric vehicles (EV)”, hosted by automotive and engineering recruitment specialist, Glen Callum Associates. Supported by trade associations IAAF, IMI and MMMA, the webinar challenged perceptions about how the trade could embrace and alternative fuel future. An expert panel comprising businesses and associations from engineering, crash repair, electromechanical and automotive sectors, explored whether the aftermarket is prepared for an EV future, with the experts unanimously urging businesses to invest in technology and training sooner rather than later.
The government may plan to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, but does mean there’s no future for combustion engines? Paddy Lowe doesn’t think so. The former chief technical officer at Williams Racing posits that synthetic fuels could play a role in the automotive industry’s cleaner future. He will champion this cause during Autosport International (ASI) Connect next month.
Pirelli’s “power is nothing without control” strapline is well-known and apt. But, as we move further into the era of electric vehicles, should we be thinking: speed-ratings mean nothing without considering torque? In July 2003 my predecessor Peter Gardner published “Let’s torque speed ratings”, an editorial article that followed suggestions from within the tyre business that we reconsider what we mean by those letter values so-often tagged onto the end of tyre sizes. The discussion was specifically prompted by Stephen Marsh (then of Stapleton’s Tyre Services) who made the point that the power transference properites of millennial engines is as important as the absolute speed capability of tyres. In other words, when recommending products, the tyre business should be just as concerned about a vehicle’s torque demands as its top-speed capability.
NFDA chief executive Sue Robinson met with Rachel Maclean MP, parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department for Transport, on 28 January to discuss the Government’s ambition to end the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030 and outline the key role dealers play on the Road to Zero.
Large, powerful cars and SUVs with electric or hybrid drives are substantially heavier than conventional ICE-powered vehicles and thus need tyres that can handle greater loads. The solution is to fit tyres with a higher load index. The gold standard here is HL, and Continental has announced the arrival of the first passenger tyres with the new HL load index code.
Expanding its competencies with investments in the composites field, reinforcement leader Kordsa will supply British company TRB Lightweight Structures with carbon fibre fabrics for TRB’s mass production of EV battery enclosures.
Dr Andy Palmer, former CEO of Aston Martin, and non-executive vice chairman of InoBat Auto, a European electric vehicle battery producer, is calling on the UK Government to stimulate investment into domestic EV Battery Production.
Falken owner Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd has begun supplying Falken Azenis FK510 tyres to Toyota Motor Corporation for use as factory standard tyres on its new model Mirai, a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which went on sale this December.
Electric car sales have reached their highest ever level in the used market, according to the online car supermarket BuyaCar.co.uk. After languishing for most of the year at around one in every hundred sales, December has seen them taking a 15 per cent share of the used market.
Continental AG is aiming to be completely carbon-neutral by 2050. One of the earliest landmarks in the plans sees Continental move to being carbon-neutral in some areas within two years. Specifically, from 2022 Continental will make its global business for emission-free cars, buses, trains and other vehicles carbon-neutral. The programme covers the company’s production processes as well as their upstream stages and recycling at the end of use. In this way, the technology company is helping the industry make emission-free mobility completely carbon-neutral.
Pirelli launched the Elect marking at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show which is designed to be available as original equipment for “the most modern cars on the road”. Now Pirelli is highlighting that the Porsche Taycan is the first car to use Pirelli Elect-marked tyres.
Advanced battery technology investor Britishvolt has announced its plans to make the Mira Technology Park Campus near Coventry the home of its 5000sqm global headquarters. The company wants its new HQ to be fully operational by 2022. The news follows the UK government’s decision to bring forward its ban on the production of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Britishvolt said the facility, in the traditional heartland of the country’s automotive industry, will spearhead the development of battery technologies for future electrified vehicles. Britishvolt adds that it wants to expand the site further to “bring highly skilled and specialist jobs to the West Midlands.” The company wants to build the UK’s first battery gigaplant, supporting the vehicle parc’s transition to electric engines. It is targeting the fourth quarter of 2023 to begin production, having signed an MoU with the Welsh government in 2020.
With electric vehicles soon to be a large part of the overall vehicle parc Ateq – a company best known in the tyre business for its TPMS products – has launched an industrial scale battery management tool. Designed for both electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV), the battery module balancer is called the EVB 5100. The unit is designed for rework stations in battery manufacturing or electric vehicle production plants. According to the company, it uses “the most efficient and precise technologies to equalize voltage differences between modules to maximize battery performance”.
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Jaguar Land Rover
Toyota
Bruno, Germany; Pixabay
Continental AG
Kordsa
InoBat
Continental
Pirelli
Britishvolt
Ateq