As the years transition, lists of EVs coming to market in 2019 are omnipresent. But there is a problem with those lists. First, they are mainly for the USA market, and second, the availability of those new models is not great — only in California or a handful of “zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) states,” or some other very limited supply formula.
Sometimes there is a reason to report on rumors. This is one of those times. There are many rumors swarming the interwebs about Tesla and its inventory. And I am going to guess what they mean.
As reported yesterday, Carlos Ghosn has been taken in for questioning by the Japanese authorities. He is accused of “serious misconduct” and “numerous other significant acts of misconduct,” according to a Nissan press release. That sounds very serious. What has he done to deserve a prison cell?
As a consequence of the current trade war, Tesla faces an extra 25% on top of the standard 15% general import duty when importing into China from the USA. That is 25% more than imported German cars and more than 50% over locally produced vehicles that are eligible for EV incentives.
The Paris Motor Show, “Mondial de Paris,” started a day early with a pre-show symposium for a select public: “Tomorrow in Motion.” Even a few journalists were invited, yours truly not among them. But the whole 5 hour happening was live on YouTube. Arriving early in the hotel near Paris and with pencil and paper in hand, the CleanTechnica delegation was ready for it. As a French organized mondial event, half of the presentations were in French. That means that I have no notion what they were about.
Jaguar I-Pace
In the class of luxury midsize SUV/CUV, we have now or will relatively soon have 5 new fully electric vehicles that are serious all-around usable cars. Oops, in the USA, half the cars are not called cars but trucks. These vehicles are the Jaguar I-Pace, Audi e-Tron, Mercedes EQC, Tesla Model Y, and BMW iX3 — placed in order of expected start date of sales.
Tesla is looking for two new independent directors. There are many very capable candidates outside the normal business circles. We want candidates that will stay true to Tesla’s mission, and can even protect Musk from market pressures by keeping an eye on the future.
How often have you heard the complaint that all the electric cars on the market aside from Teslas are only compliance cars and that the carmakers have no intention to make enough of them to sell the cars in high numbers?
I wonder whether the SEC picked the wrong cherries from Elon Musk’s deposition.
The Nissan LEAF is infamous for its battery problems. It started with the fast degrading 24kWh battery in the original 2010 Nissan LEAF. That battery was not up to the hot conditions of US Southwest states. It was replaced by a battery with a different chemistry, the 24kWh “lizard battery” in 2014. In 2015, the model year 2016 (MY2016) LEAF got a slightly larger 30kWh battery option. In the MY2018 Nissan LEAF, an even bigger 40kWh battery was offered.
