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Best Of 2021: In Epically Nerdy Interview, Elon Musk Discusses Build Quality Problems With Engineer Who Compared Model 3 To ‘A Kia In The ’90s’

Tesla’s CEO then fesses up to his company’s build-related mistakes and dives into why they’ve been happening. When asked about panel gaps, Musk says: “It took [Tesla] a while to…iron out the production process,” going on to discuss how the company struggled to get details right while production was in “vertical climb mode.” Really early production cars, and the cars that come out after production has leveled off, Musk says, are the ones likely to have the best fit and finish.

Munro, having met with a number of Tesla owners during a recent road trip, noticed variations between two vehicles built in the same short time-span. Confused as to how this could happen, he asked Musk. “We actually did improve gap and paint quality quite a bit towards the end of last year,” the California-based engineer-CEO told the Michigan-based engineer-CEO, “Even in the course of December.”

Musk also mentions that while ramping up production, his team rushed cars in a way that didn’t adequately allow paint to dry, causing issues with quality. “Production is hell,” Musk puts it frankly.

What about the rear part of the Model 3’s body, which Munro criticized for consisting of far too many pieces with far too many different fastening methods? (shown below):

Image for article titled Best Of 2021: In Epically Nerdy Interview, Elon Musk Discusses Build Quality Problems With Engineer Who Compared Model 3 To 'A Kia In The '90s'

The image above shows this problem on an early Model 3 build, though Munro’s 2021 model does show some improvement. For example, there are now 17 spot welds on one particular plate instead of 26 on the old car, and there’s one fewer bolt. Oddly, though, even newer Model 3s don’t share the Model Y’s more intuitive “mega-casting” rear wheelhouse — i.e. a single piece instead of various panels fastened together.

Musk discusses this Model 3 design weakness.

“The organizational structure errors, they manifest themselves in the product,” he begins. “We’ve got probably the best material science team in the world at Tesla. Engineers would ask what’s the best material for this purpose…and they got like 50 different answers. And they’re all true individually, but they were not true collectively,” he admits.

“When you try to join all these dissimilar alloys…you’ve got gaps that you’ve got to seal, and you’ve got to join these things, and some of them need to be joined with rivets, some of them need to be joined with spot welds, some of them need to be joined with resin or resin and spot welds,” he continues.

“Frankly, it looks like a bit of a Frankenstein situation when you look at it all together.” Musk then talks about how sealing the gaps between the different pieces in the body is a nightmare. “That might be the most painful job in the factory, is spackling on the sealant,” he describes, mentioning how even a small error can cause leaks and NVH problems.

Munro asks why newer Model 3s still make use of such a multipiece rear body design instead of a single casting like on the Model Y. “It’s hard to change the wheels on the bus when it’s going 80 mph down the highway,” Musk responds, saying the Model 3 represents such a large portion of the automaker’s volume that the company “[needs] an opportunity to redo the factory without blowing up the cashflow.”

He talks about how important going to a single-piece casting was for the Model Y: There are no gaps, there’s no sealant and there’s no risk of galvanic corrosion at the interface of dissimilar metals. That choice alone, Musks says, allowed Tesla to reduce its body shop size by 30 percent. “We got rid of 300 robots just with that rear body casting,” he tells Munro.

Musk then discusses with Munro the plans for Tesla to move to a structural battery pack that leverages the individual cells as structural elements that resist shear forces. “The cells today in every car are carried like a sack of potatoes,” Musk explains. “They actually have negative structural value,” going on to say how today, cells don’t make vehicles any more rigid, and that especially because there is isolation material needed between the cells themselves and the pack housing to help the batteries handle shock loads, batteries are just a liability from a mass standpoint. Musk wants to change that, and get dual use from those batteries.

The rest of the interview remains thoroughly nerdy. There’s discussion about cars’ natural frequencies, about how reducing polar moment of inertia by bringing mass toward the car’s center of mass yields better handling. There’s discussion about tolerance stack-up and how that leads Tesla to almost always err toward fewer pieces and Lego-like parts precision.

Munro mentions his company’s BMW i3 findings, lauding the German automaker’s excellent build quality for the carbon-fiber body. Musk replies that one of his major concerns about use of carbon fiber is that it has a vastly different coefficient of thermal expansion than aluminum or steel, and this can cause fitment issues when the vehicle is subjected to certain thermal environments.

Musk also talks about how Tesla’s casting sizes on the Model S and X were limited because heat treatment led to shape distortion once the part reached a certain size. To facilitate larger castings, Musk states, company’s material scientists had to make a custom alloy that didn’t require an additional treating step after casting.

Musk also mentions that he wants to do away with 12-volt systems on EVs — a holdover from earlier designs and a way to easily integrate already-existing components from prominent auto suppliers. A 48-volt system, Musk and Munro agree, could have lots of benefits including reduced wire size and weight. Musk mentions that the S and X are now getting lithium-ion 12-volt batteries, which add capacity and last longer than traditional lead-acid ones.

The discussion concludes with talk about the future of EVs and the speed with which they will enter the marketplace in coming years. There’s also talk about shortsellers because of course there is.

Throughout the interview, especially in the beginning, Munro compliments Tesla’s excellent seats, with Musk talking about how the key is to reduce pressure peaks on the body. The two enginerds examine the value of making seats in-house versus buying them from suppliers.

It’s all nerdy and fascinating, and in some ways, a truly magical moment between two total math and science geeks. I love it. I also love how, when Munro says he was having issues with Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system because of bad road markings in Texas, Musk straight-up says: “Even if the road is painted completely wrong and a UFO lands in the middle of the road, the car still cannot crash and still needs to do the right thing…It can’t be dependent upon the road markings being correct….It’s just gotta be ‘no matter what, it’s not gonna crash.’”

The whole interview is just gold. I talked with Munro & Associate’s president Cory Steuben, and he told me about how this interview even came to be. Steuben and Munro are in the middle of a road trip right now in a Model 3 that they spontaneously decided to purchase.

The two planned a trip out west to see some EV automakers, and hung out in Fremont to see if Musk would be there. He wasn’t. Serendipitously, Steuben received an email from an individual saying he could set up an interview with Musk. Musk’s assistant, at 11 p.m. on Monday, scheduled an interview in Boca Chica, Texas for Friday, but by that time, Steuben and Munro were in Eugene, Oregon.

So Steuben and Munro had to bee-line it 2,500 miles, 40 hours in the Model 3, planning charging stations and really putting electromobility to the ultimate test in driving from Oregon all the way to Texas to see the king of EVs himself, Elon Musk.

Luckily, Steuben and Munro made their meeting, with the former saying the billionaire came off as “one of the most enjoyable, humble, stoic…people that I’ve met who’s in a position like that.”

Musk, Steuben said, spent three hours with the two engineers from Michigan, and was seen working at 10:30 p.m. on a Friday.

As if the interview weren’t epic enough on its own.

Battery Swap Stations Are Gaining Momentum In China

The simplest and most genius-brain solution to charging times and range with EVs isn’t one you’ll find in America. In China, though, it’s gaining ground. All that and more in The Morning Shift for June 2, 2021.

1st Gear: China Is An Alternate Universe For EVs

China is like the American car market in so many ways. It’s huge, for one, (the biggest in the world while we’re number two) and filled with people inexplicably buying sedans and not hatchbacks or wagons. It’s also the biggest market for electric cars in the world, and you see as many Teslas bopping around Shanghai as you do here in New York or Los Angeles.

But China also offers us a market where GM builds small, adorable, unbelievably popular EVs as opposed to 9,000-pound hulking Hummers for the rich. It feels like an alternate reality where everyone takes EVs as a given, not as a radical tech.

This is a long intro to the point that battery-swapping stations are taking off there, as noted in this overview story by Automotive News China:

Until 2019, state-owned BAIC Motor Co. and EV startup Nio were the only two automakers offering battery swap services for customers.

[…]

Competition from Tesla and Nio’s success in gaining customers with battery swap services have prompted other Chinese EV makers to take bold steps.

[…]

While Geely is constructing battery swap stations on its own, other Chinese automakers have opted to build facilities along with domestic companies to share costs.

In September, state-owned Changan Automobile Co. launched its first battery swap station in Chongqing along with a consortium of other major domestic companies.

The partner companies include CATL, China’s largest EV battery maker; Aulton New Energy Vehicle Technology Co., a Shanghai-based battery swap station operator; and State Grid, a state-owned power grid operator.

In March, SAIC Motor Corp., another major state-owned automaker, also teamed up with Aulton to kick off operation of the first battery swap station for its EVs.

Aiways, an EV startup, tapped Blue Part Smart Energy, an EV charging facility operator under BAIC, in April to offer battery swap services.

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This is all interesting to see from an American perspective, especially one based out of New York City. Around the turn of the century, NYC was home to the largest electric car company in the world, the Electric Vehicle Company, and it operated using battery-swapping stations right in the middle of Manhattan. The tech is basic. We could go down this route if we wanted to.

2nd Gear: Another Tesla Recall

Some 6,000 Tesla Model 3 and Model Ys are getting recalled for loose brake caliper bolts, as Reuters reports:

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is recalling nearly 6,000 U.S. vehicles because brake caliper bolts could be loose, with the potential to cause a loss of tire pressure, documents made public on Wednesday show.

The recall covers certain 2019-2021 Model 3 vehicles and 2020-2021 Model Y vehicles. Tesla’s filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it had no reports of crashes or injuries related to the issue and that the company will inspect and tighten, or replace, the caliper bolts as necessary.

Tesla said that loose caliper bolts could allow the brake caliper to separate and contact the wheel rim, which could cause a loss of tire pressure in “very rare circumstances.” The company said that, in the “unlikely event” there is vehicle damage from a loose or missing fastener, it will arrange for a tow to the nearest service center for repair.

Hey, at least they got the bolts on there this time!

3rd Gear: Everyone Is Copying How Elon Talks

Another interesting Tesla story comes from Bloomberg, which has taken notice that everyone is not just copying Tesla’s plans to make attractive and desirable electric cars, but also how Tesla talks them up with ever-grander terminology. Per Bloomberg:

Many of the words speak to the sheer scale of Musk’s ambitions, which are always far grander than people realize initially. A battery factory isn’t just a battery factory, it’s a Gigafactory. (Giga comes from the Greek word “gigas,” or giant.)

A fast charging station for Tesla’s electric cars isn’t just a charging station, it’s a Supercharger. (Tesla has more than 25,000, giving them the largest network in the world.)

The battery packs that Tesla sells to utilities that promise “massive energy storage?” Megapacks.

There are no signs of him stopping. At Tesla’s “Battery Day” in September 2020, Musk talked about reaching “Terawatt-hour” scale battery production. “Tera is the new Giga,” Musk said on stage.

We’ve now reached the point where every battery factory — even those being made by competitors — is called a gigafactory, regardless of its physical size or planned output. “Nissan in advanced talks to build battery gigafactory in UK,” reported the Financial Times. “Stellantis discussing conditions with Rome to build gigafactory in Italy,” said Reuters.

Would Tesla be where it is if everyone just called gigafactories what they are? (They’re just regular factories.)

4th Gear: Toyota Scaling Back Olympic Plans

The Olympics in Japan seem to be still on somebody’s schedule, even if the people of Japan seem less than stoked on a global travel-fest in the midst of a still-ongoing global pandemic. Of course, this has huge implications for … high-profile industrial manufacturing that hopes to use the Olympics as a sales and marketing opportunity! Reuters has a broad report on it, and I’ll just take out this little section on Toyota:

For global sponsor Toyota Motor Corp., the Games were a chance to showcase its latest technology. It had planned to roll out about 3,700 vehicles, including 500 Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell sedans, to shuttle athletes and VIPs among venues.

It also planned to use self-driving pods to carry athletes around the Olympic village.

Such vehicles will still be used, but on a much smaller scale — a “far cry from what we had hoped and envisioned,” a Toyota source said. A full-scale Olympics, the source said, would have been a “grand moment for electric cars.”

A Toyota spokeswoman declined to comment on whether there were any changes to its marketing.

5th Gear: Biden Blocks Trump Plan For Arctic Drilling In Alaska

This is not a total win for climate, but it’s something, as the Financial Times reports:

The Biden administration has announced it will suspend the Arctic oil drilling rights sold in the last days of Donald Trump’s presidency, reversing a signature policy of the previous White House and handing a victory to environmentalists.

[…]

Tuesday’s decision marked a victory for environmentalists and activists, a pillar of Biden’s support in last year’s election, who have begun to grow impatient with some of the White House’s climate actions. The administration recently opted not to intervene to force the closure of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and has supported a major Alaska oil project approved during Trump’s term in office.

“In general the Biden administration is acting vigorously on climate change,” said Michael Gerrard, founder of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “This action on ANWR is quite consistent with that. The actions on the other two projects do not seem so consistent.”

I’ll take anything I can get at this point!

Neutral: How Is Your Car?

My Bug refused to start the other day just as I had loaded the car up for a multi-day road trip. With rain coming down, it refused to start even when I flagged down a ‘90s Infiniti for a jump. I ran out and got a new battery and it did start, but was running like shit until I found a half-bare wire leading to the coil. Some electrical tape later and we were on the road, though I’m still finding the car getting hot and leaking oil around some seals I know I just replaced. Stopping after one mountain pass I saw vapor rising out of one of the two carburetors. Time for a tune-up!

Your New Electric Car Will Cost Less To Produce Than Your Old Gas Guzzler Very Soon

One of the most important milestones in the shift to electrification is coming sooner than you think. Electric cars will cost less to make than internal combustion cars by the year 2027, according to a report from The Guardian.

And the lower cost of production will come even sooner than that in certain EV segments. For example, electric midsize sedans and SUVs will be cheaper to make than internal combustion midsize sedans and SUVs by 2026, per the report. Just one year after that, smaller cars will follow and it’s mostly thanks to cheaper batteries.

The research that The Guardian cites concludes that batteries will drive a big decrease in EV production costs in the near future. As EV batteries get cheaper, the production of electric cars gets cheaper, too, because batteries account for as much as a quarter of that overall cost.

The Guardian cites a new study, which suggests that the price of batteries will decrease by more than half of where it is now, in this decade:

The new study, commissioned by Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based non-profit organisation that campaigns for cleaner transport in Europe, predicts new battery prices will fall by 58% between 2020 and 2030 to $58 per kilowatt hour.

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This means that in as little as five years from today, electric cars will actually be the cheaper option for big auto and it’s very possible that, as The Guardian outlines, “tighter emissions regulations could put [EVs] in pole position to dominate all new car sales by the middle of the next decade…”

When you take the stricter emissions that the European Union is proposing, and you add that to the lower cost of batteries, you get a market where making and selling EVs is more lucrative for carmakers than ICE ever was.

The important question, then, is: Will cheaper to make translate to cheaper to buy? The report indicates that it is a possibility:

The current average pre-tax retail price of a medium-sized electric car is €33,300 [~$40,135], compared with €18,600 [~$22,615] for a petrol car, according to the research. In 2026, both are forecast to cost about €19,000 [~$23,101].

By 2030, the same electric car is forecast to cost €16,300 [~$19,818]before tax, while the petrol car would cost €19,900 [~24,196.]

Carmakers are beginning to like not operating on razor-thin margins. It’s possible that cheaper batteries will mean more profit for big auto, rather than EVs for the masses.

I can’t wait to see what carmakers are going to push in order to meet these upmarket margins as EV production costs go down. Really, I’m just stoked to see how they’ll swerve around the $25,000 electric car.

Here’s How Importing A Car From Europe Differs From Bringing One Over From Japan

I recently purchased two vehicles at auctions in Japan. As one has reached America — and the other awaits its boat — this seems like a good time to answer some of your questions about vehicle importation. Many readers want to know how importing a car from Europe works.

Japan has an entire industry dedicated to selling cars to people in other countries. There are dozens of exporter websites, auction sites and companies that do nothing but funnel cars out of Japan to buyers overseas. Surely Europe would be similar, right?

As our David Tracy remarked last year, Germany is a goldmine for dirt cheap cars like the Renault Twingo. If you watch “Car Throttle” on YouTube, you’ll quickly notice that old cars sell for absurdly low prices in the UK, too. Europe is a continent bustling with vehicles just begging to be brought to America.

Europe does have some exporters in the business of helping you buy and import a vehicle from the Continent, but the industry doesn’t seem nearly as robust. You can go to just about any car buying website in Japan, find thousands of cars for sale and immediately get an estimated cost of putting that car on a ship to the States. You can find, buy and ship a car from Japan without leaving your couch here in America.

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The same cannot be said for European car-buying sites . Not only are there fewer cars to choose from, but I’ve yet to find a site that can generate a shipping estimate on its own. The selling platforms aren’t built for export, unlike Japan’s car-selling sites. This means that you’ll have to call the dealership to complete the sale and arrange shipping.

Perhaps even more confusing: I could not find an easy way for a foreigner to access auctions in a country like Germany. Thinking that maybe I was missing something, I reached out to a few sources familiar with importing old cars from Europe.

Orchid Euro has been in the business of importing cars and parts for almost a decade. Orchid’s representative confirms that Europe doesn’t really have a thriving used-car exportation industry like Japan’s. To make matters worse, cars from Western Europe often head east or south, not to America like used Japanese cars do.

Lucas from Team Free Spirit spends a lot of time helping buyers of imported vehicles know exactly what they’re getting. He also confirms that getting a vehicle from Europe isn’t nearly as simple as bringing one from Japan.

So, how do you get that adorable Twingo into your hands here in America?

Lucas tells me that if you want to do the work yourself, you have to contact the private seller or dealership. If you’re lucky, they can help you pay for the vehicle and get it ready for the long journey. But more likely than not, you’ll need to have a local handle the transaction for you. This way, you can also have the vehicle inspected to make sure it’s worth purchasing in the first place.

Once you’ve purchased that vehicle, you have to prep it for shipping and find a carrier to haul it to America for you. Thankfully, Europe does have an expansive shipping industry to help you get your new ride on a truck, then onto a boat.

But if you don’t want to deal with all of that, you can hire an importer to do all of the annoying work. That way, you won’t have to deal with language barriers and playing a long game of Telephone across an ocean. If you want to embark on your own car importation journey, CarsDirect has a handy guide on how to avoid scams in importing cars from Europe.

Keep your vehicle importation questions coming! A number of you have also asked how to import a motorcycle from another country. That is a subject I will cover in the future.

Two BMW Electric Cars: One From The Factory And One Converted At Home

One thing that I’ve been curious about is how homebrew electric car builds compare to OEM efforts at EVs, especially as we’re still in the early days of widespread manufacturer adoption. Jalopnik reader Allan has both: a 1983 E21 he converted himself and 2014 BMW i3 that doesn’t even want to see a wrench.

Welcome to EV Ownership Stories! Every week, we’ll be posting an interview with an owner of an electric vehicle. We’re here to show that people have been living with EVs for longer than you’d think, in stranger places than you’d imagine. If you’d like to be featured, instructions are at the bottom of the article.

1983 BMW 320is And 2014 BMW i3

What Car Do You Own?

An old BMW (’83 320is, E21 chassis) conversion built mostly from scrap EV conversions and a ’14 BMW i3 rex

Where Do You Live With It?

Eugene, Oregon

How Was Buying It?

I have a thing for (addiction to) E21 BMWs. Those are the ’77-’83 3 Series cars, mostly numbered 320i. I’ve had one sitting around here since 2011 that was too nice to part out but not nice enough to build up. The perfect solution? Electrify it on the cheap! […] For me, although the conversion car makes utterly no financial sense, (I’ve got more money in batteries and the battery management system alone than I paid for the entire i3!) it’s by far the most satisfying car to drive of the fleet.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD IT?

The origins of this project go back almost 30 years to when I converted cars to EVs as part of my auto repair business.

HOW HAS IT LIVED UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

The i3 does everything well but cost less than the E21! It has a 650cc range extender engine, adaptive cruise control, automatic braking, one-pedal function, programmable everything and it drives like a dream BUT I probably can’t fix it. […] The E21 drives great because it’s 200+ pounds lighter than it was leaving the factory and because it now has nearly perfect balance front to rear and left to right. And, you NEED to shift it because it’s DC powered, not AC as all modern EVs are.

As you can probably tell by this point in the series, I adore featuring stories about classic cars converted to electric vehicles. It’s so satisfying to look through my inbox and find the cars I grew up adoring given a new lease on life as modern hot rods.

And that brings us to this week’s pair of EVs owned by Allan, both bearing the roundel of the Bavarian Motor Works, but with vastly different execution. The first is his ’14 BMW i3 with a range extender, which of course comes chock full of creature comforts like adaptive cruise, one-pedal driving and smartphone connectivity, as well as the usual BMW fit and finish (albeit packaged in a much more quirky package than, say, an X3). The 650cc engine works as a gas generator that kicks on when the batteries are getting low, to eliminate range anxiety without needing to add a full ICE drivetrain like in a traditional parallel hybrid. Allan says quite simply, “the i3 does everything well, but I probably can’t fix it. I can’t even buy a manual to read about fixing it.” Basically, it makes a good daily driver, but it doesn’t satisfy his urge to wrench.

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Now we get to the second BMW in his EV collection, and this one can be wrenched on. Allan’s other electric BMW is a 1983 320is coupe with a DC motor, a five-speed manual transmission, and a 21 kWh battery system that provides over 60 miles of range “while driving any way [Allan] feels like.” He enjoys the E21 BMWs a lot (as he put it, to the point of mild addiction) and he’d had this specific one sitting around for a while. It was too nice to part out, but too rough to restore, and he immediately gravitated towards a budget EV build. It was a good way to do it justice and enjoy it. He’s been converting EVs on and off as part of his repair business for nearly 30 years, so he had the skills to build it. All he needed was a refresher on some of the more modern solutions available.

The 320is is, as a result, an entirely homebrew conversion, built with fresh LFP batteries for juice and an Orion BMS2 from Shift EVs for power management. The rest of the system is cobbled entirely together out of other old, broken conversions Allan would find on EVFinder.com and purchase for parts. A BMW 2002 that had been converted to a DC motor helped him get his power plant, engine mount, and transmission adapter situation set up, and a converted ’90s Toyota Pickup donated its DC/DC converter, battery charger, and many other parts to the build.

Because he used other used builds for parts and sold off the non-EV components like the BMW 2002 shell, the conversion without the batteries was actually in the black. With the batteries and management system he bought new, the overall cost of the project came out to roughly $7,500. That’s the most cost-efficient homemade EV I’ve seen thus far, and it’s giving me really bad ideas about what I’d like my next project to be. I could maybe swing that cost.

The E21, as Allan puts it, drives great:

“its entertainment value as an EV is just limitless. I can shift and hot rod if I want or just leave it in third gear and be lazy. And it’s a beast for pulling a trailer!”

The conversion actually allowed the car to lose 200 pounds, move the center of gravity backwards and downwards, and improve the weight balance of the car. Because it’s a DC motor powering it, the manual transmission is actually needed and the car has the fun of shifting with the linear response and quiet ride of a modern EV. Allan actually uses the E21 to test out differentials and transmissions he sells or puts into other cars. As he explains, “It is perfect for this job. No exhaust, heat shields, or fuel pump in the way, and it’s utterly silent. You can really hear any drivetrain noise!”

His verdict on the two cars is that they are a perfect pair: the i3 for a reasonable daily, capable of puttering around town in comfort, with a warranty, and no worries about range, and the E21 for pure fun and towing. He does admit he finds himself in his E21 more often than the i3 (or any of the other ICE cars he owns and works on, for that matter) and I really can’t say I’d blame him at all!

Thank you so much for sharing, Allan! We’d love to hear from more readers about their EVs, modern or classic, factory or otherwise.

We want:

Your name

What car do you own? (If you owned a car in the past, let us know what years!)

Where do you live with it?

How and where do you charge it?

How was buying it?

How long have you had it?

How has it lived up to your expectations?

A photo of your car

If you want to be interviewed, please let us know an email with an re: EV Ownership Stories to tscott at jalopnik dot com!

EV Chargers Are Still Inaccessible To Many People With Disabilities

When infrastructure planners map out the future design of cities around the world, they generally do so with able-bodied folks in mind. Charging networks for electric vehicles have fallen into the same trap, with one-third of people with disabilities in the United Kingdom still struggling to find an accessible charger for their vehicle.

Those stats are the result of a four-year study conducted by Zap-Map, the UK’s answer to charge station mapping services. The company polled 2,200 EV drivers to gauge how the electric world has been evolving. This year, though, Zap-Map paired with a company called Motability, a charity in the UK dedicated to serving communities of those with disabilities. The goal is to examine how the current charging infrastructure is working for the non-able-bodied community.

The survey revealed a lot of statistics that show we still have a lot of work to do to make the electric world more accessible.

One-third of people with disabilities have difficulty locating a charger that meets their needs
One in seven of those interviewed noted that the biggest problem they face is the weight of the charging cables
Other issues include: the force required to attach the connector, a lack of dropped curbs to provide a ramp near charging points, unsuitable parking

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Catherine Marris, Innovation Lead at Motability, responded to the results by saying, “We know that one in five people in the UK are disabled and Motability’s recent research estimated that there will be 2.7 million disabled drivers or passengers by 2035, with 1.35 million expected to be partially or wholly reliant on public charging infrastructure. As we approach what will be a transformative energy transition in the UK, there is a robust social and commercial case for ensuring that EV charging infrastructure is accessible for disabled people. If we want to work towards a society and economy that is inclusive for all, then accessibility must be a priority.”

Essentially, this survey will likely be a jumping-off point for EV infrastructure designers in the future. It shows a lack of foresight on the part of many charging planners, something that will require a revamp in the near future.

Electric School Buses Are A Brilliant Application For Current EV Tech

As we look forward to distribution of the coronavirus vaccines and the eventual re-opening of schools, we also anticipate students again boarding a familiar fixture of American roadways: the yellow school bus.

Outwardly, school buses haven’t changed a whole lot over the decades. Times are changing, though, as hundreds of electric school buses are entering service. I think a school bus is one of the best use-cases for current EV technology.

Blue Bird, a leading school bus manufacturer in the U.S., has been churning out all-electric school buses since 2018. It delivered its 100th electric bus in April and received its 300th order in November, Autoweek reported. Blue Bird notes that its electric bus sales are up 250 percent in 2020, so the market for electric buses appears to be growing rapidly.

I was amazed at that growth and wondered what’s hidden under the sheetmetal. Blue Bird offers its Micro Bird, Vision and All American buses in electric form. Bolted to the frame under the floor are two banks of seven Li-ION NMC/G batteries adding up to a capacity of 155 kWh. These batteries are rated for 3,000 charge cycles (0 to 100 percent charges), or an expected eight to ten years of service.

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Blue Bird’s offerings have a range up to 120 miles on a charge. But if that isn’t enough, Navistar International’s IC Bus subsidiary has its CE Series Electric. IC advertises more than 200 miles on a charge with a massive 315-kWh battery. For comparison’s sake, that’s larger than the beefy 264-kWh pack in Volvo’s VNR Electric trucks.

Both manufacturers are offering DC fast-charging options. These buses are capable of vehicle-to-grid integration. In short, this means the buses could be used for energy storage, returning power to the grid at times of peak demand.

Blue Bird and IC Bus aren’t the only bus makers in the EV market. Thomas Built Buses is also delivering Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric school buses to school districts on the Eastern Seaboard. Collins Bus Corporation and others also have electric school bus offerings.

Potentially fueling this rush to purchase electric buses are large grants from various government agencies. Illinois is using some of its Volkswagen Dieselgate settlement money for grants toward electrifying school bus fleets.

It blows my mind that so many choices are out there for electric buses, but it makes sense. Buses tend to travel an average of 31.73 miles during a set route on a driving shift. Even with more than one driving shift, EV tech is perfect for school buses.

It’s good for students, too, as exhaust from a diesel-powered bus can expose them to cancer risks as much as 23 to 46 greater than what’s considered significant under federal law; each year, one school bus in Texas emits the equivalent of 114 cars, according to the EPA. Worse, there is no known safe level of diesel or gasoline exhaust exposure for the developing immune system of a child.

If there is a major limiting factor in adopting these buses, it’s price. An electric school bus can easily be double the initial price of a diesel unit, being as high as $400,000. However, given the extremely low running costs of an electric and the potential availability of grants, bus manufacturers expect electric buses to be cheaper for school districts in the long run. The New York School Bus Contractors Association reports that there are more than 480,000 school buses on American roads, so these manufacturers have a long way to go.

As you all know by now, I seriously love school buses. While I’m partial to diesel propulsion I love how electric technology is transforming a staple of America. Given the limitations of current EV tech, I can’t think of a better application.

What’s keeping you from buying an electric vehicle?

EVs — Time to recharge batteries, price of the vehicle and range are the leading reasons by British drivers are reluctant to buy electric vehicles | Castrol illustrations

EVs — Time to recharge batteries, price of the vehicle and range are the leading reasons by British drivers are reluctant to buy electric vehicles | Castrol illustrations

As everyone who has watched Hamilton knows, the colonies once revolted against Mother England and won their independence. And yet the two nations have maintained a sibling relationship, and thus the results of a new study by Castrol provides some insight into the electric car marketplace.

The study, says the British oil company, points to the “tipping points” for electric vehicles to become mainstream in the UK.

Among those tipping points are a purchase price of £24,000 (or $30,000) for an EV, recharging of the battery in 30 minutes, and a range of at least 282 miles.

The study revealed that while people in many countries are willing to pay more for an EV, British drivers are not, which may be one reason that while current projections have EVs in the world’s mainstream in 2024, that milestone isn’t anticipated in the UK until 2025.

Castrol’s motivation for such a survey, it said, is its position as a “global leader” in providing special e-transmission fluids, e-coolants and e-greases for electric vehicles.

The company said the study draws on the views of consumers, fleet managers and automotive industry leaders in the UK.

“The automotive industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, but I believe that electric vehicles have a central role to play in powering the sector’s low-carbon recovery,” said Omer Dormen, vice president of Castrol Europe.

“Castrol’s research shows that individual consumers are positive about making the switch to electric, but buyers in the UK expect to do so slightly later than those in other markets, and are keen to pay a bit less.

“As an industry we must focus on the factors that matter most to consumers.”

The full 48-page study, “Accelerating the EVolution” is available at the Castrol website.

Castrol also included in the study research from eight of the world’s “most important” EV markets and identified five “critical challenges” that need to be addressed to promote further growth in the EV market. It also highlighted the different priorities for consumers and fleet managers.

Among the findings:

64 percent of British consumers are taking a “wait-and-see” approach to EVs, and around 60 percent of fleet managers are waiting for their competitors to convert from petroleum to electric power for their vehicles.
Price is the No. 1 priority for consumers, though British consumers want to pay no more than $30,000 while those in other countries would switch at the $36,000 plateau.
62 percent say that maintenance costs could keep them from going electric, to which Castrol notes that “many consumers are unaware that the overall average cost of ownership of an EV over its lifetime tends to be lower than an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle.”
The No. 2 factor delaying purchase is charging times. Nearly 70 percent of consumers said EVs won’t dominate until charging times are the same as those of refueling an ICE.
Range anxiety is real and was No. 3 on the list. What British buyers want is to be able to drive from London to Paris without having to recharge.

“The automotive industry has already demonstrated what it can achieve in response to the coronavirus pandemic, turning its capabilities to producing much needed medical equipment,” said Mandhir Singh, Castrol’s chief executive. “With EV technology constantly improving, the challenge now will be to drive a low-carbon recovery and accelerate the EVolution as quickly as possible.

“Bringing down the cost and charge time for electric vehicles while increasing range, infrastructure and vehicle choice will be critical to persuading consumers to make the switch.”