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Tag: electric vehicles

  • Hyundai Motor, Kia EVs Receive Top Ratings In Major Global Crash Safety Tests | auto news

    Seoul: Electric vehicle (EV) models produced by South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Kia have received top ratings in major global car crash safety tests, the automakers said on Sunday.

    According to the companies, five Hyundai and Kia EV models utilizing the E-GMP, Hyundai Motor Group’s proprietary EV platform, achieved the highest rating of five stars in the European New Car Assessment Programme, reports Yonhap news agency.

    The models are the Genesis GV60, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, and Kia’s EV6 and EV9. The same models also received top-tier ratings in crash evaluations conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the United States.

    The GV60, Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and EV6 were awarded the prestigious Top Safety Pick (TSP) Plus rating, while the EV9 earned the Top Safety Pick rating, indicating high levels of safety.

    In last year’s IIHS crash evaluations, 20 Hyundai Motor Group vehicles achieved TSP or higher ratings, marking the highest number among global automotive groups. The recently launched Kia EV3, which also utilizes the E-GMP platform, has not yet undergone safety evaluations in Europe and the US.

    “Hyundai Motor Group will continue to invest significant efforts in research and development to ensure the highest level of safety for passengers in all aspects,” a group official said.

    Meanwhile, automotive companies in South Korea are pushing forward with their new electric vehicle launch schedules despite public concerns over EV safety, with key players actively campaigning to debunk unsubstantiated myths surrounding safe charging practices.

    The latest fears surrounding EVs began after a spontaneous fire that began in a parked Mercedes-Benz EV wiped out an entire underground parking garage inside an apartment complex in Incheon, 27 kms west of Seoul, while damaging over 100 cars.

    Hyundai Motor and Kia said that their EV batteries are designed to be safe even when charged to 100 per cent, with the internal battery management system monitoring and controlling any issues that may arise.

  • Tata Motors Reaffirms Long-Term Confidence In EV Segment Despite Sales Dip | auto news

    Electric Vehicles In India: Tata Motors on Wednesday said it remains confident about the long-term prospects of the electric vehicle segment and termed the fall in sales numbers a “short-term” issue. Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle and Tata Passenger Electric, said “EV industry is a part of the larger PV trend that we are seeing of overall demand stress, which I would say is of a temporary nature.” The good thing is that inquiries and bookings are holding well, he said.

    There was a very high base effect of the first quarter also, he said, and added that “therefore there’s a larger industry trend also impacting (the sales) but primarily EV has come down because of the fleet segment.”

    “So, I don’t see an issue from a mid-to-long term as far as EVs are concerned,” Chandra said. The passenger electric vehicle sales for Tata Motors and other OEMs have been on a declining trend for the last four months.

    According to automobile dealers’ body FADA, passenger electric vehicle sales in July dipped 2.92 per cent year-on-year to 7,541 units from 7,768 units in the same month last year, with market leader Tata Motors seeing a 12 per cent decline at 4,775 units. as against 5,471 passenger electric cars retailed in July 2023.

    He said that the personal segment is absolutely stable in demand but the fleet segment came down completely in the first quarter because of the pre-buying in the March quarter due to the discontinuation of the FAME-11 scheme, which is 20 per cent of our total sales.

    “That was the whole reason and there is a high-base effect of last year,” he added. Chandra said that the barriers which existed two years back when the EVs were growing at 100-200 per cent, were much higher as compared to now from a charging, price or range anxiety perspective.

    Today there are 15,000-16,000 EV charges on the highways as compared to a few hundred that were there earlier, Chandra said. “So why there should be any concern,” he said.

    “So I believe that it’s a short-term issue and we should not bother too much about (the declining sales numbers). The long-term trend has to be EV and therefore one should be very confident and focused on that,” he said. while referring to a 12 per cent year-on-year decline in EV sales in July 2024.

    Chandra said that the regulations are also being framed in a manner that promotes the EV industry. He said that hopefully the FAME-III incentives should also be able to accommodate and continue what was in the earlier version of the scheme in terms of the category of vehicles.

    Tata Motors’ passenger electric portfolio now comprises Tiago EV, Tigor RV, Punch EV, Nexon, and Curvv EV. Moreover, EV sales account for 12 percent of the company’s total sales. Chandra said that the company is looking to achieve one-lakh electric vehicle sales this financial year.

  • Electric Vehicle Sales Rose 55.2% To 1.79 Lakh Units In July: FADA | auto news

    Electric Vehicle Sales In July 2024: Electric vehicle sales registered a 55.2 per cent year-on-year growth at 1,79,038 units in July driven by a massive 96 per cent jump in e-two-wheeler sales, automobile dealers’ body FADA said. on Tuesday. The total electric vehicle sales for July 2023 were at 1,16,221 units, according to the monthly sales data from Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association (FADA).

    The electric two-wheeler sales during the previous month stood at 1,07,016 units, up 95.94 per cent, from 54,616 units sold in July last year, while the electric three-wheeler sales grew 18.18 per cent at 63,667 units, from 58,873 units year. earlier, as per FADA.

    The commercial vehicle sales during the reporting month was also on an upward trajectory, growing two-fold on a year-on-year basis to 816 units, from 364 commercial vehicles sold in July 2023, it stated.

    Passenger vehicles, however, declined 2.92 per cent at 7,541 units in July, as against 7,768 units in the same month of last year, as per data.

    “The rising market share in the 2W and 3W EV segments for July 2024, with YoY growth rates of 95.94 per cent and 18.18 per cent respectively, and a market share of 7.4 per cent and 57.6 per cent, respectively for the month, is a clear indication of the growing acceptance and demand for electric vehicles in India,” FADA President Manish Raj Singhania said.

    The PV segment, while showing a marginal year-on-year decline of 2.92 per cent, maintains a market share of 2.4 per cent, Singhania said, adding that the CV segment has shown remarkable growth with a year-on-year increase of 124.2. per cent and a current (July) market share of 1.02 per cent.

    The combination of attractive discounts and the anticipation of the discontinuation of the EMPS (Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme), despite its extension, has significantly boosted sales, he said.

    Announced by the Ministry of Heavy Industries in March, for a four months period-April 1,2024 to July 31,2024 to boost the adoption of EVs across the country with a total outlay of Rs 500 crore, the EMP scheme has now been extended. by September 30, while the scheme’s outlay has also been increased to Rs 778 crore.

  • IIT Bombay Develops Method To Optimize Components In Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles. auto news

    Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles Technology: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay on Tuesday said it has developed an optimization method for determining the required weight and size distribution of components in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The new method can optimize the weight, cost, and range of FCEVs by recommending the optimal size for the radiator and a thermal energy storage (TES) unit, increasing their efficiency and helping expedite commercialization, IIT Bombay said in a statement.

    Electric vehicles have gained popularity and are considered the future of green mobility and a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. According to IIT Bombay, unlike battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which need charging, FCEVs run on fuel cells, and are referred to as zero-emission vehicles, because the only by-product from the engine is water vapor.

    However, a fuel cell generates excess heat that requires large radiators for cooling, which increases vehicle size and weight, it stated. To address this issue, IIT Bombay’s Prof Prakash C Ghosh and Nadiya Philip proposed a new thermal management system using paraffin wax as the phase change material (PCM) to store thermal energy.

    It allows reduction in radiator size and maintains a constant temperature for the coolant, improving vehicle performance, it said. The method combines EES and TES to calculate the ideal sizes of each component, namely, the radiator, fuel cell, EES, and TES systems.

    The team used a mathematical technique called pinch analysis to determine the ideal sizes for these components. The researchers have estimated that the proposed method can allow a reduction in the radiator size in heavy-duty vehicles like trucks by almost 2.5 times by simply optimizing the sizes of the parts, the statement said.

    This method can aid in the design of more efficient and cost-effective cooling systems in such vehicles, it said.