[JACK ALYMER]
20-23 WAS A BANNER YEAR FOR EVS.
MORE THAN 13-AND-A-HALF MILLION UNITS SOLD WORLDWIDE.
IT’S A RECORD TOTAL THAT WAS HARD TO CONCEIVE JUST A FEW YEARS AGO.
BUT WITH SUPPLY CHAIN CONCERNS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS E-VS SOURING IN SOME CIRCLES – WHERE DOES THE INDUSTRY GO FROM HERE?
LOOK NO FURTHER THAN LAS VEGAS FOR ANSWERS.
THIS YEAR’S CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW IS GIVING US A GLIMPSE AT WHAT CONSUMERS CAN EXPECT TO SEE IN THE FUTURE.\
[Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actor]
“A machine that actually cares. It reminds me a little bit of the character that I played in Terminator 2. The T-800, it saved humanity.”
[JACK ALYMER]
LET’S START WITH HONDA:
ROLLING OUT A PAIR OF CONCEPT VEHICLES DESIGNED TO BE THINNER AND LIGHTER.
[Toshihiro Mibe, Honda CEO]
“Now, let me introduce our new EV series, which represents the new mobility Honda dreams of.”
[JACK ALYMER]
THESE MODELS ALSO SPORT A SMALLER, MORE POWERFUL BATTERY.
PRODUCING higher density BATTERIES LIKE these is KEY TO HONDA’S GOAL OF CREATING LIGHTER-WEIGHT EVS with benefits for drivers and the environment.
THE BULKY BATTERIES IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAKE THEM MUCH HEAVIER THAN COMBUSTION ENGINE CARS.
TAKE THE FORD F-150 LIGHTING FOR EXAMPLE. IT WEIGHS ONE AND A HALF THOUSAND POUNDS MORE THAN its GASOLINE counterpart.
[Tim Stevens, automotive journalist]“Honda hasn’t brought a lot of EVs to market, and these are different in that Honda is trying to keep them simple, small, pair them down, whereas a lot of EVs we see are bigger and taller and bulkier. So it’s a really different direction from a lot of other EVs on the market.”
[JACK ALYMER]
LIGHTER EVS CREATE LESS POLLUTION, HAVE AN IMPROVED RANGE, ARE CHEAPER TO BUILD, AND POSE FEWER POTENTIAL SAFETY RISKS ON THE ROAD THAN VEHICLES WHICH WEIGH MORE.
IT’S NOT JUST WEIGHT BEING THROWN AROUND AT C-E-S BUT ALSO DIRECTION.
TAKE THIS NEW E-V THAT COMES READY TO WALK FROM HYUNDAI.
[Lee Seung-hwan, vice president and head of Advanced Engineering at Hyundai Mobis]
“You can imagine that the car can be driving like a crab, horizontally, or the car can turn around in one space.”
[JACK ALYMER]
AND FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR CHEAPER OPTIONS –
AN SUV FROM VIETNAMESE AUTOMAKER VINFAST MAY COME WITH A PRICE POINT LOWER THAN TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.
[LE THI THU THUY, CHAIRWOMAN OF THE VINFAST BOARD OF DIRECTORS]
“So something like the VF 3 where you can, consumer can buy a very cute looking vehicles at the price of less than $20,000, like the dealership told us, is something that they think would sell very well.”
[JACK ALYMER]
WE ALSO GOT A LOOK AT SOME
OF THE COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS FOR ELECTRIFIED TRANSPORTATION.
KIA INTRODUCED A SERIES OF VANS THAT CAN SWAP OUT MODULES, FOR QUICK CONVERSION TO PICKUP TRUCK, TAXI OR ANY OTHER POTENTIAL USE YOU CAN DREAM UP.
[Karim Habib, Kia Executive Vice President]
“With this high degree of modularization, what does that mean? We plan to expand use cases from people moving and delivery to urban centric, real time delivery and ride sharing.”
[JACK ALYMER]
KIA ALSO ANNOUNCING A COLLABORATION WITH UBER TO MAKE EVS PURPOSE-BUILT FOR THE RIDE-SHARING APP.
AS PART OF THIS INITIATIVE, THE AUTOMAKER AND UBER PLAN TO ACTIVELY COOPERATE IN SUPPLYING CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE TO HELP DRIVERS MAKING THE SWITCH.
IN ADDITION TO ADVANCEMENTS SURROUNDING E-VS,THE EVENT FEATURED DEVELOPMENTS IN OTHER TYPES OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES.
HYUNDAI SPOTLIGHTED ITS PLANS FOR UTILIZING HYDROGEN ENERGY IN THEIR CARS, WHILE AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLIER BOSCH MOBILITY ANNOUNCED PLANS TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST HYDROGEN COMBUSTION ENGINE LATER THIS YEAR.
