Mercedes has revealed it is developing a new prototype electric car that it claims will have the longest ‘electric range’ and ‘highest efficiency’ of any battery-powered vehicle
Called the Mercedes Vision EQXX, the prototype was teased during the brand’s 2020 strategy update
No technical information or targets have been issued, but a presentation slide teased “Beijing to Shanghai on one charge ?”
That implies a range of at least 750 miles between recharges is being targeted
Engineers working on the project claim that rather than increasing battery capacity weight, advances in aerodynamic efficiency is key to unlocking such a large range
“The easiest way is to put a bigger battery in the car, but it leads to diminishing returns. The key is efficiency of vehicle and powertrain,” Mercedes engineers explained
The Vision EQXX is expected to be a one-off prototype, designed to highlight the technological know-how of Mercedes EQ sub-brand
However, bosses did confirm that learnings from the prototype will filter down into the brand’s series production cars
“Today I want to share our plans to go really beyond, to see a new frontier of range and efficiency. To find a new way of working, to speed up product development and tech advancement,” said Markus Schafer, Mercedes Research & Development boss
“We have set up a group of our engineers to take on an extraordinary task, to build the longest and highest efficiency electric car the world has ever seen”
“This is a serious project, chasing next generation technologies. We intend to incorporate the learning into the next generation of series production cars”
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Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida says the automaker will "take advantage of the scale of the alliance" with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors in electrification technology, which he sees as a source of future revenue
He also says electrification may drive a restructuring in the auto industry and didn't deny the possibility of expanding the alliance
Porsche, Ferrari Cars Face $59,000 Gas-Guzzlers Tax in France
A draft budget law weaving its way through France’s parliament may force car shoppers to reconsider purchases of Porsche, Ferrari or Lamborghini models that guzzle gasoline bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The government in Europe’s second-largest auto market is planning to more than double the “malus” -- or penalty -- consumers must pay based on cars’ carbon-dioxide emissions to as much as 50,000 euros ($59,000) in 2022
The proposal would increase what already are the continent’s costliest taxes on polluting passenger vehicles
1. Ball milling a mixture of transition metal oxides can produce homogeneous Ni,Mn,Co-oxide precursors, even to the extent of atomic mixing, so that previously unobserved (Ni, Mn, Co)O solid solution rock salt phase precursors can be formed
2. The final crystallite size of SC-NMC is only related to the heating conditions and has no relation to the precursor particle size, as previously believed
Nissan Motor will equip all future vehicles with basic automated driving functions, aiming to release more than 20 such models by fiscal 2023
The technology will enable Nissan's more expensive models to be operated hands-free on the highway asia.nikkei.com/Business/Autom…
Low to midprice cars will be able to track vehicles in front of them
To make this happen Nissan will have to navigate complex safety issues as advanced automated driving systems will put the car itself in charge of most of the vehicle's operation
The Japanese automaker plans to use its cars' operational data to develop more advanced functions
It will therefore place priority on encouraging wide takeup of the technology
“LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (SC-NMC) is used as a specific example”
“It was found that a SC-NMC precursor in the form of a previously unobserved rock-salt (Ni, Mn, Co)O solid solution phase can be made phase pure by ball milling”
“This demonstrates that precursors with atomic scale mixing can be achieved by dry methods”
“It is furthermore shown that large precursor particle sizes are not necessary to form large SC-NMC particles as is commonly believed”
SpaceX took in $1.9 billion in new funding and plans to raise more, capping off a busy period that includes its first successful human spaceflight, a launch for a satellite-based Internet service and work on a massive ship slated to carry people to Mars fortune.com/2020/08/18/elo…
The company founded by Elon Musk sold the bulk of its planned $2.07 billion offering to investors starting Aug. 4, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday
SpaceX plans to sell another $165 million in equity and preferred stock
Seventy-five investors have participated in the latest round of funding, which will value the company at $46 billion, Bloomberg News reported last week
That would rank SpaceX as one of the most valuable venture-backed U.S. companies