Autoline daily on EV sales and lane keeping

Discussion in 'General' started by bwilson4web, Oct 4, 2019.

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  1. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Source: http://www.autoline.tv/daily/

    EV SALES SLOW IN SEPTEMBER

    Sales of battery electric cars stalled out last month in the U.S. market. While they had been growing by strong percentage gains every month, in September they were flat compared to a year ago, though Tesla did post a 4% year over year gain. Even with the addition of the Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro and Audi eTron, the segment did not grow. Audi must be especially worried. Sales got off to a good start but have been falling every month since then and are now down by half. The same pretty much goes for the Jaguar I-Pace. This does not bode well for traditional automakers. They can’t seem to make much headway selling electric cars.

    Tesla has shown that a clean-sheet, EV design beats traditional automakers who try to cheaply swap a motor and batteries into an ICE body using legacy ICE design rules. Traditional auto EVs are heavy, modest performance, and costly. They try to retain customers who otherwise would join the “4%” growth of Tesla. For example, the Karma Revero vs BMW i3-REx (see web link.)

    EV range: 37 mi vs BMW 126 mi. kWh/100 mi: 56 kWh vs BMW 32 kWh. Gas MPG: 20 MPG vs BMW 31 MPG. The Karma still uses gas car design rules and it shows in lower performance versus the clean-sheet, BMW i3-REx.

    The also reported:

    DRIVER’S DON’T TRUST LANE KEEPING SYSTEMS

    The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS did a study on lane-keep assistance and cruise control. Many of the test drivers participating in the study thought the systems had a few small issues, but some felt that lane keeping systems were flawed to the point that they didn’t trust them. It all boiled down to the vehicles making choices without the driver’s input. In our experience, lane keeping system make the steering feel vague and indirect. They nibble at the lines marking the lanes especially going around curves. And there’s your technical term for the day. Nibble is the term engineers use to describe how the steering is making little inputs on its own, like when you’re driving on pavement with grooves in it and the steering wheel jiggles a bit.

    As for lane keeping, Tesla released V10 AutoPilot, 2019.32.11.1, which I got six days ago. Lane keeping has improved with every AutoPilot version and the latest is even smoother with excellent keeping in the lane center. Earlier AutoPilot versions that the IIHS tested were ‘fidgety’ and a little wandering but stayed within the lane markers and curb. This also highlights how Tesla 'over-the-air' updates outrace traditional studies and news reports. Worse for traditionalist EVs, I understand they have to return to the dealer for updates.

    Bob Wilson
     
    Re-Volted likes this.
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  3. Re-Volted

    Re-Volted New Member

    Agree Bob, and to add about lane keeping, my '17 Volt has it, but totally sucks. Only redeeming value is scolding me for not using my blinker. I keep it on for that reason and wondering if it could possibly be useful but have found it to be wrong more than right. Maybe Chevy has gotten better, like the Tesla system, I don't know, and am doubtful.


    Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
     
  4. David Green

    David Green Well-Known Member


    Bob, did you really post this, Thanks for the cookie... Tesla 4% YOY gains in September 2019? what are you talking about, Tesla's USA sales in Q3 2019 were far lower than 2018, and September Tesla had the largest deficit Poor Model S was down 70% Model X down over 50% and Model 3 down 15%, how did you calculate those to 4% gains? Of course I am using InsideEV as my source
    https://insideevs.com/news/373812/ev-sales-scorecard-september-2019/

    https://insideevs.com/news/339986/september-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/
     
  5. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    The IIHS paper can be downloaded here: Download

    Bob Wilson
     

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