Analysis: Why car makers are casting aside old rivalries

Old rivalries in the world of car making are falling away as companies start to work together to bring down the enormous cost of developing electric cars and autonomy. In June,Toyota said it was hooking up with Subaru to develop a new electric platform that will first spawn an SUV. Mazda has since said it’s joining the programme, while Toyota is also working with Suzuki and Daihatsu on a smaller electric car platform. Ford and Volkswagen’s wide-reaching deal is also one of the most extensive and potentially fruitful collaborations yet. BMW and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), meanwhile, are working together on electric drive units to take advantage of economies of scale. It goes on. BMW and Daimler are collaborating on autonomous driving technology and have also pooled their mobility services, such as car sharing. Volkswagen and Ford have joined forces on autonomous car development via Ford’s Argo AI operation, while Honda has linked with General Motors with a similar aim to make autonomous driving a reality. Partnerships are nothing new, but the rush to link up now is to spread the risk of investing billions into technology like electric cars when demand is still uncertain. “Makers are realising they’re having to get serious about EVs, but EVs are a difficult business case,” said Tim Urquhart, principal analyst at IHS Markit. “You have to find alliances to generate economies of scale.” The “massive investment” needed in an EV platform required a new way of thinking, Toyota said in a statement announcing development of its e-TNGA architecture. Both it and Subaru “choose a business model that goes beyond convention”, Toyota said. Car makers have a choice. Spend a fortune on a dedicated EV platform that reduces complexity, offers advantages like extra cabin space and might save money later. Or develop a platform that saves money by being flexible enough to incorporate all drivetrains but is ultimately compromised. The Volkswagen Group is gambling that the expense of creating the MEB electric car platform will be recouped by supplier and manufacturing efficiencies, offsetting the huge cost of the batteries. That gamble relies on the Volkswagen Group achieving its predicted annual sales of over a million via its brands in only a few years. “The risks attached to this are huge, in our view,” Max Warburton, an analyst at Bernstein, wrote in a recent report. “VW has the potential to lose significant amounts of money.” Having Ford as a customer will cut those risks. Even better is to split those risks with a partner, as Toyota is doing with Subaru and Mazda. Would the customer even notice all these shared parts? Unlikely, reckons Urquhart. “People are increasingly not going to care what’s underneath any more,” he said. “Exterior style, the latest infotainment, self-driving technology – all these will be more important to them,” he said. If car makers are not going to end up as merely hardware providers to Google, Apple or whatever tech company comes along next to transform the driving experience, they need all the money they can get to develop this tech themselves. “All the car makers are investing in CASE (connected, autonomous, shared, electric) and it’s going to take a lot of money out of the business until they can generate profits, so right now they are trying to further outsource to preserve cash,” said Francisco Riberas, CEO of chassis and body parts supplier Gestamp. Despite the aggressive moves to spread the financial burden, buyers will have to brace themselves to pay more for cars. As the PSA Group’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, put it earlier this year: “Everybody needs to realise that clean mobility is like organic food: it’s more expensive.” Nick
Origin: Analysis: Why car makers are casting aside old rivalries

No-deal Brexit would cost UK car makers billions in emission fines

A no-deal Brexit could cost the UK automotive industry at least £3 billion in CO2-related fines, Autocar has learned. The costs represent the fines that would be racked up by the 40-plus manufacturers operating in the UK and who would fall foul of the 95g/km fleet average CO2 figure, which the government has pledged to implement unilaterally if the UK goes-it-alone in October. A spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said: “The European CO2 Directive allows manufacturers flexibility to balance their emissions performance across all relevant European markets. A no deal Brexit would, however, remove this flexibility, which may make reduction targets far harder for some manufacturers, given the UK model mix may differ from a European average. “If this meant additional fines were to be levied on UK companies, the effects could be hugely damaging, reducing consumer choice, undermining competitiveness and restricting future RD spend. This is yet more evidence of the severe consequences for the British automotive industry from a disorderly Brexit – no deal must be ruled out immediately.” Although the concept of the UK adopting the 95g/km CO2 average has been well-flagged – it was a key element in government No Deal Brexit planning documents – the impact on individual car-makers and the industry as a whole is only just starting to emerge. The significant issue is that the UK fleet average figure would be based purely on UK sales, making it less likely for sales of heavier cars with larger engines, especially the growing mix of SUVs models, to be balanced out by cheaper, lower polluting city cars and superminis. One mass-market manufacturer that Autocar spoke to has carried out an internal audit of its annual new car sales and calculated its fleet mix of petrol, diesel, hybrid and electrified models would rack up around £100m in fines. The fines could be reduced by altering the mix of powertrains in favour of more electrified models, but factory capacity for such a dramatic short-term change in output is limited, largely because CO2-planning is being organised on an EU-wide basis and production plans for 2020/2021 have already been committed. More diesels would help cut CO2 figures – but the government is actively shutting down that route by demonising diesel with threatened policy initiatives that have cut consumer demand. Across Europe, brands have been planning their CO2 fleet averages with sales of larger cars in northern Europe balanced out by smaller cars in southern Europe. The UK’s Brexit plan cuts the UK industry off from this product planning mix, exposing UK car companies to huge fines. The manufacturer that Autocar spoke to has ‘gamed’ several potential scenarios, the most severe of which would require a 20 per cent cut in sales in 2021 and a significant drop in profitability. Although that would reduce fines to a more reasonable £5m to £10m, the effect on its business would be
Origin: No-deal Brexit would cost UK car makers billions in emission fines

Honda e confirmed as name for maker’s electric city car

Honda has confirmed that its upcoming electric city car wlll be called the Honda e when it goes on sale in Europe later this year. The model was first revealed as the Urban EV concept at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show. A near-production version was then shown at this year’s Geneva motor show and called the Honda e prototype. The car maker has now confirmed that name will stay for the production version. The firm believes the car’s retro design will give it an Apple-style appeal to customers. The protoype shown at Geneva motor show is “95% production ready”, according to the firm. It maintains the styling of the Urban EV Concept, albeit with the addition of an extra set of doors. While Honda has yet to reveal full technical details of the car, its designers told Autocar at the Geneva show that it would offer “more than” 98bhp and 221lb ft of torque. Honda said more than 15,000 people have already expressed interest in the machine in Europe. While pricing has yet to be set, Autocar understands the firm is aiming for a figure around £30,000. Project manager Kohei Hitomi said the machine had been the subject of an internal “battle” over whether to put it into production, with the positive reaction to the concept being a key factor in it gaining approval. The car is slightly shorter than a Jazz and around 100mm taller than a Mini. Honda has said it will likely have an official range of around 125 miles, with fast-charging capacity to reach 80% charge in 30 minutes. The e prototype is built on a new platform designed for A- and B-segment electric cars, with underfloor batteries produced by Panasonic that are similar to those used in the US market Accord plug-in hybrid. The rear-mounted electric motor drives the rear wheels, which employ torque vectoring to give a smoother response and improved handling in tight corners. Although the e prototype’s range is substantially lower than that offered by rival EVs such as the 282-mile Kia e-Niro or BMW i3, which offers 193 miles, Hitomi said it was necessary to keep the batteries small to fulfil its city-car role. “We believe the range is sufficient for this segment of car,” said Hitomi. “Some potential customers might not be satisfied, but when you think about bigger range and a bigger battery, it has drawbacks in terms of packaging. It’s a balance.” The e prototype features cameras instead of rear-view mirrors, which help improve aerodynamic efficiency. There are also flush door handles and the charging port is mounted centrally in the bonnet. The cockpit is dominated by two 12in touchscreens, built into a dashboard finished with a wood-effect trim. The seats – including a two-seat bench in the rear – are covered in polyester, which, as with the wood effect, is designed to make the interior feel like a living room. The e prototype will be built in Japan and go on sale in selected European markets in late 2019, with others following in 2020. It will also be sold in Japan. The firm has yet to set pricing. Hitomi said it is “important” the car is affordable but he added: “A low price is not always a guarantee of success. When you look at Apple products, they are not cheap, but everyone wants to have them because of their added value. We believe it is the same for the electric
Origin: Honda e confirmed as name for maker’s electric city car

Under the skin: why hybrid makers love a biscuit tin

If last week’s column was anything to go by, EV motors are far more interesting than they look. Once people get their heads around them, they may hold the same fascination that engines have enjoyed since they were invented. The electric machines (the correct name for motor-generators) in EVs today take various forms electrically, but the one thing they have in common is that they are all radial flux machines. Flux is the scientific name for the direction taken by the magnetic fields but, in simple terms, it means they are cylindrical in shape with a rotor spinning inside a cylindrical stator. There is, however, another type of electric machine emerging, and it’s one that some car makers are looking at intently, especially for integrating with a combustion engine to hybridise it, or tacking onto a small engine to make a range-extender generator. It’s the axial flux ‘biscuit tin’ motor. If biscuit tin sounds derogatory, it isn’t (and come on, who doesn’t like a Hobnob?). It’s the simplest way to describe the shape: short in length and large in diameter. This is useful because it means that in some applications they can use space more efficiently than a radial flux motor, such as when sandwiched between an engine and gearbox on a transverse engine. They have other important advantages, such as the ability to generate more torque than a radial flux equivalent. Whereas the rotor (which rotates) of a conventional radial flux machine is relatively small in diameter because it is housed inside the stator (which remains static), the rotor and stator of the axial flux machine are like two large dinner plates facing one another. So both plates’ magnets, the fields of which interact to generate torque and spin the rotor, are set much further away from the motor’s driveshaft. Because of that, the force they produce has more leverage on the main shaft. That means more torque, or the same torque for less power consumption. A good way to visualise that is to think of the steering wheel on a car. Imagine taking the wheel off and grasping the steering column with your hand. It would be pretty difficult to turn. Moving the effort you’re applying further away from the column – by using a wheel – gives you more leverage, or turning force. The same thing happens with an axial flux motor. More companies are developing the technology, and one of those in the forefront is the Oxford-based firm Yasa. Its P400 electric machine can be sandwiched between an engine and transmission in a ‘P2’ hybrid configuration or be used standalone. At just 80mm thick, this sliver of a machine weighs only 24kg, develops peak power of 215bhp (160kW) and 273lb ft peak torque. Yasa also has a complete electric drive unit (EDU) concept comprising a motor, controller and two-speed powershift automatic transmission. The motor itself produces peaks of 402bhp and 368lb ft and yet it weighs in at just 85kg. That compares pretty favourably with the average four-cylinder engine, which weighs around 150kg without the transmission. The hub of the matter It’s only a matter of time before electric machines move to the wheels, freeing up space and possibly changing the way cars look. The axial flux design lends itself perfectly to this. US firm Protean Electric has yet another design, its ‘inside out’ permanent magnet motor, with the stator on the inside and rotor on the
Origin: Under the skin: why hybrid makers love a biscuit tin