All posts by Francis Mitterrand

News

Chinese Gotion is building a battery factory in Europe

After the Chinese manufacturers of electric cars seriously set out to conquer the European market, another company is expanding its operations in Europe. In cooperation with the Slovakian startup Inobat, the Chinese Gotion is building a battery factory that will start operating in 2026.

The executive director of Inobat, Marian Bocek, said that the construction of the plant will start next year and will last for two years. The start of battery production is expected in 2026, from when a gradual increase in production can also be expected. Gotion and Inobat are currently looking for a location for the factory, and several European countries are among the options.

VW, which is the largest shareholder of Gotion, will benefit the most from this project. VW has an exclusive contract with Gotion to supply EV batteries outside of China. Gotion is also building a $2.36 billion battery plant in Michigan and a $2 billion plant in Illinois.

Europe’s efforts to build its own electric vehicle battery industry and reduce reliance on dominant Asian battery manufacturers are obvious and reasonable. Last month, Swedish lithium-ion battery maker Northvolt – whose customers include VW and Volvo – told Reuters it had raised $1.2 billion from investors. At the same time, French battery startup Verkor announced that it has secured more than 2 billion euros in funding for the construction of a gigafactory in Dunkirk.

Source: Reuters

News

BMW cancels subscription to heated seats

A year ago, BMW enabled car owners to activate the heated seats service via subscription. Weak interest was the reason for the quick failure of this project, so the Bavarian company decided to cancel this option.

This service was not the only one on offer, there were others such as a subscription to a heated steering wheel. BMW provided this service only in certain markets and in South Korea it cost 18 dollars per month. Quite expensive, considering that some models come with these options as standard.

Obviously, BMW’s expectations were high, but this service did not attract enough customers and the Bavarian manufacturer abandoned it. The information was confirmed by Pieter Nota, a member of the BMW management in the sales and marketing department. He stated that the subscription rate was too low, as users felt they were paying double for this service, since they could pay for the same when buying a car.

BMW has announced that the subscription will remain for other functions, so the focus will be on subscriptions for parking assistance, improved navigation or other advanced assistance systems.

Source: BMW

News

Mercedes-Benz faces recall of Euro 6 cars

In 2015, one of the biggest scandals in the automotive industry, Dieselgate, took place, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to the German automaker Volkswagen Group. The consequences are still visible, and now another German company is facing a similar case. Mercedes-Benz is under scrutiny from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority for allegedly cheating on the new Euro 6 emissions regulations.

This information came to the public two months ago, and the published letter shows the 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine installed in the Mercedes-Benz E350 BlueTec version. Although in 2022 the European Court of Justice banned the installation of any additional device that changes consumption values and C02 emissions, it is alleged that Mercedes used three software-controlled devices, two of which changed the performance of the engine based on a certain temperature. German authorities have ordered Mercedes-Benz to fix the problem, or the cars will be recalled.

The first deadline for solving the problem was three weeks, but in agreement with the German authorities, the deadline was extended. Mercedes believes it has already developed and implemented the appropriate software updates needed to resolve the issue. Whether this is the final solution to the problem remains to be seen.

This is not the first time that the agency focuses its attention on Mercedes-Benz. Two years ago, the same OM642 diesel engine was suspected of using as many as eight emission-cheating devices that reduced the amount of injected AdBlue to neutralize emissions.

Source: Reuters