EV Brief 5/11/21 EV Brief 5/11/21

Ford to reveal all electric F-150 pickup truck on May 19 - updated with Livestream link

You know time are a-changin’ when the best-selling vehicle in the United States ditches its internal combustion engine.

The F-150 Lightning will be revealed May 19 at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn and live-streamed for millions to watch, and will also be presented at 18 key locations for the brand including Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas Boulevard, otherwise known as ‘Las Vegas Strip’.

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You know time are a-changin’ when the best-selling vehicle in the United States ditches its internal combustion engine.

The F-150 Lightning will be revealed on May 19 at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn Michigan via live-stream on YouTube, and will also be presented at 18 key locations for the brand including Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas Boulevard, otherwise known as ‘Las Vegas Strip’.

Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said “Every so often, a new vehicle comes along that disrupts the status quo and changes the game … Model T, Mustang, Prius, Model 3. Now comes the F-150 Lightning. America’s favorite vehicle for nearly half a century is going digital and fully electric. F-150 Lightning can power your home during an outage; it’s even quicker than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck, and it will constantly improve through over-the-air updates.”

Americans love their pickup trucks, and Ford clearly doesn’t want to be left behind the competition, with General Motors planning an electric Chevrolet Silverado, Rivian moving swiftly on the development of their R1T, and Tesla hoping to start production of its Cybertruck this year.

The F-150 Electric will be manufactured at the new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

Source: Ford Media

EV Brief 4/13/21 EV Brief 4/13/21

Rivian partners with Samsung SDI in electric truck battery deal

American electric vehicle startup Rivian announced today that it had reached a successful deal with South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co Limited to supply battery cells for its R1T and R1S electric trucks.

American electric vehicle startup Rivian announced today that it had reached a successful deal with South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co Limited to supply battery cells for its R1T and R1S electric trucks.

“We’re excited about the performance and reliability of Samsung SDI battery cells combined with our energy-dense module and pack design,” said RJ Scaringe, chief executive officer of Rivian.

Samsung SDI currently has battery supply deals with BMW and Volkswagen, estimated to each be valued around $3-4 billion US over 10 years. The value and terms of the Rivian deal is undisclosed, and it is unclear whether the deal also includes batteries for the company’s electric delivery vans.

Rivian is planning to start production of its R1T and R1S models by mid-2021, and is backed by some big players, including the Ford Motor Company and Amazon.com Inc. The automaker recently announced a successful funding round led by T. Rowe Price, raising $2.65 billion US.

It’s obviously going to be a big year for Rivian, but it could get bigger; the company is likely planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) later in 2021. Bloomberg reported in February that Rivian is in talks with banks.

A number of EV startups have made the leap to publicly traded companies recently via reverse mergers with shell companies known as special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC). These include Xpeng, Nikola Motors, Lordstown and Canoo. It’s also expected by some analysts that Lucid Motors will go down this route.

Rivian’s skateboard platform. Image: Rivian

EV Brief 3/27/21 EV Brief 3/27/21

SEA Electric to purchase 1,000 battery sets from Soundon New Energy Technology Co for electric trucks

Global automotive technology company SEA Electric has expanded its global reach through the purchase of 1,000 electric vehicle batteries from long-time technology partner Soundon New Energy Technology Co. The newly formed arrangement immediately follows SEA Electric’s recently announced US$42 million in equity financing news.

Soundon has been providing SEA Electric with batteries since 2012, and the two companies have worked together closely on the development of seven SEA-Drive battery solutions over the course of the nine year relationship. SEA Electric is leveraging the cost benefits of Soundon’s battery and power electronics technical expertise, and their production efficiencies. The deal also allows SEA Electric to realise a significant 36 percent reduction in kilowatt hour (kWh) unit cost, and fulfilment of the battery production is expected to be completed in Q2 2021.

Soundon New Energy Technology’s manufacturing centre in China. Image: SEA Ealectric

According to Tony Fairweather, SEA Electric president and founder, Soundon is not only a world-class leader in innovation and battery technology, but highly regarded for its product quality, on time delivery, and competitive pricing. “Our long-term relationship with Soundon has been a very successful commercial journey and we anticipate continuing to share our global successes along the way.” While the majority of the initial 1,000 battery units are slated for the United States, the balance will go to SEA Electric inventories in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, along with the company’s first entry into the European market.

SEA Electric’s SEA-Drive technology fits hundreds of OEM platforms according to the company, with this large order from Soundon shared cross three major power-system models:

An Isuzu truck with SEA-Drive technology. Image: SEA Electric

SEA-Drive 70 – contains 88 kilowatt hours (kWh)
SEA-Drive 100 – contains 101 kilowatt hours (kWh)
SEA-Drive 120 – contains 138 kilowatt hours (kWh)

Wu Peng, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Soundon commented that “this is a significant milestone in our partnership with SEA Electric. Receiving this 1,000-unit order not only facilitates SEA Electric’s substantial global growth, it also positions Soundon as a leader in the export market for commercial electric vehicles. It’s a winning proposition for all.”

With global headquarters and key leadership in Los Angeles, SEA Electric currently has operations in five countries and more than one million miles of independent Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) testing and in-service operation in all markets.

SEA Electric is an Australian success story, and currently partners with commercial vehicle OEMs, dealers, operators and upfitters to deliver zero-emissions trucks around the world. The company is expected to deliver more than 1,000 electric commercial vehicles this year. The company forecast is to have more than 15,000 vehicles on the road by the end of 2023.