Wednesday 21st February 2018. On the podcast today… coming up we’ll talk about electric hyper cars and we’ll pick on Australians, but just a little.   We’ll start with news about a possible new commercial vehicle, now stay with me because this isn’t a sexy way to start. I promise the next story will be all speed and smoke and wheel spin. I think commercial vehicles are really important to electrify because they do a lot of miles in places where pollution is high.   Your own car might sit on the driveway or outside work for most of the day, whereas a working vehicle is always on the go. This is also really important for last mile situations, around cities, where pollution levels are so high they cause respiratory disease.  Now, have you seen the new London black cab?   If not, pause this and go and watch the Fully Charged episode recently. And I know I keep talking about Jonny Smith – I promise I don’t want to kiss him. Much.   However Chinese EV owner Geely have ploughed hundreds of millions into the range-extended new Black Cab, which costs just £10 more a week to lease but saves you £100 in fuel. No brainer. Now Geely want to use the platform and powertrain to change the taxi dimensions into a van, add a passenger seat up front, and bring it to market.   Spy spots featured on Motor1.com show it heavily camouflaged but with the unmistakeable front end. According to them the conversion is costing $42million which is small change in terms of bringing releasing a new vehicle.   https://www.motor1.com/news/233531/london-taxi-testing-commercial-vehicle/   Next I promised something faster than a van. What about a Koenigsegg? Maker of insane sport cars from the mad hypercar brain of Christian von Koenigsegg. They have a new plug-in hybrid called the Regera which he says is “on the bleeding edge of EV technology”.   According to leftlanenews he was so impressed by the instant torque of a Model S, he incorporated batteries into the drivetrain of his next hypercar. Yes it comes with a dirty 5.0 liter V8 but also three motors, and electric acceleration up to 30mph. He says it’s probably the most advanced EV in the world, but doesn’t get the headlines for being so because of the ICE. The battery pack is only 70 kilos but helps generate 700bhp. As for a full electric version, he says “that technology is getting better and better very rapidly”.   https://www.leftlanenews.com/koenigsegg-expects-to-build-all-electric-car-eventually-99943.html   Mitsubishi are making a moderate upgrade to a very important car. The new Outlander PHEV will be available from autumn and it has been a huge success for those wanting to add electrons to dino juice.   They’ve sold 100,000 of them in Europe, and 140,000 worldwide. For the new model they’re increasing battery performance by 15%. But there’s not need to brace yourself, in real numbers, that’s a battery pack going from 12kWh to a dizzy 13.8kWh. However it’s welcome, it’s a popular car, and it’s very handy to plug in to the growing CHAdeMO fast chargers. Although suggesting a PHEV using one might get me hate mail.   https://www.electrive.com/2018/02/20/mitsubishi-presents-new-outlander-phev-suv-concept/   However Mitsubishi want to show they’re serious about full electric cars, so fresh from the Tokyo Motor Show they’re heading to Geneva Motor Show with the e-EVOLUTION concept which will lay out their direction and thinking. 4 wheel drive, three motors, and electronically controlled torque vectoring – which I’ve no idea what that is, but I definitely need it in my life.   https://insideevs.com/new-2019-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-with-15-more-battery-capacity/   Talking of Geely earlier, according to GasGoo.com they’re introducing 20 new energy vehicles by 2020. Just to put that in perspective, that’s 22 months away. They’ll practically release a new model a month and everyone is so used to the pace of EV news lately, it’s not even front page news. In fact it got trumped today by a VAN to be top story!