EV News Round-Up January 2024

Land Rover opens the waiting list for its first electric car and MG's Cyberster heads to the Far East after finishing its Europe tour.

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NIO ET7 breaks the 1000km on a single charge barrier

Chairman and CEO, William Li set a new milestone for the company by completing a 1,044km journey in just one charge using a NIO ET7 equipped with the company’s new 150kWh ultra-long-range battery.

Driving from Shanghai to Xiamen, the journey took over 14 hours with a short stopover for a driver swap halfway and was done in mostly cold weather – a factor which usually reduces an EV's range.

Despite this, the NIO ET7 was able to do the entire journey with 3 per cent of its battery to spare, demonstrating the immense capabilities of the manufacturer’s ultra-long-range battery – of which is compatible across NIO’s entire smart EV range and is available through their Power's chargeable, upgradable and swappable power service system.

Motorway services become EV driver’s new favourite place to charge

New research from a Zap-Map survey shows that EV drivers now prefer motorway services over supermarkets as their favourite place to stop for a recharge.

Out of around 4,300 EV drivers, 55 per cent of them said that they chose motorway services as their default place to stop for a recharge while 47% did so at charging hubs – these are up by 48% and 34% respectively last year.

In contrast, only 36 per cent of drivers said they use supermarket car parks to charge their EVs, down from 50 per cent last year which Zap-Map attributes to the removal of many free-to-use chargers nearly a year ago.

The study also found that Gridserve overtook Pod Point as the most used charging network, which could also be attributed to supermarkets such as Tesco removing their free charging offers.

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Doors open for the Range Rover electric waiting list

Range Rover fans who are waiting for their favourite luxury SUV to go electric will not have to wait much longer as Land Rover opens its waiting list.

A sale date has yet to be announced, however, we can expect the new electric Range Rover to go on sale once the prototype finishes Land Rover’s rigorous testing, which includes being driven in extreme temperatures in all conditions on every terrain whilst wading through up to 850mm of deep water.

When ready for production, the car will be built on the flexible Modular Longitudinal Architecture in Solihull with Batteries and electric drive units (EDUs) being assembled at JLR’s (Jaguar Land Rover) new Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton.

Exact details have yet to be released however, Land Rover states that their first electric vehicle will be no slouch with it having performance stats comparable to that of the manufacturer’s flagship V8 models.

Despite having the performance figures of a V8 Range Rover however, the new electric Range Rover is anticipated to be the quietest model yet both inside and out of the cabin. This is thanks to some highly intelligent sound dampening in the cabin coupled with a unique active road noise cancellation system.

Finally, you’ll also be able to take advantage of 350kW rapid chargers in the new Range Rover thanks to the vehicle’s 800v onboard charger.

MG Cyberster finishes its’ European tour

A pre-production model of MG’s highly anticipated electric convertible has just completed an 8,500-mile trip of Europe visiting France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Spain and Italy, and much of the whole of MG’s home market, the UK.

Piloted by British adventurers and brothers Hugo and Ross Turner, the trip forms part of their Charging into the Future tour where the two brothers aim the push the Cyberster to its limits and demonstrate what an electric car can achieve.

The brothers have their sights set on Shanghai next, with the tour taking them along parts of the Silk Road visiting the Middle East, India and the Far East.

Despite being a sporty convertible, the Turner brothers have said that the MG Cyberster has been surprisingly practical with the car being able to travel up to 250 miles between charges and having a boot space that is so large that Hugo (who is over 6ft tall) can fit in it.

Hugo Turner said: “All of our experience has been with a pre-production car, but it’s been amazing.

The car is very responsive as you would expect from an EV, but also it sticks like glue when you throw it into a corner.

We’ve also really enjoyed discovering the Cyberster’s abilities in ever-changing environments. It’s hugely capable, powering down an autobahn or taking in hairpin turns up a mountain.”

Morgan plans its electric future

Luxury car maker Morgan unveils its plans to delve into the world of electric with the help of the vehicle above, the XP-1.

While the chances of getting behind the wheel of or even seeing an XP-1 is unlikely, the car will act as a testbed for Morgan’s engineers as they develop an understanding of manufacturing EV technology and how they can transfer the iconic driving characteristics that the manufacturer is famous for into the world of zero tailpipe emissions driving.

Matt Hole, Chief Technical Officer, Morgan Motor Company, said: “We are immensely proud to be sharing XP-1 with the world and showcasing some of the first-class engineering that takes place behind the scenes at Morgan.

As we embark on our electric journey, this prototype will become a focal point of the engineering and design process, providing a wealth of insight and helping to build up our in-house EV capability.

We are in no doubt that we can ensure future electric Morgan sports cars retain the core appeal of our current range, meaning they are fun to drive, lightweight, handcrafted and bespoke.

We will be relentless in our pursuit of preserving these characteristics for our customers for generations to come.

Because it is not tied to a product, XP-1 provides the unique ability for our audience to join us throughout this exciting learning phase, and we look forward to sharing future updates over the coming months.”