Starting this month - with the new 35,8 kWh battery for the 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf - Volkswagen will begin to use Samsung SDI as its supplier for battery cells. This means that Panasonic/Sanyo loses a big customer for their battery cells, but it doesn’t seem that important since Tesla and now Toyota - with the Prius Prime - will keep the demand high. As a side note, I’ve to say that in my previous articles I wrongly assumed that Volkswagen would keep Panasonic/Sanyo as its battery cell supplier and I’ve to thank Grendizer for the heads up. In the photo below we can see the Samsung SDI 37 Ah battery cell that will be used to build Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche) battery packs. To better understand why Volkswagen changed its battery cell supplier, let’s see the Volkswagen roadmap for battery upgrades in the below. Samsung SDI realized they could do better and developed the 37 Ah battery cell that can directly replace the old 25 Ah made by Panasonic/Sanyo.
This demonstrates the dedication of Samsung SDI to get more automakers as its customers. These 37 Ah battery cells and the ones they are replacing share one common characteristic. They have the high energy density required for BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) and the high power density that’s required for PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles). The Samsung SDI 37 Ah battery cells will also be used in BMW plug-in hybrid cars - which will get battery capacity upgrades this year. To sum up, it’s great to see Samsung SDI with two major automakers as clients (BMW and Volkswagen), with Mercedes joining the list later with the EQ sub-brand. The bad news for Samsung SDI is that the German automakers are still dragging their feets to build electric cars. This is why the Samsung SDI battery cell plant in Europe (Hungary) will only start operating in 2018 with an annual capacity to supply 50.000 EV batteries. This highly contrasts with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s battery supplier (LG Chem) plans for Europe. LG Chem battery plant in Poland will start operating already this year with an annual production capacity of 100.000 EV batteries. In this aspect, LG Chem is in much better position as the Alliance’s battery cell supplier and Panasonic also is very comfortable with Tesla and Toyota in its customers list.
I began looking at electric cars last summer, but realized soon in the buying experience was more complicated than normal. While I was able to eliminate the Ford Focus, Kia Soul, and Nissan Leaf on test drives, trying to statistically rank the remaining contenders proved difficult. Range and charge time should be the driving factors with an EV purchase or lease, but these vary based on driving profile and charger availability. The EPA’s “MPGe” statistic is worthless, because it’s based on the cost of gas (which fluctuates) vs. Throw in sales people who are for the most part clueless on EV specifics and confusing pricing on government rebates, and it’s a quick way to leave your head spinning. In short, it’s very easy to make a mistake and has caused me to delay my decision as much as possible. A few weeks ago I Googled “Rent a Volt” and came across Turo, which can be best thought of AirBnB for cars. 60 per day. With just a credit card and driver’s license I was able to start setting up rental appointments.
I typically requested them 48 hours in advance and had no problem getting a prompt reply back from the “host” to confirm the rental and make pickup arrangements. 10). 2015 was the first year for the e-Golf and it came in two trim models: Limited and SEL. For 2016, VW replaced with Limited with the SE and dropped the price, but also dropped the charger’s power (more on that later). The Volkswagen Golf is an attractive and fun city car that does well on the highway, and the e-Golf was no different. It felt extremely natural to me, like a mini version of my 2004 Subaru Forester. Visibility both out the front and sides was good, and it felt nimble coming around corners. The best part was an instant yet nicely gradual acceleration coming off traffic lights. It had enough “pop” to be fun, but not too much to feel like an amusement park ride.
