Electric Vehicle News

Gabe Klein named to lead Biden administration’s EV charging program

The recently-passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) created a new agency, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Now the Departments of Energy and Transportation have announced that Gabe Klein will be the agency’s first Executive Director.

The Joint Office will provide technical assistance and other support to state and local governments as they roll out the charging infrastructure financed by the BIL and other federal programs. Mr. Klein will oversee the investment of $7.5 billion in federal infrastructure funding, with a focus on increasing access to charging in rural and disadvantaged communities.

Mr. Klein’s former positions include Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation and Director of the Washington DC Department of Transportation. He owns an electric car and an electric bike, both of which he charges with solar energy.

“I will seize the opportunity to steward a critical shift in our transportation economy from fossil fuels to clean, electric energy systems, as there has never been a more important mission in our recent history than solving the climate crisis,” said Klein. “Our task to bring together private and public investments to support the deployment of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers nationwide is a major step toward…investment in American jobs and equitable access to affordable transportation.”

Since its launch in late 2021, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation has provided technical assistance to states and territories to support the development of their EV Infrastructure Deployment Plans; established an EV Working Group to enable EV manufacturers, labor organizations, public utilities, governments, the trucking industry and other transportation groups to make recommendations to the Joint Office regarding EV development; and collaborated with the Federal Highway Administration to develop standards and requirements for infrastructure projects.

Keysight and Jiyun collaborate on EV battery test system

Keysight Technologies, a test and measurement technology company, is collaborating with the Chinese EV tech company Jiyun Technologies on a battery test system for EVs.

The battery test system features Keysight components, including its RPS7900-series regenerative power supply, DAQ973A Data Acquisition System and CAN bus communication interfaces. According to Keysight, the system’s regenerative power enables it “to achieve 90% power efficiency that reduces operational costs while minimizing heat dissipation, as well as reducing the associated costs of required cooling systems.”

The system can manage a maximum output voltage of 1,000 V, a current level up to 540 A and a maximum power level of 180 kW.

“In addition to collecting basic information such as battery voltage, current and thermal data, the battery management system (BMS) is also integrated into the communication structure to efficiently gather data and provide access to all parameters through a single software instance,” says Keysight. The test software is adopted from Keysight’s PathWave software.  

Keysight has delivered the system to Jiyun Technologies.

“The testing needs for electrical vehicles will pose a challenge for the foreseeable future and depending on specific customer needs, solution offerings need to be adaptable,” says China Business Manager for the Automotive and Energy Business Unit at Keysight Technologies Jian-Rui Ma. “We appreciate the opportunity and challenge to work with Jiyun Technologies to develop a solution that is tailored to their specific requirements.”

Hertz to order up to 175,000 GM EVs

Hertz is taking another step towards the electric future. Over the last year, the company announced plans to add 100,000 Teslas and 65,000 Polestars to its fleet. Now the rental giant has announced plans to order up to 175,000 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop EVs over the next five years.

Regular readers know of our skepticism of superlatives, but we’ll allow Hertz and GM to call this “the broadest” fleet EV order to date, as it spans a wide range of vehicle categories and price points, from compact and midsize SUVs to pickups, luxury vehicles and even commercial vehicles.

“This initiative…will dramatically expand our EV offering to Hertz customers, including leisure and business travelers, rideshare drivers and corporates,” said Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr.

It’s a large order for GM, and it could breed more—for some customers, renting a car is an extended test drive. GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra is confident that the deal “will help create thousands of new EV customers for GM.”

Hertz expects to begin taking delivery of Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs in the first quarter of next year. The company says it will soon have EVs available for rent at 500 locations across 38 states, and that it hopes to make a quarter of its fleet electric by the end of 2024.

Chinese “Tesla clone” starts around $26,000

For better or for worse, Tesla’s presence in China has resulted in quite a bit of what you might call “technology transfer.” One example of this the emergence of “Tesla clones”—vehicles that are “inspired” by Tesla’s designs, as Electrek’s Fred Lambert puts it.

Chinese automaker Xpeng, which has begun selling EVs in Europe, copied Tesla’s vehicle user interface, and apparently even some parts of its web site at one point. The US automaker is involved in a lawsuit against a former employee whom it has accused of stealing information about its Autopilot system.

Now state-owned automaker Changan Automobile has launched a new EV that bears more than a passing resemblance to Tesla’s Model 3—and is selling at a fraction of the price.

Changan’s new Shenlan SL03 is a small electric sedan. Its dimensions are almost identical to those of Model 3, and the front end looks very familiar indeed. Even the badge at the front is suspiciously similar to a certain cat’s-nose emblem. The Shenlan also happens to feature a minimalist interior with a large horizontal center display, and a user interface that will present few surprises to a Tesla driver.

Shenlan SL03 (C385) by Changan Shenlan (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The base Shenlan SL03 has a range of 320 miles (based on the Chinese testing standard), and an optional larger battery pack offers 438 miles. The new EV starts at 183,900 yuan (about $26,000), which some might consider a bargain compared to the Tesla Model 3, which starts at 279,900 yuan ($40,000) in China.

Electronics giant Huawei and battery cell maker CATL, which also happens to be a supplier to Tesla, participated in the development of the Shenlan SL03.

Changan claims to have over 15,000 reservations for the Shenlan, and hopes to begin deliveries by the end of the year.