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Charging points at an underground car park in England. The number of EVs on our roads is increasing.

Peter Titmuss/UCG | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Driving is changing. Today, hybrids and pure electric vehicles are a common sight around the world, and the overall size and heft of cars — whether they’re fully electric or use internal combustion engines — is increasing.

From the accessibility of EV charging points to noise levels, new designs and technologies have already created a range of issues that will need to be addressed in the years ahead.  

Parking garages (known as multistory car parks in the U.K.) are one area where the proliferation of EVs and bigger vehicles is expected to have a major impact.

Earlier this year, the London-based Institution of Structural Engineers published updated design guidance for car parks.

The wide-ranging document covers all structures where cars can be parked — including those on multiple levels, underground or within residential and office buildings — and how they are designed, built and maintained. The guidance has been written for all stakeholders involved in car park design.

One potential issue relates to the load of what we drive. According to the institution, the average vehicle’s weight has increased from 1.5 metric tons in 1974 to nearly 2 metric tons in 2023.

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In a statement, it said the reason behind the weight increase was “due to electric and hybrid batteries and the size of cars increasing.”

“This extra load and the changing fire safety requirements are all considerations not just for new car parks, but for existing structures too,” it added.

Speaking to CNBC, Chris Whapples, a fellow of the institution and contributor to the guidance as an author and overseeing consultant, said some of the market’s top-end executive cars and long-range SUVs were now coming in at over three metric tons.

When the guidance was released in June, there was much focus on the potential collapse of some car parks under the weight of heavier vehicles.

“It is something we have to consider, but we mustn’t be too alarmist about it,” Whapples told CNBC.

“The thing to bear in mind is that the ones that cause the damage, if you like, are the heavy vehicles — not the vehicles that are heavier than they were 40 years ago but still within the capacity of the design for car parks,” he went on to explain.

The latter type of vehicles are still in the majority, he said. Nevertheless, the trend for bigger vehicles shows no sign of letting up.  

“We’re seeing increasing numbers now of SUVs, large executive cars — both fossil-fueled and battery ones — and pickup trucks, which are immensely heavy.”

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The cumulative load of these vehicles in parking garages could present some challenges in certain circumstances. 

“If one pickup is significantly overloaded and that car park is weak, that’s a potential disaster waiting to happen,” Whapples said. Planning and preparation is, therefore, key — hence the updated guidance.

“We said, as an industry, we must actually check our car parks out and make sure that that’s not going to happen,” Whapples said. “Because what we want is the public to maintain confidence in our car parks and structural engineers.”

One way of doing this is to make sure that garages are structurally assessed.

“If it’s not strong enough, then it will need strengthening,” he added. “It may not need strengthening everywhere, it might be just individual elements.”

If this option turned out to be “prohibitively expensive,” Whapples said that vehicles could potentially be screened before entering these garages. Another possible solution could see the “heavyweights” remaining on the ground floor.

Fire safety and sprinklers

When it comes to electric vehicles, another area of concern relates to fire safety. That’s because while EV fires aren’t common, putting them out can be challenging.

“To actually extinguish an EV fire is very, very difficult — particularly if the battery is on fire, because you’ve got so much energy that’s locked in,” Whapples said.

He went on to highlight the potentially crucial role sprinkler systems could play going forward, especially in underground facilities.

“Although the sprinkler system will not put out the car fire, it will reduce the rate of spread within the car park, so it’s constantly … ‘quenching’ the car next to the one that’s on fire, and stopping that one from catching fire.”

This should give the fire service time to get to the site and tackle the flames.

While EV fires are a “worry,” Whapples highlighted that vehicles using gasoline also have the potential to ignite and create challenging situations.

Not ‘anti-EV’

Discussions about how parking lots and garages need to change to accommodate new types and sizes of vehicle extend beyond the U.K.

In Feb. 2023, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, launched a task force focused on developments related to the “fire safe deployment of recharging points in covered parking garages.”

AVERE, The European Association for Electromobility, co-leads the task force alongside the Commission.

In a statement sent to CNBC, the Brussels-headquartered organization said the task force “aims to create guidelines to help national and local authorities implement rules to welcome EVs in covered car parks while maintaining fire safety.”

The statement also said the “rise of e-mobility … helps us mitigate climate change and brings new questions, including weight and the impact on car parks.”

EV charging and parking spots at a site in England. The number of EVs on our roads is increasing, creating challenges and opportunities for parking lot design.

Dana Kenedy | Istock | Getty Images

Among other things, AVERE stressed the importance of establishing a discussion involving a wide range of stakeholders — from parking operators and firefighters to EV representatives, insurers and companies that manufacture and operate charging points.

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to tackle fire safety and weight/size increase for all buildings,” its statement noted. “It is easier to change the structures of future car parks, but existing car parks represent a different challenge.”

“That being said, we need to ensure that the rules for existing buildings find the right balance to allow parking operators to operate them at a reasonable cost while increasing fire safety.”

More than 10 million electric cars — a figure that includes plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles — were sold in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

Looking ahead, the Paris-based organization, which is viewed by many as an authority on the energy transition, estimates that nearly one in five new cars sold this year will be electric.

Back in the U.K., Chris Whapples was keen to look at the bigger picture. “The Institution of Structural Engineers, and myself in particular, are not anti-EV,” he said.

“We’re really trying to facilitate new car parks to actually cope with EVs and the general increase in size of vehicles across the board.”

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Huawei Maextro set to challenge Maybach, Rolls-Royce in China with 852 hp

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11 hours ago

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February 24, 2025

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Huawei Maextro set to challenge Maybach, Rolls-Royce in China with 852 hp

Packing up to 852 hp and a cutting-edge technology stack developed by Huawei, Chinese luxury brand Maextro just revealed its latest entry into the Mercedes-Maybach EQS and Rolls-Royce Spectre segment of ultra-luxe EVs. Meet the all-new Maextro S800.

Despite a somewhat steady stream of new Chinese EVs that defy expectations and threaten to re-set the global order of performance cars, semi trucks, and just about everything in between, brands like Maybach, Rolls-Royce, and even Bentley have seemed relatively “safe,” in the sense that their value is based on something a bit less objective than lap times or kW/mile.

The new Huawei Maextro S800, first shown as a series of renderings late last year, seems to have found some of Henry Rolls’ secret sauce – and they’ve sprinkled it liberally all over the S800.

Huawei sparkles – literally

Maextro S800 luxury sedan released in China as Maybach rival with 6C charging

The shimmering, sparkly, fiber-optic headliner was pioneered by Rolls-Royce over a decade ago, pushing back against the more open and accessible glass-roofs that were becoming popular in the higher end market. Huawei goes a step further, adding similar, Swarovski-like shimmer to not just the headliner – but the door handles, the headlights, projections dancing around the car as you approach it in the street.

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It looks and feels special, in other words. And these cars are all about making their owners feel special. Different.

When Henry Rolls began work on his first US factory in Springfield, Massachusetts way back in 1919, there was supposedly a mantra that management repeated to the workers. It went, “every time you touch the car, you add cost. Make sure you add value.”

I’m not here to argue that Huawei is living up to the same maxim with the Maextro, but I am here to argue that this car’s bespoke, purpose-built platform doesn’t share any parts with a lesser offering from the Mercedes or BMW or Volkswagen lineup in the way that a Maybach, Rolls-Royce, or Bentley does. That may not mean much to you and me, but the people shopping six- and seven-figure cars, it might.

Those well-heeled buyers will get a choice of EREV or “pure” battery electric powertrains good for between 480 and 852 all-electric horsepower. 32 ADAS sensors including both radar and lidar compliment a suite of cameras analyze the road ahead and feed data to Huawei’s ADS road perception system, which is constantly adjusting torque distribution, suspension compression and rebound, and front and rear steering to deliver a tech-driven chauffeur experience that Huawei insists is second to none.

That digital chauffeur is also pretty handy when the weather goes sideways, too. Huawei says the Maextro’s sensor array can help it to increase the detection distance in rain, fog, and dust by 60% compared to the benchmark, while delay was reduced by 40%.

In the event a collision is unavoidable, the car can adjust its stance, seating position, raise the windows, and unlock the central control lock to enable outside help to open the doors. Following the collision, the Maextro S800 switches the redundant power supply and calls for help, as well.

Finally, reports indicate that the Maextro S800 supports the 800V high-voltage system in some trims, suitable for 6C charging, which means it can be energized with up to 390 kW of charging power, taking just 10.5 minutes to charge the 66 kWh battery in the EREV version (523 hp) from 10% to 80%.

The Maextro S800 will enter the Chinese in May this year with a price range of 1 – 1.5 million yuan (about $135–205,000 US).

SOURCE | IMAGES: Maextro, via CarNewsChina.

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Volvo Penta set to show off its new BESS subsystem at bauma 2025

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February 23, 2025

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Volvo Penta set to show off its new BESS subsystem at bauma 2025

Volvo Penta BESS subsystem to be Bauma highlight

Volvo Penta will debut its latest modular and scalable battery energy storage system (BESS) platform for the off-grid construction and mining industries at the bauma equipment show – here’s what you can expect.

Best-known for its marine engines and gensets, Volvo Penta is the power production arm of the Volvo Group, specializing in putting energy to work. Operating under the tagline, ‘Made to Move You’, Volvo Penta is headed to bauma 2025 with a plan to keep construction, port shipping, and mining operations moving productively and competitively throughout their transitions to battery and (in theory, at least) hydrogen power.

To that end, the company will show off a job site ready version of the scalable and modular BESS subsystem concept shown last year.

Volvo says its new, modular BESS subsystem will enable other OEMs and third party system integrators to seamlessly deploy electric power to meet the ever-exceeding energy needs in construction and mining.

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“Our modular and scalable battery-electric platform is designed to support the electrification ecosystem—combining high-performance drivelines with the crucial energy storage subsystems for efficient charging and operation in construction and mining,” says Hannes Norrgren, President of Volvo Penta Industrial. “We want to meaningfully collaborate with our customers on value-added customization that will enable them to stay productive, efficient, and future-ready.”

The Penta substation at bauma will be built around the company’s “Cube” battery pack, an energy-dense solution with a favorable C-rate designed to make it easy for BESS manufacturers to offer more compact job site solutions capable of charging and discharging energy with high levels of speed and efficiency, enabling both stationary and mobile BESS configurations that can change and grow to meet the evolving needs of a given asset fleet or project.

A Volvo Penta-developed DC/DC unit converts the voltage from the Cube battery packs (600 V) into lower voltage (24 V) for powering auxiliaries and portable offices.

Electrek’s Take

BESS concept packed with Penta Cube batteries; via Volvo.

Volvo Penta has always provided power. Historically that’s been from combustion, but the company is looking ahead, developing products that will bring energy to job sites, tractors, and more long after the last ICE engine shuts down.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Penta.

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Rivian Upfit Program offers fleet managers custom solutions for its EVs

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17 hours ago

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February 23, 2025

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Rivian Upfit Program offers fleet managers custom solutions for its EVs

Just days after Rivian announced that it would be making its iconic electric delivery vans available to anyone willing to pay for one, the company launched the new Rivian Upfit Program, offering a “one-stop shop” to help fleet managers put its EVs to work.

Launched in partnership with commercial vehicle heavyweights Ranger Design, Sortimo of North America, Bush Specialty Vehicles, Holman, LEGEND, and EV Sportline, the Rivian Upfit Program helps fleet buyers make the switch to electric by simplifying the ordering process and delivering an experience that more closely reflects the experience fleet managers get at dealerships.

Despite partnering with leading brands and launching into a well-establish market, however, the program’s web page seems largely aimed at people outside the space – even kicking off with an explanation of what upfitting is:

Upfitting is the process of customizing a vehicle in order to meet fleet, business, or individual consumer needs to tackle the job at hand. This work is done after the vehicle has been built and released from the factory, and can include everything from shelving modifications, flooring options, to sirens and flashers and much more.

RIVIAN UPFIT PROGRAM

The program was announced on LinkedIn with a number of photos indicating upfit options for Rivian’s R1T and R1S vehicles focused on lifeguard and roadside assistance duty, and Rivian’s van upfit with a HVAC/telecom style toolbox arrangement.

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No word on pricing or turnaround time.

Electrek’s Take

The general consensus around the Electrek water cooler is that the direct-to-consumer model offered by Rivian, Tesla, and even CarMax deliver a superior customer experience, I’ve consistently drunk the franchise dealer Kool-Aid, arguing that the industry-leading margins enjoyed by these companies actually indicate they’re giving consumers an objectively worse deal than they’d get in a more competitive dealer landscape.

That same competitiveness has led to talented fleet managers at those franchise dealers putting in the effort to get to know the needs of the businesses and buyers in their regions, to understand what upfit options makes sense for their local markets, and – crucially – what to stock for quick turnaround when their customers need it.

Rivian is hoping its upfit partners will do a lot of that heavy lifting for them, but my two cents is that if building cars is hard, building relationships is harder, and Rivian isn’t going to make a good first impression by talking down to its customers. If you think differently, let me know how I got it wrong in the comments.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Rivian, via LinkedIn.

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