As massive earthquake rocks Taiwan and shutters trains, battery-swapping e-scooters rush in
The largest earthquake to hit Taiwan this century rattled the entire island overnight, collapsing buildings, damaging roads, and shutting down train and subway services. Gogoro’s electric scooters quickly picked up the slack, providing a key accessible transportation option and offering free rides in the most populated area.
Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in Taiwan but are usually much lower-intensity tremblors. This morning’s 7.4 magnitude quake is the largest to impact the island in 25 years.
The quake struck just off the east coast of Taiwan at 07:58 local time, as rush hour picked up and millions of commuters were traveling to work.
According to the Associated Press, “Traffic along the east coast was at a virtual standstill after the earthquake, with landslides and falling debris hitting tunnels and highways. Train service was suspended across the island of 23 million people, with some tracks twisted by the stress of the quake, as was subway service in Taipei, where sections of a newly constructed elevated line split apart but did not collapse.”
Scooters are the most efficient form of transportation in Taiwan, where they outnumber cars 2:1. They can still maneuver past standstill traffic like the island saw in many cases this morning, as well as navigate narrower passable sections of damaged roads. At a time when train, subway, and bus services are cut off in natural disasters, scooters become a lifeline for those needing access to quick transportation.
Gogoro, the largest electric scooter maker in Taiwan and operator of a massive distributed battery-swapping network, is no stranger to such emergencies. The company’s electric scooter batteries also serve as emergency backups to around 20% of traffic lights in Taipei, keeping them running during massive power outages.
In one such nationwide power outage in 2022, gas stations couldn’t pump fuel yet Gogoro’s GoStations ensured that riders of electric scooters never lost power or the ability to swap in freshly-charged batteries.
Thousands of such battery-swapping stations dot the island, each holding dozens or hundreds of swappable batteries. Riders simply roll up, swap their partially depleted batteries for freshly charged batteries, and roll out in seconds.
The company reported that its GoStation network, which is constantly monitored from a command center that tracks operations as well as weather patterns and massive events, never ceased operations throughout this morning’s quake and its aftermath.
The company also operates a GoShare network of shared electric scooters. It normally requires a membership that allows riders to hop on one of countless green electric scooters. Gogoro announced this morning that it was opening up the network to provide free GoShare rides to residents of Taipei and New Taipei City, the island’s largest metropolitan area. As of the time of publishing, the area has yet to regain metro operations after MRT shuttered train services in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Electrek’s Take
I’m shocked by the devastation seen in Taiwan, which has rattled me even further as I just returned from the island less than three days before the earthquake hit. I’ve already seen pictures of rubble where I had recently been standing. I also had spent days there riding the very electric scooters that are right now providing one of the only forms of transit available to millions of people, so I have a keen sense of just how important they are now for anyone seeking emergency services or needing to find family.
Having seen just how hard Taiwan can be to navigate by car even in the best of times, I can tell you that much if it will be impassible to four-wheeled vehicles right now. Scooters were already the only realistic way to get around dense areas of the island at certain times of the day (see the video below that I shot just days ago above New Taipei City). Now, more than ever, they’ll be the only way to quickly navigate much of Taiwan.
At times when even combustion engine scooters are limited by the availability and access to gasoline, these electric scooters keep moving and maintain access to battery-swapping stations that are abundant as every 200 meters (650 feet) in cities. There are even enough swapping stations to completely circumnavigate 1,000 km (600 mile) around the island.
It’s nice to see electric car companies offer free charging during disasters, but the benefit is largely meaningless. In the space that a GoStation can keep hundreds of scooters running, you could fit two or three Teslas supercharging, for example.
Today’s events were a potent reminder of the potential of widely distributed battery swapping stations like Gogoro’s and the mass adoption of light, efficient electric vehicles that use them – but a reminder that we nonetheless wish we didn’t have to receive.
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The cheapest Volvo EV so far was officially launched in China over the weekend. Volvo launched the EX30 in China with a low starting price of $27,800 (200,800 yuan) as the automaker takes on BYD head-on in its home market.
In the first quarter of the year, “thousands of customers across Europe got behind the wheel of an EX30,” as Volvo gears up to begin deliveries in key markets, including the US, China, and South Korea.
Volvo is preparing to launch its low-cost EV in over 90 countries by the end of 2024. Although the EX30 is already living up to its promise as a profitable growth driver, Volvo expects even more.
EX30 production began last fall in Zhangjiakou, China, as Volvo prepares to launch an EV offensive. To meet the growing demand for affordable EVs in Europe, Volvo announced it would build the EX30 at its Ghent Plant in Belgium from 2025.
Volvo’s EX30 led to a new global sales record in Q1, but the automaker expects even bigger results as its low-cost EV hits the world’s largest electric car market.
Volvo EX30 price revealed in China starting at $27,800
Volvo officially launched the EX30 in China on Sunday with a starting price of 200,800 yuan ($27,800).
The base RWD core model features up to 410 km (255 miles range). It’s available in four trims: RWD Core, RWD Long Range Plus, RWD Long Range Ultra, and a high-performance AWD Ultra model.
| Volvo EX30 trim | Range (CLTC) |
Starting Price |
| RWD Core | 255 mi (410 km) | $27,800 (200,800 yuan) |
| RWD Long Range Plus | 366 mi (590 km) | $30,300 (219,800 yuan) |
| RWD Long Range Ultra | 366 mi (590 km) | $32,100 (232,800 yuan) |
| AWD High-Performance Ultra | 335 mi (540 km) | $35,400 (255,800 yuan) |
Powered by either a 49 kWh lithium-ion (RWD Core) or 66 kWh ternary lithium battery, the EX30’s fastest recharge time (10% to 80%) is 26 minutes.
You can see Volvo included new signature design elements like Thor Hammer LED headlights and a closed grille.
The China-made EX30’s rear features the logo “Volvo Asia Pacific,” which indicates where it was built.
Inside, you will find a modern, simplistic layout. Included is a 12.3″ vertical infotainment with hidden air conditioning units. The three-spoke steering wheel includes touch controls for key features. In addition, Volvo used environmentally friendly recycled materials like flax fiber and denim.
At 4,233 mm long, 1,838 mm wide, and 1,555 mm tall, the EX30 will rival BYD’s best-selling Atto 3 SUV (4,455mm X 1,875 mm X 1,615 mm) and Dolphin (4,290 mm X 1,570 mm X 1,770 mm) electric hatch in China.
Electrek’s Take
BYD was the best-selling car brand in China last year after overtaking Volkswagen. After slashing prices and declaring a “liberation battle” against ICE vehicles, BYD hit a new weekly sales record in China earlier this month.
Through May 12, BYD had over 101,300 registrations in China, outpacing rivals Tesla, Li Auto, NIO, and XPeng.
Its cheapest EV, the Seagull Honor Edition, now starts at just $9,700 (69,800 yuan). Perhaps, more importantly, BYD is expanding into new segments like luxury and mid-size SUVs.
BYD launched the Sea Lion 07, its first “mid-size urban smart electric SUV,” this month, undercutting Tesla’s Model Y with starting prices of $26,250 (189,800 yuan).
Volvo is also gearing up for an EV offensive, with its EX30 rolling out into new markets. The EX30 will start at $34,950 (plus a $1,295 delivery fee) in the US, and deliveries are expected to begin this summer.
The company is also launching its first three-row electric SUV, the EX90. In China, Volvo began production of its first luxury electric minivan, the EM90.
Volvo’s lineup will include the EX30, EX40, EC40, EM90, and EX90. With the launch of new EVs, Volvo expects demand to “remain robust” over the next few quarters.
Can Volvo’s new EX30 help it keep up with EV leaders like BYD in China starting under $28,000? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: CarNewsChina, Volvo
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Tesla has started pushing its new Full Self-Driving (FSD) v12.4 update, and it confirmed the removal of the “steering wheel nag”, but it improved camera-based driver monitoring, including shutting down the sunglasses loophole.
As usual, Elon Musk has been hyping up the next Tesla FSD update as “mind-blowing”, but this time, he went beyond the superlatives and released a few verifiable details about the update.
Musk said that v12.4 should result in a 5 to 10x improvement in miles per intervention. It’s going to be hard to verify because Tesla never released that data for previous versions of the software, but we do have some crowdsourced data that we could compare it to.
The CEO also said that v12.4 would remove what most people call “steering wheel nag.”
“Steering wheel nag” is what Tesla drivers call the alerts the vehicle sends to remind drivers to apply pressure on the steering wheel. Tesla doesn’t have a way to detect hands on the steering wheel, so it can “confirm” drivers keep their hands on it – by detecting torque being applied on the wheel.
Tesla has started to push the update to its internal fleet this weekend and now we have more details about the changes in driver monitoring.
The automaker wrote in the release notes of the update (via Not a Tesla App):
When Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is enabled, the driver monitoring system now primarily relies on the cabin camera to determine driver attentiveness. This enhancement is available on vehicles equipped with a cabin camera and only when the cabin camera has clear and continuous visibility of the driver’s eyes (e.g., the camera is not occluded, there is sufficient cabin illumination, and the driver is looking forward at the road ahead and not wearing sunglasses, a hat with a low brim, or other objects covering the eyes).
Tesla warns that there will still be some steering wheel nag if outside of the circumstances listed above:
Outside of these circumstances, the driver monitoring system will continue to rely on a combination of torque-based (steering wheel) and vision-based monitoring to detect driver attentiveness.
The automaker also commented on how the camera-based driver monitoring is going to work:
If the camera detects the driver to be inattentive, a warning will appear. The warning can be dismissed by the driver immediately reverting their attention back to the road ahead. Warnings will escalate depending on the nature and frequency of detected inattentiveness, with continuous inattention leading to a Strikeout.
While we have yet to see this in practice, it does sound like Tesla might be relaxing the frequency of alerts on that front, too, as long as the driver is paying attention.
Tesla is trying to reassure everyone that the camera data from the cabin doesn’t leave the vehicle:
Cabin camera images do not leave the vehicle itself, which means the system cannot save or transmit information unless you enable data sharing.
Tesla is expected to start pushing the v12.4 update to the wider fleet this week.
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi looks on during a TV interview, in Tehran, Iran May 7, 2024.
Iran’s Presidency | WANA | Via Reuters
Crude oil futures were little changed Monday after Iran’s president and foreign minister died in a helicopter crash.
President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian perished in the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province in poor weather.
Here are today’s energy prices:
- West Texas Intermediate June contract: $79.78 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.35%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil is up 11.3%.
- Brent July contract: $83.77 a barrel, down 21 cents, or 0.25%. Year to date, the global benchmark is up 8.8%.
- RBOB gasoline June contract: $2.56 a gallon, down 0.54%. Year to date, gasoline futures have gained 21.7%.
- Natural gas June contract: $2.65 per thousand cubic feet, up 1%. Year to date, gas is up 5.8%.
Policy in OPEC’s third-largest producer is not expected to change, with Vice President Mohammad Mokhber taking over as interim president as the country prepares for new elections within 50 days.
WTI vs. Brent
In Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, King Salman is undergoing treatment for a lung infection.
U.S. crude oil and Brent booked modest gains last week, but remain stuck in a narrow range as traders look for a catalyst that could lift prices out of the doldrums.
OPEC and its allies, led by Russia, will hold a meeting on June 1 to review production policy. A coalition of OPEC+ members are voluntarily cutting output by 2.2 million barrels per day to support prices.
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