G. David Felt

Shell New Energies agrees to acquire Sonnen Group, a leader in smart energy storage systems and a pioneer of clean technologies, decentralized and connected energy systems. Sonnen is an award winning leader and one of the fastest growing tech companies from Germany. Sonnen has won awards for their virtual battery system that is based on residential storage systems, sonnen offers new and highly innovative energy services for grid providers and customers. Sonnen has their products available for sale in Germany, Italy, UK, Australia and the USA. Shell is announcing that they will be spending between $1 to $2 billion this year on commercial opportunities. Sonnen technology will allow Shell New Energies to grow and expand both residential and commercial opportunities along with their service station installation of charging systems where Sonnen will be the energy storage system of choice. Just as Shell acquired Greenlots, this is another arrow in Shell's arsenal of technology in the changing auto fueling business. The ability to have smart storage to deal with fueling of the future auto's of the world. This purchase gives Shell New Energies a singles stop solution for the electric auto industry commercial to small business and for personal off the grid living. You can find more on what Shell New Energies is doing here at their website Shell New Energies. Shell New Energies Press Sonnen

Your probably thinking, did I read the teaser right? Did it really say 2,581 lb-ft of torque or 3,500 NM from a 160 horsepower or 120 kW motor with torque vectoring? Yes, Yes you did! GKN Automotive is proud to unveil the world's first battery electric vehicle (BEV) with a two-speed transmission and torque vectoring. GTD19 demonstrator vehicle is built from a Jeep Renegade and is currently in Arjeplog, Sweden undergoing winter testing. To prove the industry-leading standards of efficiency, safety and driving dynamics in this BEV model, GKN choose to go with a FWD version where torque vectoring can provide noticeable benefits than in a rear wheel drive or all-wheel drive platform. To Quote GKN: Why a two-speed gearbox? The setup in the GTD19 is engineered to ensure the shifts are seamless, with minimal loss of power and torque while providing faster acceleration and higher top speed with improved efficiency. What is the top speed you ask? The eTwinsterX allows a top speed of 155 mph or 250 kph. To quote Hannes Prenn, COO of GKN ePowertrain: The all new eTwinster powertrain can be easily adapted and integrated into existing vehicle platform for FWD, RWD or AWD configurations. Twinster torque vectoring delivers swift and smooth acceleration while providing greater lateral control and optimized driving dynamics. GKN has stated their eTwinster system is smaller than many equivalent systems from competitors allowing it to be easily integrated into existing vehicle plate forms as they did with the GTD19 replacing it's ICE powertrain. The small size allowed GKN to install in place of the ICE, the complete solution of electric motor, inverter controls, eAxle along with all required cabling leading to a very thin battery pack underneath the GTD19. GKN system integration allows them to offer the eTwinster powertrain as a readily adaptable solution for all types of auto's from all-wheel drive hypercars to plug-in hybrid luxury SUVs to entry-level city cars. If you have ever been in a Range Rover Evoque Hybrid, then you have already experienced the Twinster system as it can be added to the Hybrid solution with the Twinster unit in the back helping to improve the dynamics and calibration of the auto. This GKN solution will also show up in the Opel Insignia. To quote GKN: Where else will you see this amazing system that was the number one hybrid / electric vehicle system shown at the Geneva Auto show this year is in the BMW M3 Concept, Volvo XC90 demonstrator which will be paired with the T8 Twin Engine Plug-in Hybrids as well as Mercedes-Benz AMB GLA45 prototype. View full article

Agreed, right now voice truly sucks, but if they could get it to work without having to touch your phone then I would be up for that.

Totally makes sense plus western Europe is a mess right now. I think that a big dealership / auto consolidation is coming.

In the latest round of Trade War rhetoric is a question that has ended up in the courts, when is a passenger van really a cargo van and does this tariff engineering really justify getting around the 25% chicken tax? In response to President Donald Trump's tariff war, automakers are find interesting ways to play the grey area of the legal system. According to BNN Bloomberg and Bloomberg news, trade attorneys are closely watching the Ford Motor Co. legal case play out in federal court. This case deals with the importation of passenger vans that are then stripped down once they clear customs and sold as cargo vans. The difference here is that Ford pays 2.5% import duty on passenger vans versus te 25% import duty on light trucks / cargo vans. This challenge against Ford brought by U.S. Customs is challenging the practice of tariff engineering. The art of building a product one way, then changing it once cleared by customs for another use. With all the increased tariffs imposed by the Trump administration this could have critical impact on a region that many automakers have used to bring in a profitable product for market needs. According to the news stories, a ruling by the Court of International Trade ruled in Ford's favor in 2017 but is being challenged by the administration in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Regardless if the U.S. and China come to terms for a new trade agreement, there are no promises that the in place tariffs would be repealed. Ford's argument is that tariff engineering is a legitimate maneuvers for firms exploring ways to mitigate duties by project reclassification, shifting production to other countries which changes the origins of product assembly. Trade lawyers across the country say this case will help establish legal guidelines for tariff engineering. To quote the story from BNN Bloomberg: The U.S. Court of International Trade has stated that under the well-established customs law, manufacturers can intentionally make a product that can avoid higher tariffs with simple changes. What cannot be done is situations such as hiding a higher quality product in a lower quality product like high grade tobacco inside a case of lower grade tobacco. This case has come down to the wording on the import paperwork of "principally designed for the transport of persons". The current administration says this is a scheme for avoiding taxes and local jobs. Ford argues that the goods must be classified in their condition as imported, regardless of later alterations and ended use by consumers. Appeals court is expected to rule in the coming weeks. View full article

I think the next thing is true voice control over the whole phone and building it to be either a bracelet, or just an ear piece. I have found that there is a need to have everything in the phone but in a very small format as well as the need to be flexible with lifestyle.

Agree, me think the profits are Vaporware here in the US at least!

Roomy for us big people and better than cars in most cases which are even more cramped.

If your at home, then again 220V charging while your doing stuff at home is still more than enough and some states more than others lead in quick charge DC charge station easily found around the highways, work and retail locations. Do not get me wrong, it would be nice to have a 440V 3 phase fast charger at home, but more often than not most people would not need it or need to spend the money on it once they got used to charging their auto every night.

Disagree, SUV's are not to blame. Consumers tastes are. Roadsters might be nice to look at but unless they are profitable, hard to justify for the bulk of society to own and use.

If only that was true of apple products. Not everyone sees the apple interface as user friendly or simple.

That is a super sexy Cadillac. Todays auto's are truly missing that interior room with comfort.

Yet the Chrysler commercials with Ricardo Montalban were really good I thought even if the auto's were not memorable. https://www.bing.com/search?q=car commercial with ricardo montalban&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=car commercial with ricardo montalban&sc=1-37&sk=&cvid=6FAE91254C15464BA6B757257493F10B

That is just stupid. Computers are supposed to make our life easier not harder and that is harder. Should be voice command capable. Tesla, rear middle seat heater on medium Tesla, passenger rear outside seat off. Should be that simple.

Thanks Drew for posting this. I honestly hate these things, but all my travels to Japan, Korea and China shows the Asian Rim is crazy about them as you get them in everything from taxi's to rentals. Crazy. and stinky. Let me smell the natural leather of the auto, not some fake scent.

Cleaned the windows and RainX them before the rain started tonight. Into a Winter Storm Warning with 20" of snow expected in the mountains. Tomorrow is going to be a Pow Pow Day on the slopes and me having to work. Supposed to warm up next week as we go into an extended dry spell. Planning to wash and clean all the auto's.

I am surprised they can make money let alone keep it going with sales figures like this. Anyone know what other auto is built on the same platform that would allow it to have low production cost to keep on selling?

Pure Electric or Hybrid? ? Me thinking Electric as Pininfarina has talked about working with others and building their own super electric car. Interesting, wonder what it would look like if it was a CUV?

Cool, but if the Grand Wagoneer is a 3 row, why have another one under another name. Me thinking that maybe a bit of over kill in the CUV/SUV segment.

Much appreciate the clarity. Thank you.

Why, most people would plug it in and leave it overnight. No need to spend money on expensive hardware when an overnight charger will more than do the job to give you a full battery pack.

We have actually had some very bad patches from the Forum software company and a few other corruption issues. More than just user error

Celeron or what us insiders call cellary chips stick around due to the power management, but they suck at actually doing more than web browsing and power point presentations. Would never recommend one to someone. Pentium's are around for the Gamers. Amazing how many people who are on teams always talk about the Pentium. Think it is marketing more than anything else but they do seem to have as you stated a place in embedded devices and small entertainment box's. Any serious power user / gamer will go i9 all the way. Still very interesting to see how far Intel is pushing some chips and ways.