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By now, everyone knows that electric vehicles don’t really have a sales problem. What they have is the industry’s leading manufacturer hitting the skids, which is skewing sales figures overall. Meanwhile, other automakers are scrambling to fill the gap. That includes Volkswagen, which has just set the Intertubes on fire with the announcement of a new $5 billion joint venture with the US EV maker Rivian. That’s not the only recent big boost for Rivian, by the way.
From Dieselgate To Electric Vehicles
The new deal with Rivian is another step in Volkswagen’s journey from the dark days of the “dieselgate” emissions scandal, and it’s a particularly interesting step, too.
Back in 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency alleged that Volkswagen sold 590,000 diesel vehicles in the US, from model year 2009 to 2016, that sported some unusual computer software. Described as “defeat devices” by the EPA, the software was designed to cheat on emissions tests, in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.
Now here we are in 2024 and the spotlight is still on software, but in a good way.
“The partnership fits seamlessly with our existing software strategy, our products, and partnerships,” enthused Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume in a press statement about the new joint venture.
“We are strengthening our technology profile and our competitiveness,” he added.
There are quite a few angles to unpack in the software department. On April 15, for example, Rivian described an A-to-F system for scoring the reliability of EV charging stations, and integrating those scores with trip planning.
“When a Rivian driver plugs into a fast charger on any network, including Tesla Superchargers, the vehicle logs relevant data such as the charger’s average top speed, payment success and overall charge session success,” the company explains. “When enough Rivian drivers have used a given charging site, we dynamically assign that site a reliability score from A (highest) to F (lowest) based on those critical performance factors.”
“Rivian drivers can now see how reliable a fast charger is based on real-world charging experiences, with industry-first charging scores now available in every R1T and R1S via our latest over-the-air update,” the company adds.
That’s just one example. Check out the company’s software news page for more highlights including snow mode, kneel mode, camp mode, and pet comfort.
Bringing The Cost Of Electric Vehicles Down, One Wire At A Time
In a press statement on June 25, Rivian made much of the cost-cutting features of the hardware part of the joint venture, too. One of the highlights in that category is something called zonal architecture, which is a fancy way of saying that Rivian’s flagship models need a lot less wiring.
Rivian launched its second-generation R1 models earlier this month, emphasizing a number of other cost-cutting enhancements.
“We have updated over half the vehicles’ hardware components, including a wide range of engineering improvements to the body structure, battery packs, wire harness, electrical system and closure systems. Much of the body structure now uses a 50% more efficient manufacturing process,” the automaker explains on its website.
“Our second generation R1 vehicles feature an entirely new electrical architecture and compute platform developed in-house by our hardware and software team,” Rivian elaborates. “This significant update to our onboard computing system makes our vehicles more robust, less costly to produce and easier to service.”
Further elaborating, Rivian explains that zonal architecture helped reduce the number of electronic control units (ECUs) from 17 to just 7.
“Shifting to a zonal system enabled us to remove over 1.6 miles (2.6km) of wiring from each vehicle, shedding 44 lb (20kg) of weight. This reduction in wiring, along with the elimination of 10 ECUs, greatly reduces production costs,” Rivian adds.
The company also notes that the zonal architecture and compute platform system “dramatically improves scalability for deployment in future vehicles.” If they mean moving down the scale to small city-sized cars, that would be another opportunity to cut costs.
As it stands, though, Rivian fans on a budget will have to wait. “The new R1S starts at $75,900. R1T starts at $69,900. Dual-Motor configurations are available immediately, with Tri Max expected late summer and Quad Max to follow,” the company notes.
Rivian’s Electric Vehicles Heart Renewable Energy
The new VW joint venture is not actually a thing yet, but the two partners plan to polish off the details before the end of this year. In the meantime, Rivian has been making some huge moves to connect its customers with renewables.
Around the middle of this month, reports surfaced that Rivian is teaming up with the up-and-coming UK energy firm Octopus to offer a 100% renewable energy plan, with homes included as well as electric vehicles.
“The plan, which is exclusive to Rivian customers, features a time-of-use energy rate with an overnight off-peak rate discounted by up to 50%,” reported SolarQuarter on June 17.
Octopus is determined to follow through on its promise of 100% renewables for electric vehicles. On June 18, the company announced its first US investment, with the goal of spending $2 billion by 2030.
Starting things off with a bang, Octopus acquired two new solar farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania, for a combined total of 100 megawatts. In the context of today’s solar farm scale, that’s not particularly impressive, but Octopus points out that it currently manages a global solar portfolio totaling 2 gigawatts.
“It also has a further 1.7 GW of green energy projects such as onshore and offshore wind farms around the world, including in Europe and Australia, with projects in the pipeline in Asia and Africa too,” Octopus says of itself. The company also notes that it recently inked two deals in the US, one with the floating wind startup Ocergy, and another with the nature-focused startup Cultivo.
About That Sales Slump…
As for that slump in sales of electric vehicles, CleanTechnica is among the news organizations following the ups and downs of the EV industry, with particular attention to the iconic EV industry leader Tesla as well as Rivian and Volkswagen.
Last fall, the headlines were screaming about an industry slump in sales, especially after Ford announced a cutback in its EV production plans. By April of this year, I was calling the so-called EV sales slump more a case of “misdirected expectations” than a permanent drop, based on the record-setting pace of global EV sales in January. Ford also recently let loose another hint about its not-so-secret “skunkworks” EV project, suggesting continued interest in the future of electric vehicles.
More recently, auto industry observers have taken note that Tesla’s recent drop in sales is unique to Tesla, and it does not reflect more robust activity in the rest of the electric vehicle market.
On the other hand, just last week, the Cars.com American-Made Index listed the Tesla Model Y at #1 in US sales for the third year in a row, indicating that the automaker still appeals to the hearts and minds of US electric car buyers despite enduring a long slog of negative publicity over the past year or so.
Negative publicity aside, auto industry observers have predicted that Tesla will begin to lose market share as legacy automakers make the long, complicated pivot from internal combustion engines, bringing their trusted brand names to the market.
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