Year 2021 review: The most-read news in emobility

Dear readers, Thank you for being with us over for nearly a decade and 2021 in particular. Amidst supply issues and of course the world’s ongoing emergencies, our industry appeared stronger than ever with the transformation truly picking up the pace.

We are now looking back at 2021 with the most popular article of every month. Here’s your Top 12 of the year’s most-read news reports, including updates on how each story developed throughout 2021.

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– January –

Audi’s core models, A4, A6, and A8 get an end date for their combustion engine versions. Audi, at the time, already considered moving on from PHEVs and we suggested, these decisions would become the cornerstones of the ICE exit strategy drawn up under Audi CEO Markus Duesmann. Indeed, Audi would accelerate the EV transition the following June before announcing in December, the main plant in Ingolstadt would build only all-electric cars from 2028, including the A6 successor E6.
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– February –

Daimler Trucks delivers buses powered by solid-state batteries to the first client in Germany, Wiesbaden’s public transport operator, ESWE. More orders would follow throughout 2021, like in Bremen last month, where BSAG opted to order 20 eCitaro buses with Bolloré battery packs.
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– March –

Audi decides to stop developing new combustion engines as foreseen in January. In an interview, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann justified the decision with the EU plans for a stricter Euro 7 emissions standard but still wanted to rely on “adapting our existing combustion engines to new emission guidelines.”
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– April –

VW clears the next $100Mn for Quantumscape after the start-up achieved a “technical milestone” in the development of solid-state battery cells in its lab in Germany. The company thus fulfilled the requirement for Volkswagen AG to invest another $100Mn out of a total $200Mn (€170Mn) investment. VW and Quantumscape would go on to announce in July, they were targeting mass production of solid-state battery cells by 2024 or 2025.
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* * *

– May –

France writes off CHAdeMO for good: This was the end of the CHAdeMO fast-charging standard in France. From then on, only CCS for DC charging and Type 2 for AC charging (22 kW) is considered mandatory for newly installed and replaced fast-charging stations in France. Electrify America in August would make a similar decision and will phase out CHAdeMO at its US charging stations in 2022.
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– June –

Rimac turns the card and buys of Bugatti from Volkswagen or rather Porsche as VW would transfer Bugatti to Porsche to form a joint venture with the latter in which Rimac would acquire 55 per cent of Bugatti shares. The take-over was agreed only two weeks later with the Bugatti-Rimac JV completed in which Porsche would hold 45 per cent.
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– July –

Audi expands the Q4 e-tron portfolio with the Q4 Sportback 40 e-tron, the model with the longest range in the series, and the Q4 45 e-tron quattro as an all-wheel drive variant. The new cars would remain so successful that Audi in November said they were considering building the Q4 e-tron electric SUV in Brussels from November 2022 due to high demand and in addition to Zwickau.
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* * *

– August-

Sodium over Lithium? wondered our correspondent Christoph M. Schwarzer in his Premium report. CATL had presented a sodium-ion cell along with plans to start production in 2023 and Schwarzer evaluated the technology by speaking to battery experts from P3 Automotive and Prof. Dr Markus Hölzle from ZSW. The potential remains huge.
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– September –

Rivian announced plans to hit the stockmarket: The EV startup Rivian filed its documents for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Different from many rivals, Rivian wanted to carry out the IPO on its own and not merge via SPAC deal. The company suceeded and when going public in November reached a stock market value of over $100Bn on its second day of trading – higher than GM or Ford.
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* * *

– October –

VW takes stock of ID.3 sales about a year after launching its first MEB EV. The company received more than 144,000 orders and found, that a good 50 per cent of the buyers had not previously driven a VW car, i.e. they were new to the brand. However, Volkswagen, like other OEMs, continues to struggle with the worldwide chip shortage and said new ID.3 orders will only open again in 2022.
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– November –

MG Motor shows off updated ZS EV: MG Motor presented the details of the announced facelift of the ZS EV, which would arrive at European dealers at the end of the month. Initially, only the larger of the two models is available, while an electric station wagon is expected in early 2022.
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– December –

Demand for electric cars remains high, prompting BMW to consider introducing Saturday shifts at its Munich plant in the first quarter of 2022 to build more new i4s. The waiting time for the electric sedan is currently said to be around nine months but could soon climb to a year.
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>> From the whole team at electrive.com, we wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year and will continue delivering the latest news of everything moving electric as we focus on progress. The year’s first newsletter will arrive in your inbox on 3 January 2022. If you haven’t subscribed already you may do so here.