75 years of Vespa Piaggios fully electric future

Status: 23.06.2021 8:15 a.m.

The Vespa, Piaggio’s most popular product, has been around for 75 years. Thanks to Corona, business is booming. Nevertheless, the Italian two-wheeler manufacturer wants to reposition itself strategically.

By Jörg Seisselberg, ARD-Studio Rome, currently in Milan

There is a good mood in Via Broletto. At the Milanese headquarters of Piaggio, not far from the famous cathedral, Maurizio Carletti is sitting in his office on the third floor and is bubbling over with optimism. “I hope this year will be the best,” says the Piaggio Vice President, “we are about to achieve results in 2021 that are really extremely remarkable.”

The figures for the first three months of the year: Piaggio sold over a fifth – 22 percent – more vehicles than in the same period of 2019 before the Covid crisis. Net sales are the highest in 14 years. These are golden times for the company.

Two-wheelers sought-after alternatives in times of crisis

One reason is that scooters and motorcycles are in demand in the corona pandemic – as an alternative to bus and train travel. Among other things, those responsible at Europe’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer had counted on it. At the plant in Pontedera, Tuscany, they kept working almost at full speed during the pandemic, apart from the weeks of complete lockdown in spring 2020. Now the Piaggio dealers have the vehicles that are in demand. In addition, analyst Monica Bosio says that Piaggio is benefiting from its platform strategy, which was introduced years ago, of lowering costs. The result: Piaggio is currently in the “best economic situation” since going public in 2006. “I would say,” says Bosio, “that the company is in excellent health”.

There is still room for improvement in e-mobility

From the height of its current success, the traditional Italian company is working on perhaps the most important future task: not to miss the connection to e-mobility. In the market for electric scooters and motorcycles, Piaggio has to make up ground, with market shares only in the lower single-digit percentage range. “Maybe there was a bit of a delay. But Piaggio is in the process of catching up,” said analyst Bosio.

One reason for the “delay” is that Piaggio has always positioned its vehicles in the upper part of the market in terms of price. So far, this also applies to the new world of e-scooters. Piaggio launched an electric-powered version of the iconic Vespa – and only sold a few copies. The E-Vespa is almost twice as expensive as some competing products. Next month, Piaggio will make the next attempt and want to start selling its new electric model in Europe. It’s called Piaggio One, was presented at the Beijing Auto Show and targets the entry-level electric market, which is dominated by models with a purchase price of up to 3000 euros. “One allows us to go into a price segment that we cannot reach with the Vespa at the moment,” says Vice President Carletti, confidently adding: “Now we will be represented in this segment, but with Piaggio quality.” The brand’s reputation, European production quality, the close international network of dealerships and workshops as well as a now competitive price should give Piaggio a new boost in e-mobility.

Conquer the sharing market with a cheaper model?

So far, the gasoline giant Piaggio is still lagging behind in the electric world. Also because sharing services and rental companies struggle with Piaggio’s expensive e-Vespa. This could change now, believes analyst Bosio: “With the Piaggio One you are trying to close the gap”. Sharing services have so far made up a large part of the e-scooter market in Europe. Piaggio is not competitive here in terms of price. “With Piaggio One, however, it cannot be ruled out,” says the analyst, “that there will be a presence again in this market.”

When asked, Piaggio Vice President Carletti, who is responsible for Europe among other things, does not rule out that Piaggio will also be active in the sharing sector with its new model. Getting active again – because six years ago the Italians tried their hand at the scooter sharing business. A model project with Piaggio MP3 scooters in Rome and Milan was quickly discontinued for cost reasons, shortly before the global sharing trend took off.

Standard replacement battery as the key to success

At Piaggio, the question of batteries is crucial for the future of e-scooters. Those in charge of the Italian company dream of e-scooter filling stations where drivers don’t have to spend a lot of time charging their batteries, but can quickly exchange an almost empty battery for a full one. The Piaggio managers do not consider it realistic for customers to charge their scooters for half an hour at a charging station. Vice-boss Carletti admits that he himself becomes restless if he has to wait a few minutes for his predecessor to finish at the gas station.

Therefore, the principle in the future of e-electric should be: pull the batteries out of your scooter, put them in a compartment at an e-charging point and pull out another, charged battery. Uniform battery connections in the industry would be a prerequisite. That is why Piaggio has teamed up with competitors KTM, Honda and Yamaha in a consortium for the vision of the battery swap. The goal: to develop standardized batteries for all future e-scooters and e-motorcycles

Sports car manufacturer What Porsche is planning for the electric future

Status: 06/22/2021 9:24 a.m.

As a rule, Porsche tests new technology first on the race track – including a new high-tech battery. Because there are no suitable batteries on the world market, Porsche will produce them in-house in the future.

From Tim Diekmann, SWR

If you sit in the new Porsche Taycan, you don’t have to do without the usual sound. Although the first fully electric Porsche should glide almost silently across the street, it sounds either like a bubbling sports car or – when accelerating – like an intergalactic rocket. Porsche calls this “Electric Sport Sound” – because the Swabian car manufacturer does not want to deliver its newest vehicle completely without sports car noises. The luxury sports car, which Porsche sold 20,000 times worldwide last year, is only supposed to be the beginning of an electromobility initiative.

High-tech battery made in Germany

In just two years, every third Porsche should be equipped with an electric motor – as a hybrid or fully electric. For this, Porsche needs lots of powerful batteries. But they are hard to find on the world market, says Porsche boss Oliver Blume: “We need high-performance cells for our electric sports cars. But we can’t find them anywhere at the moment. That’s why we develop and build these cells ourselves.” The first battery cells are expected to roll off the assembly line from 2024, initially for around 1,000 vehicles per year. “The focus will initially be on small series for racing and high-performance vehicles. In the future, however, this is not just about racing cars,” explains Blume at the official presentation at the Porsche Development Center in Weissach. In the first step, innovative technologies are usually only developed for a limited high-tech application, “but once the innovations have proven themselves there, they will gradually establish themselves across the board. That must be our goal. At Porsche, that’s what we call it Principle: from motorsport to series production. ”

Range model Tesla

For battery cell production, the Stuttgart-based company is working with the German company Customcells, which it claims to be a world leader in the development of lithium-ion battery cells. The joint venture operates under the name Cellforce Group.

According to automotive expert Stefan Bratzel from the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch-Gladbach, it is logical that, after Volkswagen, Porsche is now also relying on the production of its own battery cells: “The battery cell accounts for the largest part of the car’s added value, and it has a lot of innovation potential . Automobile manufacturers who develop competencies in this area have a long-term competitive advantage. ” According to Bratzel, Porsche should not chase after the competition for the US electric car manufacturer Tesla, but rather must lead the way as an innovator.

New battery technology promises many advantages

According to the head of electrochemical energy technologies at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), Markus Hölzle, the batteries as we know them today should still develop their potential: “Everything can, must and will be improved Above all, however, the cost of battery cells must be reduced further. And the energy density must also increase so that the batteries become more compact. ” The ability to recharge quickly is also important. To do this, Porsche wants to work with so-called silicon anodes, which “has two major advantages over the previously used carbon: it improves the ability to charge quickly and increases the energy content,” explains Hölzle. But now Porsche must first show that they can do it.

But while Porsche is still planning the future, competitor Tesla is already building the world’s largest battery cell factory in Grünheide near Berlin and promises a production capacity of 100 gigawatt hours per year, a thousand times as much as Porsche’s subsidiary Cellforce Group.

Climate neutral by 2030?

The focus on e-mobility and the setting of climate targets is an important step for the brand, emphasizes car expert Bratzel. “Porsche is a brand that nobody really needs, but many people want to have it because of its positive image. And I believe that it is becoming more and more important for the Porsche clientele in particular to say: ‘I have a sports car and still drive in a climate-friendly way . ‘”

Climate protection has long since become an image factor. This also shows the ambitious goal of the Swabian car manufacturer to be “balance sheet CO2-neutral” by 2030 and thus earlier than Daimler (planned for 2039) or Volkswagen (planned for 2050).

Environmentalists are skeptical

The environmental protection organization Greenpeace is skeptical whether Porsche will really be climate-neutral by 2030. “Unfortunately, ‘climate-neutral’ on the balance sheet ‘usually means that in the end generously cheap CO2 credits are bought from offsetting projects instead of consistently reducing CO2,” says Benjamin Gehrs from Greenpeace. With its large SUVs, Porsche consumes an unnecessarily large amount of resources. Porsche must also get out of the business with climate-damaging diesels and gasoline engines faster and more consistently than before.

So will the Porsche 911 possibly soon hit the streets as an electric car? Unlikely. In addition to battery cell technology, Porsche is also working on the development of synthetic fuels, so-called eFuels, which are to be produced using renewable electricity. Artificial sports car sound, as in the Taycan, is then unnecessary. At Porsche, the first step is to advance research in the field of battery cell development. The federal and state governments support the project with 60 million euros

Electric car manufacturer US agency investigates Tesla accidents

Status: 06/18/2021 10:49 a.m.

The US traffic safety authority NHTSA has investigated 30 accidents with Tesla models since 2016. It examines whether and how the use of Tesla’s assistance system for automated driving influenced the accidents. In recent years, accidents involving Tesla models have repeatedly raised the question of the extent to which there is a connection with the assistance system for automated driving. Does the US electric car manufacturer’s autopilot pose any particular dangers? To find out, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating 30 accidents involving Tesla models. The accidents have occurred since 2016 and claimed a total of ten deaths. The NHTSA has now published an official list with details of the accidents investigated for the first time, as reported by Reuters news agency.

Sensational accident in Texas

Accordingly, eight new investigations have been initiated since March 2021. In three of the 30 cases, the involvement of the autopilot in the accident could be excluded, according to the NHTSA. Two final reports are ready.

An accident in Texas in April caused a sensation in which a Tesla Model S hit a tree and immediately caught fire . Two men died in the accident. It is believed that neither of them had been behind the wheel. The authority is currently investigating six other incidents from other manufacturers in which assistance systems may be involved.

Problems in china

The US electrical manufacturer Tesla is repeatedly confronted with all kinds of safety concerns, most recently in the important Chinese market.

For example, an event at the Shanghai auto show in April caused a sensation. A woman at the Tesla booth got into a Model 3 from the manufacturer and complained screaming about brake failure. It was taken away by security guards while the videos were spreading online. The Chinese market supervisory authority then intervened, and state media called for an investigation into Tesla.

Tesla is the best-selling electric car in China. The group has also been producing in Shanghai since 2019. A quarter of all Teslas now roll off the assembly line there

On June 21, according to news from the Sichuan Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Huatai United Securities recently announced that the domestic semiconductor IP supplier Chengdu Ruichengxin Micro Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Ruichengxin Micro”) IPO and Progress report on the guidance of listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (Phase 1). On January 29, 2021, Huatai United Securities and Ruichengxin Micro signed the “Chengdu Ruichengxin Micro Technology Co., Ltd. and Huatai United Securities Co., Ltd. Initial Public Offering Counseling Agreement.” The Sichuan Supervision Bureau submitted the application documents of Ruichengxin Micro’s IPO counseling and filing. According to data, Ruichengxin Micro was established in 2011, dedicated to the design and authorization of integrated circuit intellectual property (IP) products, and provides one-stop services, with the goal of becoming a world-class integrated circuit IP provider with innovative capabilities and trustworthiness. Relying on independent semiconductor IP, we provide customers with platform-based semiconductor IP authorization services and one-stop chip design services. The products include ultra-low power analog IP, embedded non-volatile memory IP, and high-performance radio frequency IP. Semiconductor IP has applied for more than 200 patents at home and abroad, serving hundreds of integrated circuit design companies around the world. Products are widely used in 5G, Internet of Things, smart home, automotive electronics, smart power supplies, wearables, medical electronics, industrial control and other fields. As early as 2016, Ruichengxin Micro launched a complete set of ultra-low power analog IP design solutions based on 55nm process, and cooperated with partners to develop the world’s first MCU chip with the lowest power consumption of 7nA; in 2017, Ruichengxin Micro and China’s top 3 integrated circuit design companies jointly developed the world’s lowest power consumption, mass-produced NB-IoT chip; in 2018, based on the domestic Foundry 153nm, CMOS process, successfully verified LogicFlash that meets the requirements of automotive electronics Grade0, and tested more than 200,000 times Erasing, high temperature resistance 175℃, service life up to 11 years. This technology has also been adopted by international automotive electronics companies for many years, and has registered the LogicFlash trademark in the United States and Japan. On April 28, 2020, Ruichengxin Micro announced the completion of the acquisition of Chengdu Shengxin Micro Technology Co., Ltd. (SYDTEK), a wireless communication chip designer. According to the progress report of the sci-tech innovation board listing guidance work, the actual controller of Ruicheng Xinwei is Xiang Jianjun, with a shareholding ratio of 35.59%. The shareholders include Zhuhai Apex Microelectronics Co., Ltd., BYD Co., Ltd., Suzhou Juyuan Oriental Investment Fund Center, Datang Telecom Investment Co., Ltd. and other enterprises and investment institutions. It is worth noting that, recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of recommended and supported national-level specialized and new “little giant” enterprises and national (or provincial) public service demonstration platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises (the first batch of the first year), Ruichengxin Micro also successfully made the list. Editor: Xinzhixun-Rurouni Sword

Corona vaccine study Novavax is 90 percent effective

Status: 14.06.2021 2:21 p.m. According to preliminary study data, the corona vaccine from the US pharmaceutical manufacturer Novavax is safe and highly effective – even with virus variants. The product raises great hopes, especially in developing countries. According to the US pharmaceutical company, the Novavax corona vaccine protects well against the virus and its variants. The company said that the vaccine was around 90 percent effective and, according to preliminary data from a study, safe. The vaccine effectiveness study involved nearly 30,000 people in the United States and Mexico. Two-thirds of them received two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart, all others received placebos. A total of 77 people were infected with the coronavirus, 14 of them in the group of those who were vaccinated. Of the participants who received the drug, none developed severe or moderate symptoms, while there were 14 in the comparison group without vaccination.

background 06/14/2021

No cases of blood clots or heart problems

The vaccine was similarly effective against several variants of the coronavirus, including the alpha variant first discovered in the UK, as well as in high-risk groups such as the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions. The side effects were similar to those of other vaccines and mainly concerned pain at the injection site. There have been no reports of blood clots or heart problems, said Novavax boss Stanley Erck. Novavax plans to publish the results in a medical journal where they will be reviewed by independent experts.

Vaccine important for developing countries

The company said that applications for approval would be submitted in the USA and Europe, among others, by the end of September. Until then, a production of 100 million cans per month is possible. Novavax’s vaccine is easy to transport and store, which is why it is expected to play an important role in vaccination campaigns in developing countries. “Many of our first doses will go to low- and middle-income countries, and that was the goal from the start,” said Erck. Novavax’s vaccine works in a similar way to flu vaccines. It is made with laboratory-grown copies of the spike protein that envelops the coronavirus. The immune system reacts to the proteins in the vaccine and is thus prepared when it is actually confronted with the virus. Other vaccines that are widely used today contain the genetic instructions for the body to make its own spike protein.

02.03.2021

Jiwei Net News On April 14, the Guangdong Supervision Bureau disclosed an announcement on the acceptance of counseling and registration of Guangdong Hetong Jianye Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hetong Technology). It has completed the registration of counseling with the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau on April 14. The counseling agency is Dongguan Securities.

According to the official website, Hetong Technology was founded in 2002 and is a national high-tech enterprise specializing in the production of PCB printed circuit boards and one of the top 100 enterprises in China’s printed circuit industry. It has the production technology capability to produce high-precision, high-density single-sided, double-sided, multi-layer circuit boards and LED light strip boards, carbon oil boards, aluminum substrates and new energy automobile boards.

It is understood that Hetong Technology is a NEEQ delisted company. Its operating income in 2020 was 321 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.85%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 41.497 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.28%; the deducted non-net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 140.83 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 37.71% .

From the perspective of the three main businesses of Tonghe Technology, the new energy vehicle industry achieved revenue of 85.671 million yuan, an increase of 18.02% year-on-year, and a gross profit margin of 19.71%; the power industry achieved revenue of 99,587,400 yuan, an increase of 19.42% year-on-year, gross The interest rate was 38.91%; the military industry and other industries achieved revenue of 113 million yuan, an increase of 3.11% year-on-year, and the gross profit rate was 61.83%.

Tonghe Technology stated that despite the adverse effects of the new crown epidemic in 2020, the company’s management team mobilized all positive factors to give full play to its own marketing promotion and technology research and development advantages to realize the three strategic areas of smart grid, new energy vehicles and military equipment The overall growth of operating income. Specifically include: overall planning, clear goals, focus on business, focus on the market and products, increase investment in key links, and enhance core competitiveness; mergers and acquisitions and integration, play a synergistic effect, and enhance the company’s product competitiveness and market share in the field of military equipment ; Initiate refinancing to provide new growth momentum for the company’s long-term development. (Proofreading/Lee)