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Saturday, January 15, 2022
So much to see in our Marketplace! Hemmings
Friday, January 14, 2022
German automakers are about to expand their EV lineups bigtime
| If you have trouble reading this message, view it in a browser.  VW and BMW double their EV sales, Bollinger has a change of plans, and an EV delivery robot the size of a small car is on the way. But first:  The Isetta-style Microlino 2.0 is headed into production in Italy soon, remixing classic bubble car design elements with an electric powertrain. The two-seater has been in the works for some time, but progress had been slowed down by the pandemic. The electric bubble car is now expected to begin rolling out of the Turin plant this spring, and will be headed to Switzerland first before landing in other European countries.  The Microlino 2.0 features seating for two and a modest cargo area out back. The two-seat bubble car certainly faces a few headwinds, but this hasn't stopped other low-volume manufacturers from offering their electric vehicles in the states, albeit not registered as road cars. And, after all, EV shoppers did have the option of buying the Mitsubishi i-MiEV here for a while, so perhaps there is something to this formula. With a promised range of 143 miles in the 14-kWh version, the Microlino appears to have a few things going for it on paper.  The Polestar 3 will be here shortly, but it remains to be seen who'll be able to use its advanced autonomous tech. Speaking of new EVs, we've known for some time that Polestar's next model would be unveiled in 2022, and that it would be an SUV. But just a few days ago the automaker indicated that the upcoming EV would also offer an "unsupervised" autonomous driving system in the Polestar 3, one that had been mentioned a few days prior by parent company Volvo.    The Wolfsburg-based automaker revealed this week that it had roughly doubled its deliveries of EVs during 2021, with battery-electric models accounting for 5.1% of its total deliveries during the year, compared to 2.5% in 2020. The Volkswagen Group reports that it had delivered 452,900 battery-electric models over the course of the year, out of a total of 8,882,000 vehicles sold globally by its brands. And more new models are on the way soon.
 This past holiday travel season tested the maximum distance Americans would opt to drive instead of fly. Yet even without the disruptions sparked by the pandemic—not to mention the fear of infection from crammed airplane cabins—short-haul flights themselves may be ripe for a rethinking. A concept created by two Car Design Research associates looks at an alternative to short-haul flights that could prove viable in the age of EVs and autonomous driving, one that would generate only 2% of the current airplane emissions per air passenger on a short-haul flight.   Spread the word: If you know someone interested in staying on top of the rapidly growing EV segment, feel free to pass this newsletter along.
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