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Delivery vehicles and other utility vehicles are some of the best candidates for EVs. With frequent stops, starts and idling as well as the need for powerful low-end torque, these work horses can reap many of the most important performance benefits of electric vehicle drivetrains.

Apparently the industry agrees, with Bosch and Tropos Motors both announcing new EV products today.

Electric delivery vans have already been making significant progress, with Nissan’s e-NV200 electric van breaking towing records and Mercedes-Benz announcing late last year that they will be adding electric drive to all of their commercial vans.

The online shopping powerhouse Amazon was even impressed enough with Mercedes’s new eVito van that the company ordered a fleet of the electric vans last month.

With big players producing more commercial electric vans and even bigger players buying them, more companies are getting into the action.

Bosch just announced a set of new electric powertrains developed specifically for electric vans and is eyeing the delivery vehicle market.

According to Bosch board of management member Markus Heyn:

“Bosch is bringing e-mobility to where it really makes sense – urban deliveries. Bosch’s electrical powertrain for commercial vehicles has the potential to change the face of urban delivery traffic. We’re getting electric vans ready for the mass market.”

Bosch’s new eCityTruck powertrain has two units known as the eAxle and the Electric Drive Module.

Both integrate the electric motor and electronics in a single housing, thereby increasing the efficiency of electric vehicles. The eAxle also integrates the transmission into the unit as well.

So far Bosch has already seen its existing commercial EV products in use on Deutsche Post’s StreetScooters, which use a Bosch drive system. Now an increasing number of vehicles can make use of Bosch’s new powertrains, which are scalable for vehicles from 2 to 7 tons.

But Bosch isn’t the only one rolling out options for commercial electric vehicles. Tropos Motors just unveiled their new ABLE XR electric compact utility vehicle (eCUV).

It is considered a low-speed vehicle (LSV), but still reaches a top speed of 72 km/h (42 mph). The higher top speed makes it more multi-role than neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), which are sometimes seen as glorified golf carts. While the previous ABLE vehicles had fairly limited ranges, the ABLE XR is rated for up to 250 km (155 miles) of range, albeit at a slower speed of 40 km/h (25 mph).

That is over 4 times farther than previous ABLE models and is possible due to the vehicle’s new 26 kWh battery pack split into two 13 kWh modules – which is larger than the batteries found in some highway-ready electric vehicles like the Fiat 500e or Smart ForTwo.

According to Tropos Motors CEO John Bautista:

“Our customers are looking for eCUVs that can travel farther at higher speeds or farther with heavy payloads. The extra energy provided by the new lithium batteries makes this possible, as well as power for auxiliary features such as air conditioning, cooking equipment and medical devices.”

The ABLE XR has a maximum capacity of 3,000 lbs on closed campuses or 2,000 lbs on public roads. It also comes with multiple swappable bed styles allowing it to convert from a truck-like utility vehicle to a cargo van or even a first responder vehicle such as an ambulance or (mini) fire engine.

While low-speed EVs and eCUVs are often overlooked in favor of flashier models, they are becoming increasingly important members of the EV ecosystem, finding use in roles such as navigating corporate campuses and in factories as well as in dense urban centers as maintenance vehicles, emergency response vehicles, guest trolleys, street sweepers and other commercial uses.

The ABLE XR also incorporates a number of safety advancements that push it closer to “real vehicle” territory, including a load sensing brake proportioning system, reinforced doors, hill-holding and a driver’s side airbag.

The ABLE XR is expected to launch near the end of this year.

Intellectual property wars are nothing new in the electric vehicle (EV) world or even more broadly. Now such a war may be creeping into the electric air mobility industry as it scrambles to design, innovate, and protect its pioneering work. Get ready for a wave of patents that will make your head spin.

The Safran Bell eVTOL Patent Could Be The Start Of Heated IP War

Electric air mobility has many facets and many unproven concepts. There are electric air taxis, electric airplanes, ones that can turns into land vehicles, water vehicles, or both. For each vehicle, there are various questions. Does it take off like a helicopter (VTOL) or a traditional airplane? Is it a bicycle that hovers with three propellers, four, eight, or even sixteen? Are we talking about a pod with room for one, or two, or six? Is it a drone? Are the fans ducted or exposed — over, under, or integrated into the pod? Is it winged, tailed, ruddered, etc.? Are the propellers fully tilting, all, or some, exposed, tucked? And if these categorizations seem complicated, add the multitude of various configurations. Also, consider the specific propulsion systems.

The latest patent from Safran, a French aerospace company involved with everything from jet engines to electric VTOL (eVOTL) aircraft, shows where the industry is heading. The US patent application for an eVTOL platform suggests an air taxi that it expects to fly in 2020 with a hybrid system. This reminds me of the 2007 to 2010 years, when carmakers patented every hybrid platform they were developing, even Ferrari.

Safran uses a modular platform based on a Y-shaped fuselage supporting an aft fan and a dihedral wing (upward angle), with the aft fan between the twin tail booms. This design allows for a four-seat air taxi cabin Bell uses as a demonstration aircraft.

Safran uses a series-hybrid platform with an internal combustion engine (ICE) acting as its auxiliary power unit (APU). The platform can use a gas-turbine APU driving a hydraulic pump to power hydraulic motors or a hybrid alternative with a turbine-to-generator system powering the hydraulic pump for electricity. We are clearly at the beginning of eVTOL and e-plane design, so IP development is going to reflect this.

How Much Energy Is Needed For An eVTOL?

Although a blanket answer is difficult, since eVTOLs come in different shapes, the sweet spot is reportedly around 0.5 to 1 MW of power for a short city-to-city 100 seat electric aircraft, something that bigger commercial airliners produce today. In this case, Safran uses a turbine APU rated at 180-shp that can generate 100 kVA to power 60 HP electric motors.

The Safran eVTOL ducts tilt horizontally and generate vertical thrust through various pitch and rotational speed on the fore fans to control rolls in VTOL mode. The propellers rotate in opposing directions to effect roll and pitch with its dual contra-rotating aft fan rotor and counter torque from the fore rotor.

Safran says there is no need for traditional helicopter-like rotor cyclic-pitch control according to the patent application. The following video will explain rotor cyclic-pitch for those of us visual learners.

The ducts tilt vertically for forward thrust in flight mode when rudders on the tails and ailerons rudders control the flight dynamics with speeds north of 150 kt. (173 mph). The eVTOL aircraft is about the same size as a conventional light helicopter.

Safran says its exposed propellers avoid hazards to passengers from ground debris in vertical flight. I would like to see wind tunnel tests to visualize the effect of the design.

And no need for messy cables. When the aircraft touches down, it will recharge wirelessly as soon as it senses weight on the wheels, which makes for a fully automated system.

How Does This Fit In The Whole Air Taxi Picture?

As we previously reported, Safran is working with Bell and is part of the Uber Elevate project. Uber expects demonstrations of its urban electric air taxis in Dallas and Los Angeles in 2020, with commercial operation plans for 2023. Safran and Bell feel they can meet the demands of civilian and military electric air mobility with its highly modular architecture.

The first milestone is to reach electric aircraft configurations with a cabin for up to six passengers, with one or two pilots. And the aim is for it to be either manned or automated. The configurations would be a hybrid electric or hybrid hydraulic propulsion system.

Here are a few other eVOTL designs to stroll through as you think about all of these topics:

At a time when Tesla CEO Elon Musk struggles to take his company private, Nio, a Chinese manufacturer of premium elected vehicles, filed to go public in a stock offering that could raise as much as $1.8 billion.

Nio, whose Chinese name translates as “Blue Sky Coming,” began making deliveries in June of its first electric car, the ES8. The company is planning to introduce a lower-cost SUV next year and more models in subsequent years.

In the first half of 2018, Nio reported less than $7 million in revenue and net loss of $503 million. The automaker said that it had delivered 481 ES8 vehicles through July and had “unfulfilled reservations” for more than 17,000 electric vehicles.

Musk, meanwhile, has been expressing his interest in delisting Tesla from the U.S. stock market, after chafing under the pressures of increasing production in a public market. On Monday, Musk wrote on Tesla’s blog that a Saudi sovereign wealth fund approached him about helping to take Tesla private.

Nio’s filing listed Tesla as one of its key competitors. Tesla is investing $5 billion in a new production facility in China, which will be its first outside the U.S.

China is the world’s largest passenger vehicle market. According to Frost & Sullivan, battery-powered electric vehicle sales are expected to increase by more than 40% a year in the country through 2022.

The electric vehicle charging infrastructure industry is evolving at a high pace as it is trying to keep up with the growing deployment of electric vehicles.

Now a manufacturer is trying to push the boundaries of charge rates by unveiling a new station with a record capacity of ‘up to 475 kW’.

Tritium, an Australian company who is currently supplying some of the 350 kW ‘ultra-fast’ charging stations used in the Ionity charging network being deployed in Europe, unveiled the new technology in Amsterdam last week.

They described it as a “unique HPC system, a scalable, flexible system for commercial operators, capable of charging an electric vehicle up to 475 kW.”

The company released the following image of the “high-power station”:

Jeroen Jonker, General Manager of European Sales at Tritium, said in the announcement:

“Tritium’s strategy is to be at the forefront of development in this fast-growing sector – first to market where there are new opportunities,”

At the forefront indeed, Tritium’s 350 kW stations currently being deployed in the Ionity charging network have a higher charge rate than any passenger electric vehicle can currently take.

They are considered “future-proof” and the first passenger electric car that can take full advantage of them is expected to be the Porsche Taycan late next year. The vehicle could charge up to 80% in 15 minutes on those stations.

A similar situation is likely to happen with the deployment of those new stations – though larger commercial electric vehicles are likely to take advantage of those charge rates before passenger electric cars.

Jonker said that they are particularly looking at the UK for future deployment:

“With the announcement of the Road to Zero strategy, the UK is becoming increasingly important as one of our major markets, and we are in active discussion with several organisations in the automotive, utilities and fleet sectors about the deployments of both rapid chargers and high power chargers.”

The company recently opened new offices in the US and Europe in order to support the demand in those markets.

President Donald Trump backed boycotting American motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson Inc (HOG.N) on Sunday, the latest salvo in a dispute between the company and Trump over tariffs on steel.

The Wisconsin-based motorcycle manufacturer announced a plan earlier this year to move production of motorcycles for the European Union from the United States to its overseas facilities to avoid the tariffs imposed by the trading bloc in retaliation for Trump’s duties on steel and aluminum imports.

In response, Trump has criticized Harley Davidson, calling for higher, targeted taxes and threatening to lure foreign producers to the United States to increase competition.

“Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas. Great! Most other companies are coming in our direction, including Harley competitors. A really bad move! U.S. will soon have a level playing field, or better,” Trump said in a Twitter post.

Harley Davidson has repeatedly declined to comment on Trump’s remarks over the course of the dispute. The company could not be immediately reached for comment on Sunday.

Harley has forecast that the EU tariffs would cost the company about $30 million to $45 million for the remainder of 2018 and $90 million to $100 million on a full-year basis.

Trump met Saturday with a group of bikers who support him, posing for pictures with about 180 bikers at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is on vacation.

Motorcycle companies based outside the United States include Japan’s Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T) and Yamaha Corp (7951.T), Europe’s BMW (BMWG.DE) and Ducati as well as India’s Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HROM.NS), Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAJA.NS), among others.

Washington’s tariffs on steel imports have prompted warnings of an earnings hit for European producers, but for companies such as ArcelorMittal with operations in increasingly protected markets, levies are expected to yield a profit bonanza.

The United States slapped 25 percent tariffs on steel imports earlier this year, prompting such shipments to fall 7.5 percent to 18 million tonnes in the first half, with further declines expected.

The tariff move coupled with strong demand has sent U.S. hot rolled coil steel futures HRCc1 to decade highs around $900 a tonne, up 35 percent on the year.

This has been a boon for European steelmakers that can still sell into the United States despite the tariffs, and which since July have been protected by EU steel tariffs imposed in response to the U.S. levies.

European steelmakers are also benefiting from capacity cuts in China and robust global growth.

Despite this, investors are reticent to bid up the stocks due to concerns the global trade rift triggered by Washington’s steel tariffs will be protracted, eventually damaging growth and demand.

“Trade wars are a risk, but right now steel stocks are only pricing in negatives,” a Swiss-based fund manager said.

The Thomson Reuters index of European steel equities is down 5 percent this year, highlighting trade fears. By contrast, European hot rolled coil steel prices have risen 5 percent in the same period.

ArcelorMittal, Europe’s biggest steelmaker and the second largest in the United States, last week posted bumper profits, citing protectionism as one reason.

“People assume tariffs are bad for all companies, but in the case of steelmakers, tariffs are rather good,” said Fabrice Theveneau, head of global equities at Lyxor Asset Management, which owns ArcelorMittal (MT.AS) shares.

Also a plus is that steelmakers outside China are mostly using profits to repay debt instead of investing in new capacity, just as Chinese capacity is shrinking, analysts and investors say.

China produces half of the world’s steel. It has cut 150 million tonnes of steel capacity since 2016, while its steel exports plunged 31 percent last year.

“Steelmakers have never had it so good,” said Alistair Ramsay, head of research at Metal Bulletin Research. “We see a high pricing environment for steel majors for some time, they just can’t be ridiculous (with price rises).”

Ramsay sees U.S. hot rolled coil prices down $100 a tonne by the year-end as local steelmakers boost production and high prices crimp demand, but believes steelmakers’ profits will be protected.

This is because they can afford to cut prices – a move that will allow them to sell more in a fast-growing economy.

In the EU, by contrast, prices are expected to rise by the year-end as tariffs cut steel imports by 5 million tonnes or 3 percent, according to investment bank Jefferies.

Earning multiples also suggest steel equities are cheap, the bank says.

The average yield on U.S. and EU steelmakers’ free cash flow is 11 percent versus a historical average of 6.6 percent, indicating more available cash for dividends, investment or debt reduction.

Despite the above, the S&P index of U.S. steel equities is up just 2 percent this year with shares in U.S. Steel (X.N), the country’s largest steelmaker, down 10 percent.

U.S. Steel has more exposure to higher spot prices versus competitors, which are tied into discounted long-term contracts, said the Swiss-based fund manager, who holds shares in the company.

But investors are nervous that demand will fall if the global trade rift is protracted, especially as a number of U.S. and EU industrial firms have announced profit downgrades linked to tariffs.

The risk that this scenario will transpire is receding, however.

In a major concession, Washington agreed in late July to refrain from imposing car tariffs on the EU while the two sides launch talks to cut trade barriers.