The SUV is considered by many to be the epitome of the gas-guzzler – but a competition is now emerging among electric car manufacturers in this vehicle class.
The showdown at the start of the CES technology trade show in las vegas shows how suppliers are trying to win over customers with new ideas.
For example, the company fisker presented an SUV with solar cells in the roof and an interior made of recycled materials. Chinese manufacturer byton brought the production version of its first model M-byte with a huge display in the cockpit to las vegas. The vehicle is scheduled to go into production in the middle of the year. The fisker ocean was announced for 2022.
The solar cells in the roof are expected to enable up to 1,600 additional kilometers per year, as company boss henrik fisker said. Plastic bottles are to be reused for the interior carpet, and discarded clothing such as T-shirts for a trim panel in the cockpit. All this should make the fisker ocean particularly sustainable.
At the same time, fisker is making a challenge to the industry with a starting price of 37 euros.$500 before taxes and electric car rebates. Byton’s M-byte is to be built on this basis 45.000 dollars, or 45 percent in europe.000 euros – also putting pressure on incumbent premium providers.
Even the electric car pioneer tesla is now setting prices even lower and wants to sell its pickup model cybertruck from just under 40.000 dollar sale. According to company boss elon musk, tesla now has more than 140.000 reservations for the cybertruck. However, a downward spiral in price was already limited by the battery costs, byton manager andreas schaaf admitted. "No one can do magic."By way of comparison, mercedes estimates the price of its EQC electric SUV at around 70 percent.000 euros ex works.
Byton’s selling point is a display that extends almost from door to door with a diagonal of 47 inches (just under 120 centimeters), as well as digital services. But the company has to convince app developers to adapt their applications for the vehicles. For this purpose, a developer platform was launched in las vegas on sunday (local time).
In the U.S., the viacom CBS entertainment group, which owns the hollywood studio paramount and the TV station MTV, will also bring films and other video content to the big screen – albeit initially only in a stationary car.
"We want to be present wherever our users want to access content," said ted schilowitz of viacom CBS. In the fisker ocean, on the other hand, there will be only two rather compact screens. And henrik fisker made it clear that he doesn’t think much of the car as an entertainment wonderland: "at the end of the day, driving a car, perhaps on a bumpy road, is something completely different from making yourself comfortable at home in an armchair with an ipad or smartphone."
However, according to surveys, 40 percent of users would be willing to switch car brands for better connectivity, schaaf emphasized. In china, it’s even almost two thirds. Here, byton sees an opportunity to enter the market as a new brand as well. The company, which is based in china, has meanwhile developed 60.000 reservations for the first model. Byton plans to launch it this year in china and by mid-2021 in the u.S. And europe as well.
Agreements are already in place with car dealer groups and other infrastructure providers for the european market, schaaf said in las vegas. Among them are many retail partners who sell vehicles from established premium manufacturers. Within 18 months of the M-byte launch, byton plans to bring a sedan to market as its second model – with similar features and prices. The byton plant in china is set to produce up to 300.000 vehicles laid out per year. From a sales volume of 100.000 cars in a region, further local production could also be worthwhile, kirchert said, among other things with a view to the trade conflict between the u.S. And china. Fisker also plans to develop a family of vehicles based on the ocean.