Sales of the fully electric vehicles around the world has exponentially increased 23-fold in the past five years and many folks nowadays are seriously considering about getting an EV of their own as their next of even first car. For those who have been misinformed about the ownership of owning EV, Nissan and ETCM (Edaran Tan Chong Motor) are here to help clarify a few things. (more…)
Let me take you back over 30 years to 1986 in Germany where Porsche launched its Carrera Race Series for the Type 951 which was the 944 Turbo. By 1989, the 944 model was at the end of its model life and Porsche decided to go with the Type 964 Carrera 2.
The 911-based racing car debuted in 1990… and thus began the most successful and longest running one make/model racing series ever… adding very much to Porsche’s stunning 60 years of racing and more than 30,000 victories the world over!!
France introduced the Porsche Carrera Cup in 1987, Japan in 2001, and in 2003, the UK, Australia and Asia joined in. Today, there are 25 countries and regions running their own Carrera Cup Series.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia begins in 2003….
Porsche Malaysia started out in 2000 as AutoEurokars and owned by Tan Sri Dato’ Mokhzani Mahathir, with the introduction of type 996, the first water-cooled 911.
The Carrera Cup racing version based on the 996 GT3 road car was introduced in 2003 and AutoEurokars brought EKS Motorsports (based in Sunway, Selangor) in as the technical services team for the PCCA Race Series. This series originally was based on the Arrive & Drive concept as logistics & technical/team management service were all taken care of by EKS and Porsche Asia Pacific.
AutoEurokar’s Jaseri Racing Team entered a car in the first season of PCCA. I was the team manager and we also prepared the Porsche for the first 12-Hour Merdeka Millennium race. We would enter this iconic endurance event for the next 10 years in various 911 GT3 Cup & RSR versions and we always had a helping hand with technicians seconded from EKS Motorsports.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2019…
16 years have passed since PCCA began here in Asia and EKS Motorsports is still the technical services support group for the series. Meanwhile, many Malaysian and Malaysian-based drivers have come and gone in the PCCA but one name stands out: Earl Bamber (pictured below).
Bamber lives in Kuala Lumpur and during the 2013-14 season, he raced in the PCCA with Team Nexus Infinity owned by Malaysian Adrian DeSilva and then for the LKM Team run by Malaysia-based Arrows Racing, winning two PCCA titles along the way.
2015 saw Bamber recruited as a Porsche works driver and he went on to win the Le Mans 24-Hours twice (in 2015 and 17) in the LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
Last Saturday celebrated the PCCA’s 200th race and Adrian DeSilva returned to the series in the Pro-Am class. He was joined just for the weekend by Timothy Yeo.
So you can now understand why Porsche and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Series is closely tied to Malaysia, Malaysians and Malaysian teams involved with motorsports.
Next round in Germany on July 28
With production of the Volkswagen Beetle having ended this month, distributors, clubs and fans of the ‘Bug’ have been organising events and other activities to say farewell. In Malaysia, besides offering limited edition models, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) brought together Beetle owners from around the country.
The owners of 405 Beetles of the three generations since 1938 came together at the event entitled ‘The Beetle, An Iconic Gathering’, which was held at Putrajaya.
Convoy through the city
The celebration kicked-off early yesterday morning with a convoy of 138 Beetles making their way through the streets of Kuala Lumpur before heading to Putrajaya. It was a colourful parade with many of the cars uniquely customised to reflect the personalities of their owners.
Erik Winter, Managing Director of VPCM, expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the owners who had come from as far north as Perlis and also from Johor Bahru for joining the special event.
“It was an emotional moment for us to see the rows and rows of colourful air-cooled and water-cooled Beetle cars and I believe all those who were present shared this sentiment,” he said. “This is a car that has united people across all walks of life, and they all gathered in Putrajaya over one common passion – the Beetle. The sense of kinship was apparent everywhere, and we are grateful to all owners, and especially to our Beetle car clubs and classic Volkswagen communities for making the event a success.”
“This is a car that has united people across all walks of life, and they all gathered in Putrajaya over one common passion – the Beetle.”
Erik Winter, Managing Director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia
The outstanding Beetles
Out of the hundreds of Bugs present, three cars stood out from the crowd and were awarded ‘Best in Show’, while one Beetle, which garnered the most popular vote on social media, won ‘Most Liked Car’. The winners of the ‘Best in Show’ cars were Fairul Irwan, Raja Gopal and Thavanesan a/l Selvaratnam, while Siti Aishah Ismail’s Instagram posting of her Bug earned the ‘Most Liked Car’ title.
On display at the event was the Collector’s Edition Beetle, launched in Malaysia just one day after the last Beetle rolled out from the production line at Volkswagen’s factory in Mexico. It comes with accessories worth up to RM12,000, and each of the 75 units is priced at RM164,390. Besides an exclusive emblem in the car to identify it, each owner will receive an official Collector’s Edition certificate of ownership.
For more information, visit www.volkswagen.com.my .
“Aston Martin Valkyrie continues to redefine what you and I recognise as a hypercar, possessing unrivalled levels of performance in a package that is technologically beyond anything else. “
Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Lagonda President & Group CEO
The Aston Martin Valkyrie has broken cover after making its dynamic public debut in front of an enthusiastic crowd ahead of the 2019 British Grand Prix. Piloted by Aston Martin High Performance Test Driver Chris Goodwin, the 740 Nm/1,160 bhp (at 10,500 rpm) machine, took to Silverstone’s world-famous Grand Prix circuit for its first public demonstration run. With the focus not on outright lap time, today’s showcase offered a glimpse of what is to come from this extraordinary hypercar.
Following months of digital modelling and simulation work alongside both Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ engineers, today’s drive is one of the first times that Aston Martin Valkyrie has been driven in the physical world – a testimony to the technological capability of the team’s cutting-edge development techniques.
World’s most extreme road car and platform
The Valkyrie is described as ‘the world’s most extreme road car and platform for a future FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) challenger’. Aston Martin will enter at least two works Valkyrie racing cars in the 2020/21 FIA World Endurance Championship. In line with the WEC’s confirmed ‘hypercar’ regulations designed to allow race-prepared derivatives of the world’s fastest road cars to fight at the forefront of world sportscar racing, the Valkyrie will draw on all the radical pillars of the road car and its track-only AMR Pro variant.
The car will feature a race-prepared version of its bespoke high-revving normally-aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine. Placed within a lightweight carbonfibre structure, and featuring F1-inspired aerodynamic technology, it forms a fully competitive platform capable of challenging for outright race wins. It was created as a result of a technical and strategic collaboration between Aston Martin, Red Bull Advanced Technologies and project partner AF Racing.
“I’ve driven this car around Silverstone for countless hours on the simulator at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s HQ and in many other sportscars throughout my career, but to drive Aston Martin Valkyrie here today feels exceptionally special. Of course, we still have a lot of development work to go but we can now begin to really push the physical testing process and realise the capabilities of what we have developed over the past months. Putting that aside, today has brought a real smile to my face and I hope that the crowds watching from the stands enjoyed it as much as I did,” Chris Goodwin said on completing the lap.
The 150 road-going Valkyries are sold out, with first deliveries commencing in before the end of 2019.
Besides range anxiety – the concern of whether you can reach a recharging point in time when your vehicle’s battery pack is low – those contemplating buying an electrically-powered vehicle (EV) also worry about the cost of replacing the battery pack. This issue has never before been in motorists’ minds as the battery has been used mainly for starting the engine. And though its life is just a year or a few years, the cost is not particularly high.
With hybrids and EVs, the battery packs are crucial items (more so with EVs) as they are constantly needed to power the electric motor. Over the past 20 years, battery pack technology has advanced rapidly and more energy can be stored to extend the range. However, the cost has not fallen to the level similar to that of the small batteries that have been in use for decades. Admittedly, the technology is far different and the battery packs for EVs are extremely advanced.
The first owner of an EV probably doesn’t feel the financial impact of having to replace a battery pack unless it’s damaged (and even then, insurance may cover the cost). Understanding that there was a discouraging factor in the cost of replacement – which can be RM4,000 upwards – most companies started to offer separate warranties for the battery pack of up to the first 8 years, in the event it was defective. Such warranties are still offered although the incidence of defects is not high as quality has improved.
Why can’t battery packs last forever?
Still, the fact that the battery pack has a limited lifespan and needs to be replaced at some point in the vehicle’s life. The reason for the deterioration is like that in humans. Stress makes cells age faster; something that geneticists have long since demonstrated for the human body is also true for EV battery cells. The older the batteries get, the lower their performance and capacity, and the shorter the range of the vehicle.
This obviously has implications on resale values. The second owner of the vehicle would want to factor this cost in, or as an incentive, the first owner changes it before offering it for sale so as to improve the resale value.
To help batteries last longer, Bosch is developing new cloud services that supplement the individual vehicles’ battery-management systems. “Bosch is connecting electric-vehicle batteries with the cloud. Its data-based services mean we can substantially improve batteries’ performance and extend their service life,” said Dr. Markus Heyn, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Smart software functions in the cloud continually analyze the battery status and take appropriate action to prevent or slow down cell aging. These measures can reduce the wear and tear on the battery, the most expensive component of an electric vehicle, by as much as 20%. Real-time data gathered from the vehicle and its surroundings plays a key role here. The cloud services utilize this data to optimize every single recharging process and to provide drivers with tailored driving tips on how to conserve battery power via the dash display.
Didi Chuxing, a globally leading mobility platform based in China, is working with Bosch to introduce Battery in the Cloud across DiDi’s electric vehicle fleet. The aim is to optimize battery performance, thus benefiting both drivers and fleet operators within DiDi’s ecosystem.
Precise real-time analysis
According to the experts, the average service life of today’s lithium-ion batteries is 8 – 10 years or between 500 and 1,000 charge cycles. Battery makers usually guarantee mileage of between 100,000 and 160,000 kms. However, rapid battery charging, high numbers of charge cycles, an ‘aggressive’ driving style, and extremely high or low ambient temperatures are all sources of stress for batteries, which makes them age faster.
Bosch’s cloud-based services are designed to recognize – and counter – these stress triggers. All battery-relevant data – eg current ambient temperature and charging habits – is first transmitted in real-time to the cloud, where machine-learning algorithms evaluate the data. With these services, Bosch is not only offering a window into the battery’s current status at all times, but enabling a reliable forecast of a battery’s remaining service life and performance to be made for the first time.
Previously, it was not possible to make any accurate forecast of how quickly an electric-vehicle battery would wear out. “Powerful batteries with long service lives will make electromobility more viable,” said Heyn.
Another feature of the smart software functions is their use of the swarm principle: the algorithms used for analysis evaluate data gathered from an entire fleet, not just from individual vehicles. Swarm intelligence is the key to identifying more of the stress factors for vehicle batteries, and to identifying them more quickly.
Protecting cells against aging
The new insights gained into a battery’s current status enable Bosch to also actively protect it against aging. To give one example: fully-charged batteries age more quickly at particularly high or low ambient temperatures. The cloud services thus ensure that batteries are not charged to 100% when conditions are too hot or too cold. By reducing the battery charge by only a few percentage points, the battery is protected against inadvertent wear and tear.
Data in the cloud will also help improve battery maintenance and repair. As soon as a battery fault or defect is identified, for example, the driver or fleet operator can be notified. This increases the chances that a battery can be repaired before it becomes irrevocably damaged or stops working altogether.
Finally, the cloud services also optimize the recharging process itself. The recharging process – which, by the way, is one of the biggest obstacles to creating a mass market for electromobility – harbours the danger that the battery cells permanently lose some of their performance and capacity. Smart software in the cloud can calculate an individual charge curve for each recharging process, regardless of whether it takes place at home or elsewhere. This means the battery is recharged to the optimum level, helping conserve the cells.
Whereas existing apps with charge timers merely allow drivers to time the recharging process so that it is carried out when demand for electricity is low, the Bosch solution goes much further, offering a specially developed recharging process as part of the company’s new battery services. They optimize both fast and slow charging and control electricity and voltage levels during the recharging process, thus prolonging battery life.
Further reading: Mercedes-Benz EQC goes into production – First all-electric Mercedes
Following the departure of Mark Raine to Mercedes-Benz Korea as the Vice-President of Product & Marketing at Mercedes-Benz Korea, Michael Jopp has taken over as the new Head of Sales & Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Malaysia & SEA II.
Mr. Jopp comes from Mercedes-Benz India where he was Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for almost 3 years. During his time there, Mercedes-Benz India topped JD Power’s Sales Satisfaction ranking as well as saw various new digital initiatives being introduced. Mr. Jopp, who has 20 years of experience in the automotive industry, was an instrumental figure in maintaining Mercedes Benz India’s significant lead in the luxury vehicle segment, ending 2018 as the country’s highest-selling luxury carmaker for 4 consecutive years.
“We are excited to have Michael Jopp join our Mercedes-Benz Malaysia family. With his rich industry experience and decades of expertise in Sales & Marketing functions, we are confident that he will be able to lead the market and maintain our No.1 position in the Malaysian premium automotive market. Jopp will also play a key role in our customer centric strategy, taking on a holistic approach to automotive excellence by providing our customers a brand experience with our strong product portfolio,” said Dr. Claus Weidner, Head of Region Southeast Asia II.
Looking for more Mercedes-Benz news? Click here.
Proton has announced the list of 12 teams that will compete against each other in the final round of the ‘Intelligence that Inspires Challenge’, a marketing competition that takes a leaf out of the carmaker’s tagline for its executive SUV, the Proton X70.
The event, scheduled to take place at the Proton Centre of Excellence (COE) in Shah Alam, Selangor, on July 29 2019. At the event, the competing teams present their marketing case studies to a panel of judges consisting of Proton senior management, experts from the field of marketing and members of the media.
A showcase of fresh ideas
During the final round, all teams are required to do a presentation, replicating a marketing pitch the students are likely to face upon graduating and joining the working world. It will therefore be a true test of not just their marketing knowledge and presentation skills but also a test of their ability to perform under pressure.
The 12 teams, which come from all parts of Malaysia including East Malaysia, are:
Politeknik Port Dickson
Politeknik Kota Kinabalu
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar
Xiamen University Malaysia
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Sg Long
Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Kuala Lumpur
Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah, Behrang
Multimedia University, Melaka
Taylor’s University, Lakeside Campus
DRB-HICOM University of Automotive Malaysia, Pekan
Originality and viability of ideas presented
Prizes will be awarded to winning teams including the tutor, who guided the students to work as a team and to achieve their results. Aside from being judged on their creativity and presentation skills, judges will also be considering the originality of the ideas presented as well as how viable and realistic they are in a real-world setting. This adds an interesting element to the competition as teams will need to consider the practicality of their ideas as well as limitations such as budgets, man power and buyer behaviour.
“The company hopes all participants will walk away with a better appreciation of what it takes to excel in a real-world working environment.” – Proton CEO, Dr. Li Chunrong
“At Proton, we believe the identification of the next generation of business leaders is a priority as these are the individuals who will help lead Malaysia’s economic future. We also want to give graduates from Malaysian universities an opportunity to showcase their talents on a national level and demonstrate the skillsets taught in these institutions,” said Dr Li Chunrong, Proton’s CEO.
“Regardless of whether they win or lose, the company hopes all participants will walk away with a better appreciation of what it takes to excel in a real-world working environment and hopefully they will also become fans of the Proton brand,” he added.
Click here for other news about Proton.
Still haven’t tried Proton’s popular SUV? Click here to find a showroom where you can view and test one.
The latest generation Porsche 911 Carrera S and Carrera 4S have been officially unveiled by Sime Darby Auto Performance (SDAP). The unveiling which was held at the Sepang International Circuit was in conjunction with the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) that is taking place this weekend where the race version (911 GT3 Cup) will also be participating. (more…)
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