Tesla delivered a record 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter of this year. Subscribe to the Electric Vehicle News Bitesize Podcast.
Tesla delivered a record number of deliveries in the first quarter of the year, despite being hit hard by supply chain disruptions and Covid-related factory closures.
The U.S. electric vehicle maker delivered a total of 310,048 vehicles globally in the first quarter of 2022, up 68% year-over-year.
Tesla Model 3 sedans and Tesla Model Y SUVs accounted for about 295,324 of total deliveries, with the remaining 14,724 units consisting of the larger Tesla Model S sedans and Tesla Model X SUVs.
“This was an exceptionally difficult quarter, due to supply-chain interruptions and China’s zero-Covid policy,” company boss Elon Musk tweeted. “Outstanding work by the Tesla team and key suppliers saved the day.”
The Tesla factory in Shanghai has been hit especially hard. On March 28, it closed completely due to a level-two lockdown in areas of the city where Covid cases were rising.
An increase in the number of cases in Chinese cities also led to the cancellation of the Shanghai Auto Show.
According to Reuters, Tesla was scheduled to resume production on Monday, April 4, but production plans have been scrapped as much of Shanghai remains under strict lockdown.
The Shanghai factory has become increasingly important to Tesla’s production goals. In October last year, Musk claimed it had taken over manufacturing capacity at the Fremont factory, California.
Tesla will publish its full financial results for the first quarter of 2022 on Wednesday 20 April, when its management holds its usual question-and-answer session.
Tesla hopes its sales will grow by 50% in 2022.
The second most popular Electric Vehicle in the UK is the Kia E-Niro.
The Kia e-Niro cracked the 900-unit mark in the first month of its 2019 UK sales allocation.
With battery supply shortages limiting Kia’s production growth, dealers are currently advising customers who pay a deposit today that it could take 3 months to fulfill their orders. In Kia’s home country of South Korea alone, there is a pending e-Niro order pool of about 5,000 vehicles to be delivered.
You have to assume that a lot of what Kia did with the e-Niro is different from what they did with the Soul Electric Vehicle. People around the world are clearly buying the car.
The e-Niro has a 64kWh traction battery with two and a half times the storage capacity of the Soul Electric Vehicle five years ago; that’s significantly more than most similarly priced Electric Vehicles today. Because it’s a purpose-built electric vehicle, it carries the battery between the axles and under the cab floor, without compromising the car’s storage space or weight distribution. The liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery alone weighs 457kg, and the entire vehicle has a curb weight of just over 1.8 tonnes.
Of course, that makes it extra heavy for a car sized between a Ceed and a Sportage – so it’s a good job Kia didn’t forget to install a motor that’s willing to move that mass with ease. The e-Niro’s AC synchronous electric motor drives the car’s front wheels directly via a fixed ratio, but produces 201 peak horsepower and 291 pound-feet of torque. For the record, it has a better power-to-weight ratio than the Seat Ateca and a higher torque-to-weight ratio than one or two of the lower-end hot hatchbacks.
The car’s suspension is provided by MacPherson struts on the front axle and multi-link on the rear. 17-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 215-section tires are the only option available—they’re more Michelin-like than the Nexens. With the grip and traction issues with Hyundai cars, this could be a point worth noting.
A crossover hatchback with added comfort, the e-Niro is a true adult four-seater that can accommodate three kids in the second row. It features a 451-litre luggage compartment, untouched by the battery, leaving under-floor storage space for your charging cables.
By all these standards, it’s a more practical family car than the Nissan Leaf, with 90mm more second-row legroom than the Hyundai Kona. So in any of these ways, it’s fair to say that the e-Niro is a practical, affordable all-electric family car.
It also provides a comfortable, ergonomic driving position with all the controls and digital gauges that anyone who already knows how to drive a modern electric car might ask for. On the raised centre console you’ll find a rotating drive selector dial, but behind the steering wheel you’ll also find what appears to be paddle shifters.
They actually allow you to gradually control the regenerative braking of the car’s electric motor that occurs while coasting. Pull the right paddle and the car’s regeneration cycle is turned up to the max; pull the left and it cycles back to none, letting the car roll when you take your foot off the throttle.
These regenerated paddles are also typical of e-Niro switches in terms of perceived quality, as they look quite expensive but feel much cheaper. The car’s interior door handles also look like metal but have a distinct plastic feel.
While many of the cabin’s smaller switchgear and other fixtures look and feel stronger, one wonders why Kia doesn’t spend a little more in the areas where you can’t help but physically interact with the car.
The e-Niro’s infotainment system is respectable, but not particularly impressive for a car of this price and type. The first version of the car features an 8.0-inch touchscreen setup with DAB radio and factory navigation, the latter including a map of Europe (in case you’re abroad and reluctant to use a mobile data connection) and live traffic updates from TomTom.
The navigation mapping details are a bit basic, and it has a sparse, overly simplistic feel to the menus. You can of course use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto mirroring, both of which come standard on the e-Niro, as well as wireless charging for Qi-equipped phones.
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