Show #465   Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Tuesday 7th May 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through every EV story I could find today to save you time.   Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.   BYTON GATHERS MILLIONS IN FINANCING WITH FAW AS MAIN INVESTOR "The Chinese electric car startup Byton is about to complete a 500 million dollar financing round, which will be led by China’s state-owned car manufacturer FAW with approximately 100 million dollars." writes Chris Randall for the industry service electrive.com: "Bloomberg reports this with reference insiders familiar with the situation. FAW had already invested around 260 million dollars in Byton last year. The value of the start-up, which confirmed the departure of co-founder Carsten Breitfeld in the middle of last month, is expected to rise to 2.5 billion dollars after the latest round of financing. Neither Byton nor FAW, however, have made an official statement."   Byton say of the M-Byte: "Conventional automotive styling features are giving way to innovative design icons. Side-view cameras replace side mirrors, iconic face recognition cameras provide user identification and BYTON Smart Surfaces show a situation-based interacting light design. The lounge feeling is intensified by outstanding digital provisions. First, be wide-eyed with the 49-inch coast-to-coast BYTON Shared Experience Display. Experience gesture control through BYTON Air Touch, interact using voice command and activate the main controls with the BYTON Driver Tablet. All these features underscore our vehicle’s extraordinary digital capability."   https://www.electrive.com/2019/05/07/byton-gathers-millions-in-financing-with-faw-as-main-investor/   https://www.byton.com/m-byte-concept   PRODUCTION-READY 2019 PORSCHE TAYCAN SPIED ON THE ROAD "An undisguised version of the all-electric Porsche Taycan has been snapped on the road ahead of its Frankfurt reveal" reports AutoExpress: "Porsche’s upcoming all-electric saloon has been caught almost completely undisguised ahead of its official debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this year. These latest spy shots give us our best look yet at the Taycan’s styling, which reveals a surprising amount of 718 Boxster and Cayman influence at the front end. Smaller details such as the retractable, flush door handles, and the conventional door mirrors can also be picked out. Porsche claims this powertrain will allow the Taycan production car to cover 0-62mph in under 3.5 seconds and 0-124mph in under 12 seconds before hitting a top speed of 155mph. Crucially, we’re told the performance will be repeatable, with the electric car able to accelerate hard "over and over again without losing performance.”   Range is less important than charge speed, with an 800v system able to add 62 miles in 4minutes at peak charge rate.   https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/porsche/taycan/92807/production-ready-2019-porsche-taycan-spied-on-the-road   NOW YOUR TESLA CAN AUTOMATICALLY PRE-ORDER FAULTY PARTS "Tesla is working to decrease service wait times by offering in-car problem diagnoses and pre-ordering of necessary parts." says InsideEVs.com: "Now, the Silicon Valley electric automaker's global fleet has not only the power to diagnose issues, but also to specify what parts may be needed. This means owners are made aware of potentially what problems the EV is undergoing, but also which parts Tesla should order ahead of your Service Center visit. Of course, if the issue is dire, you may need to get the car in for service right away. But, in many cases it may be able to wait a bit. So, with the latest update, you can see the problem, order the parts, and schedule your service at a later date. Hopef