EuroWire July 2017

Transatlantic cable

O setting this, Vivint’s o erings will be cheaper than Tesla’s. The company plans to sell a basic 2.5kWh package for $5,000 for pairing with solar panels; while the complete 20kWh system will run around $13,000, including installation. A USA investigation into Fiat Chrysler emissions controls raises the question of what constitutes a ‘defeat device’ A civil complaint, led on 23 rd May in Detroit, is the formal accusation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) tted defeat devices to some of its vehicles. It follows the noti cation in January of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) probe of the Italian-American company’s compliance with the Clean Air Act in the USA. Since then, other countries, including the UK and France, have also said they were investigating the car maker. BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett was asked just how serious this is for Fiat Chrysler. (“US Accuses Fiat Chrysler of Using ‘Defeat Devices,’” 23 rd May). “It isn’t into Volkswagen territory yet,” said Mr Leggett. “For a start, the number of vehicles is much smaller. But there’s also the question of what is, and what isn’t, a defeat device.” Volkswagen admitted it could not both make its cars clean enough to pass emissions tests and ensure their good performance on the road. So, wrote Mr Leggett, “It designed a software tool to do just that.” Fiat Chrysler has been accused of tting software to its cars – not disclosed to regulators – enabling the vehicles to produce lower emissions during roadworthiness tests than they did when under normal driving conditions.

In January, that testing led the EPA to accuse Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV of installing diesel Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups with emission controls without the proper disclosures. The agency has since refused to certify that Fiat Chrysler’s diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 pickup variants conform to USA tailpipe rules amid talks with the company to resolve the issues. † As for Daimler, by mid-spring it had put considerable e ort into trying to get its diesels approved by the EPA. But, wrote Mr Beene on 10 th May, “[You can] put that process on hold as the 2017 model year enters its nal months.” † Even as it was second-guessing its USA diesel commitment, Mercedes-Benz was recruiting Utah-based Vivint Solar to introduce its home battery storage solution in the United States. By summer, Vivint was to start selling the Mercedes home batteries in California, to new customers only. As noted by Sean O’Kane in the Verge (18 th May), Mercedes batteries for the home are functionally the same as those from Tesla (Palo Alto, California), its most visible competitor in this category and another car maker with an ambitious side business. Both companies’ batteries let homeowners store and save electricity generated by solar panels for use around the clock. But a small but important di erence provides prospective customers with a choice. As described by Mr O’Kane, Tesla’s $5,500 Powerwall 2 has a capacity of 13.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh). The Mercedes home battery has a smaller capacity of 2.5kWh. Of related interest . . .

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July 2017