Zebeth Media Solutions

Author : zebethcontrol

India proposes permitting cross-border data transfers with certain countries in new privacy bill • ZebethMedia

India has proposed a new comprehensive data privacy law that will mandate how companies handle data of its citizens, including permitting cross-border transfer of information with certain nations, three months after it abruptly withdrew the previous proposal amid scrutiny and concerns from privacy advocates and tech giants. The nation’s IT ministry published a draft of the proposed rules (PDF), called the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022, on Friday for public consultation. It will hear views from the public until December 17. “The purpose of this Act is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,” the draft says. The draft permits cross-border interactions of data with “certain notified countries and territories,” in a move that is seen as a win for tech companies. “The Central Government may, after an assessment of such factors as it may consider necessary, notify such countries or territories outside India to which a Data Fiduciary may transfer personal data, in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be specified,” the draft says, without naming the countries. Asia Internet Coalition, a lobby group that represents Meta, Google, Amazon and many other tech firms, had requested New Delhi to permit cross-border transfer of data. “Cross-border transfer decisions should be free from executive or political interference, and should ideally be minimally regulated,” they wrote in a letter to the IT ministry earlier this year. “Placing restrictions on cross-border data flows is likely to result in higher business failure rates, introduce barriers for start-ups, and lead to more expensive product offerings from existing market players. Ultimately, the above mandates will affect digital inclusion and the ability of Indian consumers to access a truly global internet and quality of services,” the group had said. The draft also proposes that companies only use the data they have collected on users for the purpose they obtained them originally. It also seeks accountability from the firms that they ensure that they are processing the personal data for the users for the precise purpose they collected it. It also asks that companies do not store the data perpetually by default. “The storage should be limited to such duration as is necessary for the stated purpose for which personal data was collected,” a note from the ministry said. The draft proposes a penalty of up to $30.6 million in the event a firm fails to provide “reasonable security safeguards to prevent personal data breach.” Another $24.5 million fine if the firm fails to notify the local authority and users for failure to disclose personal data breach. The earlier proposed rules were touted to help protect the citizens’ personal data by categorizing it into different segments based on their nature, such as sensitive or critical. However, the new version does not segregate data as such, according to the draft. Similar to Europe’s GDPR and the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) in the U.S., India’s proposed Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 will apply to businesses operating in the country and to any entities processing the data of Indian citizens. The proposed rules, which are expected to be discussed in the parliament after receiving public consultation, would not bring any changes to select controversial laws in the country that were drafted more than a decade ago. New Delhi is, though, working on updating its two-decade-old IT law that would debut as the Digital India Act. It will segregate intermediaries and come as the endgame, India’s minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told ZebethMedia in a recent interview. In August, the Indian government withdrew its earlier Personal Data Protection Bill that was unveiled in 2019 after much anticipation and judicial pressure. At the time, India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the withdrawal was considered to “present a new bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework.” Meta, Google and Amazon were some of the companies that had expressed concerns about some of the recommendations by the joint parliamentary committee on the proposed bill. The move to bring a data protection law came privacy was declared as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court of India in 2017. However, the country faced strong criticism over its earlier data protection bills due to their intrinsic nature of granting government agencies the power to access citizens’ data. At one of the sessions during the G-20 Summit in Bali earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the principle of “Data for development” and said that the country would work with G-20 partners to bring “digital transformation in the life of every human being” during its next year’s presidency for the 19 countries-comprising intergovernmental forum.

India’s first private rocket, built by startup Skyroot, makes successful launch • ZebethMedia

India’s space agency has successfully launched the Vikram-S after much anticipation and years-long work in a boost to the private sector of the nation’s space industry. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) kicked off the suborbital rocket at 11.30 a.m. local time Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India’s east coast. The Vikram-S, developed by four-year-old startup Skyroot, is a single-stage, spin-stabilized solid propellant rocket with a mass of around 550 kilograms. It carries three customer payloads, including one from a customer outside India. Made of all-carbon fibre core structure, the 6-meter-long rocket was developed in two years. Image Credits: Skyroot The demonstration mission, named Prarambh (“the beginning” in Sanskrit), is the first by Hyderabad-based Skyroot. The startup is building a series of launch vehicles named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space program. In June 2020, the Indian government passed the space sector reforms and established the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) to allow private companies to use ISRO’s infrastructure. New Delhi also set up NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) as the space agency’s commercial arm to work closely with private companies and startups to bolster space developments in the South Asian country. Founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot successfully tested fire India’s privately-made solid rocket stage in December 2020. It was also the country’s first startup in 2021 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the ISRO to launch its rockets. The startup has raised $68 million in total, including $51 million in a Series B round led by Singapore-based GIC in September, and has a valuation of $165 million. According to the data shared by Indian Space Association (ISpA) with ZebethMedia, Indian space startups have raised over $245.35 million, where $108.52 million were infused in 2022 alone. The association counts Skyroot as one of its members, alongside private companies including Bharti Airtel and OneWeb as founding members. The government is currently working on a new space policy to increase private participation and encourage investment in the country’s space sector. In a recent interview with ZebethMedia, ISpA Director General Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt said the space policy would address some issues raised by the industry players, including a single sanction window and spectrum allocation for satellite-based communication services through the Department of Telecommunications. The industry players have also requested the government to open foreign direct investment policy and incentives on taxes, import duties and domestic manufacturing of space equipment that are yet to be addressed.

GoTo cuts 1,300 jobs as it anticipates ‘uncertainties’ to linger for long • ZebethMedia

GoTo Group is cutting 1,300 jobs, or 12% of its workforce, it informed staff early Friday, as Indonesia’s largest internet company attempts to trim costs and improve finances. “Achieving financial independence more quickly has a profound cost for us, because when we take a hard look at how we fundamentally need to change (business focus and ways of working), it also includes you, the people who are the backbone of this company,” wrote GoTo Group chief executive Andre Soelistyo in an email to staff, seen by ZebethMedia. “It pains me to say that, as a result of our organizational review, we have to part ways with some of you,” he wrote. “I know you are filled with many emotions right now, pain, anger, sadness, and most of all, grief. I feel the same way.” GoTo joins scores of local and global peers in its decision to cut workforce to navigate economic slowdown, rising interest rates, or as what the Indonesian firm described in the email Friday, “uncertainties will linger for a while, and there is not much that we can do to change that.”

Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny after Taylor Swift ticket chaos • ZebethMedia

Ticketmaster is facing more scrutiny from politicians after its chaotic presales for tickets to Taylor Swift’s tour. Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti said he is looking into whether Ticketmaster violated consumer’s rights and antitrust regulations. Skrmetti is the latest politician who has called attention to Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s hold on the ticketing market. This comes as Ticketmaster cancelled its public sales for Swift’s tour, called Eras. In a tweet, Ticketmaster said the cancellation was due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.” The public sale would have been for tickets left over from the site’s troubled presales, which started on Tuesday for members of its Verified Fan program. Many fans experienced technical glitches and hours-long wait times, with many ultimately unable to buy a ticket. According to the New York Times, Ticketmaster said in a now-deleted post that 3.5 million people registered for the Verified Fan program. Around 1.5 million were given a special access code, and the rest were put on a waiting list. “Never before has a Verified Fan on sale sparked so much attention—or uninvited volume,” Ticketmaster said. Skrmetti said he had received complaints from fans who tried to purchase tickets for Eras. In a tweet on Thursday, the attorney general said that other state attorney generals are also looking into the matter: “Ticketmaster’s decision to cancel sales underscores the important need for accountability. Fans deserve a fair chance to buy a ticket. I’m encouraged by other state AGs who are taking this issue serious as well.” The Washington Post reports that Skrmetti said Ticketmaster should have been better prepared for the high demand and questioned whether “because they have such a dominant market position, they felt like they didn’t need to worry about that.” In another tweet before the sale was cancelled, the attorney general’s office said Skrmetti “is concerned about consumer complaints related to @Ticketmaster’s pre-sale of @taylorswift13 concert tickets. He and his Consumer Protection team will use every available tool to ensure that no consumer protection laws were violated.” ZebethMedia has contacted Ticketmaster and the Skrmetti’s office for comment. Eras is Swift’s first tour in four years and comes after the release of her new album “Midnights.” Other politicians who have raised concerns over the combined company of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which merged in 2010, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative David N. Cicilline and Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. On Tuesday, Representative Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet on Tuesday that “Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they needed to be reigned in. Break them up.” Representative Cicilline tweeted on Wednesday that Ticketmaster’s “excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets, and are a symptom of a larger problem. It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.” And Representative Pascrell, Jr., who was among the millions of fans put on a waitlist for Swift tickets, tweeted that Ticketmaster “The Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly should never have been allowed to merge and must be broken up.” Consumers are also pushing for a break up of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. An alliance of consumer rights groups, including antitrust nonprofit American Economic Liberties Project, launched a campaign last month called Break Up Ticketmaster, saying that Ticketmaster’s “market power over live events is ripping off sports and music fans and undermining the vibrancy and independence of the music industry.”

Soft Robotics raises $26 million as staffing shortages continue • ZebethMedia

I spent last week in Boston, meeting with several of the area’s top automation startups. Soft Robotics — based in nearby Bedford, Massachusetts — is one of those names that comes up a lot. As the concept of soft robotics grippers have increasingly come into vogue, the company of the same name has been reaping much of that windfall. Today, for instance, it announced a $26 million Series C, led by Tyson Ventures. The VC arm of Tyson Foods is a natural fit here. After all, food production has long been a big piece of Soft Robotics’ strategy. Its compliant grippers do a good job picking up fragile and inconsistently sized foodstuffs, from meat to produce — a longstanding challenge for more rigid systems. “At Tyson, we are continually exploring new areas in automation that can enhance safety and increase the productivity of our team members,” Tyson Ventures’ Rahul Ray said in a release. “Soft Robotics’ revolutionary robotic technology, computer vision and AI platform have the potential to transform the food industry and will play a key role in any company’s automation journey.” Marel and Johnsonville also joined the round as new investors, following a $23 million Series B with a $10 million extension raised in June of last year. At the time, Soft Robotics cited pandemic-fueled job loss as a major motivator in the funding round. Obviously the job situation hasn’t gotten much better — particularly in industries like meat packing — even as funding has largely slowed down across the board over the past year. The firm says the new round of funding will go toward accelerating the deployment of its mGripAI system, which combines 3D vision with a soft gripping system. Soft Robotics says the perfect storm of pandemic-fueled issues has resulted in “the four largest sales quarters in the company’s eight-year history.”

FCC orders ISPs to show broadband ‘nutrition labels’ with all fees and limits • ZebethMedia

Hidden fees and unexpected rate hikes have become an expected part of Americans’ internet, cable, and phone bills, but the FCC just passed a rule that may make this a lot less common. Broadband providers will now have to “prominently” display a “nutrition label” with all fees, catches, and caps clearly stated for any plan you’re considering. “Our rules will require that broadband nutrition labels are fully displayed when a consumer is making a purchasing decision. That means consumers will have simple, easy-to-read facts about price, speed, data allowances, and other aspects of high-speed internet service up front,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement accompanying the decision. The labels look like the familiar food labels, and for good reason (beyond being “iconic”). With broadband providers, if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile and then slow-roll it all the way to the supreme court if they think it’ll be more profitable that way. So the labels must be completely standard, machine-readable, and displayed “on the main purchasing pages that providers have online. That means they cannot be buried in multiple clicks or reduced to a link or icon that a consumer might miss.” They also must be easily available on request after someone signs up. Example of a broadband “nutrition label” with important statistics on it. On the label, which you can see an example of above, are all the vital statistics you need to know about your potential internet connection: Monthly price and contract length Whether that price will change after a certain period and what it will change to Complete list of monthly and one-time fees, and early termination fee Whether the company participates in the Affordable Connectivity Program and link to check if one qualifies “Typical” download and upload speeds, and latency Data cap and price beyond that cap Links to network management (e.g. zero rating and content blocking) and privacy policies With all this posted clearly and in the same format between providers, anyone can look at two of these labels and, like comparing two brands of cereal, decide which one is right for them. Not because of flashy advertising or a misleading promo price, but because they can see the right numbers are higher or lower than the competition. The idea has been bouncing around for a while, but the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made it possible to take it over the finish line. It’ll be a bit before these will be required by law, though: an FCC spokesperson explained that the rules must first be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget, after which they will be published in the federal register, and from that point broadband providers will have six months to comply, or a year if they’re on the small side. It’s a lot of red tape, to be sure, but chances are the ISPs will jump on this early rather than take it down to the wire. There’s been a trend in that direction after a lot of blowback a decade or so ago. The labels themselves may change slightly over time, just as nutrition labels have (separating out types of fats and sugars, for instance). More and better information will find a place on the labels depending on what the FCC hears from customers and the industry: “That’s why the agency also kicks off a further rulemaking today that asks about how to incorporate more pricing and discount data on the label itself, how to measure service reliability, and how to make broadband nutrition labels even more accessible,” she concluded.

Jack Selby of Thiel Capital is using a new VC fund to invest in Arizona startups • ZebethMedia

Jack Selby, a former PayPal exec the longtime managing director of Thiel Capital who attracted some attention years back for his low-key largesse, has a new, $110 million venture fund that he intends to invest mostly in his adopted state of Arizona, where Selby has lived since 2002. The debut vehicle of the firm, called AZ-VC, is backed by a number of real-estate outfits in Arizona, along with a major local utility company. Notably, however, Thiel is not an investor and neither are any of Thiel Capital’s many institutional backers. We talked earlier today with Selby — who was calling from the Milken Institute summit in Abu Dhabi and planning to attend the last Formula One race of the season afterward — to learn more about why that is. We also talked with Selby about his relationship with Thiel and whether, like a growing number of people in Thiel’s universe, this new fund is an indicator that Selby plans to jump into regional politics at some point. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. TC: You’ve been running Peter Thiel’s family office for years, which is in California, but you are in Arizona. How did that happen? JS: My father worked for a “MadMen” era advertising firm called J. Walter Thompson, in a job where you either got fired or promoted every three or four years. My dad [experienced] a bit of both, so we had this almost army brat-type upbringing, moving seven times during my childhood. During my senior year, I refused to move [from our then-home] in suburban Detroit and stayed with a friend and his family until graduation, but my dad moved to Phoenix; my younger brother grew up in Phoenix. And going in the summers in between college, I really kind of fell in love with the place. Later, I was part of the group that started PayPal [as a VP nearly straight out of college] and when we sold the business to eBay in 2002, I knew I wanted to away from the onerous tax regime of California. Arizona was kind of the obvious choice, so I moved in 2002, and I’ve been a happy resident for a lot of years. Do you spend much time in West Hollywood, where Thiel Capital is now based? I pop back and forth between Arizona and California quite often. That’s one of the appeals of Arizona. Contrary to the whole narrative that’s been built up around Austin and certainly Miami, proximity to California matters. If you can get back and forth to California in an hour or so by plane, that’s very convenient, whereas it’s a four-hour flight from Austin. It’s one of the huge advantages I think we have in Arizona. It does seem like a lot of people have headed from California to Scottsdale in particular. Are different cities in Arizona known for different industries? A lot of the big defense contractors like Lockheed Martin have a presence in Arizona. A lot of the chip companies have a presence in Arizona. Phoenix is the fifth [most-populous] city in the United States, which a lot of folks don’t know, so you have pockets of activity throughout greater Phoenix, ranging from Glendale, which is in the far southeast corner, and all points in between. The best analogy I can give you is Los Angeles, but just, say, 50 years earlier. You’ve receiving backing for your fund from Arizona’s real estate industry, and your anchor investor is a utility company that committed to invest $25 million in the fund. Why would a utility company do this? I don’t mean this to compliment myself, but it was a two-year-long courting process to get them across the finish line. With my day job with Peter, and I say this very humbly, but I basically know every LP that allocates venture capital in the world, whether they’re here in Abu Dhabi or Tokyo or New York or wherever it is. They all know who we are, and they would love to curry favor with him by giving money to some new fund that’s connected to Peter’s universe. But I wanted to use the fund as a litmus test to see if the Arizona community wanted to see something like this fund rise up and get off the ground. Honestly, I didn’t know what the result was going to be, but I was very heartened by the fact that people raised their hand and put us in business. Two things. First, I’m still not understanding why a utility company is a natural fit here. Arizona has been very, very real estate oriented, and if you look back across various housing cycles, Arizona has been the poster child for the boom and bust because we don’t have much diversification in terms of industry. The thinking from a utility perspective is [anything that] helps diversify the economy and helps build up the technology sector within Arizona [is a positive] that will help smooth out some of these ups and downs. And you expressly didn’t want or ask for capital from Peter or Thiel Capital’s LPs. Why? My day job with Peter is protecting the nest, so to speak, and the nest is very important. Peter is my golden goose. I’ve been working with him longer than anyone else. He’s a very close friend. He’s a very loyal person. As you might imagine, we get barraged with unsolicited inquiries looking for his backing all day long. So sure, I could have gotten [their collective backing] but I didn’t go to a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi or go to Peter because they have no connection or ties to Arizona and I want people to be involved. I want people to be advisors. I want them to be deal scouts. I want them to be mentors. And the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund is not going to do that. Playing devil’s advocate here, what if you strike gold in Arizona? Will that be

GM says supply chain issues won’t affect EV profitability by 2025 • ZebethMedia

General Motors says supply chain constraints won’t hinder the automaker’s goal of reaching electric vehicle profitability by 2025. GM expects its EV portfolio to have “the same margin profile” as its internal combustion engine portfolio over the next three years once factoring in U.S. tax credits for cars and trucks, CEO Mary Barra said Thursday at GM’s investor conference. The automaker expects to generate more than $50 billion in revenue from sales of its 30 EV models in 2025, with profit margins in the low to mid single digits. Investors have been skeptical of GM’s promises, citing macro headwinds like increased battery raw material costs. Doug Parks, GM’s executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain, admitted that those costs could put GM’s targets at risk. However, Parks said a combination of increased efficiencies in GM’s Ultium EV platform — which is the underlying EV and battery architecture that will help GM scale its EV lineup — and supply chain agreements that are locked in through 2025 will reduce those macro impacts. “GM has signed binding agreements to secure the battery raw materials to support 1 million units of annual capacity in North America by 2025,” said Parks. “These are not just handshakes, these are not just meetings or MOUs.” GM is hoping to reduce cell costs by nearly 40% to an $87 per kilowatt hour by 2025, and then down to a $70 per kilowatt hour from mid to late decade. The automaker’s stock experienced a mid-day spike, rising 1.75% at around 1:45 pm ET. At market close, GM’s share price settled at an increase of 0.39%. GM’s supply chain landscape Parks highlighted GM’s agreement with Livent to source lithium hydroxide from its North American facility starting in 2025, a strategic investment and collaboration with CTR to source lithium from the Salton Sea in California using a closed loop geothermal process, and an agreement to secure sustainable cobalt from Glencore’s Murrin Murrin mine in Australia. In addition, GM has made a strategic investment in Queensland Pacific Metals for cobalt and nickel processing in Australia, as well as a long-term agreement with Vale for high-grade nickel sourced and processed in Canada. “We also have an agreement with LG Chem for enough cathode active material through 2030 for the equivalent of 5 million units of EV production, a joint venture with [South Korean steel-making company] Posco on a plant in North America, which we expect will open in Quebec in the first quarter of 2025.” In the interim, Posco will supply GM with materials from their South Korean operations, said Parks.  Parks added that GM has price controls in place for lithium that will dampen the volatility and pricing the market has seen over the past year. He noted the new clean energy tax credits will help GM accelerate its process of creating a domestic supply chain for EVs in North America. “The credits are very much in line with the strategy we’ve been executing for the past few years and will enable us to increase our footprint domestically with Free Trade Agreement partners.” GM is also working with recycling affiliates to take scrap from battery cell plants and return critical materials to make new batteries or even sell materials at market rate, said Parks. Beyond battery cells, Parks said GM has long-term supply agreements in place with key EV motor component suppliers, including binding agreements with GE to support the development of a North American and European base rare earth copper and electrical steel value chain. Many of these agreements are in place to help the company scale cell production rapidly once its four battery plants are underway. GM said its Lordstown, Ohio plant has already opened, with Spring Hill, Tennessee close behind. The automaker is also building a plant in Lansing, Michigan, and is exploring a location in Indiana for its fourth plant. Until those factories come online, GM is still mainly buying cells, which is a roadblock to high EV margins today.

Fiat CEO teases subscriptions, car-sharing for all-electric 500e launch in US • ZebethMedia

Stellantis plans to “explore alternative business models,” such as subscriptions and car sharing, when it launches its all-electric Fiat 500e in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2024, Fiat CEO Olivier Francois told ZebethMedia at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show. The exec did not rule out limiting the 500e’s U.S. launch entirely to subscriptions come early 2024, saying: “Maybe you will never have a price. Maybe it will just be usership. Maybe there will be there will be a combination of both.” The executive added cryptically, “There will be a healthy dose of digital, that’s for sure. We all collectively need to reinvent the business model.” The all-electric Fiat 500e launched in Europe in 2020 and is considered a massive success for Stellantis. Whether it will be embraced by U.S. buyers is unclear. The original 500e, which was essentially a retro’d version of an internal combustion version of the same model, didn’t fare so well and was largely regarded as a compliance car in the U.S.  This time, Francois suggested it would be different. When the Fiat 500e comes to North America in early 2024 it will have an estimate range of more than 150 miles, the ability to charge the battery up to 30 miles in five minutes and will come with an advanced driver assistance system that provides “Level 2+” features such as lane centering and adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, blind spot detection and 360-degree parking sensors. If there was a theme to Francois’ comments around the North American rollout of the Fiat 500e, it was experimental. It seemed the brand is ready to try a variety of sales and launch tactics for the region.  Fiat released a few details of the North American specs for the 500e vehicle, including that the battery will have more than 150-mile range. Olivier Francois, Fiat CEO and global CMO Stellantis, said the all-electric Fiat 500e will be able to charge the 85kW battery up to 30 miles in five minutes. The vehicle will come with an advanced driver assistance system that provides “Level 2+” features such as lane centering and adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, blind spot detection and 360-degree parking sensors. The Fiat 500e will also come with the UConnect 5 connected car system and a 10.25-inch touchscreen. Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec Stellantis isn’t the first automaker to suggest that subscriptions could remake the car business. At the tail end of 2018, Volvo went as far as to say “don’t buy our cars” during an event for its Care By Volvo subscription. Though Volvo intended to make “having a car as easy as having a cell phone,” the program turned out to be anything but for some subscribers, who said encountered delays and mixups with dealerships. Today, Volvo’s subscription site greets visitors with a note that “inventory is currently unavailable online.”  For its part, Francois claimed Fiat’s strategy had little to do with cranking U.S. sales, saying he was “capacity constrained” and instead focused on figuring out the “future of mobility with a car that’s designed for the city.”

Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell concept hints at the performance N brand’s future • ZebethMedia

Just don’t say it’s inspired by the DeLorean Hyundai revealed Thursday a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid concept vehicle called the N Vision 74 that the company says demonstrates the performance sub-brand’s vision for electrification. The Hyundai N sub-brand, the performance-focused arm of the automaker, has been applied to a range of production vehicles since its founding in 2015 from the Hyundai Veloster N and Elantra N to the Kona N. The N brand, a name inspired by Germany’s famed racetrack in Nürburgring and where Hyundai tests these models, has targeted luxury performance brands like BMW M, Mercedes AMG, Audi RS, and Cadillac V-series with its N brand. The N Vision 74 raises the stakes. Just don’t say it’s inspired by the DeLorean. A closer look at N Vision 74 Image Credits: Abigail Bassett Hyundai calls the N Vision 74 a “rolling lab,” — a testbed of sorts for future products. Although there is some Hyundai Pony Coupe history in there too. The N Vision 74 pays homage to the Hyundai Pony Coupe concept from 1974, which was developed by the legendary car designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro, who also designed the Delorean. (The DeLorean made its debut in 1981 after the Pony Coupe.) It’s a detail that Sang Yup Lee, the Hyundai Global Design Center and an executive vicepPresident at Hyundai Motor Company was quick to point out. “Don’t’ say they look alike, because we did it first,” Lee said during the press conference. N Vision 74 gets a unique hydrogen hybrid and battery-electric architecture. Underpinning the N Vision 74 concept sits both a fuel cell stack and a battery pack. The fuel cell stack at the front puts out 85 kW (max 95 kW), while the 62.4 kWh battery sits at the rear. The hydrogen W fuel cell converts hydrogen to electricity to charge the 62kWh battery. The car also gets independent rear-mounted motors on each wheel to generate a total power output of 500 kW and nearly 670 horsepower and 663 pound-feet of torque. Hyundai says that allows for engineers to tune power distribution between left and right wheels and optimally set the N Vision 74 up to handle different types of tracks. The N Vision 74 concept gets dual-charging capabilities. It can be filled with hydrogen or recharged on a DC Fast charger thanks to the underlying 800-volt architecture E-GMP platform. Hyundai says it can get as much as 372 miles of range and a top speed of 155 mph. The question is, of course, will this hydrogen fuel cell hybrid technology come to a production car? Hyundai wouldn’t say whether this kind of powertrain will go into production. However, Lee did conclude his presentation stating that “The N Vision 74 Concept has undeniable Hyundai DNA and design that serves as a compass to guide our future.”

business and solar energy