Monday, August 31, 2015

Scotland Launches New Electric-Car Incentive: Interest-Free Loans To Buy

Incentives to purchase zero-emission cars come in a wild variety of types, from California's rebates--essentially a four-figure check in the mail--to single-occupant access to carpool lanes.

The U.S. government has a Federal income-tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 for purchase of a plug-in car that varies with the car's battery pack size.

Now Scotland has offered one that we've not seen before--though if you have, please let us know.

DON'T MISS: World's First Entirely Renewable-Energy Place: Wind-Swept Scottish Island

The country's Energy Saving Trust is offering its citizens interest-free loans to buy electric cars, as detailed by Click Green (via ChargedEVs).

Funded by Transport Scotland as part of the "Switched On Scotland" policy roadmap, the loan can be for the entire purchase price of the vehicle, up to a maximum of £50,000 (about $77,0000) or £100,000 for businesses.

"Electric cars cost around 3p per mile to run, compared with around 15p per mile for the average petrol car, and incur no road tax," said Harry Mayers of the Energy Saving Trust.

Eigg, an island in Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. [Photo by Flickr user kevinzim]

Eigg, an island in Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. [Photo by Flickr user kevinzim]

Enlarge Photo

"They also help to reduce local air and noise pollution, contributing towards a greener, healthier Scotland."

A total of £2.5 million has been allocated to the program, but all applications for loans must be submitted by March 31, 2016.

The interest-free loans are an additional incentive on top of the U.K.'s Plug-In Vehicle Grant of up to £5,000 (roughly $7,700) for a new passenger vehicle and up to £8,000 (about $12,300) for a van.

ALSO SEE: Electric Cars To Aid Scottish Independence From England? (Mar 2013)

(The U.K. includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.)

In addition to those incentives, the ChargePlace Scotland program offers full grant funding for installation of electric-car charging stations in private homes.

The country also offers free recharging at most of its public charging points.

_________________________________________________

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Source: Scotland Launches New Electric-Car Incentive: Interest-Free Loans To Buy

Sunday, August 30, 2015

The future of car technology

Passenger cars are still the most popular transportation mode. In 2014 nearly 68m were produced globally.

They're not only a vital part of our economy and our personal lives but also an important social and cultural tool, used to present a certain image and status – real or imagined.

Our entrenched reliance on – and attachment to – this method of travel means that, even if we shift away from such widespread car ownership, we need to change our perception of what cars are if we want to mitigate their high environmental costs.

This doesn't just mean moving to electric vehicles. Just at the resource extraction level, roughly five tons of materials are needed to produce a 1.2 ton car, creating ten tons of effluents and 2.5 tons of emissions.

Processing these materials into components, assembling and distributing the cars around the world – and then using, servicing and disposing of them generates even more emissions. In total, a typical mid-size car is responsible for around 17 tons of CO₂.

The total embodied emissions for alternatively fuelled vehicles such as hybrids, electric and fuel-cell vehicles may even be higher than normal internal combustion engines – even when they produce no tail-pipe emissions (based on the as-yet unpublished Greet2 study).

This is perhaps because such technologies are more energy intensive to produce due to the materials that compose them.

New ideas needed

So what is the alternative to the current system? If car travel is going to remain common, perhaps we need to be smarter about how we build and use them. Our cars currently spend 92% of their time parked – and, when driving, most of their weight is used only to carry one person most of the time.

Cars could be produced in fewer numbers, to be smaller, longer-lasting and shared by more people. And instead of focusing on turning out as many new cars with relatively short lifespans as possible, manufacturers could provide more services to keep vehicles on the road for longer and deal with their disposal.

The role of car designers could also change. First by designing simpler basic cars, without "gimmicks" such as mood lights or massaging seats. Timeless lines rather than subject to the fads of the day.

Instead of working on one project after another, the designer could be involved in an upgrading process that would see each model evolve through re-manufacturing in a more direct interaction with consumers.

Gordon Murray Design T.27 RAC Future Car Challenge

Gordon Murray Design T.27 RAC Future Car Challenge (Gimmick-free design? Dominic Alves, CC BY)

Other changes in the features of the cars themselves could also produce more sustainable models. For example, safety standards today are driven by electronic systems such as collision-avoidance and pedestrian-detection systems.

These could be upgraded during service life more easily than physical features. Based on my own (as yet unpublished) research, I believe that if these systems prove to be highly reliable, there will be no need for low-speed impact structures, reducing the use of materials.

This model might be easier to move to than it first sounds. So-called millennials are less interested in cars than previous generations, applying for driver's licences later in life and more likely to live in highly congested cities where access to public transport is easier.

They are also used to sharing or renting services, for example with taxi-hailing or liftsharing apps such as Uber. Owning a car, on the other hand, is seen as an expensive liability.

Industry turning point

The car manufacturing industry is also at a cross-roads. Powertrain options are multiplying, driverless technology is poised to make big changes and non-automotive companies including Google want a share of the market.

As materials become more expensive, relying on cars with relatively shorter lifespans to flood the market is not in anyone's interest. Not even the car makers, who at best can only make 5% annual profit.

The current business model may not survive in the longer term. It may naturally make more sense for manufacturers to build and service cars as long-lasting rental products.

Some electric vehicle manufacturers have already introduced rental schemes for their batteries, which are likely to need replacing far quicker than the rest of the car.

Extending the lifespan and the product life cycle will impact on production. Fewer cars means that the return on investment may take longer. But it could also mean less need to update costly manufacturing tools – and factories could be made more modular and flexible to produce different types of cars in one assembly line.

Plants could be more localised to meet the different needs of the different megacities of the future. And redundant assembly workers could be retrained into servicing and maintenance or other car-related services.

This model would require us to think differently about cars, redefining terms such as "old" and "used" and educating consumers, especially those from older generations who are unfamiliar with sharing systems.

Not all cars will survive into the future, but if we are better stewards of what we have now and learn to cherish products in a more subjective way than the market does, cars can definitely last for longer.

By Alexandre Rodrigues, a is PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

More on car technology

Criminals can use this cheap device to unlock your car or garage

What to do if your vehicle number plate is cloned

Google has its own car company

Watch how easy it is for criminals to jam your car remote

Hackers can remotely hijack the Jeep Cherokee


Source: The future of car technology

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Will We See The Apple Electric Vehicle On September 9?

Summary
  • Much has been written about the Apple EV here on Seeking Alpha and elsewhere. Now perhaps we have an unveiling date.
  • Apple has poached employees from Tesla and seems to have assembled a formidable team.
  • Much work has gone on at San Francisco's Bill Graham convention center and Apple has acknowledged they are having an event there next week.
  • This Seeking Alpha cub reporter was recently in San Francisco. I photographed some of the busy preparations at the Convention Center, and prepared a scoop of an article suggesting Apple (first among several choices) as the force behind this upcoming event. SA editors turned that article down. Then they came out with their own news story with Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) acknowledgment.

    So what's going on at the Bill Graham Convention Center?

    Here's the little article that tipped me off. Or I could have just asked a Square employee relation who walks by the place every day.

    Entire lanes of traffic have been blocked off by massive generators and air conditioners as these Seeking Alpha exclusive photos illustrate:

    Photo credit: Electric Phred via iPad Air, Polk Street side of arena

    Photo credit: Electric Phred via iPad Air, Larkin Street side of arena

    Lots of SFPD and rent a cops are posted at every entrance and at the air conditioners in the first picture. None of them have much to say. One mumbled, "They had to take a lot of stuff out and put a lot of stuff in." Most would only confirm that it was a private event and they had a permit through September 13th. Two guys guarding a stack of chairs in front of the adjacent City Hall said work had been going on for weeks. A camera crew filming something entirely different on the steps of City Hall said they'd run a piece yesterday supposing this was another Apple event. Knowing that the camera man knows all and wished he could tell all, Electric Phred quizzed him and got this response, "A friend who works for Local 616, Stagehands, has been working on it for weeks but has no idea what its for." (Boy must he have job satisfaction.)

    What sort of unveiling needs a 7000 seat venue, weeks of work, and likely millions of dollars? This wouldn't seem to me to be just the unveiling of the iPhone 6s or the iPad Pro (which one rumor has sporting an Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Processor). I am betting we may see the Apple electric vehicle. Since the rental on the venue seems to stretch past September 9, perhaps it will turn into a mini Apple trade show and fans will be able to oogle and touch various types of unobtanium like the car, the iPhone 6s, the iPad Pro. Perhaps we'll see a Mac book, which some think may be equipped with the new 3DXPoint memory developed by Intel and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU). Certainly there is now a precedent of having unveiled the iWatch which was then first delivered weeks later.

    So what's been written about the Apple EV? There are lots of good articles on Seeking Alpha and elsewhere:

    Conclusions

    Apple is definitely working hard on an electric vehicle, as the many articles attest. They've now confirmed that they are behind the weeks of work and millions of dollars being spent at the Bill Graham Convention Center. Its fun and rewarding to be able to supplement the story with first hand accounts, interview snippets, and photos. I think the only product which deserves this level of effort is Apple's electric vehicle. What do you think we'll see?

    Disclosure: I am/we are long INTC, MU. (More...)I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

    Additional disclosure: May initiate positions in AAPL within the next week.

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    Source: Will We See The Apple Electric Vehicle On September 9?

    Friday, August 28, 2015

    Bosch acquires U.S. electric car battery developer Seeo

    Aug 28 Auto parts maker Robert Bosch has bought Seeo Inc, a California-based company that has developed next-generation lithium-ion batteries that could double the range of electric cars.

    Electric vehicles have failed to take off with mainstream customers because current battery technology limits the operating range of vehicles to below 500 kilometres (311 miles), and because vehicles take hours to fully recharge.

    According to a filing with the state of California, Seeo's battery technology may help to increase energy density by 50 to 100 percent, which could significantly increase the operating range of an electric vehicle.

    Hayward, California-based Seeo has an exclusive license to core patents from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that could help Bosch produce lightweight batteries on an industrial scale.

    Seeo's advanced lithium polymer cells have an energy density of 350 watt-hours per kilogram, roughly twice the level of batteries used in today's electric vehicles.

    Traditional battery packs use electrochemical energy storage and become less safe or reliable the more powerful they are, to the point where the battery may catch fire.

    Because Seeo batteries are based on non-reactive solid polymer electrolytes, they are less prone to the flaws that beset current-generation cylindrical and prismatic lithium-ion batteries.

    The transaction closed in mid-August and financial details have not been disclosed, a spokesman for Bosch said on Friday.

    (Reporting by Edward Taylor and Eric Auchard; Editing by Keith Weir)


    Source: Bosch acquires U.S. electric car battery developer Seeo

    Thursday, August 27, 2015

    Million dollar caravan: Weekend electric vehicle rally starts in Colorado Springs

    Want to see what a million dollars worth of electric vehicles looks like?

    Take a spot by the side of the road on Saturday and watch 10 Tesla Model S EVs, each worth about $100,000, caravan from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek during the Million Dollar Tesla Electric Vehicle Rally. Car owners will meet in the Cripple Creek city parking lot and eventually move to the parking lot at Wildwood Casino.

    Mac McCauley and his wife are excited to be part of the convoy in a silver 2013 Tesla they've had for about 18 months.

    "My car runs on sunshine," McCauley, 70, said. The couple's first EV was a Chevy Volt they purchased in 2011. Electric cars are powered by an electric motor and a battery that must be regularly charged by universal chargers. Tesla EVs require specially made Tesla chargers.

    Why Cripple Creek? The tiny town has three locations to charge Tesla EVs and two universal chargers for cars like the Volt.

    By comparison, there are also three locations to charge a Tesla in Denver, one in both Limon and Trinidad and one in the Springs at Old Town Guesthouse that's only available to guests.

    "The electricity that comes out of them is free forever," McCauley said. "It's like buying a car and saying here's free gas forever."

    The McCauleys have driven their EVs to Cripple Creek for years, catching the eyes of many townsfolk along the way. Bill Burcaw, co-owner of 9494: Gifts with Altitude, expressed interest in holding an EV event, but there were no nearby charging stations. Most EVs can't make the 100-mile round trip to Cripple Creek, though Teslas are the exception - they're able to travel about 300 miles at 55 mph and 200 miles at 75-80 mph.

    Burcaw learned about Tesla's Destination Charging program, which promised qualified properties one free universal charger for every two free Tesla chargers and charged $1,500 per Tesla installation. City Council approved and the first charger was installed in the spring. They're located in three spots: the city parking lot, Wildwood Casino and Carr Manor, a boutique hotel and bed and breakfast.

    "These guys all do their communication through their cars," said Burcaw about Tesla owners. The cars are constantly connected to the Internet and keep track of charging station locations. "Their cars tell them where to go. I've seen an increase of Teslas arriving in town. About once a week I see a new one. It's increased business for sure."


    Source: Million dollar caravan: Weekend electric vehicle rally starts in Colorado Springs

    Wednesday, August 26, 2015

    Electric-Car Driver To Plant Trees In 48 States On Cross-Country Trip

    Despite its name, National Drive Electric Week is actually an international awareness event for plug-in electric cars.

    And in concert with this year's event, one driver is taking a road trip. Quite an impressive road trip, actually--in an electric car, naturally.

    Formerly known as National Plug-In Day, it's organized by advocacy group Plug-In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Auto Association, and numerous smaller entities.

    DON'T MISS: Oil Hauler Brings Electric Cars To Heart Of Oklahoma Oil Country

    The now week-long event is actually comprised of dozens of local electric-car rallies, promotions, and other events, both in the U.S. and abroad.

    Most of them take the form of a gathering of electric-car owners, advocates, and curious members of the public.

    Two days ago, Brian Kent set off from his home in Albion, New York, in his 2013 Nissan Leaf to kick off a 48-state road trip that will include participating in the Drive Electric Week.

    During his "Negative Carbon U.S. Road Trip," Kent plans to utilize charging infrastructure everywhere from city centers to campgrounds--and plant a tree in each state he visits to boot.

    Kent expects to cover over 26,000 miles in his Leaf, a 2013 model with an EPA-rated range of 75 miles (or 84 miles on a full recharge).

    ALSO SEE: Nissan To Continue Sponsoring National Drive Electric Week Through 2017

    "I believe it's incumbent upon those of us familiar with plug-in vehicles to spread the word as best we can," Kent said in a Plug-In America press release.

    He expects the trees he plants to remove enough carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere over their lifetimes to negate the CO2 emissions related to the electricity consumed by his Leaf on the trip.

    One of Kent's stops will be at the National Drive Electric Week event in Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

    The event will be one of two marking Kentucky's first participation in National Drive Electric Week.

    Last year, there were events in 150 cities in the U.S., Canada, Italy, and The Netherlands.

    MORE: National Drive Electric Week: 150 Cities, 90,000 People, Electric Cars All Over (Sep 2014)

    Organizers estimated 152 individual events were held throughout the week, with over 90,000 attendees.

    That sets a high bar for this year's National Drive Electric Week, which will take place September 12-20.

    _______________________________________________

    Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.


    Source: Electric-Car Driver To Plant Trees In 48 States On Cross-Country Trip

    Tuesday, August 25, 2015

    Venturi battles storms and salt to set electric land speed record

    The Venturi and The Ohio State University team on the salt at Bonneville, August 2015. Venturi Automobiles

    Venturi, a Monegasque electric vehicle (EV) company, and The Ohio State University have just set a new FIA land speed record for EVs on the salt flats of Bonneville, Utah. Driven by Roger Schroer, the Venturi VBB-3 covered a measured mile at an average speed of 240.32mph (386.758km/h). However, the record was achieved in spite of the terrible condition of the salt flats, which have been badly affected by storms in recent weeks.

    Venturi had to settle for a lesser record attempt than originally planned. The VBB-3 has been designed to break 400mph (643.7km/h), but the rain-soaked salt flats were not amenable to this plan. It proved impossible to prepare a 12-mile (19.3km) track on the salt for the record attempt; instead the team had to settle for a partially wet and very bumpy 10 miles (16km) instead. "In eleven years here I have never driven on such a difficult track," said Schroer. "The car was sliding on the surface from one side to the other due to soft spots and bumps."

    Heavy rainfall in July inundated the salt flats, leading the organizers of Bonneville SpeedWeek to cancel the annual race meeting for the third year in a row. When given sufficient time to dry, the salt can be groomed to prepare a smooth track for flat-out running, but add water and the result is a bumpy, slushy mess that can wreak havoc on the cars. Ars has been following Venturi's record attempt via Twitter, and the team had reported that the broken surface was causing problems:

    #3 The wet and very bumpy track is like a shaker and disrupts some electronic systems. #Venturi #VBB3 #EWSR #FIA pic.twitter.com/GZfyTSSqHw

    — @Venturi Automobiles (@venturi) August 19, 2015

    # we have only 12cm between the car &the ground the wet &heavy salt &mud are slowing the #VBB3. #EWSR #FIA #Venturi pic.twitter.com/dtRQwkXzAc

    — @Venturi Automobiles (@venturi) August 19, 2015

    VBB-3's record run was the car's single attempt. On the return leg (the car has to be timed going both ways and the speed is averaged) that bumpy surface resulted in a hole being punched in the front cooling tank.

    A wounded VBB-3 rests on the salt following the speed run.

  • A wounded VBB-3 rests on the salt following the speed run.

  • VBB-3 at speed.

  • Venturi owner Gildo Pastor and VBB-3 driver Roger Schroer.

  • Vibration damage to the car.

  • We expect future land speed attempts from Venturi and The Ohio State University with VBB-3. Presumably those will have to wait until next year, unless another suitable location can be found. Finding the right stretch of desert for a land speed run is part of the challenge, as we saw with the UK-based Bloodhound SSC attempt. Sadly for speed junkies, the Black Rock Desert in Nevada—where Thrust SSC broke the sound barrier—has been ruined for speed-testing by the Burning Man festival.

    We also hope to visit VBB-3 later this year at its Ohio base to see what 3,000hp (2,237kW) looks like up close. And in the interest of full disclosure, we should mention that Venturi's Formula E cars contested the final rounds of the championship with Ars logos on them, courtesy of our colleagues in the UK.


    Source: Venturi battles storms and salt to set electric land speed record

    Monday, August 24, 2015

    Apple Self-Driving Car Rumors: Tesla Engineer Moves To Cupertino for Self-Driving Car Project?

    Apple Inc. has reportedly hired a senior engineer from electric car maker Tesla Motors, Inc as reported by Reuters. The engineer's LinkedIn posting said that he is a part of Apple's team of experts in automated driving.

    Jamie Carlson is that engineer and he join seven other people with experience in the development of self-driving technology and systems. These have fuelled the rumors of Apple working on a self-driving car. Carlson's work with Tesla is about the Autopilot self-driving car program.

    According to the Reuters sources, Apple has started to develop a car and continues its research on self-driving technology. According to the same Reuters report, several attempts were done to reach all eight people but were unsuccessful and Apple has also declined to comment.

    Carlson joins former Volkswagen engineer Megan McClain, Carnegie Mellon University researcher Vinay Palakkode, Nvidia Corporation's Xianqiao Tong, and former deputy director of the Autonomous Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Paul Furgale.  Last year, Apple have also hired former Bosch engineer Stefan Weber, former Ford engineer Sanjai Massey, and former Delphi research scientist Lech Szumilas.

    The latest hire before Carlson was former Fiat Chrysler global quality leader Doug Betts. Betts has a lot of experience in the automobile industry, previously working for Nissan and Toyota.

    McClain and Palakkode are experts on automated driving while Tong is an engineer who develops vision software for driving assistant systems. Weber has experience on video-based driver assistance systems, Massey on automated vehicles of Ford, and Szumalis specializes in computer vision and object detection.

    One thing is for sure, The Cupertino-based Company is hiring a team with expertise on automobile and self-driving assistant systems.

    In a report by the Press Examiner, Apple's self-driving vehicle project goes by the name "Project Titan", but no words or statement is released by the company. "Project Titan" is said to be lead by 16-year Apple veteran Steve Zadesky as reported by The VAR Guy.

    Zadesky joined the company in 1999 to work on the iPod, and later the iPhone. Zadesky was rumoured to have hired about a thousand people on his team to work on the electric car which included the recruitment of the said employees above.

    In other related auto news, Tesla signed a partnership with home rental service Airbnb to setup charging stations at different locations due to high demand by its customers in a report by NYCity Today. The Palo Alto, California-based company and Airbnb started to use the "Be free, Go far" campaign for their partnership.

     

     

     

    © 2015 Latin Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.


    Source: Apple Self-Driving Car Rumors: Tesla Engineer Moves To Cupertino for Self-Driving Car Project?

    Sunday, August 23, 2015

    Apple̢۪s latest hire is another piece in the jigsaw for the Apple Car

    Now that we've all got over the fact that Apple is making and selling a smartwatch, the rumor mill needs a new product to focus on — and an Apple Car seems to be the most popular choice. We know the company is looking for locations to test some kind of automobile technology, other industry firms have hinted at Apple's plans, and fans have been working on mock-ups of what the new vehicle might look like.

    Now Reuters is reporting that Apple has poached a high-profile, senior engineer from Tesla, another company making great strides in the 21st century motor industry. Jamie Carlson has swapped Elon Musk for Tim Cook in the CEO stakes according to his LinkedIn profile, and given Carlson's history it would seem to confirm that Apple has plans of some kind in this area. He worked on Tesla's automated self-driving technologies and before that was busy developing "automotive vision systems" for Gentex Corp.

    Related: Apple makes another electric car move by hiring an auto industry veteran

    We seem to have reached the 'no smoke without fire' stage for the iCar, but exactly what Apple has in the pipeline isn't yet clear: It could be a brand new electric-powered motor vehicle that can drive itself, or it could be software and various bits of kit to add to your existing car to do the same job. Its CarPlay dashboard software is still in its early stages of development and is likely to play a role in anything else the Cupertino company has to show off as far as cars are concerned.

    Reuters points out the other automobile experts Apple has recruited in recent months: Megan McClain from Volkswagen, Carnegie Mellon University researcher Vinay Palakkode, and Nvidia's Xianqiao Tong, who develops computer vision software for driver assistance systems. With the likes of Google, Nissan and Tesla developing autonomous technology at a rapid pace, Apple may feel it has no alternative but to get involved.


    Source: Apple's latest hire is another piece in the jigsaw for the Apple Car

    Saturday, August 22, 2015

    Electric Disruption Should Be Taken Seriously

    Originally published on EV Obsession.

    Technology changes fast these days. How many iterations of cell phones or computers have we now lived through? How quickly have music-playing mediums changed? But there's a big difference between incremental changes in technology and "disruptive" technology shifts. A transition from cassette tapes to CDs was one thing, but a transition to MP3 players was something very different.

    Even with a shift to digital cameras, we saw that a giant like Kodak could go under due to a slow reaction to a very fast-changing market… and difficulty capitalizing on the new technology.

    In the automobile world, I can't imagine we will see anything short of a disruptive technology revolution. Electric vehicles simply have too many consumer advantages over gasoline-powered vehicles, including huge ones related to convenience (you "fill up" at home and can leave with a full charge practically every morning) and drive quality (not only with regard to the true joy that comes with instant torque, but also thanks to the quiet and smooth nature of electric cars). As battery costs fall (and they are falling quite fast), the big hurdle of higher upfront costs will continue falling away and the revolution will be underway at full speed.

    Tesla Model S Brown Amsterdam 3

    On the one hand, automakers that try to inch into the EV market with gasoline-powered cars very simplistically turned into electric cars, or with a lineup of minimally electric plug-in hybrids, or with low-range pure electric cars that cost several thousand dollars more than a Nissan LEAF, will have their lunch eaten by Tesla and early movers in the market. Automakers need to be working now to design and manufacture long-range, fully electric, relatively low-cost cars that will be desirable enough to compete with the Tesla Model 3. But there's even much more to it than that.

    Some of Tesla's huge competitive advantages hardly even concern its cars. For one, it offers very fast and "free" Supercharging across the US and Europe, as well as a growing number of other places. Realizing that the charging network is a critical component of an electric car product has served the company very well, but no other automakers seem to have picked up on the importance of such charging stations being nearly ubiquitous, free, and fast. A piecemeal supplement and potential membership in a tedious charging station network where you need to pay each time just doesn't cut it — that doesn't comprehensively tackle the "fuel" issue like Tesla's Supercharger network, and it will leave many consumers choosing a Tesla vehicle over a comparably priced and attractive EV from another manufacturer.

    Another thing Tesla has realized is that improving its consumers' cars via over-the-air (OTA) software updates is now the most commonsense way to improve their vehicles over time. Tesla's vehicles get better and better from month to month. Other automakers need to follow suit and put a lot more work into their software development in order to make their tech packages and improvements as exciting as the driving experience itself. With electric vehicles, there's more opportunity to improve the driving experience over time via OTA updates, but it also requires a solid team of engineers constantly working to improve the cars in significant — not just superfluous — ways.

     

    No doubt about it — batteries are some of the most critical components of an electric car. They determine a great deal of the cost of the car, and whether it is cost-competitive with market leaders. Being sure to use the most competitive batteries on the market is one thing, but manufacturers also need to work hard now to make sure they secure a massive supply of batteries in order to fulfill consumer demand. Tesla is working on its first "Gigafactory," and executives at the company have already indicated they are looking into the development of future gigafactories. What do other automakers have? What do they have planned? Is it enough to allow them to scale up as quickly as the market wants it to?

    Lastly, for this article at least, the consumer purchase process and customer service are ripe for massive updates as well. Automakers' entire views of how these things work need to change, but not just change incrementally — transform fundamentally. The car market is at the beginning of a transformation, not just a technology transition. They need to realize this and transform themselves. Otherwise, they may soon have their own "Kodak moments." Tesla's intention is to speed up the transition to 100% electric vehicles. Not seeing anyone else leading the way, it decided to become a leader. Now, other automakers have the opportunity to be followers, to perhaps even catch up, or to face an "unimaginable" decline as the world passes them by.

    Tags: Tesla, tesla gigafactory, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Superchargers

    About the Author

    Zachary Shahan is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.


    Source: Electric Disruption Should Be Taken Seriously

    Friday, August 21, 2015

    2015 Harris Poll: US Car Owners Slightly More Interested In EVs, 29% Would Consider PHEVs, 21% BEVs

    Almost 1 in 3 Americans Would Consider A Plug-In Hybrid For Their Next Car Purchase Accord To The 2015 Harris Poll

    Almost 1 in 3 Americans Would Consider A Plug-In Hybrid For Their Next Car Purchase Accord To The 2015 Harris Poll

    A recent Harris poll took stock of the "electric car" pulse of America, and found that while interest in hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and pure electric cars was growing – it wasn't growing all that fast.

    Out of 2,225 US car owners surveyed online, 29% said they would consider a PHEV such as the Chevrolet Volt or Ford Fusion Energi, a percentage that was just up 2% from a 2013 poll.

    US Driver Wish List For BEVS: Lower Price, More Range - Makes Sense To Us

    US Driver Wish List For BEVS: Lower Price, More Range – Makes Sense To Us

    For pure electric cars – such as the Nissan LEAF and Tesla Model S, 21% said they would considering cutting out the gas station altogether; this figure was also up 2% from 2013.

    Traditional hybrids still hold a firm lead over their 'greener' counterparts with 48% of respondents saying they would consider a car like the Toyota Prius for their next vehicle – a number that remained unchanged from 2 years ago.

    Other points of interest we found in the survey results:

    * – Men are more likely than women to consider an electric vehicle (25% men, 17% women)

    * – Distance drivers – those who travel over 50 miles in an average day – are especially likely to say they'd consider a plug-in hybrid (38%, vs. 28% of those traveling 30 miles or less in a typical day), or a pure electric (32% vs. 18%)

    * – Democrats and Independents are more likely than Republicans to consider a traditional hybrid (53% Dem, 52% Ind and 42% Rep), or a plug-in hybrid (34%, 32% and 20%) or a pure electric

    * – Millennials drivers are more likely than their elder counterparts to consider a traditional hybrid, with 57% saying they'd consider one (vs. 49% of Gen Xers, 43% of Baby Boomers and 38% of Matures). This same trend holds true for plug-in hybrids (39% vs. 28%, 22% and 23%) and pure electrics (34% vs. 17%, 14% and 11%)

    The survey also dug a little deeper into what may be holding back adoption of pure electric cars in the US.

    When asked to select their top concerns related to pure electric vehicles, price (67%) and range (64%) rise to the top, followed by repair/maintenance costs (58%), reliability (53%), performance/power (50%) and the fact that it's still new technology (42%).

    Top Concerns With BEVs (via 2015 Harris Poll)

    Top Concerns With BEVs (via 2015 Harris Poll)

    Looking at some of the concerns potential owners had for BEVs, it is clear that more education is needed as electric cars have proven themselves to be very reliable overall, as well as costing only a fraction of a petrol car to maintain.

    If interested, there is lots more data and swell charts over at the 2015 Harris Poll result page.


    Source: 2015 Harris Poll: US Car Owners Slightly More Interested In EVs, 29% Would Consider PHEVs, 21% BEVs

    Thursday, August 20, 2015

    800 hp all-electric Aston Martin Rapide confirmed̢۪

    Can you imagine an 800 hp all-electric Aston Martin? If it's up to CEO Andy Palmer it will be realised soon, Automotive News revealed. The electric all-wheel drive Rapide would have a range of 200 miles / 322 kilometres.

    The British Sports cars manufacturer brings its four-dour Rapide to the market in two years and it would be followed by an all-electric version of the DBX crossover by the end of the decade, Palmer said at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

    Photos: This is the all-electric Aston Martin DBX Concept

    "If you want to keep making V12 engines, then you've got to do something at the opposite end of the spectrum," Palmer said. It will be positioned as a premium electric car with a price tag between $200,000 and $250,000.

    Palmer won't be focussing purely on acceleration but on overall performance instead. "We don't do 'Ludicrous mode' because that's stupid," Palmer said referring to Tesla's latest upgrade for the Model S, now capable of 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds.

    Palmer: "I think that the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife is much more interesting than doing 500 metres in Ludicrous mode."

    It would probably not take long after introduction that a Rapide EV hits the race track.


    Source: 800 hp all-electric Aston Martin Rapide confirmed'

    Wednesday, August 19, 2015

    Audi plans all-electric SUV and announces pricing for A3 plug-in hybrid

    PhotoThe Audi e-tron quattro concept car

    Tired of being left in the dust by Tesla in the electric-car derby, Audi is fighting back. 

    The German carmaker today issued a teaser photo of an all-electric SUV -- currently dubbed the "the e-tron quattro" -- that it says it will soon launch to rival Tesla's forthcoming Model X.

    Audi says its new SUV will have a range of more than 310 miles and will go into production in 2018. It will be the brand's first mass-market all-electric model.

    Audi also recently announced pricing for its 2016 A3 Sportback e-tron, a Chevy Volt-type hybrid that combines battery and gas power. Pricing will begin at $37,900 when the car goes on sale later this year. It will be the first plug-in Audi sold in the U.S.

    Four passengers PhotoThe Audi A3 e-tron Sportback

    Audi said the e-tron quattro is "designed from the ground up as an electric car," and isn't just an existing model with a large battery stuffed underneath. However, like some other electrics, it seats only four, thanks to the large lithium-ion battery situated between the axles under the passenger compartment.   

    Perhaps more impressive, the car shares some aeronautical ideas more commonly found on aircraft. Movable aerodynamic elements at the front, on the sides and at the rear improve the air flow around the car.

    The aerodynamically optimized underbody is completely closed, reducing drag and optimizing mileage. Its length is between that of the Audi Q5 and the Q7.


    Source: Audi plans all-electric SUV and announces pricing for A3 plug-in hybrid

    Tuesday, August 18, 2015

    Aston aims to launch 800-hp, all-electric Rapide in 2 years

    Palmer: Electric DBX to follow

    Palmer: Electric DBX to follow

    Andy Palmer declined to be specific about the price of an electric Rapide, but hinted it would be in the $200,000 to $250,000 range .

    MONTEREY, Calif. -- Aston Martin is betting that even James Bond won't mind an 800-hp electric car.

    The longtime builder of British sports cars will bring an all-electric version of its four-door Rapide to market in two years, CEO Andy Palmer confirmed to Automotive News.

    Speaking at Sunday's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance -- a target-rich environment for a high-end brand such as Aston Martin -- Palmer said the electric Rapide would be followed by an all-electric version of the DBX crossover by the end of the decade. Palmer's confirmation comes several months after he indicated Aston was considering an electric Rapide in April.

    While it's too early to confirm powertrain specifics, Palmer did reveal his eye-watering expectations for the Rapide: all-wheel drive, around 800 hp and a 200-mile range.

    Two key factors

    This newfound emphasis on electric cars is driven by two key factors.

    "If you want to keep making V-12 engines, then you've got to do something at the opposite end of the spectrum," Palmer said of the company's defensive strategy. Emissions-free models are necessary in the immediate future to balance out the emissions of its powerful V-8 and V-12 sports cars, especially in markets such as China.

    At the same time, Aston is also going on the offensive, noting an opportunity for a powerful, seductive electric car that's positioned well above a loaded version of Tesla's most powerful Model S. The P90D currently tops out around $142,000 before any incentives.

    "What Tesla clearly shows you is we haven't hit the ceiling in terms of price," Palmer said. "But I think it's hard, though not impossible, for them as a relatively new brand to keep pushing up and to go into that super premier area."

    Palmer declined to be specific about the price of an electric Rapide, but hinted it would be in the $200,000 to $250,000 range (a current gasoline-powered Rapide starts at $205,000). Buyers in that range are looking for "something beyond a pure technology play, they start now looking for legacy," Palmer said. 

    And he didn't mince words about Tesla's recently announced "Ludicrous mode" upgrade that drops the Model S 0-to-60 mph acceleration time to 2.8 seconds.

    "We don't do Ludicrous because Ludicrous speed is stupid," Palmer said.

    "I think that the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode."

    The electric Rapide will use batteries sourced from an "established supplier" such as LG or Samsung -- though not Panasonic -- according to Palmer. Production will be in the hundreds annually, and none of the Rapide's components will be shared with any Mercedes, which owns 5 percent of Aston Martin and is currently developing engines in conjunction with Aston.

    With a goal of starting production within two years, Aston already has an all-electric Rapide test mule on the road.

    Several years after the Rapide EV goes on sale, an all-electric DBX will join it. The four-door, awd crossover coupe will be introduced around 2019 as a plug-in hybrid, then a gasoline model, and finally the all-electric version.

    DBX EV

    It's too early to know whether the DBX EV would use the same (or similar) powertrain as the Rapide, or whether it would use a new system, Palmer said. He did confirm that Aston was considering a two-door version of the DBX as well.

    Aston will use the DBX range to broaden its customer base, particularly in markets such as China and Russia -- something Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce are also planning with future SUV models.

    The DBX models will be the second of three pillars Aston is relying on to become a profitable company with a sustainable business model selling around 7,000 vehicles a year (the company sold around 3,400 globally in 2014). The first pillar is revamping its lineup of two-door sports cars, the first of which is the successor to the DB9 expected to debut in 2016, likely as the DB11.

    The third pillar will be cash from Aston's burgeoning Lagonda sub-brand of high-margin, custom-built models, as well as two specialty models a year -- like the track-only Vulcan hypercar and the Vantage GT12 introduced this year.

    007 better clear some room in his garage.

    You can reach David Undercoffler at undercoffler@crain.com.

    advertising


    Source: Aston aims to launch 800-hp, all-electric Rapide in 2 years

    Monday, August 17, 2015

    Immortus Electric-Car Concept Claims Solar Running Up To 35 MPH

    Many electric-car owners use solar panels to generate power that they can use in home charging stations.

    But what if they could actually put those panels directly on their electric cars instead?

    Solar-car racing is nothing new, and solar panels have been used to a very limited extent to supplement battery power in a few production cars.

    DON'T MISS: New Stella Solar Electric Car Produces More Energy Than It Uses

    But until now there have been few--if any--serious attempts to make a solar-powered car for ordinary consumers.

    The Immortus is an electric car whose creators claim it can drive at speeds up to 60 kph (37 mph) on solar power alone. It will achieve that feat, they say, with 75 square feet of photvoltaic cells spread over its body.

    The Immortus project was started by Australia's Aurora Solar Car Team, but is now under the stewardship of Melbourne-based firm EVX Ventures, according to Gizmag.

    It has the low-profile shape of a sports car, a design reportedly created to make room for the solar cells and minimize aerodynamic drag.

    The covered wheels should help in the latter area as well. Those wheels will be very thin, and shod in low profile tires, to enhance efficiency--similar to the production BMW i3 electric car.

    However, space inside the Immortus is limited to two occupants, along with a small amount of luggage.

    ALSO SEE: Ford C-Max Solar Energi Concept: Using The Sun To Charge Electric Car (Jan 2014)

    Performance goals include a 0-to-100-kph (0-to-62-mph) acceleration time of under 7 seconds, and a top speed of "over" 150 km/h (93 mph).

    That will be made possible by a pair of 20-kilowatt (about 27 horsepower) motors--one for each hub of the drive wheels.

    Solar energy will be supplemented by a 10-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that can be recharged with a plug, just like in a conventional battery-electric car.

    Photovoltaic solar power field at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee

    Photovoltaic solar power field at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee

    Enlarge Photo

    Higher onboard energy capacity was deemed unnecessary because of the onboard solar panels.

    Despite the weight of its battery pack, EVX claims the Immortus will have a curb weight of just 1,212 pounds.

    It also claims a minimum range of 400 km (248 miles) for the car, and up to 550 km (342 miles) if driven on a sunny day at a steady 53 mph.

    MORE: Luminos Solar Electric Car For Australian Race Cruises At 55 MPH (Jul 2013)

    EVX doesn't plan to mass-produce the Immortus. It will build cars to order, to avoid the enormous expense of meeting different crash-test regulations in various nations and regions.

    It doesn't expect to build more than 100 cars, each priced at around $370,000. The company says it still needs $1.5 million to start production.

    It plans to bring a scaled-down Immortus prototype to the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas this November, to drum up more interest in the project.

    [hat tip: Hugh K. Crawford]

    _______________________________________________

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    Source: Immortus Electric-Car Concept Claims Solar Running Up To 35 MPH

    Sunday, August 16, 2015

    What happens when you attempt a UK road trip in an electric car

    Range, we don't have enough range. This is getting ridiculous. We can't partner. We can't plug in. Owning and operating an electric car in a big city like London is pretty straight forward when there are charging points on almost every street corner. But what happens when you take an electric car out of the city and into the countryside where places to charge are few and far between? That's what we're here to test with a drive that takes this electric vehicle around some of the most beautiful parts of the nation. The atmosphere is electric, so let's charge up and hit the road. Our car of choice for the trip has been Nissan Leaf, currently the most popular all-electric car in Britain, boasting a theoretical range of up to around 100 miles on a single charge. [MUSIC] Our 500 mile route will take us through ancient university towns, through national parks and even into the beautiful hills of Wales. Stopping the car to charge along the way at slow, medium or fast charging points. The slowest would take up to eight hours to recharge the car, while the most powerful gets 80% charge in only half an hour. It's these that we'll have to rely on if we hope to complete our trip in the two days we have. Driving as eco as possible, our range has gone up a few miles to 49. I've also got the Regenerative braking active, which is, it's kind of like engine braking, except that when it does it, it's actually restoring power back to the battery. We would soon be relying on that regenerative braking very heavily indeed, but for now an easy drive led us into scenic Cambridge. Okay so leg one is done, we're in scenic beautiful Cambridge. Andy, what have you found so far? I've found that I like the car. It's quite smooth to drive, but really you've gotta be So careful in how you're driving this thing. You put your foot down on the accelerator, you'll see the range on the battery drop dramatically. How far is it until the next stop? It's about 70 miles I think. What's the range of the car, roughly? About 80-90. So, pushing it, but we should be okay. [MUSIC] And okay, we were wending our merry way up to a nearby Nissan dealer, our first charging point. The drive was enjoyable, the noise of the electric engine, still a novelty. [SOUND] [MUSIC] Keep going. [NOISE] I'm taking the fuel cap off but there's no fuel. So I've got this thing which looks like a space weapon. [LAUGH] It is working well apparently we'll see We've got 47% at the moment, and Yea, 48 there we go, I'm not leaving until we're at 100. Charging an electric car is slowly filling them up with petrol however, so getting to 100% in this instance gives it a little time to kill. [MUSIC] Because we're doing this in an all electric car, we wanted something with a bit more bite. We found this GTR is their top hand petrol sports car. Be honest would you rather go in a road trip in this? Yeah. The next stop is Grantham, 71 miles away. In theory it's well within the car's range, but when we enter the details into the GPS You might not be able to reach destination Oh well, onwards and upwards. My first time driving an electric car and the eerie silence you're used to because of hybrids. But what I wasn't used to was how smooth the take off and driving away is. It's really, really fun to drive. 17 miles to Grantham and we've currently gone 38 miles of range remaining. It looks like we're doing pretty well Thanks to my ambition. We have made it we're in Gransom Services and so the truth's interesting because the car said we're not going, we don't have enough range to make it from Cambridge to grant them and we've done it with probably about 20 miles to spare.>> Yup.>> That good. we are at another rapid charge point so we've got roughly an hour to kill and kill it we did. [MUSIC] We are well and truly in the countryside now. Look at all this green, we've left the gray and the smoke of London. We've done from Grantham to Bakewell and we've got about 37 miles remaining. Which is more than enough then to get us to on Buckston how far are we right now from the nearest charging point, what is the [UNKNOWN] part of the country like for charging?>>There are basically none in the Pete district.>>So we're hoping that the next one we visit is in working order>>Yes, I'm told on good authority that it is.>>Brilliant efficiently That good authority, is a local bed and breakfast owner in Buxton, who's kindly agreed to let us use their medium grade charge point, after we load up on Bakewell's most famous food. It's all very pleasant, but back on the road, things suddenly get tense. So what's happened to Dandy? Well, we were That the buffrin is held at about 28 miles of range. It's now gone to 12 in only about maybe 3 minutes of driving. Maybe that's just because we've been going uphill so I've had to keep my thoughts On the accelerator, now we're going downhill a bit. It's going to hopefully extend that range a little. C'mon, so close. So close. I don't know where this guy's charging point is. It's there, and there are cars in it. No! No, what do we do? We can't park there, we can't plug in. Except we could, because as the BNB's proprietor helpfully explains, our cable was long enough to perch behind the other guests, and suck down some much needed power. A near miss, but we left the leaf charging again, feeling that at last we'd got the hang of this whole electricity thing. We are technology experts after all. So as it turns out, plugging the car into the outlet isn't the whole story. You actually have to turn the power on, lesson learned. What that does mean is that the hour and a half we just gave it uncharged, it actually hasn't given the car any more range, so what we've done is Pumped it on charge again. Yeah it's only going to get 10-15 minutes charge so we're not going to have the same range we would we had before. So we have got to alter our plans a little bit. This is getting ridiculous we left the BnB with about 21 miles of range. We've come about a mile and that's 16 miles of range because we've had to go uphill quite a lot. Luckily though we're about to go down into what's called [UNKNOWN] Valley, all downhill. Finger crossed. Fingers and toes crossed. Cross everything, Luke. I don't know that AA comes out here, Andy. 18 miles of range! We are racking up the miles now. We're getting it back. Yes, give me more power. So, we definitely made it to the country side in an electric car. Yeah, we have. Whether we make it out. [LAUGH] A much more person in question right now because we've only got 14 miles of range which is going to be just enough to get us to our overnight location that's a push. So we're very close to our next charging point but we've encountered an unusual obstacle. This is one of the benefits of living in the country. You don't so much get traffic jams, you get dairy jams. [SOUND] Cattle proved no obstacle, however, and with a close eye on our regenerative braking, we let the Leaf carry us to our final stop of the day. It's being tense but ultimately successful and as we pull up, we really feel we've cracked the code to rural electrical automobiling, careful driving and a lot of planning. That's it. This is the end. Indeed we're so sure we've got it down, we even recorded an outro for this video thinking there probably won't be much to say on day two. Stay tuned to CNET.com. [MUSIC] We are idiots. [MUSIC] A few hours into day two we're already dancing with danger The 75 mile drive from Buxton to our first stop, a service station in Osworthstry, is pushing our fully charged Leaf to it's limits. As we approach the charge point, the range indicator isn't looking too happy. We're half a mile away from services, we're so close. We don't have anymore power. It's been on zero for probably about a mile. We're flat lining, but we're close. Absolutely nothing Oh, that was close. But there's problem, the service station's sole changing point isn't working. With the screen unresponsive and no power flowing. After prodding ineffectually of a display, we call the support number at the front of the charge point. Thanks for calling the [INAUDIBLE] electric highway. Our offices are currently closed, our open hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. I'm ridiculously low as well. [BLANK_AUDIO] [INAUDIBLE] A fellow [UNKNOWN] driver pulls up behind us, but our combined efforts aren't enough to get the charger rebooted. Which a little Google searching suggests is what we need to do. [MUSIC] It doesn't do anything. [UNKNOWN] Have you encountered this before, ever? I've encountered chargers down. But not charge you, shall we say so far, in the wilderness. Right now, uw, I'm going to have to go and look at my map and try and work out what plan B is. Have you been a happy Leaf owner, generally? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love the car. Absolutely superb driving. Beautiful to drive. [INAUDIBLE] works great. Unfortunately, they went from 24/7 customer service to Monday to Friday, office hours. Right. There was a time you could call them anytime, day or night. [CROSSTALK] [INAUDIBLE] Had you had to do that before? No, I haven't. But I've met people that have.>>Right. Things break down. Things don't work all the time. You know, it happens. Petrol pumps. You go into a petrol stations, petrol pumps are out all the time. But in that situation, there are many, many more. So, I've had to call for a tow. And the annoying thing is they are going to have to come and tow the car It's only towing it just a few miles down the road, into the town center, into where there is a Nissan dealership which has a charger. It's just that we arrived with such a little amount of power left we just can't risk driving it ourselves. Did you get an ETA? Within the hour. [MUSIC] [UNKNOWN] Before cabin fever can truly take hold, it's time to get towed. [SOUND] It's not a great feeling but at least we're moving, even if it's not under our own steam. At the closest charge point in nearby Nissan dealer, we meet another intrepid Leaf owner who's family holiday has been disturbed by charging issues. He probably's gonna be charges but see the problem we have now which is may I stay the night in [INAUDIBLE] I mean would you still recommend to let your cast [UNKNOWN]? Definitely yes. The cast is great but we need more money in the infrastructure to make sure there are more enough charging points to maintain [UNKNOWN]. Do you want the good news or bad news? Good news. [UNKNOWN] [INAUDIBLE] Yeah. This one's out of order too. [NOISE] On the tow truck again, this time headed to a [UNKNOWN] in Shrewsbury where there's a medium strength charger with our names on it. Third time's a charm. [BLANK_AUDIO] Now we're [UNKNOWN] towed, rather to This outlet to charge here. Problem is that none of the cars we have are vallied with this charging service. Apparently this is a different service than the ones we've been using already. We didn't know that and now we can't access the plug. So again, no way of charging the car And the tow truck has gone. Oh my God, it's Pay as you go. This is so exciting. It's pay as you go. I just had to download an app. I put money on the app. It worked. And this. Look. And it's in. Is it charging? Please, please please. Please, please, please. please, please, please The light's blue. Our new car is judging right now. With the car sucking down power, we could get on the road again, but our mission to drive a cross country route in an all electric car could only be called a failure. We would soon make tracks for home, but not before shooting a real [UNKNOWN] and here it is. So Andy, electric cars on long drives in the UK, what's the verdict? Well it doesn't look to good to be honest. We planned our route and charging point down to the mile and we drove extremely economically, yet still because of only one charging point being out of order, we had to rely on a tow truck to get us out of trouble. Now these long drives are possible, it just takes a hell of lot of planning and a certain amount of luck. Yeah I think, maybe surprisingly, this experience hasn't really put us off Electric cars. And we had a really good time driving this one but the support's just not there. I mean this technology has so much potential but it needs that infrastructure to really push it forward. Electric driving definitely is the future it just has a long way to go yet. But do let us know what you think about electric cars and wether you would consider buying one yourself and make sure to stay tuned to CNET. [BLANK_AUDIO] I think we nailed it. Yea. [MUSIC]


    Source: What happens when you attempt a UK road trip in an electric car

    Saturday, August 15, 2015

    Why the Tesla is your new dream car

    There's an electric car in your future.

    Perhaps a fuel cell vehicle, which turns hydrogen and air into electricity, or, more likely in the short term, a hybrid electric vehicle that uses electricity in urban areas and cranks over a conventional engine on the highway.

    Or it could be a pure electric car. A car that has enough range for a week's commuting and is 'refuelled' at your home from a storage system that itself is charged 'off-grid' by solar panels on your roof.

    • Behind the scenes of the next James Bond car chase• Looking for a small car? Here are five of the best

    Tesla, the upstart US automotive start-up, would have it the logical choice is the latter. And it says, with some justification, the future is now.

    The company has made a big noise in a very short period. The brainchild of tech pin-up Elon Musk, it's gone from 'lunatic fringe' dweller to close-to-mainstream car brand in what in automotive terms is a blink of its eye. It jealously guards its production numbers but make no mistake Tesla is selling cars – and much to the chagrin of established auto dealer networks, from its own company-owned stores.

    The Powerwall electricity storage technology that will allow you to solar-power your Tesla will go on sale Down Under within months. But the brand's game-changing Model S large luxury sedan is already on Australian roads. And it's good. Very good!

    Tesla CEO and engineer Elon Musk is a captivating figure.

    Tesla CEO and engineer Elon Musk is a captivating figure.

    Priced from around $115,000, Tesla Model S is a luxury buy that pushes the right buttons in terms of looks, execution and performance.

    Some suggest there's a hint of Aston Martin in styling and although it's actually a five-door, the profile is, indeed, pure premium. There's no chance of it being mistaken for mass market hatch. Indeed, parked among high-end Mercedes-Benz and BMW's it looks at home. I reckon Audi's designers secretly wish had made their brand's conceptual similar flagship A7 look as good.

    The Model S's innovative architecture uses compact electric motors front and rear and loads over 500kg of battery under the floor plan, guaranteeing flexibility in terms of interior packaging. There's genuine room for five and although it show signs of the relative immaturity of the product in terms of interior design, there's no denying its functionality.

    Bizarrely, the car has nothing under the front trunk.

    Bizarrely, the car has nothing under the front trunk.

    Step from an established luxury brand and you will find the cabin a touch Spartan. You may recognise some switches or other components and perhaps even grizzle that there's no secure incidental storage. But no other car in the segment provides a 'frunk'! Instead of an engine under the bonnet there's another boot — FRont trUNK in Tesla parlance.

    No other car has the start-up sequence of the Model S either. The key is almost a metaphor for the car and company itself. There are no markings on it, save for the Tesla logo, but tap it in different places and it'll do different things. As long as you're in the know…

    Pop the key in your pocket and proximity sensors extend the normally flush door handles as you approach the Model S. Once you're seated and touched the brake pedal (there are two like a conventional auto), it's ready to go. No pushing of buttons even. Select D and make your exit.

    And in top-spec versions that departure can be fast… In fact, eye-wateringly, supercar-fast.

    Although some would argue the point, Porsche's 911 Turbo S is generally accepted as the fastest accelerating production car on sale today. The factory claims this purpose built 2+2-seater sports-car will go from standstill to 100km/h in 2.9sec. Tesla says in its most potent P85 D form, the Model S can not only match the Porsche, but now beat it. The margin's just 0.1sec but that's a lifetime in drag races.

    The fastest Holden sedan ever – a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 – takes almost two seconds more!

    A Tesla supercharger station in Sydney.

    A Tesla supercharger station in Sydney.

    Of course, the perceived problem with electric cars is not how fast but how far. Auto experts use the term 'range anxiety' to describe the factor that currently limits acceptance of EV technology.

    Arguably the biggest achievement of the Tesla Model S is that its real world range hits range anxiety for six. In two stints of 'living' with the Model S I've witnessed ranges in excess of 350km and careful drivers might add up to 100km to that number.

    That might not get you from Melbourne to Sydney but therein starts the argument for EV fast-charge infrastructure. Such is the importance of the Aussie marketplace, Tesla says it's buying into the game via the installation of its own SuperCharging stations at strategic highway locations over the next 18 months.

    So that box is ticked. What about this continent's love affair with the softroader?

    Did we tell you Tesla will have an all-electric high-riding seven-seater SUV on sale in Australia in 2016. It'll be an electric dream come true for some.

    SUNDAY-BEST-HOME


    Source: Why the Tesla is your new dream car

    Friday, August 14, 2015

    Some Cars Today Already Meet 2025 Gas-Mileage Standards: Did You Know?

    With a midterm review coming up to look at progress on meeting Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations so far, you can expect some gloom and doom from automakers.

    Still, industry consensus says the second half of the standards, for model years 2018 to 2025, won't change in a major way.

    The overall fleet average for 2025 will likely remain at 54.5 mpg--which means about 40 miles per gallon on window-sticker ratings.

    DON'T MISS: Gas Mileage Rules For 2025 Could Be Lowered If Buyers Stick With SUVs

    Ten years ago, most makers thought they would have to add high percentages of hybrids to their fleets to hit those numbers. But the industry has made huge progress since then in improving efficiency without electrifying powertrains.

    Multi-speed automatic and continuously variable transmissions, direct injection, turbocharging, start-stop systems, weight reduction, reduced aerodynamic drag, and a host of other incremental technologies have steadily boosted EPA ratings.

    Hybrids, meanwhile, have stayed at 3 to 4 percent of the  U.S. market--less, lately, as the market share of SUVs and crossover utility vehicles has steadily risen while gas prices remain low.

    National Research Council infographic: 2015 cars vs CAFE rules by MPG and vehicle footprint

    National Research Council infographic: 2015 cars vs CAFE rules by MPG and vehicle footprint

    Enlarge Photo

    And yet, as a recent study by the National Research Council points out, a number of cars sold this year already meet or exceed the toughest standards for 2025.

    One particular graphic stands out in its report, Cost, Effectiveness and Deployment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Light-Duty Vehicles [via a post on the Navigant Research blog].

    Shown just above, it's a nice depiction of how the CAFE standards for 2014, 2017, 2021, and 2025 are staggered--showing the lower efficiency numbers required for vehicles with larger footprints.

    ALSO SEE: Hybrids, Electrics Not Needed To Reach 54.5 MPG In 2025: Industry Exec (Jan 2014)

    European makers complain that staggering the rules that way is a huge concession to the three domestic makers, all of which sell enormous numbers of full-size pickup trucks, SUVs, and (in Fiat Chrysler's case) minivans.

    U.S. automakers and their advocates respond that those rules simply take into account the realities of the North American market as it's been for decades.

    A footnote on the graphic notes that the Miles Per Gallon scale measures "EPA certification fuel economy" that is higher than advertised fuel economy.

    That's due to numerous "adjustment factors" applied by the EPA to keep the numbers automakers use in vehicle ads roughly consistent with the real-world results obtained by actual drivers--which is how the 54.5 mpg law becomes about 40 mpg on window stickers.

    But the graphic also shows a scattering of dots that represent vehicles on the market today. Notice anything?

    Indeed, nine of those dots sit above the 2025 line--and a dozen more sit above the 2021 level.

    Which is simply to point out that with steady, incremental improvement, achieving those higher fuel-efficiency goals isn't as impossible as naysayers might have you think.

    Sure, today most of those cars are smaller vehicles: the Mitsubishi Mirage and various Toyota Prius models, for example, all of them five-door vehicles ranging from a minicar (the Mirage) to compact or mid-size at best (various Priuses).

    But they're also 10 years ahead of their time in fuel economy. And the Mirage isn't a hybrid; it's a small, light, relatively slow, and very efficient conventional gasoline car with a CVT.

    The question of plug-in cars--their prevalence, how they contribute to boosting CAFE numbers, and whether they will actually have a market--is an entirely different one.

    Many electric-car advocates strongly believe that when 200-mile electric cars hit the market at prices under $40,000 and ubiquitous DC fast-charging is available, those two advances will create a tipping point.

    We'll know more about whether that's true within five years.

    Tesla Supercharger site in Newburgh, New York, up and running - June 2015

    Tesla Supercharger site in Newburgh, New York, up and running - June 2015

    Enlarge Photo

    Meanwhile, gasoline alone still fuels more than 95 percent of new vehicles sold in North America today.

    And on that front, we seem to be on the right path.

    Who knew?

    _________________________________________________

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    Source: Some Cars Today Already Meet 2025 Gas-Mileage Standards: Did You Know?

    Thursday, August 13, 2015

    Smart Highways That Can Charge Your Electric Car Are Coming To The U.K.

    If you've got an electric car in the United States, the distance between charging stations could make a long road trip fraught with anxiety. But what if the highway you're riding on recharged your car as your drove it, no stops required?

    The U.K., through a group called Highways England, is about to begin trials on electric highways which will see inductive charging equipment fitted underneath roads. When electric cars drive on them, their batteries would be juiced up as they drove by wireless technology running under the asphalt.

    Transport Minister Andrew Jones says the U.K. government is committing around $780 million over the next five years to develop rechargeable low-emission vehicles, aiming to "keep Britain at the forefront of this technology." As part of this overall initiative, the off-road trials will start later this year, and last for 18 months, while the government figures out the cost and feasibility of bringing it to the nation's highways.

    So it'll be a while before Brits can drive their Teslas indefinitely down the M25 without stopping for "gas." But the U.K. is not the first country to look into smart highways. A similar project in the Netherlands imagined a Smart Highway that could charge electric cars as they drove. This is clearly a path more than one country is considering pursuing.

    //NETHERLANDS SMART HIGHWAY PROJECTStudio Roosegaarde

    From a civic standpoint, it makes sense. Not only are electric vehicles more environmentally friendly than traditional combustion engines, but they cost less money over time to actually keep on the road. An electric highway would presumably come with some sort of toll, allowing cars to slurp up the government's electricity as they drove; this, in turn, would help the government bring in more revenues. The toll booth of the future might not be all that different from pulling into a gas station today.

    The U.K.'s flirtation with electric highways is part of a $17 billion, five year plan undertaken to transform England's existing "brutal, crass, and ugly" ecosystem into something "beautiful and award-winning," according to transport minister John Hayes. "We want roads to be based upon principles of good design, he said. "From maintaining the right proportions in construction to use of street lighting, signage and other roads 'furniture' and from delivering better air quality and biodiversity."

    Wouldn't it be nice if America, which has been letting its own infrastructure crumble for decades, tried something similar?

    [via Designweek]


    Source: Smart Highways That Can Charge Your Electric Car Are Coming To The U.K.

    Wednesday, August 12, 2015

    Luxury car maker Fisker to build cars in Southern California

    Fisker Automotive is back in business.

    The luxury car company will establish Southern California's first new car manufacturing plant in more than two decades in the city of Moreno Valley, where it will begin building its plug-in electric hybrid automobiles.

    The admired but embattled Fisker, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013 and was purchased by Chinese auto parts giant Wanxiang Group a year later, has signed a long-term, $30-million lease for a 555,670 square-foot facility in the Riverside County city.

    See the most-read stories this hour >>

    Wanxiang Group also owns A123, the company that builds the lithium ion batteries that power the Fisker. The company is reportedly seeking to begin sales as soon as next year.

    The assembly plant will be Southern California's first since General Motors closed a Van Nuys facility in 1992, and the state's second electric c ar manufacturing factory – joining entrepreneur Elon Musk's Tesla Motors plant in the Bay Area city of Fremont.

    It also marks a second Chinese foothold in the Southern California alternative-vehicle market. Chinese automaker BYD employs 160 workers at a plant in Lancaster that builds electric buses, some for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

    The electric-car company was co-founded by Henrik Fisker, a graduate of Pasadena's Art Center College of Design who won admirers for his elegant Aston Martin and BMW designs. Its Karma plug-in electric hybrids captured the imagination of the automotive press, and despite their $100,000 price tag were brisk sellers - until battery glitches resulted in a product recall that bankrupted the battery manufacturer, damaged the brand's reputation and brought production to a halt.

    Fewer than 2,500 of the cars were sold before production ceased in 2012, and before the company could begin selling a pr omised mass-market, affordable electric vehicle. Fisker himself resigned from his executive chairman position at the company amid its financial struggles in 2013.

    NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our free weekly business news briefing>>

    It was not immediately clear what involvement Fisker would have, if any, at the new facility.

    The company has agreed to rent a new 556,000-square-foot industrial building at 17100 Perris Blvd., according to real estate broker Ian DeVries of Colliers International, who represented landlord First Industrial Realty Trust in the deal. The structure is attractive for operating an assembly line, he said, because it is slim and 1,600 feet long.

    Terms of the lease were not disclosed, but real estate experts familiar with the Inland Empire valued the transaction at nearly $30 million over the next decade or so.  

    The neighborhood is home to fulfillment centers for large retailers including Amazon, Procter & Gamble and Walgreens, DeVries said, but not many products are actually being built there.

    "This is one of the first manufacturing deals there of any significance," said DeVries, who noted the company is trying to open the factory as soon as possible.

    Jobs at the plant will bring a welcome addition to the Inland Empire, where the 46% of residents are not educated beyond high school, economist John Husing said.

    "You need jobs that can allow people to migrate up to the middle class," Husing said.

    Wanxiang, said to be China's largest auto parts company, paid a reported $149 million to take over the bankrupt Fisker and $257 million for A123, which also made batteries for BMW's hybrid 3- and 5-Series cars and the Chevrolet Spark.

    Formerly seen as a possible rival to Northern California's Tesla, Fisker Automotive re-enters a matured electric ve hicle market. The once-struggling Tesla now produces 50,000 of its Model S electric luxury cars annually, and continues to promise delivery of a mass-market electric sedan within two years.

    Still, while many other car companies have fielded many variations of battery-electric and electric-hybrid automobiles, the alternative-fuel vehicle market has struggled to gain momentum.

    "The alternative fuel segment is the only part of the auto market that isn't growing," said Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer. "But Tesla is still growing. The market for high-end, stylish electric vehicles still shows signs of life."

    In making the announcement, the city of Moreno Valley said it expected Fisker to create 150 new jobs to work in the new facility, which in addition to manufacturing automobiles would also feature a showroom and guided tours.

    "This is a landmark for our city," Moreno Valley Mayor Jesse Molina said in a statement that lauded the compa ny's promise to hire locally from the area's "highly qualified workforce."

    Fisker representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

    FROM THE ARCHIVES:

    DiCaprio, Bieber caught up in Fisker Karma hybrid recall

    Management fight pushes Henrik Fisker from car company he founded

    Plug-in hybrid maker Fisker Automotive gets $529 million from Obama administration

    Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times
    Source: Luxury car maker Fisker to build cars in Southern California

    Tuesday, August 11, 2015

    Car Tech 101: Electric turbos are coming:

    Renaultsport Clio 220 Trophy is fast, furious, French

    8:05 August 10, 2015

    Is Renault's latest hot hatch the king of the hill? Renault used to make the best small hot hatches out there, can the new Clio retain...

    Play video


    Source: Car Tech 101: Electric turbos are coming:

    Monday, August 10, 2015

    Tesla burns cash, loses more than $4,000 on every car sold

    By Joseph White and Paul Lienert

    DETROIT (Reuters) - It's crunch time for Tesla Motors.

    The Silicon Valley automaker is losing more than $4,000 on every Model S electric sedan it sells, using its reckoning of operating losses, and it burned $359 million in cash last quarter in a bull market for luxury vehicles. The company on Wednesday cut its production targets for this year and next. Chief Executive Elon Musk said he's considering options to raise more capital, and didn't rule out selling more stock.

    Musk has taken investors on a thrill ride since taking Tesla public in 2010. Now he's given himself a deadline, promising that by the first quarter of 2016 Tesla will be making enough money to fund a jump from making one expensive, low volume car to mass producing multiple models, and expanding a venture to manufacture electric power storage systems.

    Tesla's shares fell almost 9 percent on Thursday and slipped another 2 percent on Friday as investors and analysts weighed the risks of Musk's ambitious plans for expanding Tesla's auto and energy storage businesses. Tesla had just $1.15 billion on hand as of June 30, down from $2.67 billion a year earlier.  

    Automakers consume cash to pay for assembly line equipment, including metal dies and plastic molds, as well as testing to meet safety and emissions standards. A typical new car can cost $1 billion or more to engineer and bring to market. 

    Established automakers such as General Motors Co (NYSE:) and Ford Motor (NYSE:) Co have amassed far larger cash cushions as they've rebuilt balance sheets battered by the 2008-2009 recession. GM, restructured six years ago in a government funded bankruptcy, has targeted cash reserves of $20 billion and had more than $28 billion in cash equivalents as of June 30. 

    To be sure, GM sells more than 9 million vehicles a year, while Tesla plans to build between 50,000 and 55,000 cars this year. Tesla, most of whose cars are built to order directly, delivered 11,532 cars in the second period and said it had an operating loss of about $47 million, for an operating loss per car of about $4,000.

    Tesla's narrower margin for error is just one more way in which it is different from its century old rivals.

    The company said it plans $1.5 billion in capital spending this year, mainly to launch its Model X, battery powered sport utility vehicle with eye-catching, vertical-opening "falcon wing" doors. Tesla reported $831 million in capital spending during the first half of the year, indicating it will spend roughly another $700 million. 

    During the second quarter, Tesla said operating costs and research and development spending rose, while average selling prices for the Model S lineup, which starts at $70,000 before federal and state electric vehicle tax breaks, fell 1 percent as the mix of sales shifted to less expensive models and a strong dollar hit revenue generated overseas. The Model S comes in several different versions, ranging in price up to $106,000 or more, depending on options.

    CAPITAL SPENDING

    Tesla has signaled capital spending will drop next year because the company won't be spending on a major vehicle launch. In 2017, Tesla plans to launch its Model 3 line, which the company says will start at about $35,000 and push total sales toward the goal of 500,000 vehicles a year by 2020.

    Barclays (LONDON:) analyst Brian Johnson disagreed with the company's estimates, and said he expects Tesla's capital spending will go up in 2016 and 2017 as the company ramps up its battery factory and Model 3 development. "Their small scale means the cash generation is not as great as they might have hoped for," he said.

    Musk said this week Tesla expects to have $1 billion in cash over the next year, and told analysts "there may be some value" in raising capital "as a risk reduction measure."

    Tesla's stock is still about 70 percent higher than it was two years ago, and 8 percent ahead of its level on Jan 1. With a market capitalization of $31 billion, Tesla is worth more than Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:) NV, the much larger maker of Ram pickups and Jeep Grand Cherokees.

    "A capital raise, given the way they're burning cash today, given the fact that they have future investment needs, seems very likely at some point," said UBS Securities analyst Colin Langan, who has a sell rating on the stock.

    Musk has steered Tesla out of tight corners before. In September 2012, the company faced a cash crunch, but raised money by selling shares and renegotiating the terms of a federal loan. The Model S started production in miod-2012.

    Tesla has made moves to expand sales volume, and lure people to pay more for its vehicles. In addition to adding a lower priced version of the Model S, Tesla last month said it would offer performance upgrades for its Model S 85 and 85D for $5,000 and launched the Model S 90D and P90D high performance cars at a $10,000 price premium. 

    Tesla reports its finances in a different way from the Detroit automakers. Using the generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, used by GM or Ford, Tesla's operating losses per vehicle have steadily widened to $14,758 from $3,794 in the second quarter of 2014.

    But Tesla points out in its statements to investors that its GAAP accounting excludes certain revenue and profits from Model S sedans that customers lease. In the second quarter, the deferred gross profits from Model S leases amounted to $61.9 million, Tesla said. Analysts say they add back the deferred revenue to make Tesla's figures more comparable to the reporting used by other automakers.


    Source: Tesla burns cash, loses more than $4,000 on every car sold

    Sunday, August 9, 2015

    Meet WalkCar, the $800 pocket size electric vehicle from Cocoa Motors

    Earlier we've witnessed Segways, then we were introduced to those super-fast electric skateboards, followed by self-balancing hover boards. Now, a Japanese engineer Kuniako Saito and his team at Cocoa Motors have introduced of what is deemed to be the world's smallest electric vehicle. Dubbed as the 'Walkcar', the automobile is about the size of your average laptop and looks more like a small skateboard as opposed to a traditional car. Saito says, "it's the world's first 'car in a bag' featuring an aluminum body weighing a mere two-three kilograms (4.4lbs to 6.6lbs), depending upon the variant."

    The Walkcar gets both indoor and an outdoor version, with the latter being slightly heavier as it is better equipped to handle outdoor conditions. Despite the small size of the aluminum board, Saito adds that it's more robust than what it appears and can handle loads of up to 120kgs (256 lbs).

    The tiny vehicle is easy to operate as well. To start using the car, all one needs to do is to simply stand on the aluminum board to get it started, get off the aluminum board, and the vehicle automatically shuts down. While to change direction, the user just needs to shift their bodyweight in the desired direction.

    And the best part, it saves commuters from the hassles of find a parking space as it easily fits into a backpack or a knapsack while not in use. Saito seems pretty confident that his Walkcar offers much more utility compared to the bulky devices like Toyota's Winglet or Segway.

    Saito and his team expects that the Walkcar can be put to several uses as a means to commute, adding that the slender vehicle has enough power to push electric wheelchairs with ease. It can reach top speeds of up to 10 kmph (6.2mph), and can travel up to 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) after three hours of charge.

    The Walkcar from Tokyo based Cocoa Motors will go up for pre-order starting in October as a part of a Kickstarter funding campaign, though its regional availability is not yet confirmed. The Walkcar will start shipping next spring and is priced at approximately $800.

    This 21-century magic carpet of sorts seems quite promising as it offers a new hassle free way to commute, giving portability as well as mobility without those woes of limited parking space.


    Source: Meet WalkCar, the $800 pocket size electric vehicle from Cocoa Motors