Tesla: Insane

GreenProphet.com: Tesla CEO and Founder Elon Musk is shocking his fan base with a special feature more likely to appeal to drag racers and Middle East “drifting” aficionados than the usual suspects attracted to his stylish and environmentally excellent electric cars. Press the “Insane Button” and his all-wheel-drive Model S P85D rockets from 0-60 miles per hour (mph) in just over 3 seconds. It’s the world’s fastest electric car, now with roller-coaster thrills built-in.Consider that the average sports cars can launch from 0 to 60 mph in just under 6 seconds by applying the full horsepower of the sedan’s twin motors (691 horsepower). A few Formula One race cars can match that in 1.6 seconds, but this electric car is faster than a Porsche Panamera Turbo or a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640.

Tesla insists the feature is safe. Check out this video from YouTube channel DragTimes and judge for yourself. Passenger profanity reaction suggests the car is speeding wildly, but the driver appears in complete control.

The all-electric vehicle can also park itself, and has a new braking system that Musk claims is among the most advanced in the world. It includes a “lane changer” feature that guides your car across lanes only when sensors show that the coast is clear, cued by your pressing the turn indicator. The car can also read road signs.

Its $120,000 price tag is also insane, but the company plans to introduce more affordable versions in 2017 priced around $40,000.



Silicon Valley-based Tesla Motors Inc. designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles (EVs) and electric vehicle powertrain components. It is the only automaker building and selling highway-capable EVs in serial production (as opposed to prototype or evaluation fleet production) in North America or Europe.

The chat on car-site message boards questions whether the feature will ratchet insurance rates up as profiling of Tesla drivers moves from well-heeled tree-huggers to daredevil speedsters. Green Prophet says if Insane Mode lures more customers from gas-guzzling luxury cars, more power to Tesla and the EV industry.

Tesla Model S battery degradation data

Tesla Motors gives an 8 year infinite miles battery guarantee. However, it is still relevant for every Tesla driver to know what to expect of the degradation of the capacity over time, because it is equivalent to the range of your car. In the Netherlands, Merijn Coumans is updating on a regular basis, via the Dutch-Belgium Tesla Forum,  a file of owners’ data. The most recent version of the results is displayed below.

In the figure the percentage of range loss is shown on the vertical axis, so that 85 kWh (orange) and 60 kWh (blue) types can be compared. The horizontal axis displays the distance driven with the vehicles.

The way to measure is to do a range (full) charge (100%) and then check the typical (in the US this is called rated) or rated (in the US this is called ideal – EPA) range. In the plot, these numbers are compared to the 0 km range data – for a 85kWh Model S this is about 400 km typical or 500 km rated (EPA). Although there is uncertainty because of the range estimation, as well as because of the state of the battery (balanced or not), the rated (US: ideal) measure is seen as the most reliable, especially if before the range charge the battery was almost empty.

From the figure it is clear that the degradation slows down with more driven km. After say 80.000 km (50.000 miles), the overall range degradation is seen to be approximately 6%, with a rate of appr 1%/50.000 km (1%/30.000 miles) from that point onwards. 

The data collected by Merijn, also include how many Supercharger visits were done, among other details. See the forum for more information, or if you want to upload your data. An interactive version of the picture and data can be found here.

Toyota Doesn't Like What Tesla CEO Elon Musk Is Saying About Fuel-Cell Cars

BusinessInsider.com: Toyota's public attack on electric cars shows no signs of letting up.

Its first sallies were two ads from its Lexus luxury brand slamming electric cars for range anxiety.

Now, a Toyota executive has all but sneered at Tesla Motors for putting "all its eggs in one basket" by making only battery-electric cars.

Toyota's senior vice president for U.S. operations, Bob Carter, apparently made the comments ad hoc during a presentation last week at the J.D. Power Automotive Summit in San Francisco.

The comments were reported by industry trade journal Ward's Auto.

The criticism of Tesla Motors does not appear in the published version of Carter's speech released to the media.

The long-tenured Toyota executive covered a wide array of topics during his talk. He noted that the struggling Scion youth brand was about to receive new products, and that Toyota intended to sell more SUVs and trucks to cash in on growing market demand.

But when the topic turned to the 2016 Toyota Mirai, Carter said that Toyota's first production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle had so far received 1,600 orders in Japan during the first month it could be ordered..

That's four times the projection Toyota had made, although it's worth noting that more than half of those orders were from government agencies and fleets, not retail buyers.

In the U.S., meanwhile, Toyota has now logged 16,000 "hand-raisers," or consumers who have signed up to learn more about the Mirai - which will go on sale during the second half of this year

With regard to electric-car maker Tesla, however, Carter said he had been "disappointed" in comments by CEO Elon Musk that hydrogen-powered cars should be called "fool-cell vehicles."

Perhaps stung by the attention paid to every pronouncement and tweet made by the high-visibility Musk, Carter attributed the comments to what might be viewed as insecurity on Tesla's part about the future of plug-in electric vehicles.

“If I had all my eggs in one basket," Ward's reports him saying, "I might be making the same comments.”

In his published remarks, which did not contain the Tesla criticism, Carter also said of the fuel-cell car: "In reality, Mirai IS an electric vehicle. But the electricity is produced onboard… versus off the grid."

And, he added, " In other words… the Toyota Fuel Cell System in the new Mirai… is simply… a better battery."

Toyota remains one of the most profitable global automakers.

Meanwhile, Musk recently said during a Q&A following the Detroit Auto Show that Tesla might not be profitable until 2020 when assessing its performance using conventional Globally Accepted Accounting Standards, or GAAP.

Tesla has reported profits by using a variation of those standards, a subject of much debate among stock analysts and electric-car advocates.

$100B Market by 2025 for Hybrid and Pure Electric Buses

Buses are boring right? Not any more. Faced with 200,000 people dying of air pollution yearly and rocketing oil imports, China will make 10 million school buses and 1.6 million large buses electric. The resulting ultra-low cost base will let its bus makers flood the world. Nonetheless, the emerging global market for hybrid and pure electric buses at over $100 billion yearly in 2025 will have much variety and opportunities for everyone.

The new report, Electric Buses 2015-2025 from analysts IDTechEx makes it clear that, at over 20% of the total future hybrid and pure electric vehicle value market, the bus forecasts must be taken seriously by those seeking leadership in the market overall not just the rest of us that travel on the things.

BMW blog: EVs will be the norm

BMWblog.com: Change is always scary. New technologies that change the way we live will always make the masses nervous. It’s understandable, really. We get very used to the way things are, and as soon as we get comfortable, things change again. It happened with COMPUTERS first, then with the internet and now it seems to be happening with electric vehicles.

There’s no doubt that people seem to view the electric car as a bit of a gimmick, much like the Internet at first. They disregard the electric vehicle as a regular form of transportation, simply because they cannot grasp the full picture. Sure, right now it may not be the absolute best way of getting around, but the day is coming when EVs will be the norm.



In 1994, Brian Gumbel and Katie Couric seemed flabbergasted, on The Today Show, by the notion of the Internet. 21 years later and people wouldn’t know what to do without it.

If the entirety of the Internet were to fail, worldwide, there would be wide spread pandemonium as the world suddenly crashed. Yet, people seem to forget that just a few presidents ago it was just a gimmick in most people’s minds. So, why the constant fear of electric propulsion? Well BMW put Gumbel and Couric in an i3 and had them reenact their confusion, this time for the i3, for BMWs upcoming Super Bowl commercial. This will also be the first BMW Super Bowl commercial in four years. Their confusion is acted out obviously, but the sentiment is real in most people.



When I had an i3 on test for a few days, it was met with “Ooohs” and “Aahhs” at the looks and the interior. It was when I told them that it was fully electric when they ceased and their noses wrinkled. I might as well have told them it ran on pureed baby seal. “Electric? But how far can you really go?” they would ask. Understandable question, no doubt. But when I told them that the range was around 80 miles, they looked at me as if horns were growing out of my forehead.



Not one person I spoke to about the i3 has a daily commute of anywhere near 80 miles, yet they scoffed at the number. At the time, my daily commute was 100 miles and I made it work for the time I had it. Yet the i3 was met with disdain, simply because it couldn’t make a cross-country road trip as easily as their Ford Explorer. I was as flabbergasted at the negativity as they were at the range. I literally drove 100 miles in one day without burning a single drop of fuel, while doing perfectly average highway speeds in perfect comfort and near silence, all while listening to a crystal clear radio and people would still say “well what if you had to go even further?” It seems that with new technology, most people can only see the flaws, the WARTS.

Not everyone is afraid, though. There are many early adopters who see the i3 as a breath of fresh air amidst the sea of tepid, murkiness that is most of the auto industry. The i3 seems to have a small cult following who enjoy its EV quirkiness. And I can entirely understand their excitement. After just three days with the i3, I was smitten with its spunky, charms. There are a few Americans who SHARE that same feeling, however, it seems it may take a while longer before the masses become as smitten as those select few.



A shame, really, as the i3 is a technological masterpiece and a damn good car. Hopefully it doesn’t take 21 more years for people to get behind the idea of an i3, or any EV for that matter.

Europe: 2014 EV sales analysis

Autoevolution.com: The Renault-Nissan alliance clearly dominated sales of electric cars in Europe last year, as both the Leaf and the new French-made Zoe increased sales, despite the fact that fuel prices are hitting record lows.

Europeans purchased about 56,000 pure electric cars during 2014 and over a quarter of those were Nissan Leafs. The Japanese brand now assembles its EV in Britain, on the same line as the Juke, so prices have fallen and supply is abundant. As a result, 14,658 customers placed an order, which is a massive 26% slice of the market.

In Britain alone, 4,051 Leafs were sold last year, more than double the number achieved in 2013 (1,812). The British-built Nissan LEAF remains the nation's electric model of choice, boasting 55% of the pure EV market.

Nissan Europe senior vice president of sales and marketing, Guillaume Cartier explains the increase in sales, commenting: “We can now see the impact that word of mouth is having on our sales, with 95 percent of our customers happy to recommend their car to a friend and 50 percent saying they would never go back to diesel or petrol. This kind of powerful advocacy, combined with an increasing awareness of the massive running cost savings electric car drivers experience, is why our Nissan LEAF sales continue to grow.”

The Renault Zoe was the second best selling EV in Europe with 11,227 vehicles. This represents a 20% share of the market. The Tesla Model S came in third with 8,734 units sold. When you factor in the price of the car, which is comparable to the Audi A6, the result is surprisingly positive.

BMW's brand new i3 came in fourth with 5,804 sales, which is a 10% share of the market. But the i3 was only available towards the end of 2014 and availability is restricted by the complexity of the model, so actually the Bavarians have a winner as well. Volkswagen ended the top selling EV list, taking both the number 5 and 6 sports.

The e-Up! city car registered 5,363 sales, almost matching the i3. The new e-Golf only managed 3,328 units, which is perhaps explained by the €34,900 price tag and late launch date during autumn.

New study on barriers to EV adoption

CleanTechnica.com: A new study investigating the barriers preventing people from buying electric vehicles has identified two separate issues that hold people back — range anxiety and resale anxiety.

I don’t normally cover electric vehicle news. However, every now and again a report like this comes along which catches my attention.

The study, published in the “Articles in Advance” section of Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (M&SOM), found that a legitimate business model plays a critical role in the electric vehicle industry. Additionally, owning or leasing electric batteries in combination with improved charging technology can go a long way to reassuring people and increasing the rate of electric vehicle adoption.

The authors of the report — Michael K. Lim of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ho-Yin Mak of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Ying Rong of Shanghai Jiao Tong University — identified two specific psychological barriers that prevent people from purchasing electric vehicles:
range anxiety — the concern that an electric vehicle’s driving range will not be enough for the needs of the driver (however, at least one writer has intelligently noted that “range anxiety anxiety” seems to be the real issue)
resale anxiety — the concern that the price of used electric vehicles will drop in the future, making resale a difficult option

Subsequently, two models in contrast to the current American business model for electric vehicles were proposed that the authors believe would allay many consumer fears.

The report was based upon a two-stage game-theoretic modelling framework — the first stage of which examined the early phase of electric vehicle availability, and the second stage investigated the maturity phase, in which both new and used electric vehicles are available on the market.

The authors then calibrated the model specifically to the San Francisco Bay area — the area’s freeway network, auto market figures, and industry reports — which allowed them to develop several business options. Two models were particularly promising (from the press release):

1. The first model represents the case in which battery enhanced charging service is made available through additional support infrastructure. This includes, for example, Tesla’s supercharger stations and other quick charging stations that are being introduced in the US by firms such as Chargepoint and NRG eVgo

2. In the second model, consumers lease the batteries and are also offered enhanced battery charging services. One example is a business model that offers enhanced charging in the form of battery swapping coupled with the battery leasing service. In a second example, Renault is selling its ZOE in Europe with battery leasing and the support of quick charging infrastructure.

The key findings from the report were also made available:
Despite the qualitative similarity between the two anxieties, their impacts on electric vehicle adoption can be quite different. While range anxiety typically hurts adoption, resale anxiety can actually help adoption (depending on the EV production cost level).
Further, interestingly, anxieties do not necessarily harm consumers; in fact, they typically benefit consumers since the presence of anxieties forces the firm to cut vehicle prices and invest more in public charging infrastructure.
The battery leasing service improves the firm’s profit at the expense of total adoption and consumer surplus, when not offered with the public charging option.
Most importantly, increasing the driving range of electric vehicle through public charging infrastructure typically yields more socially desirable adoption outcomes (greater adoption and emission savings) than increasing the battery capacity.

VW accelerating investment in EVs

Trefis.com: Volkswagen crossed record sales of 10 million units in 2014, narrowing its gap with the global sales leader Toyota, and extending its lead over the third-placed General Motors, in terms of volumes. 

The German automaker makes large investments in new technologies, construction of manufacturing facilities, and assembly lines, in order to increase supply closer to the end customer and ensure strong volume growth. Volkswagen incurred $11.13 billion in research and development costs through the first three quarters, 14% more than its 2013 levels. 

The group has accelerated investment in cleaner and low emission technologies, in a bid to launch more environmentally viable cars in the future. In China, Volkswagen’s single largest market, the company is looking to launch over twenty electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles over the next few years, ranging from small-sized cars to large SUVs. The luxury vehicle division, Audi, which forms a fifth of the automaker’s valuation by our estimates, plans to step-up investment by 2 billion euros ($2.44 billion) to a record 24 billion euros over the next five years, of which approximately 70% will be in new cleaner technologies such as plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Volkswagen, which boasts a diverse portfolio of brands, including passenger vehicle divisions Skoda, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, commercial vehicle brands Scania and MAN, and its own branded cars and trucks, has lost out to the likes of GM, Ford, Nissan, BMW, and Tesla in the fast growing electric vehicle (EV) segment. 

By accelerating investments, the German car company hopes to gain momentum in the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) space, which is estimated to grow at a CAGR of almost 25% through 2023, outpacing the expected 2.6% annual growth for the overall light-duty vehicle market. Apart from China, which is the most important market for Volkswagen volume-wise, the automaker’s push for PEV growth is evident in the U.S., the world’s largest PEV market, and which grew by 22.8% last year to almost 120,000 units.

Volkswagen Teams Up With BMW

Demand for electrically powered vehicles is rapidly rising around the world mainly due to a relatively less harmful impact on the environment, rising concerns over global warming, and lower running costs, as compared to gasoline-powered engines. 

In addition, governments around the world provide various incentives to boost electric vehicle sales. Moreover, electric vehicles also have lower battery prices, adding to their appeal. However, the absence of a well established battery-charging infrastructure and weak efforts to expedite building of charging networks has hurt EV sales, dissuading customers from buying such vehicles, especially the ones with a low electric range. The Volkswagen e-Golf, an all-electric car launched in the U.S. at the tail-end of October, has only around 70-90 miles of electric range. In contrast, the Tesla Model S can go 265-300 miles on a single charge.

In a bid to compete better with the likes of Tesla, Volkswagen is now teaming up with BMW to build 100 direct current (DC) fast charging ports across the U.S. this year. The two companies are working with ChargePoint, a startup that already operates a network of card-operated chargers. 

The new charging stations will add to ChargePoint’s present network of 20,000 stations in North America. Tesla is also in the middle of expanding its Supercharger network across the continent, but the stations only support a Tesla model. On the other hand, the new charging stations being built by the German automakers will support any vehicles with DC fast charging capabilities and those that use the SAE Combo connector, which is used in both Volkswagen and BMW EVs, among others. The new Volkswagen-BMW collaboration will augment battery-charging facilities in the U.S., and as the new stations won’t be placed more than 50 miles apart, concerns regarding low electric ranges of EVs will also be addressed.

Volkswagen isn’t a big player in the PEV space in the U.S. as of now, but the company could extend its partnership with BMW, and maybe other electric vehicle manufacturers, to add more charging stations in the country in the future. EV sales as a whole could rise at a fast pace if big-time automakers decide to collaborate and build infrastructure that supports these vehicles, as opposed to each individual company building its own exclusive charging stations.

New Technology Could Shake-Up The EV Market

Apart from building more charging stations in the U.S., Volkswagen is also investing in a completely new technology that could potentially shake-up the PEV market. Last month, Volkswagen Group of America bought a 5% stake in QuantumScape Corporation, a battery start-up, aiming to develop a new energy-storage technology that could more than triple the range of an electric car. QuantumScape is working on solid-state batteries as a substitute for the lithium-ion technology, which is used in many electric vehicles today. By doing so, the company believes the range of an electric car could be extended to nearly 430 miles (more than the electric range for Tesla). Another advantage of the solid-state batteries is that these are burn resistant, boosting the safety aspects of electric vehicles using such battery packs.

The new battery technology is only in the initial testing stage as of now, and the tests to show if the system is viable for cars are expected to be completed not before the end of 2015. 

But Volkswagen’s aim is clear — to solve the low-electric-range problem by building a closely-packed network of battery-charging stations and/or developing new technology to improve ranges on its vehicles, thereby boosting the company’s prospects in the electric vehicle market.

Bolt vs Tesla? Not really.

Forbes.com: General Motors this week unveiled the Chevrolet Bolt, a 200 mile-range electric vehicle that will reportedly go on sale sometime in 2017. The business press was quick to call the car a challenge to Tesla Motors’ Gen III electric vehicle, another high-range EV expected to go on the market also in 2017. Most electric vehicles currently available on the market, like Nissan’s Leaf and Fiat’s 500e, are low-range (around 70 miles) and sell at a price of a few thousand less than what the Chevy Bolt was unveiled for at the Detroit Auto Show by General Motors. It is clearly a concept car but it is also production ready. Its specifications are broad enough to meet the needs of a wide range of consumers. It comes with a hatchback making it spacier, a 10-inch diagonal screen, self-driving technology, and is fast charging. Usually, the looks of concept cars are worked upon and changed before they are released into the market but in the case of the Bolt, it seems like the car is following in the footsteps of BMW’s i3.

Before the release of the Chevrolet Bolt, however, the company will release its 2016 version of Chevrolet Volt into the market next year. The vehicle is said to have a range of around 50 miles and a hybrid mileage of around 41 miles per gallon (mpg). General Motors hasn’t done too well with its electric vehicles in the past. It targeted annual sales of 40,000 for the Volt when it was first launched. Sales peaked at 23,000 in 2012 and fell to 19,000 in 2013. However, customers are believed to be quite loyal to the brand and there is a cult following around the car the same way there is for Toyota’s Prius. The Chevy Volt is priced in the low-mid 30 thousands, which makes it slightly pricier than Toyota’s Prius, which is priced in the high 20′s. Sales of the Toyota Prius have stayed around the 140 thousand per year mark (except 2014 where sales may have fallen because of an anticipated model refresh). This means that Prius has added to the sales volumes for the company alongside the Toyota Camry. In contrast, GM’s electric vehicle hasn’t done nearly as well as its comparable car to the Camry, the Chevrolet Malibu.

Does Tesla Have To Fear A Bolt From The Blue?

A widely misunderstood thing about Tesla is the markets it deals in. Every time an established automotive company announces the launch of an electric vehicle, the business press is quick to announce it as a threat to Tesla Motors. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of two key aspects of Tesla’s business model. Firstly, Tesla is the only company selling production volumes of a high-end, high-range, electric vehicle. Every other car company merely experiments with its EVs. The reason behind this is simple: almost all car companies get their cash profits from their high-end ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) cars. If they started releasing production volumes of cars about which customers are still circumspect, they could end up cannibalizing the sales of their high-end ICE cars, and possibly jeopardizing their market position by ruining their reputation and losing a lot of money in the process. So far, car companies have erred on the side of safety and let Tesla lead the push for enlarging the share of alternative vehicles in the overall car market. Secondly, Tesla’s competition is not other EVs (at least not yet), but high-end ICE cars. So when Tesla releases its Gen III, its competition will be neither Nissan Leaf, Chevy Bolt, nor Chevrolet Malibu and Toyota Camry; but rather the Audi A4, A5, and A6, BMW’s X1, X3, and X4, and Buick’s Enclave, La Crosse, and Regal. So, no, Chevrolet Bolt is not Tesla’s competitor. Tesla’s modus operandi is to sell high-end cars in different car segments, and use the profits to realize greater efficiencies in the production and distribution process in order to bring down the unit price and expand its market share.

Another point needs to be made here: Tesla sells cars directly to the consumer. This is important because this means that people buying from Tesla are not being persuaded by local car dealers to try out a new technology. They are aware of Tesla’s brand in the first place. In contrast, all other car companies sell EVs through the same dealership and retail channels, which is also partly to blame for their inability to shift large volumes of these cars. Mass market acceptance for alternative technologies will require a major push from auto makers but their current strategies cannot achieve this.

What Can One Expect From Bolt?

At the moment, gas prices are extremely low. This is not good news for companies aiming to sell alternative vehicles to the mass market. Their sales pitch is based on two things: economics and ethics. The economics side of the argument runs as follows: the cost of ownership of an electric vehicle is usually lower than that for a petrol/gasoline run car so consumers are better off spending a bit more in buying EVs/HEVs because they’ll save in the long term. However, consumers will base this decision on their future expectations of gas prices. At a time when gas prices are as low as $2, their future expectations of gas prices will also be lower. Additionally, EV/HEV sellers argue that replacing ICE cars with electric cars allows consumers to lower their carbon footprint. But replacing a diesel car with an EV car merely means that you are shifting your contribution to environmental waste from your exhaust pipes to the power stations using coal powered electricity to keep your cars running. Given the presence of both of these things, it is highly unlikely that a mass market push for EVs is possible in the near future. It may be more likely if gas prices rise again in the near future. So considering these things, it is highly unlikely that Chevrolet’s Bolt will add to GM’s unit sales by a significant amount. It may even be that they cannibalize sales for the Chevrolet Volt in the near future. The best case scenario for GM would be that the two models together bring in about as many unit sales for the company as Prius does for Toyota.

China: BYD Tang 542 PHEV for just $35,000

BYD Tang 542 Plug-In Hybrid Electric SUV (505 Horsepower) For Just $35,000? It Seems So..

CleanTechnica.com: Those on the lookout for a new plug-in hybrid SUV have an interesting new option on the table with the upcoming release of the BYD Tang 542 plug-in hybrid SUV — which may have a price tag as low as $35,000 when released in China, according to Car News China.

Of course, this all only applies if you happen to live in China. For the time being anyways. Perhaps BYD will this year finally deliver on its promise to enter the American market?



The new 505-horsepower model’s name refers to its specs pretty directly — 0-60 acceleration in under 5 seconds; 4-wheel drive; and a fuel-consumption of around 2-liters per 100 km. Nice…

Here are further details courtesy of Gas2:

Thus, 542, with the official specs giving the drivetrain 505 horsepower and 530 lb-ft of torque. Most of that comes from a pair of 150 horsepower electric motors (one on each axle), with a 205 horsepower 2.0 liter turbo also contributing. BYD claims an all-electric driving range of 50 miles per charge, and that 2-liters per 100 km works out to about 117 MPG. But the real draw here will be the price.

Marketed at an aggressive $48,000 off the dealership lot, local and national incentives could bring the price down to just $35,000 in many parts of China. That is about half what the Tesla Model X will cost, the closest rival to the Tang 542, and also rivals many short-range electric cars as well. However, BYD also plans to offer a tricked-out version of the Tang with acceleration from 0 to 60 MPH of just 4.4 seconds and a $100,000 price tag. While not nearly as fast as the Tesla P85D, it’ll still outpace most of its big-bodied competition.



Worth noting here is that while BYD has yet to truly enter the American market with any consumer vehicles, it is planning to this year — whether that means that we’ll eventually see the Tang 542 SUV released here or not is an open question as of right now.

US: Kansas City to roll out 1,000 charge points

Businesswire.com: (press release) Today, Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCP&L), a subsidiary of Great Plains Energy Incorporated (NYSE: GXP), announced its plans to install and operate more than 1,000 electric vehicle charging stations, making it the largest electric vehicle charging station installation by an electric utility in the United States. KCP&L’s Clean Charge Network is the next step in the company’s leadership in environmental sustainability. Over the next several months, KCP&L will install more than 1,000 charging stations throughout the Greater Kansas City region. This network of stations will be capable of supporting more than 10,000 electric vehicles. Through partnerships with companies at host locations and with Nissan Motor Company, the Clean Charge Network will offer free charging on every station to all drivers for the first two years. The stations are manufactured by ChargePoint and will be part of the ChargePoint network of more than 20,000 charging spots in North America.


“The Kansas City region is quickly building a reputation as an innovative, sustainable place to live and work”

“The Kansas City region is quickly building a reputation as an innovative, sustainable place to live and work,” said Terry Bassham, President and CEO of Great Plains Energy and KCP&L. “We’re excited to continue being a leader in support of this growth by providing our customers and visitors to this region with an environmentally-friendly alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. Thanks to our Clean Charge Network, everyone in our service territory will be able to charge up and hit the road.”

Where can I charge my electric vehicle?

The charging stations will be installed strategically throughout KCP&L’s service region, ensuring there will be a charging station near where electric vehicle owners live and work.

“We are committed to the electric vehicle industry and want to give residents and visitors the ability to join the electric vehicle revolution. As a utility, we will place the stations where they’re needed most and support them as part of our electric grid, leveraging our expertise with electrical infrastructure,” said Bassham. “Our Clean Charge Network eliminates ‘range anxiety’ in the region, which is the number one roadblock to greater electric vehicle adoption. Now, electric vehicle owners will have an answer to the question, ‘Where do I recharge my vehicle?’”

Installation of the charging stations began in late 2014 and will be completed this summer. The first stations deployed on the network will include 15 fast charging stations provided by Nissan and KCP&L, which will charge any model of electric vehicle on the market. On the fast charging stations, an electric vehicle like the Nissan LEAF will charge from empty to approximately 80 percent in about 30 minutes. In addition, the Clean Charge Network will have more than 1,000 standard charging stations, which will give most electric vehicles a 25 mile charge for every hour it is plugged into the station.

“The number of stations allows electric vehicle owners to change their habits, charging as they go about their day, and giving them the freedom to drive that much further. It makes it easier for current electric vehicle owners and hopefully will remove the perceived barriers for potential electric vehicle owners,” said Bassham.

What’s in it for me?

“The most exciting part is that everyone benefits,” said Kansas City Mayor Sly James. “Not only do the owners of electric vehicles in Kansas City benefit, but with this project, KCP&L is also investing in the economic development and environmental sustainability of this region, which is a win for everyone. I applaud KCP&L for taking this groundbreaking step forward right here in Kansas City.”

Kansas City is the largest auto manufacturing center in the United States, outside of Detroit. That position makes the region well suited for leadership in the transportation of the future. Range anxiety — the fear of running out of power before reaching the next charging station — is a top concern for potential electric car buyers. By alleviating that anxiety and enabling more people to purchase electric vehicles, KCP&L’s Clean Charge Network continues Kansas City region’s leadership as an automotive center by creating new jobs and, ultimately, attracting new businesses and talent.

Nissan Promises 1,700 CHAdeMO DC Quick Chargers in U.S. by April Next Year

TransportEvolved.com: There’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition to spur a company to up its commitments to its customers, and in the world of plug-in cars nothing says commitment more than a promise of improved public charging provision.

Nissan says it plans to expand CHAdeMO DC quick charging provision in the U.S. to more than 1,700 stations by April 2016

Last Friday, we brought you the news that Volkswagen and BMW, along with charging station provider ChargePoint had announced a new commitment to CCS DC quick charging provision along both the east and west coasts of the U.S., promising 100 CCS-capable DC quick charging stations would be deployed by the end of this year. As well as providing the first CCS quick charging networks for customers, the three firms confirmed that charging stations located along major routes would even support CHAdeMO DC quick charging too, despite it being a rival standard from a rival automaker.

Now rival automaker Nissan has stepped up to the plate with a promised expansion to CHAdeMO DC quick-charging networks across the U.S., promising a total of 1,700 DC quick charging stations by April next year.

Nissan has actively supported rapid charging station installation around the world since its all-electric LEAF hatchback made its market debut in 2010. To date, it has helped install CHAdeMO DC quick charging stations at Nissan LEAF dealers in key market areas, and has even donated many quick charging stations to charging providers around the world. This has made it possible for those who occasionally need to travel longer distances than the LEAF’s official 84-mile EPA range to recharge their car from empty to 80 percent full in around 30 minutes where CHAdeMO charging stations are available.


The CHAdeMO connector is also used on the Mitsubishi i-Miev and Kia Soul EV in the U.S.

As of the start of this year, Nissan has helped the installation of more than 800 DC quick chargers across the U.S., with the majority of charging station provision placed in areas with high LEAF sales figures like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington State, Oregon, Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas.

By April this year, it aims to have increased that by an additional 300 quick chargers, with 1,100 DC quick chargers installed nationwide, and by the start of April 2016, Nissan says it hopes to have helped invest in more than 1,700 quick chargers nationwide.

While the locations of these new charging stations are not yet known, it’s likely that we’ll see an expansion of existing charging networks with high-traffic, doubling up charging provision where demand is high as well as expanding electrified routes into lesser-known areas.


Which connector will you choose? CHAdeMO or CCS?

Like Friday’s announcement from BMW and VW, Nissan’s latest commitment to rapid charging means that it should be easier than ever before to own a limited-range electric car without resorting to gasoline for longer trips. And as any plug-in owner will tell you, the more charging, the easier it is to live with an electric car.

There seems to be only a few questions left: will your next car be a CHAdeMO-capable car like the LEAF, or a CCS-compatible car like the BMW i3? And which charging network will win?

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron named What Car? Electric Car of the Year

EVFleetWorld.co.uk: The new A3 Sportback e-tron plug-in hybrid has beaten EV contenders to take the What Car? title of 2015 Electric Car of the Year.

Praising the model, the judges on the What Car? editorial team said it was a 'no-brainer for business users'. They added that the A3 Sportback e-tron ‘mixes the many merits of the A3 with even more incentive for company car buyers to make electric driving more accessible’.

The accolade comes as first customer deliveries of the A3 Sportback e-tron start this month. Priced from £29,950, the first series plug-in hybrid in the Audi range offers the potential for up to 176mpg on a full charge and can travel for up to 31 miles on electric power alone before the 1.4 TFSI petrol engine kicks in. Overall, a range of over 580 miles can be achieved on a full charge and a tank of fuel, according to the official figures.

Future BMW 3-Series Could Help Start EV Revolution

Carscoops.com: BMW is getting ready to re-engineer the way they build cars, focusing on developing all-wheel drive plug-in hybrids and possibly electric vehicles for their entire range in the future.

In a sense, this would mean that the good old internal combustion engine will be out of a job unless it settles for basically becoming a generator for the car's battery pack - which indeed, seems to be where we're heading. The new cars will look to reduce air and rolling resistance, will use 3D sat-nav in order to anticipate road conditions and will be built out of lightweight materials in order to offset the extra weight of the batteries.

According to a report from Autocar magazine, we might have to wait for yet another generation of the 3 Series in order for BMW to fully switch from their traditional methods to using composites in strategic structural areas and rethinking their hybrid powertrains - which might be scalable starting with the 3 Series and all the way up to future Rolls-Royce models.

Allegedly, BMW engineers have said that in this new hybrid format, the combustion engine will probably be driving the front wheels only about 10% of the time, meaning that the engine itself will stop needing any sort of enrichment from the fuel injection system, resulting in a very low fuel consumption.

The 2016 BMW 3 Series F30 (facelift) plug-in hybrid could represent the first stage of the electric revolution. It will use a traditional 180 HP turbocharged 2.0 litre petrol engine, connected to their excellent 8-speed automatic transmission - which is already excelling in both economic and performance oriented models. A 7.6kWh battery will be placed over the rear axle, giving the car an EV range of 22 miles (35km).

Furthermore, if a potential 2022 BMW 3 Series Hybrid is to see the light of day as per these rumors, it could use twin electric motors in order to provide it with plenty of torque from a low range, pretty much eliminating the need for a turbocharger or a valvetronic system.

Eliminating the turbocharger would have major implications, especially since BMW purists have just recently gotten used to the idea of their beloved M cars having ditched the traditional naturally aspirated engine. The massive low-range torque provided by the electric motors will however help you say goodbye to the turbocharger without any lingering. And we did just witness the i8 whoop the M4 in a straight line last week.

For a future 3 Series, a composite material body will be around 100kg / 220 pounds lighter than today's model (maybe even more), and will offset the weight of the battery while making the car even better balanced, having a much better mass distribution. We could also see BMW drop their traditional badges in favor of new ones that reflect torque output. So a BMW 345 could indeed be a 3 Series with 450Nm of torque. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Now, since we don't have an official source for the Autocar story, we're just going to 'pop the trunk' on this and share our own take on the story with the help of our own sources.

The fact is that, more and more car makers are looking to hybrid and eventually EV cars in order to solve their CO2 emission problems, especially since they have to comply with the EU's fuel consumption regulations where there is currently a 2021 target for an average of 95g/km of CO2 and various brands will have to manage between 85g/km and 110g/km of CO2.

These numbers will apparently change again in 2025 and will become even harder to meet, especially if you're a car manufacturer that isn't planning to completely change the way they make cars. Standing still will certainly not help you get in front of the issues.

However, for the past decade, BMW has been at the forefront of automotive innovation, and if you're looking for a way into the future as a car manufacturer, then you better keep an eye on them.

First of all, we know for a fact that the BMW X5 eDrive will be the first ever model to mix a TwinPower Turbo petrol engine with a plug-in hybrid system and BMW's xDrive all-wheel drive system. So basically, thanks to the i8, this entire technology will be easily transferred from the BMW 'i' brand to the core models. This is where BMW is probably taking their range in the next 10 years. In addition, according to our own source, BMW will also continue to develop their hydrogen fuel cell technology, where they might show us something by 2020.

But what about further down the road? Will BMW's Plug-in Hybrid models actually help start this so called "EV revolution"? The long term implications are fascinating, because a plug-in hybrid can't and won't be the ultimate goal. Our planet won't allow it. So it will most likely take a very long time until you'll be able to buy a fully electric 3 Series, instead of your run of the mill 320d or 335i. It's an exciting yet comforting thought, but logistically speaking, you would need a re-engineered power grid within your city in order to sustain a large number of electric vehicles. Just imagine if everybody was to charge their cars at night at the same time. From the get-go, you'd already have trouble selling these cars world-wide if there are so many markets which aren't ready to receive them.

And then you have to improve the autonomy, because even the extremely efficient PHEVs of today don't do well on very long journeys. So would you really need a plug-in hybrid car if most of your daily commute is done on the highway over long distances? Probably not. But if you mostly drive your car over short distances, then you can turn the whole conversation around. A PHEV with an electric range of about 30-40km currently needs something like a 5-10 kWh battery, and if you live in the US for example and you drive around 40 miles per day, then at around 11 cents per kWh (national average), you'd end up spending around $594 annually to juice up your electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle.

We're definitely looking forward to BMW's solutions in this department. Losing weight and lowering the center of mass will only help improve the dynamics on their models, which is what BMW drivers want as far as performance. As of right now, the 'Ultimate Driving Machine' seems like it has the jump on most, if not all of its rivals.

Elon Musk Tells Detroit: Tesla Exists Because you Wouldn’t Build Good EVs

This daylive.com: To an audience full of auto-industry executives in Detroit, Tesla Motors co-founder and CEO Elon Musk made a few bold statements on Tuesday: Tesla is growing, will turn a profit eventually, and was doing so in large part because the rest of the industry didn’t want to build electric cars — at least ones that people would buy.

In a rare question and answer session at the Automotive News World Congress, Musk said he envisioned Tesla building “a few million vehicles” per year by 2025 — compared to less than 100,000 today. He said Tesla was only unprofitable because it was ramping up production for one new model, designing another and building a $5 billion battery factory, with regular profits expected by the time it launched a new small vehicle in 2020.
Musk added that Tesla was already sold out of the forthcoming Model X SUV through 2015, even though production had been delayed while the company perfected its “falcon wing” doors.

And as is his wont, Musk was both encouraging and a bit needling toward the industry establishment — urging a far wider production of electric vehicles while saying Tesla had profited only because regular automakers chose not to build good electric cars first.
“I really, strongly recommend making significant investments in electric cars,” Musk said, noting that Tesla had offered to share its patents for free and allow other automakers to use its Supercharger network. “I think people won’t regret making those decisions.”
Tesla was founded in part, he said, because it was “very important for there to be an example of an electric car that was great. There were no great electric cars.”
Ahead of its closely watched earnings report, Musk wouldn’t give sales figures, but did say that while demand in North American and Europe had grown, sales in China fell last quarter due to what he said were “misperceptions” about the ability of Chinese owners to recharge their vehicles. That was enough to send Tesla shares down some 7 percent in aftermarket trading.
Musk said Tesla could settle for building 100,000 cars a year and survive as a niche automaker, but that his goal had been to electrify transportation: “If we just scaled back our growth and moderate our pace, we would be profitable by any measure and decently so.”

The reveal of the Chevrolet Bolt, a 200-mile electric vehicle that General Motors will put on sale in a couple of years for $30,000, had raised questions of how that would compete with Tesla’s own upcoming Model 3 — but Musk said that didn’t concern him.

“I don’t see it as a competitive threat becaues all cars will go electric,” Musk said, adding praise for GM for moving further into the field. “What does it matter if someone makes a few thousand more.”
When asked if the Bolt or other recent electrics and plug-ins had lessons that Tesla could learn from, Musk paused a few seconds and said: “No.”

As for his long-running fight with traditional dealers who have blocked Tesla from selling directly to customers in several states, Musk pointed to a compromise in New York that allowed the company to open a couple of stores, and said Tesla wasn’t interested yet in trying to work with franchises — especially “those that have been jerks.”

London: smart grid test results

ClickGreen.org.uk: Futuristic blueprints to help cut London’s carbon emissions were published today by UK Power Networks, the company which keeps the city’s lights on.

London was the test bed for a range of cutting-edge trials - the results of which will help millions of people across the UK if the energy industry introduces them widely. For example new-style energy contracts which have been trialled are already set to save customers in London, the East and South East £43million over the next eight years, and the country could reduce the projected domestic electricity demand in 2020 by about 9% if people switch to more efficient household appliances.

After four years’ work, 27 reports revealing results from the Low Carbon London trials are out today. The trials tested new ‘smart grid’ techniques on the electricity networks with thousands of Londoners to support growing uptake of low carbon technologies.

The £28.3million project explored ways to meet major extra demand on the capital’s electricity system anticipated from local green electricity, heat pumps, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels – without overloading the network or adding significantly to electricity bills. Low Carbon London was funded through Ofgem’s Low Carbon Networks Fund and by UK Power Networks.

The trials included rewarding customers to reduce their electricity consumption as required, flexible energy tariffs based on renewable energy output for domestic customers, electric vehicle charging schemes, a major home appliance survey and monitoring the impact of green electricity systems.

UK Power Networks’ partners on the Low Carbon London programme were Imperial College London, Siemens, CGI, EDF Energy, Greater London Authority, Transport for London, National Grid, the Institute for Sustainability, Flexitricity, Smarter Grid Solutions and EnerNOC.

Martin Wilcox, head of future networks at UK Power Networks, said: “This is the culmination of four years’ hard work by 11 partners bringing together some of the leading names in smart grids. Low Carbon London brings us a vital step closer to the low carbon future and tackles the ‘energy trilemma’ to deliver low carbon, affordable, secure power supplies.

“As green forms of electricity production, heating and transport increase, intelligent systems will be essential to monitor, control and balance significant extra pressures on our networks, without human intervention. Low Carbon London has tested new smart grid techniques in ways that have never been attempted before in Britain.

“Low Carbon London has demonstrated the importance of collaboration between diverse organisations. Everyone is in this together and we owe it to future generations to work together – policy-makers, industry, business and local communities – to act on the research, delivering smart changes for a low carbon future.”

The pilot trials covered in the Low Carbon London reports are:

• Demand Side Response contracts – in this trial, business consumers were rewarded for reducing their electricity consumption or generating electricity locally when required. Thirty-seven participants, including hotels, shops and visitors’ attractions, took part in the trials shifting enough electricity to serve 18,000 homes at peak time. Voluntary reductions in consumption at busy times on the network can postpone multi-million-pound network investments, keeping customer bills down. This approach is expected to save Londoners £12million on the cost of delivering their electricity over the next eight years

• Britain’s first dynamic Time-of-Use tariff – known as wind-twinning tariffs, this trial tested flexible energy tariffs for 1,100 domestic customers based on renewable energy output. For example, Londoners were incentivised to do their washing on windy days to get access tocheaper electricity in simulations where wind power was plentiful. Participants received day-ahead prices - low, medium or high - via their smart metering in-home display units and could also receive alerts by text. The most responsive households nearly doubled their consumption levels during some low price events. During high price periods participants reduced their average peak demand by up to 8%. This demonstrated their potential to participate in demand response initiatives. According to the survey, most people saved money and liked the tariffs - 91% wanted to see it continued and offered to everyone

• Electric Vehicle (EV) study – one of the current concerns is that higher uptake of electric vehicles would mean drivers, after their daily commute, would simultaneously charge their vehicles, which could potentially overload the electricity system. However, an electric vehicle survey carried out by Low Carbon London researchers found that an electric vehicle charging system could actually be more manageable than originally feared. They found that out of 41 drivers of electric vehicles surveyed only six started charging their car when they finished their commute, even when their battery was half to three-quarters full. The study also found the residential EV charging peak was at 9pm, rather than 7pm, two hours later than anticipated. However, they found the impact of charging vehicles at home on a mass scale still remains substantial for electricity network operators, at around 0.3kW per household. The study of 72 domestic, 54 fleet and 1,408 public charging points provided new information on how much networks must be strengthened to cope with extra electricity consumption from EVs and how to help commercial customers converting their fleet to electric

• Smart meter trial – electricity consumption data was collected from 5,500 homes across London. It revealed stark differences in winter energy use between high income families, peaking at 1.78kW, compared to single-occupancy low income groups, peaking at 0.54kW

• Home appliance survey – as part of the survey researchers identified the number and type of electrical devices in 2,830 households, helping electricity distributors plan for future power demand. The project concluded there could be a 10TWh saving in electricity consumption by 2020, equivalent to approximately 9% of the projected domestic demand in 2020, by switching to more efficient appliances

• Active Network Management – systems were also trialled that monitored the impact of green electricity being exported to the London network, such as from Combined Heat and Power plants. The team calculated spare grid capacity and controlled output where the customer allowed it – a system called Active Network Management. Researchers found this approach could allow up to a third more distributed energy plants to export power to urban networks. That would support London’s targets to generate 25% of energy from smaller green, or renewable energy sources, dotted about communities.

The Low Carbon London initiative introduced collaborative new working relationships to help deliver smart grids. It forged new commercial relationships between UK Power Networks and four energy aggregators, plus arrangements with 37 demand response sites.

The project involved control room integration with two demand response sites and system integration with a Charging Network Operator (CNO) to call off demand response from electric vehicle charging posts. The project also delivered a shared, multi-purpose time-of-use tariff with EDF Energy, a major energy supplier.

Carbon emissions from today’s electricity system are around 450g/kWh3 and the Government is seeking ways in which to reduce this by between 100-200g/kWh by 2030. If only one of the initiatives demonstrated in Low Carbon London was fully adopted across the country, an additional contribution of 5g/kWh towards this reduction would be achieved, with the potential for far more. This could only be otherwise achieved by replacing a further 700MW of conventional generation with low carbon generation.

Matthew Pencharz, the Mayor’s Senior Environment and Energy Adviser, said: “Helping Londoners access energy which is affordable, secure and sustainable is a key priority at City Hall. We have worked closely with UK Power Networks through Low Carbon London to help develop this dynamic blueprint that could develop the transformation of the capital to one of the most energy efficient cities in the world.”

BMW: contactless credit card lets you unlock car doors

Recombu.com: CES 2015: BMW’s new car-sharing service allow drivers to access their hired car with a credit card.

A credit card that opens car doors? No it’s not Dynamo’s new magic trick, but a new service offered by German car maker, BMW. Announced at CES 2015, the luxury brand has created a BMW Group Mastercard that can be used to unlock the doors of vehicles in its new DriveNow car-sharing service.

DriveNow, launched by BMW in collaboration with Sixt car rental, gives customers access to a fleet of BMW 1 Series and electric i3s, hirable by the minute from locations across seven cities, including Berlin, San Francisco and London.

Like the Zipcar membership card, the BMW credit card uses near field communication (NFC) technology to tell the car that the customer is permitted to access the vehicle. The user simply places the card against the windscreen and a reciever box instructs the doors to open.

The BMW credit card also allows users to pay for their rental.

The credit card is only available in Germany at present but BMW expect to offer it to the global market in coming months.

When asked if this technology would be available for private cars, Lorenz Rein, Head of Product Management Car Sharing, suggested there would be a good chance for this technology to be adapted for private cars, though emphasised the initial focus would be on fleet services.

BMW is slowly shifting away from being a conventional car manufacturer and towards offering a broader portfolio of ‘BMW Mobility Services’. Updates to its innovative navigation system not only give routing recommendations using all modes of travel, including public transport, they now also sync with your digital calendar to suggest suitable routes between appointments based on your behaviour and make sure you arrive on time.

BMW And Toyota Teaming Up To Make Mini Small Again

Jalopnik.com: It's no secret that the Mini Cooper isn't as small as it used to be, and while the redesigned car is better in a lot of ways, it's not necessarily a better Mini. But a new report says the brand recognizes the need for smallness, and could turn to Toyota to make a new tiny city car. Hooray small things!

If this news sounds familiar, it's because it is; rumors of a Mini-Toyota team-up have been around since at least 2012. But now a new report from very plugged-in European auto journalist Georg Kacher over at Automobile makes me think there might be something to it. He says that a Mini R&D board member visited the U.S. and this car was on his list of priorities.

He reports that Toyota and Mini are planning a smaller, entry level hatchback tentatively called the Mini Minor, a name that dates back to the brand's very beginnings in England in the 1950s. One might assume it will use the cheapo platform from the Aygo city car, but this says an entirely new platform would be developed to convince premium-minded buyers it's a legit Mini: 2

As far as size, the Euro-only Toyota Aygo could be a suitable donor car, but Mini won't have it. Not only because the next-generation Aygo won't be around before 2020 but also because BMW can't allow Mini to adopt a badge-engineered product conceived and built by a third party. Instead, Toyota and BMW are looking into an all-new bargain basement effort that can be integrated in the Mini family. To keep costs and weight at bay, engineers will simultaneously have to focus on de-contenting and downsizing. No easy task, mind you, seeing how electromobility is said to play an important role in this build.

This new car could potentially take design cues from the Mini Rocketman concept from a couple years back, including a double-bubble rear roof section and upright "Union Jack" taillights. It sounds more basic than your average Cooper, "pleasantly short on bling."

The Rocketman was a concept that a lot of Mini enthusiasts (myself included) hoped would make it to production eventually, especially after the new Cooper grew in size so much.

In other news, Kacher's report has more details on the revised lineup Mini is transitioning to as it dumps the Paceman, Roadster and Coupe and moves to a new era anchored by five "superhero" cars: the Cooper, including the convertible and four-door versions; the new Clubman wagon; an all-new Countryman crossover; the Minor; and a new Roadster based onthe sexy Superleggera concept.

VW: PHEV SUV concept

CleanTechnica.com: The 2015 Detroit Auto Show was the site of a preview for a new VW plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV. Called the Volkswagen Cross Coupe GTE Concept, it is a blend of the CrossBlue and CrossBlue Coupe concepts. If all this talk about concept cars means nothing to you, the Cross Coupe is going to be a five-passenger SUV.

Production of this vehicle will begin at the Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory in 2016. The Cross Coupe is actually not a two-door vehicle. It only resembles a couple in its body shape. It is a lower-profile mid-size SUV, which means it bears a resemblance to a coupe. The design is less bulky and boxy than some SUV designs. For example, the Land Rover is taller and has sharper angles where there are corners.

The Cross Coupe is lower and has more rounded corners. The windshield has a more swept look with a gentle slope and the roof line tapers to the back of the vehicle. Curves are also emphasized with large wheel wells. The overall effect is that of a modern, even slightly futuristic vehicle.

In fact, the modern styling is well aligned with the vehicle’s technology, which is quite current. A V6 gas engine is combined with two electric motors and a 14.1-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. The gas engine and an electric motor power the front wheels, and one motor is for the rear wheels. Yes, this SUV is all-wheel drive and powerful.

The 0–60 time is just 6 seconds, and the top speed is 130 miles per hour.

The electric-only range is expected to be 20 miles. Many driving trips are for short distances, so this range might be sufficient in order to reduce gasoline consumption.

A Mitsubishi plug-in hybrid SUV reportedly will have about 30 miles of range when driving on electricity. Volvo is expected to produce a plug-in hybrid SUV for the North American market too, as is a BMW.

France leads EU move against diesel vehicles

FT.com: It was a move worthy of an environmental campaigner, not a state shareholder.

The French government, which owns about 15 per cent of carmakers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën, has pledged to “progressively” ban from 2015 diesel vehicles — which account for two-thirds of car sales in the country and almost two-thirds of Renault and Peugeot’s European sales.

The November announcement by prime minister Manuel Valls — in which he admitted the promotion of diesel cars had been a “mistake” — was followed last month by a promise from Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to ban these vehicles from the city by 2020.

France’s stance highlights a big shift taking place in the European debate over vehicle pollution. For a decade or more, policy makers have focused on targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and this prompted carmakers to invest heavily in diesel vehicles because they emit less CO2 than the petrol equivalents.

But now the focus is turning to air quality, which raises far-reaching questions about the viability of diesel vehicles. This is because they emit harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxide that can cause serious respiratory problems.

“Having long been seen as a ‘clean fuel’, diesel is now seeing something of a backlash in Europe,” says Stuart Pearson, analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.

Cities are under pressure from the European Commission to tackle pollution. Studies from the International Council on Clean Transportation, a research body, and King’s College, part of the University of London, have highlighted the scale of emissions from diesel vehicles and linked them to as many as 60,000 deaths a year in the UK.

London has vowed to act on these findings. Under plans for an “ultra low emission zone” in the city, the capital’s traffic congestion charge would be almost doubled for older diesel vehicles by the end of the decade, and Islington council is set to introduce a parking fee for the most-polluting cars — “to encourage a move away from diesel vehicles”.

Cities in Norway have discussed similar anti-diesel measures.

The changing stance of European policy makers presents a big problem for the continent’s biggest carmakers, including the two French state-backed companies and the big three German manufacturers.

Most exposed, according to research by Exane, are BMW and Daimler, whose “diesel mix” — those vehicles as a proportion of total sales — is 81 per cent and 71 per cent respectively in Europe. Volvo is even higher, at 90 per cent.

These sales reflect how governments have long been pursuing policies that pushed manufacturers and drivers towards diesel vehicles.

In the UK, for instance, company cars — 50 per cent of sales nationwide — are taxed on the basis of their CO2 rating, making it beneficial to buy diesel vehicles. As recently as November, diesel vehicles added almost twice as many monthly sales as electric and hybrid equivalents in Britain.

Consumers like the high fuel efficiency and driveability of diesel cars, with the extra torque particularly useful in cities. Furthermore, diesel is cheaper than unleaded petrol in many European countries.

Diesel vehicles have become more environment-friendly, according to the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. It says modern diesel vehicles now capture about two-thirds of nitrogen oxide emissions through certain filters.

Carmakers will be wary of any moves to phase out diesel vehicles, which would already add to the considerable burden of meeting CO2 targets set for the end of the decade and demand swifter take-up in the still uncertain market for hybrid and electric vehicles.

“This is a European industry concern,” says Ian Robertson, BMW’s board member for sales and marketing.

“Our position is, don’t rush into any targets on [diesel] . . . until there’s been an industry and societal view on what’s possible. Ninety per cent of the cars in Paris are diesel — that’s a massive shift.”

There is growing concern that the emphasis on diesel has encouraged European manufacturers to bet on a technology that is only really bought in their home continent.

While Europe leads the world as the biggest market for diesel cars, there has been very little take-up in Japan and the US.

“Unless the market in diesel takes off around the world — and that looks increasingly unlikely — the European manufacturers are effectively backing the wrong technology,” says Greg Archer, clean vehicles manager at Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based think-tank.

He also argues that the perceived CO2 benefits of diesel have been overstated if the overall “well to wheel” impact of using the fuel is taken into account. The fuel is more energy intensive to refine, and the types of diesel cars consumers purchase tend to be heavier than the petrol equivalents.

“When you take all of these life-cycle factors into account, what you actually find is diesels are not lower CO2 than gasoline, they’re just more fuel-efficient at the tailpipe,” says Mr Archer.

EU funds 200 charging points for electric vehicles across France

Inner-city charging stations in Europe are already popular but their presence on highways need to be increased

Cities-today.com: The EU’s TEN-T Programme will provide €5 million to co-fund a study and a pilot deployment of 200 charging points for electric vehicles on the main French highways. The project will contribute to the development of charging infrastructure and enable a wider use of electric transport in Europe.

“France has many front-running innovative companies, such as Renault, but for mass market uptake, a wide coverage of charging stations is essential, as most electric vehicle owners wish to cover inner-city and long-distance travel,” Jakub Adamowicz, Spokesperson for the European Commission, told Cities Today. “Consequently, these 200 stations will enable citizens across France to take advantage of this new technology. France is on a good path, via tax incentives for example, but the goal of mass market viability for electric vehicles has not yet been reached.”

The TEN-T study, named CORRIDOR, has the support of a consortium of companies (Electricité de France, Renault, Nissan West-Europe, ParisTech, Volkswagen and BMW) who have decided to test their concept for mass-market introduction on the highways in France.

The project will work on a set of technological, environmental and end user requirements to enable an interoperable fast charging network and foster rapid electric vehicle deployment in France. In its pilot phase the initiative will deploy, test, operate and monitor 200 new interoperable and multi-standard fast charging stations.

“Projects like CORRIDOR need to be replicated across the EU to allow trans-European travel,” added Adamowicz. “Once a pilot is successful, a rollout of an entire corridor or even a whole network would be the natural next step. The linking up of EU pilot projects should be encouraged and therefore particular attention should be given to standardisation and roaming capabilities. There needs to be more direct incentives to the buyers of alternative fuel vehicles and countries need to invest in the installation of charging stations.”

The second phase of the project will be dedicated to drafting recommendations on interoperable connections with existing charging networks in France and neighbouring countries, to ensure that the same network can be replicated across Europe.

The third phase will cover the development and validation of innovative business models supporting the deployment of a fast charging infrastructure. It will involve processing data from the pilot and benchmarking it with other European systems.

Charge-‘Er-Up! BMW and Volkswagen To Create Recharging Stations for Electric Cars in U.S.

Recode.net: BMW and Volkswagen are teaming up to create nearly 100 new fast-charging stations for electric vehicles along heavily-traveled roads along the East and West coasts of the United States.

The automakers are working with Chargepoint, the world’s largest network of electrical vehicle charging stations, as part of an initiative to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles in the U.S.

Along the Eastern Seaboard, the charging stations will be located at points along Interstate 95 from Boston to Washington, D.C. On the West Coast, they’ll be located in and between four cities: San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Ore. No two stations will be any more than 50 miles apart, the companies said. Construction has already begun on the West Coast, and the first location will be near San Diego.

Each station will be equipped with at least two DC Fast Chargers, with the 50 kilowatt version typically charging a car’s battery up to 80 percent of capacity within about 20 minutes. A 24 kW DC Fast charger can do the same in about 30 minutes. The stations will also be equipped with Level 2 chargers, the most common type of charger currently compatible with most electric vehicles on the road. These chargers can deliver 25 miles of range for every hour of charging.

Americans have purchased fewer than 300,000 electric cars since 2008. An estimate by Hybridcars.com, which tracks the sales of electrical and hybrid vehicles, pegged the domestic sales of plug-in electric cars at just over 63,000 units last year out of more than 16 million cars sold nationwide. More than 40 percent of those on U.S. roads are in California.

Electric buses are awesome

Treehugger.com: I've been bullish about the spread of electric cars, and genuinely hope that they continue to wrestle more market share from their fossil-fuelled counterparts.

But electric cars can only take us so far. Electric buses, on the other hand, are a lot more exciting and becoming more commonplace.

As reported over at Earthtechling, Louisville, Kentucky has just launched a fleet of 10 fully electric buses (this should complement the city's impressive urban tree-planting efforts). And Cleantechnica tells us that in Google's backyard of Mountain View, California, the tech giant is partnering with Motiv Power to trial four electric shuttle buses to service the downtown area.

There are several reasons these initiatives (and other electric bus efforts) are so important. Here are just a few of them.

Buses use a lot of fuel
The first electric and hybrid cars on the market were aimed at replacing compact and subcompact cars. While a worthy endeavor, these vehicles don't burn anywhere near as much fuel as a pickup truck. And a pickup truck doesn't burn anywhere near as much fuel as a bus. So every single electric bus represents a pretty significant chunk of oil not burned.

Buses stop and start a lot
Because city buses stop and start all the time, they are often left idling. This results in a pretty inefficient use of an internal combustion engine. Conversely, this same stop-start pattern makes buses an ideal candidate for innovative charging solutions that can keep them running all day.

Buses go where people are
Forget climate change for a second. The push for cleaner transportation is as much about cleaning our urban air as it is preventing the global climate crisis. And because city buses operate in, you guessed it, cities—each time a dirty diesel bus is replaced by an electric one, it has a disproportionate impact on urban air quality.

Buses are sometimes half-empty
We hope that new electric buses will be in high demand, but the reality is that mass transit has to run during quiet times too when a bus may not be at full capacity. By emphasizing fuel economy, and hopefully sourcing from renewables, bus operators can minimize the environmental impact of these downtimes.

Investing in buses means more people will use them
Perhaps the most important reason why we love electric buses is that they signal a new investment in one of our most important community assets—our public transit infrastructure. Every time you buy a new electric bus, you're not just buying a zero emission vehicle, you're also buying new seats, new decor, a new environment (with hopefully less chewing gum on the floor!), and of course free wi-fi, for transit riders to enjoy. You are sending a signal to the public that transit is valued and valuable. And when you invest in the infrastructure, ridership should follow.

China: Plug-In Car Sales Up 350%

CleanTechnica.com: After several false starts and broken promises, 2014 was the breakthrough year for plug-in car sales in China. Nearly 75,000 plug-in hybrid and electric cars were sold in China last year, a 320% increase over 2013, reports Green Car Congress. Could 2015 see China take the lead in world plug-in car sales?

It’s seem like a distinct possibility, especially once you break down the numbers. Of the 74,763 plug-in cars sold in 2014, 48,605 were battery-electric vehicles, while 29,894 were of the plug-in hybrid variety. So despite concerns about the lack of a proper charging infrastructure, in the span of a year Chinese plug-in car sales have almost caught up with the largest market, America, which barely broke 100,000 sales this year.

Why have Chinese plug-in car sales tripled in the course of a single year? Just one word;incentives. China’s national and city governments have launched a barrage of incentives aimed at getting people into cleaner plug-in cars, from offering free license plates (valued atover $15,000 in many places), no taxes, and no wait to register. This has helped domestic car manufacturers (and joint partnerships) sell increasing numbers of plug-in cars, and 2015 should see even higher sales. The government is also investing $16 billion into a new EV charging infrastructure to further increase to appeal of plug-ins.

Numerous figures in the auto industry have said that China could become the largest market for plug-in cars in short order, and that prediction seems to be coming true already. Not a second too late either, as China’s air quality continues to rate somewhere between “dystopian” and just “dismal.”

1 in 4 of the 57,000 electric cars sold in Europe in 2014 was a Nissan Leaf

Motoringresearch.com: Sales of electric cars across Europe are on the up – and the British-built Nissan Leaf is leading the way, with sales up by a third in 2014.

Out of 56,393 sales of electric vehicles across Europe last year, the Leaf accounted for 14,658 (26%) of registrations.

In second place, Renault sold 11,227 models of its Zoe (20% of sales), and third-place Tesla sold 8,734 examples of its Model S (15%).

Sales of the Leaf were particularly strong in the UK – where 55% of buyers of pure electric cars go to Nissan. With 4,051 Leaf sales in the UK in 2014, Nissan sold more than double the number it produced for the UK market in 2013 (1,812).

Nissan Europe senior vice president of sales and marketing, Guillaume Cartier, said: “We can now see the impact that word of mouth is having on our sales, with 95 percent of our customers happy to recommend their car to a friend and 50 percent saying they would never go back to diesel or petrol.

“This kind of powerful advocacy, combined with an increasing awareness of the massive running cost savings electric car drivers experience, is why our Nissan Leaf sales continue to grow.”

EVs to make up 11% of all new vehicle sales in China within a decade

Chinadaily.com: Electric vehicles are expected to account for at least 11 percent of all the new vehicles sold inChina in the next decade on the back of growing environmental awareness and stricter regulations, a new survey said on Monday.

The survey, published by global consultancy firm KPMG, showed that a majority of theChinese respondents (68 percent) expect e-vehicle sales－hybrid, battery cell and fuel cellunits－to account between 11 percent to 15 percent of markets in the next 10 years.

The survey was based on responses from 200 executives from automobile companies,suppliers, dealers, financial services providers, rental companies and mobility solutionsproviders in 31 countries, including 25 from China.

"The Chinese government and automotive industry have high hopes that e-vehicles usher anew era in the world's fastest-growing car market. Not content with catching up with moreestablished players in traditional combustion engine technology, China is looking to leapfrogrivals to become the premier market for e-mobility," said Danny Le, partner and head ofautomotive at KPMG China.

Respondents from China ranked fuel efficiency as the top criterion for buying a car, with about76 percent indicating it would be the main priority, far higher than the global average of 67percent.

Rising air pollution in China, higher fuel costs, strict emission standards and rapidurbanization will ensure that the huge potential for electric cars is eventually realized, althoughthis will require further innovation and disruption across the automotive ecosystem, and helpfrom regulations and tax incentives, the KPMG report said.

EDAG light cocoon concept

“EDAG Light Cocoon”: the ultimate in lightweight construction based on nature’s example!

EDAG GENESIS – bionically inspired cockpit

InsideEVs.com: EDAG is preparing a new concept car for the Geneva Motor Show 2015 to demonstrate its ultimate lightweight construction technology based on nature’s example.

We don’t have confirmation yet that it will be an electric car, but it should be, as electric cars need light weight materials tocompensate for the battery pack weight.

In the case of the EDAG Light Cocoon, the structure is bionically optimized and, together with its weatherproof textile outer skin panels, reminds us of leaves, which were the inspiration for the designers. The semi-transparent stretch fabric is four times lighter than standard copier paper.

“The “EDAG Light Cocoon” is not just a concept study of a compact, dynamic sports car, but also an unprecedented projection of the ultimate in future lightweight construction: a complete, bionically optimised vehicle structure combined with a weatherproof textile outer skin panel, which marks a new dimension for lightweight construction and automobile aesthetics: backlight technology illuminates the skeleton-like, organic structure, and brings the “EDAG Light Cocoon” to life.

Also involved in this extraordinary and visionary concept are outdoor specialists Jack Wolfskin. Their outdoor textile “Texapore Softshell” provides ideal weather protection for the “EDAG Light Cocoon”.

Following the success of the EDAG GENESIS this spring, engineering specialists EDAG have expanded their vision of a bionically inspired body structure. In order to be able to implement bionic construction principles and natural strategies, additive manufacturing potential has also been put to use in the “EDAG Light Cocoon”.

“We are pursuing the vision of sustainability – as demonstrated by nature: lightweight, efficient, and without any waste,” explains EDAG’s head designer, Johannes Barckmann. “The result: the ‘EDAG Light Cocoon’ presents a stable, branch-like load bearing structure from the 3D printer, which only uses material where it is absolutely necessary.”

Instead of treating the body as a closed surface here, any material not actually needed for the special load cases was removed. EDAG’s simulation experts carried out static and dynamic calculations for the basics of this topologically optimised ideal structure, and in this way helped to confirm its suitability as a potential lightweight concept.

The EDAG designers took a leaf as their inspiration for the ultimate, lightweight outer skin. Just as with a leaf, which has an ideal structure with a lightweight outer skin stretched over it, a textile skin covers the “EDAG Light Cocoon”. In Jack Wolfskin, outdoor specialists, the ideal project partner was found to supply a tried and tested stretch fabric that is also extremely weatherproof, to serve as the new outer body skin. “Even if it sounds futuristic to begin with, this approach has a its own special appeal: weighing no more than 19 g/m², the Jack Wolfskin material supports maximum lightweight design requirements with minimum weight.

To give you a comparison: this extremely strong material is four times lighter than standard copier paper,” points out EDAG CTO Jörg Ohlsen. “Combined with the topologically optimised, additively manufactured structure, it offers enormous potential and stimulus for the ultimate lightweight construction of the future.”