China Overtook U.S. In Monthly Electric-Car Sales Two Months Ago

Kandi electric car (Image: Kandi Technologies Group)

GreenCarReports.com: China has been the world's largest auto market for several years now, with 18 million passenger cars and another 4 million commercial vehicles sold there last year.

But until recently, sales of plug-in electric cars have lagged those in the U.S. (whose market seems likely to be around 17 million vehicles this year).

Now, according to an article on the Chinese news site Sina Auto (via Want China Times), in September the country's electric-car sales exceeded those of the U.S.--likely for the first time.

While U.S. plug-in sales vary from month to month, as do vehicle sales overall, this year's rate is roughly 10,000 electric cars a month on average.




BYD Qin plug-in hybrid in showroom in Costa Rica

In September, according to the article, Chinese buyers purchased 11,991 cars with plugs throughout the country, against 10,551 in the U.S.

Some of those Chinese electric cars would likely be deemed low-speed vehicles under U.S. law, and many would not pass North American crash-safety tests.

Still, given the hurdles to electric-car adoption in the country-including fierce price competition for lower-priced cars, and the prevalence of large apartment buildings against single-family homes-the total is a notable achievement.




Chinese battery electric crossover: BYD e6 test drive, Los Angeles, May 2012

Both national and regional governments in China are heavily pushing adoption of electric cars as one way to address the dangerous level of airborne emissions from vehicles and industry in most Chinese cities.

So-called "new energy vehicles" are increasingly mandated by government bodies for public fleets and public transportation, including a growing fleet of electric buses.

The definition of a new energy vehicle can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but in general it means a car that plugs in-whether battery-electric cars like the Kandi or plug-in hybrids like the BYD Qin.

UK: Driverless Car Tests Begin

BBC.co.uk: Driverless cars set to be tested in four English cities

Milton Keynes is set to begin tests of the Lutz self-driving pods next year.

The four English locations picked to test driverless cars have been named.

Greenwich, in south-east London, and Bristol will each host a project of their own, while Coventry and Milton Keynes will share a third.

The decision was announced by the quango Innovate UK, after George Osborne's Autumn Statement.

The chancellor also announced an additional £9m in funding for the work, adding to the £10m that had been announced in July.

The businesses involved will add further funds.

Bristol will host the Venturer consortium, which aims to investigate whether driverless cars can reduce congestion and make roads safer.

Its members include the insurance group Axa, and much of its focus will be on the public's reaction to the tech as well as the legal and insurance implications of its introduction.

Greenwich is set to run the Gateway scheme. This will be led by the Transport Research Laboratory consultancy and also involves General Motors, and the AA and RAC motoring associations. It plans to carry out tests of automated passenger shuttle vehicles as well as autonomous valet parking for adapted cars.

In addition, a self-drive car simulator will make use of a photorealistic 3D model of the area to study how people react to sharing the driving of a vehicle with its computer.
Gateway will test self-drive passenger shuttle vehicles in Greenwich

"The combination of TRL's independent expertise; robust, reliable testing protocols and driving simulation facilities alongside the diverse and high calibre qualities of our consortium means we can safely demonstrate automated vehicles to build acceptance and trust in this revolutionary technology," said the firm's chief executive Rob Wallis.

Milton Keynes and Coventry will host the UK Autodrive programme.

This involves Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and the engineering consultancy Arup among others, and will test both self-drive cars on the road as well as self-driving pods designed for pedestrianised areas.

Part of this group's work will be to develop the technologies that will need to be built into roads and the surrounding infrastructure to aid vehicle navigation.

"Our plan with the practical demonstration phases is to start testing with single vehicles on closed roads, and to build up to a point where all road users, as well as legislators, the police and insurance companies, are confident about how driverless pods and fully and partially autonomous cars can operate safely on UK roads," said Tim Armitage from Arup.

The tests will last from between 18 to 36 months and begin on 1 January.

USA: Nissan Leaf sets another sales record

InsideEVs.com: Last month Nissan set a record for most plug-in vehicles sold in a calendar year in the United States, this month they further improved on that number by delivering a further 2,687 LEAFs in November.

Novembers result represented a 34% improvement over the2,003 EVs sold a year ago.  This also marks the 22nd consecutive month that the Nissan LEAF has set a new personal monthly record for itself – pretty not too shabby.

Toby Perry, Nissan’s EV marketing guy had this to say on November’s result:

“Our ‘Kick Gas’ ad campaign and ‘No Charge to Charge’ launch in Chicago and Atlanta drove an increase in November LEAF sales. Even with gas prices falling across the country, consumers appreciate that the cost of driving a Nissan LEAF is still a fraction of that of a gas-powered car.”

So far in 2014, a total of 27,098 LEAFs have been sold, 35% better than the 20,081 sold through the first 11 months of 2013.  Which means, that in order to be the first EV to crest the 30,000 unit sold level in any country, Nissan will have to sell 2,902 cars in December – certainly doable.

In October, Nissan Surpassed A 25% Share Of The Plug-In Market In The US (*does not include Tesla Roadster, Fisker Karma, and small non-retail offerings)

And although another two new plug-ins came onto the market in October (Kia Soul EV, VW e-Golf), and another in November (Porsche Cayenne S e-Hybrid from $76,400), the LEAF continues to not only hold onto its piece of the sales pie, but has steadily increased it throughout 2014 – now cresting 25% for the first time in the last 3 years.

The US Anxiously Waits Word On When Nissan’s “Other” EV (the all-electric e-NV200) Will Arrive

Other points of interest this month for the Nissan LEAF:

• overall the Nissan-Renault alliance passed the 200,000 EVs sold combined mark – mostly thanks to the 150,000 LEAF sold worldwide
• Nissan saids 95% of current LEAF owners would recommend the car to their friends
• CEO Carlos Ghosn confirmed that Nissan is currently working on new batteries for the next gen LEAF (expected in the fall of 2016), and that range will double
• “no charge to charge” program came to the LEAF’s number 1 city finally – Atlanta (details)

On the production front, by our count Nissan once again managed to make just slightly more LEAFs than they sold in America, and inventories pushed past the 5,000 mark for the first time in…well, forever.

Looking ahead we are hopeful that Nissan will not only show off its all-electric van, the e-NV200 (based on the LEAF platform) at the NAIAS in January, but announce its pending arrival to the United States

BMW Confirms: Electric Mini Coming “Soon”

MINI Superleggera Vision Concept

InsideEVs.com: Mini boss (and member of the board of management at BMW AG) Peter Schwarzenbauer has announced that Mini will trim its lineup down from the 8 models currently offerd to just 5 in the near future.

Typically, a move such as this wouldn’t be of interest to us, but along with the announcement that the Mini brand is shrinking in number of models came confirmation that an electric Mini is coming “soon.”

Electric Mini

It’s also not all backpedaling. Mini will offer an electric vehicle “soon,” the BMW management-board member said.

The car could be modeled on the Superleggera concept showcased at the Paris Motor Show in October.

“Soon” is certainly open to interpetation, but we’re guessing that in less than 2 year’s time, an electric Mini will enter production. Will it be based on the Mini Superleggera Vision Concept? We sure hope so.

Europe EV sales October and YTD 2014

CleanTechnica.com via EV-Sales.com: Mitsubishi consolidate their position as Europe's No. 1 selling EV Year To Date (YTD), with the Outlander PHEV approaching 17,000 units. The Leaf is in second place, the i3 has taken 3rd place from the Zoe, which is now in 4th place and the Model S in 5th. Of the 30 models available, these 5 account for 2/3 of Europe EV sales, while the long tail of EVs highlights just how challenging the market remains.

Here is the combined chart, in alphabetical order:

UK: a rapid chargepoint no more than 20 miles away on the road network

The UK Government has announced a major boost to EV Charging.The Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, today announced the biggest upgrade to the UK’s road network in a generation. The plan represents a tripling of levels of spending on the roads by the end of the decade.

A key part of the strategy is the development of a comprehensive national network of chargepoints for electric vehicles. On top of the Government’s existing support for the ULEV market and infrastructure, the strategy includes a major commitment to install chargepoints on the strategic road network. The commitment is for the Highways Agency to expand the existing chargepoint network to ensure that for 95 per cent of the time motorists will be no more than 20 miles from a chargepoint. Wherever possible these will be rapid chargers, capable of charging an electric vehicle in less than 30 minutes.

Germany to Approve Tax Incentives for Electric Cars

wsj.com: The German government is expected to approve new incentives for corporate purchases of electric vehicles on Wednesday in a bid to recharge the struggling market for battery-powered cars, according to several people familiar with the situation.

The initiative is part of Germany’s overall plan to reduce emissions that are believed to cause global warming and will be contained in a package of measures presented in cabinet by the economics and environment ministries, these people said.

One aspect of Germany’s strategy to cut emissions is to put at least one million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020 in order to enable the auto industry to meet European Union demands to reduce CO2 emissions to 95 grams per kilometer.

“This is the most ambitious target world-wide,” said Matthias Wissmann, head of the Association of German Automobile Manufacturers. “We’ll only achieve it if we put a lot more electric vehicles on the road.”

The government incentive plan calls for allowing companies to write off as much as 90% of the value of vehicles used for business purposes, said one person familiar with the matter. Corporate auto fleets account for about 60% of new-car sales in Germany.

The incentive is planned to take effect in January. Germany’s 16 federal states must also approve the measure because its implementation would result in lower taxes at the state level.

The move comes as it becomes clear that Germany is falling far short of its goal for electric-vehicle sales. By the end of November there were just 24,000 electric vehicles in use in Germany, boosted by new models such as BMW AG’s electric i3 compact and i8 sports car.

A commission that is advising the government warned that Germany might only achieve half its 2020 electric-vehicles target if new incentives are not introduced. With the help of tax incentives for corporate purchases, the commission predicts that the number of electric vehicles on the road in Germany could rise to more than 800,000 by 2020.

In a separate report presented to the government on Tuesday, the commission, which is called the National Platform for Electric Mobility, proposed a wide range of measures to boost electric-vehicle sales from tax incentives and expansion of public charging networks to increased support for research and development and creating a public-private partnership to develop battery cells.

Tesla: 70% of current Model S orders are for the Dual Motor Drive.

Elon Musk estimates about 70% of the orders for the new Model S are for the new Dual Motor Drive. Once again, Tesla are on the money building cars that early adopters want to drive!

Nissan: 250 mile range battery

HybridCars.com: CEO Ghosn: Nissan Has Affordable 250-Mile Range EV Battery



Following an unintentional disclosure by CEO Carlos Ghosn, Nissan has confirmed it will “very soon take the issue of range off of the table.”

The company is otherwise still being vague, not ready to show what it has, but Ghosn suggested a near-ready battery to enable affordable electric cars good for as many 250 miles (400 km) depending on configuration, and how it’s tested.

The implication is furthermore that the new chemistry has more power per volume so increasing range to beyond Tesla proportions would just be a function of making a battery pack a bit bigger in volume, but it would presumably still be smaller than a Model S pack.

Whether the Nissan Leaf will get the battery, as is believed, or it and other Renault and Nissan vehicles will get it, as would be likely, is not being disclosed.

According to Bertel Schmitt of the Daily Kanban, who spoke with contacts at the company, Nissan appears slightly worried it could put a chill on present EV sales.

But, they won’t deny the story now that the boss let the cat out of the bag.

An online transcript of the interview is not available, reports the Daily Kanban.

The revelation came on a late-night airing of Tokyo Business News Channel where Ghosn was pressed by the host on what Nissan is going to do.

Host: Is Nissan working on new batteries?

Ghosn: “Yes.”

Host: Can you tell us more?

Ghosn: “No.”

Host: Will the range double?

Ghosn: “Yes.”

Host: That means more than 400 kilometers?

Ghosn: “Yes.”

Ghosn’s one-word oblique answers could be interpreted a few different ways, but the implication and context suggest Nissan is putting the finishing touches on a commercially ready battery that could make the big-heavy, expensive pack in a Model S look old-tech.

Given that “400 km” is considered “double” range indicates the Japanese interview is contemplating cars as tested under Japanese government rules which tend to be optimistic next to U.S. EPA numbers. Nissan’s Leaf certainly does not now have a 120-mile range in the U.S., but given high energy density, ability to compete with “petrol” cars’ range is being considered.

Ghosn’s answers also dovetail with a report in May, where Nissan’s Andy Palmer said Nissan has high energy density “game changing technology” to push Leaf to at least 186 miles to combat fuel cell vehicles selling on just this issue – short range for the buck with present EVs.

To gauge Ghosn’s comment, Schmitt followed up with Jeff Kuhlman, Nissan’s head spokesman, who added to the notion that this new battery chemistry is not some far-off science project.

“[w]e continue our R&D efforts because we believe that we can do more with battery electric, and very soon take the issue of range off of the table,” said Kuhlman. “In other words, cars with a comparable range to today’s petrol vehicles.”

Today’s “petrol vehicles” actually have more than 200-250 miles range but Kuhlman did not elaborate.

As it is, for those who say range is too short – such as Toyota and car shoppers sitting on the sidelines – that may be solved not so long from now.

Even Toyota has quietly suggested EV range may soon be solved, and an unidentified engineer told the Daily Kanban “Commercial applications could be no more than one model cycle away.” Despite all its talk over fuel cells, Toyota is working on improving EV batteries, as we also have reported.

Actually many automakers are working on the next best thing – though most say a breakthrough is not on the near horizon – and in addition to the objection of sub-100 mile range for average priced EVs today, is also recharge times.

Tesla and others have been working on recharging faster than today’s Supercharger and DC fast chargers which replenish 80- percent charge in under 20-30 minutes. Different chemistries which can recharge faster have also shown promise.

So where does that leave Nissan? While Ghosn is not known to exaggerate in the extreme, and two officials suggest it’s just a matter of time, Nissan has yet to truly and unequivocally reveal its hand.

BMW: PHEVs for all core models

BMW has confirmed that it will offer a plug-in hybrid version of all of its “core-brand models.”

Among the majors, BMW stands alone as the first to make this level of commitment to plug-in hybrids.

Combined with i sub brand, BMW is now unmatched in its plug-in vehicle efforts/commitment.

The Group’s future hybrids will be “highly electrified”. Highlights of this future Power eDrive technology will include much more powerful electric motors and batteries with twice the capacity of present versions .

The drive systems used in these future hybrid systems will offer combined outputs in excess of 500 kW. Also, the capacity of the lithium-ion batteries – up to 20 kilowatt hours – will be greatly in excess of current hybrid systems . Coupled with an increased all-electric driving range of up to 100 kilometres (62 miles), this will make it possible to operate in locally emission-free pure-electric mode on virtually all day-to-day trips .