EV sales have cracked the whole-digit mark for the first time. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 1.1% of new vehicle sales in California in the first half of 2013, according to California Auto Outlook, a publication of the California New Car Dealers Association. Hybrids took 7% of the market, up from 6.2% in 2012, while… Read more »
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2014 Volt MSRP to drop five grand
The eagerly awaited 2014 Volt will have no changes from the 2013 model, except for a couple of new colors – and a $5,000 price cut. The new sticker price will be $34,995, including an $810 destination charge. The 2014s have already begun shipping from GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, and will arrive in showrooms within… Read more »
July plug-in sales: total pulls back as LEAF edges ahead
Total US plug-in sales saw a substantial drop in July, to 6,592 units. Last month’s three front-runners all succumbed to the summer doldrums, but the second-tier sellers held steady or showed slight improvements. The LEAF edged into first place in July with a total of 1,864, which is a drop from June’s 2,225 but still… Read more »
VIDEO: Another peek inside Tesla’s Fremont factory
Another video from WIRED lets us look in on Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, where the future of the American automobile industry is being assembled. This video is much like the one WIRED released a couple of weeks ago, but true Tesla fans can never get enough. The huge factory was built by NUMMI, a… Read more »
GM offers a range of electrified vehicles – but don’t call them hybrids!
When is a hybrid not a hybrid? When it’s made by GM. In a recent blog post, Pam Fletcher, one of GM’s chief engineers, claims to be trying to clear up the confusion about the terms used to describe the various categories of electrified vehicles (and of course, to explain why you want to buy… Read more »
VIDEO: Atlanta college student buys Renault-Nissan’s 100,000th EV
The LEAF has been racking up impressive sales since Nissan began production in the US. Some of the top 10 sales hotspots are where you’d expect them to be – Left Coast cities such as San Francisco and Portland, and Nashville, the home of Nissan’s north American headquarters. However, the electric hatchback is also conquering… Read more »
A reluctant gem: The FIAT 500e EV
The cute, cuddly FIAT 500e EV may have been born only out of regulatory necessity. So what happens if it becomes the best-reviewed new EV in its class? The bar is raised; the game changes. Maybe Chrysler will even concede that it should sell it outside of the Golden State. Summertime in Sonoma County… Read more »
EVs in paradise: plug-ins and island markets
Islands make perfect EV habitats. Driving distances are generally short, and the need to ship supplies from the mainland keeps gas prices high. Also, islands around the world face a lot of environmental challenges, and many island economies depend on tourism, so the level of green consciousness tends to be high. Island governments around the… Read more »
In-wheel house: Protean Electric’s in-wheel drive system nears production
When Protean Electric begins production of its Protean Drive in-wheel electric drive system later this year, it could mark the stirring comeback of the wheel hub motor, a concept that’s been more than a century in the making. Electric wheel-hub motors date all the way back to 1884, and none other than Ferdinand Porsche used… Read more »
Kentucky firm to market diesel hybrid conversion kits for Class 8 trucks
Kentucky-based ePower Engine Systems has placed an order with Axion Power International (OTC QB: AXPW) for Axion’s leadcarbon (PbC) batteries and management systems, which will be used to convert ten Class 8 trucks (the largest category of over-the-road trucks) to series diesel hybrids, using ePower’s proprietary technology. Each conversion kit would require 56 PbC batteries… Read more »