The question of the “long tailpipe” is a fraught one: does an EV deliver lower carbon emissions than a legacy vehicle if the electricity comes from dirty coal? The latest study to address the issue comes from Carnegie Mellon University, and it includes a couple of surprising new findings. “Regional Variability and Uncertainty of Electric Vehicle… Read more »
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Continental develops integrated powertrain for the Chinese market
Auto parts giant Continental has developed a new electric powertrain especially for the Chinese market. The basic design for the new drive was created at Continental’s locations in Berlin and Nuremberg, and the specific customer applications were developed at Continental’s plant in China, where the system is produced in cooperation with Chinese suppliers. The new… Read more »
Chinese auto parts giant invests $1.6 million in wireless charging pioneer Evatran
Evatran, the developer of the Plugless wireless Level 2 charging system, has received a strategic investment of $1.6 million from Zhejiang VIE, a Chinese Tier 1 auto parts supplier. The investment is the first phase of a partnership between the two companies to introduce wireless charging to China, potentially the world’s largest EV market. Evatran… Read more »
South Korean plan turns ordinary 220V outlets into charging stations
Ironically, South Korea, home to some of the world’s leading producers of Li-ion batteries including LG Chem and Samsung, still has a comparatively tiny EV market. Total plug-in sales in 2014 were 850, far below a tenth of 1% of total vehicle sales. Neighboring Japan has around 110,000 plug-in vehicles on the road, compared to around 1,800… Read more »
Guangzhou Automobile Group to invest $322 million in factory for new energy vehicles
Guangzhou Automobile Group plans to invest 2 billion yuan ($322 million) in a factory in China that will exclusively build new energy vehicles (plug-ins, hybrids and FCVs). The new plant is scheduled to go online in 2018, and will have an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles. The location of the new factory has not… Read more »
A123 to double global production capacity with $200 million investment over three years
Since battery-maker A123 was acquired by China’s Wanxiang Group, it has shifted its focus to concentrate on starter batteries, and has big plans to produce batteries for microhybrids, aka start-stop systems. The company recently announced a plan to double global manufacturing capacity to 1.5 GWh within the next three years. A123 operates manufacturing hubs in… Read more »
California: Smaller automakers can earn ZEV credits with PHEVs (UPDATED)
For several years now, the California Air Resources Board’s ZEV mandate has required the largest automakers to produce a certain number of zero-emission vehicles for sale in the state. Beginning in 2018, smaller OEMs will be subject to the rules, too. Unsurprisingly, these companies would rather skip it, and at a May hearing, Jaguar Land… Read more »
Ford opens up its EV patents, puts 200 more engineers to work on electrification
Tesla isn’t the only company that can play the patent-opening game. Ford has announced that it will make its portfolio of over 650 electrification-related patents available to competing automakers. Unlike Tesla, which has implied that it will allow others to use technology “in good faith” free of charge (and Toyota, which plans to make some… Read more »
Uber adds PHEVs to its fleet in China
It’s a logical convergence of three tech trends: Uber, EVs and China. The pioneering ride-sharing service, which has already been testing EVs in Chicago and Prague, has announced that it will add ten PHEVs to its fleet in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The new car service, called UberGREEN, will use Guangzhou Automobile’s Trumpchi GA5… Read more »
California BMW dealer opens EV-only showroom
As Tesla realized from the beginning, trying to sell EVs alongside legacy vehicles could be a losing proposition. Dealerships that also sell gas-burning cars have incentives to steer customers away from plug-ins and toward their proven sellers. For an automaker that actually wants to sell its electric models, it may make more sense to establish separate, EV-only dealerships… Read more »