Contrary to popular belief, the small, practical city car is not necessarily the best candidate for electrification. Battery costs will keep EVs more expensive than legacy vehicles for some time to come, and many drivers won’t recoup the higher purchase price in fuel savings in a reasonable number of years. In a new article, John… Read more »
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Some tough questions for automakers about fuel cells
Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) are not the future – they’re here. The 2015 Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell has been available for lease since June. Toyota’s offering is scheduled to go on sale a year from now, followed by Honda’s in 2016 (all of these will initially be sold only in California). Many EV experts are… Read more »
Daimler switching battery suppliers again?
Does Daimler have a coherent electric-vehicle strategy? Its battery supply chain is literally all over the map, and this week’s announcement that the company may close a German battery plant that it was boasting about a month ago has the EV press puzzled. The first generation of Daimler’s smart fortwo electric drive, which is selling… Read more »
ChargePoint pulls out of Nissan’s EZ-Charge program, spoiling launch party
If you’ve seen our latest print issue of Charged, on bookshelves now (and available for online here), you may have read the cover story about Nissan’s No Charge to Charge program and the EZ-Charge Card, a single convenient card that would give LEAF drivers access to multiple charging networks. Well, not so fast… One of… Read more »
Dual battery pack could give next-generation Tesla unprecedented range
Is Tesla working on a new type of hybrid pack that combines two different battery technologies to deliver a huge increase in range? This question has been floating around the discussion groups for a few months, but several outlets reported it as breaking news this week after a couple of stock analysts discovered the story… Read more »
Tesla takes aim at rear-view mirrors
The latest automotive icon that Tesla is setting out to smash: side mirrors (wing mirrors to our British friends). Eagle-eyed EV watchers may have noticed that the original concept of the Model X had no mirrors, and neither does Volkswagen’s diesel hybrid spaceship, the XL1. According to John Voelcker of Green Car Reports, the rear-view… Read more »
Is Chrysler finally going to get charged?
Hope springs eternal that America’s #3 automaker will someday get serious about EVs, or at least bring a hybrid to market. A couple of media outlets seized on a Chrysler exec’s comment in a recent interview as evidence that the company plans to jump on the electric bandwagon. The Detroit Free Press recently published an… 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 »
Tesla pays off DOE loan early, taxpayers profit
Delivering a welcome victory for the government’s policy of supporting American manufacturing, Tesla Motors has paid off the loan it received from the Department of Energy nine years ahead of schedule, giving taxpayers a profit of at least $12 million on the original $465 million loan, Reuters reported. “I would like to thank the Department… Read more »
Fisker settles suit with insurance company – precursor to a sale?
The carmaker filed suit in December, after the insurer refused to cover the loss of 338 Karma sedans, worth about $33 million, that were destroyed in Superstorm Sandy.