Cars were burning rubber off dealers’ lots all over the US in May, as five sunny weekends gave the typically strong month an extra boost. Overall auto sales were up 11% compared to May 2013, a nine-year high. Plug-ins rode the trend, setting an all-time monthly record – 12,053 Americans charged up new cars in… Read more »
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BC Hydro pushes for a timely fast charger rollout
BC Hydro is the electricity supplier for about 95 percent of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It’s government-owned and vertically integrated, meaning that the company owns and operates everything from production and transmission to distribution to customers. The company’s 30 hydroelectric facilities meet 78 percent of its electricity requirements, with the balance coming from… Read more »
Next-generation LEAF, with substantially improved range, planned for 2017
If we had an electric crystal ball, the question we’d most like to ask is: When will a next-generation battery, with substantially improved range, show up in a production EV? According to Nissan, that Earth-shaking event may happen around 2017. At last month’s Beijing auto show, Executive VP Andy Palmer told Automotive News that a… Read more »
Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher on the future of the leading electric motorcycle company
Electric motorcycles are one of the most interesting stories in the EV world today, both because of their recent impressive accomplishments on the racetrack and because of the future potential for high-volume sales, especially in international markets. Ashland, Oregon-based Brammo is one of the leading makers of two-wheeled EVs, and its story has much in… Read more »
Chrysler may finally (and grudgingly) offer plug-ins in a few years
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has announced that it will introduce two PHEVs starting in 2016. A plug-in hybrid version of a new minivan will appear in 2016, and a full-sized crossover that has a plug-in hybrid option in 2017. The plug-in minivan, which would be a first for the industry, will get 75 MPGe, according… Read more »
Misleading Lexus ad trashes plug-in vehicles
Every automaker has its own electrification strategy. Tesla, Nissan and BMW are pushing pure EVs. GM and Ford have each put most of their chips on plug-in hybrids, while hedging their bets with a low-volume EV. Toyota, and its luxury division Lexus, firmly believe hybrids are the way to go. Lexus has five hybrid models… Read more »
April plug-in sales: LEAF leads, Prius pushes ahead, smart strengthens
Monthly plug-in sales dropped a bit in April after the March surge, a typical pattern for this time of year. 8,605 car buyers saw the light last month. The LEAF easily held onto its lead with 2,088 units, a little less than its March sales but an incremental increase over last April. Nissan has already… Read more »
OLEV Technologies’ dynamic wireless inductive system charges vehicles while in motion
When one thinks of Nikola Tesla and electric vehicles, the obvious connection points to Elon Musk’s favorite part-time project. However, we also have to give the Serbian inventor proper credit for pioneering technology that eventually may become even more important to EVs than battery breakthroughs. Tesla’s obsession with wireless power transmission defined much of his… Read more »
Number of plug-ins doubling every year
The number of plug-in cars on the road has increased at an annual rate of more than 100% over the last three years, according to an analysis by Germany’s Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW). At the beginning of 2014, there were 405,000 plug-ins (EVs and PHEVs) registered worldwide, compared to 200,000 in… Read more »
$16 billion in DOE loans still available for auto suppliers
The DOE is encouraging auto suppliers to step forward for a share of $16 billion in low-interest financing that’s still available under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. Congress created the ATVM program in 2007, and it famously lent about $8.4 billion to Ford, Nissan, Tesla and Fisker. Although the program hasn’t approved… Read more »