Break out the Champagne! August was the best month ever for US plug-in vehicle sales, as 11,073 new owners got charged. Year-to-date sales (58,662) have already surpassed sales for all of 2012 (52,581). The surge was broad and deep – the three leading models had huge increases, the top two set new records, and even… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Toyota"
Next-generation Prius Plug-in to have more electric range, wireless charging
With the entire collection of 23 Toyota and Lexus hybrid models as a backdrop, Toyota Managing Officer Satoshi Ogiso delivered an inspiring overview of the past, present and future of the Prius family at the “2013 Toyota Hybrid World Tour event in Michigan. Ogiso was one of the engineers who began developing hybrid technology at… Read more »
EVs take 1.1% of California auto market
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 »
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 »
Japan’s big four to work together to improve charging infrastructure
Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi have announced a new agreement to work together to promote the installation of EV chargers in Japan, and to make the country’s charging network more convenient and accessible. At the moment, Japan has around 3,000 normal chargers and 1,700 quick chargers, which is generally considered insufficient, according to a press… 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 »
Tesla buys test track site next to its factory
Tesla has bought a parcel of land adjacent to its Fremont factory, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. The 35-acre site includes a disused test track that was built by the GM/Toyota joint venture that used to own the property. Tesla bought the land from the Union Pacific Railroad for an undisclosed price. “The land… Read more »
Musk: Tesla will be producing 800 cars a week by late 2014
Tesla Motors is steadily increasing the rate of production of its Model S electric sedans, CEO Elon Musk said this week. “We’re above 400 a week at the current manpower, and not trivially above it,” Musk told Bloomberg in an interview. By late 2014, production is “going to 800 a week. I’m very confident we’ll… Read more »
June EV sales: Volt and LEAF vie for the lead once again
Chevy, Nissan and Tesla are swapping paint at the head of the pack, as a couple of feisty little contenders get ready to enter the race. Plug-in automobiles posted their second best month of US sales so far this year, with almost 8,000 vehicles changing hands. The 2013 Chevrolet Volt retook the lead and then… Read more »