Okay, Tesla has shown that the Model S battery pack can be swapped out quickly and elegantly, to the accompaniment of thumping techno music. However, there are a lot of questions about how this is going to work in the real world, so after Thursday’s live demonstration, CEO Elon Musk stuck around to offer some answers…. Read more »
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VIDEO: Jay Leno takes a cruise in the 2014 Cadillac ELR
Now that Tesla has made EVs cool, most of the “car guys” are more or less grudgingly acknowledging their existence. But Jay Leno has been a serious electrification advocate all along. In previous episodes of Jay Leno’s Garage, he has featured not only the Model S, but the Mission R electric motorcycle, an electric truck… Read more »
Waiting lists lengthen for Fit EV as Honda includes Leviton home charging station with lease
A better lease deal and more availability seem to have led to a surge in demand for the Fit EV, and dealers may not be able to keep up. The electric hatchback can now be leased for $259, with no limit on annual mileage, and it’s available at every Honda dealer in eight states (California,… Read more »
Smith Electric reaches a milestone: 700 vehicles, five million miles
According to Smith, its fleet customers save an estimated 70% annually on fuel and maintenance during the life of the vehicle.
Ford is building the Focus Electric in Europe, but does it care about selling it?
Ford Focus Electrics are now rolling down the assembly line in Saarlouis, Germany, where the company invested 16 million euros to add the electric version to its existing Focus production line. The Focus Electric will go on sale in Europe in August, and the C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid will join it next year. “Focus Electric… Read more »
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EV drivers halve charging costs in Australian smart grid pilot
A demand management demonstration project in Australia showed that EV drivers could save around 50% of their charging costs with smart charging.
Ultracapacitors creep into automotive
Maxwell looks to leverage its early ultracapacitor experience into a ubiquitous, low-cost, high-volume complement to batteries. Power sources like internal combustion engines and advanced battery packs work great as continuous suppliers of energy. But during the highest peak loads, both sacrifice efficiency attempting to meet the power delivery demands. And pushing these devices to their… Read more »
Carlos Ghosn sees little future in battery swapping
The future of the battery swapping concept looks dim, which is bad news for the pioneering firm Better Place. In an interview with Danish news outlet Energi Watch, Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn seemed to say that Renault’s Fluence ZE will probably be the first and last production vehicle to offer battery swapping capability. “When you… Read more »
Volvo raises V60 PHEV production target again
Volvo’s V60 Plug-In Hybrid wagon is a runaway success. The first year’s batch of 1,000 cars sold out before any had a chance to reach showrooms, and Volvo announced in November that it would increase production to 4,000-6,000 units for model year 2014. That figure will now be raised to 10,000 units, according to Cars… Read more »
LG Chem says US battery plant will begin production in late 2013
South Korea’s LG Chem plans to start production at its US car battery factory in the second half of this year, two executives told Automotive News. The Holland, Michigan manufacturing plant drew some unpleasant publicity in February, when a DOE investigation found that the production line at the plant was idle, but workers were being… Read more »