There’s little good news for EV-lovers this month. August US plug-in sales of 8,972 were essentially unchanged from July, and were even further behind August 2014’s figure of 12,172. There were no major position changes – most of the leading models posted minor declines or increases. The bright spots at the moment are outside the… Read more »
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Study: EV tax credits go mostly to high-income households
A new study from the Energy Institute at Haas, University of California, Berkeley, has reached an unsurprising conclusion: the benefits of federal tax credits tend to go mostly to higher-income households. Researchers Severin Borenstein and Lucas Davis found that 60% of the $18 billion in US federal clean energy tax credits issued between 2006 and… Read more »
Lux Research: LG Chem threatens Panasonic’s position as world’s top EV battery supplier
Japanese giant Panasonic is by far the largest automotive batter supplier at the moment, with a 39% market share. According to a new report from Lux Research, it will probably hang onto that position, increasing its share to 51% as EV batteries grow to a $30-billion market by 2020. However, there’s a real possibility that… Read more »
NASA awards grants for advanced battery technologies
There are a number of synergies between space travel and electromobility (just ask Elon Musk). Both pursuits require energy storage devices with high energy density, stringent safety standards, and the ability to operate in high-vibration, extreme-temperature environments. Developing improved battery technology is a high priority at NASA, and the agency is making significant investments in… Read more »
Analyst predicts Tesla will eat Uber’s lunch, doubling stock price
Does Tesla have a secret plan to disrupt yet another industry, maybe one that even Tesla doesn’t know about yet? Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas is convinced of it, and believes that the potential profits will cause the TSLA stock price to double. On a recent media conference call, Jonas asked Elon Musk about Uber’s… Read more »
Sales of plug-ins plateau as Model S maintains a lean lead
It’s official: US plug-in sales are in the doldrums. July sales of 8,951 were substantially down from June (10,364), and from July 2014 (11,242). While we’re waiting for the 2016 LEAF and next generation Volt to get things moving again in the fall, we’ll console ourselves with the news that even as US sales have stalled, worldwide… Read more »
BYD sells 50 e6 EVs to San Diego ride-sharing fleet
San Diego-based ride-sharing service Opoli has agreed to buy 50 e6 EVs from China’s BYD Motors. The e6 electric crossover will join Opoli’s natural gas airport shuttles later this summer. Opoli, which launched its service in the San Diego area just a few weeks ago, is the first ride-share service permitted at the San Diego… Read more »
New paper: Cost of hybrid systems will be halved by 2025
For those of us who are puzzled and discouraged by the recent decline in sales of hybrid vehicles, a new paper from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) offers plenty of hope for the future. According to “Hybrid Vehicles: Technology Development and Cost Reduction,” the costs of full-function hybrid systems are likely to drop… Read more »
Fiat Chrysler CTO: Fuel cells are the distant future
Fiat Chrysler is the automaker that EVangelists love to hate. The brand has nary a hybrid in its lineup (although a plug-in powertrain for the Town & Country minivan is expected to appear in 2016), and, like some evil stepmother in a fairy tale, CEO Sergio Marchionne heaps derision on the feisty little Fiat 500e,… Read more »
The 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine PHEV enters the US market with great promise
These days when most Americans think of Swedish engineering, they probably remember a frustrating experience with an Allen wrench and one too few pieces of particle board. But we didn’t always buy our Swedish creations under the same roof as our Swedish meatballs. Any American old enough to drink remembers a friend whose parents drove… Read more »