Chrysler's ENVI Group, formed in 2007 to develop a line of electrified vehicles for the company's three brands, has been disbanded and its January pledge to have 500,000 conventional and plug-in hybrid-electric and all-electric vehicles on the road by 2013 has been junked under its new, Fiat-controlled leadership.
In an interview with Reuters news service Friday, Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa - who only a few days before had assured us that the ENVI team was still "quietly" moving along - said the special group has been disbanded and its work "absorbed into the normal vehicle development program."
Prior to its bankruptcy and takeover by Fiat, Chrysler had showed a suite of five electric and PHEV vehicles and promised to have at least one in production by next year.
But last week, in delivering a day-long look at Chrysler's post-bankruptcy 5-year product and business plan, executives including Sergio Marchionne - CEO of both Fiat and Chrysler - made no mention of electric vehicles.
And Marchionne later told some reporters, according to Reuters, that electric cars would represent less than 2 percent of Chrysler's anticipated sales in 2015. That would be fewer than 60,000 - far from the 500,000 promised at the Detroit Auto Show in January, a few months before the car maker filed for bankruptcy.
Marchionne does plan to bring the Dodge Ram dual-mode hybrid to market next year and to introduce the fuel-efficient Fiat 500 and a lot of Fiat's fuel-efficient engine technology to the U.S. through Chrysler. He told reporters last week, Reuters reports, that he believes electric vehicles will struggle until battery reliability and range issues are resolved.
Chrysler reportedly still is talking about an all-electric commercial van to the market.
But Fiat got its 20 percent stake - and effective control - of Chrysler in a deal with the Obama Administration in which Chrysler promised to bring more fuel-efficient vehicles to market.
It's disappointing to see the company back-peddling and will be interesting to see how well Marchionne can do it without electrification.
It's not often automakers get noticed for doing something good, so we though we'd bring this tidbit about car designer-turned builder Henrik Fisker to your attention as a break from our usual Firday fare.
Fisker showed off his upcoming Karma plug-in hybrid Thursday evening to a crowd of about 200 close friends, and future customers, at an event in Santa Monica highlighted by presentation of the Danish-American Chamber of Commerce's 2009 innovation award to Fisker.
The native of Denmark, now CEO of California-based Fisker Automotive, was honored for "providing outstanding contributions and innovation addressing critical issues" with is work to bring a new line of highly fuel-efficient luxury automobiles to market.
The $88,000 Karma, which initially will be built in Finland while Fisker readies a former GM plant in Delaware for production in 2012 of line of less-expensive, "family-oriented" plug-in hybrid sedans, is slated to begin arriving for customer delivery in mid-2010.
Pictured from left at Thursday evening's award fete are Friis Arne Petersen, Danish Ambassador to the US; Torben Aaskov, President of Danish American Chamber; Fisker; and Johs Worsoe, Executive Vice President of Union Bank, which sponsored the award.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., one of China's largest automakers, said it plans to invest 6 billion yuan ($879 million) in developing alternative-fuel vehicles and related technologies in the next two years.
SAIC's chairman, Hu Maoyuan, said the money would be equally divided among research, product development and component and vehicle manufacturing programs from now though 2011.
The company plans to launch a line of hybrid and all-electric cars in China under the Roewe brand by 2012 and reportedly has begin testing a plug-in hybrid system of its own design.
The effort is part of a drive to fulfill the government's request that 5 percent of all passenger vehicles built in China by 2011 use alternative powertrains and that each Chinese automaker have at least one electric, hybrid or other alternative model in its lineup.
Automaker Alliance Jumps On Board, EV-Makers Could Reap Huge Benefits
Let the horse-trading begin.
The Obama Administration, seeking to boost development of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, is suggesting that automakers be given CAFE credits that would let low and zero-emission vehicles count for up to two cars when annual fleet fuel efficiency averages are calculated.
That standard would mean that an automaker seeking to meet the 35.5 MPG fleet average required by 2016 could use a single battery-electric car rated at, say, 100 miles per gasoline-gallon equivalent, to offset seven 12 MPG pickups and SUVs, as the average fuel economy of the eight vehicles - with the ZEV's rating doubled - would be 35.5 miles per gallon.
---------- Green Cars could be worth their weight in cash if proposed national fuel-economy credit trading program takes off. ----------
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents the domestic industry as well as several of the large foreign brands, has jumped on board the idea of emissions-based fuel economy credits.
"The ability to earn, bank and trade credits," Alliance spokesman Charles Territo told the Wall Street Journal, "is essential to meeting the goals of the national [CAFE] program.
A credit program that enables automakers to bank and trade excess fuel economy credits also could be a huge boon to companies such as Tesla Motors, Coda Automotive and Fisker Automotive, which have -or will have, in the case of Fisker and Coda - nothing but zero- and extremely low-emissions vehicles in their fleets.
Think City electric cars on the road at Valmet Automotive production plant in Finland.
As it prepares to move its manufacturing operation from its own facilities in Norway to a contract builder in Finland, a post-bankruptcy Think is cranking up its publicity engines.
The 18-year-old company, which has an agreement with investor Valmet Automotive to have the Finnish engineering and auto manufacturing services provider take over production of the plastic-bodied "urban EV," is showing a ready-for-market model at this weekend's Helsinki Electric Motor Show.
The car, primarily sold to utility and government fleets participating in electric vehicle test programs, is intended for public sale once Valmet production begins.
Think - once owned by Ford Motor Co. - also has plans to launch sales and manufacturing operations in the U.S., where battery supplier Enerdel and its parent, Ener1, are headquartered (Ener1 is also Think's largest single stakeholder).
Electric Vehicles International, a manufacturer of electric delivery trucks and low-speed neighborhood electric vehicles, has moved its factory and corporate headquarters back to the U.S. after operating in Mexico for several years.
The company, founded in California in 1989, moved to Toluca, Mexico, after spending years developing its drive system because it saw a bigger market for its work trucks south of the border, a company spokesman told Green Car Advisor.
The move back - the new facility is in Stockton in California's Central Valley - has been planned for almost a year, spurred by growing U.S. interest in electric vehicles.
EVI manufactures and markets all-electric Class 3 through Class 6 (5- to 13-ton) delivery trucks, and has recently begun marketing a low-speed NEV for businesses.
It also uses a proprietary electric drive and control system to do custom plug-in hybrid conversions for private business fleets.
The company says it has sold more than 1,000 of its electric trucks to date through sales offices in Mexico and Texas.
While it was heartening to hear Chrysler's new powertrain chief talk about small and efficient gas and diesel engines this morning, it was far less so to listen and not hear anything about that long-rumored Dodge EV or a line of plug-in hybrids in the 2009-2014 Chrysler product plan that was unwound for us during the day.
Under the old, pre-bankruptcy plan, there was to be a Dodge EV in 2010 and a Chrysler extended-range plug-n hybrid in 2011, with more to follow. Maybe even a Chrysler 300 with all-electric drive.
Chrysler's new corporate website has a nice feature and Q&A about electrification and the work of the 2-year-old ENVI (stands for ENVIronmental) group that's developing EV and PHEV concepts and prototypes for Chrysler.
We did hear that Chrysler will bring the popular Fiat 500 subcompact (right) to the U.S. late next year as a 2011 model, to be sold in major metropolitan areas - hooray!
But discussion of its activities and plans for its future and for future electrified vehicles was glaringly absent from today's product plan session under Chrysler's post-bankruptcy bosses from Fiat.
But we're optimists at heart, and keep hearing our Chrysler friends telling us not to worry, that ENVI's still part of the company plan and still working on vehicles and systems that eventually will see the light of day.
So we cross our fingers and wait for Sig. Marchionne and crew to honor us with that information. Sooner, please, than later. John O'Dell, Senior Editor.
Video explains Fiat Multiair system that will be used in many of Chrysler's new models to improve fuel efficiency, reduce emissions and boost power.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Chrysler's new powertrain chief, Paolo Ferrero, says the company will begin widespread adoption of gas and diesel engine technologies from its new owner, Fiat Group, with the first of a family of more fuel-efficient engines due next summer.
The company believes that hybrids and electric vehicles are a longer-term strategy and will concentrate in the "short-to-medium" term on internal combustion engine improvements and downsizing, and introduction of fuel-efficient clean diesels and engines using alternative low carbon fuels such as compressed natural gas.
Chrysler also will be adopting the start-stop system, also called a micro-hybrid system, that is used in some Fiat models to shut down the engine at stop signs and when idling. It can reduce emissions and improve fuel economy by as much as 5 percent, Ferrero said.
The first model in the Chrysler lineup to use it will be the the 2011 Jeep Wrangler.
By 2014, Ferrero said during a morning presentation at the day-long Chrysler product plan meeting, 38 percent of Chrysler vehicles will use small, four-cylinder engines, up from 19 percent today, and 14 percent will use diesel engines, up from 9 percent now.
Fisker Automotive hasn't started building cars yet, but is well on the way to ensuring a healthy launch platform when its first - the $88,000 Karma extended-range plug-in hybrid - starts rolling out of the assembly plant next summer.
The company, which so far has announced 45 U.S. dealership agreements and two smaller European distributorships, said this morning that it has now signed the 100-plus dealership Emil Frey Group to handle much of its European sales and service.
The Swiss company has outlets in six countries - Switzerland, Germany, France, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic - and handles premium brands.
Fisker previously signed GP Supercars in Italy and the Nellerman Group in Denmark as distributors and is working on a deal in China.
While the Karma initially is to be built in Finland by Valmet Automotive, Fisker last week agreed to acquire and outfit an idled GM plant in Delaware to build a second line of less-expensive plug-in hybrids and said that Karma production eventually would be moved to the U.S.
The company is financing its U.S. production and R&D in large part with proceeds of a $528 million federal loan.
Dodge Zeo8 concept shown at Detroit Auto Show last year could be basis for a new EV in revised Chrysler product lineup under post-bankruptcy recovery plan.
If there's anything certain about Chrysler's new 5-year product plan, to be unveiled in a lengthy conference tomorrow, it is that small cars, advanced technology gas engines and at least one electric vehicle all are likely to figure into the automaker's future.
The company, fresh out of bankruptcy, is now controlled by Italy's Fiat and Fiat, according to the leaks from Chrysler' suburban HQ in Auburn Hills, Mich., wants to use its new American unit as a portal to being its popular Fiat 500 subcompact over form Europe and to reintroduce the Alfa Romeo brand to the states.
Fiat, we've heard, also intends to use its "multiair" fuel-efficient engine technology in Chrysler vehicles going forward and, insiders say, wants to use the Dodge brand for introduction of an electric car - likely one of the models that have been under development - quietly - by Chrysler's ENVI group.
Yes, Virginia, the ENVI group, tasked with developing EVs and extended-range, plug-in hybrids for Chrysler when it was formed in 2007, has survived the financial mayhem and is still plugging away, so to speak.
Whether Chrysler's new masters will pick the sexy Dodge Zeo electric sports car, one of the Jeep plug-ins or the Chrysler 300-based EV concept shown at the Detroit auto show in January - all ENVI productions -or select an all-new Chrysler- or Fiat-based model for the EV is up in the air.
But as we've said all along - and as Fiat's Sergio Marchionne well knows - Chrysler can't survive in the new automotive age without EVs and PHEVs in its portfolio.
Nissan is ready to pump $220 million into its existing Japanese battery joint venture and an additional $330 million into a new lithium-ion battery factory in France that it would own with partner Renault, the Nikkei news service in Japan is reporting.
---------- Renault Fluence ZE concept is stylized version of EV the French automaker plans to start selling in Israel in 2011. ----------
Renault-Nissan Alliance chief Carlos Ghosn said just last month that the two companies were considering France as the location for a new battery plant, so the news from the Nikkei seems reasonable.
One of China's major oil companies - already a partner in the joint venture that will supply lithium-ion batteries for California-based Coda Automotive's upcoming electric sedan - is now considering a network of battery swap stations in China, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
China National Offshore Oil envisions a national network of stations where motorists can swap discharged EV batteries for full charged packs. "We can't build" electric cars, "but we can supply the energy," the oil company parent's strategy director told the newspaper.
Such a program, if it were to be launched, its success would be predicated on a number of Chinese automakers building their electric cars with swappable batteries.
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A Renault EV prototype sits on battery exchange platform in Better Place demonstration, while machinery pulls new battery pack from storage.
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The company is thinking along the same lines as California's Better Place, which plans national networks of battery exchange stations in Israel and Denmark for EVs to be built and sold in those countries by the Renault-Nissan Alliance starting in 2011.
With more fuel-efficient vehicles being pitched as key to a better future - at least from an environmental standpoint - two major green enterprises are launching student contests in an effort to breed awareness of the need to improve the efficiency of both cars and the electric-charging systems that may help propel them.
---------- Better Place, which plans to market this elaborate battery swap station, is challenging graduate design students to come up with a hands-free EV charger that costs less than $1,000. ----------
Better Place, the closely held electric-vehicle charging services provider, is awarding 65,000 euros ($96,000) in prizes in a global contest for graduate level design-school teams to come up with what the company deems to be the best hands-free electric-charging systems whose materials costs less than $1,000.
---------- High school students are asked to put on their thinking caps and design a dashboard instrument that helps drivers get better mileage. Ford's professional engineers came up with this "smart gauge' system in its Fusion hybrid. ----------
(The company apparently doesn't think that the highly touted multi-information display panels in the new Toyota Prius' and the Ford Fusion hybrid do the trick.)
Both contests represent efforts to look beyond professional engineers to see what new generations of thinkers will come up with in the arenas of EV charging and gasoline and diesel fuel economy.
SEAT, the Spanish car maker owned by Volkswagen, is discussing a major nationwide electric car program building off VW's developing EV technology and working with one of Spain's largest construction companies for infrastructure support.
The plan, outlined in a Dow Jones report, says builder Actividades de Construccion y Servicios would install a battery charging infrastructure while SEAT would electrify various models using VW technology unveiled earlier this year on the E-Up! concept.
All that's needed, apparently, is around 8 billion euro, (or $ 11.8 billion U.S.) and the support of Spain's Industry Ministry.
The idea of linking development of electric cars with development of an EV charging infrastructure seems to be foreign to the U.S, where each piece of the equation seems to be running at different speeds and on different timetables.
Batteries, batteries, batteries. That's looking like the name of the game these days.
Automakers have shown they can build decent conventional hybrids, and are about to show how well they can do on all-electric and extended-range, gas-electric hybrids - but the wall they all run into is how far their cars and trucks can go before the electrons run out.
That's in the batteries, and with few exceptions (Nissan and Hyundai come to mind) automakers don't make batteries. They may assemble the individual cells into battery packs designed for their specific vehicles, but it is at the level of the cell - and the chemistry incorporated into that cell - that the ability of a battery to store and release energy is controlled.
So its good to see so much activity in the battery development world.
Latest is in South Korea, where Hyundai Mobis and LG Chem have announced a joint venture agreement to produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrids. The $34-million venture is scheduled to start producing in the second half next year, with a goal of building batteries for as any as 200,000 vehicles a year.
General Motors, concerned that the departure of Volt development leader Frank Weber will worry the faithful - and mindful of its long-ago and well-kept promise to open the doors on the program - is hosting a live Web chat at 4 p.m. Eastern time this afternoon (1 p.m. Pacific) to answer questions and explain how the change in Volt leadership will, or won't, affect things.
Weber himself, along with Doug Parks, who will be replacing him in the Chevrolet Volt program, are hosting the chat.
We're providing a platform, so sign up below for a reminder and come back at the appointed time to follow along and ask questions of your own.
Automaker Says Departure Part of Long-Planned Shift of Duties; Volt Still on Schedule
GM is losing the longtime head of it's Chevrolet Volt extended-range, plug-in hybrid development team but says the departure of Frank Weber (left) to its German subsidiary, Opel, is part of a long-planned leadership shuffle.
Weber, 43, is returning to Opel, where he previously was a top product developer, after heading the Volt project since March 2007.
He is the second top member of GM's vehicle electrification team to depart in recent months.
Bob Kruse, executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries, left in September to start a consulting firm and was replaced by GM engineering veteran Micky Bly.
Doug Parks, chief engineer for GM's compact car programs in Europe, will replace Weber, who is returning to Opel Dec. 1 in a still undefined "senior leadership" post.
Weber's shift comes just as a post-bankruptcy GM, looking for cash and ways to refocus itself on its core products, is scheduled to close its deal to sell majority interest in Opel to a group headed by Canadian tier-one components manufacturer Magna International and backed by Russia's Sherbank.
Textron Corp., the global industrial giant that already makes low-speed electric utility vehicles and electric vehicle components, reportedly is eying a full-fledged EV manufacturing operation in China.
---------- Four-wheel drive low-speed EV from Textron's E-Z-Go subsidiary. ----------
IHS Global Insight, citing a Chinese business news service, reported this morning that an unidentified Textron executive told the news service that the factory would specialize in low-speed limited-range neighborhood electric vehicles that use conventional lead-acid batteries.
It would be operated in collaboration with an existing Chinese automaker, the report said, and would be capable of producing 10,000 NEVs a year.
Plans Change after Smith Electric Vehicles, Ford Mutually Dissolve Prior Agreement
Ford Motor Co. says it has selected Azure Dynamics to build the upcoming Ford Transit Connect electric delivery van after the automaker and Britain's Smith Electric Vehicles mutually decided to sever their longstanding ties.
Smith, which has been using Ford truck chassis in Europe for its electric trucks, had been named last year as builder of the Transit Connect battery-electric vehicle.
The word we hear is that Smith, which has a North American offshoot, Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., decided the small-EV market is getting too competitive and is going to concentrate its resources on the large-truck segment.
The change won't delay the planned launch of the electric van, though, said Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Moore. "We're still on track for late 2010," she told Green Car Advisor.
Azure, which already works with Ford on the hybrid version of the E450 commercial van due next year, will used its proprietary "ForceDrive" battery-electric powertrain for the Transit Connect EV.
In the biggest federal boost for green car development in decades, the 2010 energy budget bill just signed into law by President Obama includes $814 million in funding for various alternative fuel and vehicle programs.
One provision, $283 million for fuel cells and hydrogen fuel, restored more than $100 million that in funds for automotive-specific programs that Energy Secretary Steven Chu initially proposed cutting from the budget.
Chu said at the time he didn't see fuel-cell electric cars as commercially viable in the next 15-20 years.
Automakers and fuel cell developers quickly rallied to persuade Congress that Chu hadn't see the whole picture and promised to have commercial quality fuel cell cars - which use hydrogen for energy production - in the market by 2015.
Other green aspects of the bill include $311 million to help fund various vehicle electrification and advanced internal combustion engine projects and $220 million for advanced biofuel development.
As expected, the bill was cheered by trade groups representing the fuel cell, biofuels and electric drive industries.
SEMA, the paean to power, where exhaust fumes are perfume and green is a paint color, not a philosophy, is changing just a bit.
---------- Extended-range plug-in hybrid eVARO three-wheeler prototype will debut at SEMA show in Las Vegas next week. ----------
They've got environmentally friendly tires on display at the annual SEMA show now, along with cars that run on ethanol and automakers that brag about low emissions right along with their horsepower hype.
And this year, as last, there will be a display at the Las Vegas venue dedicated to the pursuit of fuel economy - the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition that's seeking a commercially viable 100-miles-per-gallon (or the alt-fuel equivalent) passenger vehicle.
The X Prize stand undoubtedly will feature a few of the contest entries, and is staging at least one vehicle debut, the three-wheel eVARO from Future Vehicle Technologies, the British Columbia development team that did last year's standout Aleconcept,which boasted 92 mpg fuel economy running with a gasoline engine.
President Obama has, as expected, signed a bill extending eligibility for federal Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program loans to certain fuel-efficient, three-wheeled vehicles, and Aptera, for one, isn't wasting any time.
---------- Aptera 2e prototype being tested early this year. ----------
The Southern California-based vehicle developer and would-be manufacturer of the three-wheel, wingless-aircraft shaped Aptera 2e, said it is updating its previously rejected application for a $75 million loan from the program that would help finance its anticipated 2010 manufacturing launch.
We've long believed that the world of inter-city delivery trucks is an ideal place to really push for vehicle electrification - the trucks don't usually need to travel all that far and a quiet electric motor sure beats a noisy diesel, idling by the curb and spewing noxious exhaust while the driver trundles a pallet of chips or sodas into the neighborhood convenience store.
Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. thinks so, too. and says that it's hefty Newton delivery tuck is doing so well that it is migrating the battery-electric drive system into the smaller Class 3 and Class 4 commercial truck segment (think Ford F-350 and F-450 dualies outfitted with cargo boxes).
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Smith Newton Class 5 delivery truck. New models will use same cab design but smaller chassis.
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Class 3 trucks weigh in at 5-7 tons, while Class 4 trucks are in the 7- to 8-ton range.
Newton launched in the U.S. earlier this year with Class 5-8 trucks, the 7.5- to 12-ton covered delivery and utility trucks used by companies such as Coca Cola, Frito-Lay and AT&T.
Smith says its Newton electric drive system can deliver up to 150 miles of range and a top speed of up to 50 miles an hour.
Smith U.S., headquartered in Kansas City, is an offshoot of Britain's Smith Electric Vehicles, which developed the Newton and bills it as the world's largest electric truck.
Nissan may be going global with the Leaf electric car sooner than planned.
The initial launch of the worlds first modern mass-produce EV was to be held on a limited basis in Japan and the U.S. next year, with global sales to follow in 2012, when the Leaf would be joined by several other new EVs Nissan is developing.
But now it looks as though Mexico might get its first Leafs in 2011.
Dow Jones International News, citing Nissan Executive Vice President - and head of the Americas operations - Carlos Tavares as its source, said Nissan has won a promise from the Mexican government to provide financial incentives for EVs in 2011 and to launch a study of the feasibility of developing a battery charging infrastructure.
Veep Discloses that New Plug-In Hybrid Will Come in More Than One Flavor
It wasn't much of a secret to leak - Henrik Fisker has always talked about offering multiple models of the "project Nina" plug-in hybrids his company plans to build.
But Vice President Joe Biden, somewhat notorious for his talkativeness, let slip during remarks at a recent Fisker event that those models would include an SUV-styled crossover and a coupe, in addition to the sedan that's always been talked abut.
Fisker later conformed that the Veep was correct, and went on to tell reporters that after he'd shown Biden sketches of the sedan the Vice President told him it "looked like a four-door Ferrari.'
We're not sure if Fisker, who made his name designing BMWs and Aston Martins, thought that was a compliment.
Biden's tongue slipped in Delaware earlier this week at ceremonies announcing the acquisition of the idled General Motors' Wilmington Assembly factory by Fisker's eponymous Fisker Automotive for $18 million - plus an anticipated $175 million in refurbishing and equipment costs. The money is coming form a $528 million federal Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan the company recently was awarded.
Gas-electric hybrids and plug-in electric vehicles may account for as much as 8 percent of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in 2013, up from about 2 percent last year, as the combination of rising oil prices, falling prices relative to hybrids' conventional counterparts and a broader network of plug-in charging sites pull more people away from gasoline-burning cars, according to a recent report on the next generation of autos.
Worldwide, hybrid-vehicle sales will surge to about 2 million units in 2013 from about 550,000 units last year, while rechargeable - or plug-in - battery-electric cars will account for about 350,000 sales, compared with less than 10,000 plug-in sales last year, according to the NextGen research unit of technology industry specialist ABI Research.
With domestic new vehicle sales slumping to about 13 million units last year and the U.S. accounting for about half of the hybrid vehicles sold worldwide, less than one in 40 new U.S. cars were hybrids or plug-ins last year.
"As the economy improves, the price of oil is going to go up, so it will be much more sensible to go battery-electric or hybrid," said Larry Fisher, research director for Oyster Bay, New York-based NextGen and project manager of the report.
"As hybrids and electric vehicles come into production in greater numbers, the cost premium will come down."
Whether the surge is already taking place is a question whose answer was blurred as new car sales to surged across the board in July and August, driven by the federal cash for clunker program, only to plunge last month when the incentives stopped.
A little birdie tells us that Hyundai has signed an agreement with Korea's state-run power company to develop an electric car and charging system that will be ready for sale in Korea by 2011.
The car itself will be done by Hyundai and its Kia subsidiary, with Korean Electric Power Co. working on the EV battery charger.
Hyundai may already have the car well-in hand. It showed a prototype city EV, the i10 Electric (right), at the Frankfurt auto show earlier this year.
The car used a 16 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack and promiosed a top speed of 80 mpgh and a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge.
The memo calls for the first charger and a prototype Hyundai EV to be ready in just 10 months - August 2010 - with the car and charger to be ready to go on sale sometime in 2011.
News crews focus on Tesla owner Simon Hackett after he and bearded co-driver Emilis Prelgauskas piloted red Tesla Roaster 313 miles through Australian outback on a single charge.
Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to us, but the news from Coober Pedy in South Australia is that a Tesla Roadster being driven in the annual Global Green Challenge rally for alternatively fueled vehicles has just set a new Tesla distance record of 313 miles on a single charge - achieved by rolling through the Australian outback at a painfully slow crawl.
Drivers Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas drove south from Alice Springs, in approximately the geographic center of Australia, to a rally point about 112 miles north of Coober Pedy, famed for its opal mines, at an average speed of around 35 mph.
They had an estimated 3 miles of range on the Tesla's lithium-ion battery pack remaining when they arrived.
The previous distance record for a Tesla on a single charge was 241 miles during the Rallye Monte Carlo d'Energies Alternatives early this spring. That car, which Tesla says was the only entry to complete the entire rally course, had an estimated 38 miles of range remaining.
It wasn't clear from earlier statements but it is unequivocal now: Fisker Automotive plans to welcome the United Auto Workers Union with open arms if its deal to acquire a former GM plant in Delaware goes through as planned.
Avoiding unions is de rigeur for most new manufacturing enterprises in the U.S., but a company spokesman told Green Car Advisor this morning that Fisker is "looking to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with the UAW" as it opens its first U.S. assembly plant.
Fisker announced a few minutes ago that it has signed a letter of intent to buy the former Wilmington Assembly facility for $18 million and will refurbish and equip it to produce a new plug-in hybrid family sedan that will go into production in late 2012.
The area around the factory - which GM shuttered earlier this year as part of its bankruptcy reorganization - is home to thousands of skilled auto workers who belong to UAW Local 435.
Fisker has said that it expects to employ as many as 2,000 at the plant when it hits full capacity, and spokesman Russell Datz told us this morning that hiring a highly skilled UAW workforce "is essential" to the factory's success.
Deal Could Open Employment Door For UAW Workers Laid Off When Plant Closed
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
As just about the whole world was predicting all weekend, Fisker Automotive and the GM assets liquidator, Motors Liquidation Co., have done a deal in which start-up Fisker will buy the idled Boxwood Road assembly plant near Newport and Wilmington, Del., for production of a new plug-in hybrid.
Fisker, based in Southern California, received a $528.7million federal loan last month to help pay for a production plant and plant refurbishing costs, among other things.
Fisker said the letter of intent calls for it to pay $18 million for the plant if its evaluation of the 52-year-old facility doesn't uncover insurmountable problems. The deal is scheduled to close in four months and Fisker then would spend an additional $175 million refurbishing and outfitting the plant to produce the new plug-in starting in late 2012.
Other details of the deal weren't immediately available, although it sounds as though Fisker apparently will use at least some of the UAW workers laid off by General Motors when the Boxwood Road factory - also called the Wilmington Assembly plant - was idled earlier this year as part of GM's short-lived bankruptcy reorganization, in which underutilized facilities were closed and turned over to the newly created liquidation company for disposal.
It's unclear whether the plant would be unionized - a costly move for a nascent car maker - but in a statement released just before the formal announcement this morning, UAW director Gary Casteel said that the deal gives "UAW local 435 workers the opportunity to partner with Fisker Automotive to create a greener America by building a plug-in hybrid car that will compete globally."
Honda Motor Co. pulled the plug on Formula 1 racing to divert the money being spent there to green technologies and the company that's been playing second fiddle to Toyota in the green cars sweepstakes says it wants to hybridize larger vehicles again.
---------- Honda's top executive prefers hydrogen fuel cell FCX Clarity but says battery-electric cars will come first. ---------
That's the word from Honda President and CEO Takanobu Ito, speaking with a select group of automotive writers - including Edmunds' Inside Line News Editor Kelly Toepke - at the 2009 Tokyo auto show last week.
Toepke tells us that Ito is committed to the further greening of Honda, even to the extent of developing an environmentally friendly sports car that - his words - is truly green, "not like the car Lexus announced" at the show. He was referring to the limited production, V10-powered, $375,000 Lexus LFA supercar, which he apparently doesn't believe is green enough.
It hasn't started building its own yet, but start-up electric delivery van maker Bright Automotive has started a consulting business offering services to other automakers interested in electric powertrains, lightweight materials techniques and general manufacturing efficiency.
Those things are specialties of Bright, formed at the beginning of 2008 by battery specialist John Waters - he designed the battery pack for GM's renowned/notorious (take your pick) EV1.
The company's IDEA commercial van prototype features a plug-in hybrid powertrain that mates a gas engine and an electric drive system and is hundreds of pounds lighter and far more aerodynamic - thus four or five times more fuel efficient - than competing vans of the same load capacity.
The new offshoot, called Bright eSolutions, is an in-house consulting and engineering operation offering to apply Bright's staff and their learnings from the IDEA development process to customers' projects.
The group launched the new business unit today in conjunction with the announcement of its first contract- with the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) for a $1.4 million project to demonstrate Bright's parallel hybrid technology for no-combat use in military vehicles.
The rumors began a little over a month ago - we reported on on of the early ones - that India's REVA Electric Car Co. was eying upstate New York for a U.S. assembly plant for its just-unveiled NXR 3-door hatchback EV (right).
Well, we missed the formal announcement (no correspondents in that part of the Empire State), but it was made, late Friday: Reva has selected a just-formed U.S. electric car company, Bannon Automotive, to partner with it in an as-yet unbuilt EV factory near Syracuse.
The announcement has brought mixed reviews from New York citizenry, some welcoming the idea while others worrying that the state is handing out tax incentives and other financial lures to a relatively unknown enterprise.
Reva and Bannon have executed an exclusive North American licensing deal and have agreed to pony up a combined $26.5 million to rehabilitate and outfit an abandoned 150,000-square-foot building in a Syracuse suburb, the local newspaper reported.
Fisker Automotive appears ready to announce a deal this week to lease or buy a shuttered GM factory in Delaware to use for production of the plug-in hybrid family sedan the company has said will follow its Fisker Karma extended-range PHEV.
Vice President Joe Biden and state and local officials in Delaware are slated to attend an announcement at 10 a.m.Tuesday at the former GM Boxwood Road plant, near Newport, Del., and a spokesman for Fisker said Friday that a plant-location announcement was being scheduled for that day.
The new car, expected to be smaller and less costly that than exotic Karma, has been code-named "Project NINA" by the company, homage to the ship in Christopher Columbus' tiny fleet and signifying, company founder and chief executive Henrik Fisker has said, a "new world" for the auto industry.
The car, as previously described by Fisker, is to be a $48,000 (estimated) extended-range hybrid marketed to upscale families in 2012. The Karma, an $88,000 performance car, is just beginning production by a contractor in Finland, with deliveries to U.S. customers to begin in the summer. Both prices are before any applicable federal and local tax credits or other incentives.
Southern California-based Fisker Automotive received a $528 milllion federal loan last month from the Department of Energy to finance Project NINA and to fund additional U.S.-based engineering and development work on the Karma.
We're sure they've got an in-house name for it, but GM says it will give consumers a chance to come up with the official name for the Chevrolet Volt's initial exterior color - a silvery hue that has a slight color-shift toward emerald when the light hits it just right.
Killerwatt?
The automaker will fly three finalists in the Volt color naming contest to Los Angeles for the 2009 LA Auto Show in December (there are worse places to be that time of year) - they will also get a $400 gift card, two nights at an LA hotel and admission to the show's initial media preview day on Dec. 2.
ElectroLicious?
The finalists will be announced Nov. 16 and the public will be asked to vote on the best name from then until Dec. 1 on a special GM website.
Names can be submitted on the contest site until the evening of Dec. 1, when the winner will be announced.
Shockingly Silver?
In addition to the trip and show, the winning contestant will get the opportunity to test drive a pre-production Volt.
GM says it will spend $202 million to ready its Flint Engine South site to build the 1.4-liter four-cylinder engines that will be used as on-board generators in the Chevrolet Volt extended-range hybrid .
The company originally had planned to spend $359 million to build a new factory on a nearby site at its Flint campus, but its reduced financial circumstances have led it to settle for renovation of an existing plant there.
As has always been the plan, the factory also will build the engines for use in a conventionally-powered small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, which is scheduled to launch in the U.S. in late spring next year. The Volt won't go into production until almost the end of 2010.
The Flint plant, which GM first announced last July, then suspended amidst the financial tumult that led the the automaker's short bankruptcy and taxpayer rescue, is slated to produce 40 engines per day when production starts late next year. Production will hit 800 engines a day by fall 2011, GM officials said.
Pre-production Chevrolet Volt (left) on display at GreenHouse in Virginia; Studio shot of Chevrolet Cruze compact (right).
Because the cars will launch before the factory's running at full capacity, engines for both - a turbocharged 1.4-liter for the Cruz and a normally aspirated version for the Volt - initially will be imported from a GM plant in Austria, a company spokesman said.
Tesla Motors has opened a Colorado showroom, less than six weeks after the electric sports car maker said it received $82.5 million in equity funding to help it open stores.
The company debuted its showroom at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colo., today.
It will serve as the EV maker's Rocky Mountain-regional hub.
Tesla's looking to boost sales fin what it says is the most environmentally friendly state in the U.S. Colorado provides state tax incentives that help lower the cost of EVs.
Tired of just looking at the pictures of Nissan's upcoming new electric car? Hankering for a good old fashioned eyeballs-on-metal, look-for-yourself at the real thing?
---------- You'll still have to picture yourself inside one: Nissan says test drives of the Leaf EV won't be available during national tour. ----------
Nissan plans to help you out with that.
The automaker will be staging an 11-state, 24 city (one of 'em in Canada) pre-sale tour of the five-passenger, 100-miles-per-charge Leaf hatchback it plans to launch in the U.S. and Japan next year.
No drives, though - the car on tour will be the only left-hand drive prototype that exists and Nissan doesn't want to chance breaking it, a spokeswoman tells us. (Our photos here are off the only right-hand drive Leaf prototype, which was unveiled in Japan in August.)
Initial sales of the Leaf in the U.S. will be limited to large markets and regions where utilities and government authorities have executed agreements to facilitate installation of private and public EV charging stations.
But the sales territories are expected to expand as - the automaker hopes - people in other areas demand a charging infrastructure of their own. Nissan plans a global rollout of at least three EV models in 2012.
The Leaf tour in the U.S. will begin Nov. 13 with a four-day run in Los Angeles and end up in New York City on St. Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) after a five-day stand there.
Nissan says that people will be able to look, touch and ask questions, and will providing all the necessary information about the tour on its Leaf Website.
Here's the basic schedule, so you can see when the Leaf will be in your vicinity.
Test Car Shows Ford's Done the Necessary Work; Cost, Infrastructure Still Need Tune Ups
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Just got my first drive in one of Ford's prototype battery-electric Focus EVs, the culmination of a short electrification program Ford and the Electric Power Research Institute held for the media in San Francisco this morning.
It's great that Ford is pursuing the electric car path, with plans to have a retail Focus EV in the market in 2011, but a little depressing to hear - again - that we're talking about a $40,000 (guesstimate) Focus with 100 miles of range.
Understood - EVs are going to be expensive at first, until growing volume helps car makers and parts suppliers achieve the economies of scale that brings costs down.
But still worrisome to think that initial success - and first impressions by many in the media and on the street - are going to depend on the discount buyers will get with federal and in some areas regional tax credits and, probably more important, the ability of utilities and private providers to establish a usable public network of EV battery chargers.
With the former, the Focus EV is likely to cost about the same as the post-credit Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid, or $32,500 - give or take a few. That won't intimidate early adopters, but it's a lot for the average car buyer, even with the substantial fuel and maintenance savings that come with an EV.
Without the latter, the Focus and other EVs and PHEVS are likely to languish at any price - doing duty only as second or third cars, spending lots of weekends in the garage and coming out only to make trips to the store or to haul the kids to school or adults to work.
AutoObserver contributing editor Bill Visnic hung around the first annual Plug-In Vehicles (and batteries) conference in Detroit on Monday and filed this synopsis of the day's goings-on for Green Car Advisor.
DETROIT - As the inaugural "Business of Plugging In" conference proceeded here earlier this week (it ended Wednesday afternoon) participants from the auto, energy and regulatory sectors generated intriguing discussions and exchanges of important information and ideas.
The conference attracted a sellout 600 attendees and offered more than a dozen panels, keynote speeches and sessions.
Some highlights from the first day of the conference:
The situation for the supply of lithium for lithium-ion batteries is a topic of frequent discussion. Experts here say lithium - which is produced mainly in South America and Russia - should remain reasonably priced and in good supply "for many years to come." Lithium is claimed to be the thirty-third most abundant element in the earth's crust.
For those attending college or preparing to attend college: consider an engineering degree in materials science. Executives from several of the key battery-development companies say there is and will continue to be high demand for people with such expertise, which combines knowledge from many of the fields crucial to battery development.
Automakers or suppliers - who's best to make batteries? The consensus seems to be that suppliers eventually should take the wheel on this one, although for many crucial first-generation production vehicles, automakers seem anxious to keep battery development as close to home as possible. As the industry progresses, though, most believe suppliers should handle ongoing battery development and manufacturing to insure that all automakers have access to the most up-to-date innovations and chemistries.
To be effective replacements for conventionally powered vehicles, electrified models are going to have to get a lot lighter. Duh.
Many Cost Reductions Due to Subsidies, Not Manufacturing Efficiencies; Goals Uncertain
By Bill Visnic, Contributor
DETROIT - A shocking fact from the Business of Plugging In conference here: At today' s prices, the raw materials needed to produce the advanced lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids or extended-range electric vehicles with energy capacity similar to General Motors' Chevrolet Volt will cost at least $8,000 per vehicle.
---------- GM engineers work on T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack for Chevrolet Volt. ----------
It gets deeper when the experts here start talking about the manufacturing investment required for all manner of electrified-vehicle components that at this moment don't exist. A plant to manufacture enough batteries for 10,000 large-battery-capacity electric vehicles will cost $60 million to $80 million.
Participants in the conference point to these figures as evidence that the Obama administration's goal of one million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015 probably isn't going to happen - despite word from many with battery interests that costs are dropping.
J.E. Robertson, chief technical officer and executive vice president of new-product creation for Canada's Magna International Inc. (the same Magna that's buying GM's Adam Opel car-making operations in Europe), did say that plants designed to make the batteries in high volume could reduce costs.
But for now, somebody's got to build a plant to address even 10,000 vehicles.
Nissan's wild Land Glider concept(left) will be transformed into a real EV that the automaker will bring to market in the next few years, part of a stable of four electric cars - including a luxury Infiniti model - the automaker intends to build as it begins its drive to electrify.
The Infiniti EV and Land Glider-based Nissan model were announced by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn during the Tokyo auto show press preview this morning.
The company, which was late to market a hybrid, intends to use battery-electric cars, starting with the already developed Nissan Leaf, as a way to catch up to or even surpass Toyota and Honda in the fuel efficiency race. Ghosn has said he believes electric drive will grow to be the dominant automotive propulsion system.
Nissan, Renault Also Planning to Lease Batteries for Their EVs in Most Markets
There are all sorts of hopes and plans for lowering the cost of electric cars - most hinging on government subsidies and increased sales volumes that will power component costs - but one that doesn't lean of outside help is the idea of leasing the batteries with the car rather than including them in the sales price.
---------- Reva NXR is slated for 2010 launch in Europe, Asia. ----------
We first heard the idea from Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place. He suggests looking at the batteries as the principal part of the fuel system and thinking of leasing in terms of how we pay for fuel in our gasoline cars.
We don't buy a lifetime's supply of gas when we buy a new car now, he says. We pay for it as we need it. Why not the same with batteries and electricity?
Pay a monthly fee for the batteries and the few pennies it costs to recharge them each day and if the lease price is figures properly your "fuel" costs are likely to be the same or less than if you were driving a car with an internal combustion engine.
Among other things leasing means the car makers, not you, are responsible for fixing problems and for providing updated batteries when improvements are introduced.
Now we know the analogy doesn't hold up all that well - the electrons are the fuel and the batteries more like the fuel tank - but the idea still sounds pretty good.
The city of Boulder, Colo., and its power provider, Xcel Energy, have launched a long-term "smart grid" project and Toyota Motor Co. wants to be a player.
---------- Toyota's prototype Prius Plug In Hybrid pictured in Japan last year. ----------
The automaker and world's leading seller of gas-electric hybrid vehicles is announcing this afternoon that it will place 10 of its experimental Prius plug-in hybrids in service in Boulder next year as part of the project.
The Prius PHEVs are part of a fleet of 500 of the cars to be placed into service around the globe in 2010 as Toyota begins testing for possible retail sales of a hybird with extended all-electric range and rechargeable batteries.
First Smart Grid City
Xcel has begun what it calls the SmartGridCity project in Boulder, making the university city - already one of the greenest in the nation - into the world's first smart grid enabled municipality.
Honda Motor Co. is still high on hydrogen, but now thinks battery-electrics might be the way to go until there's a hydrogen fueling infrastructure to support the fuel-cell electric cars the company prefers.
---------- Honda EV-N electric city car concept being displayed at Tokyo Auto Show. ----------
Honda CEO Takanobu Ito told an industry seminar in Tokyo Monday that he would now consider launching electric cars in the United States, Europe and Japan while waiting for hydrogen cars to become marketable. Reuters news service reported Itos' remarks today.
The automaker, which made a big splash last year with its ready-for-production FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric car, had been counting on that technology to enable it to catch up with hybrid champion Toyota in the fuel-efficiency sweepstakes to mature.
But ongoing road tests of the Clarity and General Motors' fuel-cell Equinox SUV haven't generated enough interest to spur fuel companies to build hydrogen stations, limiting the potential market for fuel-cell cars to urban areas of California and the New York metropolitan region.
That's not enough to generate the high volume production that would be needed to increase the number of component suppliers and reduce the cost of the highly specialized fuel cell systems.
From Gas to Electric, 3-Wheelers to Exotics, Contestants Vie to Build 100 MPG Vehicles
Students from West Philadelphia High School are youngest competitors, but no slouches when it comes to design or performance, as shown by their Alternative category entry, the biodiesel-electric EVX-GT hybrid sports car. The school also has a diesel-electric hybrid Ford Focus in the Conventional class.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Judges for the Progressive Automotive X Prize contest have winnowed the field in the race for $10 million in prize money for building the best 100 MPG MPH car to the final 43 teams.
The teams will enter a total of 53 vehicles (there are different categories, so multiple entries are possible) in a competition pitting them against one another in a variety of road and safety tests.
All the finalists already have survived two design judging rounds that pared the number of entries from the original 111 teams with 135 vehicles.
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The Progressive Automotive X Prize was launched at last year's New York Auto Show.
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The contest, aimed at inspiring green-car development, was announced more than 18 months ago. It challenges contestants to design, build and operate a commercially viable vehicles that can deliver fuel economy of at least 100 miles per gallon - or the equivalent.
Part of the competition involves presenting a marketing plan to the judges, who will decide if the vehicle has real-world possibilities.
Among them, the final entrants use 14 different fuels including gasoline and electricity, with battery-electric and hybrid-electric the most popular types of powertrains.
In the hybrid-electric category, teams are entering vehicles whose internal combustion engines run on gasoline, diesel biodiesel, ethanol, butanol and compressed natural gas.
There are even three entries that use plain old gasoline as their sole fuel.
Webcast from Michigan Plug-In Meet Fields Queries About Volt, Other Plug-In Issues
When GM sponsors these things most of the questions are likely to be Volt-centric and awfully flattering of General Motors' program - as last week's maiden effort to co-host a GM-CalCars Webcast showed.
But we thought we'd try one more time in hopes real answers to serious questions about the electrification of the auto and all of its ramifications might spring from questions poised to Mark Duvall, director of electric transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Duvall and Britta Gross, GM's hydrogen- and battery-electric programs director, are participating in the "Business of Plugging In" conference being sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research.
It starts at 4 p.m Eastern time, 1 p.m. Pacific time, and you can participate from here, without having to leave the comfort of your armchair (or office chair, as the case may be).
Norwegian EV-maker Think says it will resume production next month after more six months of financial turmoil that idled manufacturing.
But the new plastic-bodied Think City car (right) won't be built in Norway. Production is moving to Finland where investor and contract auto builder Valmet Automotive will assemble them along with the Boxters and Caymens it now builds for Porsche. Valmet also has the contract to build the Fisker Karma exotic plug-in hybrid for Southern California-based Fisker Automotive.
Think Sales Director Richard Walz told Automotive News Europe that the company hopes to have 4,600 cars built next year, to supply government and private customers.
Green Car Advisor hasn't been able to wrangle seat-time in one of the company's cars since it was owned by Ford Motor Co. (which bought Think in 1999 and sold it in 2003), but we can report that back then it was a fun, practical little runabout, with a range of 50 miles and a top speed of 55 miles an hour. That range has been doubled since then with advanced lithium-ion batteries.
South Korean battery make LG Chem says it will spend more than $300 million over the next three years to build a manufacturing plant in Michigan for advanced technology batteries.
---------- Basic design for Chevy Volt battery pack shows it contains more than 200 individual lithium-ion cells. ----------
The company is one of four battery makers approved for generous state tax incentives this summer as Michigan bids to become the nation's battery-making center.
At least three other battery groups, from Germany, South Korea and the U.S., also have expressed interest n locating plants in Michigan, state officials say.
LG plans to make batteries for a variety of applications and customers, but is linked closely with General Motors because a subsidiary, Compact Power, earlier this year won separate contracts from GM to build the lithium ion battery packs for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid and an as-yet-unnamed 2011 Buick plug-in hybrid.
The LG plant is to be located in Holland, Mich., about 180 miles due west of Detroit.
Compact Power which has a facility in Troy, Mich., near Detroit, apparently will build the completed battery packs using lithium-in cells made by parent LG Chem at its new plant.
(Alert: CalCars tells us this morning that GM has rescheduled the starting time for the Webcast. It's now 3:30 p.m. Eastern, not 12:30. We're sorry or any inconvenience.)
We're not sure if it will be a full and frank discussion of the issues, or a GM promo for the Chevy Volt, but if you have questions we haven't answered already - about plug-ins in general or the Volt specifically - here's a chance to get 'em answered.
The hour-long Webcast begins today at 12:30 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 9:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. Pacific (and you know what time it will be if you live in one of the other time zones).
The session will be conducted by GM's Tony Posawatz, manager of the Chevrolet Volt project, and Felix Kramer, founder of the California Cars Project (CalCars).
Wheego Electric Cars says it has selected traction battery specialist Discover Energy Corp. as supplier of the traction batteries to be used in its low-speed Wheego Whip neighborhood electric vehicle.
Discover produces a power-dense type of lead-acid battery called a dry cell or absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery in which the electrolyte is absorbed into a mat of fine composite fibers.
An AGM battery has no liquid to spill the event of an accident and because of its design and components handles the higher operating temperatures of an EV system better than other lead-acid batteries and holds its charge longer.
Governments' Clean Fleet Mandates Creating Huge Market for Workhorse EVs
Canadian EV-converter Rapid Electric Vehicles has signed the City of Santa Monica, Caif., as the first U.S. customer for its Ford Escape-based REV 300 ACX electric sport utility.
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REV showed off its Ford Escape conversion at the recent 2009 AltCar Expo in Santa Monica.
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REV, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, makes and installs a conversion package that includes the electric powertrain and power management system that replace the gasoline powertrain in Ford Escape SUVs.
The city selected REV "because they have a high-quality conversion" that can help move it toward its goal of a zero-emissions fleet, fleet superintendent Rick Sikes said in a statement issued by REV.
The company is talking to other U.S. fleets and earlier this month announced a preliminary agreement with the city of Inglewood, Calif.
REV is targeting cities and other government agencies because EVs, though expensive up front, can often save a fleet operation money in the long run due to their reduced maintenance and operating. Most government fleets are required to purchase low-carbon, fuel efficient vehicles and many have federal or state funding to offset the higher purchase cost of electric vehicles.
It's a potentially huge market, with more than 30 million government and commercial fleet vehicles in the U.S.
Volt test car passes UPS truck on Interstate 80 near Toledo, Ohio, during 2-day engineering development drive.
An engineering team for the Chevrolet Volt - the highly-touted plug-in hybrid General Motors Co. plans to launch around this time next year - is on the road for a 1,200-mile test in a fleet of eight pre-production Volts and pulled off to the side of the road today for a brief chat with journalists.
The big story for Volt skeptics may be the report from engineers that they don't see any problem achieving the car's targeted 40 miles of all-electric driving range.
The Volt's lithium-ion batteries are performing well and chief engineer Andrew Farah said he has "no concerns about being able to get up to 40 miles" with production Volts.
The team (left) departed the the Detroit area Tuesday and was in West Virginia this afternoon, about halfway through the Volt test drive.
Overnight, half of the test fleet got battery charges and half didn't, the better to replicate real-world driving in which some drivers may not have access to the overnight recharging that would allow resumption of battery-only operation.
Great Britain, where the Mini was born, will finally get a chance to sample the all-electric version of the tiny car (right).
BMW, which now owns Mini, said a lease program that has put nearly 1,000 battery-electric new-generation Mini-Es on the road in the U.S. and Germany will be extended to the United Kingdom next year with 40 of the cars available for 6-month leases.
Half the leases - at 330 British pounds per month ($527 at today's exchange rate) - will be with fleet users and half with private parties who agree, as in the U.S. and Germany, to drive the car at least 300 miles a month, keep it garaged when not in use and provide Mini with a regular stream of comment and criticism.
The purpose of the program is to find out how people use the cars, especially their driving and battery-charging patterns.
In California, support for government-mandated regulation of private industries tends to go south with the geography. And when it comes to the idea of regulating electric-car charging systems planned for the state, the public utilities are following suit, leaving the state regulatory commission with little guidance as it begins considering the issue.
Bay Area-based Pacific Gas & Electric, in a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission published last week, said that private charging system companies such as Coulomb Technologies and Better Place need to be closely regulated as they build out and operate electric charging station networks.
At issue, the utility said, is the stability of the power grid as more and more EVs and extended-range hybrids become available and need places to recharge their batteries.
Also at issue - but unmentioned - is whether and how much private companies should profit from providing electric car owners with power that the utilities originally provided.
At the far end of the state, San Diego Gas & Electric argued against such regulation, saying that the Public Utilities Commission was formed to regulate public utilities, not private companies.
Volvo officials didn't have much to say about U.S. plans when they showed off their new C30-based electric car concept and a prototype plug-in, diesel-electric hybrid (right) in Sweden last month.
But the head of the automaker's U.S. operation confirmed in a recent interview what we've long suspected, that Volvo does plan to bring plug-in hybrids and diesels to this market at some point.
The big questions are when, and what about that EV? Both went unanswered in Volvo Cars North America CEO Doug Speck's interview with Automotive News.
Fuel prices, consumer interest and government support of the various advanced automotive technologies will drive Volvo's efforts, Speck said.
He repeated what Volvo told us last month - that the company's first pug-in hybrid would hit the market in Europe in 2012. He added that it will come to the U.S. sometime after that, and that Volvo diesels also would be sold here at some point.
It all makes sense - as does our suspicion that a Volvo EV won't be withheld from this market for too long once the company gives the go-ahead to a production project.
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Volvo showed off this C30 hatchback-based battery-electric prototype in Sweden last month.
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The U.S., after all, accounts for nearly a quarter of Volvo's sales and the company can't afford to withhold its newest and most advanced vehicles for very long.
Add to that the demands of the new U.S. CAFE rules which require average fleet fuel efficiency to hit 35 mph by 2020 and you can build a pretty good case for Volvo hybrids, diesels and EVs being sold here.
A new "transportable" solar EV charging station is being tested in the Northern California city of San Jose - and no, you can't tow it behind your Tesla or other electric vehicle for constant charging and unlimited range.
---------- One of the city's plug-in Prius conversions using SunPods' solar EV charging system at temporary location in San Jose. ----------
It needs a grid-connected electrical hookup.
That said, the SP-300 "Plug-N-Go" EV charger is, according to manufacturer SunPods Inc., the world's first modular, integrated solar power system that can be pre-assembled at the factory and dropped off at your site, ready to go except for that electrical hookup.
It is an effort to move EV charging off the grid (as much as possible), SunPods co-founder and president Dan Jaeger said. "It just didn't make sense for us to power electric cars with electricity produced by burning coal and other carbon-based fuels."
The charging station does need a hookup to the grid, though, to supply power for the inverter that makes it possible to send excess solar electricity back into the grid, and to draw power from the grid for charging when the sun doesn't shine.
The production version Bluecar EV unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year is a go, scheduled to hit the streets in 2011 with almost 6,000 orders already in hand, the chief executive of Italy's Pininfarina said in a recent interview.
The famed Italian design-and-build house is teaming with French industrialist Vincent Ballore on the Bluecar EV project - Pininfarina to...well, design and build the vehicle, Ballore to supply the lithium-polymer battery-and-supercapacitor energy storage system
Pininfarina CEO Silvio Pietro Angori confirmed that things were still on track in an interview with Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, picked up and reprinted by auto industry journal Automotive News' European edition.
Moving to underscore its commitment to electric drive technologies, Ford Motor Co. has named former hybrid systems director Nancy Gioia to the new post of director of global electrification.
Although Gioia already oversaw electrification programs in her previous job as director of sustainable mobility technology and hybrid vehicle programs, Ford said the new position will help it intensify its focus on EVs and hybrid-electric vehicles..
---------- Ford's Nancy Gioia, at Small Business Administration conference earlier this year. ----------
No new vehicle programs were announced along with Gioia's promotion, but the company said it plans to accelerate development of conventional and plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles.
The company presently sells the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrid SUVs and the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrid sedans.
Additionally, the company has announced launch plans for a battery-electric Ford Transit Connect small commercial van in 2010, a battery-electric Focus compact car in 2011, and a new conventional hybrid model and its first plug-in hybrid in 2012.
National Laboratories Team Up to Tackle the 'PHEV Conundrum,' Devise Realistic MPG
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
You might have noticed that we have a hard time swallowing GM's claim that its upcoming Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid will be rated at 230-miles per gallon in city driving.
---------- Plug-in Prius conversion being tested on Argonne National Laboratory dynamometer. ----------
Actually, it is possible that the car can be rated at that phenomenal level of fuel efficiency - what we have trouble with is the idea that it will actually deliver.
The problem is in determining how to handle blended power-source vehicles such as the Volt when determining fuel efficiency.
It's easy with conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and standard hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) - they use only one fuel, so however much is used over however many miles are driven is the fuel economy, or MPG.
And battery-electric cars (EVs) are -relatively - easy as well. Variables Galore
One method is to compute the BTU value of the electricity they consume, adjust for energy loses in the charging process, and compare the resulting total BTU consumption with the BTUs in a comparable amount of gas (1 gallon equals 33.44 kilowatt hours of electricity) and you can come up with an MPG equivalent (there are other wrinkles, but this isn't a science class so we're just giving you the short-and-sweet version).
But plug-ins (PHEVs), especially those with extended all-electric range, bring so many variables to the table that finding a meaningful MPG-equivalent figure is daunting.
If the Volt's claimed 40 miles of all-electric travel holds up in the real world, then a person who owns one and never drives more than 40 miles before recharging could claim infinite MPG - plus the value of the electricity used.
But GM says the Volt's range extender consumes a gallon of gas every 30 miles after the battery is depleted, so a driver with a 50-mile commute would get 75 MPG on gasoline, plus the electrical consumption, while someone driving 100 miles a day would be getting around 50 MPG from the gas engine-generator, pus the energy value of the electricity used for the first 40 miles.
Borrowing from Fifties-era dream machines like GM's Firebird - with a nod to George Jetson's flying car - a Dutch engineering firm is rolling out a jet turbine technology it says will provide a much needed boost for tomorrow's electric vehicles.
The company, Micro Turbine Technology (MTT), is developing extremely small gas turbines to be used as for things as mundane as generating auxiliary cabin power for big-rig trucks and exciting as extending the travel range of electric cars.
An 'electric jet-car' brings up images of wildly futuristic machinery, but cars powered with this technology would have more in common with real-world hybrids such as the Toyota Prius or upcoming Chevrolet Volt.
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Chrysler experimented with turbine power in the early 1960s.
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MTT's powertrain would use the micro-turbine as an on-board generator to supply the cars' batteries with extra energy when needed. The turbine, like the gas-powered engine-generator in a Chevy Volt, would never provide power directly to the driven wheels.
MTT claims its micro-turbine is ideal as a range extender, more efficient than a traditional internal combustion engine-generator thanks to its small volume, low weight and simple design using few moving parts.
One plus is that, unlike failed past attempts at turbine-powered cars and racing machines, the micro turbine being developed by MTT is meant only to complement an electric powertrain.
We first showed you the Honda EV-N city car concept a few days ago, but now the company has released more photos of the electric city car concept.
Even though Honda insists this particular car - so lovingly evoking the original CV-CC - the photos are still worth looking at.
They likely give us a glimpse at what might be featured on an electric city car if Honda does decide to build one, and who knows - if enough people see the photos and kick up a fuss with Honda's dealers, the company just might come around on the EV-N.
In addition to the new Honda EV-N photos, the automaker also has supplied a bit more detail about the concept, which, it says, has user-changeable seat fabric, fold-flat rear seats, solar cells in the roof, and a wireless communication system built into the instrument panel to keep the car in touch with traffic info, navigation signals from EV charging stations, other Hondas, and who knows what else.
There's also one of those neat Honda U3-X (experimental) self-balancing electric unicycles stored in the door, for when the crowded city streets degenerate into crowded alleyways (they do that in Tokyo) and you just don't feel like walking the rest of the way.
If Nissan's battery-electric 2011 Leaf is too much car for you, perhaps we can interest you in the LandGlider.
The tiny (122 inches long) two seat EV city car concept can't be too much for anyone, save perhaps areally small elf. It will share the Nissan stand at the upcoming 2009 Tokyo Auto Show with the Leaf and several non-electric Nissan intros including the new Fuga performance sedan.
Envisioned at a sort of oversize, 4-wheel, covered, electrically driven motorcycle, the Land glider offers tandem seating, an airplane-style steering yoke and a flexible motorcycle-like suspension that leans into corners.
The trick is an array of sensors that monitor vehicle speed, the steering angle and the yaw (or leaning) rate, instantly calculating the degree of lean needed to let the car scoot around curves.
Nissan isn't likely to build a Glider for the masses but says that it points in the direction engineers and product planners are thinking as they ponder a future a small car for congested cities.
Move over, Mini-E, Daimler reconfirmed this morning that it will begin "large-scale production" of the Smart Fortwo EV in 2012 and will begin ramping up with limited production of a series of 1,000 test cars next month.
The automaker is backing that promise - which we initially reported in August - with a multi-million euro investment in outfitting the Smart plant in Hambach, France, for production of the electric drive models, which will be sold in the U.S. and Europe.
The French government will provide tax credits and other incentives.
Daimler said that the first 1,000 electric Smarts would be delivered, beginning at the end of this year, to customers in Europe and the U.S. - typically commercial and government fleets - in order to obtain "feedback from use under everyday conditions."
---------- Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, appearing with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Hambach plant. ---------
The automaker has been testing electric Smarts in limited programs in London and German since 2007 and earlier this year introduced a second-generation version of the car, with a battery pack developed and manufactured by California EV-maker Tesla Motors. l The lithium-ion battery pack is mounted between the car's rear wheels and provides juice to run a 40-horsepower electric motor than kicks out 92 lb.-ft. of torque. That give the two-seat Smart rather snail-pace acceleration of 0-37 in 6.5 seconds, with top speed of 62 miles an hour, but it's designed as a commuter car for crowded cities, not a racer for California freeways.
Range, according to Smart, is about 70 miles on a charge, and a depleted battery can be fully recharged overnight from a standard 220-volt outlet.
Tesla Motors Corp. reportedly has selected Panasonic to supply the batteries for its Model S electric sedan (left), scheduled to go into production in late 2011.
Tesla wouldn't comment on the deal - initially reported by GreenTech Media and based on information from unidentified sources.
It makes sense, though, especially based on today's other Panasonic news - that the electronics giant is developing a way to mass produce low-cost EV batteries using commercial lithium-ion cells made for laptop computers.
The battery pack in the Tesla Roadster EV uses 6,800 laptop cells, individually wired together and protected from runaway heat buildup by an internal liquid cooling system and use of thousands of fuses meant to isolate an overheated cell so it can't spread its thermal overload throughout the pack.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has estimated the present cost of the hand-built pack at $36,000, accounting for a third of the roadster's base price.
Despite the expense, use of the commercial laptop cells is favored by Tesla over purpose-built EV batteries, and the company plans to use the same or a similar system for its Model S battery packs.
If Panasonic can build them on an automated line in its existing battery plants, as it has claimed - the cost savings for Tesla would be significant.
In an interesting development on the EV battery front, electronics giant Panasonic Corp says it has developed a technology for linking mass-produced lithium-ion cells (right) into bundles large and stable enough for hybrid and all-electric cars, Reuters news service reports.
The system sounds like an automated, mass-production version of the Tesla Motors method of linking thousands of conventional laptop battery cells into a hand-assembled power pack for its speedy Tesla Roadster EV.
Because the Panasonic system would use existing battery plants and production equipment it could dramatically reduce the cost of EV batteries - presently the most expensive component on an electric car.
The report doesn't mention them, but the Panasonic technology presumably includes a battery management system and a cooling methodology to keep the volatile cells from overheating and to protect the entire pack from damage if a single cell does experiences what the industry likes to call a "thermal event."
Panasonic said it hopes to have a commercial EV battery ready as early as 2013. In addition to use in autos, an affordable, compact lithium-ion battery pack could be sold as an energy storage device for solar- and wind-generation systems and for fuel cells.
Judging from the amount of copy they fed us in advance, Toyota is a whole lot prouder of the rear-wheel drive "Toyobaru" sports coupe it is showing at this month's 2009 Tokyo Auto Show than of the FT-EV II electric city car concept (above) that also will be there.
But an electric city concept there will be - based off the hot-selling toyota iQ micro-mini and an "upgrade" of the FT-EV city car concept that debuted in January at the Detroit Auto Show.
Toyota's not let much out about the new city EV, but what we can tell you is that that it has a lithium-ion battery pack installed under the floor that can deliver about 56 miles on a single charge and a top speed of 62 miles an hour (that's a nice round 100 kilometers an hour in metrics.)
There are no brake, clutch or accelerator pedals - it's all operated by hand with the levers on a futuristic steering wheel, although "control apparatus" might be a better way of describing it.
The reason for the lack of foot controls? Toyota has envisioned a day when radio signals, perhaps from cables embedded in the road, will guide cars and this equips the concept with an "auto mode" for those city commutes when you'd rather spend the time reading the morning paper.
We can also say that it seats four people despite an overall length of just 107 inches long, and those people would climb in through a pair of sliding doors (one on each side).
And that's about it -except that Toyota hopes to have a real battery-electric city car in the market by 2012.
As for that 'Toyobaru" that's stealing the little EV concept's thunder - it's the FT-86 (left), fruit of a collaboration between Toyota and Subaru, in which Toyota now holds a stake. It is intended to replace the MR 2 as Toyota's fun car, will use Subaru's 2.0-liter horizontally opposed, flat-four engine, reportedly handles like a dream and is due to hit the streets in late 2011. You can read more about it on Inside Line.
Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche says he's still is betting on a hydrogen future for the automobile.
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Mercedes B-Class fuel cell cars are being used in long-term road tests in Europe and U.S.
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But in a round-table interview with reporters form a variety of media including (subscription only) Automotive News during the recent Frankfurt Auto Show, Zetsche said that hybrids and battery-electric cars will be long-term interim technologies until hydrogen fuel cell cars and hydrogen fueling technology are ready for market.
Daimler is investing heavily in both electric and fuel cell technologies, he said, and has banded together with other German automakers to boost hydrogen fueling technology.
Asked if Daimler would consider four-cylinder engines for its Mercedes-Benz cars as U.S. fuel economy regulations tighten, Zetsche said that he wouldn't rule out the option .
He also said, according to an interview transcript posted today by Automotive News, that he sees a continued weak U.S. market for luxury cars for several years and that the Chinese market is likely to step in to gill the void.
Fuel efficiency for luxury cars is becoming a necessity rather than an afterthought, Zetsche said, adding that he is convinced that many customers continue to want a comfortable and spacious car but "would not like to be called callous by their neighbor because the fuel consumption is astronomic."
Daimler - indeed, the entire auto industry,- is at the "tipping point now" for electric cars, he said, pointing out that hydrogen fuel cell cars use all-electric drivetrains.
Tesla Motors has begun a mobile service program featuring house calls for customers in the United States and Canada.
The company plans to announce later today that it now has specialized technicians, known as Tesla Mobile Service Rangers, who will make visit owners' homes, offices or parking garages and will carry equipment to enable them to perform an array of procedure on the Roadster EV, including annual inspections and firmware upgrades.
Customers will be charged $1per round-trip mile from the nearest Tesla service center, with a minimum charge of $100, which the company says is less than the actual cost of a house call. Parts and labor, of course, are extra.
We reported last month that Audi executives at the Frankfurt Auto Show said the stunning e-Tron concept, an all-electric version of the Audi R-8, could see limited production in 2012.
Now Autoweek - via the Straightline blog over at Inside Line - says that Audi of America's president, Johan de Nyschen, is confirming that the electric car's headed for production, with working prototypes excepted to be on the road within two years.
It can't happen too soon, far as we're concerned. ---------- See video link at end of article. ----------
Nissan's not letting any grass - green or otherwise - grow under its feet as it prepares to launch its Leaf electric car in select U.S markets next year.
The first installment of what the company hopes will become a vital video campaign launched today with a fairly basic 60-second video touting Nissan's lithium-ion battery technology.
Based on our test drive of the Leaf's power train - installed in a Nissan Versa because the real car wasn't ready - and the unveiling of a pre-production (but 99 percent finished) Leaf in Yokohama this summer, its a pretty neat EV.
Let's hope the videos get to be a lot more content-rich to do it justice as the campaign progresses.
Aptera Motors, Elio Motors and other companies developing fuel-efficient three-wheeled vehicles got a boost from Congress this week in their quest for federal funding.
Legislation to make three-wheeled vehicles eligible for Energy Department loans passed a conference committee of House and Senate leaders Wednesday and then got approval from the full House on Thursday.
It is part of an energy spending bill likely to go before the Senate by next week for final congressional passage, a Senate aide said.
"Obsolete bureaucratic definitions should not create roadblocks and stifle innovation," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who co-sponsored the legislation.
If the Senate passes the bill, it would have to be signed by President Barack Obama to become law.
General Motors Co. has been critical of the bill.
The Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program is intended for large automakers that make many cars and that have the potential for large gasoline savings, the company has said.
GM spokesman Greg Martin declined comment on the latest development.
GM has applied for three department loans totaling more than $10 billion.
Say goodbye to those storied noisy streets of Paris.
The French government today committed 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to a 10-year plan to help put 2 million electric cars on the road by 2020.
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Renault showed this Fluence ZE electric car concept at the recent Frankfurt Auto Show, vowed to have EVs on sale in France by 2012.
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The funds will help pay for manufacturer and buyer subsidies, a nationwide network of more than 4 million EV charging stations, and subsidies for battery manufacturing and industrial research.
It Takes a Nation
"No player can take the risk alone, but if all the actors take it at the same time, that works," France's Ecology Minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, said at a press conference in Paris today. He was accompanied by executives from French carmakers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen, both of which have pledged to begin selling electric vehicles in France by 2012.
Borloo said that the funding will help install a million EV charging points by 2015 - mainly in private residences but also in car parks and select locations on busy highway.
But beginning in 2012, the government will require all new apartment developments in the country to install charging stations to being the nationwide total to 4 million by 2020.
That's two per vehicle and an indication that France, which produces most of its electricity in nuclear power plants, expects the total number of EVs and plug-in hybrids to grow beyond the 2 million goal.
Research Could Lead to Better Electrical Storage for Hybrids, EVs, and Much More
Microscopic carbon nanotubes may have the potential to transport electricity faster and over greater distances with minimal loss of energy, according to Honda Research Institute USA. In this image, the 10 tubes grown on red. pink or peach-colored substrata have metallic conductive properties while the one growing on a blue substrate has semiconducting properties and could not be used to replace metallic conductors such as copper. The empty substrata on either side of the center section are particles too small or too large to grow usable nanotubes.
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
By themselves, carbon nanotubes don't do much - don't look like much, either (in fact, you need a pretty powerful electron microscope to see 'em).
But shoot a jolt of electricity into them and it's a new ball game.
They conduct electricity faster, over greater distances and with less energy loss than just about anything else, and they are so small that you can pack an enormous number of them - and an enormous amount of high-efficiency conductivity - into a fairly small package.
Huge application possibilities exist, especially in the search for lighter, cooler-running and more powerful electronics and electrical storage devices for hybrid and electric vehicles.
That's why America Honda Motors is so excited about the announcement today from its R&D unit that researchers there have devised a way to grow carbon nanotubes so that 91 percent of the tubes gown have the necessary metallic properties, nearly double the best efforts of of other research efforts, the company says.
Commercial in Five Years?
A Honda spokesman told Green Car Advisor the research could result in commercial applications for carbon nanotubes in five years or less.
The project was led by Honda Research Institute USA, in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with researchers at Purdue University, in Indiana, and the University of Louisville, in Kentucky.
The research, to be published in Friday's edition of Science magazine, opens "new possibilities for miniaturization and energy efficiency, including much more powerful and compact computers, electrodes for supercapacitors, electric cables, batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, artificial muscles, composite material for automobiles and plane, energy storage material and electronics for hybrid vehicles," Honda said in its announcement.
Arizona-based Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. today signed a $99.8 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to join Nissan in the biggest deployment of electric vehicles -- and creation of the largest charging infrastructure -- ever undertaken.
That eTec was earmarked to receive the contract is not news; we reported that in August. But along with news of the signing today, eTec provided further details regarding how it intends to use the money.
In a statement, eTec said the final scope of work will include the deployment of 10,950 Level 2 (220-volt) chargers, 260 Level 3 (440-volt) fast-chargers and 4,700 Nissan LEAF zero-emissions electric vehicles in five states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.
In conjunction with the contract signing, The EV Project (as eTec and Nissan call it) officially commenced today. ETec marked the commencement of the project with creation of the project's official Website.
The Website is designed to provide general information about The EV Project and it provides information about how to purchase a Nissan LEAF and how to apply for a free charger at a home or work.
Balqon Corp., an emerging developer of heavy-duty electric vehicles, today announced the release of its battery-powered Mule M150, a pure-electric truck designed for use in on-highway short-haul applications.
The Harbor City, California, company expects the plug-in delivery vehicle with a 7-ton capacity to appeal to businesses and agencies seeking a zero-emissions cargo solution for inner-city routes, port facilities and airports.
Powering its fully integrated heavy-duty electric drive system are lithium-ion batteries capable of propelling the truck up to a claimed 150 miles on a single charge without cargo and 90 miles fully loaded at speeds up to 55 miles per hour.
Features include: a 6-speed automatic transmission, a quick-change battery module, a high-efficiency AC-induction motor, liquid-cooled traction controls, and wireless performance monitoring.
Balqon said the Mule M150 will go on sale the third quarter of next year. Visit the company's Website for further details.
Suzuki's swift little Swift, a fun-to-drive small hatchback that we, of course, don't get in the U.S., gets a plug for a new Swift extended-range PHEV concept to be shown at the Tokyo Auto Show later this month.
It also gets a battery - lithium-ion - and an electric motor - 74 horsepower - to go along with the plug and a 658 cc (.6 liter) gas engine.
The gas engine, as we understand things despite the dearth of official info from Suzuki, will serve as a generator - a la the Chevy Volt, Fisker Karma and a growing number of other ER-PHEVs - to keep juice flowing to the electric motor when the initial charge (from a commercial charger or or home outlet) is depleted.
No info yet on range, cost, battery size and output, charging times or whether we might actually see a few of these on our shores some day.
Thanks to our colleagues at Inside Line's Straightline blog for the tip and the pix that follow the jump.
Honda announced today that it will display at the Tokyo Motor Show next month a near-production version of the CR-Z (right), which will likely be the world's first hybrid sports car to employ a six-speed transmission when it goes on sale next year.
Alongside the CR-Z Concept 2009 will be the EV-N (below left), a small, four-seat battery-electric vehicle inspired by the N360, the twin-cylinder, air-cooled 360cc micro car launched with a plastic trunk lid in the 1960s. The revival vehicle has solar panels on the roof that could be used to charge the battery. Honda said the EV-N is "purely a design study and there are no plans for production."
The show will also see the debut of the Skydeck Concept (below right), a six-seat hybrid MPV/minivan, similar to the Ford S-Max. Honda said this design study is a great example of how hybrid technology can be placed in a range of different cars for different needs.
"To give the Skydeck the practicality of a conventional MPV, many of the hybrid system components, including the high-power battery, are housed in the car's center tunnel (rather than behind the rear seats or under the floor, as with previous production hybrids). This allows for greater cabin space, and the room for three rows of two seats. It also gives a lower center of gravity."
Mitsubishi isn't resting on its laurels after the successful launch in Japan of its i-MiEV electric city car.
The company plans to show two new concept EVs at the upcoming 2009 Tokyo Auto Show - a mini-cargo van built off the i-MiEV minicar platform, and a four-seat plug-in hybrid crossover it is calling the Mitsubishi PX-MiEV (right).
The PX - Mitsubishi's nameplate shorthand for plug-in crossover - is the first big-vehicle use of the company's "Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle" technology, or MiEV.
Quiet Carrier
The i-MiEV Cargo concept is a pretty simple one: a slightly stretched i-MiEV with a cargo box behind the front seats.
Electric delivery vans make enormous sense in most cites, where short-haul delivery vehicles don't often travel far from home, spend a lot of time idling, and rarely are driven at high speeds.
Replace the gas or diesel engine and fuel tank with an elecric mtor and batteries and you've got a quiet, non-polluting cargo carrier that's a whole lot cheaper to operate than one with an internal combustion engine.
We hope this is one concept that Mitsubishi will put on the road, soon.
Plug Me In
The big news though, would be a decision to turn the PX-MiEV plug-in hybrid concept into the real thing.
As Mitsubishi describes it, the PX would use a 1.6-liter gas engine and a pair of electric motors, one front and one rear, and be able to travel in all-electric mode for about 30 miles.
The system would deliver fuel economy of around 120 miles per gallon under Japan's mixed-use test, which is the only number we have but isn't really applicable in the U.S, where highway speeds are higher and account for a larger portion of the drive cycle.
Bob Kruse, who recently led a team that played a key role in the development of the Chevrolet Volt and who crafted the automaker's long-term electric-vehicle strategy, has resigned effective today.
Kruse, executive director of global vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries since early last year, left to focus on an EV consulting company he founded last month.
He will provide automotive and vehicle electrification expertise for companies looking to seize a piece of more than $1.3 billion in federal grants available to Michigan and Detroit's major automakers.
"My departure from General Motors has nothing to do with my view of the future success for the Volt," Kruse said. "I've left on very good terms. I have a lot of respect for the leadership of General Motors."
GM spokesman Rob Peterson told Green Car Advisor that Kruse's resignation, coming only 13 months before the Volt's scheduled production launch, "won't have any impact" on the gasoline-electric hybrid sedan.
"There's never a good time to lose good people, but there's a deep bench with the Volt and that team was working together before Bob joined and they will continue to march on," he said.
Kruse's resignation comes at a crucial time for GM, which is banking on the Volt extended-range electric vehicle to help it meet stringent new government fuel-economy rules and to change the public's perception of the company as being an electric-car killer and a proponent of gas-guzzlers.
Nissan North America will begin taking orders for the company's new Leaf electric car (left) next spring and says it anticipates 20,000 pre-sales by the time the EV hits dealerships in the third quarter.
"We are confident we will have 20,000 reservations for the Leaf by the time it goes on sale," Carlos Tavares, Nissan's chairman for the Americas, said at a breakfast meeting of Nashville, Tenn., business leaders this morning.
The meeting was covered by the subscription-only industry journal Automotive News, which reported Tavares' comments in an on-line report.
Tavares said Tennessee-based Nissan North America expects to make Nashville a key launch market for the five-passenger Leaf.
Initially, the vehicle will be sold only in cities or regions that have signed agreements with Nissan to aggressively pursue installation of EV charging networks.
Canadian NEV-maker Zenn Motor Co. says it will stop making and marketing its $16,000 (U.S.) cityZenn low-speed neighborhood electric vehicle (right), drop plans for a highway-legal Zenn car and is switching its business plan to become distributor of an EV drivetrain.
The company said it is partnering with EEStor, a secretive company that claims to have developed an ultracapacitor-based EV battery that can deliver up to 300 miles of highway-speed range on a single 5-minute charge.
Zenn CEO Ian Clifford told the Toronto Star that it no longer makes business sense for the small company "to go into the distribution and sales" of EVs because of "the way things have really changed over the last year."
He was referring both to the growing number of large automakers announcing electric vehicle plans and to tough new safety rules in Zenn's home province of Ontario that would have required a number of expensive changes to Zenn's cars to make them street legal. Zenn also took a financial beating - along with the rest of the auto industry - as the recession slowed sales this year of its low-speed EV.
While Texas-based EEStor has not yet shown a working model of its ultracapacitor-cum-battery, Clifford said Zenn, which owns a 10.5 percent stake in the company, is "working on a daily basis with EEStor on this final milestone" in battery development that "takes us to commercial viability."
In an obvious move to shore up its access to state-of-the-art advanced batteries for electric vehicles, Volkswagen is setting up a joint venture with Varta Microbattery to develop EV power packs, Europe's biggest carmaker said today.
Volkswagen already collaborates with Japan's Toshiba and Sanyo as well as with China's BYD on battery technology.
The announcement comes less than a month after VW presented a prototype of the e-Up! plug-in electric vehicle at the Frankfurt Motor Show with the intention of launching the vehicle in Europe in 2013.
Only days later, VW said it was also planning on introducing a slightly larger electric vehicle in the U.S. The company, which was slow to jump on the EV bandwagon, was quickly forming pacts with battery-makers and announcing bold plans for EV production.
In a statement issued today, VW said the project with Varta aims to undertake research and development of highly advanced and yet cost competitive lithium-ion batteries.
The four-year project still requires approval from German authorities.
South Korea's CT&T Co. intends to make neighborhood electric vehicles at two production and distribution facilities in Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell announced today at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
CT&T makes low- and mid-speed, short-distance NEVs that the company claims passes the crash tests required for passenger cars. The vehicles sell for about $12,000 apiece.
Although the media focuses on highway-capable EVs, it's worth noting that most of the EVs in the U.S. and the rest of the world today are NEVs such as the CT&T plug-in and zero-emissions vehicle pictured here.
Indeed, CT&T has a contract to supply 4,000 NEVs to California police organizations for parking enforcement and it sees a strong market for NEVs across the U.S.
The company says cities with large municipal fleets offer a considerable initial market opportunity, with the electric car as a low-cost option for parking authorities, parks and recreation departments, and similar agencies with short-distance, low-speed vehicle needs.
CT&T President Young Gi Lee said in a statement that the company's long-term business plan calls for 40 regional assembly and sales systems in North America. CT&T has been exporting to China, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Japan and America since 2005.
The company is focusing on sites on the Delaware River in Philadelphia for its initial Pennsylvania location. Company executives visited five prospective sites in the Pittsburgh region Thursday, including two within the city.
While in Pittsburgh, CT&T executives also met with experts in battery and fuel technology from Carnegie Mellon University, which is engaged in a range of research initiatives to support the growth and development of electric vehicle technology.
General Motors and India's Reva Electric Car announced today that they will jointly produce a battery-powered vehicle for South Asia based on the Detroit carmaker's best-selling mini-car, the Chevrolet Spark (pictured).
Under the alliance, GM will provide the vehicle platform and manufacturing facilities for the zero-emissions car, which will begin production next year, while Reva will supply the technology for the battery, electric drivetrain and power management systems.
They did not provide forecasts for production, but GM has the capacity to produce 225,000 vehicles of all types at its two plants in India and has plans to scale up its factory in Maharashtra state by an additional 160,000 vehicles.
GM, which is also due to launch its plug-in Chevrolet Volt in the U.S. next year, joins a growing list of the world's major carmakers that are due to launch electric cars over the next three years as part of their carbon-cutting strategy.
Some, including Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, have already launched them.
Last week at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Renault announced that it was launching four electric vehicles in 2011-12. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz showed planned battery-powered luxury models.
Lithium-ion car battery maker A123 Systems Inc. increased the number of shares in its initial public offering and priced them for $13.50 apiece, above the estimate range.
The upsized deal helped the Watertown, Massachusetts, company raise $380.4 million, far above what it had expected. On Tuesday, facing strong demand, A123 had raised the price estimate range of the IPO to between $10 and $11.50 apiece, up from the original range of $8 to $9.50.
A123 sold 28.1 million shares, 9.3 percent more than expected.
A123, which was founded by scientists linked to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, develops batteries and battery systems for hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and all-electric vehicles and works with such carmakers as BMW, Chrysler and General Motors.
"The fact that they have received several hundred million dollars from the government and have strong venture backers and corporate partners like Motorola and Qualcomm clearly reveals the confidence in this intriguing cleantech story," said Scott Sweet, senior managing partner with advisory firm IPO Boutique.
A123 won a $249.1 million grant in August from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a competition for $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funds for companies that make advanced automotive batteries.
The IPO's underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have the option to buy another 4.2 million shares, which could bring the deal's total proceeds to $437.5 million.
Tesla Motors' forthcoming all-electric Model S sedan (pictured) has been designed so that its battery pack can be switched with a fresh battery pack in five minutes or less, the company's outgoing director of vehicle engineering and manufacturing said in an interview today.
Speaking with Green Car Advisor shortly after his resignation was announced, Michael Donoughe said the plug-in electric vehicle has been designed in such a way that its lithium-ion battery pack can be removed and replaced with another one in the amount of time it takes to fill the gas tank of a standard automobile.
"When you install the battery pack for vehicle assembly and when you're running at line speed, you have to do it in a fairly quick fashion," Donoughe said. "So you design for manufacturing and assembly, and as long as you're designing for manufacturing and assembly you can also design for manufacturing, assembly and swap. That's basically what we're looking to do."
Telsa, he said, is looking to ramp up quickly once the zero-emissions Model S enters production, which is still on target for late 2011. Six months from assembly of the first Model S, Tesla expects to be producing 400 a week, or roughly 20,000 annually, he said.
Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said today that the company has already received more than 1,600 reservations for the Model S, including one from Donoughe.
General Motors announced today that it will create a laboratory in Shanghai to contribute to technological innovation in a number of automotive-related fields for GM both domestically and on a worldwide basis.
The announcement came less than a month after GM disclosed that its sales in China in the first eight months of this year increased 49.6 percent on an annual basis to 1,111,401 vehicles.
The China Science Lab (pictured) will be the first major laboratory established by a global automaker in China. In a statement, GM said the lab's initial focus will be on research related to advanced propulsion technology and joining technology.
But the lab will also focus on battery cells, megacity safety research, advanced vehicle development, and light materials. It will engage in additional activities in accordance with market conditions and its own research capability as it ramps up.
The lab will also carry out collaborative work with universities and government-run scientific institutions across China. It is expected to employ up to 100 staff during its early stage of operation. No specifics were provided regarding the lab's scheduled construction and opening dates or its cost.
Kevin Wale, president and managing director of the GM China Group, said that through the lab, "we will leverage the country's outstanding research talent together with GM's extensive resources to come up with new innovations for the benefit of vehicle users around the globe."
Mike Donoughe, currently head of vehicle engineering and manufacturing for Tesla Motors, will join the Detroit management consulting firm St. Clair Consortium as senior partner effective Oct. 1. His last day at the automaker will be Friday.
Tesla has not publicly named Donoughe's replacement. Tesla Chief Engineer Peter Rawlinson is head of engineering on the all-electric Model S sedan and will retain his responsibilities in that capacity.
Donoughe joined San Carlos, California-based Tesla 15 months ago, shortly after Tesla had begun production of its first product, the all-electric Roadster sports car. Donoughe helped the company achieve fully ramped-up production this summer, when Tesla hit its target of 25 cars built per week.
Tesla, the only automaker producing and selling highway-capable EVs, has delivered more than 700 Roadsters in the United States and Europe so far. Donoughe also focused on enhancing Roadster quality and helped execute a cost-down program that helped Tesla achieve a significant financial milestone and reach profitability in July.
Donoughe is leaving voluntarily and in part for personal reasons. He plans to dedicate more time to the Rochester, Michigan-based Cornerstone Youth Development Fund, which he co-founded with his daughter, Kelly.
Cornerstone is a non-profit organization focused on making facility infrastructure, student tuition and teacher salary investments in Uganda and Detroit to advance the education and development of youth.
Donoughe's planned departure comes at the most logical and least disruptive time for the automaker -- after the successful completion of the Roadster ramp-up but before the start of production of the all-electric Model S sedan.
"Mike joined the company shortly after we had begun manufacturing the Roadster, and his enthusiasm and expertise helped Tesla achieve fully ramped-up production," said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. "He's leaving the company on very solid footing and at a logical time in Tesla's phenomenal growth curve. We wish him a ll the best."
In a statement, Donoughe described Tesla as "a company populated throughout with excellent and enthusiastic people. It has been a wonderful experience for me to have been a part of this talented team."
California took the pulse of the zero-emissions vehicle industry this week and found plug-in electric vehicle manufacturers worried about charging infrastructure and public expectations.
The California Air Resources Board is hearing from fuel cell and EV manufacturers in preparation for releasing regulations for its Zero-Emissions Vehicle Program. Targets for 2015 and thereafter are due out by Nov. 10, with final targets due by early next year.
In its fifth major revision of the program since 1990, it voted last year to reduce the 2014 sales target from 25,000 to 7,500 vehicles.
A philosophical difference emerged between conventional car manufacturers and electric-only car companies.
Nissan, which is shooting for a 100-mile range for its Leaf EV, is playing down its perks. When asked to compare gasoline-powered and EV batteries, a company executive said not to expect comparable performance.
"Since the battery's not part of the emissions, it's not required to last 10 years and 150,000 miles," said Brian Verprauskus, senior manager of corporate planning for Nissan North America. "The issue's going to be the degradation. If the customer is OK with reduced range after 10 years, it'll definitely last that long, but after 10 years, we think there'll be more advanced batteries and the customer's going to want to swap it out with a next-generation battery."
Tesla Motors, on the other hand, is emphasizing the ways EVs differ from conventional cars. "We're trying to market cars based on the new attributes of EVs themselves," said J.B. Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer. "It's an offensive technology shift. We can offer some new competitive advantages to customers."
EV manufacturers said the installation of charging infrastructure remained the biggest bottleneck to widespread implementation. BMW, which ran into charging issues with its MINI E pilot program, said the industry needed to agree on a standard for in-home charging infrastructure.
Land Rover announced today that a production version of its Range Rover LRX Concept SUV (pictured) will be built, with sales to begin in 2011.
Designed and engineered at Land Rover's Gaydon facility, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most fuel-efficient vehicle the company has ever produced.
The three-door SUV will be built in Halewood, near Liverpool, England, subject to quality and productivity agreements, and will be sold in more than 100 countries around the world, the company said in a statement.
In an interview with Edmunds.com's Michelle Krebs this morning, Jaguar Land Rover spokesman Stuart Schorr said the LRX will be the first of four new segment offerings from the company, with Jaguar and Land Rover to receive two each.
He stressed the four will be premium brands, meaning they won't come cheap. Schorr also said that Jaguar Land Rover is committed to hybrids and electrics, but he refused to provide further details.
The LRX Concept debuted at the Detroit Auto Show last year and featured a 2.0-liter diesel-hybrid powertrain, which when running on biodiesel achieved a claimed fuel economy of 60 miles per gallon.
Jaguar or Land Rover Plant to Close
In a related development, India's Tata Motors Ltd. said today it will close one of the three Jaguar Land Rover assembly plants in England by 2014 in a bid to move its money-losing British unit into profitability.
Honda, looking to cover all bets, is getting ready to add a one-wheeled, lightweight personal mobility device to a stable that already includes cars, trucks, motorcycles, a jet airplane and outboard motors for boats.
The U3-X mobility device (left) - still experimental - uses Honda-developed "balance control technology" and what the company believes to be "the world's first omni-directional wheel," to enable "riders" to go forward, backward, directly right or left and diagonally, turn in any direction and speed up, slow down or stop merely by leaning the upper body to shift body weight .
Oh, and it's lightweight - under 22 pounds - and electric, powered by a small lithium-ion battery good for an hour of continuous use.
In a neat bit of engineering, Honda made the device at once single- and multi-wheeled, connecting a number (unspecified) of small motor-controlled wheels in a single line then forming that into a single large-diameter wheel.
When the individual small wheels are moving, they enable the device to move side-to-side; when locked into position and rotating as the single large-diameter wheel they enable forward and backward motion, and when working in combination, they make it possible to move diagonally, Honda says.
A British publication reported today that luxury-car crafter Rolls Royce is thinking about producing an all-electric Phantom similar in appearance to the gasoline-powered Phantom pictured here.
Auto Express News, citing an unidentified RR spokesman, said that of the brand's entire lineup a battery-powered Phantom made the most sense because, at more than 5,600 pounds with a heavy 6.75-liter V12 under the hood, replacing the engine with an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery shouldn't create a major weight issue.
The greatest problem RR engineers anticipate is coming up with an electric Phantom that gives the vehicle a respectable travel range between charges. But then, there'd be nothing preventing the engineers from adding a small range-extending gasoline- and diesel-powered engine to serve as a generator to keep the juice flowing.
With the base price of the 2009 Phantom set at $350,000, an additional EV or plug-in hybrid EV premium wouldn't likely be an issue for prospective customers. And there's something awfully cool about being able to prowl the nights in a silent Phantom.
The Electric Drive Transportation Assn., the national advocacy group for electric cars, trucks, buses, and all other electrically powered conveyances, is hosting a live chat Thursday with its executive director, Brian Wynne, from 2-3 pm - Eastern Time (11 am-noon Pacific Time).
It's the association's first try at an on-line chat and spokeswoman Jennifer Watts says it will be wide open, with Wynne fielding questions about everything from the availability of vehicles to how the smart grid works.
"We hope to talk about everything from hybrids to fuel cells," Watts said.
Volvo cars and trucks have always been designed to withstand the rigors of Sweden's rough roads and cold temperatures, with particular emphasis on surviving a collision.
This is why Volvo has invented so many safety features since the making its first car in 1927.
Those features include a safety cage for occupants, laminated windshield, three-point safety belts, padded instrument panel, crumple zones, anti-locking brakes, inflatable curtain and lane-departure warning. The full list of Volvo safety innovations is quite long.
Now the Swedish automaker is applying some of those inventions to protecting the batteries that propel electric vehicles.
In a statement released today, Volvo said it conducting "extremely wide-ranging and thorough analysis of a variety of safety scenarios for cars with electric power.
"Through advanced automatic monitoring of battery status and by encapsulating the battery and protecting it effectively in a collision, the result is a comprehensive safety package of the very highest class."
Volvo's safety tests take place in several different stages. First at component level, then for whole systems and finally the complete car is safety-tested -- both virtually in the computer, and physically in Volvo's technically advanced crash-test center.
At present Volvo is conducting tests at component level to see how the electric-vehicle's battery is affected by harsh braking and the subsequent collision.
"We are also carrying out, for the first time, advanced crash tests in full scale to evaluate the technology in electrically powered cars," Volvo Cars' safety expert, Thomas Broberg, said.
One week after Volkswagen made a splash at the Frankfurt Motor Show with the world debut of its E-Up! electric vehicle (pictured), the German automaker has announced that it will likely sell a larger version of the cute compact in the U.S.
"The reason we are working on an electric vehicle is the American market," Ulrich Hackenberg, board member in charge of product development at Volkswagen AG, said today.
Hackenberg said a production version of the plug-in battery-electric zero-emissions E-Up! will go on sale in Europe in 2013. He said U.S. sales would start later.
The E-Up! is based on VW's new modular small-car family, scheduled to debut in 2011. The four-seat E-Up!, which measures 125 inches long (or 19 inches longer than the tiny Smart ForTwo), has a range of up to 80 miles on lithium-ion battery power.
For the United States, Hackenberg said, he envisions a front-drive model about 146 inches long (the 2009 MINI Cooper is 145.6 inches long). Electric versions of the Smart ForTwo and MINI Cooper are planned for the U.S.
VW will launch its first hybrid vehicle next year -- a version of the Touareg SUV. Hackenberg said the Touareg hybrid will debut at the 2010 Detroit auto show in January.
To date, very few details have been released regarding this vehicle.
Chrysler's ENVI Group, formed in 2007 to develop a line of electrified vehicles for the company's three brands, has been disbanded and its January pledge to have 500,000 conventional and plug-in hybrid-electric and all-electric vehicles on the road by 2013 has been junked under its new, Fiat-controlled leadership. 
