Category: Battery Electric Car

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Audi Sport join Formula E Championship

ABT Sportsline, led by Team Principal Hans-Jürgen Abt, has today (15 November) reached an agreement that will see it become the seventh team and the only German outfit to enter the new FIA Formula E Championship – competing under the banner ‘Audi Sport ABT Formula E Team’.

“We’re proud to have the opportunity to take part in the debut of this new racing series. Participating in the new FIA Formula E Championship marks a completely new chapter in our more than 60-year motorsport history,” said Hans-Jürgen Abt. “As a company that has been active in the field of regenerative powertrains and electric mobility we’re convinced of the series’ concept. It’s innovative, delivers motorsport at the highest level and a great show for fans around the world – all of which are a perfect fit for ABT Sportsline.”

The outfit, from Germany’s Allgäu region, will race under the name of Audi Sport ABT Formula E Team, based on the name used in its successful commitment as an Audi factory team in the popular international touring car series DTM.

Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich commented: “We’ve been watching this new project of the FIA with great interest and are delighted that ABT Sportsline as one of our close and long-standing partners will be involved right from the beginning. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the squad on tackling this new challenge and are planning to support its commitment with drivers from our factory line-up if required.”

The agreement was signed by Hans-Jürgen Abt and Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E Holdings, in Kempten, Germany. Audi Sport ABT Formula E Team will now be put forward to the FIA for final approval as the seventh outfit to enter the new global electric race series. They join IndyCar outfits Andretti Autosport and Dragon Racing, Asia’s China Racing and Super Aguri and fellow European squads Drayson Racing and e.dams.

With five titles to its credit in the DTM alone ABT Sportsline is one of the most successful German teams, which has achieved victories and titles in GT and endurance racing as well. The commitment in Formula racing now also marks a return to the outfit’s early days. At the beginning of the 1990s, ABT scored its initial successes in Formel ADAC and Formula Three. One of the drivers back then was the subsequent Formula One and DTM star Ralf Schumacher. “We’ve been keen to embrace new challenges on many occasions in the past. Formula E is no doubt one of the most intensive ones, which makes our excitement about it even greater,” added Hans-Jürgen Abt.

Alejandro Agag said: “We’re delighted to welcome the Audi Sport ABT Formula E Team into the championship, our seventh of 10 teams and the third European outfit. Formula E is very much an open championship and a platform for teams to showcase their own fully-electric cars, so to have one of the most successful German motorsport teams with the support of a big manufacturer on board is a fantastic addition to the series. I’m sure German racing fans will also be particularly pleased as they now have a home team to support during the Berlin Formula E race.”

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Mitsubishi Motors cuts iMiEV price by up to $9,100 in Japan

Mitsubishi Motors Corp has slashed the price of its first generation electric kei-car the i-MiEV in Japan by up to $9,100.

Japan's sixth-biggest carmaker, which started selling the i-MiEV 4 years ago in 2009, said on Thursday it was dropping the price of its top of the range i-MiEV by around 25 percent, or 900,000 yen ($9,100), to 2.9 million yen

With government subsidies, the model can be bought in Japan for around 2 million yen, it said (AUD$ 21,500).

"The main purpose of cutting the price is to strengthen our ability to sell these cars," a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman said.

Mitsubishi Motors also cut the price of the entry level i-MiEV by 190,000 yen to 2.5 million, which with subsidies can be bought for about 1.7 million yen (AUD$ 18,250).

In just over four years since the vehicle first went on sale, Mitsubishi has manufactured some 30,000 i-MiEVs. The car was rebadged and sold by PSA Peugeot Citroen as the iOn and the C-Zero.

Mitsubishi is still betting on the electric powertrain technology and is aiming for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to account for 20 percent of the vehicles it produces by 2020.

Mitsubishi and Nissan Motor Co recently announced plans to expand a joint venture to develop a new small car including an electric version.

Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric car, also said on Thursday it would start selling its second all-electric vehicle, a commercial van called the e-NV200, in Japan in the financial year through March 2015.

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Mitsubishi Electric to Exhibit EMIRAI 2 EV concept car @ Tokyo Motor Show [VIDEO]

Mitsubishi Electric will display its EMIRAI 2 concept car at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. The car is a continuation of the original EMIRAI first exhibited in December 2011 with rear projection customizable dashboard display, biometrics capabilities, and sensor array.

Advanced automotive technologies and products will be displayed in two EMIRAI 2 electric-vehicle concept cars. One vehicle features an EV powertrain and the other a driving-assistance system to offer safer and more comfortable driving experiences in the coming future.

The EV powertrain system incorporates high-accuracy traction control and acceleration control. The driving-assistance system features integrated image sensing and powered on-board display technologies.

The show will be held at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition complex in Tokyo, Japan from November 23 to December 1.

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Kia Soul EV with 200 km range to launch in 2014 [UPDATE]

An all-electric version of the Kia Soul is still on track to launch globally in early 2014. It will be Kia’s first electric car sold outside its home market of South Korea, following up on the domestic Ray EV.

The Soul will be equipped with a 27 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery making it capable of travelling up to a claimed 200 km on a single charge. Paired with that is an 81 kW / 285 Nm electric motor, propelling the Soul EV from 0-100 km/h in less than 12 seconds, and on to a top speed of 144 km/h.

Power is sent through the car’s front wheels via a single-speed constant ratio gear reduction unit. In a test drive Autocar.co.uk says there is and there’s surprisingly aggressive deceleration upon throttle lift off. Kia says the Soul EV’s battery can be fully charged in around five hours when using a standard 240-volt outlet, or in 25 minutes when using a fast-charge unit with a 100 kW output.

The Soul EV is expected to go on sale in the first half of 2014 and pricing is expected to start at 40 million KRW ($35,490 / €27,480).

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How Tesla designed the Model S from the ground up [VIDEO]

Katie Fehrenbacher recently interviewed Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen to discuss the process of how Tesla started with a clean sheet to design the Model S from the ground up as a dedicated electric car.

For established carmakers, car design is a very iterative process with decades of work to build from. Tesla Motors had no such history to work with, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing according to Holzhausen.

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Nissan to unveil electric sports car at Tokyo Motor Show [VIDEO]

Nissan said Friday it would unveil a sporty concept electric vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show

The company, which has been selling its Leaf electric vehicle since late 2010, said it hoped its Nissan BladeGlider would help it reach a market of male drivers who still want performance and styling in an environmentally friendly car - a major hurdle to widespread commercial sales.

The car, to be unveiled at the biennial Tokyo exhibition later this month, features an aerodynamic design that widens from the front to back with space for a driver in the middle and two passengers in the rear.

The design -- one metre in the front (3.3 feet) and 1.89 metres at the back and made with lightweight carbon fibres -- puts the vehicle's centre of mass on the rear tires to allow for tighter turns, Nissan said.

"The driver's seat has been positioned in the middle of the vehicle to give a sense of a pilot in an airborne glider," Nissan said.

The concept vehicle is squarely aimed at moving into a higher-end electric vehicle market already tapped with some success by US-based Tesla.

The Japanese firm has invested about 4.0 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in electric car development in a partnership with French carmaker Renault, which owns more than 40 percent of Nissan.

This week, Renault-Nissan announced an electric car tie-up with Mitsubishi.

Nissan said it has sold more than 80,000 Leaf electric vehicles globally since its rollout three years ago.

The Japanese automaker will also be showing off its second commercial electric vehicle, the e-NV200 minivan, which it unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

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Mitsubishi to Increase EV and PHEV vehicles to 20% of Production by 2020

Mitsubishi Motors plan to refocus its lineup on Plug-In SUV's and electrified sedans under a new three-year business plan that aims to boost global sales 29%.

At this month's Tokyo Motor Show, it will unveil three electrified concepts: a plug-in hybrid SUV, a plug-in crossover and a microhybrid van with an engine start-stop system. The Outlander plug-in hybrid, already on sale in Japan and Europe, is due to be launched in the US but may not arrive in the United States until 2015.

The company will push electrified drivetrains in a bid to make 20 percent of its vehicle output either all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2020. That will entail the development of a next-generation electric vehicle technology that gets a longer driving distance on each charge and a lower price point. Mitsubishi will downsize EV components and aims to introduce a wireless charging system.

Earlier this week on the eve of unveiling the mid-term plan, Mitsubishi announced it was furthering technology and vehicle development ties with the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Under that deal, Mitsubish plans to sell a Renault-based mid-sized car in the United States. The car will be the first of two Renault-based sedans sold by Mitsubishi under the product and technology exchange.

As part of the latest deal, the companies also aim to share technologies and "product assets" related to electric vehicles and recent product platforms.

Nissan is the global market leader in electric vehicles, with its Leaf EV, while Mitsubishi, which markets its own EV called the i, has made EVs and hybrids a central pillar of the company's mid-term business plan.

Mitsubishi and Nissan will further cooperate to develop a new small car to be sold globally. An electric version of the car is also planned. That car will be based on a jointly developed platform for Japan's minicar segment, a type of car restricted in overall dimensions and restricted to engines no bigger than 0.66-liters.

The company says they will boost R&D spending by 30% to an average of 80.0 billion yen ($812.7 million) a year over the next three years, compared with 63.0 billion yen ($640.0 million) a year over the outgoing three-year business plan.

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Tesla Model S Top Selling Car in Some of America’s Wealthiest Cities

It's no secret that the Tesla Model S is the newest "must-have" toy among America's most affluent citizens. But a shocking analysis from Edmunds.com finds that in some of the country's richest communities, the Model S sells better than any other car on the market.

According to Edmunds.com's analysis of new car registration data from Polk, the Model S is the top-selling vehicle this year in eight of America's 25 wealthiest ZIP Codes. The analysis further finds that all eight communities are located in California. Leading the way is Atherton, CA, where the Model S accounts for 15.4 percent of all new car registrations within its borders. According to Forbes, Atherton, which sits adjacent to Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters, is the wealthiest zip code in America, with a median home price of $6,665,000.

While the analysis shows that the richest populations are snatching up Teslas now, Edmunds.com says that the data offers hints about Tesla's potential to appeal to a broader range of buyers.

"It's a classic pattern for any retail product, including cars: the wealthy and influential buyers set a trend, and the mainstream aspires to follow," says Edmunds.com Sr. Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "As Tesla increases the number of models and improves its price points, it could find itself in demand by more than just those in these wealthy enclaves. After all, luxury car companies typically find the most volume in their entry-level vehicles."

Tesla has made it clear that its next frontier is to make its vehicles more affordable to the mass market. In May, Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that he hopes to offer a vehicle to car shoppers for under $40,000 within the next four years.

If Tesla does plan to break through to new buyers, it will have to expand its appeal outside of California's borders. Edmunds.com's analysis found that Tesla's market share exceeds 1.0 percent in only one of the non-California zip codes ranked in the top 25 by Forbes (#19 Water Mill, NY with 1.2% of all new car registrations in 2013, through August). The Model S national market share sits at just 0.1 percent.