What Needs to Happen Before Electric Cars Take Over the World
Electric vehicles have only a tiny market share, but the auto industry is betting billions that they will soon be as cheap as conventional cars.
BMW batteries, Toyota electrification plans, electric-car charging stations, Kia Niro Plug-In driven: Today’s Car News
Today, we've got news about VW's Electrify America charging-station project, BMW's solid-state battery research, and a big pledge by Toyota, as well as our first drive of the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran down last week's most important green-car stories... 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid first drive review
Some plug-in hybrid models are easily distinguishable from the rest of the cars their maker sells. Others, like the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid, are all but invisible. It takes a sharp eye to see the charging port door on the left-front fender or the trim and badging differences that distinguish it from a garden-variety Niro Hybrid. We spent 500... Weltmeister EX5: first electric car from $1 billion Chinese company you’ve never heard of
After numerous positions with BorgWarner, Fiat Group, Volvo, and China's largest automaker Geely, an executive named Freeman Shen has finally rolled out his own creation. That is the Weltmeiser EX5, the product of $1 billion in first-round funding from some of the largest players in Chinese tech. Shen's company, WM Motor, claims it will start... Singapore launches electric-car sharing program using Bollore BlueCars
Some of us take for granted the difficulty and cost of owning a car, but more alternatives exist today than did 10 years ago. While many view car ownership as a monthly lease or financing payment, owning a car for others requires finding a place to keep it and perhaps the need to keep moving it around. That's where car sharing comes in. Whether... Toyota plans 1 million zero-emission vehicles a year by 2030: our analysis
Sales of plug-in electric cars are rising steadily in North America, Europe, and Asia, with roughly 2 million now on the world's roads. China is debating when it will ban sales of new vehicles with combustion engines. Meanwhile, Toyota—one of the four largest global automakers—is only reluctantly planning to launch its own... Electrify America contracts with Greenlots for electric-car charging sites, installations
The $2 billion electric-vehicle infrastructure program funded by Volkswagen as part of its diesel-emission scandal settlement has picked an installer to roll out some of the first phase of its electric-car charging network. Electrify America said on Monday it would contract with the Greenlots charging network for up to 900 stations. They will be... Four of Wards’ Top 10 Engines are actually electric or electrified powertrains
The industry trade journal WardsAuto has been giving out "Best Engine" awards for 24 years now, and this year's list includes some interesting choices. For starters, there are no engines from German manufacturers on the list: The sole luxury recipients this year are Infiniti and Jaguar. But more importantly, and for the first time ever, four of... BMW partners with Solid Power to develop solid-state cells for electric cars
While lithium-ion cells have powered all but a handful of plug-in electric cars since 2008, carmakers have looked further down the road toward solid-state battery cells with an eye toward launching them sometime during the 2020s. On Monday, BMW Group and Solid Power announced that the two companies would partner in an effort to develop Solid... Tesla motor, Shelby Cobra body, Kia battery: watch electric Cobra stun a race crowd
In 1962, a 39-year-old Carroll Shelby stuffed a Ford V-8 into an AC Ace to create one of the most sought after performance cars ever made, the AC Cobra. Some 50 years later, a group of engineers from British Columbia, Canada has brough Shelby's idea—small two-seat sports car, very big power—into a new age. EPower Racing has been... Magna To Unveil etelligent Drive Systems @ CES 2018
Magna’s etelligentDrive systems will be on display at CES 2018. The company’s e1 concept vehicle will be used to demonstrate different electric-drive (e-drive) concepts and systems, as well as demonstrate Magna’s vehicle integration capabilities. The e1 system consists of one highly integrated e-drive system on the front axle and one on the rear axle with two electric motors (e-motors).
Magna says the demo car achieves superior longitudinal and lateral dynamics combined with excellent vehicle stability for more safety. Each e-drive system in the demo vehicle uses 3x 140-kilowatt AC induction motors, adding up to an overall performance of 420-kilowatt peak.
The Tesla Model S based e1 concept vehicle demonstrates improved stability and handling with electronic torque vectoring (eTV). The powertrain features an integrated eDrive 140 kW peak AC induction on the front axle while the rear axle has an integrated eDrive with 2 x 140 kW AC induction motors connected to a summation gearbox and axle lock clutch operated by the eTV control system to provide torque vectoring.
Magna is responsible for providing the e-motor, electronic control module/inverter and the transmission for the Ford Focus BEV and Magna has supplied Volvo with the electrified rear axle drive system (eRAD) featured on the Volvo V60 and S60 plug-in hybrid models. Magna’s eRAD system offers multiple hybrid driving modes while also adding electric all-wheel-drive capability.
More recently, the company announced a joint venture partnership with Hasco in China to produce a high volume e-drive system for a German automaker.
Honda Clarity, BMW i3 REx driven; battery costs fall; electric car fight; tax credit lives: The Week in Reverse
![2017 BMW i3 REx range-extended electric car [photo: Chris Neff]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2017-bmw-i3-rex-range-extended-electric-car-photo-chris-neff_100622577_t.gif)
Which country may wipe the floor with the U.S. in the global race among makers of electric cars? What car may pose a significant threat to the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, December 15, 2017. Friday, we learned EV shoppers can... Toyota batteries, Hyundai worries, bigger Nissan, electric-car production plants: Today’s Car News
Today, we've got two different takes on electric-car batteries, some new oversight for the EU to prevent the next Dieselgate, and a small electric delivery van that got bigger. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A new joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic will develop prismatic cells for future electric cars, despite Toyota's aversion to... Voltia conversion expands Nissan e-NV200 electric delivery van for London
As the United Kingdom joins other countries in committing to a future ban on fossil-fuel vehicles, commercial fleet operators that rely on diesel vehicles are left in a bit of a pickle. Nissan has an answer in its zero-emission eNV200 electric cargo van, but its small dimensions leave a lot to be desired for commercial operators that need... Could Tennessee top Michigan in U.S. electric-car production (if not California)?
Today, battery-electric cars are built in volume at only three locations across the entire United States. Tesla builds its three different electric models in Fremont, California; the new 2018 Nissan Leaf has just gone into production in Smyrna, Tennessee; and the Chevrolet Bolt EV is built at the Orion Assembly Plant in Michigan. Ford also builds... Preventing the next Dieselgate: EU can now oversee, overrule new-car approval by member countries
With the exception of California's longstanding ability to set its own tougher emission standards, any car legal to sell in one state of the U.S. is legal to sell in all of them. And aside from a handful of differences—daytime running lights, speedometers marked in km/h—Canadian-market vehicles are largely the same as well. Within the... Hyundai believes electric-car battery prices will stop falling by 2020
The automotive business is one that turns raw materials into highly complex finished goods. When the prices of key commodities—especially raw materials—rise, everything downstream in that process becomes more expensive. That's Hyundai's concern over battery prices from 2020 onward, as it envisions a future in which a constrained supply... Toyota, Panasonic agree to study prismatic battery cells for electric cars
For the 20 years since the introduction of the Prius, Toyota has enjoyed the first-mover advantage in hybrid cars, and leveraged those green credentials to boost public perception of its brand as a whole. But Toyota has yet to mass-market a battery-electric vehicle in the U.S., as Nissan has done with the Leaf. Toyota executives have consistently... Ford Chooses a Detroit Base to Take On Silicon Valley
The automaker, long absent from the city proper, will create a hub there for work on self-driving and electric cars.
EV tax credit, China vs US, hydrogen survival, Chevy vs Tesla, electric coal-hauling: Today’s Car News
Today, a prediction China will wallop the U.S. in the electric-car battle, Congress may have saved the EV tax credit, an electric cargo ship that hauls coal, and thoughts on Tesla versus Chevy. All this and more on Green Car Reports. If electric-car buyers struggle with trading luxury and practicality, the brands involved are likely Tesla and...