Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
The 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV is the first vehicle in the US to offer DC Fast Charging using DC Fast Charging SAE Combo standard.
With this technology, you'll be able to charge your Spark EV to 80% in just 20 minutes.
YouTube's DRIVE channel test specialist Chris Harris reviews the 2014 Chevrolet Volt.
The Volt electric car has a backup engine to extend its typical 80 km electric range. It is quick, quiet, and responsive, with a taut ride. Once the lithium-ion battery is depleted, the 1.4-liter engine acts as a generator to extend the range by 500 km with Volt drivers averaging 1500 km between fill-ups. Recharging take 4 hours using a 240-volt supply and 10 hours with 120 volts. Lease deals start from $269 / month.
Overall the Volt is a brilliantly executed example of automotive innovation that makes any ICE only car seem primitive by comparison. It combines the benefits of a full EV powertrain with a part-time duty-cycle ICE to provide 600 km of combined range. Where the Toyota Prius is an ICE powered car with electric assistance, the Holden Volt is a plug-in electric car with ICE assistance.
The Volt fills the gap between the 500 km all electric range Tesla Model S, which due to it's 85 kWh battery can costs up to $100k, and the more affordable but shorter range battery only cars like the Mitsubishi iMiEV and the Nissan Leaf.
Business Insider's Alex Davies compares the Chevy Volt to the Tesla Model S and gives a very brief non-technical summary.
It would be safe to say Peter Valdes-Dapena, the editor for automotive and other consumer content at CNNMoney.com, 'gets it' when it comes to EVs.
Back in February of this year, when a reviewer at the New York Times drove a Tesla Model S around New Jersey determined to miss as many freeway exits as possible to get a photo of the Model S on a Flat bed truck, Peter Valdes-Dapena over at CNN volunteered to do the same trip to prove the doubters wrong.
Here the CNN reviewer gives the Chevy Spark EV two thumbs up, saying the only down side is it's limited distribution in California and Oregon only.
We've already heard reports that General Motors is working on a new electric vehicle with a Tesla Model S-like range of 200 miles (322 km) but new details are starting to emerge about the company's Tesla task force.
In an interview with Reuters, General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky revealed the company has created a new task force to study Telsa and the Model S. The diverse group - which includes product planning, engineering, manufacturing and sales personal - will attempt to learn everything they can about Tesla so they can improve their own future products. As Girsky explained, Tesla is "revolutionizing the business model ... not just how you put an EV together [but] how you go to market with something like this."
While it's unclear what lessons General Motors will learn, the company is reportedly working on a handful of new hybrids and EVs. Besides the 200 mile (322 km) Chevrolet EV, which is expected to cost between $30,000 and $35,000, the company is reportedly developing fuel-efficient flagships which could be badged as Cadillacs and cost more than $100,000.
Source: Reuters
The SAE International DC “Combo” Fast Charge station installation at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego is a milestone for plug-in electric vehicles – the first public installation in the U.S. of an industry-coordinated standard for fast charging of plug-in electric vehicles.
The Chevrolet Spark EV, available in California and Oregon, will be the first EV in the U.S. to offer the SAE International fast-charge connector as a vehicle option starting in late December.
“The launch of these new charge stations will help improve the convenience and adoption of electric vehicles because they dramatically reduce the charge time,” said Pamela Fletcher, executive chief engineer of electrified vehicles at General Motors. “The SAE Combo DC fast charge stations are the result of EV industry collaboration to help customers benefit from available public infrastructure.”
The new combined AC and DC charging, or combo, connector is accessible via a single charge port on the vehicle and allows electricity to flow at a faster rate, making EVs more convenient for longer trips and for EV owners who may lack convenient access to overnight home charging.
“San Diego Gas & Electric applauds the collaborative efforts it took to make San Diego home to the world’s first retail SAE DC fast charge station,” said Lee Krevat, director of smart grid and clean transportation for the utility. “Our local drivers that have vehicles equipped with this charging system connector will be the true beneficiaries of this technology.”
Many major automakers including GM, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche have announced they will adopt the SAE combo fast charge connector standard. Earlier, many of the world’s major automakers had adopted the SAE’s 120V/240V AC connector standard to assure plug-in vehicles could access all charging infrastructure regardless of vehicle make or model.
Car reviewers describe the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV as “fun,” “spunky” and a “hoot to drive.” With 130hp and 400 lb-ft of instant torque, the all-electric mini-car can go from 0 to 60 in less than 7.6 seconds.
“Spark EV is the new benchmark for electric cars aimed at urban driving and a kick in the pants to pilot around town,” said Lindsay Brooke, senior editor, SAE International magazines. “Spark EV owners who are new to all-electric driving will soon find out how difficult it is to hide their silly grin when they realize how far that car will take them for pennies on the dollar.”
For many Spark EV owners, getting plugged-in to an all-electric, no-gas-required lifestyle will be a new experience.
Here are a few tips to ease the transition:
Expanding the Spark lineup, the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV is designed to make the trip as electrifying as the destination. It is priced under $19,995 with tax incentives and is now available to residents in California and Oregon, with sales expanding to Canada, South Korea and Europe later.
As automakers race to make cheaper electric cars with greater battery range, General Motors is working on one that can go 200 miles per charge at a cost of about $30,000, a top company executive said.
Vice President of Global Product Development Doug Parks wouldn't say when or if such a car will be built, however.
Currently GM sells the $35,000 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, which can go 38 miles on electricity before a gas-powered generator kicks in. It also offers the all-electric Chevy Spark subcompact that can go 82 miles on a charge. It starts at $26,685. Electric cars are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit.
The 200-mile car would cost about the same as the current Volt, and it would match the range and be far cheaper than Tesla Motors' $71,000, all-electric Model S. The Model S can go up to 265 miles on a single charge.
A moderately priced electric car with a 200-mile range would make electric cars more appealing to Americans, solving the two chief complaints about such cars: Anxiety over running out of power and high price, said Tom Libby, lead North American analyst for the Polk automotive research firm.
"That would be a huge step forward, no question," he said.
Currently, cars powered solely by batteries make up only 0.3 percent of U.S. sales, Libby said, but he's confident that would increase if an automaker came out with a moderately priced 200-mile car.
Tesla gets accolades for the Model S, including the highest test score ever recorded by Consumer Reports magazine. And the Palo Alto, Calif., company also is working on a mass-market electric car. CEO Elon Musk has said it will have around a 200-mile range and cost about $35,000. It could go on sales as early as the end of 2016, he has said.
GM has taken a different approach from Tesla, Parks said, pricing electric vehicles from around $25,000 to about $40,000. They don't go as far after each charge, which has kept battery costs down and made the cars more affordable, he said.
"Their pricing is up there for a real unique customer," Parks said of Tesla. "The real trick will be who can do a 200-mile car for more of the price range I'm talking about. We're all in races to do that."
The 200-mile car won't be the next-generation Volt. Speaking at a Monday event to show off GM's expanded battery laboratory at its technical center in Warren, a suburb north of Detroit, Parks said that GM engineers are now working on a new Volt, which will go a little father on electricity than the current model and cost a little less. He wouldn't say when it will arrive in showrooms or how much it will cost.
GM on Monday showed off a 50,000-square-foot addition to the battery lab. The added space, which nearly doubled the lab's size, will let the company test batteries and computer controls much faster than before. Parks said the goal is to develop electric cars twice as fast as the company could in the past. It took GM about four years to develop the Volt and bring it to market.
.jpg)
Vauxhall/Opel CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann denied claims that Ampera prices had been slashed because sales were slow. He said: 'The Ampera has sold more than 5000 units and accounts for more than half electric car sales in Europe. That’s disappointing for the electric car market, not for the Ampera.'
The revolutionary plug-in electric car has struggled to fulfil its sales promise, partly because the recession has deterred buyers from adopting less-conventional technology.
Neumann went on to say that GM is 'still convinced that the range-extender is the best electric car concept'. The system works by relying on a standard combustion engine to generate energy for the electric motors that power the car, resulting in a pure-electric range of up to 50 miles and a total touring range of 300 miles with use of the petrol engine.
GM vice-president Steve Girsky also said that the range-extender technology would continue to be used, but that new models with the powertrain were unlikely to happen until 'the technology has advanced a bit further and come down in price'.
General Motors' European brand Opel has announced a 17 percent cut in the price of its Ampera electric car in Germany at this week's Frankfurt car show, where rivals will be showing off their electric models for the first time.
"Effective immediately, we are lowering the price of an Ampera to 38,300 euros ($50,400), which is a cut of almost 8,000 euros in Germany," Opel Chief Executive Karl-Thomas Neumann told an industry conference on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, Neumann said it was no coincidence that the price cut coincided with the premiere of key competitor models like the electric version of the Volkswagen Golf hatchback and Up minicar.
"We see a tremendous chance given all the talk about electro-mobility and we want to remind people that we have been in the market already for one and a half years," he said.
Price cuts will also be made in other markets, but due to differing tax laws, the price-tag and the size of the reduction will be different from country to country, a company spokesman said.
Opel's finance chief Michael Lohscheller said the price cut would not have any impact on its target of a slightly narrower loss for Opel this year given the relatively low sales figures.
He also said that a better-than-expected first half would not mean it would upgrade its outlook either. "The second half is traditionally weaker than the first half in the auto industry due to seasonal effects. We're sticking to our full-year guidance," Opel CFO told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.
Only 828 new Ampera cars were registered in Germany last year out of a market of 3.08 million vehicles, according to official figures from the KBA motor vehicle agency.
