Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
G.M. says that it removes parts when calculating pickup truck payload capacity; Chrysler recalls 30,000 Fiat 500Ls. 
The Mini Cooper Countryman pulls in top ratings; Fiat 500L, Mazda 5, Nissan Juke and Nissan Leaf are low scorers. The BMW i3 has an interesting function available as a $1,000 optional extra: Parking Assistant.
This system allows your car to park itself without your input. It uses a sonar installed in the right side of the car that detects large enough parking spaces when you want it to. After that, all you have to do is stop and keep the parking assist button pressed and the i3 will do everything for you.
That’s what a crew of journalists from Romania did when BMW invited them over in Austria to try out the new electric car from Munich. However, there’s a twist: this time, no driver was inside the car while the operation was done.
The man hopping out of the moving i3 is Vali Porcisteanu, a Romanian rally driver. He somehow meddled with the control button and made it stick while he left the ‘premises’.
The end result is both quite impressive and funny at the same time, seeing the car do all the work by itself, with no one inside.
Panasonic has reached a basic agreement with Tesla Motors to participate in the Gigafactory, the huge battery plant that the American electric vehicle manufacturer plans to build in the U.S.
Tesla aims to begin the first phase of construction this fiscal year. The plant would start making lithium-ion cells for Tesla cars in 2017. The automaker is shouldering the cost for the land and buildings.
Panasonic likely will invest 20 billion to 30 billion yen ($194-291 million) initially, taking responsibility for equipping the factory with the machinery to make the battery cells. An official announcement on the partnership will come by the end of this month.
Capacity at the Gigafactory will be added in stages to match demand, with the goal of producing enough battery cells in 2020 to equip 500,000 electric vehicles a year.
The total investment is expected to reach up to $5 billion, and Panasonic's share could reach $1 billion.
The Japanese company owns a stake in Tesla and currently makes the batteries for Tesla cars. In a contract reworked in October 2013, the two agreed that Panasonic would supply Tesla with 2 billion battery cells between 2014 and 2017.
Panasonic Corp plans to initially invest about 20 billion to 30 billion yen ($200-300 million) in Tesla Motors Inc's planned lithium-ion battery plant in the United States, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The Japanese company, which already supplies batteries for the electric vehicle maker, will ultimately invest about $1 billion in the planned $5 billion battery "Gigafactory", the person said.
The figures for Panasonic's investments were first reported by the Nikkei business daily earlier on Tuesday.
A Panasonic spokesman declined to confirm the investment figures, saying that while the company has signed a letter of intent to participate in the Tesla battery project and was in talks on the matter, no concrete decisions had been made.
A basic agreement on cooperation on the project between the two companies is due to be announced by the end of this week, with both due to report quarterly earnings results on Thursday, although no investment figures will be disclosed, the person said.
A Tesla spokesman, asked about the Nikkei report, declined to comment on "speculation regarding Panasonic".
Tesla is looking at three sites in the United States to build the Gigafactory plants which by 2020 would be able to make more lithium-ion batteries in a year than were produced worldwide in 2013.
Panasonic said in May it wanted to be the sole battery cell maker at the battery facility.
CNET On Cars, Episode 46: CNET revisits the Tesla Model S now that it's a bona fide mass production hit.
LG Chem CFO Cho Suk-jeh has revealed the company will supply an automaker with a battery that will allow one of their models to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) on a single charge. Suk-jeh declined to say which automaker will use the battery but all indications are pointing to General Motors.
General Motors executives have said that the automaker is working on an EV that will deliver at least 200 miles of range. The automaker, manufacturer of the Chevrolet Volt, has said it hopes to have the longer-range EV in the market in 2016 to compete with the anticipated Tesla Model III, now scheduled for introduction in late 2016 or early 2017.
LG Chem presently supplies lithium-ion batteries to GM, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo and Renault, among others.
Doug Parks, GM’s vice president for product development, said in an interview last year that General Motors plans to offer an EV with at least 200 miles of range for a price of around $30,000. That's the target all the major automakers are aiming at for their next-generation electric vehicles, he said.
GM invested $7 million in Battery Start-up Envia Systems in 2011. Unfortunatley the promised 'world record' 400 Watt-‐ hours/kilogram (Wh/kg) energy density only lasted a few cycles leaving GM to search for more legitimate battery technology partners.
General Motors and LG Group agreed in 2011 to jointly design and engineer future electric vehicles, expanding a relationship built on LG’s work as the battery cell supplier for the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera extended-range EVs.
Auto Motor und Sport is reporting on a future BMW i9 due to launch in 2016. In the same very year, BMW is celebrating 100 years.
BMW i9 would be based off the i8 hybrid sports car with more power and a beefier appearance. Still featuring a plug-in hybrid, the BMW i9 is said to forgo the 1.5 liter three-cylinder engine in favor for a larger one and with more power.
Furthermore, the i9 would also get a bigger electric battery which will generate more than the 131 hp found in the i8.
Lightweight materials and construction remain top priorities for BMW so if it comes to life, expect the i9 to feature even more carbon fiber and aluminum parts. The i9 will retain the perfect 50:50 weight distribution.
From 0 to 100km/h, the BMW i9 is rumored to run in under 4 seconds and with a top speed above 155 mph.
Kia have uploaded yet another promo video for the Soul EV.
The Soul EV will is propelled by a liquid-cooled AC synchronous permanent magnet electric motor rated for 109 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque. Like most electrics, the motor sends power to the front wheels via a single-speed constant-ratio transmission.
A 96-cell, 27-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery feeds the motor. It lives under the Soul’s floor, and takes a small bite out of rear seat legroom, which shrinks from 39.1 to 36.0 inches. The standard 120-volt charger, which stows under the cargo floor, takes a bigger bite out of luggage capacity, down 5.1 cubic feet to 19.1.
The Soul EV can be charged to 80% in as little as 33 minutes using a 50-kW system, and the Soul EV is fitted with three charging ports. Two of the ports are for conventional AC charging, per SAE standard J1772, and the third for CHAdeMo public stations.
Deliveries began in South Korea in May 2014 with EU and US to follow in the second half of the year. With 200 km range and a price in the $30k range it looks like a solid addition to the EV market.
nanoFLOWCELL AG introduced their QUANT e-Sportlimousine concept at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year and the company has just announced the car has been approved for road use in Europe.
The company says this is a critical step because they are "working at top speed" on a production version. nanoFLOWCELL AG chief technical officer Nunzio La Vecchia went on to say "This is a historic moment and a milestone not only for our company but perhaps even for the electro-mobility of the future. For the first time an automobile featuring flow-cell electric drive technology will appear on Germany's roads."
The heart of the QUANT e-Sportlimousine prototype is the nanoFLOWCELL® battery. It gives the car a driving range of 600 kilometres. The newest product moving the world towards attractive electrical mobility was conceived at the nanoFLOWCELL DigiLab simulation lab at nanoFLOWCELL AG in Zurich, Switzerland. It is still under active development and the results so far are extremely promising.
Drivetrain:
All-wheel drive via 4 three-phase induction motors, torque vectoring for optimal drive torque distribution
Peak power: 680 KW (925 PS); 170 KW (231.2 PS) x 4
Operating power: 480 KW (653 PS); 120 KW (163.2 PS) x 4
nanoFLOWCELL:
nominal voltage: 600 V
nominal current: 50 A
tank capacity: 2 x 200 L
Performance:
0 - 100 KM/H: 2.8 S
top speed: 380 + KM/H
range: projected 400 to 600 KM
energy consumption: 20 KWH/100 KM
Dimensions and weight:
kerb weight with full tanks: 2,300 KG
wheelbase: 3,198 MM
