Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
Grant Thomas provides a 30 minute review of the BEV version of a right hand drive, UK delivered, BMW i3.
At approx 17:28 there is a demonstration of the i3's autonomous Active Cruise Control feature which doubles as a stop & go traffic jam assist and collision avoidance brake system.
Drayson Racing Technologies took their Drayson B12/69 EV to Silverstone in February for winter testing.
Comparative motor cooling testing and new traction control options were successfully tested in 'damp' conditions.
Arnold Schwarzenegger uses his M47 Patton battle tank to raise money for charity; companies express interest in buying Cars.com. 
MotoringFile reports that high-level sources have confirmed the Mini Clubman Plug-In Hybrid will be all-wheel drive in at least one configuration.
The 2016 Mini Clubman Hybrid will have a 1.5L three cylinder lifted from the F56 Cooper powering the front wheels. Integrated into that will be a plug-in hybrid system (likely derived from the BMW i8) powering the rear wheels only. Think of it as the powertrain layout from the i8 reversed.
The system that BMW has shown in concept form (and has been testing for years in R55 Clubman mules) has an output of approx 140 kW / 190 hp. With a fully charged battery, the electric only range should be over 30 kilometers giving the Clubman Plug-In Hybrid the ability to be in 100% electric mode for the majority of day-to-day trips.
The Mini Clubman Hybrid will likely debut around the same time as the Clubman itself, in the second half of 2015.
A new clip from Red Bull sees Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel explain the 2014 Formula One regulations, arguably the most complex the sport has ever seen.
The CGI based Red-Bull promotional video gives a cut-away look at the new hybrid systems used this year in F1 that we covered in more detail last year.
The first race of the 2014 Formula One season is on this weekend in Melbourne Australia.
Volkswagen is bench testing a new battery chemistry that it says could store up to 80 kWh of energy in a similar volume to that of the current eGolf’s 26.5 kWh battery pack, according to VW board member Dr Heinz-Jakob Neusser.
Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, Neusser said that the company has tested lithium-ion batteries with its existing cell supplier, Sanyo, with capacities up to 37 kWh, but “an 80 kWh unit is under development using our own technology. It would provide between three and four times the battery power in a given package.”
Neusser refuses to name the battery chemistry, but doesn’t deny it is based on lithium-air technology. IBM, BMW and Toyota are known to also be developing Li-Air battery technology.
As to how far a plug-in hybrid or pure battery car could travel in electric mode with such a battery, Neusser says that depends on what the customer wants. He suggests that as a second car, most customers will settle for about 200km (124 miles) of electric range, but as the family’s main transport a battery would have to provide a much greater range.
With VW owning 100% of Audi, we're now openly wondering if this is the battery technology Audi plan to use for their 600 km range Q8 SUV Tesla Model X killer?
Source: The Telegraph
Hyundai plans to start selling its first battery-powered electric vehicle in 2016.
Hyundai has leant toward engines which turn hydrogen into electricity in response to stricter emissions regulations in markets such as the United States. Research and development partner Kia Motors Corp has focused on rechargeable batteries.
But the division of labor is blurring at a time when the number of battery-powered EVs is on the rise. BMW's i3 and Nissan Motor Co Ltd's Leaf are widely expected to reach Korea this year - as will Kia's Soul EV.
"There is no clear direction about which eco-friendly cars will win. We are dividing roles of Hyundai and Kia, with Hyundai launching fuel cell cars and Kia focusing on electric cars," Senior Vice President Lee Ki-sang told reporters on Tuesday.
"But the time will come when Kia will introduce a fuel-cell car. Hyundai is also preparing to launch a (battery-powered) electric car in 2016," Lee said at the Korean launch of the Soul
Battery Power
Kia, 34% owned by Hyundai, has favoured battery-powered cars because they can be charged at home as well as at charging stations. Fuel-cell cars must be refilled with hydrogen only at filling stations.
So far, a lack of charging stations and relatively short driving ranges, as well as high prices resulting from the cost of batteries, has kept the battery-powered EV market niche.
The number of battery-powered EVs on the rise, as BMW’s i3 and Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s Leaf are widely expected to reach Korea this year - as will Kia’s Soul EV.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Kia said it will start building a battery-powered version of its Soul compact in Korea next month. The car will be Hyundai-Kia’s first battery-powered EV export, with destinations including the U.S. and Europe.
For this year, the global sales target is 5,000 Soul EVs, said Cho Yong-won, vice president of Kia’s Domestic Marketing Group.
In Korea, the Soul EV will cost about half of its 42 million won ($43,650) price tag after government subsidies, similar to the higher-end model of the gasoline version.
The car can run up to 148 km per 24 to 33 minute fast charge or four hours on slow charge.
Toyota says hybrids may account for 20 percent of its global sales soon; Honda announces Acura brand’s realignment into a separate division. 
Rolls-Royce now looks likely to adopt plug-in hybrid technology within the next three years. Chief Torsten Müller-Otvos told Auto Express at the Geneva show that “It will be essential in two years, maybe not from customer demand but through legal regulation on emissions”
With parent company BMW already working on plug-in hybrid technology that is soon to be launched on the X5 eDrive – which uses a four-cylinder turbo paired with an electric motor – Rolls-Royce could soon have access to such a powetrain. Müller-Otvos said: “We are now a completely self-sustaining business, but technology like this is so expensive to develop that without BMW, Rolls-Royce would probably not have survived.”
