The BMW i3 is the first car from the new "i" sub-brand for eco focused Beemers. Can an all-electric BMW car drive like a BMW? We find out.
BMW i3: The Ultimate Electric Driving Machine? [VIDEO]
Tesla Model S to launch in Australia by June 2014
Tesla Motors have confirmed the company will return to Australia by June to launch the RHD Model S and its own network of Apple-style stores.
Having wound back its Australian operations following the end of its Roadster the US brand will begin deliveries of the Model S in the second quarter of 2014.
Speaking at the 2014 Detroit motor show, a spokesperson for the automaker said orders had already been taken.
They also confirmed plans are underway to establish a network of Tesla-owned stores in Australia, rather than traditional car dealerships. The Tesla store concept has been developed by the same man behind the Apple Store, George Blankenship.
The stores are usually based in shopping districts rather than traditional automotive areas and are owned by Tesla rather than being franchised to dealers.
The company’s next car, the Model X SUV, won’t arrive in Australia until 2015 at the earliest. Tesla declined to comment on price but it is expected the Model S may be priced around AUD$200,000.
Fully Charged – Electric Land Rover Defender [VIDEO]
The Electric Defender has all the qualities and performance you'd expect, full all-terrain capability, permanent 4WD and a top speed of 70mph.
However, it has been engineered in-house by Land Rover to test out the latest sustainable technologies. The vehicle's Hill Descent Control is linked to a regenerative braking function, and overall up to 80 per cent of the car's kinetic energy can be recovered. Land Rover's acclaimed Terrain Response system has been adapted for electric drive, offering a 50-mile range with a reserve of a further 12.5 miles.
The result is a zero tailpipe emissions vehicle like no other; eight hours of low-speed off-road use is achievable, and it takes 10 hours for the advanced lithium-ion batteries to be fully charged. 'Fast-charge' technology reducing that to just fours is also possible.
Worldwide Sales of Toyota Hybrids Top 6 Million Units
Toyota today announces that cumulative global sales of its hybrid vehicles topped the 6 million unit mark as of December 31, 2013, reaching 6.072 million units. The latest million-unit milestone was achieved in the fastest time yet for Toyota, taking just nine months.
Helping mitigate the environmental effects of vehicles is a priority at Toyota. Based on its belief that environment-friendly vehicles can only truly have a positive impact if they are widely used, Toyota has endeavored to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles.
As of this month, Toyota sells 24 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid model in approximately 80 countries and regions around the world. Furthermore, within the next two years, Toyota will launch a total of 15 new hybrid vehicles worldwide, including the new "Harrier Hybrid" in Japan on January 15 and the new "Highlander Hybrid" in the United States in the near future. Toyota will continue augmenting its product lineup even further and increasing the number of countries and regions where it sells hybrid vehicles.
Toyota calculates that as of December 31, 2013, Toyota hybrid vehicles have resulted in approximately 41 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions—believed to be a cause of global warming—than would have been emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance. Toyota also estimates that its hybrid vehicles have saved approximately 15 million kilolitres of gasoline compared to the amount used by gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size.
In August 1997 in Japan, Toyota launched the "Coaster Hybrid EV" and launched the "Prius"—the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle—in December. Since then, Toyota hybrid vehicles have received tremendous support from consumers around the world.
Toyota has positioned hybrid technologies that enable the use of different fuel combinations, including the component technologies necessary for development of various environment-friendly cars, as core environmental technologies for the twenty-first century. Toyota therefore plans to continue working to raise performance, reduce costs, and expand its product lineup—including that of non-hybrid environment-friendly vehicles—to create vehicles that are popular with consumers.
Nissan lifts Leaf output as US sales rise
Nissan has lifted U.S. production of its all-electric Leaf by about 50 percent to 3,000 units a month to meet growing demand for the car.
The Leaf logged record sales of 2,500 units in December and was now the best-selling car in some dealerships in Atlanta, where the government is helping promote the technology, outpacing the Altima sedan.
The pickup in sales was driven in large part by Nissan's decision to cut its price by more than $6,000 to $29,650 at the beginning of last year after a shift in production of the model to the United States allowed it to lower manufacturing costs.
While volumes are still at relatively low levels for a production car, sales more than doubled last year to above 22,000 in the U.S. market, momentum is building.
One factor is the increase in charging stations in Atlanta and cities such as Seattle and San Francisco on the West Coast. There are currently 554 quick-charging stations, and more than 15,000 slower "level 2" public charging stations across the U.S., Nissan estimates.
The Leaf's customer base is also evolving. While at first most Leaf buyers were green enthusiasts, increasingly customers focused on the potential cost benefits of owning an electric car are showing up at its dealerships. As a result, it has recently increased prices on some versions of the Leaf. Nissan produces the Leaf at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant.
Tesla Sales & Share Price up 20 Percent
Tesla Motors said Tuesday it sold 6,900 Model S electric cars in the last three months of 2013 — 20 percent above the previous forecast.
On news that the company delivered 6,900 Model S cars in the fourth quarter, Tesla’s shares spiked 15.74 % in regular trading, and another 3.56 % in after-hours trading.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla had forecast just under 6,000 Model S sales in the fourth quarter. Tesla delivered about 22,400 Model S vehicles for all of 2013.
Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president of development for Tesla, said demand remains strong for the vehicle, but the company continues to wage battles with franchised auto dealers in different states. Tesla sells its vehicles directly to consumers, not using franchised dealers, which has drawn attacks from many of the dealer groups around the country.
Mr. O'Connell said Tesla is now fighting new political battles in Ohio and New Jersey, and expects a battle in Georgia. Last year, Tesla waged fights in Texas, Virginia, North Carolina and New York.
"We have had some success when we have been able to shed some light on the issue," he said. "But dealers in some states have not changed their point of view" on Tesla's sales system.
Tesla said it is still on target to deliver the first Model X sport-utility vehicle by the end of the year, but the company didn't give any other updates on the vehicle. Currently, the Model S is its only model.
CHRIS HARRIS – 2014 Chevrolet Volt Review [VIDEO]
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.
Toyota Prius: Top-selling car in California Again!
The Toyota Prius isn’t just the best-selling hybrid in the US, it is the best-selling car in California according to the California New Car Dealers Association for the second year running.
YTD November 2013, the state received 54,063 new Toyota Prius registrations, not including fleet sales, commercial customers, the government and rental car companies. The Prius edged out the Honda Civic, which reported 50,580 new car registrations up to Q3 last year.
Toyota vehicles actually secured three of the top 5 spots in 2013:
It’s an Audi Shooting Brake and a Plug-In
The concept 2-door wagon, with 31 miles of electric-only driving range, will likely remain on the drawing board.
Audi e-tron Allroad 400 HP plug-in hybrid concept officially revealed
The Audi Allroad Shooting Brake has been revealed ahead of its motor show debut in Detroit.
The show car’s engine is a 2.0-litre petrol with 288bhp and 280lb ft of torque, which drives the front axle. This is supplemented by a 54bhp electric motor that’s integrated within the six-speed automatic gearbox.
The second motor is mounted to the rear axle, and produces 114bhp and 199lb ft of torque. It can either power the car on its own – in rear-wheel-drive pure electric mode – or combine with the powertrain over the front axle to turn the Allroad Shooting Brake into a four-wheel-drive hybrid.
In pure electric drive mode, the rear motor can propel the car up to 80mph, while the battery can power the car for 31 miles. A hybrid mode lets the engine and motors work together as efficiently as possible, permitting the front motor to top up the lithium-ion battery when required.
This generator function means that the pure electric range can be replenished, which would allow for multiple stints of all-electric driving on a long enough journey. The car has a range of 510 miles using the most efficient settings. Average fuel economy is a claimed 148.7mpg, while CO2 emissions are just 45g/km.
There are ‘Hold’ and ‘Charge’ settings within Audi’s redesigned MMI infotainment system that allows the driver to choose how the battery’s charge is managed. Hold mode will keep the battery at its current state of charge, while Charge mode will replenish it until it is full.
The final drive mode is Sport, which combines the petrol engine and both motors to give a total power output of 402bhp with 479lb ft of torque. In this set-up, the car has a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds, and a limited top speed of 155mph.
A Hybrid Pioneer Is Back in the Hunt
Honda was the first to market with a hybrid, the Insight, but the Toyota Prius went on to dominate the niche. Now Honda is trying again, and this time getting things right. Nissan Expect U.S. Leaf Sales To Double in 2014
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said he expects to double Leaf sales in the United States in 2014.
Sales of the battery-powered Leaf jumped 130 percent last year to a record 22,610, aided by 2,529 deliveries in December, the most ever in a single month for the carmaker. That figure should keep rising, Ghosn said in a CNBC interview.
"We are now on a trend of 3,000 cars a month in the U.S., which is about 36,000 cars" a year, Ghosn said. "The next step is moving up to 4,000 a month, which is going to be approximately 50,000," he said, without setting a target date.
Nissan and other automakers delivered a record number of hybrid and rechargeable cars and light trucks last year as the industry remains under U.S. pressure to boost fuel efficiency. Sales of vehicles powered partially or entirely by electricity totaled at least 578,000 units last year, up more than 100,000 units from 2012 and accounting for about 7.5 percent of all new cars sold in the U.S. last year.
Harvard Team develop Organic battery that costs only $US 27 / kWh
Harvard researchers have developed a battery that harnesses energy by using the electrochemistry of organic molecules rather than metals. The battery, which they say can be applied on a power-grid scale, uses naturally abundant and small organic compounds called quinones rather than electrocatalysts from costly precious metals such as platinum.
Quinones would be inexpensive to obtain and can be found in green plants or synthesized from crude oil. The battery designed by Harvard scientists and engineers used a quinone molecule that's almost identical to one that's found in rhubarb.
Unlike solid-electrode batteries, flow batteries are recharged by two chemical components dissolved in fluids that are kept in separate tanks. Flow batteries are well suited to storing large amounts of energy, but a major drawback to metal-based flow cells has been cost.
According to MIT Technology review, a conventional metal-reliant flow battery costs an estimated $700 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity, whereas the Harvard team's metal-free technology would bring those costs down to $27 per kilowatt-hour.
"The whole world of electricity storage has been using metal ions in various charge states, but there is a limited number that you can put into solution and use to store energy, and none of them can economically store massive amounts of renewable energy," said Roy G. Gordon, one of the researchers who helped screen more than 10,000 quinone molecules to find the best candidate for the novel battery.
"With organic molecules, we introduce a vast new set of possibilities. Some of them will be terrible and some will be really good. With these quinones we have the first ones that look really good."
Source: Harvard
New season of Fully Charged – Volkswagen XL1 [VIDEO]
Robert Llewellyn test drives 'the most fuel efficient production car in the world' according to VW.
Volkswagen made big claims about the efficiency of their purpose-built XL1 diesel-hybrid. They claimed the car was good for 314 mpg, which equates to 0.9 l/100km in the Metric system.
However, at a test drive event organized by VW last July, a handful of journalists were given the chance to drive the mid-engined XL1 and results ranged from 160 to 200 mpg.
SIM-Drive Develop 4 motor AWD electric Toyota 86 [VIDEO]
The EV SIM-86e, a Toyota 86 developed by SIM-DRIVE, was exhibited at the Odaiba Motor Fes. The car is an 86 based EV, with all 4 wheels powered by independent motors.
Technical specifications haven't been released (in English at least) but we can make some educated guesses. The AWD EVs developed by SIM-Drive to date, SIM-Lei, SIM-Wil & SIM-Cel have all used direct drive in-wheel motors. We can see from the picture below, the standard friction brakes are visible in the wheels so the SIM-86e must be running in-board motors.
In developing the SIM-86e, Tajima Motor Corporation used E-RUNNER technology, which the company has been developing for racing vehicles to participate in the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. TMC Chairman of the Board and SIM-Drive President and Director Nobuhiro Tajima explained:
“Since our development of a 4WD automobile with a twin engine, we have been playing with such car-control technology as multiple power sources and 4 independent motors. In the SIM-86e we have thoroughly employed the control know-how cultivated through developments to E-RUNNER technology.”
While the Pikes Peak winning E-RUNNER was all-wheel-drive, it used only two motors driving the wheels through a differential on each axle. The motors were supplied by GKN and belived to be 2x AFM-240 Axial Flux motors, each capable of 335 kw (455 hp) and 1200 Nm Peak. As the GKN Evo motors are not suitable for in-wheel mounting we might speculate that the SIM-86e may be running 4x in-board AFM-140 Axial Flux motors driving the wheels via standard half-shafts, with or without gear reduction.
“This year there were some wet roads, and for that reason our times didn't improve. However, with next year’s dry conditions, I think it may be possible to achieve a new course record. Also, our efforts for next year’s car are making it compatible with a fast charger, meaning we will get technological feed back for product version EVs as well. Both for practical reasons and in times of crises, EV’s clearly need to have the ability to charge quickly. I’m confident that fast charging technology for harsh motor sports conditions will be useful for developing the product versions to come.”
Lightening the Load on an E.V.’s Batteries
When Nissan asked Bose for a sound system for the Leaf that would not impede the E.V.’s range, Bose designed a system that draws half the current of a conventional Bose stereo. Electric Service From $199 a Month
Electric cars are getting cheaper, with the Chevrolet Spark E.V., Smart Electric Drive Cabriolet and Fiat 500e all available for lease at less than $240 a month. From Ford, a Plug-In That Tracks the Sun
A solar-powered Ford C-Max concept maximizes energy by finding its own place in the sun. Wheelies: The Moose-Proof Jeep Edition
The updated Jeep Grand Cherokee passes a “moose test,” and N.H.T.S.A. submits proposed backup camera rule to the White House. Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Hybrid Concept Goes Off the Grid
Ford Motor Company announced today the C-MAX Solar Energi Concept, a first-of-its-kind sun-powered vehicle with the potential to deliver the best of what a plug-in hybrid offers – without depending on the electric grid for fuel.
Instead of powering its battery from an electrical outlet, Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept harnesses the power of the sun by using a special concentrator that acts like a magnifying glass, directing intense rays to solar panels on the vehicle roof.
The result is a concept vehicle that takes a day's worth of sunlight to deliver the same performance as the conventional C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, which draws its power from the electric grid. Ford C-MAX Energi gets a combined best miles per gallon equivalent in its class, with EPA-estimated 108 MPGe city and 92 MPGe highway, for a combined 100 MPGe. By using renewable power, Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is estimated to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emissions a typical owner would produce by four metric tons.
"Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept shines a new light on electric transportation and renewable energy," said Mike Tinskey, Ford global director of vehicle electrification and infrastructure. "As an innovation leader, we want to further the public dialog about the art of the possible in moving the world toward a cleaner future."
C-MAX Solar Energi Concept, which will be shown at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, is a collaborative project of Ford, San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower Corp. and Atlanta-based Georgia Institute of Technology.
Strong electrified vehicle sales
The C-MAX Solar Energi Concept debuts as Ford caps a record year of electrified vehicle sales.
Ford expects to sell 85,000 hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles for 2013 – the first full year its six new electrified vehicles were available in dealer showrooms.
C-MAX Energi is Ford's plug-in sales leader, with sales of more than 6,300 through November. Ford sold more plug-in vehicles in October and November than both Toyota and Tesla, and it outsold Toyota through the first 11 months of 2013. Plug-in hybrids continue to grow in sales as more customers discover the benefits of using electricity to extend their driving range.
C-MAX Hybrid over the last year has been a key driver in helping Ford sell more hybrids than any other automaker in the United States, second only to Toyota. C-MAX Hybrid continues to bring new customers to the Ford brand, with a conquest rate of 64 percent and drawing nearly half of its sales from import brands. Conquest rates are even higher in key hybrid growth markets like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Breakthrough clean technology
SunPower, which has been Ford's solar technology partner since 2011, is providing high-efficiency solar cells for the roof of Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept. Because of the extended time it takes to absorb enough energy to fully charge the vehicle, Ford turned to Georgia Institute of Technology for a way to amplify the sunlight in order to make a solar-powered hybrid feasible for daily use.
Researchers developed an off-vehicle solar concentrator that uses a special Fresnel lens to direct sunlight to the solar cells while boosting the impact of the sunlight by a factor of eight. Fresnel is a compact lens originally developed for use in lighthouses. Similar in concept to a magnifying glass, the patent-pending system tracks the sun as it moves from east to west, drawing enough power from the sun through the concentrator each day to equal a four-hour battery charge (8 kilowatts).
With a full charge, Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is estimated to have the same total range as a conventional C-MAX Energi of up to 620 miles, including up to 21 electric-only miles. Additionally, the vehicle still has a charge port, and can be charged by connecting to a charging station via cord and plug so that drivers retain the option to power up via the grid, if desired.
After C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is shown at CES, Ford and Georgia Tech will begin testing the vehicle in numerous real-world scenarios. The outcome of those tests will help to determine if the concept is feasible as a production car.
Off-the-grid car
By tapping renewable solar energy with a rooftop solar panel system, C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is not dependent on the traditional electric grid for its battery power. Internal Ford data suggest the sun could power up to 75 percent of all trips made by an average driver in a solar hybrid vehicle. This could be especially important in places where the electric grid is underdeveloped, unreliable or expensive to use.
The vehicle also reinforces MyEnergi Lifestyle, a concept revealed by Ford and several partners at 2013 CES. MyEnergi Lifestyle uses math, science and computer modeling to help homeowners understand how they can take advantage of energy-efficient home appliances, solar power systems and plug-in hybrid vehicles to significantly reduce monthly expenses while also reducing their overall carbon footprint.
The positive environmental impact from Ford C-MAX Solar Energi could be significant. It would reduce yearly CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions from the average U.S. car owner by as much as four metric tons – the equivalent of what a U.S. house produces in four months.
If all light-duty vehicles in the United States were to adopt Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept technology, annual greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by approximately 1 billion metric tons.
