Back in November, Aptera gave an extended leave to a significant portion of their workforce including many in high ranking positions. The move drew speculation and criticism of the company as well as future doubts. The three-wheeled Aptera 2e has been delayed due to funding issues and a full makeover during the prototyping stages which delayed release by more than a year and counting. Read More...
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Listening to the hype coming out of the Geneva Motor Show one has to wonder where the global auto industry is headed. Every one of the major car makers released details of new hybrid and new all electric vehicles, admittedly some in concept form like VW and Porsche but still accompanied with some grandiose projections on sales figures down the road. None more so that Renault-Nissan the struggling French-Japanese group who’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn is reported to have claimed they will be producing half a million electric cars by 2013-14. We hope they have a big enough field to park them all in. After being available for 13 years, hybrid cars made up just 2.8% of the US car market in 2009 according to Hybrid Cars.com, equivalent to about 300,000 vehicles. Renault-Nissan are starting from scratch with electric cars and yet they are projecting 500,000 in three years time. Of course it is possible Renault know something we don’t. Maybe the French government is about to launch a massive electric car subsidy scheme as a catalyst to encourage buyers to switch. Certainly Renault have identified some of the markets concerns. They propose leasing the battery packs to car buyers, not selling them as part of the vehicle. At the end of practical life they intend to recycle them as power storage units. Read More...
The Progressive Automotive X-Prize, closing in on its May 2010 competition start date, held a technical summit of the participating 43 teams at the 2009 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Twelve of those teams brought along vehicles to display at the show, each one in varying degrees of completeness. This technical summit comes on the eve of the announcement that it will receive up to $5.5 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. The award outlines specific tasks for the Auto X Prize to follow including vehicle telemetry integration, technical assistance to qualifying teams and the addition of technical staffing. The locations for the acceleration, hill climbing, slalom and fuel economy competitions haven’t been announced yet, but we’ve heard that Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., will be two of them. We also hear Auto X Prize fans will be able to watch real-time videos of the $10-million prize competition online and even see instantaneous fuel economy and performance of the entries. Read More... Electric cars, plug-in hybrids, biodiesels and other alternative designs square off in the global challenge. Learn from the people who know it best. Electro Automotive has been in the electric vehicle conversion business longer than anyone – since 1979 – providing conversion kits, components, training, books, and videos about electric car conversions. We wrote the book on electric car conversions – literally. Our book “Convert It” has been the “bible” of electric car conversions for many years, and still is today. Brands and models of components and batteries may change, but the principles of a good conversion are fundamental. Read More... Although it was overshadowed by the Toyota drama taking place in the House of Representatives, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Energy and Water Development held a hearing on “Electric Vehicles in the Light Duty Auto Sector” this week, and the Senators heard a fairly unified message from players in the electric vehicle community. There could be a significant early gap between E.V. demand and E.V. supply, they said, and we need help getting these green cars off the ground. Read More... Why would we want or need an electric or hybrid vehicle? What will we have to choose from? What kind of maintenance will be required and where would we get it? Where and how would we charge (fuel) our vehicle? What will be the costs for all of this? Read More...
Every two years, passionate and curious gather for discovering and admiring the latest models and releases from manufacturers. But today, the crisis took over the party. The financial crisis brought people back to reality. The over-sized, fuel hungry cars that dominated the floor during the last years will give their place to more reasonable vehicles. The costly luxurious objects will transform in practical, small and easy concept cars more adapted to reality. Current road shows present energy saving, low consumption engines and praise green, hybrid, power motorized alternatives. Yet, social and environmental responsibilities are strongly underlined. Read More...
Ghosn Interview Video At the 80th Geneva Motor Show starting on 2nd March, Suzuki’s will exhibit its latest hybrid technology concept for the first time in Europe – a Swift with Plug-in Hybrid system. Read More...
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