Dale Vince, Mitsuhisa Kato, George Crabtree.
“It’s a very strange situation we’ve got ourselves in – we should all be on the same side. We’ve done a lot of work with the electric highway; they’ve done a lot of work with their electric car. We should get on.”
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince on his difficulties with Tesla over the (Super-) charger infrastructure in Great Britain.
independent.co.uk
“It’s a very strange situation we’ve got ourselves in – we should all be on the same side. We’ve done a lot of work with the electric highway; they’ve done a lot of work with their electric car. We should get on.”
This is Toyota VP Mitsuhisa Kato championing hybrids but even more fuel cell technology as the real alternative to gasoline-powered cars.
autonews.com
“The cruising distance is so short for EVs, and the charging time is so long. At the current level of technology, somebody needs to invent a Nobel Prize-winning type battery.”
George Crabtree, director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), Argonne, on the revolutionary or innovative power his laboratory has set out to unfold.
evwind.es
“We are putting together the three components of the battery, the anode, the electrolyte, and the cathode, in ways that have never been done before.”
Presenting the new Passat: VW showed the 2015-model in Berlin last Friday. The new generation weighs up to 85 kilograms less and has an overall ‘edgier’ design. For the first time, the Passat will also be available in a plug-in hybrid version, with an electric range of up to 50 kilometres. Sales kick off in Europe this week, with prices starting at 25,875 euros (35,180 dollars) for the sedan and 25,950 euros (35,250 dollars) for the estate.
“We will not back down.”
“To me the question should be why can’t every vehicle be electrical?”
Caught on camera: Pictures of the Brilliance-BMW Zinoro 1E on the streets of Beijing, China, have been published. The Zinoro is not for sale and can only be rented or leased. Rates start at about 7,400 renminbi (1,190 dollars) a month at a 3-year lease. Another reason why it might have a hard time is the lack of public charging infrastructure in Beijing, where the only dealer is located.
“Aggressive patent litigation is ultimately detrimental to the ability of an entire industry to develop new technologies.”
“Tesla’s proposal is an interesting idea. However, we think standardisation should not be defined by one manufacturer, but in a joint effort between manufacturers, politicians and energy distributors.”
Electric Infiniti: Nissan vice-president Andy Palmer again confirmed that a new line of fully-electric vehicles is being developed, which will make use of the next-gen Nissan Leaf powertrain and can be charged inductively. Palmer also said that the carmaker’s electric supercar concept, the Emerg-E (photo), will most likely see production.
Hybrid racer from Holland: Team InMotion from the Eindhoven University of Technology is building a futuristic-looking hybrid racecar. Each wheel will be powered by its own electric motor, while a rotary engine will serve as range extender. Two years from now, the team hopes to break the lap record with its “IM01” at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, as well as compete at Le Mans in 2017 0r 2018.
“We don’t have the smell of diesel on our hands anymore.”
“I can’t wait to ride it across the country.”
“No one told us to do it [the Ampera]; we did it because it was the right thing to do.”
Next generation Prius delayed six months: Toyota pushed back start of production from spring to December 2015. Though reasons for the delay have not been confirmed, rumour has it that engineers need more time to optimise fuel efficiency, tweaking body and chassis issues. Moreover, Automotive News reports that the Prius will “be a test bed of critical new technologies, including Toyota’s modularised vehicle architecture and next-generation hybrid system.”
Plug-in gas truck: Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) and Greenkraft announced they will work together on a plug-in hybrid CNG powertrain for medium-duty trucks. Meanwhile, the California Energy Commission awarded EDI 900,000 dollars in funding to support the development of the parallel-series multi-mode truck.
“What Elon Musk did, is taking batteries from consumer electronics, combining them to big packs with intelligent battery management systems. That is no rocket science.”
“Traditional automakers are under pressure to maintain growth and have not devoted 100 percent to EVs. The success of Tesla inspired both the industry regulators and players in the sense that a non-automaker can really make EVs work.”
Audi to go global with plug-in hybrid: The German carmaker will start to sell the Audi A3 e-tron in Europe this month. In the States, Audi’s first plug-in hybrid will be available in the second half of 2015. It is set for China first though, where deliveries will start in the first half of next year.