The US American motorcycle brand has invested an unknown sum into the electric motorcycle manufacturer formerly known as BRD Motorcycles. The smaller Alta Motors has significant experience with battery packs and powertrains that Harley Davidson can benefit from.
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Two Honda BEVs to come: This autumn, Honda intends to introduce a fully electrified vehicle based on the manufacturer’s new EV platform. More details have not yet been provided, but it will likely be the Clarity BEV and it will most likely debut at the IAA in Frankfurt. For the Chinese market, Honda is to launch an additional BEV in 2018. Furthermore, the Japanese carmaker confirmed that by 2030 it wants two-thirds of its global sales to be made up of electrified cars. This strategy also includes research on fast and wireless charging systems.
autoexpress.co.uk
Renault to challenge utility companies? Renault-Nissan and British Powervault recently announced their cooperation to give EV batteries a second life and stationery home. Now the French carmaker goes a step further and plans to team up with energy storage specialist The Mobility House in order to build a huge power storage plant in Europe reusing batteries from EVs. With a capacity of 100MW, the “mega battery” shall be big enough to power 120,000 homes and could thus replace a coal power station. The project is at “study phase” according to Renault to determine where to build the plant.
reuters.com
Semi serious: Serial production of Tesla’s electric truck Semi could start in 18 to 24 months, states Elon Musk with the prototype to go on display this September as planned. Meanwhile, the EV maker’s stock reached another record high with shares being worth 360 dollars each. It thus comes as no surprise, Tesla made it on the Fortune 500 list of companies with the highest-revenue worldwide.
electrek.co (Tesla Semi), electrek.co (shares, Fortune 500)
New capital for Alta Motors: The Californian electric bike manufacturer raised a total of 27m dollars in its latest rounds of financing. The funds shall be invested in an expansion of a manufacturing and R&D facility in Brisbane and in further research of the company’s light electric vehicle technology.
prnewswire.com
Number plates for EVs in Korea: BEVs and FCVs shall be easy to identify in South Korea and that is why they get to bear blue number plates. Thanks to sensors recognising the colour, drivers of these vehicles are supposed to automatically pay less parking and toll charges.
koreaherald.com
Electric Tata Tiago? Tata Motors’ first EV reaching market maturity could be an electric version of the Tiago hatchback, Autocar India has learnt. More details have not been revealed, but it seems obvious that India’s recent push towards electric vehicles has hurried Tata’s plans to launch an electric line-up.
autocarindia.com
Project One accidentally unveiled? As part of a design workshop, Mercedes may have revealed a detailed outlook on its Project One – AMG’s hybrid hypercar said to hit the road next year. The study at least bears some striking resemblance to teaser images published just recently (we reported).
motorauthority.com
Big investment: Chinese manufacturer SAIC is planning on investing a total of 15bn yuan (2.2bn dollars) in the development of electric vehicles and the field of connectivity. About half the money will be spend on pure battery-powered cars and the other on plug-in hybrids. SAIC plans to sell more than 320,000 EVs per year by 2020.
automobil-produktion.de (in German), autonewschina.com
Taxi power: London Taxi Company CEO Chris Gubbey confirmed that the company wants to use the almost finished platform of its TX5 hybrid taxi with range extender for commercial vehicles by 2019. LTC is a subsidiary of Chinese carmaker Geely and plans on launching the hybrid taxi by the end of the year. After subsidies, the cab is said to be just as expensive as a diesel.
autoexpress.co.uk
Culprit? Tesla is accusing former Autopilot director Sterling Anderson of stealing company information for his own venture. He supposedly downloaded hundreds of gigabytes of information onto a hard drive and used it to form his own self-driving car company Aurora together with Chris Urmson, the former head of autonomous driving at Google.
theverge.com, businessinsider.de
Nissan Z as hybrid Nissan is planning to bring back its Z sports car series and will present a first concept at the Tokyo Motor Show. Apparently, the portfolio will also include a hybrid variant with a total output of 500 hp.
autoexpress.co.uk, caranddriver.com
Makeover: California manufacturer Alta Motors released an image of the new version of its Redshift, which it will present at the One Moto show in February. The electric motorbike is currently available in the variants SM and MX. No technical details have been released for the new “Street Tracker” or Redshift ST version.
electrek.co, autoblog.com, digitaltrends.com
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Video tip: Alta Motors is actually a battery manufacturers but they make them for their own super cool electric motocross machines. And while this video is essentially a company introduction and factory tour there is some real dirty action in there too. Jump on in!
youtube.com
Reading tip: WiTricity CEO Alex Gruzen took to the keyboard to come up with his vision of a future smart city for Charged EVs. Obviously, his metropolis entails a lot of electric car charging but no wires, and many electric cars but no drivers.
chargedevs.com
Naked Ioniq: The Hyundai was caught on camera completely undisguised. The vehicle, which will be available as a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, and a purely electric car, was set to be unveiled at the auto show in South Korea next month and will go head to head with the Toyota Prius. The all-electric variant could rival the Nissan Leaf.
autoguide.com, autoblog.com
Electric cars from India: Indian manufacturer Mahindra wants to introduce an electric variant of its Verito and Maxximo in February, using an enhanced version of the drivetrain used in the e2o. India-based Tata Motors also announced that amid falling battery prices, it will focus more on electric and hybrid vehicles in the future.
business-standard.com (Mahindra), business-standard.com (Tata Motors)
Tesla update: According to the LA Times, the EV pioneer received another 39m dollars in the form of sales tax incentives from the California government. Tesla will therefore be exempt from paying sales tax on certain equipment for the next three years. Meanwhile, the manufacturer announced that Tesla drivers can now listen to the music streaming service Spotify in their car free of charge.
latimes.com (incentives), telegraph.co.uk (Spotify)
First RedShift delivered: California start-up Alta Motors has begun handing over the keys to its all-electric RedShift motorcycles, a line of electric Motorcross MX and Supermoto SM. The lucky customers Eric Gauthier and Jeannine Smith also live in California. By the way, the company is hiring for an array of positions.
electric-vehiclenews.co, businesswire.com, altamotors.co (jobs)
Lexus based on Prius: The next generation of the compact hybrid Lexus CT 200h is said to arrive in 2017 and will be built on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) – the same basis used for the 2016 Toyota Prius.
worldcarfans.com, carscoops.com
A snowman called Kodiak: The new Skoda seven-seat crossover SUV will be dubbed Kodiak, after being previously known under the project name ‘Snowman.’ A plug-in hybrid version is in the cards. The vehicle will celebrate its premier at the Salon d’Auto in Paris next year.
worldcarfans.com, indianautosblog.com
Autonomous PHEV: GAC Motor announces to present two concept PHEVs at the NAIAS. The plug-in hybrid SUV WitStar is designed to showcase autonomous driving technology and comes with an all-electric range of 62 miles and a top speed of 99 mph. Information on the GA6 GT sedan is yet scarce.
autonews.com, rushtimes.com
Nissan meets NASA: The Japanese carmaker and the U.S. space agency unite in a five-year R&D partnership to develop autonomous vehicle systems ready to go to market. A fleet of self-driving Leafs will be set up for testing at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California before the end of the year.
inautonews.com, businesswire.com, greencarcongress.com
Electric foam car: Chinese Spira4u has started pilot production of its electric three-wheeler. With a composite chassis and a body made of fiberglass with lightweight foam body panels, the Spira4u EV weighs only 190 kilos and costs 9,000 dollars. An amphibious version is under development.
gizmag.com
Hybrid military motorcycle: Logos Technologies has entered phase two of the operation assigned by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The SilentHawk hybrid motorcycle is based on Alta Motor’s Redshift in full camouflage. An AWD prototype is expected within 18 months.
autoblog.com, theautochannel.com
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Strati launch in 2015: This EV comprises only 50 parts and is printed using a 3D printer – and it’ll be on sale next year. Local Motors is currently seeking a license from US authorities to make it legal for use on public roads. Prices are slated to be around 18,000 US dollars (approx. 14,000 euros).
gasgoo.com
Tougher CO2 targets for cars: According to German business magazine “WirtschaftsWoche”, the EU is planning to further reduce CO2 thresholds for vehicles. Carmakers would need to cut their vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 75 grams per kilometer by 2030.
wiwo.de (in German)
Carbon-fiber EV gets US launch: US-based 2050 Motors will soon start importing the lightweight electric vehicle e-Go. The EV is built by a subsidiary of Dongfeng in China and will feature two drive versions and four sizes of battery packs offering a reported range of 200 miles (320 kilometers).
evworld.com
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BRD rebrands as Alta Motors: Californian startup BRD Motorcycles took us by surprise by recently changing its name into Alta Motors. The company has just displayed its RedShift MX and the street-legal RedShift SM electric motorcross bikes at the AIMExpo.
green.autoblog.com
Volt prototype spied: Several shots of the new Chevy Volt are doing the rounds on the internet. While still heavily camouflaged, we won’t have to wait long until its unveiling. The new edition of the Volt will get its world premiere at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2015.
carscoops.com
Optare buses for India: From 2015 Optare buses will hit the roads in India – and they’ll also be produced there. The Indian firm Ashok Leyland owns a majority stake in Optare whose electric and hybrid buses have been successful in the UK. The Solo and Versa models will be the first Indian-made models and will be on show at the Bus Expo in Delhi in January.
just-auto.com
