Genesis announced the start of sales of its first electric vehicle GV60 in the United States. The GV60 will be offered in two packages in the USA, with the GV60 Advanced AWD starting at an MSRP of $58,890 and the GV60 Performance AWD at $67,890.
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New Flyer has been tasked with delivering their electric Xcelsior Charge heavy duty buses to the state of Connecticut as well as the city of Atlanta. A total of 12 fully-electric, 40-foot buses were ordered by Connecticut’s DoT, while six buses are headed to Atlanta.
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California is joining with seven other US American states to develop an action plan to put “hundreds of thousands” more emissions-free trucks and buses on roads and highways. The California Air Resources Board announced the initiative.
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Electric delivery: New Zealand’s supermarket chain Foodstuffs is getting cash from the government to test the use of electric delivery vans at its locations. 28 Nissan e-NV200 will be imported for the task in 2018. The installation of public EV chargers at the market’s locations is also in the cards.
scoop.co.nz
Field testing bi-directional charging: Nissan is working with Newcastle University on a project using electric cars that feed electricity back into the grid. The first ten V2G charging points have been installed on the university’s campus and at Nissan’s research centre in Cranfield. The tests are part of a larger project, in the course of which Nissan plans to install a total of 100 V2G chargers on the Iles.
chroniclelive.co.uk
Banking on dieselgate: The U.S. state of Connecticut is getting 50m dollars in financial penalties from VW following the scandal, and is now considering where to invest. The Connecticut Public Interest Group proposed the installation of more than 100 EV charging points and the purchase of dozens of electric buses.
ctpost.com
Electric Portugal: More than 4,000 electric vehicles were roaming the streets of Portugal last year, and the country expects to crack the 5,000-EV milestone this year. In the coming weeks, 14 fast-chargers will be installed in Portuguese cities and along the motorways.
theportugalnews.com
UK subsidies for electric motorbikes: The UK government now supports the purchase of an electric motorbike or scooter with up to 1,500 pounds. At least 2,500 two-wheelers can benefit from the grant, under the condition that they have a range of at least 50 km (30 km for scooters), can go faster than 40 kph and not use any lead acid or silicone lead acid traction batteries.
insideevs.com
VW partners with ridesharing service: In light of VW’s attempt to become a mobility provider coined by electric mobility, the carmaker is partnering with Chinese ridesharing service Didi Chuxing. The partners want to offer mobility solutions and also develop further transport systems for Chinese cities.
chinadaily.com.cn
Converter for Chinese infrastructure: Tesla announced an adaptor, so that its vehicles can also plug in at public chargers in China. It will enable Tesla drivers there to get juice not just at the Supercharger and possibly give them access to federal subsidies for wallboxes.
electrek.co, teslarati.com, bloomberg.com
New deal for BYD: The manufacturer has received an order for 21 of its 7-metre electric buses from the South Korean island of Jeju. It is said to be largest deal ever won by a coach manufacturer in a developed East Asian country and comes just weeks before BYD’s 12-metre e-bus will debut in the country.
indiatimes.com
Connecticut deepens pockets: The U.S. state has earmarked another 2.7m dollars in subsidies for electric vehicles. Residents, businesses and even municipalities can therefore continue to receive grants ranging from 750 to 5,000 dollars when by a battery-electric, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell vehicle.
fox61.com, nhregister.com
Porsche photovoltaic pylon: A new Porsche centre in Berlin is powered by the now completed pylon. It is 25 metres high and includes 7,776 solar cells that can annually generate up to 30,000 kWh of electricity. Electric car owners are welcome to charge on-site for free.
thestack.com
Disciplinary move: Glasgow council scraps free parking in charge bays, limiting park time to two hours at 3 GBP each. Officials say the spaces are overused by EV and PHEV drivers and that the measure will bring greater availability for actual charging by the summer. Electricity remains free-of-charge.
heraldscotland.com
EVs and charging in Connecticut: Middletown added six Ford Focus Electric cars to its fleet and the same number of public charging stations. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection funded the project with 115,064 dollars while the city had to add 78,606 dollars.
courant.com
A new electric bus has been approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). GreenPower’s EV350 model can be sold as as heavy duty bus in the Golden State. The EV is eligible for the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), worth 95,000 dollars.
money.cnn.com
Local EV fleet: Rochdale Borough Council purchased three electric cars. The EVs are already in use for waste and recycling, as well as transport services and the council hopes to save about 500 GBP on fuel cost per year and per EV. Bracknell Forest council, too, acquired its second Nissan e-NV200.
rochdaleonline.co.uk, bracknellnews.co.uk
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RDE regulation underway: The European Union member states yesterday supported the EU Commission’s proposal for the evaluation of Real Driving Emissions (RDE). CO2 emissions of vehicles will have to be measured not only under laboratory conditions, but also in real driving tests. However, as the ACEA pointed out, the full test cycle remains obscure.
acea.be
Volt prices hit a new low: Because of low petrol prices and the next generation Volt just around the bend, Chevrolet dealers are offering the current Volt model from 30,607 dollars before tax credit, around 5,000 dollar under MSRP. There are about 6,000 of the 2015 Volt left for sale in the U.S.
usatoday.com
BMW i8 reaches MRSP level: As extra eager buyers seemingly have had their share of the hybrid super car, dealers in the U.S. now offer the i8 at MRSP. Pricing starts at 136,500 dollars excluding a Destination & Handling fee. This year, BMW will allocate more than 1,000 i8 to the U.S.
bmwblog.com
CHEAPR is Connecticut’s rebate programme for electric and hybrid vehicles. Up to 3,000 dollars are offered to those who either lease or buy an EV or PHEV with a battery capacity of more than 18 kWh. The programme pays 1,500 dollars for vehicles with an 18 kWh battery or less.
insideevs.com, electriccarsreport.com
Tech demo live: Lamborghini will present its Asterion PHEV at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy this weekend. As we know, the super stylish hybrid will not go into serial production but remain a technology demonstrator only.
motoroids.com
A total of 10,800 FCVs, 640 FC buses, and 110 H2 fuelling stations in eight North-Eastern states until 2025 are outlined in the ‘2015 Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Development Plans’ by the Northeast Electrochemical Energy Storage Cluster in the USA.
greencarcongress.com
Councils cued up on EVs: A survey by Intelligent Car Leasing among 412 councils in Great Britain found that one third of authorities had at least one electric vehicle in their fleet. Scottish communities are particularly well electrified with Dundee taking the lead as its fleet is 38 EVs strong.
intelligentcarleasing.com via fleetpoint.org, transportevolved.com
German Greens pro EV incentives: German car buyers could get grants worth 5,000 euros (5,672 USD) for EVs and 2,000 euros (2,270 USD) for hybrids if a new proposal by the Green party will make it through parliament. The subsidies could be financed through a new fund fed with taxes collected from cars which emissions exceed the European limits.
thelocal.de
Phone booths to charge points: Korean KT Linkus together with electric car sharing company Han Car and the city of Seoul has started a pilot project to turn disused phone booths into EV charging stations. Three have undergone the transformation already and more could follow suit.
koreabizwire.com
Crossing Connecticut in hybrids: The state will put 48 diesel-hybrid buses by Nova, New Flyer and Gillig into service for its new express bus system CTfastrak, which is scheduled to start in March. All buses are equipped with hybrid technology from Allison Hybrid and will serve across Connecticut.
greencarcongress.com
Ready, steady, go! 167 Tesla Model S have just taken up taxi services at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, making it the biggest electric cab fleet in the world. The programme will run for four years, but might be extended for another eight. Success seems somewhat guaranteed…
gas2.org, youtube.com (Video, in Dutch)
Equally electric is Brussel’s new e-taxi fleet. 34 BYD e6 will go into service in the Belgian capital. The Chinese manufacturer bid successfully against Nissan and Renault and impressed cab companies with a range of up to 300 kilometres.
bloomberg.com, cntv.cn
PlugSurfing to expand further: The app now includes another 130 charge spots in Austria, where PlugSurfing users can charge and pay via RFID keychain. Partner for the Alpine expansion are Electrodrive Salzburg and Wien Energie, both part of Hubject’s intercharge network.
plugsurfing.com
EV promotion in the States: Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will fund at least 20 more charging stations. Installation is fully paid for if the stations are available to the public 24/7 and free of charge. Jacksonville, Florida, offers rebates of up to 1,000 dollars for both the installation of charge points and the purchase of EVs, following in the steps of i.e. California and Georgia, where incentives can reach 5,000 dollars.
westfaironline.com (Connecticut), ens-newswire.com (other states)
Charging infrastructure software: Chargepartner developed a modular software platform enabling utilities and other businesses to manage charging infrastructure services. The white-label solution facilitates authorisation, management and billing of vehicle charging as well as user management.
chargepartner.de
The project ‘My Electric Avenue’ has not even really started but is already proving one thing according to Transport Evolved: Put the price right and people will happily buy electric cars. Though, the aim of the project, which is subsidised with 9 million pounds (14.9m dollars), is to assess how EVs, being charged all in the same neighbourhood and at the same time, might impact on electricity supplies (we reported). So far, more people signed up for the trial lease than cars are available.
transportevolved.com, thegreencarwebsite.co.uk
More DriveNow: The carsharing scheme from BMW is looking to expand to another 10 to 15 European and 10 U.S. cities but has not revealed any details about its timing yet. Currently, DriveNow is operating in Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich and San Francisco and serves 240,000 users.
bloomberg.com, green.autoblog.com
Revolutionary Award? The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association created an EV incentive aiming at the car dealers. The ‘Connecticut Revolutionary Dealer Award’ will be given to the dealership which sells the most electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the first half of 2014. Tesla better hurry with its planned Milford opening.
ct.gov
