Leclanché says it has been selected as the battery provider for two hybrid vessels built for Stena Line and Brittany Ferries. The ‘E-Flexer’ ferries will be the world’s largest hybrid vessels and run between England and France with deliveries to progress fast.
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The German rental car service Sixt announced the addition of green options to the Sixt Ride business. Customers booking transfer or limousine services may now choose a hybrid or fully electric vehicle in select European cities.
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Since the beginning of this year, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been working on the EXACT (Exploration of Electric Aircraft Concepts and Technologies) project to develop new technology components for an eco-efficient commercial aircraft – with batteries, fuel cells and hydrogen.
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US manufacturer Ampaire has announced the take-off of the supposed world’s largest hybrid electric aircraft to date. The Ampaire 337 had its maiden flight in California and is expected to complete commercial flights in two years.
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Terrafugia is taking pre-orders for their hybrid plane that mixes two worlds in every sense. The Transition is said to switch from road to air operation in less than a minute and moves from partially electric driving to conventional flying.
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Toyota will have to recall 2.4 million hybrid vehicles worldwide. The reason for this was named as software issues. Only one month ago, the Japanese automobile manufacturers also had to launch a recall of more than 1 million hybrids because of potential short-circuit and fire danger.
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Italy’s foremost sports carmaker is looking to launch their first SUV. The Purosangue which Ferrari prefers to call a Crossover or “FUV” is set to hit the market by 2022. Despite its name it will not be so pure blooded though as Ferrari has a hybrid drive lined up.
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Aston Martin presents the Vision Volante Concept, a study of a premium VTOL with hybrid propulsion. Whether the three-seater will ever take-off on a mass scale is uncertain. Yet Aston is on to something as Rolls-Royce also issued their version of an air taxi.
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The luxury automobile manufacturer McLaren has announced their plans to fit their entire lineup with hybrid motors in the next seven years. The goal is being managed by a £1.2 billion business plan called Track25.
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Nissan want to extend the reach of their e-Power technology as used in the Note beyond Japan. First markets to benefit from the unusual hybrid are countries in south east Asia such as Thailand and others with weak charging infrastructure.
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Ford has launched their Ford Police Interceptor Utility in the States. It is the first pursuit-rated hybrid SUV to ever make it onto the force. It is said to offer officers more speed and higher powers as well as some special police features.
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Honda has flipped the switch to get the lines rolling at its Greensburg facility in the state of Indiana. They now churn out the Insight serially and the hybrid car is the fifth electrified model by the Japanese company and will be available in early summer.
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Toyota Motor Europe has presented its Q1 results, which position hybrid vehicles firmly on the map. Almost half of all European Toyota drivers opted for a semi-electric drive, in Western Europe it was the majority of buyers even.
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Toyota renews its investment into its site in Valenciennes, France, where it also makes the hybrid Yaris. 300m euros will enable the plant to produce 300,000 vehicles a year which will use the new global platform TNGA in the future.
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Deutz will debut electrified drive solutions for off-highway applications at the Intermat this April. The drives may be utilised in construction and material handling equipment and BMWi delivers the battery.
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Honda will unveil a prototype of the hybrid Insight at the next Auto Show in Detroit in January as the precursor to the new 2019 Insight. On-sale of what will be the third generation of the hybrid pioneer is to begin next year.
Read moreIn August, EV sales dropped 23.4 percent to 5,224 units compared to August 2014 in the United States. Plug-in hybrid sales even fell 36% to 3,786 units sold, while 37,633 pure hybrids rolled of the lot – a nearly 22% decrease compared to the same period last year. The reasons are low petrol prices and the fact, that the 2016 models will soon be available.
hybridcars.com
A total of 420 purely electric cars were newly registered in the UK in July, down 16 percent compared to same month last year. Plug-in hybrid soared 95 percent, on the other hand – 1,169 PHEVs were registered in the UK in July 2015, compared to 599 units in July 2014.
smmt.co.uk
Just 5,143 electric cars found buyers last month in the USA. Compared to July 2014 that is an decrease of 13.3 percent. The silly season also took its toll on hybrids, where sales dropped almost 20% (35,666 units sold) and even plug-in hybrids (3,836 sold; -33,2%).
hybridcars.com
Serial theft of batteries from hybrid cars in San Francisco might soon come to an end, as Greentec developed a special safety screw. The bolts can only be installed and removed with a tools only Greentec has access to. Thieves could be pretty screwed soon.
hybridcars.com, sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
Never underestimate the acceleration of a Porsche 918 Spyder – it is pretty instant, especially while still in a parking lot. This fellow in Saint-Tropez had to find that out the hard way, as his ride was stopped before it really started by a parked SUV. Ouch!
thesupercarkids.com
Toyota sold 101,000 hybrid vehicles in the first half of 2015 in Europe, including Lexus sales. Hybrids thus account for almost one fifth (22%) of the total sales of Toyota Motors Europe (450,951 vehicles) .
automotiveworld.com
In the U.S., 32,330 hybrids, 3,409 plug-in hybrids, and 6,975 EVs were sold in June. The number of BEV increased compared to the same period last year, whiles sales of hybrids and PHEVs dropped. The best-selling BEVs were the Tesla Model S (2,800), the Nissan Leaf (2,074) and the BMW i3 (551).
hybridcars.com
Apparently stealing and reselling batteries from hybrid vehicle is quite a lucrative business. 14 incidents were reported since November, according to the police in New York City. In each of those cases, the cars were Toyota Camry hybrids and the majority were yellow cabs.
newyork.cbslocal.com
A combined 221,490 hybrids were sold by Hyundai and Kia last year, of which the Sonata hybrid from Hyundai took up more than half at 114,778 units. Hybrid sales of Kia and Hyundai nearly tenfolded over the past six years.
koreaherald.com
Reading tip I: BMW’s inofficial head of EV testing, Tom Moloughney, is looking at how cold weather can affect the battery performance of electric vehicles. He draws from his experience with the i3 and advises BMW to inform people better on how a drop in temperature leads to a drop in range.
bmwblog.com
Reading tip II: John Voelcker here ponders the slow death of the hybrid as it is faced with ever growing numbers of EVs and plug-in hybrids on the road and on offer.
greencarreports.com
Worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles dropped 9 percent in the first eight months of this year, compared to sales during the same period in 2013. In the U.S. alone, five percent fewer hybrids left dealership lots. The reasons are dropping petrol prices and the rise of more efficient petrol-powered cars.
forbes.com (worldwide), autoblog.com (U.S.)
Click tip: Forbes has put together an info graphic comparing prices of hybrids and their non-hybrid versions but also takes into account annual fuel savings. For those on a rather tight budget, the Lincoln MKZ hybrid appears to be the best choice.
blogs-images.forbes.com (chart) via forbes.com
Join in: This coming Thursday from 12am to 1pm EDT, the Department of Energy (DoE) will hold a webinar on the new SAE standard for hydrogen fuelling.
gotomeeting.com (registration) via greencarcongress.com
Toyota sold 665,740 hybrid cars globally in the first half of 2014. Sales went up four percent compared to the same time last year. Best-seller was the Aqua, which is sold as Prius C in the U.S.
wardsauto.com via greencarreports.com
Research tip: A study by IHS Automotive found that the hybrid marketshare in the U.S. has not kept pace with the growing number of models available at dealers. While hybrid availability doubled from 2009 to 2013, sales have only increased from 2.4 to 3.0%.
blog.polk.com via autoblog.com
Click tip: Next Green Car launched its ‘Zap-Map’ website showing all 6,176 charging points in the UK. 402 of those are fast-charging stations.
zap-map.com via green.autoblog.com
