The Renault-Nissan alliance has sold more than 400,000 electric cars globally since the Nissan Leaf hit the road a little over six years ago. CEO Carlos Ghosn disclosed the figures during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
reuters.com
“Today the S-Class has an electric range of some 30 kilometres. Next year, as part of the facelift, we will attain a range of 50 kilometres for the first time. We are anticipating further leaps in range by the year 2020 thanks to the continued evolution of lithium-ion batteries.”
Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG, says they will be electrifying all Mercedes-Benz model series and that hybrids will also have a bright future at the company. The manufacturer will be putting ten plug-in hybrids on the road by 2017.
mercedes-benz.com
“Fifteen years from now, I suspect every car on the road will be electric.”
Virgin boss Richard Branson believes that not only will the Formula E take over Formula 1, but that EVs will take over the car market.
youtube.com via cnn.com
“Chargemaster regards existing standards and regulations as adequate and the planned enforcement of new laws through AFID is unconstructive and likely to interfere with the deployment of public charging infrastructure.”
We quoted David Martell, head of Chargemaster, saying he hoped that with Brexit, the UK may no longer have to follow an EU directive and add CCS to new charging stations. He would like to add that the company’s chargers already feature all standards and that he is in favour of standardisation – but that restrictions imposed by the Alternative Fuel Directive could do more harm than good.
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Leading by example: The Netherlands have the second largest EV fleet per capita after Norway and more than 6,000 charge points. What has the small country done right when it comes to charging infrastructure? And what can other [European] countries learn from its example? Watch our exclusive interview with Wibo Elzinga, Business Development Manager at ICU Charging Equipment, to find out.
Watch the video on electrive.com >> or on youtube.com >>
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“There’s no question that we need to do local production in Europe, both of cars and battery packs. At some point, maybe sometime next year or so, we’ll start investigating potential locations and certainly this region will be one of the places to look.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised production facilities in Europe when he spoke to politicians from Flanders, who surely were all ears. From a German perspective he may want to consider Wolfsburg?!
huffingtonpost.com
Virgin boss Richard Branson talks about Volkswagen’s diesel scandal, which he sees as nothing more than a big waste of money and resources. He does hope, however, that this will push carmakers to “invest in the future.”
cnbc.com
“We don’t see any battery technology that would allow us to…give customers a comparable driving experience at a reasonable price.”
Craig Scott, national alternative fuel vehicle manager at Toyota, says that range anxiety cannot be combatted with BEVs, but with fuel cell cars and that there is a “fundamental science problem” with batteries.
forbes.com
Sir Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Racing Formula E team, is certain that the electric racing series will overtake the Formula 1 in terms of popularity in the next five years, and that soon, petrol-cars will be a rarity.
chroniclelive.co.uk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted this timetable for his upcoming EVs together with updates for the Model S (we reported yesterday).
teslamotors.com
“In only 10 years, more than 15 percent of new vehicles worldwide will be electrified.”
Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner is certain that connected cars are the next big thing and that connectivity will make electric vehicles more suitable for everyday use.
autocarpro.in
Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, which is also involved in the Formula E. Are serial EVs next on the list?
bloomberg.com
“We see electrification as playing a very long-term, strategic role in the automobile industry. We need to transition from gas to electrification.”
GM’s sustainability director David Tulauskas comments on the carmaker’s carbon-cutting efforts and says that electrification is an important market for GM, also because it is [so far] the only company to produce its own batteries and EVs.
bna.com
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“Oil lobby couldn’t kill [the] electric car if they tried.”
Formula E mastermind Alejandro Agag believes the electrification of the automotive industry to be unstoppable, no matter if and what “they” try.
insideevs.com
“For me there is no doubt that we have to move to renewable energies, in mobility but as well as in general life. And the electric car is a first step in that direction. However, changes often require some pain. A pain, which is not here at this time with ridiculously low oil prices.”
Rinspeed founder Frank M. Rinderknecht sees his company’s future in public transport as well as in increasingly autonomous vehicles. However, the focus of his innovations has always been the “human,” he says.
cheatsheet.com
Sir Richard Branson, owner of Formula E Virgin Racing team, has high hopes for the future. We wonder what fuel his airline might use, ten years from now…
electriccarsreport.com