USA / Global
September 3, 2013
Nissan LEAF Adopted By Law Enforcement In Switzerland
Law enforcement Nissan LEAF in Switzerland Switzerland is the latest country after Portugal, France and the UK where the Nissan LEAF can be seen as law enforcement, firefighter or medic vehicles. In the UK cities of Birmingham and Coventry, a total of 30 LEAFs were incorporated into the police fleet. In Switzerland, for now, it is only one LEAF that will be used by the Po...
Iowa Charging Stations Under Utilized?
Almost daily now there seems to be some story rearing its ugly head on the Internet about how a few chargers in a US city remain largely unused. What irks us about this is that these unused chargers will certainly be welcome in the future when hundreds of thousands of plug-in vehicles will be found in the US. We call this future proofing. Some US cities are ahead of the time and will benef...
Frankfurt Motor Show
Porsche Confirms 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show Debut of 918 Spyder Plug-In Hybrid
Porsche 918 Spyder Production Image Who would have thought that Porsche would become Germany's first automaker with 2 production plug-in vehicles in its stable? Production 918 Spyder With the plug-in Panamera S E-Hybrid already on sale in Germany, the addition of the 918 Spyder will bring Porsche's plug-in vehicle count to 2. Can any o...
Chevrolet Funds Install of Public Chargers at 2 State Parks in California
Leo Carrillo State Beach and Malibu Creek State Park in Southern California now have free public charging stations courtesy of Chevrolet’s EcoAd advertising with CBS EcoMedia Inc. The Volt Needs Charging Too The pair of chargers (one installed at each location) can accommodate up to 4 plug-in vehicles at a time. The units were installed under the Adopt a...
Siemens Exits the Charging Station Business Due to Weak Demand
Siemens CP700A charging point According to a Wall Street Journal article, Siemens appears to have exited the charging station business due to low demand for such equipment. "Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG (SI) said Tuesday it will exit its electric car charging points business, as demand and market development turned out weaker than expected." Siemens use to offer bot...
Tesla Model S First Drive Review from Europe
The first examples of the Tesla Model S are now rolling down some European roads. Turns Out the Model S is a Blast Across the Pond Too Though the Model S in European trim doesn't vary significantly from the electric Tesla sedan we see here in the US, most European journalists have not yet had a crack at driving the Model S. That's starting to change now a...
Fiat To Sell 491 Of Its 500e In 2013
2013 Fiat 500e The Fiat 500e is probably the surprise offering of the year. Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne Not A Big Fan Of EV Technology Being Forced To Market Especially so since it was given little fanfare by the company when it was announced - if anything electric vehicles (or rather the business of electric vehicles) have bee...
Official Images of Production BMW i8 Leak Out Ahead of Debut
While the BMW i8 is not to be officially unveiled until September 10, it looks like a media outlet (Autoblog Deutschland) in Germany jumped the gun and published out some images ahead of schedule. We are here to now pass those images along to you. Isn’t modern-day media sweet? Enjoy!!! BMW i8 Interior BMW i8 Cutaway...
Volkswagen XL1 to be Priced at $146,000
XL1 for $145,000? A Steep Price Tag Comes Standard Volkswagen has reportedly settled on a price for its radically styled, uber-efficient XL1 diesel plug-in hybrid: € 111,000. That converts to $146,243 in US dollars, though it matters not since the XL1 will not be sold in the States. At that price, the XL1 is beyond the means of most ...
August Sets Electric Vehicle Sales Record For Norway; 6% of Market Grabbed by EVs...Tesla Model S an Immediate Hit
Nissan LEAF in Norway The latest data indicates that August was the most successful month for electric vehicle sales in Norway to date. First of all, 700 passenger electric cars were registered last month, which is 272 more (63.6%) than in August of the previous year. Under current market conditions, this uptick in sales was enough to take electric vehicles to 6.0% share ...
Denver International Airport Adds 10 Level 1 Chargers
It's our position that airports are perfect places for cheap, Level 1 charging stations. There's no need for Level 2 or DC quick chargers at airports. Sure, they'd be welcome additions to Level 1 charging, but they aren't necessary. Denver International Airport must have read our minds. The airport is now in the process of installing 10 Level 1 chargers. Heath Montgomery, an airport...
At $100/kWh It Is "All Over" For The Internal Combustion Engine - Energy Expert
We know that as costs for batteries have come down, the costs of plug-in cars have followed suit. Ultimately, Price Moves Metal When was the last time the MSRP on a strictly fossil fuel vehicle came down by $5,000 like the Chevrolet Volt did this month? Or the $4,000 off the Focus Electric? Or the $6,400* off Nissan LEAF? (*-with a little de-content...