Toyota Prius plug-in tops April plug-in sales
Prius is hybrid and plug-in king in April
Chevy Volt recedes a bit from last month’s big numbers
Sales of both GM and Nissan plug-in cars declined last month compared to the month before. However, the Toyota Prius plug-in achieved its best month of plug-in sales yet at 1,654 units.
GM claimed limited California supplies. Nissan stood by its 20,000 sale’s target. And Ford, well Ford just decided not to sell any plug-ins in April. Read more…
Categories: Buying plug-ins, Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Plug-in Vehicles, Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid, electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: Chevy Volt, electric cars, Nissan Leaf, plug-in hybrids, Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid
Lead acid batteries the new key to mainstream electrification
Maybe the car just isn't the future for most of China
It’s all about China and plug-in electric bikes
In the last 10 years, plug-in electric bikes, or e-bikes, have become a huge market in China, yet that growth is set to explode over the next 5 years according to a new Pike forecast. And I do mean explode.
By 2018, for instance, sales might reach a whopping 65 million units per year, achieving a collective 355 million total plug-in electric bikes in China, mostly powered by lead acid batteries. Read more…
Categories: Plug-in Motor Bikes Tags: electric cars, plug-in electric bikes
Where is the auto industry taking us?
Energy density according to Exxon.
Hybrids, EVs, fuel cells. Or gas-guzzlers forever?
I was cleaning out some bookmarks and came across this graph in an interesting article regarding energy density. The article and the graph come from Exxon, which used the graph to explain why by 2040, 90 percent of transportation would still be fueled by liquid fuels.
Now, there are countless arguments to make as to why Exxon is wrong, and I’m not going to make any of them. Instead, I wonder just one simple thing: Where is the auto industry taking us? Read more…
Categories: Fuel Economy, Hybrid Cars, Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars, lithium batteries, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: electric cars, Fuel economy, Hybrid Cars
Ford explains lack of hybrid, plug-in pickup trucks
No Ford hybrid pickup trucks anytime soon?
The costs of hybrid trucks are just too heavy
Ford has owned the title to the best selling vehicle in America, well, almost forever. While that’s great for this American company, it’s terrible for US fleet fuel economy. If Ford’s top selling F150 Series came in a hybrid or plug-in option, on the other hand, it would be a game changer thanks to the incredible amount of gasoline such vehicles could save.
Unfortunately, Ford CEO Alan Mulally squashed any hopes for a major move to battery-powered pickup trucks any time soon. Read more…
Categories: Hybrid Cars, Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: electric cars, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrids
The funny thing about plug-in and hybrid car haters
This is America and the key to ending foreign oil dependence
Haters matter far more than battery car advocates realize
Electric cars are so Audi 5000.
No they’re not. They really make sense if you objectively analyze the data.
Analyze this. Only a moron would pay extra for a car that has a range of less than 100 miles.
Moron? Fox News watching neanderthal.
Tree hugging fascist.
There, problem solved. Read more…
Categories: Buying Hybrids, Buying plug-ins, Energy Independence, Hybrid Cars, Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: electric cars, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrids
Coda will offer most affordable EV around 2014
Coda makes huge EV promise
Prices similar to a conventional gas-guzzler
Around mid-2014 Coda will begin assembling electric cars, sub-assembled by China’s Great Wall Motors, that Coda promises will result in the “most affordable EV on the market.”
Still, there are some red flags in this project, such as the fact that Great Wall Motors has not yet even built an electric car. Read more…
Categories: Coda plug-in electric, Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars Tags: china, electric cars
Chinese dreaming – BYD is China’s only electric car hope
BYD Daimler Denza electric car
China’s EV plans solely dependent upon foreign automakers
These days, China seems to be a tale of two countries. On the one hand, there is the rising middle class with money in their pockets buying up Buicks, SUVs, and luxury cars, but not hybrids or plug-ins. On the other hand, there is China’s working poor riding bikes, and if they are lucky, upgrading to e-bikes and three-wheeled electric vehicles.
And China’s goals of becoming a major automotive power, led by the battery, are facing significant headwinds. In fact, outside of BYD, few automakers seem ready according to many Chinese observers. Read more…
Categories: Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: china, electric cars, plug-in electric bikes, plug-in hybrids
GM’s EN-V could be more important than the Chevy Volt
Mainstream electrification could accelerate thanks to the EN-V.
Chinese electrification is a whole different monster
In the next 30 years, the world population is going to increase rather significantly and 80 percent of that growth is going to occur in the 25 largest cities in the world according to recent analysis by BMW . Personal transportation as we know it, simply won’t function in these megacites, and in many major Chinese cities, this urban mobility shift is already underway.
While electrification will undoubtedly be part of this future, just electrification won’t be enough. That’s why in China electric bikes and 3-wheelers are becoming extremely popular, far more popular than conventional electric cars. Consequently, GM’s EN-V could be more necessary and revolutionary than the Chevy Volt. Read more…
Categories: Plug-in Vehicles Tags: electric cars, GM EN-V, plug-in electric bikes
It really is the stupid American consumer
'We the People' is the only label that really matters.
It all comes down to the people, and you’re either with us or against us
Several years ago the uncle of a friend of mine won around $10 million in the lottery, when you couldn’t accept a lump sum. Before he won the lottery he, like most of us, struggled to pay his bills. A few years later — after winning the lottery — he was again struggling to pay his bills, and had to sell all off his future lotto payments to payoff his after-lottery-acquired debt. Today, he lives pretty much the same way he did before the lotto. Lotto stories like these are actually common, and they represent just how the American consumer is so often their own worst enemy.
The American consumer is also the biggest roadblock when it comes to energy independence and switching to fuel efficient choices like hybrids and plug-ins.
Maybe freedom isn’t such a good thing? Read more…
Categories: Energy Independence, Hybrid Cars, Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: electric cars, foreign oil dependence, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrids
Study – No plug-in car game changers through 2020
A lithium-ion battery pack for the Chevy Volt.
And plug-in hype could even stunt development
Earlier today I read about a study that claimed that lithium-ion battery prices had declined from $800 kWh last year to $689 this year because “production capacity exceeded demand”. So, if demand had met expectations, prices would have been $800 kWh?
If true, that matches up pretty well with a study commissioned by the UK Committee on Climate Change that finds through 2020 no major breakthroughs in lithium-ion prices are expected. Read more…
Categories: Plug-in Vehicles, electric cars, lithium batteries, plug-in hybrid cars Tags: electric cars, lithium batteries, plug-in hybrids
