Mitsubishi Motors to launch electric light truck

Mitsubishi is making an aggressive move into electric vehicles. Pictured is the PX-MiEV II concept, which is powered by a combination of hybrid systems. The drivetrain is expected to be in the next-generation Outlander.

Mitsubishi has begun development of an electric light truck it hopes to launch by April 2013, according to report in the Nikkei Japanese business daily.

The electric truck will be targeted at farmers, contractors and others who use light trucks for their work, the paper said.

Plans for an electric light truck designed for work duties highlight the variety of electrified vehicles Mitsubishi hopes to launch globally by 2016. A plug-in hybrid crossover, widely expected to be based on its Outlander crossover, is slated for sale in global markets by April 2013.

Mitsubishi is scheduled to begin retail deliveries of its first electric vehicle, the i minicar, to American customers next month. The car has been on sale in Japan since 2009, where it is known as the i-MiEV.

The electrified vehicles are part of Mitsubishi's plan to refashion itself as a global EV leader by launching eight electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles around the world by 2016.

It's unclear whether Mitsubishi's electric light truck will be available in the U.S. market. Mitsubishi officials have said it's unlikely that the U.S. market will get all of the eight EVs or PHEVs the company plans to launch by 2016.

Mitsubishi Motors is looking to sell 42,000 electric vehicles worldwide in fiscal 2012, double the number projected for this fiscal year, the Nikkei said.

The company aims to keep the sales price of the electric truck after government subsidies at less than 1.5 million yen ($19,200), making it cheaper than its two existing electric vehicles, the newspaper said.

Chevy Volt fire prompts U.S. safety probe of lithium ion batteries, report says

U.S. auto-safety regulators are scrutinizing the safety of lithium ion batteries that power electric vehicles after a Chevrolet Volt battery caught fire, people familiar with the probe said.

The regulators have approached all automakers, including General Motors, Nissan Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co., that sell or have plans to sell vehicles with lithium ion batteries with questions about the batteries' fire risk, four people familiar with the inquiry said.

The Volt caught fire while parked at a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration testing center in Wisconsin, three weeks after a side-impact crash test, said an agency official.

The official, as well as the three other people familiar with the inquiry, said they couldn't be named because the investigation isn't public.

“I want to make this very clear: the Volt is a safe car,” said Jim Federico, GM’s chief engineer for electric vehicles. “We are working cooperatively with NHTSA as it completes its investigation. However, NHTSA has stated that based on available data, there’s no greater risk of fire with a Volt than a traditional gas-powered car.”

The probe comes as automakers look to expand plug-in offerings beyond the Volt and Nissan's Leaf, which went on sale in the 2011 model year as the first mass-market plug-in electric cars in the United States.

Toyota Motor Co.'s Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid, uses a nickel-metal battery. A plug-in Prius and an electric version of the RAV4 sport-utility vehicle will use lithium ion batteries.

President Barack Obama has set a goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. Nissan is among companies that have received financing assistance from the U.S. Energy Department and European Investment Bank to develop the Leaf and lithium ion batteries.

GM in January withdrew a request for $14.4 billion in U.S. loan guarantees.

Seoul-based LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's biggest chemical maker, supplies the lithium ion batteries for the Volt.

Concern for first responders

The fire was severe enough to burn vehicles parked near the Volt, the agency official said. Investigators determined the battery was the source of the fire, the official said.

NHTSA also sent a team of investigators this week to Mooresville, N.C., to probe a fire in a residential garage where a Volt was charging. That investigation is continuing, the agency official said.

"As manufacturers continue to develop vehicles of any kind -- electric, gasoline, or diesel -- it is critical that they take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of drivers and first responders both during and after a crash," the safety agency said in a statement today.

"Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe the Volt or other electric vehicles are at a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles. In fact, all vehicles -- both electric and gasoline-powered -- have some risk of fire in the event of a serious crash."

The agency's greater concern is for rescue response teams, tow truck operators and salvage yards who may be storing plug-in cars after an accident, the official said.

GM spokesman Greg Martin said the company doesn't believe the Volt poses any greater risk to drivers than a conventional automobile. GM has spent almost 300,000 hours testing the car and believes it is safe, he said.

After the fire in June, GM and NHTSA both crashed a Volt and could not replicate the fire, Martin said. GM has safety protocols for handling the Volt and its battery after an accident. Had those been followed, there wouldn't have been a fire, Martin said.

"There are safety protocols for conventional cars," Martin said. "As we develop new technology, we need to ensure that safety protocols match the technology."

The Volt and Leaf went on sale in late 2010. U.S. sales of the Volt have reached 5,003 units this year through October; Leaf sales total 8,048 units.

Nissan spokeswoman Katherine Zachary said today there have been no incidents of fire involving the battery in the Leaf.

"The Nissan Leaf battery pack has been designed with multiple safety systems in place to help ensure its safety in the real world. All of our systems have been thoroughly tested to ensure real-world performance," Zachary said. "To date, the more than 8,000 Nissan Leafs driving on the U.S. roads have performed without reported incident."

Flammable element

Automakers have engineered electric vehicles using lithium ion batteries to withstand serious accidents because the element is flammable, said Sandy Munro, president of Munro and Associates, an engineering consulting firm in Troy, Mich.

Lithium ion batteries could catch on fire if the battery case and some of the internal cells that store electricity are pierced by steel or another ferrous metal, he said.

"Lithium burns really hot," Munro said. "But it doesn't happen often. You have to do something pretty dramatic to make it catch fire."

If a lithium ion battery is pierced by steel, a chemical reaction will take place that starts raising the temperature and can result in a fire, he said. If the piercing is small, that reaction can take days or weeks to occur, he said.

NHTSA this year gave the Leaf and Volt its top crash-test safety rating, following a "good" rating in April by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

In the simulated side-impact crash test, a new U.S. safety test for the 2011 model year, metal punctured the battery, the official said.

Regulators want to use information collected from automakers to inform emergency responders, towing firms and salvage yards about how to handle plug-in electric cars involved in crashes that may penetrate the battery compartment, the official said.

NHTSA will use the information from the automakers, which also include Toyota and BMW AG, for a three-year $8.8 million electric-vehicle safety study it announced in June, the official said.

The Federal Aviation Administration, in an advisory to airlines in October 2010, warned that lithium batteries used in cell phones, digital cameras and other devices are "highly flammable and capable of ignition," adding that fire suppression systems aren't effective when that happens.

It issued the advisory after a United Parcel Service Inc. cargo plane carrying thousands of lithium batteries crashed in Dubai after catching fire, killing both pilots.

Fifteen electric-car or battery-powered models will be available in the United States by the end of 2014, according to J.D. Power & Associates, which forecasts a glut of electric cars given that hybrid-electric sales were only 2 percent of the car market so far this year.

Daimler to test Smart electric cars in Hong Kong

Daimler AG will provide a trial version of its Smart electric car to partners in Hong Kong as the city battles record pollution.

Daimler's partners in the trial, which include the Hong Kong Jockey Club and Swire Coca-Cola HK, will use the two-seater car for six to 12 months, the carmaker said in a statement today.

Daimler's Mercedes Benz unit will offer a service center with technicians and mechanics.

The pilot program, which will run for four years, joins a push by automakers such as Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. to introduce electric vehicles in Hong Kong, where pollution reached "very high" levels on a record one in four days in 2010, according to government data.

The city government plans to replace some fuel-powered vehicles with electric ones and is trying hybrid buses, lawmakers said in February.

"A combination of electric vehicles and cleaner energy is a very good recipe for Hong Kong to become a greener city," Edward Yau, Hong Kong's environment secretary, said.

The city has 170 electric vehicles and will increase the number of charging stations to 1,000 in a year from 300, he said.

Daimler's Smart electric car, which can travel 135 kilometers (84 miles) on a full charge, won't be produced globally until 2012.

In Asia, the company has launched similar pilot programs in Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.

The other four partners who will get the car in Hong Kong are CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd., Jardine Airport Services Ltd., Yan Chai Hospital and Hongkong Electric Co.

Vehicles are the second-biggest source of pollution in Hong Kong after power stations, and their numbers rose 9.6 percent between 2004 and 2009, according to the government.

Nissan agreed to supply advance units of its Leaf electric car to Hong Kong, the government said in January.

Mitsubishi Motors already sells its battery-powered i-MiEV in the city. Daimler's Mercedes marque was the second-largest luxury car brand based on the latest full-year numbers.

Alternative-fuelers’ day is coming -- but not for a while

Again this year, auto show visitors are fascinated by electric cars, hybrids and all manner of alternative-fuel vehicles.

They check fit and finish. They climb inside and look closely at design, appointments, even carpets. They question salesmen about price, equipment, range and delivery time.

One thing most of the visitors don’t do: They don’t buy those vehicles.

Last year, Americans bought an estimated 275,000 alternative-fuelers, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. That’s about 2.4 percent of the 11.6 million new vehicles sold in the United States in 2010. Not exactly a tidal wave of demand. And more than half (140,928) of those sales were Toyota Prius units.

But don’t write off the hybrids and others in that category. Their day is coming; it just hasn’t arrived yet. And it won’t arrive tomorrow or the next day. Price is a major obstacle; $41,000 for a Chevrolet Volt? You’ve got to be kidding.

And driving range is just as great a hurdle for the pure electrics. Would-be owners are afraid of being stranded out in the boondocks, far from an electrical outlet, or even on an expressway on the way home from work.

Manufacturers speak cautiously of a 100-mile range. Sure, on a flat, straight road with no air conditioning, no headlights, no radio or other energy-draining gadget. With air, headlights, etc., the range is likely to be closer to 60 miles, maybe less. And can you imagine being stuck in a traffic jam on a summer day with no air conditioning?

Someday, we may all be driving vehicles that don’t gulp imported oil, but don’t set your alarm or mark your calendar. I figure that day is at least a generation away. Until then, Americans will stick to their internal combustion engines.

Trucks are back again

U.S. sales of light vehicles are rising, and the reason is spelled t-r-u-c-k-s. Trucks.

Truck sales were unbelievably high in the1990s and the early years of this century. They reached their apex in 2004 with 9.2 million. That’s right; more than 9 million trucks were sold in a single year!

Trucks outsold cars from 2002 through 2007.

Then came the summer of 2008 and $4-a-gallon gasoline, and there went the truck boom.

And now trucks are roaring again. Not as loudly as before, but loud enough. They outsold cars in October, November and December and again in January.

Let’s look at some numbers. In January, sales of small cars were up 14 percent over last year. Mid-range cars (the industry’s best-selling segment) rose just 5 percent, and the near-luxury, luxury and highest-priced cars climbed 10 percent.

Small change compared with truck gains. SUV sales advanced 21 percent in January; pickups, 24 percent and crossovers, 30 percent. The big surprise was the minivan segment, which reported a sales increase of 59 percent for the month. Have soccer moms had a change of heart?

But as truck sales rise, so do gasoline prices. And now Middle East tensions are pushing prices up further. The average nationwide price for a gallon of regular today is $3.25, up from $3.15 last week and from $2.70 a year ago, according to gasoline price tracker gasbuddy.com.

In the last truck boom, the Detroit 3 virtually ignored cars and turned all their efforts toward trucks. Dealers had little or nothing to show shoppers when cars came back in style.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Stabenow reintroduces bill for $7,500 point-of-purchase rebate on EVs

DETROIT -- U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow today reintroduced a bill that would provide a $7,500 rebate to buyers of plug-in electric vehicles at the point of purchase.

Current EV buyers get the $7,500 incentive when they file their taxes, forcing them to wait as long as a year for the tax credit.

Stabenow, D-Mich., also wants tax credits for investments in charging stations for businesses that buy medium- and heavy-duty hybrid trucks. Depending on the truck's size, the credit could be worth between $15,000 and $100,000.

The proposal includes more funding to develop the U.S. advanced battery industry.

The Charging America Forward Act was introduced last August, but never passed into law.

Stabenow's revival of the proposal comes about two weeks after two other Michigan congressmen proposed expanding the number of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids eligible for the federal tax credit.

On Jan. 26, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., proposed legislation in the House and on Jan. 31 his brother, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced a similar bill in the Senate that would increase the per-manufacturer cap on the $7,500 tax credit from 200,000 vehicles to 500,000.

The rebate was started as part of the Recovery Act of February 2009. It is available on five vehicles -- the Chevrolet Volt, the Tesla Roadster, the Nissan Leaf, the CODA sedan and the Wheego LiFe. It is phased out after a manufacturer sells 200,000 units.

General Motors Co. has said the cap could hinder future sales of the Chevrolet Volt, which sells for $41,000, with delivery, before the credit.

“We are pleased to see Senator Stabenow's legislation that integrates all of the components necessary for successful acceleration of electric vehicles in the marketplace,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said in a statement.

“We look forward to working with Congress on legislation that leads to widespread adoption of electric vehicles."

President Barack Obama has pledged to expand r&d in batteries and electric drivetrain technology, including a 30 percent increase in federal grants.

“With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” Obama said Jan. 25 in his State of the Union address.

The administration also is extending initiatives to improve electric vehicle infrastructure in U.S. cities. As many as 30 communities across the country would be able to receive grants of up to $10 million each to install public charging stations, electrified parking space access and fleet conversions

Ford says hybrids, EVs could be a quarter of sales by 2020

In 10 years, one-quarter of Ford Motor Co.'s global sales could be electrified vehicles and hybrids, Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president of global product development, said today at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Kuzak, CEO Alan Mulally, and other Ford executives discussed the automaker's electrification goals and plans this afternoon at the show.

By 2015, Ford plans for hybrid-electric, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to account for 2 to 5 percent of its global sales volume, Kuzak said. By 2020, that will rise to 10 to 25 percent, he said. Hybrids are projected to make up most of those sales.

In 2010, hybrid-electric vehicles made up about 1 percent of Ford's global unit sales.

Ford has electrified vehicles in the works on compact and mid-sized platforms. More electrified vehicles could be built on other platforms, Kuzak said during an earlier media briefing. Ford aims to offer consumers more vehicle choices as the automaker complies with lower carbon dioxide emission requirements, Kuzak said.

Affordable volume

“The real step that needs to be taken on electrification is to make electrified vehicles affordable. One way to make them affordable is to drive volume. That's really the whole basis of our strategy,” Kuzak said. “Our next generation of hybrids will be at an even lower cost.”

Kuzak said Ford set such a wide range -- 10 to 25 percent -- for its 2020 electrified vehicles target because those vehicles still require government subsidies, and the level of future subsidies is unclear. Ford also will watch the impact in China of that country's new energy vehicle policy.

In the short term, Ford will offer five electrified vehicles in the United States by 2012. One of those will be the Focus Electric, which Mulally showed today.

All of Ford's hybrid-electric, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles due by 2012 will be on compact or mid-sized platforms, Kuzak said. He said a quarter of vehicles sold worldwide are those sizes.

Kuzak said Ford's electrified vehicle business model assumes U.S. gasoline prices of $3.50 to $4 per gallon.

Honda Fit EV Concept

“Honda’s long history with electromotive technologies has enabled us to understand customer requirements,” said Takanobu Ito, Honda's president and CEO. “In Honda’s view, an electric vehicle must offer great utility and be fun to drive. Fit EV’s urban commuting capability will be a perfect addition to the full-function mobility of the plug-in hybrid and the FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle.”

The Honda Fit EV Concept has a claimed range of 70 to 100 miles. Power is supplied by a lithium-ion battery and coaxial electric motor. Top speed is projected at 90 miles per hour.

Inside, the Fit EV Concept looks to be as fit as the original gas powered model. An E-drive system, first introduced in the new Honda CR-Z, allows for three unique drive settings: Econ, Normal and Sport.

Econ is said to improve range by 17 percent over the Normal setting, and 25 percent compared to Sport. Acceleration is significantly quicker in Sport mode, but going fast isn’t the main reason for buying this vehicle; practicality and economy are.

Battery recharging takes up to 12 hours using a 120-volt outlet, half that with 240 volt. On a stand nearby, Honda also displayed their latest home charging system. Swipe a card in front of the main screen and plug in to begin the recharging process.

Additionally, Honda unveiled a new plug-in hybrid system designed specifically for midsize to larger vehicles. With big plans in the works for EV automobiles, Honda is once again leading the charge to reduce the use of fossil fuels and change the world one vehicle at a time.

GE to buy 25,000 electric vehicles from GM, rivals by 2015

DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. will buy 25,000 electric vehicles, almost half of them from General Motors Co., by 2015 in the biggest such order ever.

Electric autos will make up at least half of GE's 30,000-car fleet, as well as leased vehicles from its GE Capital unit, the company said in a statement today. GM's portion of the order is for 12,000 vehicles including the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

GE's order is a boost for the Volt as GM prepares for an initial public offering after its 2009 restructuring in bankruptcy.

“Wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles will also drive clean-energy innovation, strengthen energy security and deliver economic value,” GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in the statement. GE's equipment generates one-third of the world's electricity.

“Electric vehicles are a real-world technology that can reduce both emissions and our dependence on oil,” GM CEO Dan Akerson said in the statement. The company plans to deliver Volts by the end of this year, he said. The sedan has an electric motor to drive the wheels and a gasoline engine to recharge the batteries once they're spent.

Immelt is positioning GE to benefit from more energy-efficient technologies by producing batteries, car-charging stations and smart-grid systems. GE said it's in a “strong position” to help 65,000 leasing customers convert to electric vehicles and sees the electric-car market adding as much as $500 million in sales in the next three years.

In the U.S., the Obama administration has committed more than $11 billion in taxpayer aid to help car and battery makers start producing electric vehicles.

Battery power

Other automakers preparing to sell vehicles powered solely by batteries in the next 18 months include Nissan Motor Co., which starts delivering Leaf hatchbacks late this year; Ford Motor Co., readying electric versions of its Transit Connect delivery van and Focus compact car; and Toyota Motor Corp., which will sell a rechargeable RAV4 SUV.

By buying so many vehicles, GE is helping drive down their price, which will spur production and increase demand for battery plants and other parts makers, Fred Smith, chairman of the Electrification Coalition, a Washington-based organization of transportation and energy executives, said in the statement. Smith is CEO of FedEx Corp.

The move will “make electric vehicles more visible and acceptable to the public at large,” Smith said. “This is good for GE, good for our economy and good for our nation.”

GE will open two customer centers to evaluate vehicle-charging, driver experience and maintenance requirements and to display an array of models and manufacturers. One will be near Detroit in Van Buren Township, Mich., as part of a new technology center GE announced last year, and the other in Eden Prairie, Minn., where GE Capital Fleet Services is based, according to the statement.

GE is investing $10 billion in the next five years in clean energy across its business lines. Its products include lithium ion batteries for cars and trucks via a venture with A123 Systems Inc. and sodium-based batteries for use in large vehicles such as locomotives.

GE Energy Infrastructure is the company's biggest industrial unit, accounting for $37 billion of the parent company's $157 billion in revenue last year. GE is also the world's largest maker of locomotives, jet engines, medical-imaging equipment and related information technology systems.

GM defends Volt while critics say it's not a pure electric car

Chevy Volt

DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. is disputing accusations that its low-emission Chevrolet Volt is a hybrid and not a true electric vehicle a month before the car goes on sale.

Auto critics Edmunds.com, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics and others have said that during heavy acceleration the Volt uses its gasoline engine to augment power from the electric motors to drive the wheels.

On its Web site, GM says the car is an extended-range electric vehicle, not a hybrid like Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius.

“GM's insistence that the car is fully electric is hard to understand in light of the fact that the gas engine provides direct motive power under certain conditions,” the New York Times said Monday.

Doug Parks, a global electric vehicle executive for GM, told the New York Times that the automaker chose not to publicize the high-speed gas-engine assist feature previously to protect the technology during the patent application process.

'A PR problem'

The Volt debate illustrates the marketing challenge for automakers selling new technology in cars that don't fit standard classifications and whose performance is difficult to measure.

GM and Nissan Motor Co. have both made claims about their new models' fuel economy and driving range that not all consumers may attain because electric performance varies greatly by driving habits.

“You have a PR problem with any one of these vehicles,” said Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics Inc., an auto consulting firm in suburban Detroit. “GM had this sort of schizophrenic thing about doing its best to manage perception and at the same time going off into traditional old-style GM hype.”

GM has promoted the $41,000 Volt as an electric vehicle to give it an image boost over hybrid-electric cars such as the Prius.

“The Chevrolet Volt is not a hybrid,” GM said in materials distributed this week to journalists. “It is a one-of-a-kind, all-electrically driven vehicle designed and engineered to operate in all climates.”

The Detroit automaker has said for three years that the Volt would always run on electric power and more recently said it would average 230 miles per gallon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hasn't rated that number, and GM said many consumers may get lower fuel economy.

Series and parallel hybrid

GM said Monday that the engine does assist in driving the car through an electric generator.

Critics at Popular Mechanics and Edmunds both wrote they consider the Volt a plug-in hybrid and not the electric vehicle that GM has touted for years. The Edmunds review of the car had the headline: “GM Lied: Chevy Volt is not a true EV.”

According to the editors at AutoWeek, an affiliate of Automotive News, the Chevrolet Volt is an electric vehicle, series hybrid and parallel hybrid all rolled into one.

For the first 25 to 50 miles it's an electric vehicle, running on the battery pack alone. Once the battery pack reaches its minimum charge, the 1.4-liter engine kicks in and turns a generator to feed electricity to the two electric motors -- or a series hybrid.

At speeds of about 70 mph or more, a clutch pack engages which lets the 1.4-liter engine lend a hand and mechanically help turn one of the electric motors, while also generates electricity for the electric motors. That would make it a parallel hybrid by using two power sources to help move the vehicle.

The new claims have arisen in recent days following the formal media launch of the Volt. For the first time, journalists are getting the opportunity to drive the Volt in all modes and driving conditions.

Up until now, GM had allowed journalists to drive the Volt in electric-vehicle mode only.

“GM has kept the complete functionality of the Volt a closely guarded secret until now,” said Bob Gritzinger, executive editor of Autoweek.com and who was among the journalists that drove the vehicle this week.

Nick Richards, a GM spokesman, said the Volt always runs on electricity and has no mechanical link from the gasoline engine to the wheels.

The car's four-cylinder gasoline engine powers a secondary electric motor, which turns the wheels, Tony Posawatz, the Volt's vehicle line director, said in an interview. The car's gas engine doesn't directly power the wheels, he said. GM never disclosed that fact because the engineers saw it as a benefit that boosted the car's fuel economy, he said.

‘Very different'

“I keep telling people that this is a smart solution,” Posawatz said. “It drives very different from a hybrid.”

Hall, of 2953 Analytics, said there are some similarities between the Volt and the Prius.

“In a Prius, there is no mechanical linkage between the engine and the wheels -- it goes through a motor,” he said. “They use the engine to drive a direct-drive generator to drive the motor. The Volt does the same thing, it's just that the Volt can run with electric power without an engine longer than pretty much any hybrid right now can.”

GM said previously that the Volt would go 40 miles on a fully charged battery before the gasoline engine starts to recharge the battery, giving the vehicle a total range of 340 miles.

The company said this week it will go 25 to 50 miles in electric drive and 310 miles on one charge and a tank of fuel.

Nissan and GM both will have marketing challenges when consumers experience lower range or fuel economy, Hall said. With hybrids and electric cars, they can drive farther in stop-and-go city driving than on the highway because braking recharges the battery.

Company claims

That means many Volt owners won't get 230 miles per gallon in the Volt and Leaf drivers won't get the 100 miles on a single charge that the companies have claimed, Hall said.

Consumers probably won't care whether the Volt is a hybrid or electric car, said Eric Noble, president of The CarLab, an auto consulting firm in Orange, Calif. Potential buyers will be more concerned with the car's price, the fuel savings and how far they can drive before needing to plug in or refuel.

“Consumers don't care what we call it,” Noble said. “In our research, most of the questions from consumers are about battery life and recharging.”

The Volt's emissions are more important than what people call it, said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental lobbying group in Washington.

“I don't think purity is the issue,” Becker said. “What comes out of the tailpipe is the issue. If it's a little, it's green. If it's a lot, it's not.”

Kia unveils electric city car concept

Kia Pop

Kia has unveiled a concept for a three-seat electric city car that will debut at the Paris auto show next month.

Called the Pop, the zero-emissions car is just 3000mm long, the same length as the four-seat Toyota iQ minicar and 300mm longer than the two-seat Smart ForTwo.

Kia said the Pop aims to bring "innovative design chic and dramatic styling to the city car segment." The Pop has seating for two adults in the front and a single seat in the rear behind the front passenger.

Kia Pop Top

Beijing's real goal in promoting electric vehicles

This may sound odd, but Beijing's newly announced pilot program to subsidize the sale of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles in five cities has little to do with the country's serious air pollution.

The central government's real goal is to help key domestic automakers leapfrog their foreign competitors in the race to develop advanced powertrains.

If you doubt this, you might ask why Beijing – one of the world's most polluted cities – is not on the list of five cities that will subsidize the sale of EVs and plug-ins.

That list, by the way, is a handy guide to Beijing's list of winners and losers – that is, the domestic automakers that the government is prepared to support.

Before we name those winners and losers, here's a summary of the pilot program. Purchasers of plug-in hybrids will receive up to 50,000 yuan ($7,321), while buyers of pure electric vehicles will receive up to 60,000 yuan ($8,785).

The five participating cities are required to set up battery recharging stations and recycle used-up batteries.

Those cities also are likely to offer additional subsidies. Shenzhen, for example, already has announced that it will offer an additional 20,000 yuan ($2,928) to each purchaser of an electric vehicle or plug-in.

Add it all up, and you can see that selected domestic automakers will enjoy big competitive advantages over their rivals. And who are those winners? Let's start with that list of cities.

Winners and losers

Participants in the pilot program are the cities of Shanghai, Changchun, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hefei. Those locales happen to be the corporate homes of six domestic automakers.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. is based in Shanghai; FAW Group is in Changchun; BYD Auto Co. is in Shenzhen; Chery Automobile Co. is in Wuhu, near Hefei; and both Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Zoyte Holding Group are in Hangzhou.

Each of these automakers has displayed plug-in vehicles and electric cars at China's auto shows, and each has obtained licenses from the central government to build them.

Moreover, these automakers enjoy close ties to their local city governments. For example, BYD recently announced plans to deliver hundreds of e6 electric cars to Shenzhen's taxi fleets. Over the next few years, we can expect similar fleet sales in other cities.

Who are the losers? Two major automakers were left off the list: Changan Automobile Group, based in Chongqing; and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co.

Changan has invested in all kinds of technologies, including conventional hybrids, plug-ins, EVs and fuel cells. But Changan hasn't made as much progress in plug-ins and EVs as the six automakers included in the pilot subsidy program.

Likewise, Beijing Auto displayed electric vehicles at the Beijing auto show in April, but it hasn't made much progress either.

No more infighting

There is another aspect to this pilot program worth noting: The domestic automakers now know which technologies to invest in, and that may be worth as much as the actual subsidies.

Previously, it wasn't clear whether the central government favored research on fuel cells, plug-ins or "pure" electrics. Now Beijing's mandate is clear: fuel cells are on the back burner.

That's a setback of sorts for SAIC, which had invested in fuel cells along with hybrids and EVs.

Last week's announcement was jointly released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission, which is China's highest economic planning agency.

This indicates that government bureaucrats have reached a consensus, said Duan Chenwu, auto technology analyst with IHS Global Insight in Shanghai.

"The most significant thing about the pilot subsidy program is that the government has made it clear which direction domestic automakers should follow," he said. "At this stage, that means more for the domestics than the subsidies."

Nissan says cheaper U.S. Leaf price due to tax, incentive gaps

Nissan Motor Co., aiming to be the biggest seller of electric cars, said a lower U.S. price for its Leaf hatchback compared with Japan and Europe reflects differences in local taxes and incentives and that the vehicle will eventually make money in all markets.

Nissan said this week its battery-powered Leaf will cost about $37,000 in Europe after incentives. That compares with $32,780 in the U.S. before incentives and a base price in Japan of more than $40,000. Variations in import fees, taxes and incentives account for the disparities, said Tom Smith, Nissan's chief marketing manager for European electric auto sales.

“If you just translate the U.S. price into euros, you seem to get a significant difference,” Smith said in a phone interview from Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Excluding Europe's higher tax on the vehicle and an import duty that's four times that in the U.S., “we are priced at exactly the same level in both markets,” he said.

The Leaf, powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, will go on sale in Japan and the U.S. this year and in Europe next year. Nissan's CEOCarlos Ghosn has set a goal of leading sales of rechargeable vehicles, which he estimates may make up 10 percent of global auto demand by 2020.

While competitors Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are preparing to sell battery-powered and plug-in hybrid models, none has announced plans matching Nissan's goal of being able to sell as many as 500,000 electric cars by 2012.

Too low?

Nissan aims for the Leaf to compete in price with Toyota's gasoline-electric Prius and Honda Motor Co.'s Civic Hybrid in the U.S. The vehicle qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit and may get an added $5,000 rebate in California, where large automakers are required to sell electric vehicles.

Based on cost estimates for Leaf's battery pack, electronic components and production, the U.S. price seems too low, at least initially, said John Kluza, a battery analyst at Lux Research in Boston.

The current cost of the 24-kilowatt-hour battery pack, capable of propelling the Leaf as far as 100 miles (160 kilometers), may be about $20,000, Kluza said. Nissan has declined to provide cost details.

“It seems the goal was to price Leaf to get sales volume even if there's some initial loss,” Kluza said. “In the first year or so, perhaps they'll take a hit of $2,000 on each car, maybe more. Over time, as battery production scales up, that price will start to look more appropriate.”

‘All the information'

The U.S. price excludes local sales taxes, which vary across the country, and a destination and handling charge of about $800, according to Jung.

Takeshi Miyao, a Tokyo-based analyst for consulting company Carnorama, estimates battery-pack and component costs for the Leaf are about 2.45 million yen ($26,900), excluding labor and other expenses.

Analysts such as Kluza and Miyao “don't have all the information,” said Nissan's Trisha Jung, chief marketing manager for U.S. electric vehicle sales, who oversaw local pricing for the model. “We are the first affordable, mass- market electric vehicle. We're pricing appropriately to ensure that.”

Nissan is factoring into the price the longer-term impact of state and U.S. federal incentives it won to produce the Leaf at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant and build a lithium-ion battery factory next to it, said KG Duleep, who researches advanced auto technologies for consultant ICF International. Those incentives included a $1.6 billion low-cost federal loan won in 2009.

Advance orders

“When automakers price, they build in all aspects of capital costs over a multi-year period, and Nissan is getting a substantial amount of assistance,” said Duleep, who is based in Washington. “There's probably some loss on the first few thousand cars, but perhaps by 2013 or so their costs might be at or below $30,000 a vehicle.”

It took Toyota at least 10 years to make a profit on its Prius, which was introduced in 1997, when research, development and capital costs are included, said Koji Endo, managing director at Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo. It may take Nissan about the same amount of time, he estimated.

For a new car powered by a conventional gasoline engine, it usually takes about four years to make a profit, he said.

Nissan has a goal of 20,000 advance orders for the Leaf, which is set to begin arriving in the U.S. late this year. The company will mark the start of construction of its U.S. battery plant in Smyrna on May 26. The facility, to open in 2012, will have capacity to make lithium-ion battery packs for as many as 200,000 vehicles annually.

Tesla to make EVs with Toyota, buy NUMMI

Toyota Motor Corp. and Tesla Motors Inc. will become partners to produce electric vehicles at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. in Fremont, Calif., a plant that Toyota last year ruled too inefficient to keep open.

Tesla will acquire the now-closed NUMMI property and employ 1,000 people building unspecified electric vehicles in a partnership with the world's largest automaker, the companies announced today in Palo Alto, Calif.

Toyota will invest $50 million in the small California-based electric sports maker in exchange for Tesla's common stock when the EV company completes its planned initial public offering.

Speaking at the announcement, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said he admired the entrepreneurial spirit at Tesla and hoped the venture will teach Toyota about quick decision-making and flexibility.

“Decades ago,” Toyoda said, “Toyota was also born as a venture business. By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that venture business spirit, and take on the challenges of the future.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his company would spend “a couple of hundred million dollars” preparing NUMMI for the project.

NUMMI, a former joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, closed earlier this year amid a storm of criticism from the plant's UAW work force.

Musk said the negotiations to acquire the closed plant concluded yesterday.

He said that Tesla's next model, a Model S that will debut in 2012, will only account for about 20,000 units a year, but said other models will follow off of the Model S platform.

“We're going to be occupying a little corner,” Musk said.

He said that eventually the project would account for 10,000 jobs, including supplier jobs.

Tesla's Model S is being made possible thanks to a $465 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. Until that product appears, Tesla is marketing a two-seat electric sports car that retails for more than $100,000.

Tesla has said that the Model S will sell for closer to $40,000.

Until now, Toyota has expressed little interest in electric cars. The Japanese automaker has staked considerable research and marketing investment on its popular hybrid-drive vehicles, including the Prius and hybrid Camry

Chrysler to launch electric Fiat 500 minicar

Fiat 500 Electric minicar

Chrysler Group said today that it plans to build an electric version of the Fiat 500 minicar for sale in the United States beginning in 2012.

Chrysler said the electric 500 will use an "advanced" lithium ion battery pack but did not give any technical specifications of the car, which will be sold as a Fiat model.

The company said the car's pricing will be announced closer to launch and will be competitive with similar electric vehicles in the market.

At the Detroit auto show in January, where a concept of an electric Fiat 500 was unveiled, Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said the concept would sell for about $32,000 if it went on the market, of which $16,000 covered the cost of the batteries.

Chrysler did not announce a production target for the 500EV. Marchionne said in November that Chrysler plans to produce about 56,000 electric vehicles annually by 2014.

Chrysler said all powertrain engineering and vehicle development for the 500EV will take place at the company headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Chrysler is the vehicle electrification center of competence for both Chrysler Group and Fiat Group.

Scott Kunselman, Chrysler's senior vice president of engineering, said the alliance with Fiat presented opportunities to merge Chrysler engineering knowledge with new platforms from Fiat.

“The Fiat 500EV is an outstanding example of our efforts: the Fiat 500 is a small, lightweight platform perfect for integrating electric-vehicle technology,” Kunselman said in a statement.

Chrysler will launch U.S. sales of the Fiat 500 powered by a 1.4-liter gasoline engine in December. The car will be built in Mexico for the North American market. In Europe, Fiat revived the 500, an iconic car of the post-war years, in 2007.

Fiat S.p.A., which owns 20 percent of Chrysler, said, “We are currently evaluating the commercial potential of this electric car for Europe.”

Fiat's rivals in Europe, Peugeot and Citroen, will begin selling electric cars in European markets by the end of the year. Renault will follow in 2011 and Volkswagen in 2013.

What should you expect when driving a Hybrid Car

When the vehicle is moving off from a stationary position, and when travelling at low to moderate speeds, the main electric motor/generator drives the vehicle. At these speeds the internal combustion engine operation is less efficient and is normally used only to charge the battery.

During normal driving, the combustion engine starts and drives the generator & the power divider. Power from the generator is used to drive the electric motor. The motor control unit controls the power divider so the drive remains at its most efficient.

When accelerating, as well as using power from the combustion engine, the control unit draws power from the battery and directs it to the electric motor/generator, providing more power to the wheels than the combustion engine could supply on its own.

During deceleration and braking the combustion engine is <  Read More >

Electric Mini Cooper - MINI E

MINI E: All-Electric Plug-In MINI Cooper with 204HP Revealed!

Over the next year or so, BMW will produce around 500 units which will be leased to selected private and corporate customers in the U.S. states of California, New York and New Jersey, giving the Bavarian automaker the chance to evaluate the viability of a full-scale production EV. MINI said that it also considering the possibility of leasing the vehicle in Europe.

The battery can be fully charged through a standard outlet in about eight hours. However, MINI will offer each buyer a wall-box with higher amperage that will be installed in the customer's garage enabling a full recharge in just 2 1/2 hours. The MINI E also features a brake regeneration system that transforms kinetic energy to electricity replenishing the battery. According to BMW Group officials, the lithium battery offers the MINI E a driving range of more than 240km or 150 miles. Read more