Jan 15, 2014 - 08:58 am
Tesla, Stuttgart, Singapore, Rent-A-Car, eConnect, North Carolina.
Charging up: Only four months ago, Tesla announced that Model S drivers had been using the free superchargers to recharge a total of 3.2 million miles. As expected, demand has spiked since and the company now counts 8m miles beeing charged. Furthermore, Tesla formally informed the NHTSA about the software update and exchange of adapters to address the overheating issue when charging at domestic outlets.
green.autoblog.com (8m charged), nytimes.com (overheating)
New e-bike region: The city of Stuttgart, Germany, which is home to Daimler and Porsche, has been declared ‘E-Bike-Region Stuttgart’. Five counties joined forces and established cycle routes with a combined length of over 400 kilometres. At 40 stations tourists can choose from 200 rental pedelecs. At the end of every journey, the e-bike can be returned at any train station within the region as Stuttgart‘s public transport authority takes part in the project.
swp.de (In German)
Singapore concludes EV test: The city state has finished a two-year test of 89 electric cars. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) wanted to gain a better understanding before formulating plans for further trials. LTA sees the biggest challenge for EVs in price and infrastructure.
eco-business.com
Rent a Chevy Volt in the UK: The U.S. car rental company Enterprise added 20 Volts to its fleet. The Volt, which is also sold as the Vauxhall Ampera in the UK, will be available at Enterprise’s Greater London branches.
fleetnews.co.uk
Zero emission chauffeur service: The private car hire service eConnect is now able to pick up its London customers using Nissan Leafs. The company is currently building up an electric fleet and hopes to establish the category ‘EV’ as a standard option customers can choose from when ordering a car. Like you would select VIP, MPV etc.
thegreencarwebsite.co.uk
Not tax-free anymore: Because North Carolinians drive less or switch to more fuel-efficient cars, fuel tax collections are declining. That is why the state of North Carolina has begun to collect a 100 dollar annual fee from its 1,600 registered electric car drivers to be used for road maintenance.
newsobserver.com, chargedevs.com
Jan 14, 2014 - 10:11 am
HEVO, VIA Motors, PlugShare, Netherlands.
First contract for HEVO Power: The U.S. start-up made headlines last year when suggesting to turn New York‘s manholes into wireless charging stations. The Department of Public Safety at NYU now takes HEVO up on it and ordered two gully-shaped inductive charging stations. According to HEVO CEO Jeremy McCool even the Department of Defense (DoD) expressed interest.
govtech.com
PlugShare integration: Electric vehicle manufacturer VIA Motors announced to integrate the PlugShare infrastructure listings in their iPad in-dash systems. PlugShare, which is a service of Recargo Inc, currently lists 28,000 charging stations in America and 55,000 stations globally.
electriccarsreport.com
Dutch tax benefits were cut at the end of 2013. This led to record-breaking sales of 9,309 electric and plug-in hybrid cars in December. The biggest winner was the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which is now the best-selling car in the Netherlands.
insideevs.com
Jan 13, 2014 - 10:17 am
StromTicket, BMW, Tax Credits, Hagen, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Meet the ‘StromTicket’: The StromTicket (‘Strom’ is German for electricity) enables users to charge their EV and pay cashless via their mobile phone. The project is being developed within the framework of the German model region Saxonia and will be tested in Dresden and Leipzig. Partners are local energy utilities and infrastructure providers.
locationinsider.de (In German)
Setback for BMW i3 REx: In California, drivers of the BMW i3 with range extender might not get the privilege of using the HOV lane. That is because the green stickers necessary to drive a PHEV on the carpool lanes are limited to 40.000 and presumably sold out by the time the i3 with REx will be available in mid 2014.
chargedevs.com, thestreet.com
Failure to renew EV incentives? The U.S. congress has missed the deadline for the renewal of three tax credits. The credits regard the installation of charging stations for homeowners, the purchase of electric motorcycles or three-wheelers and a credit for businesses buying an EV charger.
plugincars.com
111 electric cars in a year: This is the catchy aim of ‘EcoDrive’, a citizens’ initiative in the city of Hagen, Germany. The group of 14 residents want to see more electric cars in their city and plan to address companies and charities that offer courier or carrier services in geriatric care for example. Car dealers are another target while public test rides are set to attract the group‘s fellow citizens. The project is now under the patronage of North Rhine-Westphalia‘s economics minster.
derwesten.de (in German)
Eco-friendly KFC delivery: Kentucky Fried Chicken Malaysia now uses 50 electric scooters to deliver its winged fast food. KFC plans to add more of the ES11 vehicles supplied by Eclimo later this year.
thejakartapost.com
Jan 10, 2014 - 09:32 am
New York City, Milton Keynes, Sri Lanka.
NYC loves BYD: ‘It performed excellent’ is the verdict of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York City, USA, after a two-months trial of a BYD electric bus. During testing, the e-bus covered 1,481 miles in Manhattan serving on different routes and could operate up to 30 hours on one charge in heavy traffic. The final report is now being distributed.
electriccarsreport.com, puregreencars.com
Recharge over a ‘cuppa’: The British town of Milton Keynes has now started a five-year trial of eight electric busses supported by Arup, Mitsui and the Borough‘s council. The vehicles will be charged wirelessly via two charging plates and shall recover 2/3 of their energy during the drivers‘ 10-minute tea breaks.
bbc.co.uk, businessgreen.com, thegreencarwebsite.co.uk
Sri Lanka to strengthen electric transport: The island state off the southern Indian coast plans to expand its network of charging stations and to import more EVs. The largest vehicle importers’ organisation believes that EVs will become a trend in 2014. Furthermore, a 100% cash margin on vehicle imports has just been withdrawn.
green.autoblog.com
Jan 9, 2014 - 09:23 am
Tesla, Navigant Research, Formula E.
Tesla has more Superchargers in the U.S. than there are states, with no. 51 and 52 just having been erected in Florida and Wisconsin. Tesla is on track to reach its target of covering 98 % of the U.S. population in 2015.
mein-elektroauto.com (In German)
35 million EVs worldwide: Navigant Research predicts that in 2022 there will be more than 35 million electric vehicles on the roads around the globe. Their forecast is based on rising gasoline prices and decreasing costs of EV ownership which will be further fuelled by innovations such as V2G systems.
navigantresearch.com
Formula E Drivers’ Club: Membership in this circle surely is sought after, as its members might become the future racers in the upcoming e-racing series. Eight drivers have been added to the club so far, another ten will follow soon. Each of the ten Formula E teams will later choose their drivers from those fortunate 18.
fiaformulae.com
Jan 8, 2014 - 09:40 am
Evatran, Bosch, Antwerp, San Remo, ChargePoint.
Early bird bargain: The first 250 buyers of the wireless charging system introduced by Bosch and Evatran at the CES, are eligible for a discount of 1,000 USD (734 EUR). The discounted inductive charging system then costs 1,998 USD (1,467 EUR) and is compatible with the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.
greencarcongress.com, green.autoblog.com, chargedevs.com
Fuel-cell bus testing: The public transport network of Antwerp, Belgium, will soon introduce five fuel-cell busses into their fleet. In San Remo, five of these H2 busses were already in trial with testing set to resume in spring this year. The project is supported by Solvay, a chemical company who will supply the new vehicles with hydrogen they produce as a byproduct.
oekonews.at (In German)
Most EV-friendly cities: Infrastructure provider ChargePoint has issued a list with the top ten cities for electric cars. Their score is based on the number of EVs owned and the number of public charging stations (ChargePoint only). On top of the list is San Francisco, followed by Seattle and San Diego.
smartgridnews.com
Jan 7, 2014 - 09:37 am
Massachusetts, NRG eVgo, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia.
Massachusetts plans massive investments in its Clean Vehicle Project. The initiative includes the construction of new public charging stations and the introduction of more than 200 vehicles powered by alternative fuels in private and public fleets. Furthermore, eight electric school busses with V2G capability are planned to put in service. Overall grants are 15.5 million USD (11.4 million euros).
greencarcongress.com, mass.gov
Free charging when flying: NRG eVgo offers free electric car charging at their new Park & Charge point located at Los Angeles Airport (LAX), USA. Coupons can be downloaded until February 16 and are redeemable until March 31.
electriccarsreport.com, hybridcars.com, evgonetwork.com (Coupon)
Duty free EV imports: The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia will exempt electric cars from import duties. The removal of the 19 percent import tax will stay in place from February 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015. It is believed that this will increase the import of EVs at least tenfold.
ev.com
Jan 6, 2014 - 09:31 am
Kandi, DriveNow, California.
EV vending machine: In the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Kandi dispenses small electric cars automatically. For 3.25 USD per hour, consumers can rent a car from an automated parking garage that holds up to 120 Kandi EVs. In the next four years, the JV of Kandi and Geely wants to build about 750 of these e-car vending garages.
hybridcars.com, green.autoblog.com
DriveNow introducing the i3 in San Francisco? A reader of the German blog Bimmer sighted the electric BMW i3 with DriveNow logo in California. While BMW indeed plans to integrate the all-electric car into its car-sharing fleet next year, the car seen in the USA only serves a promotional purpose at this time and is a left-over of the L.A. Auto Show 2013 with European specifications.
bimmertoday.de (In German)
Two BYD buses for California: The Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) operating near Los Angeles, USA, has ordered two electric busses from the Chinese company. The vehicles have been funded by a 1.9 million USD (1.4 million euros) grant and testing could begin in April 2014. If the busses perform well in the desert climate, they could serve about 450,000 residents in the AVTA area.
electriccarsreport.com, greencarcongress.com
Dec 18, 2013 - 04:33 pm
Austria, Nissan, eCommuters, charging station tax-credit.
E-car sharing in Austria: Beginning in March 2014, up to 30 residents of Baden will share an electric Renault Kangoo. The project is called Bea (Badener e-carsharing) and is part of the so-called model region “e-pendler niederösterreich” (e-commuters in Lower Austria). The annual subscription for bea costs 99 euros (135 dollars) while further fees will be applied according to use. The project was brought into existence by the city of Baden, a fairtrade shop, the Sparkasse bank and a car dealership.
oekonews.at (in German)
Powered by Nissan: A new project called “Vehicle-to-Building” connects six Leaf to the building’s grid, allowing it to draw power from the cars’ batteries during peak hours. The EVs will then be charged during off hours, before it is time to go home.
greencarcongress.com
Germany’s commuters go electric: The project ePendler (eCommuters), aiming to electrify business commuting in the German state Hessen, will soon be implemented in other states across the country as well. For one week, 30 commuters were able to experience the benefits of an EV. The project kicked off locally in May and is part of Germany’s plan to put one million electric cars on its streets by 2020.
transporter-news.de (in German)
The charging station tax-credit expires at the end of this year. U.S. taxpayers have to be quick to be able to claim 30 percent of the cost of the purchase and installation of a home charging station. The income tax credit ends on December 31st, and is limited to a 1,000 dollars.
greencarreports.com
