Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan, unveiled the company’s five-year business plan on Tuesday. The plan puts a major emphasis on electric vehicles. Hybrid and EV fans responded with enthusiasm—but also engaged their well-worn vaporware alert systems to detect false promises, improbable plans, and insincerity.
The buzz around electric sports-car-maker Tesla Motors is sparking something akin to what happened in California 150 years ago—this time the rush is toward plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles. Undaunted by Tesla’s difficulties in delivering on early promises, small companies are charging forward with a “if they can build a car, why not us” attitude. Many claim that 2010 will be their year.
Th!nk, the Norwegian electric carmaker, secured funding from two U.S. venture capital firms to bring its business to North America. The company's first production car will be the Th!nk City, a small all-electric vehicle capable of reaching 65 miles per hour and traveling up to 110 miles on a single charge. The target launch date is sometime in 2009.
The process of building an electric car is—as one Silicon Valley venture capitalist put it—not a matter of “bolting an electric motor to a chassis.” Even with lots of money, talented people and the right materials, the road is not always smooth. Take the latest news rocking the relatively small world of electric vehicles.
It’s the Holy Grail of the current alternative fuel vehicle, according to its would-be importers—a full-function, freeway-capable five-passenger sedan that runs on electricity alone. The latest company to promise the vehicle is Miles Electric Vehicles.
The vision of hundreds of thousands of electric cars buzzing along American highways and byways makes most utility companies downright giddy. It’s not just the opportunity sell a lot more electricity that gets them excited. “We think there’s a fundamental game-changer here. And that’s energy storage,” said Ed Kjaer, director of electric transportation at Southern California Edison. What will it take to get us there?
Later this month, General Motors will begin real-world testing a fleet of Chevrolet Malibus outfitted with lithium ion battery technology—as part of a push to bring the Chevrolet Volt concept vehicle to market.
The California Air Resources Board agreed today to significantly cut the number of electric vehicles that car manufacturers are required to sell. The new plan allows carmakers to produce as few as 7,500 zero-emission vehicles over the next four years, down from the previous, more ambitious target of 25,000.
Mayor Adrian Fenty of Washington D.C. wants to eliminate local tax incentives for hybrids that get less than 40 miles per gallon. The mayor is responding to the latest hybrids to hit the market, like the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, which is rated at 22 mpg.
The 2008 New York Auto Show, opening this week, will mostly focus on model redesigns while pushing hybrids and other fuel-sipping models to the margins. There’s one notable exception: the show will feature a number of electric vehicles.
