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Category Archives: Electric Cars
India floats ambitious goal: 100 percent electric cars
India has a grandiose vision for its 1.2 billion people to drive only electric vehicles by 2030. And that’s not even the most ambitious part — the government thinks it can do it without spending a dime.
“We are trying to make this program self-financing,” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said at a youth conference this week, according to The Times of India. “We don’t need one rupee of support from the government. We don’t need one rupee of investment from the people of India.”
Goyal noted that a small working group of politicians will meet in early April to hammer out the details of the goal, which could include a program to incentivize buying electric cars by making them zero-down investments. Later on, the money the car owners would have spent on gas could go to paying off the price of the vehicle, according to Goyal.
As far as number of cars owned per household, India ranks low on the list, with just 6 percent of households reporting they own a car. But that number is expected to grow exponentially as the economy expands.
It’s not the first time India has announced sweeping sustainability plans under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sometimes to mixed results. Last October, the world’s third biggest greenhouse gas polluter announced its new climate plan, promising to obtain 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (primarily solar) by 2030. But earlier this year, the World Trade Organization ruled that provisions of Modi’s solar plan shut out international companies, particularly the U.S., from India’s burgeoning solar market. Most recently, the country levied a 4 percent “green” tax on new passenger vehicle sales, part of an effort to fight air pollution and traffic congestion.
India has no time to waste to tackle its pollution problem as its capital, New Delhi, already has worse air quality than Beijing.
Source: Grist
Leasing companies drive uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles
New figures from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association confirm the sector’s position as the UK’s leading adopter of cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The BVRLA’s latest quarterly survey of its leasing members found that almost one in 20 (4.7%) of all new leased cars registered in the final quarter of 2015 was a plug-in, well-ahead of the market penetration achieved across all new registrations, which stood at 1.3%.
The leasing sector’s low-emission credentials are also demonstrated by the fact that more than 25% of lease cars now sit in VED band A (sub 100g/km CO2) while the overall market share for all new cars sold in 2015 stands at 20%.
Thanks to this ever-increasing adoption of pure and plug-in hybrid electric cars as well as low-emission petrol and diesel vehicles, the average lease car added to a BVRLA member fleet in 2015 emitted just 112.6g/km CO2, more than 7% less than the average new car registered in 2015.
Responding to the news on behalf of Go Ultra Low, Poppy Welch said:
“We’ve been encouraged by the growing number of fleets realising the multiple advantages of electric vehicles – and BVRLA members continue to play a pivotal role through education on whole-life costs and employee benefits. More businesses need to be bold, opening their thinking to incorporate electric vehicles and the cost-savings they bring.”
According to the latest BVRLA survey, leasing companies were responsible for around 1.3 million1 business cars and vans at the end of 2015, which was a 5.5% increase year-on-year.
Commenting on the news, BVRLA Chief Executive Gerry Keaney said:
“More and more businesses are turning to leasing as a source of finance and BVRLA members are helping these companies to operate cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.”
“The government needs to recognise that the company car or van is more than just a taxable perk and a valuable source of revenue for the Treasury. These vehicles are vital business tools that can play a huge role in reducing the UK’s road transport carbon emissions. Without a fair and simple tax regime for company vehicles, this won’t happen.”
Source: BVRLA
The Tesla Model 3 arrives with 215 miles of range
And Tesla claims there are 115,000 preorders, which is madness.
After a long wait, Tesla has finally unveiled the Model 3. It’s what we were expecting (and hoping for) – a less-expensive, versatile, attractive five-seater with decent range and a low price. It rounds out Tesla’s revised Secret Master Plan, as Elon Musk cheekily called it, that started with the Roadster, progressed to the Model S, and grew to encompass the Model X.
That’s all fine, but did you catch how many preorders Musk said the company had received for the Model 3 by this evening? 115,000 – a staggering number. If you’ll remember, each reservation to purchase a Model 3 requires a $1,000 (refundable) deposit.
Here’s the other stuff you should really know about Tesla’s entry-level electric vehicle. For one, Musk promises it’ll ace every safety test category. All will be standard with Autopilot hardware (autonomous driving functionality) and Supercharging (very fast recharging) capability.
It’ll also seat five real adults in comfort, as Tesla has squashed the instrument panel a bit and moved the front seats forward to clear rear legroom. To give a sense of airiness to the cabin, and also to gain some extra headroom, it’ll have a roof made of two large panes of glass, with the windshield meeting the backlight just above the A-pillar. Neat. In case you surf, it’ll swallow a 7-foot surfboard, apparently.
Read more: Autoblog
Tesla Model 3: 215-mile, $35,000 electric car revealed
At a launch event held in Hawthorne, California, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk introduced the Model 3 sedan, the company’s highest-volume, lowest-priced effort yet.
The Model 3 quite closely follows the style of the Model S sedan and Model X crossover, and it’s unmistakably a Tesla. Yet at a far more affordable $35,000 starting price, it should help break past dismissals that Tesla is a brand only for the rich. And the Model 3 is a crucial step toward the company’s goal of 500,000 annual sales.
Just over the past couple of days, the company has made great strides toward seeing that goal as perhaps reasonable. In the 24 hours leading up to the beginning of the launch event, more than 115,000 people put $1,000 each down to make a reservation for the Model 3—sight unseen, and before any specifications had been detailed.
Read more: Green Car Reports
Renault Increases Sales Of Electric Cars In February By 60%
For 18 consecutive months Renault has increased sales of its electric cars (not counting the on and off again Twizy).
In February, the French company moved 2,152 cars (125 Fluence Z.E., 361 Kangoo Z.E. and 1,666 ZOE including 19 commercial registrations), which is 60% more than year ago, and an additional 126 Twizy – bringing the EV total to 2,278.
The key player in the Renault fleet is the ZOE, which is still growing by a fast 74% – from 947 in 2015 to 1,647!
Most of ZOE sales, 1,182 of them – or nearly 72%, were registered in France, so the Renault flagship is pretty dependent on its home market and incentives in this market.
Cumulatively, Renault has now sold over 85,000 electric vehicles.
Source: Inside EVs
Buy your plug-in hybrid before April 2017 to avoid tax hike
Buyers of lower-emission cars are expected to bear the brunt of changes to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) car tax [if registered after] next April 2017, with those in the 91-100 g/km of CO2 band hardest hit, seeing costs over six years rise from nothing to £820.
Research conducted by Parkers suggests that of the estimated £5.2 billion of additional revenue the new VED rules will generate by 2023, £4.7 billion will be from buyers of cars emitting 1-130 g/km of CO2, all of which are currently tax-free for the first year.
Initially, the 2017 VED system appears to be an update of the existing scheme, albeit with new bands created and others combined. Notably, only buyers of cars with zero CO2 emissions will have the ability to remain car tax-free under the First Year Rate, as any model producing even 1 g/km of CO2 will be subject to a charge from next year.
There’s a further surcharge for cars with a list price of £40,000 or higher – regardless of emissions, an annual charge of £310 from year two through to six will be imposed.
Buy a new car emitting just 99 g/km of CO2 from April 2017 and instead of enjoying VED tax-free motoring, you’ll instead be lumbered with an £820 tax bill over the first six years of ownership.
Replacing the Standard Rate sliding scale for year two onwards will hit buyers of cleaner cars and effectively provide a financial incentive to purchase models which pollute most. Zero-emission cars again remain free, but all others face a yearly bill of £140.
Read more: Next Green Car
Electric vehicles are the only solution
Speaking at the New York Auto Show, Ghosn explains why we need EVs
We’ve heard it all before, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy listening to Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn explain why he’s still in favor of electric vehicles. Plus, if we’ve heard it a few times, imagine how many times he’s had to say it. It happened again this morning at the opening breakfast for the New York Auto Show, and it was as clear and concise an explanation as you can imagine.
When asked why people aren’t buying more electric vehicles, Ghosn said that there were a few factors working against EVs right now, but that, “I still think it’s just a temporary slow down.” He then listed the reasons why.
Ghosn started with the two-degree agreement that came out of COP21, the climate change conference in Paris last year. As the UN explained (PDF):
The goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of this century was first agreed to in Copenhagen and then by all countries at the Cancun Climate Conference in 2010. It recognizes that climate change is already occurring, but that if we act now, we can avoid the worst impacts of a changing climate.
So, with COP22, which will take place in Morocco this November, not that far away, it’s time to get busy. Transportation makes up 17 percent of all CO2 emissions, Ghosn said, and
“there is no way – no way – we’re going to reach anything around two degrees without the substantial reduction in CO2 from the transportation system. And the only obvious, known technology which allows that is electrification.”
Read more: Autoblog
Plug-in Hybrid Sales Are Exploding
People don’t want plug-in hybrid cars, the auto companies said. Plug-ins are just a stop gap solution on the way to real electric cars, the experts said. But guess what? The plug-ins are here and the manufacturers can’t keep up with demand. In Europe and the UK, demand for the new BMW 330e has far outstripped supply, Motoring reports.
BMW has issued this statement:
“We predicted UK sales of 2,500 for the 330e this year, but the demand was much higher than we originally anticipated. We do have high demand across other PHEV models, but it’s not to the same extent as this. Due to very strong demand, we are indeed oversubscribed on 330e. We’re working with affected parties now and will let you know more when we have it regarding future supply.”
Several UK customers have been informed their orders have been cancelled because the factory cannot keep up.
Volkswagen, mired in its diesel cheating scandal woes, has at least one bright spot of good news. It tells Motoring,
“Last year we took around 2,500 orders for the Golf GTE and that number is expected to grow appreciably through 2016. Demand comfortably exceeds supply although we have, of course, adjusted production to accommodate that increasing demand.”
Read more: Gas 2
Rolec Launches EV GroupManager
Rolec has announced the launch of its new EV GroupManager system, which has been designed to provide full management control of private Electric Vehicle (EV) charging networks. According to Rolec, the EV GroupManager system has been developed to allow the operator easy management of their entire private EV charging network from a single central computerised location.
Cloud Based System
The system operates by issuing nominated EV drivers with their own secure personal RFID card/fob, containing the driver/vehicle ID. The driver then presents their card/fob to the charging point, which authenticates the card/fob and via GPRS, WiFi or Ethernet communicates with the cloud based back office management system, requesting authorisation to initiate the charging cycle.
Upon authorisation from the management cloud, which takes only seconds, charging will commence with the cloud recording the driver/vehicle ID, charging start time, the kWh used and the charging end time. This charging information is always hosted in the cloud and can be accessed at anytime, from anywhere, by the system operator to compile management reports, benefit in kind data and billing information. Kieron Alsop, Rolec’s Managing Director, commented,
“EV GroupManager has been designed to enable private enterprises to have full control over their own private EV charging network and is ideally suited to almost any corporate location – or for housing developments, fleet management, staff vehicles, etc.
The introduction of EV GroupManager eliminates the necessity to engage with the public facing charging networks, which are heavily subscription based and operated via third parties. In effect EV GroupManager gives the operator complete control over their own EV charging network and provides them with the flexibility to accommodate both their own, and their EV drivers’, charging needs.”
Read more: Autovolt