Tag Archives: Electric Cars

GM – Nissan Electric Car Wars

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As both GM and Nissan get ready to release their electric cars later this year, the electric car wars are starting to heat up already, resulting in benefits for the consumer.

GM announced the Chevrolet Volt would start at about $41,000, $8,000 more than the Nissan Leaf, but GM will also match the $349 per month lease deal that Nissan is offering on their car. Nissan fought back by announcing they would match GM’s battery warranty of eight years, 1000,000 miles.

Both vehicles will cost more than a comparable gas engine car, but the lease deals make them quite competitive. If you take into consideration the savings at the pump, the federal tax credit, and the additional tax breaks offered in some states, the new electric vehicles are in the budget of mainstream buyers.

Both Nissan and GM say the base models of their cars will come nicely equipped. Both have navigation, multiple air bags and premium audio systems standard. Options for both include backup monitoring cameras, leather seats in the Volt, and a solar-panel spoiler that generates electricity on the Leaf.

Tesla Motors IPO Loses Fuel

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When Tesla Motors was first introduced as a public stock offering, the demand was so high that the size of the IPO was raised to 13.3 million shares up form the planned 11.1 million, and the price was set higher than the originally planned $14-$16. The stock did really well the first two days hitting a high of $30.42 only two days after it was offered.

But, investors hunger for Tesla faded fast as the IPO fell back quickly below its offering price. Whether it was the lack of long term investors, or the fact that the company will spend a lot more cash before their Model S will be mass produced in 2012, it is expected that the stock will go down even further before it stabilizes.

David Menlow, head of IPOfinancial.com in Millburn, N.J., said he believed that Musk had the “right formula” for an electric-car company in the long run. Interested investors should be patient, Menlow advised: “Let the momentum play itself out.”

GM Confident In Volts Battery

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According to GM executive director of global electrical systems, “The Chevrolet Volt’s batteries have exceeded performance targets and are ready to hit the road.” To prove it, Chevrolet is offering one of the automotive industry’s longest, most comprehensive battery warranties for an electric vehicle. The standard 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty will also be transferable at no extra cost to other vehicle owners.

The Volt’s comprehensive battery warranty covers all 161 battery components as well as the thermal management system, charging system and electric drive components, which allows the Volt to operate under a full range of climates and driving conditions without concern about being stranded by a dead battery. It has a range of about 340 miles and is powered with electricity at all times. For up to the first 40 miles, the Volt is powered solely by electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery, using no fuel and producing no emissions. When the Volt’s lithium-ion battery runs low, an engine/generator operates to extend the driving range another 300 miles on a full tank of fuel.

According to Nancy Laubenthal, plant manager of the Brownstown Battery Plant, “We’re moving fast to deliver for the customer and ensure the Volt launch stays on track.” “Last August we announced the investment in the Brownstown facility and in January built our first completed battery pack. Now we are finishing pre-production batteries and soon we will begin building production batteries for Chevrolet Volts that will be delivered to dealers before the end of the year.”

Toyota’s Electric RAV 4

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The joint venture between Toyota and Tesla Motors, will have us seeing an electric version of Toyota’s RAV4 on the roads as early as 2012. Toyota has made a limited number of electric RAV4’s in the past, but have never commercialized the vehicle. The few RAV 4 EV’s that have been running for the past ten years in fleets and in private hands has been considered a terrific workhorse for those driving it. In this new venture, Toyota gets to re-energize their once innovative small crossover vehicle, and Tesla can show that their style of battery and energy management can support large-scale usage.

Tesla is best known for their first and only electric car, the Roadster, which was introduced in 2008, but hopes to expand their market with their Model S sedan which it plans to start selling in 2012. With the e-RAV4 they hope to expand the market even further for electric vehicles by giving ‘soccer moms’ and small business owners a vehicle they can use on a daily basis.

Tesla Motors Goes Public

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The hype around Tesla Motors has certainly paid off. As Tesla went public, their stock prices have done better than originally planned. Under the ticker symbol TSLA, the Silicon Valley company’s stock opened at $17 (going up as high as $19), above the anticipated range of $14 to $16.

The company hoped to raise up to $178 million by selling 11.1 million shares, but has done better than anticipated by raising over $220 million in funding by selling 13.3 million shares. Including investments from Daimler and Toyota, and receiving a $465 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a factory, Tesla is on its way to becoming a leader in electric cars.

Tesla is best known for their first and only electric car, the $109,000 Roadster, which was introduced in 2008. Selling only about 1,100 of the cars worldwide to the rich and famous. With the IPO proceeds, the company will fund production of the company’s new vehicle, the Model S sedan, which is expected to sell for about $57,000. A federal tax credit of $7,500 for electric cars would cut the price to just under $50,000. The commercial launch is planned for 2012.

Hydrogen Cars – Still An Option?

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It seems that lately there has been much talk about the electric car. The automobile companies have been investing large amounts of money into electric cars with the hopes of becoming the leaders in the industry. The installation of more charging stations has not only made it more convenient to charge an electric car, but the installation of solar charging stations has made the drain on the power infrastructure less of a problem.

Still, the hydrogen car lurks in the background. Tucked away on the Torrance campus behind a security guard and a locked gate, a system designed to power Honda’s limited-production FCX Clarity sedan and other hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles uses solar panels to power a machine the size of a mini-refrigerator. This system converts water into hydrogen and oxygen gases and then pumpes the hydrogen directly into the car. No fossil fuels, no pollution, no additional strain on the power grid — and all done at home. It’s called a residential hydrogen refueler, and only one currently exists. According to statements from automakers like Honda, General Motors, Toyota, and Mercedes they hope to begin selling hydrogen-powered production cars to consumers as early as 2015.

Other hydrogen fuel-cell cars, only available by lease, exist. Made by GM, Toyota and Mercedes, most of the lessees are in “station clusters,” specific geographic areas that have hydrogen fueling stations. It’s the scarcity of these hydrogen stations that’s seen as one of the biggest barriers to mass adoption of fuel-cell cars.

The installation of these residential hydrogen refulers would solve this problem, but at what cost? Honda won’t say, but it’s a promising technology that advances the trend toward consumers detaching from a fossil-fuel economy and becoming more self-sufficient. It’s a future in which American homes are less reliant on a large-scale infrastructure — power grids, and water districts — and provide at least some of the solutions themselves via solar panels, gray-water systems, rainwater harvesting and home-based car-refueling technology.

Tesla Motors Publicly Offered

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Tesla Motors Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif. based company, is scheduled to make a public offering to trade at the end of the month in hopes of raising as much as $178 million. The electric car maker, best known for its one and only all electric Roadster model, plans to sell 11.1 million shares at about $15 per share.

At the end of last month the company announced a $50 million investment from Toyota Motor Corp., and that they would be moving into the automobile plant recently closed by Toyota.

Tesla said it lost $25.5 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a quarterly loss of $16.0 million a year earlier. For all of 2009, it lost $55.7 million less than the loss in 2008. While electric automobiles are seen as an emerging technology, they are considered an early-stage industry that could take a decade to become more established, making the Tesla offering riskier.

Networked Charging Stations For California

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Coulomb Technologies, a leader in electric vehicle charging station infrastructure, has announced that they will be spending $37 million installing networked charging stations throughout the United States. The program will provide almost 5000 charging stations in Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC.

A wide network of charging stations is expected to help quell fears that future electric car owners won’t be able to drive far beyond their home charging base. In support of the ChargePoint America program, three automakers have committed to deliver electric vehicles in designated US regions. The Chevrolet Volt, the Ford Transit Connect Electric and Ford Focus Electric through the “Ford Blue Oval ChargePoint Program”, and the smart for two electric drive will be introduced along with this program.

ChargePoint America will offer both home and public charging stations to individuals and businesses. Charging stations owners can set their own prices for charging through the Flex Billing™ system. The Flex Billing system enables station owners to set pricing as a function of time of day, calendar date, and driver – much like a parking meter. Those same stations can also be configured to provide “free” access to EV drivers.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint® Network, is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides authentication, management, and real-time control for the networked electric vehicle charging stations. The network of electric vehicle charging stations is accessible to all plug-in drivers by making a toll free call to the 24/7 number on each charging station, or signing up for a ChargePoint Network monthly access plan and obtaining a ChargePass™ smart card. Other future payment options include using any smart (RFID) credit/debit card to authorize a session or using a standard credit or debit card at a remote payment station (RPS) to pay for charging sessions. To locate available charging stations, visit mychargepoint.net and click “Find Stations”.