For decades, car dealers had nightmares about being put out of business by non-car dealers. Cars at Costco? S-Class at Sam’s Club? Except for occasional trials that always flopped, it never happened. As it turns out, not big box stores, but the manufacturers themselves are the dealers’ biggest nightmare. Instead of facing competition that tries to sell cars along with detergent and 2 for the price of 1 peanut butter, car dealers are being culled like mad cows. Read More >
When is it a good time for a CEO to step down from an automotive company? This year we’ve already learned that ditching mere months before a major IPO was not a great move for GM CEO Ed Whitacre. But that surprise drop-out may just have been topped by CODA Automotive’s Kevin Czinger, who just resigned a month before his firm starts sales of its very first vehicle. The firm is in the midst of its pre-sales marketing, and is also currently pursuing $125m in financing from Morgan Stanley and others, making this a highly unusual time for a CEO to leave. Czinger, a Goldman Sachs alum, was crucial in bringing investments to CODA from other Goldman alums, including former Treasury boss Hank Paulson and John Bryson. Czinger will stay on as an adviser to the firm, as co-chairman Steve Heller will take over as interim CEO and COO. Earlier this year, Czinger called the CEO position his “dream job” (see video above).
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Except for a lot of green talk, my German compatriots are not known for enthusiastically embracing the EV idea. Japan, even China is way ahead of them. Despite high gasoline costs (taxes, taxes), even hybrids are everything but runaway successes in the Fatherland. If Germans want to save, they buy a Diesel, or take the train. But even the train isn’t the bargain it used to be. One car company bets big on Electric Vehicles. So big, that they built a whole new factory for them. You won’t believe who. Read More >
The recently-debuted Chevrolet Volt ads are built around the same basic assumption that drove the design of the Volt’s extended-range electric (EREV) drivetrain: Americans will not tolerate running out of vehicle range. So severe will be America’s Range Anxiety®, GM is guessing, that its electric vehicle (EV) consumers would be happy to lose some electric range and pay a significant price premium compared to the pure-electric competition in order to fill up on gas when they forget to plug in. But while we wait for this psychological insight to prove true across the broader market, recent news seems to show that GM has forgotten about another beloved American freedom: the freedom of choice. For example, the choice to buy a GM-made “pure” EV. To find that kind of freedom you have to go to China…
Wasn’t BYD the miraculous Chinese company that would bring electric cars to the masses? Weren’t they supposed to go hundreds of miles on a single charge? Forget about it. So far, their electric cars are being tested as taxis in Shenzhen in low numbers. What if you would be crazy enough to buy one yourself? They won’t sell you one. Read More >
With battery partner Toyota already $50m deep in Tesla’s equity (and another $60m deep in an electric RAV4 development agreement), Automotive News [sub] reports the Japanese automaker’s main EV partner, Panasonic, is investing $30m of its own in the Silicon Valley EV form. Panasonic and Toyota jointly build NiMh and Li-ion batteries in a venture called Primearth, and the move appears to bring Tesla closer into Toyota’s orbit. Tesla already uses Panasonic cells in its drivetrains (although not exclusively), and the two firms have already partnered on power-pack development. Panasonic’s $30m investment is said to have bought it a two percent stake in Tesla, and the two will cooperate together on sales and marketing of those battery packs in the future.
Automotive News [sub] hasn’t received the memo that EVs need good news, badly. Instead, AN hammers the last nail into the electric vehicle’s coffin. If range anxiety, the lack of 220V outlets at your curbside parking spot, and high prices aren’t enough to keep you away from an electric car, how about “an Orwellian future where faceless international corporations track your every move. Drop by the bar after work, call in sick to go to the beach, visit your mistress’ house. The all-seeing eye of Big Brother knows where you’ve been.”
That’s what will happen when you drive an EV, says Automotive News [EN]. Your green friend will snitch on you. 24/7. Read More >
Having won the Automotive X-Prize (if only in the “Alternative” class), Li-ion Motors was all set to become the next big thing in alt-energy auto startups. And, based on its winning X-Prize entry, the Wave II, it seemed that Li-ion was focused on small, practical electric cars. Not so. Li-ion has showed up at the annual SEMA tuner-fest with its first production-intent vehicle, the Inizio… and it’s essentially a slightly faster but more expensive (and uglier) Tesla Roadster. It barely beats the Tesla’s 3.7 second 0-60 time (at 3.4 seconds), and can achieve 170 mph compared to the Tesla’s 125 (for those times you want a big speeding ticket and a run-down battery). Li-ion also expects it to cost 140,000 to the Tesla’s $110,000… and it won’t be ready for two years anyway, by which time Audi will already be eating Tesla’s lunch.
Oh, and if you think that Tesla’s on financially shaky ground, consider that Li-ion has been accused of being a shell game (or, a “bunch of thieves”), has run afoul of the SEC, and reportedly has to spend $75k of its X-Prize money settling a lawsuit. Even the most ardent Tesla-basher has to admit that, compared to this latest EV sportscar pretender, the Silicon Valley startup looks pretty darn good.
More than any other mainline automaker, Nissan has bet heavily on electric vehicles penetrating the mass market within a reasonable time period. Whether or not that gamble will pay off remains very much to be seen, but the firm’s post-Leaf EV plans are less than entirely inspiring. Yes, there will be an Infiniti version of the Leaf for the US market (and possibly an EV delivery van for Europe), but after that, Nissan says its next EV will be a retreat to the golf cart-style Neighborhood Electric Vehicles that spread rapidly when gas prices spike two years ago before dropping off the map. Called the “New Mobility Concept,” this open-air Nissan (the Renault version is called the Twizzy) will be faster than a NEVs, with a top speed of 47 mph planned. Range is also better than the typical lead-acid battery-powered NEV, with about 60 miles of range planned. Still, this is a huge step backwards from the Leaf, and it speaks to a basic lack of confidence in the Leaf’s radical mainstreaming effort for EVs. Given how much Nissan has riding on the Leaf, that’s a troubling sign indeed. [via Automotive News [sub]]
OK, so the EMAV PRU (Electric Motors and Vehicle Company Power Regeneration Unit) isn’t expected to go on sale until sometime next year, but it’s one curious approach to the “range anxiety” problem that caused GM to develop the Volt as a range-extended EV rather than a pure battery-only EV. The PRU takes a simple concept, a trailer that can both store goods and generate 25kWh of electricity from a 750cc diesel engine in order to extend range, and makes it considerably more complicated than it needs to be. For one thing, it’s self-propelled, necessitating on-board lithium-ion batteries, as well as an electric drive unit.
As a result, the projected pricetag comes to a prohibitive $15,000, and the weight reaches an EV range-sapping 1,220 lbs. And for all that, wouldn’t a $15k hatchback make a better “range extender” than this cumbersome trailer? On the other hand, a trailer like this just might work as a rental item, offering a portable generator as well as range extension that its makers say will work with any electric car. But would something like this be more appealing as a simplified, lighter unit (non-self-propelled), or will add-on range extension always struggle to offer more for money than having a gas car as a compliment to an electric car? Given that American families typically have several cars anyway, the answer would appear to be yes… [via GM-volt.com]
Four driverless, autonomous vans finished a trek most drivers would never think of driving: From Italy through Eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and the Gobi Desert, all the way to Shanghai, China. They arrived there last Thursday, just in time for the Expo that closed last weekend. It was a long 8000 mile way, and they never got lost. Read More >
GE plans on having half of its 45,000 employees driving electric vehicles as part of a $10b investment in clean technology over the next five years, and it’s kicking off the effort with an order of “tens of thousands” of EVs according to Bloomberg. Making the announcement at an event sponsored by the University of Cambridge’s Programme for Sustainability Leadership, GE CEO Jeffery Immelt told attendees
Now is exactly the time, because it’s less popular, where we have to invest more. We have to do it more courageously. And we’re going to have to go forward for a while without government at our backs
Experts call the buy the largest EV purchase in history, and say they expect the order to be filled by several companies. But, as a partner of Nissan-Renault ally Project Better Place, we expect the majority of GE’s order to be filled with the first mass-market pure EV, the Nissan Leaf. Much ink has been spilled over the long-term viability of electric vehicles on the consumer market, but little attention has been paid to corporations as a driver of EV sales. It’s possible that GE could be the first of a PR-driven corporate push to bring EVs into wider acceptance.
In a former life, I had worked a bit with J.D. Power. I knew them intimately. We had our issues. This is one of the few times I wholeheartedly agree with them. “Future global market demand for hybrid and battery electric vehicles may be over-hyped” is the conclusion of a new J.D.Power study, titled “Drive Green 2020: More Hope than Reality.” Read More >
Backup beepers are everywhere, it seems. Wherever the heavy metal–trucks, steamrollers, steam shovels, cement mixers, buses, or any other vehicle with substantial girth–is backing up, you know it, even if you can’t see it. Because like [monochromatic] laser light, monotone sounds carry further. And now, within the last couple of years, the backup beeper comes standard equipment on your Prius (and, pending passage of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, all electric-drive cars). But if you don’t like it, you can disconnect it. My brother Tom—who has always considered cars to be appliances, but LOVES his Prius—has not disconnected his. “I am not bothered by it particularly,” he says. TTAC Prius owners: what about you? Have you left it on? Disconnected it? Why or why not?
Editor’s Note: On Monday, TTAC’s Martin Schwoerer wrote about a planned record-breaking non-stop run of 600 KMs, from Munich to Berlin, with a car that was equipped with a “revolutionary” electric battery system. Something smells funny, he said, and vowed to donate 100 Euros in case the drive was completed. Well, it was. So, how does it feel to have pie on your face?
How about Vegetarians Against the klan? Or maybe the Tugg Speedman Foundation? No, there are probably better organisations to give my money to. Guess I’ll ask the Best & Brightest… Read More >
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