When Lansing Senator Debbie Stabenow sent her most recent routine letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, complaining that the nasty Chinese want to get their greedy hands on the super-secret electric vehicle know-how of Ford and GM, both manufacturers protested. Against the assistance from Ms. Stabenow. Ford and GM said that “they have no plans to build electric vehicles in China.” At least that’s how the Detroit News heard it. Either the DetN was misinformed. Or GM and Ford quickly changed their minds. Or they just wanted Debbie off their backs. Ford and GM both want to make EVs in China. (Read More…)

If you have ever traveled through Europe, you know that electrical plugs are a mess. European carmakers want to avoid the same mess when you travel with your electric vehicle, say from Germany to Italy via Switzerland. It’s enough that you will have to charge early and often. It’s enough that places to plug in will be scarce in the beginning. But at least the plug should fit your car. To promote that noble cause, the European Automobile Manufacturer Association ACEA has defined “a comprehensive set of recommendations to standardize the charging of electrically chargeable vehicles. The joint industry proposal will enable the use of one type of plug independent of car make, electricity provider or country.” So what will they use? (Read More…)

Conventional wisdom and Senator Stabenow have it that the wily Chinese are after precious Americans secrets of how to make new energy cars. Never mind that Ford and GM loudly deny that they have any current plans to build or sell electric vehicles in China. That appears at least half true in the case of GM. GM doesn’t have plans. Its plans are made in China. GM completely outsourced the development of electric vehicles – along with other future technologies – to China. (Read More…)

Two days ago, we told you that Senator Debbie Stabenow was barking up the wrong tree when she again fingered China for “attempting to pressure American automakers, including General Motors and Ford, to transfer core technologies of their electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to Chinese companies, in order for those vehicles to qualify for China’s clean energy vehicle incentive program.” Both Ford and GM quickly and as diplomatically as possible said it isn’t so, simply because neither of them has any plans to build electric vehicles in China. Now it turns out that Stabenow was barking up the wrong forest: Nissan will export its Made in Japan Leaf to China. And the Chinese clean energy incentive program looks like a non-starter. (Read More…)

Autocorrect-adverse CHAdeMO is a consortium of Japanese companies with the target of establishing a standard for the charging of EVs. According to the fountain of knowledge, “CHAdeMO is an abbreviation of “CHArge de MOve”, equivalent to “charge for moving”, and is a pun for O cha demo ikaga desuka in Japanese, meaning “How about some tea” (while charging) in English.^” CHAdeMO was founded at the instigation of TEPCO. The power giant wanted a safe market for its quick-charge connector, it was hitherto known as “the CHAdeMO plug.” TEPCO is Tokyo’s disgraced power company, drop its name, and you will trigger a stream of invectives coming from otherwise composed Japanese. Which is probably what happened in a boardroom. (Read More…)

Forecasting the success of game-changing technologies is like predicting the weather. Despite a mediocre success rate, it is done every day. Ask me what the weather will be in 2017, and if I want to be absolutely right, I will say: “During the summer months, we expect sun with occasional rain, whereas in the winter months, some snow can be expected.” This prediction would protect my career in any company, but it won’t get me any press.

If I want press, I need to say: “In 2017, fire and brimstone will rain from the skies, which will cause a great conflagration, because all rain will have stopped a year earlier.” These predictions can be made with little risk. Six years down the road, who will remember the nonsense I said today? That thought crosses my mind as I read studies that predict the adoption of electric vehicles. Today, we have two of those. They couldn’t be more apart. We commissioned a third one. (Read More…)

Those who have followed TTAC’s coverage of China’s car electrification plans in general  and BYD’s track record in particular will have noticed a degree of healthy skepticism. Actually, we had declared that the electric car only has a chance if you for all intents and purposes outlaw regular cars, as it is the case in Beijing. I have been out there today, and haven’t seen any: If there are no EVs to buy, then none will silently prowl the streets. As far as BYD goes, last March we called them a “down and out car company that should qualify for a handicapped parking sticker.”

Now at last, Forbes’ resident China expert Gordon G. “I hate China” Chang wakes up to the matter and writes: (Read More…)

The New York Times is outraged:

“Just as plug-in cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt enter the market, Costco is reversing course and pulling its chargers out of the ground, explaining that customers do not use them.”

Why in the world? (Read More…)

Munich, Germany, to St. Moritz, Switzerland. It can be a scenic afternoon ride. The nicest route, shown here would take you very leisurely four hours these days. Before the car was invented, it would have taken a few days and a lot of real horses. How about with pure plug-ins?  31 participants embarked on a plug-in rally from Munich to St. Moritz. It started on August 1. It ended on August 5^th. Yep, five days. When I was young, I did that in two easy days on a bicycle. The electric cars took the better part of the week. (Read More…)

Capacity, weight and price of the battery are the big challenges facing the electric car.  Researchers at Sumitomo have developed a porous, sponge-like metal called “Aluminum-Celmet.” It promises to triple the capacity of lithium-ion batteries. (Read More…)

Ever so environmentally conscious California  offered its citizen a rebate up to $5,000 if they buy an electric car. That and the $7,500 federal tax credit adds up to a good chunk of money. 1978 vehicles later, the state is out of funds. No more. According to the California Air Resources Board, “the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project may run out by July due to high consumer demand.”  May run out? It already did. (Read More…)

While western companies have their eyes on China as the big market for EVs, and while they worry about their precious know-how being expropriated by the nasty Chicoms, Chinese are already looking elsewhere for low cost production of their cars. (Read More…)

While Michigan Senators, aided by the Detroit News, are chasing their own tails complaining about Chinese EV draft regulations that only exist in rumor form, a major European manufacturer practices Realpolitik and covers all possible bases: Volkswagen appears to launch an indigenous, all-electric brand for China, and (at least for the time being), for China only. (Read More…)

In a cautious climbdown from Volkswagen’s previous anti-electric stance, Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winternkorn said electric cars might not be the work of the antichrist after all. The statements were made at the 32^nd Vienna Motor Symposium. After announcing that the Volkswagen Group will be producing plug-in hybrid in 2013/14 (didn’t they previously say it was 2012?), Winterkorn said: (Read More…)

On April 18th, BMW CEO Jim O’Donnell met in New York with reporters, amongst them TTAC’s Jack Baruth. At the meeting, O’Donnell opined that the U.S. government should end the $7,500 tax credit for EVs. “I believe in a free economy. I think we should abolish all tax credits,” O’Donnell said, noting that it was his personal opinion.

O’Donnell also said that “from a practicality point of view, EVs won’t work for most people. For at least 90 percent and maybe more of the population, an EV won’t work at the current battery range.” What else is new? A 10 percent market share for EVs usually is regarded as widely optimistic. And we all know that German automakers are not particularly excited about electrification. The quote wasn’t newsworthy, and did not rate a mention in Jack’s report about the meeting.

Interestingly, the meeting had been the kick-off for BMW’s ActiveE EV lease program.  If a CEO says that a new product is not all things to all people, he usually gets praises for being candid. This apparently does not apply in the world of faith-based motorization. (Read More…)