Nissan announced today a new partnership with Fastned to offer 2 years of free fast-charging when buying a new LEAF in the Netherlands. Fastned has an extensive 38-station network of fast charging stations all around the Netherlands, which hadn’t been really put to the test until now. The company says it is building a new station every week.
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At Electrek we have been gathering registration data on the top-selling electric vehicles for a while now and although we are still sorting through all the information (and you can expect more posts about the data going forward), one thing that caught our attention is Tesla’s recent growth in Sweden.
Tesla has a presence in Sweden since late 2013, but sales in the country have been lagging until the last two quarters. From January to August 2014, Tesla delivered only 141 cars in the country, but during the same period this year, it delivered 635 Model S’s according to registration data – a 350% year over year increase to date.
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In a blog post published yesterday, Tesla CTO JB Straubel addresses Model S acceleration and horsepower concerns recently expressed by Tesla owners and car publications. Some have suspected and even accused Tesla of misrepresenting the power output of the Model S for a while, and now Straubel explains the logic behind Tesla’s horsepower and performance calculations…
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It has been a while since we’ve heard of Renovo Motors, the all-electric supercar maker backed by the deep-pocket VC firm True Ventures, but we hear that Renovo was recently testing its coupe at the famous Mazda Raceway Monterey, California.
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On Monday morning Tesla sent out invitations to attend the launch of the Model X scheduled for September 29 at 7 p.m. PT in Fremont, California. Only Signature Model X reservation holders and a few select media are invited to the event, but Tesla confirmed that there will be a livestream available on its website.
The California-based automaker has been inconsistent about providing a livestream for its events. In October 2014, Tesla didn’t livestream the launch of the Dual Motor version of the Model S and the announcement of the ‘Autopilot’, but in April 2015, it did present a livestream of the launch of ‘Tesla Energy’ and the stationary energy storage product line.
But today we can confirm that Tesla will livestream the launch of the Model X on its website.
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Apple has reportedly hit the gas on its plans to launch an electric car codenamed Project Titan and added another 1,200 employees to the development team, according to the Wall Street Journal. The team working on the electric vehicle has now tripled in size. The reason behind the push? Apple wants to finalize the project in 2019, a full year ahead of the originally-reported 2020 production date.
On Monday morning Tesla Motors sent out invites for the Model X launch event, which will take place at the Tesla Fremont Factory on September 29th (7PM PT ). The picture on the invite gives us a first look at Tesla’s new headlights which have been camouflaged on prototypes until now.
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Last week we reported on Artega unveiling the Scalo, an all-electric sports car concept unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, today we’ll give you a brief overview of another EV concept unveiled at the show by the German automaker: The Karo.
The Karo is an electric quad-bike concept aimed at complying to driver license and insurance requirements for young people.
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The Artega Scalo joins the long list of all-electric luxury cars being unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show this week. The German sports car maker now focuses mostly on “electromobility” in partnership with battery maker Voltabox.
The company says it will achieve a range of 250 miles on a small 37 kWh battery pack. The claim is difficult to believe, but the range is most likely calculated based on the New European Driving Cycle, which allows for longer range than most real-life driving cycles.
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Last month we wrote a first look at Tesla’s much-anticipated v7.0 software update with new ‘Autopilot’ features expected to be released later this year. Today we learn that Tesla released the second version of its beta v7.0 update to early access testers.
For previous releases, Tesla was able to update the beta fairly quickly for a wide-release just weeks after the original release to testers, but v7.0 being highly sensitive safety-wise, the beta testing process is taking longer than usual.
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As part of the Obama Administration’s strategy to increase energy productivity, reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil and cut harmful emissions, the Department of Energy awarded $55 million to advance fuel efficiency and electric vehicle technologies through 24 projects.
The program is directly aiming at making electric vehicles as affordable to own as a gas-powered vehicles by 2022.
The money awarded went to projects ranging from material science on battery technologies to systems for making components lighter in order to increase efficiency of both battery-powered and gas-powered vehicles.
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The Guardian is reporting that Apple legal representatives met with California’s department of motor vehicles to discuss regulations about self-driving cars. On record, the DMV told The Guardian that “the Apple meeting was to review DMV’s autonomous vehicle regulations”. This news follows reports that Apple is searching for a private road-testing site for its ‘Apple Car’ electric vehicle project.
More interestingly, The Guardian claims to have obtained documents that suggest the Apple Car is close to leaving the lab as the project deemed ‘Project Titan’ has now an official Engineering Program Manager. When a project gets an EPM, it typically means a product is entering the next stage of development and finishing testing stages.
Ahead of the Model X launch set for September 29th, Tesla is still tuning the options available for the configuration of its all-electric SUV. Yesterday we wrote about how Tesla will offer hitch accessories directly at the purchase of the Model X in order to get around the limitations of the vehicle’s ‘Falcon Wing’ doors. Today we learn, through the same online design studio for early reservation holders, that Tesla increased by 10 miles the estimated EPA-rated range of the Signature Model X to 250 miles.
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At the Frankfurt Motor Show this week Volkswagen introduced its first plug-in hybrid SUV: the Tiguan GTE. The German automaker revisited each trim of the gas-powered Tiguan and unveiled a new plug-in one, although unfortunately only as a “concept”.
The GTE is equipped with a 13 KWh lithium-ion high-voltage battery pack allowing for an all-electric range of 50 km (31 miles), then the direct-injection gas engine takes over.
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In a new note issued today, Jefferies analyst Dan Dolev increased his price target on Tesla Motors to $365 following a new analysis on the company’s battery business. When Tesla first announced its “Gigafactory“, it forecasted a ~30% reduction in battery cost through economy of scale and improved chemistry, but since then Tesla executives revealed that 30% might have been conservative and Jefferies seems to agree.
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Ahead of the Model X launch at the end of the month, Tesla is still tuning the options available for the configuration of its all-electric SUV. A roof-rack, which is popular for skiers and cyclists, isn’t an option for the Model X due to the vehicle’s Falcon Wing’ doors. We now learn through the online design studio, which is accessible to a select few reservation holders, that Tesla will be offering hitch accessories directly at the purchase of the Model X in order to get around the limitations.
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Chinese startup NextEV raised about half of the $1 billion it seeks ahead of launching its electric vehicle lineup according to Bloomberg. Last month we wrote about NextEV coming out of stealth to reveal its plan to “disrupt” the electric vehicle market with yet another electric supercar and today we learn that the company is extremely well-funded by big-name VC firms: Sequoia Capital and Joy Capital.
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During an interview at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi of America President Scott Keogh confirmed that the company doesn’t plan to make the e-tron quattro a “compliance car”, but instead he sees a global market for the all-electric SUV.
“Our number one thing is not to build a compliance car but to build a cool, desirable car, because that’s what’s going to help our brand and our customers are going to like it,” Keogh said.
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Tesla Motors operates two kinds of charging networks: the Superchargers, a network of DC fast charging stations for long distance driving, and the Destination Charging network; level 2 chargers installed at restaurants and hotels to charge once you arrived at your destination.
While the Superchargers have been available in all markets Tesla operates in, Destination charging has only been available in North America and Asia. Today Tesla announced via Twitter that the program will come to Europe “soon”.
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Casey Spencer, a Tesla Model S owner, set a new record for the longest distance traveled on a single charge in a Model S by driving 550.3 miles in 26 hours. Spencer surpassed Bjorn Nyland’s record of 452.8 miles set just last month. Although Nyland used a Model S P85D, while Spencer used his Model S 85D.
Mercedes unveiled an interesting new concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show: a sedan which can change its features automatically from design mode to aerodynamic mode once it reaches a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). The concept is called the IAA, which stands for Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile, not to be confused with Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA), also known as the Frankfurt Motor Show, at which the concept is being unveiled.
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Last month Bosch reported the acquisition of battery maker start-up Seeo , today the auto part and electronic giant released more details about its plan for battery production going forward. Bosch expects to bring to market Seeo’s solid-state battery cells within 5 years.
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Thunder Power unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show today two new electric vehicles equipped with a massive 125 kWh battery pack.
Thunder Power is a Taiwan-based power-tool maker established in 1987, which recently changed its focus to electric vehicles. Its first entries are a 4-door sedan (picture above), the Thunder Power Sedan, and a sport car, the Thunder Power Race (picture below).
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SolarEdge announced a significant upgrade to their smart inverter line this today called “HD-Wave” which will have a profound impact on the solar industry. Further followup from SolarEdge yields a nice (HDWave PDF) Deck as well outlining some of the bigger upgrades.
In short, SolarEdge has done for the inverter (a critical piece of the solar ecosystem which turns DC powered Solar/Wind/hydro electricity into AC which is used by homes and long poweline distance travel) what flat panels did for the TV just a decade or so ago. The new technology uses 16 times fewer magnets, smaller thin film capacitors and much less cooling to yield a 99% efficient power transformation. That not only makes solar installs less expensive, more productive and easier, it makes Tesla’s Powerwall a whole lot smaller…
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