Cars

An updated production timeline for the Chevy Volt sent to GM dealerships leaked on the GM-Volt forum over the weekend. The new timeline shows that GM decided to push the nationwide launch of the new Volt to February-March 2016 instead of the planned November-December 2015.

Production meant for California should start right about now and then GM will include all the other CARB States; Oregon, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire from October 2015 to January 2016.
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Before Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors in 2003, they were trying to figure out the best way to break America’s addiction to oil. 75% of the oil consumed in America is used in transportation, and of that, 50% is used for passenger vehicles. So it became clear that what was needed was an alternative way to power cars, but what exactly would that look like? They examined all kinds of interesting alternative drivetrains, from hydrogen fuel cells to ethanol, but they eventually decided that an electric car was the way to go. So they began to learn everything they could about electric cars; how they worked, past attempts to bring one to market, and the engineering challenges of building one. They learned many things which we will not get in to here, but one of the most interesting, and the one I will be focusing on today, was about the demographics of people who bought the LAST generation of electric vehicles.
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German automaker BMW is set to introduce 2 new plug-in hybrids at the Frankfurt Motor Show which runs from the 17th to 27th of September. The 2 new models , BMW 225xe and BMW 330e, are based on the automaker’s Series 2 and Series 3, but with BMW’s eDrive powertrain technology.

BMW’s eDrive technology allows the driver to switch between being entirely powered by the battery pack, and being powered by the three-cylinder combustion engine for the 225xe, or four-cylinder engine in the case of the 330e .
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In an interview with German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Daimler’s chief of research and development Thomas Weber confirmed the company is currently working on a next generation electric vehicle with a range of “400 to 500 km” (250 to 310 miles).

Daimler already sells a few electric vehicles, like EV versions of the Smart or the Mercedes B class, but the automaker as yet to build a fully electric vehicle from the ground up. It’s not entirely clear from Weber’s comments if the concept will be a completely new electric platform, but it sounds more likely than not…
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In the midst of announcements surrounding its upcoming Model X vehicle, Tesla CEO Elon Musk today confirmed that the company plans to begin production of a new “Model 3” vehicle in approximately two years. It also plans to open up preorders mid next year as it reveals starting prices for both the upcoming Model X and Model 3. 
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France-based automaker Peugeot announced a new electric vehicle concept: the Fractal. The vehicle is only an early concept and the specifications should be taken with a grain of salt. Early renderings show an interesting design for the small 2-door coupé which the company aims at making very light, weighting in at only 1,000 kg (2,205 lbs).
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Electric vehicles are here to stay, there’s very little doubt about that at this point, but which automakers are making sure that EVs are not a fad, but a trend? A new report from EV-Sales, a website tracking electric vehicle sales through car registration data, compiled the top automotive groups selling EVs in volume.
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Today Indianapolis is officially launching BlueIndy, its all-electric car sharing program. The program has been in the work for quite sometime now, but today 25 stations hosting up to 5 cars each are up-and-running.

BlueIndy is modeled after the car sharing programs, like Autolib in Paris, operated by the Bolloré Group in Europe and it uses the same car, the Bluecar, manufactured in partnership between the France-based Bolloré Group and the Italian automotive company Cecomp.
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In perhaps the clearest video we’ve seen yet of the front of the Tesla Model X, you can clearly see that the front window that extends over the top of the driver is one piece of glass, giving the driver complete view of the road and straight up. There are no seams although it appears that the top may be shaded slightly from inside.

I’m not sure how sun will be blocked effectively with this design but I think it will be striking and a signature feature of the Model X.

Also, I’m not sure we’ve seen two Model X vehicles together except at the supercharger at this magical Denny’s in San Jose.

More images from the video below show the pano glass from the inside:
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Two pictures of the 2016 Toyota Prius leaked this weekend on the Malaysia Prius Club forum. The pictures appear to have been shot inside the cargo hold of a plane.

Fortunately and for the first time, the cars have no apparent camouflage on them, giving us a very good look at Toyota’s next generation Prius.
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Leshi Internet Information & Technology, also known as LeTV, is a large Chinese company most popular for its Netflix-like service on LeTV.com. Earlier this year, CEO Jia Yueting sold $1.61 billion worth LeTV’s shares, $1.2 billion of which he loaned right back to the company to finance the numerous projects they are working on, which include a smartphone, smart TV and electric cars…
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The electronics and auto parts giant Bosch announced the acquisition of Seeo Inc, a California-based startup with exclusive licensing rights to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s portfolio of patents for lithium polymer battery cells.

Bosch has a long-standing interest in electric vehicles from a strategic supply partnership with Tesla Motors to their own series of charging stations, but this acquisition could represent a major step for the company’s effort in the field.
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Consumer Reports published its detailed review of the Tesla Model S P85D this morning  and the product review magazine says that their ratings system had to be modified because the P85D scored 103 out of 100. After changing the system, Tesla’s all-wheel drive performance vehicle achieved a perfect score of 100.

Consumer Reports tested previous versions of the Model S in the past few years and they always had great things to say about the vehicle, even calling it the best car they ever tested, and this time is no exception. 
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If you are in California and you recently spotted advertising in the form of pamphlets and billboards campaigning against California’s Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act, it’s because a group heavily financed by big oil companies is trying its best to convince people to stop the act, which they cleverly renamed “the California Gasoline Restriction Act”, from passing.

A few layers of advocacy groups and associations stand between the “Don’t Take My Gas” campaign and the money financing it, but we don’t have to dig to deep to trace it right back to our favorite oil companies such as Shell, Exxon and BP.
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Sources familiar with Tesla’s new firmware update explained that version 7.0, which is currently being tested and should be released later this year, will include auto-steering, lane change activated by the turn signal, auto-parking (in parallel spaces) and an updated UI (see picture above).

A few months ago, I wrote an in-depth article about Tesla’s Autopilot, its hardware and its limitations. I based the article on information Tesla released when first unveiling the Dual motor version of the Model S in October last year. The company has since been advertising the Model S with the autopilot features, but owners have only been enjoying a fraction of what was promised during the unveiling.

Now, based on what we are learning about the upcoming software update, Tesla appears to be set to deliver on these promises, or at least most of them…

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Speaking at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance last weekend, CEO of Aston Martin Andy Palmer, confirmed to Automotive News that the British automaker plans on bringing to market a 800 hp all-electric version of the Rapide in 2 years.

The executive also expects an all-electric version of the DBX to follow shortly after the Rapide.
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Composite of final Gigafactory size over a recent satellite photo of the pilot plant.

Satellite photos of the Tesla Gigafactory emerged this week, showing Tesla’s current progress in building their new battery plant. The recent photo shows an enclosed 1670′ (510 m) x 500′ (150 m) footprint with another section currently under construction. This means 1.6 million square feet (148,644 square meters) of space is already available for battery production in the two-storey Reno, Nevada facility. 
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