Electric Vehicles Straightline Archives

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's presentation got all "frunked" up Thursday night at the unveiling of the 2014 Tesla model X crossover electric vehicle.

The stubbly-bearded entrepreneur was happily explaining the newest Tesla EV's copious cargo space to an invitation-oly audience of close to 1,000 friends, employees, customers, potential customers and the usual handful of scruffy media types when the latch locking down the front hood got stuck.

What's a hood latch got do do with cargo space? Isn't that behind the seats? Well, yeah.

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Categories: Crossovers,Electric Vehicles,Tesla Motors

Tesla is in the final throes of launching the Model S. The all-new, all-electric sedan starts at $57,400, has a 160-mile range and has features like a 17-inch touchscreen display, 19-inch wheels, an optional all glass panoramic roof and a microfiber interior. You can, of course, upgrade to a $97,900 Model S Signature Performance that has twice the battery life, a 4.4-second 0-60 time, carbon-fiber accents, Nappa leather interior, a 300-mile range with a top speed of 130 and standard 21s with high performance tires.

But is it the best sedan, nay, the best car in the world? Tesla thinks so...

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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Tesla Motors

 Peter Rawlinson and Nick Sampson, prominent engineers on Tesla's 160-to-300 mile range electric sedan have left Tesla before seeing their baby to launch.

Rawlinson was Tesla's vice president and Chief Engineer while Sampson supervised the company's chassis engineering. The two left earlier this month. "Having completed conceptual and design engineering work on Model S, Peter has decided to step away to tend to personal matters in the U.K." said an emailed statement by Ricardo Reyes, Tesla spokesman. Sampson was noted as having already fully transitioned off of Model S when he left. Jerome Guillen (formerly of Daimler AG) and Eric Bach (formerly on VW small cars) have filled the open positions.

The market was not convinced by the words or actions of Tesla, shares in Tesla's stock fell 20 percent.

Is this just a case of businesses doing what they do? Or is the departure of two key executives in the final stretch of a huge launch indicative of things to come from the Model S?

(Bloomberg)

Categories: Auto Industry,Electric Vehicles,Sedans,Tesla Motors

Recently there's been some talk on the Internet that scientists have figured out that, due to mass-specific resting metabolic rate and mass-specific energy per lifespan, the average animal has +- a billion heartbeats until the clock stops. Little scampering critters that panic a lot (mice, rabbits) have quick heartbeats and die soon. Big things that are kind of chill and not terribly reactionary have slow heartbeats and live for a long time (tortoises, whales).

Similarly, I'm convinced (I have no empirical or anecdotal evidence) that my keyboard has a finite number of keystrokes in its serviceable life and I'd hate to see it die on an electric Smart "truck" concept with a top speed of 75 mph, an electric bicycle as a backup plan and quoted 0-37 mph time of 5 seconds.

More pics after the jump.

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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Detroit Auto Show,Electric Vehicles,SMART

 This pufferfish looking thing right here is the Kia Ray EV and unlike other EVs that are trying to be all modern and fresh, this one's not. It's being functional, like a mail truck. It's based on the Ray CUV, but instead of the thirsty 1.0-liter, the Ray EV has a 50kW electric motor and a 16.4 kWh lithium ion polymer battery pack. The Ray EV weighs some 412 pounds more than the traditional Ray

Despite the weight penalty, Kia says this version of the Ray is actually faster than the gasoline model as it can hit 100 kph in a scant 15.9 seconds on its way to a top speed of 81 mph. This is in part thanks to the EV's 167 Nm of torque which is a 77%(!) increase over the 1-liter. Keep your foot out of that massive power and the Ray has a max range of 86 miles.

There are 500 slow/fast recharge stations in Korea and the government plans to increase that to 3,100 by 2013.

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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Future Vehicles,Kia

In a press release today from Europe, Nissan announced a new electric test vehicle. Unlike previous EVs from Nissan, this one is a small electric van based on the NV200. Like other EVs from Nissan, this uses the same powertrain as the Nissan Leaf.

The van is intended for the streets of London where it will be tested by FedEx Express. Beth Galetti, vice president of Planning and Engineer for FedEx Express said, "FedEx is proud to collaborate with Nissan on this initiative. Our cross-sector approach to reduce dependence on petroleum, reduce carbon impact and eliminate tailpipe emissions remains unwavering. At FedEx, we seek to connect the world in responsible and resourceful ways and we will continue to work closely with Nissan to change what is possible."

FedEx's Vice President of Global Vehicles Dennis Beal continues, "Collaboration is part of our global vehicle strategy....We value the opportunity Nisan has given us to provide experienced feedback and contribute to development of the best Nissan NV200 possible."

FedEx already operated 43 electric vehicles and judging by this release, we have to assume they'll be adding at least one more at the Detroit Auto Show.

Categories: Detroit Auto Show,Electric Vehicles,Nissan

We may not have had enough time for a full test of the 2012 Fisker Karma in the short time we had it, but a suspension walkaround takes almost no time at all, especially now that we have our Rotary 2-post lift.

The Fisker is so new that Rotary doesn't yet have a lift point cheat sheet on it. The Karma's owner's manual was AWOL, too, so we went ahead and used subtle marks left behind by what we presume was Fisker's own shop equipment. Going slow in cases like this is key.

As a series plug-in hybrid, this unique machine is sometimes powered by electricity stored in a large lithium-ion battery running down the center of the car, between its four seats. Other times it's powered by a 2.0-liter direct-injected turbocharged four-cylinder engine and generator set that's mounted longways between the front wheels. In Sport mode both of these happen at once for extra ooomph.

In all cases the Karma is driven electrically by a pair of motor-generators that sit between the rear tires. There is no driveshaft; it's all done with wires. 

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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Fisker,Hybrids,Sedans,Sports Cars,Suspension Walkarounds

This isn't a comparison test, not really. The 2012 Fisker Karma and 2012 Chevrolet Volt are not really the same kind of car.

Except, for the time being, at least, they're the only two plug-in hybrids on the market. And both have been rated by the EPA at levels somewhat below what their manufacturers were promising/hoping before the window stickers were printed.

Last week I piloted a 2012 Fisker Karma around the Orange County city fuel economy loop we invented awhile back to compare traditional hybrids. Once I saw those results I figured I had better take our 2011 Chevrolet Volt around the same course for a bit of perspective. A couple of days later I did just that.

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Categories: Chevrolet,Electric Vehicles,Fisker,Green Tech,Hybrids,Sports Cars

Opel has confirmed to Automotive News that they are holding back sales of the Ampera while the company sets up "the process to deal with these highly charged batteries to make sure they are safe." Amperas are already sitting at dealerships in Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland waiting to be delivered to customers.

The Ampera, like the Volt, is built in the Hamtramck plant outside of Detroit and features the same lithium-ion battery pack, built by South Korean firm LG Chem, which has caused GM so much concern lately.

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Categories: Chevrolet,Electric Vehicles,General Motors,Hybrids,Opel

Crazy Rinspeed. An electric Smart ForTwo with a trailer.

Why worry about longer-range batteries or faster recharge times when you can just hitch up a trailer? A trailer with its own battery pack, or maybe a fuel cell, that can drive your rear axle, which is actually now the middle axle of the Smart EV... ah, yes, the world is our oyster.

Or, if we're content with the stock Fortwo ED's 98-mile range, we could hook up one of Rinspeed's proposed "Dock+Go" lifestyle trailers, which would apparently just be along for the ride. There's a trailer with a hot plate in case we want to fast-track a pizza delivery career, and another with a toolbox for a contractor needing to carry... uhm, a rachet set. Other trailer themes include camping, golfing, skiing (water, snow, we're not sure), the beach, and "party" (which suggests cake to us but might just indicate a 12-pack-capable ice chest).

"Plenty of good and creative solutions for a brighter future mobility," intones the Rinspeed press release translated from the German. "Take 3 instead of 2 -- and who came up with it? A Swiss, who else?"

Right. Darling animation of the Smart with the trailer after the jump.

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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Electric Vehicles,SMART,Tuners and Modifications

 Oh good, Smart is bringing a new "mobility concept" to the Detroit Auto Show. Nothing cures poor sales like a mobility concept. Especially one that's a battery powered mini-pickup.

Here's how this one likely went.

"Smart sales are terrible! What do we do?"

"Americans aren't feeling it. They like EVs. And trucks. And carrying stuff like bikes. And big wheels. And being on the highway."

"Great. Let's just slap together a mini truck, chuck a 17.6kWh lithium-ion battery pack in there, figure some way to cram some bikes -- those Smart E-Bikes-- in a 140-inch long car, give it a 75 mph top speed and call it good. We'll show it in Detroit. They love small cars."

"Uh, sir, nobody will buy that. Not even Mike Monticello."

"Call it a mobility concept. I'm going to lunch."

High-res images of this certainly-not-doomed-to-fail mobility concept after the jump.

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Categories: Detroit Auto Show,Electric Vehicles,SMART

When Fisker first started talking about the 2012 Fisker Karma and what it could do, the stuff they were saying was pretty incredible.

They said it'd be good for 50 miles of electric range, and once the battery wound down it would return 23 mpg city and 30 mpg highway (about 25 mpg combined) on the way to 250 miles of total range on a tank of gas. Conversely, in Sport mode, where the charged battery and gasoline engine/generator set work together for maximum effect, it could scoot to 60 mph in 6.3 seconds and top out at 125 mph.

No EV or plug-in hybrid (the Karma is the latter) discussed previously had ever put together such mutually exclusive performance numbers. Not too shabby for a series hybrid with no connection between the gas engine and the drive wheels except for power cables.

Meanwhile, every plug-in hybrid and EV range claim made to date has gone down in flames after the EPA conducted their own certification tests and printed up the window stickers. Chevrolet's initial claimed range of 50 miles for the Volt sagged to 35 miles when all was said and done. The Nissan Leaf's range came in at 73 miles instead of the claimed 100 miles.

Alas the same thing recently happened to the Fisker Karma. After the EPA got done its 50-mile electric range plummeted to 32 miles and it's gasoline fuel economy dropped to just 20 mpg combined.

Yeesh.

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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Fisker,Green Tech,Hybrids,Sedans,Sports Cars

You asked for it, you got it. Our very short stint in the 2012 Fisker Karma didn't allow time to produce a full video of the pedestrain warning sound it makes, but we did have time to shoot a short clip with something better than a camera phone.

Here I'm entering our shop in electric mode or, as Fisker calls it, stealth mode. The sound you're hearing is somewhat louder than it comes across outdoors in real life because I'm entering an enclosed space where it can reverberate off the concrete block walls.

Two speakers emit the noise: one under the front bumper (not inside the grille, but under and behind it) and another under the center of the rear bumper. Those two diamond-shaped rear bumper cutouts LOOK like they should be the speakers, and they're even labelled "hybrid Hz", but they're fakes.

To me the sound has elements of a P-51 Mustang squadron flyover, Tron lightcycle, 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith and that Droid phone commercial noise.

This only happens in EV mode at speeds under 25 mph. Volume and pitch rises and falls with speed to a subtle yet effectve extent, and it fades down, but not out, at idle. (Or whatever you call "idle" when an electric car or plug-in hybrid such as this stops at a red light.)

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Categories: Car Tech,Electric Vehicles,Fisker,Green Tech,Hybrids,Sedans,Sports Cars

Aptera, the would-be manufacturer of a streamlined, plastic-bodied electric car, has closed its doors after failing to raise $150 million in private investment to activate a federally guaranteed loan commitment for an additional $150 million.

The Southern California based company made waves with a three-wheeled, bicycle-fendered, teardrop-shaped EV but said today that it had quietly developed a prototype mid-size four-door sedan using the same composite materials and electric drive technology developed for the three-wheeler. It was that vehicle, said Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur, that had won the company the Energy Department’s commitment for a $150 million loan guarantee, conditioned on the company raising a matching amount in the private investment market.

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Categories: Auto Industry,Electric Vehicles

We finally managed to snag a couple days in a 2012 Fisker Karma engineering prototype. There's no time in the schedule to take this plug-in series hybrid to the track -- plug-in testing requires a trailer or overnight parking at the track to make sure we start with a full battery. We have no time to arrange any of that.

Besides, we'll soon get a production car to do a full workup and write a detailed story. In lieu of that we've been taking this opportunity to play with the electric range and fuel economy of this unique plug-in series hybrid. We're almost done collecting our numbers and we'll have more to report on that tomorrow.

We have but 24 hours left with the car. What else would you like to know about it? I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours.

While you're mulling that over, here's a couple more pictures.

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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Fisker,Green Tech,Hybrids,Sedans

Honda said very little about the electric RC-E concept and it didn't need to. Just look at it, who cares what it's powered by.

According to Honda, the RC-E is "an EV version of a super sports bike that pursues the joy of riding. A powerful and smooth ride unique to an EV model is achieved with the 250cc-class compact body."

That's it. No specs, no promises, nothing. Just a great design that makes you pray that somehow Honda can make it work. If it could, there might be a whole new generation of riders who see electric bikes as the coolest thing since their iPhones.

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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Honda,Motorcycles,Tokyo Motor Show

First shown in Paris last year, the Nissan Townpod is definitely a concept and absolutely podlike. Can't comment on its townworthiness at this time. 

Said to be an EV -- this is in Nissan's EV-centric booth, remember -- the Townpod is a compact HHR-shaped thing that is intended to be equal parts commercial-grade van and daily driver. Think configurable, like a Ford Transit Connect. Only smaller.

It's definitely user-friendly. For your viewing enjoyment across the jump, I give you a gallery of the Townpod showing off wide-opening cargo access and suicide doors. And who doesn't love suicide doors? 

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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Electric Vehicles,Nissan,Tokyo Motor Show,Wagons

Can't say we've been dreaming of an all-electric Honda roadster, but EVs are in fashion right now, at least on the concept car circuit, and so the company unveiled the EV-ster in Tokyo. At first, it seems like a far-fetched little thing -- an EV roadster that uses carbon materials to keep weight down and improve range (100 miles claimed) and performance (0-60 in a claimed 5.0 seconds).

But during his roundtable discussion with North American journalists today, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito said that Honda is looking to put a little more fun in its lineup, but with an eye toward the environment, and so a car like the EV-ster is a possibility for production. "Maybe it's an idea that we do a very small pure EV sports car," he said.

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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Convertibles,Electric Vehicles,Honda,Tokyo Motor Show

Nissan's sprawling booth here in Tokyo saw the debut of its Pivo 3 concept car, a hilariously small EV that actually makes a lot of sense. Could this be the spiritual embodiment of the production small urban EV about which Nissan has said will be its fourth EV (following Leaf, Infiniti EV and NV200 EV)?

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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Electric Vehicles,Nissan,Tokyo Motor Show

On May 12th, a Chevy Volt was crash tested. Three weeks later, it caught fire while parked at the testing center. That is, to put it lightly, unusual. NHTSA thought it was a little off, too and decided to do some further testing on the Volt's lithium-ion battery packs. NHTSA performed three tests last week on Volt battery packs and managed to cause two fires. The fires occur when both the battery and the coolant lines are compromised and then left for "a significant amount of time."  

The good news here is that neither GM nor the U.S. regulator have found any real-world examples of crash-caused fire. The bad news is that GM is now on the defensive.

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Categories: Chevrolet,Electric Vehicles,Hybrids