the Nissan Leaf continues to roll forward with a record month of May 2014 with more than 3,100 sales and a cumulative 50,000 in the U.S. It’s not what they had hoped, but the trend is moving in the right direction. Some of the early
Nissan announced U.S. pricing for the 2011 Nissan LEAF electric car, which becomes available for purchase or lease at Nissan dealers in select markets in December and nationwide in 2011. Nissan will begin taking consumer reservations for the Nissan LEAF April 20. Including the $7,500 federal tax credit, the consumer’s after-tax net value of the vehicle will be $25,280. Additionally, there is an array of state and local incentives that may further defray the costs and increase the benefits of owning and charging. Nissan will also offer a monthly lease payment beginning at $349.
Ford outsold Toyota in February in the United States. Ford’s monthly sales were up 43 percent over February 2009, while Toyota sales dropped 9 percent. Ford’s growing success comes at a time when Toyota is recalling millions of vehicles, and suspending sales of key models, due to accelerator pedal problems. More customers now feel safer in a Ford, Mercury, or Lincoln than in a Toyota or Lexus. Toyota commands four of the top 10 positions of Clean Fleet’s 2010 Hybrids with Best Mileage, but Ford plans on changing that with new hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars.
Google finally won FERC approval to be an electric utility. Now that they are making billions delivering web ads, do they want to make added billions selling electricity? Quite possibly. The U.S. total grid load is about 417 GW. If all U.S. cars will converted to V2G plug-ins with an average of 15 kWh per vehicle, they would provide 2,865 GW. A U.S. fleet of electric vehicles could provide 7X entire electricity needed in U.S.
Nissan’s Tennessee assembly plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 Nissan LEAF electric cars per year, and 200,000 lithium-ion battery packs per year. Production starts in early 2013. The lithium packs could also be used in future Nissan hybrids. DOE Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the $1.4 billion loan agreement with Nissan North America.
100 Electric Cars will use V2G in 2010 – advancing smart grid charging and storage. The University of Delaware has signed the first license for its vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with AutoPort. The licensing agreement launches the first large-scale demonstration of the UD-developed V2G technology, which enables electric car owners to plug in their vehicles and send electricity back to electrical utilities. The system is designed to generate cash for the driver, while strengthening the nation’s power supply and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
The smart grid charging of electric cars with renewable energy advances. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the Electric Power Research Institute and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Friday announced that they will deploy solar charging stations for electric vehicles across the state of Tennessee as part of one of the largest electric transportation projects in U.S. history. The solar-assisted stations will complement the standard home, commercial, public and fast-charging infrastructure needed to support the Nissan LEAF and more electric vehicles.
President Obama announced this January 8 the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States. 183 electric car, smart grid, renewable energy projects in 43 states. “Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” said President Obama. “The Recovery Act awards I am announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security.”
A new National Academies report considers two vehicles. One, the PHEV-10, uses hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technology similar to that used in the Toyota Prius. However, it has a larger battery than an HEV to allow 10 miles of driving powered by electricity only and a gasoline engine that drives the wheels in parallel with the electric motor when power demand is high or the batteries are discharged. The other vehicle, the PHEV-40, is similar to the Chevrolet Volt. Thirteen to 40 million PHEV out of 300 million total vehicles are projected to be on the U.S. roads by 2030 under different scenarios.
Now you can hear John Addison’s presentation to the American Planning Association (APA). Planners, government leaders, and engaged citizens can create vibrant and sustainable communities with intermodal transportation that includes rail, bus rapid transit, last miles solutions to make transit accessible, car and bike sharing, electric and high mileage cars, smart growth that invites walking and easy access to merchants and services.