Electric Cars

5,000 Free Electric Car Charging Stations from California to New York

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Coulomb Technologies Smart-Charging for Ford Family of Electric Vehicles accelerates plug-in charging in nine U.S. cities. Ford is promoting smart charging as it now takes orders for the Ford Transit Connect, next year for the 2011 Ford Focus EV, and in 2012 the Ford Plug-in Hybrid. Ford is partnering with Coulomb Technologies to provide nearly 5,000 free wall-mounted charging stations for some of the automaker’s first electric car and electric delivery van customers.

Tesla Partners with Toyota and Panasonic

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Tesla is the first to put 1,000 electric cars on the U.S. highways. Tesla skillfully partners with Toyota, Panasonic, and Daimler in lithium battery and drive system technology. The Roadster is battery-electric with a 240 mile range. The new Model S sedan will have up to a 300 mile range, far beyond the Nissan Leaf 100 mile range the Chevy Volt 40-mile electric range, and current ambitions of other electric car makers. Tesla will start delivering the Model S in 2012 from its new factory. Tesla Motors has purchased the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, California, that once employed over 4,000 workers in a Toyota-General Motors JV plant. Toyota agreed to purchase $50 million of Tesla’s common stock.

Ford Focus Electric Challenges Nissan LEAF for Electric Car Leadership

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I enjoyed driving the new Ford Focus Electric. It felt just like driving a regular gasoline Focus 4-door sedan, except it was more quiet and accelerated faster due to the torque of the electric motor. The Ford Focus EV has a 23 kWh LG Chem Compact Power lithium-ion tri-metal battery with over 17 kWh available in the charge-discharge cycle. Ford is likely to match Nissan’s 100 range per electric charge. The Ford Focus Electric can now be ordered with a $39,200 starting price.

Nissan LEAF Electric Car will start at $32,780 including the Lithium Battery

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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’s U.S. Market Share Now Bigger than Toyota

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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.

Will Google Charge your Electric Cars?

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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 Tennessee Plant Capacity = 150,000 Electric Cars per Year

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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 Vehicle-to-Grid Electric Cars

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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.

Electric Car Solar Charging Stations by TVA and EPRI

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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.

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