BMW may be joining the ranks of automakers giving serious support to the electric vehicle cause. Those companies are currently Nissan/Renault and Tesla Motors, both of whom have a strong EV sales record and are working to develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure. GM is almost a serious electric vehicle maker,…
If Nissan develops a 180+ mile range Nissan Leaf & Infiniti EV, and GM develops a 200+ mile range electric car, and BMW continues pushing into the EV market, and VW follows through on plans to be a major force in the electric vehicle market, all of which is due…
Is it a mistake if Nissan waits until 2017 to unveil better battery pack for the Nissan Leaf? A month ago I covered some rumors suggesting the “Hot Battery” and other battery improvements were just around the corner for Nissan, and that the company might even do a mid-year upgrade…
Tesla Motors’s model for the Gigafactory is, as is usual for Tesla, unusual. The factory will be wholly owned by Tesla, but the plan is that it will be like an “industrial park under one roof” with several companies all performing their bits, but working together on the goal of…
Ahead of today’s earnings call for Tesla Motors, there’s some positively good news to report. The company has opened a few new stores, set up a new Supercharger station, and there may be a ray of light allowing Tesla to continue selling cars in New Jersey. According to NorthNewJersey.com, Assemblyman…
Time is ticking on the Tesla Gigafactory project, so let’s try to catch up with the latest on that project, and does the new facility in Lathrop CA play a role with the Gigafactory? The Gigafactory is an item Elon Musk began discussing publicly in the Fall of 2013 and…
GM’s announcement today that they’d opened a new “state-of-the-art” facility for designing engines and gearboxes for race vehicles might make you wonder why it’s being covered on Electric Race News. The reason why is this: “General Motors today began construction of a state-of-the-art facility for race engine design and development,…
Yesterday Daimler released information and new pictures of the MBZ B-Class Electric Drive. It’s due to go on sale in the U.S. this summer, no word on whether that will be limited just to California or not, and will go on sale in Europe sometime later. It’s due to have…
Tesla Motors is apparently setting up a small manufacturing facility, in California, that has little or nothing to do with the Gigafactory. The latter facility is meant to double the worlds production of lithium-ion batteries, requiring over 10 million square feet, a rail line, and space for a big solar…
Supposedly California is out of the running for the Tesla Gigafactory, but according to a Sacramento Bee article the state is working to get Tesla Motors to change their mind. Most of the article is spent on government subsidies trying to paint Elon Musk as being a Billionaire solely because…
It would be wonderful if there were one fast charging standard for electric cars. We’ve collectively gone through periods with dueling standards, and it was painful. But, the current environment has several fast charging standards (CHAdeMO, China, Combined Charging System, and Tesla) each of which are vying for dominance. Recently…
Tesla Motors is launching a new subsidiary, Tesla Finance LLC, to handle leasing Tesla’s electric cars to small and medium sized businesses. The new program is a separate focus from the pseudo-leasing financing that Tesla announced a year ago. That program, focused on individuals, gave a lease-like purchasing option for…
General Motors is reaffirming its investment in electrified vehicles, reaffirming there will be a 2nd Generation Volt (something which wasn’t always a given), hinting at future electrified cars from GM. On Wednesday, the company announced nearly $500 million in investments in new manufacturing equipment and processes to support building the…
Will Nissan launch, this year, a version of the Nissan Leaf that gives a 135 mile driving range? According to an article last week on TheStreet.com, that’s exactly what Nissan will do, by this fall. Unfortunately the article offers no solid proof, just a pile of weak guesswork. However, one…
Last week, Tesla Motors and New York State reached an agreement under which Tesla would be able to continue selling the Model S through the stores they currently operate in New York. Sigh of relief, yes? One state in which Tesla has won out over the Auto Dealers Associations? Not…
