Electric Car Blogging

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors

It looks like the wait might soon be over for aspiring Tesla Roadster owners as the company has just announced that it has completed validation of the upgraded drivetrain 1.5. Tesla has so far delivered 27 cars to customers with the interim drivetrain and another 23 cars are in progress. According to Tesla SVP Darryl Siry, 11 more cars will have the interim drivetrains installed for initial delivery. From that point on, within the next 2-3 weeks, the company will start installing the new drivetrains - including the upgraded motor, power electronics and single speed gearbox. For production, veteran transmission manufacturer BorgWarner will build the gearboxes for Tesla. Over the last several months, Tesla has been testing cars with the same transmission design manufactured both by BorgWarner and in-house at Tesla but ultimately chose BorgWarner.

Now that the powertrain is ready, Tesla will ramp production starts from four cars per week to ten per week. By next March, Tesla hopes to be up to 40 cars per week. The upgrades mean the Roadster’s motor now goes from 211 to 280 lb-ft of torque, while the range also increases by ten percent to 244 miles. Over the coming months, the 38 cars that are delivered with interim powertrains will also be retrofitted with the new hardware. Sounds like it’s time for another Tesla Roadster drive.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

Continue reading Tesla finishes development of new drivetrain, ready to start building real cars

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Fisker

Fisker Automotive has been quiet for the past two months since the announcement that the cars would be built in Finland by Valmet. As we know, mass producing cars is an enormously expensive proposition which means any company that wants to get into the business has to raise some serious cash. With that in mind Fisker has just completed its third major fundraising round. The biggest chunk of the new million investment is coming from the Qatar Investment Authority with extra funds coming from Kleiner Perkins and Palo Alto Investors. Fisker is still hoping to launch production of the Karma plug-in hybrid sports car in the fourth quarter of 2009. This marks the latest investment in green technologies by Middle Eastern investors. The conspiracy theorists will of course think these investors are just trying bury the technology - especially if Fisker fails to thrive (something that is likely regardless of who puts up the money). The more realistic analysis is simply diversification with the realization that getting rich from oil will eventually become impossible. The Fisker press release is after the jump.

[Source: Fisker]

Continue reading Fisker closes million series funding round

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, On Two Wheels, European Union, Germany, USA

There used to be lots of motocross parks in Europe where you could ride your dirt bike around banked turns and over carefully crafted jumps to your heart’s content. In recent years, though,the issue of noise pollution has really taken the air out of the knobby-tire fun. With the advent of clean and quiet electric bikes like those from Quantya, those days may be coming back. Hans Eder, businessman and motocross trainer, thinks that “Quantya Parks” are about to become really popular and has plans to open somewhere between 50 and 70 of the tracks in Germany and Austria. That’s a lot of parks!

One of the first Quantya parks has already opened in the Bavarian town of Siegsdorf and because of the lack of noise, town officials allowed it to be built beside some tennis courts close to a residential area. Would-be riders don’t need to bring their own wheels to take on the challenging track. They can be rented onsite for €15 () per 15 minutes and if folks like them as much as we did when we took it for a test drive, you better bring some serious plastic. But you don’t have to go all the way to Europe to enjoy a Quantya. According to Quantya’s American website, the bikes are now shipping to the U.S. and Canada.

[Source: Spiegel Online]

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet

Click above for more high-res shots of the Chevy Volt

Oops. It seems that the General wasn’t quite ready to show the world its new Chevy Volt quite yet, and the pictures of the car with all the guys in the suits was nothing more than an accident. Maybe. Marty Padgett, editor of The Car Connection and the first person to notice the pics were up thinks that the Volt pics could have been GM playing a little game and teasing us with early shots. If true, that could help explain why the shots weren’t studio shots of the car only, but who knows? We’re not complaining, as it’s nice to get an early sneak peek at the car we are most looking forward to in the next few years. For what it’s worth, we expect to see the new Volt first hand when General Motors celebrates its first 100 years as an automaker later this month. You can bet we’ll get some proper shots with nobody in the way.

[Source: The Detroit News]

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Filed under: Concept Cars, Hybrids/Alternative, Euro, Green, Paris Motor Show, Nissan

October’s Paris Motor Show will be the stage for Nissan to unveil their new Nuvu concept, an electric 2+1 micro-car that would compete with the Toyota iQ if the automaker rolls it out. At less than ten feet long, the Nuvu will be about the same size as a smart fortwo, but powered solely by a battery. There are two main seats and an extra seat for a third passenger. According to Nissan, there is “sufficient space for a typical supermarket or shopping expedition”. Demonstrating Nissan’s commitment to EV technology, and their environmentally-conscience green side, the Nuvu’s all-glass roof is covered with solar panels placed in the pattern of leaves on a tree. The “trunk” of the tree is the conduit feeding the power to the battery. Nissan hasn’t released pictures of their newest EV, but we promise full details and a gallery when we see it in person next month.

[Source: Autocar]

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Euro, Green, Paris Motor Show, Volvo

Volvo’s presence at the Paris Motor Show next month will center around three new ultra-efficient diesel-powered models that maximize fuel efficiency and, in turn, reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The DRIVe C30, S40 and V50 models are all motivated by a 1.6-liter turbo-diesel inline-four mated to a five-speed manual transmission with longer gear ratios in 3rd, 4th and 5th to maximize efficiency. While that’s nothing new (the 1.6-liter has been around for some time), what’s unique is the attention to aerodynamics, most of which were originally previewed on the C30 ReCharge concept from the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show.

The trio of Volvos all benefit from a 10mm lower ride height, a covered radiator to reduce air turbulence, wind deflectors ahead of the front wheels and unique rollers wrapped in low rolling resistance Michelin tires. The S40 and V50 cribbed the T5’s front spoiler and the C30 gets a new rear bumper design, hatch-mounted spoiler and underbody trays.

All this adds up to 76 mpg in Europe’s combined cycle testing, and, perhaps just as important to customers abroad, emissions of less than 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

After the three models debut in Paris, production will begin in November and sales will start in Europe at the beginning of 2009. Best of all, the DRIVe equipment only commands a 150 to 450 euro premium over the standard 1.6-liter diesel model. Check out Volvo’s full press release below the fold.

[Source: Volvo]

Continue reading Paris Preview: Volvo ultra efficient diesel DRIVe trio

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Filed under: Car Buying, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Chevrolet, GM

Reaction to the production 2011 Chevy Volt and its aerodynamic design appears to be split, with the majority of folks favoring the more macho flanks of the Volt Concept. But the production Volt’s shape is a concession to function, being as aerodynamic as possible to improve the efficacy of the car’s regenerative braking system. While the shape of the car isn’t going to change, you will be able to order your Volt in colors other than Baby Blue hue it’s wearing in the leaked images from yesterday. Autoblog reader Jesse Shipe was kind enough to photoshop some quick color changes on the Volt, and we’ve decide to take ours in black.

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Chevrolet, GM

The hubbub from yesterday afternoon’s “leak” of images showing the production 2011 Chevy Volt has died down, and The Detroit News asked General Motors what we were all wondering: what the hell happened? Chevy PR dude Terry Rhadigan claims “human error” was behind the accidental release of production Volt images on GM’s own media website and one external media site. According to GM, the images were only published briefly before being removed from both sites. All it took were moments, however, for Marty Padgett to publish the pics on his website, thecarconnection.com. That’s where Autoblog first found them, though we were still able to download higher res versions from GM’s own media site by doing a simple search for ‘volt’. Padgett seems to think the accidental release of the pics was really an intentional move by GM to generate buzz for the car before its official debut early next week during the automaker’s centennial celebrations. Their release may have been intentional, or not. No one can know for sure and, quite honestly, we don’t really care.

[Source: The Detroit News]

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