Aimed to provide smooth commute to the fashionable women living in a pedestrian city of the future, Constantine Taranova has come up with spectacular AudiE / 0 inter-modal. This futuristic concept of Audi is developed by the students of Stroganov...
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found 10 days ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
French automaker Peugeot-Citroen is going nuts for electric vehicles, but rather than building them it will slap its logo on boatloads of Mitsubishis. The Japanese company has agreed to build 100,000 i-MiEV electric cars for the French company...
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found 10 days ago by Tony Borroz on
Autopia
We won’t see electric cars racing through the streets of Paris in June. They’ll be racing through the streets of Barcelona in October instead. The EMXGP pulled the plug, if you’ll pardon the pun, on racing in the City of Light and pushed back...
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The United Kingdom will become the third global manufacturing location for Nissan's new dedicated electric vehicle, the Leaf, the automaker has announced. Production of the Nissan Leaf will begin in Oppama, Japan later this year followed by Smyrna,...
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GM is currently working on a new hydrogen fuel cell system that could be slotted into the same space as a four-cylinder engine. The system is said to be half the size of and 220 lbs. lighter than the system used for its Project Driveway Chevy...
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Nissan has had a $25k target pricetag on its forthcoming Leaf EV for some time now, as it’s built hype towards the car’s commercial rollout later this year. That price will be crucial in taking on GM’s Volt EREV, which is said to retail...
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found 3 days ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
One of the big hurdles to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles is the time it takes to charge the battery. So-called “quick chargers” that can get you going in as little as 20 minutes are the best solution to that problem, and Japanese...
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The electric car future is far from here, but that hasn’t stopped many from planning for it and producing enabling technology. Solving the problems of convenient recharging will be central to bringing acceptance to electric cars. EVs will need...
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In a study for the Danish Petroleum Industry Association, consulting firm Ea Energy Analyses concludes that electric vehicles (EVs) will not significantly improve the EU’s carbon footprint over the next 15 years. According to Globe-net.com’s...
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Wonder how a formerly little known company called BYD can turn into a major player in the auto business and turn a record profit? Here is one of the reasons: BYD “has scrapped its highly publicized plan to mass-produce pure electric cars on the...
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found 7 days ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
The man who jump-started electric motorcycle racing believes a new form of motorsport requires a new form of governance, so he’s created a cooperative where teams racing in the TTXGP help make the rules, settle the disputes and share in the...
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found 4 days ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
Tesla Motors won’t kill the Roadster next year as expected, and in fact is poised to start cranking out a lot more of them while Tesla expands its market to include Asia and Australia. The nugget of news comes from this month’s issue of the...
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Chinese battery maker and aspiring automaker BYD earned $215m in the fourth quarter of 2009, bringing its net profit for last year to $555.2m, reports Automotive News [sub]. BYD’s performance outstripped analyst estimates, which projected fourth...
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The former GM-Toyota joint-venture known as New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI) in Fremont, CA is a big plant. Its nearly 5,000 employees can churn out over 400,000 compact cars and pickups in a year when operating at full capacity, which...
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In typical Carlos Ghosn style, the father of the Nissan EV throws down the gauntlet. gm-volt.com quotes him from a talk with reporters: “Frankly, I mean so far there is no competition. Let’s be serious. It’s not because someone is coming with...
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Financial Times calls “Volkswagen a long-time sceptic about hybrid and electric cars.” However, the pink sheet announces that Wolfsburg “has officially shifted gears.” That VW had been a sceptic is an understatement. Despite green...
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found 8 days ago by Tony Borroz on
Autopia
A mere 10 years from now Audi expects 5 percent of its sales will be electric vehicles. That’s not the wishful thinking of tree-huggers or even the fanciful projection of some think-tank. It is the bold prediction of Michael Dick, Audi’s...
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found 10 days ago by Dave Eyvazzadeh on
Autopia
We are in the midst of an electric motorcycle revolution, and nowhere is that more obvious than on the racetrack. The new technology is not about tweaking the status quo. It’s about shattering it. And that’s just what Michael Czysz plans to do...
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Just what Toyota needed: a Prius that took off on its own, hit speeds up to 94 mph (I didn’t think they went that fast), and took a San Diego man for a harrowing 30-mile ride. It’s all over the news today because, in part, Toyota just finished...
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By the end of the year, Nissan will, a bit belatedly, introduce their total plug-in, not range extended, all electric Leaf. They will also open a huge data center. According to The Nikkei [sub], the location and other stats of the data center are...
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With the Chinese planning an electrical assault on Europe, with Nissan preparing their Leaf and with Renault charging-up Zoe, Peugeot-Citroen (PSA) is probably feeling a little exposed right now. Bad enough PSA failed to work out an agreement with...
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found 12 days ago by Sam Abuelsamid on
Autoblog
Apparently, we we missed at least one interesting machine from the recently concluded press days at the Geneva Motor Show. Kia showed off a battery electric version of its new Venga B-segment hatchback. Like the rest of Kia and Hyundai's hybrids and...
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found 11 days ago by Tony Borroz on
Autopia
The postal service likes the Bright Idea and wonders if it would make a good delivery truck. The U.S. Postal Service has invited Bright Automotive to put an electric drivetrain in a standard-issue mail truck. Once the truck is ready to roll, the...
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A couple of weeks ago, TTAC reported how Dieter Zetsche was re-elected as CEO of Daimler for another 3 years. In that article we mentioned the many challenges that face him. Mainly, how to make Daimler sustainably profitable. Size matters in the...
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It really all comes down to simple arithmetic. Audi wants to add another subcompact model to its range. It already has the A1 supermini and the A3 compact hatch, so if you subtract 1 from 3, you get 2. Add an 'A' up front and voila; you have the...
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Even since Landwind crash test, and the Brilliance crash test, the reputation of Chinese cars in Europe has been a little, shall we say, challenging. Watching the bonnet of a car crumble like Professor Gilbert’s theory on Toyota’s UA tofu does...
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found 12 days ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
Ford’s first mass-market electric vehicle isn’t a sexy sports car. It isn’t a sleek sedan. And it isn’t cool compact. It’s a van. A delivery van, to be exact, designed specifically for fleet use. It isn’t the sexiest way to break into...
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There are so many hybrids and electrics at the Geneva International Motor Show (officially opening tomorrow) that we can’t begin to cover them all. So here’s a selection. Typical of the pizzazz at Geneva is the Citroen Survolt all-electric...
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The first Opel concept based on GM’s Volt extended-range electric platform was the Ampera, a cheap rebadge that made onlookers exclaim “lands alive, that’s a cheap rebadge!” Since the Ampera debuted, a river of bad blood has flowed under the...
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Remember my whole rant the other day about hybrids and how the price premium just isn’t worth it? Yeah. Nevermind. Turns out hybrids do have a place… just not in your average everyday family hauler. I stand by my position that a $27,000 hybrid...
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