Electric Car
Do Teslas Take Gas?
Believe it or not, there are people out there who are unfamiliar with Tesla Motors. There are people out there who have never heard of Elon Musk and his plan to take humans to space and put solar panels on the roof of every home. These people may ask questions that a lot of us may find kind of funny like, “do Teslas take gas?” Instead of making fun of these people, we are just going to answer their question clearly and concisely: ehh…sort of. There are no Teslas on the road today that run on gasoline. All Tesla models are all-electric vehicles (EVs) and not hybrid gas/electric cars. That being said, there are gases being used in Teslas such as the freon in the air conditioner. Several users on this form for Tesla owners complained that their insurance companies didn’...
Range Anxiety Dead? Electric Porsche Does 2148 Miles in 24 Hrs
Covering 2,128 miles in a day. That’s enough to carry a car about the distance from Los Angeles, California to Atlanta, Georgia in just twenty four hours. That’s impressive enough in any car, but there’s something extra special about this particular run, because it was done in a Porsche. An electric Porsche. That’s right, kids. Last week, at Italy’s Nardo test track, a pre-production prototype of the upcoming, hotly anticipated and all electric Porsche Taycan drove more than 2000 miles in just twenty-four hours. That’s an average speed of just under 90 MPH, and that includes charging time. (!) So, yeah– these guys were driving FAST, all day and all night. The test served to hype the Taycan, of course, but the first full year’s supply of the f...
Mercedes EQV Electric Van Debuts with 250 Mile Range
Electric trucks are the holy grail of the EV market. Typically replacing high-pollution diesel trucks that idle in heavily populated urban environments for hours and hours every day, their harmful diesel particulate emissions do more medical harm per vehicle than almost anything else out there. A close second, though, may be commercial delivery vans like the ones employed by companies like Amazon to deliver packages. If we could convert those vehicles to electric power, we’d be able to massively reduce the amount of carbon emissions in major cities– which is precisely why Mercedes’ new Concept EQV electric van is such a big deal. And it is a big deal. The Mercedes EQV offers up nearly 250 miles on each charge, with an extra 60 miles available for every 15 minutes of fast-...
Faraday: Will the Company Survive to See the Future?
Faraday Future, Inc. is an interesting company to say the least. We’ve touched on the company’s past troubles here, and posted one of its most spectacular and most public failures here. Despite all the turmoil, Faraday is still in business as of the date of this writing. Will the company be able to hang on long enough to bring a car to market? As it always is, the future is uncertain at this time. According to the company’s website, “Faraday Future (FF) is a California-based global shared intelligent mobility ecosystem company focusing on building the next generation of intelligent mobility ecosystems. Established in May 2014, the company is headquartered in Los Angeles with R&D Center and Futurist Testing Lab, and offices in Silicon Valley, Beijing, Shanghai, a...
Clean-Vehicle Sales May Be Headed for a Slump in China
It may surprise our readers to learn that China, the undisputed heavyweight champion of pollution is also leading the world in sales of all-electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). China reported sales of 1.26 million EVs and PHEVs last year, up 61.7 per cent from 2017. This is in comparison to sales of 360,000 in the U.S. and 408,000 for the E.U. During the same time frame. While the fact remains that China simply has a huge population, and therefore a huge market, the Chinese government’s efforts to put more clean-technology vehicles on the road are respectable. Beijing has offered several subsidies to new car buyers who purchase “new-energy vehicles (NEVs),” what we here in the U.S. call EVs and PHEVs. These programs were scaled back in June however, ...
JD Power Finds Americans Lack Confidence in EVs and Autonomous Vehicles
In a recent press release, J.D. Power (I guess he ditched his associates) revealed that consumers in the United States are not so sure about the future of self-driving vehicles or all-electric vehicles (EVs). According to the J.D. Power 2019 Mobility Confidence Index Study, only 36% of consumers think autonomous vehicle technology will be viable. That number is higher for EV technology at 55%. When considering self-driving vehicles, the survey noted that 39% of respondents weren’t excited at all for autonomous vehicle technology. This includes the possibility of autonomous vehicles in public transport, taxis and ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, and various delivery services as well as personally owned vehicles. The majority of concerns stem from worries about technology f...
Installing a Fast Charger: Is It Worth It?
My mom made fun of me the last time she came to visit. The topic of conversation wasn’t my unfashionable clothes or my bad haircut but rather the charger that I use to charge my all-electric (EV) Nissan Leaf. You see, my mother is also a Leaf owner and unlike her plebeian son, has a fast-charging system installed in her garage. I hadn’t really ever considered installing a fast-charger. When my car gets low on juice I just plug it in and let it sit overnight. Turns out that this practice is really bad for the battery (as we mentioned here). “What are you going to do if there’s an emergency and you don’t have enough charge?” She asked. “Well, I’ll take my wife’s car,” I replied calmly. “What if she’s out of town?”...
Lucid Motors: A Company Profile
Lucid Motors (formerly known as Atieva Motors) made headlines earlier this month when it landed Peter Hochholdinger as its new Vice President of Manufacturing. Hochholdinger previously held the position of Tesla’s Head of Production. This isn’t the first time Lucid Motors has taken talent from Elon Musk’s behemoth of an automaker. In April of 2019, Lucid announced that it had appointed former Chief Engineer of the Model S Peter Rawlinson to its CEO position. Hochholdinger’s hiring serves to solidify the rumor that Lucid is indeed ready to begin production on its much anticipated line of all-electric vehicles (EVs). These staffing moves come on the heels of an announced $1 billion investment for the construction of a manufacturing facility in Arizona from the Public ...
Five Fantastic Failures Featuring Electric Cars
Like most Americans, I goof off at work. I’m fortunate in that the company I work for doesn’t block Youtube, and I take advantage of this generosity. During a recent youtube binge, I thought it would be a good idea to see what kind of electric car mishaps I could find. I found five gems that I think you will enjoy. Little Boy Pushing a Nissan Leaf Okay so hes got a little help from Dad, but this little guy is super strong! I hope I can count on my kids to help me push if I ever run out of juice… 2. Richard Hammond Crashes $1 Million Rimac Concept Car In a crash he later described as “like being in a tumble dryer full of bricks going down a hill,” The Grand Tour star Richard Hammond utterly destroyed Rimac’s Concept One in 2017. Luckily, he only suffered a min...
The Truth About EV and PHEV Batteries
Aside from concerns about range, consumer worries regarding battery replacement seem to be the largest hindrance in keeping people from buying all-electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). While it can be expensive to replace the large litium-ion batteries in EVs and PHEVs (current estimates range from $1000 to $6000 depending on make, model, and year of the vehicle), the need to do so is fairly rare. Here we take a look at some of the myths surrounding the batteries in EVs and PHEVs and what the future holds for EV and PHEV vehicle technology. Myth: Manufacturers Make Money from Battery Failures Car manufacturers don’t want their batteries to fail. Put simply, it is better for a car company’s bottom line if their product lasts longer. Think of it this way: wo...
BMW Doubles Battery Production in Spartansburg Factory
In an announcement first reported by greencarreports.com, BMW stated last week that it plans on doubling it’s battery production in the U.S. The move comes as the German automaker prepares to produce two new plug-in hybrids at its Spartansburg, South Carolina location. As we noted previously, BMW plans to introduce around 25 new plug-in vehicles, including 13 all-electric (EV) cars by the year 2025. BMW has not been without its share of turmoil this year. Prior the resignation former Chief Executive Harald Krüger, the company had been widely criticized by prominent environmental groups for its lack of EV offerings. The controversy surrounding BMW came to an apex in June when BMW’s Director of Development, Klaus Frölich told a panel of interviewers that the company hasn’t seen a...
Can a Gas-Powered or Hybrid Car Be Jumpstarted With an EV?
We recently asked if it were possible to jumpstart an all-electric vehicle (EV) with a gas-powered or hybrid vehicle. The answer was a resounding…sort of. As we noted, a gas-powered or hybrid vehicle can be used to jumpstart the smaller 12-volt battery in the EV that powers the electronic features in the car, but would not be able to jumpstart the larger battery that is used to make the car go. Now we reverse the scenario and imagine that my wife’s car has a dead battery. I pull up to the scene in my EV, jumper cables in hand and prepare to save the day. Will I be able to restart her battery using my little car? Answer to this question is a resounding…no way! At least not without risking serious damage do my car. While the 12-volt battery found in EV’s is similar to...
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