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Honda pulls back Clarity PHEV outside California

As East Coast states try to catch California in plug-in car sales, they've lost another arrow in their quiver.

Honda switched from offering big incentives on Clarity Plug-In Hybrids in Northeastern States to shipping its entire U.S. allotment to California, according to a Honda spokeswoman.

“California is the largest market for plug-in hybrid vehicles. In order to meet customer demand, we are currently prioritizing supply of the Clarity Plug-in Hybrid in California, rather than allocating units for dealer inventory in other markets.” Honda spokeswoman Jessica Pawl told Green Car Reports in an email.

That poses a challenge—at least for now—for the nine Northeastern states that have signed on to follow California's emissions standards and plug-in vehicle mandate. Among those states are Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

While nearly 8 percent of cars sold last year in California were electric or plug-in, barely 1 percent of those sold in those Northeastern states were, and most of those were Teslas.

2018 Honda Clarity PHEV Plugged into L1 in Corte Madera, Calif.

Even with generous incentives, Honda was unable to move enough Clarity PHEVs in the Northeast to make it worthwhile to sell the cars there.

California's ability to set its own emissions standards, which those other states follow, is coming under attack from the EPA and the NHTSA under the Trump administration. A new proposed fuel-economy rule that could freeze fuel-efficiency standards through 2026 was sent to President Trump for review last week, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The new rule is expected to be released after Labor Day, and it's no longer clear whether it may retain some more-modest annual fuel economy increases. The new rule also proposes to rescind the right California has had since 1970 under the Clean Air Act to set its own standards that other states can follow.

If that EPA waiver gets pulled the number of EVs available in the Northeast may become a moot point, but California and 16 other states (plus Washington D.C.) have already launched a lawsuit against the proposal.

Inside EVs forum users tracked Clarity VIN numbers and first noticed no new VINs were showing up outside of California. When Honda first announced the Clarity, the company said the Plug-in Hybrid would be available nationwide, and it was in 2018.

Pawl says dealers in any state can still order a Clarity PHEV.

NHTSA to Tesla: Stop claiming your cars are the safest

Federal officials told Tesla again in October to stop advertising the Tesla Model 3 as the having “the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA,” federal documents revealed.

The notice surfaced Wednesday by nonprofit PlainSite. The response runs 79 pages, with another 450 withheld at Tesla's request.

In its letter, NHTSA Chief Counsel Jonathan Morrison called the statement “misleading” and said it forwarded the issue to the FTC's consumer protection bureau because it wasn't the first time Tesla violated NHTSA guidelines for advertising and communicating the results of NHTSA's tests. In 2013, NHTSA took issue with Tesla's advertising of safety scores for the Model S, saying the car had earned 5.4 stars on NHTSA's rating system. NHTSA does not award more than 5 stars.

NHTSA test of 2019 Tesla Model 3 AWD

In the letter, Morrison takes issue with four statements that Tesla made in a blog post last October announcing the Model 3's safety scores:

– “Model 3 achieves the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA”

– …”NHTSA's tests also show that it has the lowest probability of injury of all cars the safety agency has ever tested.”

– “The agency's data shows that vehicle occupants are less likely to get seriously hurt in these types of crashes when in a Model 3 than in any other car,” and,

– “But when a crash happens in real life, these test results show that if you are driving a Tesla, you have the best chance of avoiding serious injury.”

The issue is that NHTSA doesn't rank cars according to safety, and its front crash tests only compare cars of similar weight.

Tesla Model 3 NHTSA test

The agency has a five-star safety rating system, awarding more stars to cars that perform better in its battery of safety tests. The Model 3 earned five stars across the board, for having low risk of injuries to left- and right-seat front passengers in front crash tests, and left-side front and rear passengers in two left-side crash tests simulating being hit by another car and hitting a pole on the side of the road. The Model 3 also received five stars in NHTSA's dynamic rollover-propensity test. Last month, NHTSA finished testing the all-wheel-drive Model 3 Long Range Dual-Motor, which earned the same five stars across the board, earning the entire Model 3 lineup the same across-the-board five-star rating.

All of that puts it at the top of the top tier of NHTSA's safety ratings, but it doesn't guarantee the lowest overall risk of injury in a crash, because NHTSA doesn't rank those cars.

“This is not the first time that Tesla has disregarded the Guidelines…We have therefore also referred this matter to the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection to investigate whether these statements constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” the letter said.

The IIHS, which gives similar ratings on a slightly different set of crash tests, has not yet finished rating the Model 3.

In the letters, Tesla lawyers argued that it had independently calculated the risk of injury in federally tested vehicles with public data and determined that Tesla's claim that it had the lowest probability of any car on the road. Lawyers also argued that with more cars rated at five stars in federal crash tests, it would be important for manufacturers to distinguish between models.

“Tesla's statements are its own, are based on sound public data, and do not contravene NHTSA's guidelines.” Tesla Deputy Counsel Al Prescott wrote Oct. 31, 2018.

Green Car Reports reached out to Tesla for comment on this story, but did not receive a response before publication. The disputed blog entry remains on Tesla's website.

NHTSA vs Tesla, Honda Clarity PHEV, EV sales, electric conversions: Today’s Car News

The NHTSA sent Tesla another letter asking it stop using misleading safety claims for the Model 3. Honda focuses sales of the Clarity Plug-in Hybrid in California. New forecasts peg 2037 as the year EV sales will overtake gasoline worldwide. And readers are still in favor of electric-car conversions in our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

For the second time, the NHTSA told Tesla to stop making claims regarding its cars' performance in NHTSA crash tests, this time regarding the Model 3. Now the agency said it has forwarded its complaint to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Honda confirms that it is focusing new sales of its Clarity Plug-in Hybrid in California, because it says that's where the buyers are.

A new report from normally EV-optimistic Bloomberg NEF forecasts that electric car sales will surpass those of gas cars worldwide in 2037, but it will take many more years for them to become the majority of cars on the road.

In response to our Twitter poll last week, readers said EV conversions of older cars are still relevant today, even in the face of new long-range models that are available from many major automakers.

After announcing last week that new 2020 Kia Optima Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid will come standard with automatic emergency braking, the company recalled more than 11,000 2019 Optimas for a defect in the system.

Finally, add Bugatti to the ranks of boutique supercar-makers considering building an electric SUV. Out of four potential follow-ups to the Chiron, Automobile Magazine reports that the electric SUV is the leader.

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EV incentive credited for boosting Canadian sales by 30 percent (Updated)

Update: To clarify that the incentive is not a tax credit that requires filing federal taxes, and to correct Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau's first name.

After Canada introduced a nationwide $5,000 discount for electric cars, sales shot up by 30 percent, the country's Transport Ministry announced on Thursday.

The government announced the national incentive in March, after a provincial election in Ontario last July brought a Conservative government to power which had ended that province's $14,000 rebate for electric cars.

Since the new national incentive has been in effect, the government has issued 14,000 of the subsidies, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. Sales of plug-in cars in the country reached 3 percent in the second quarter, up from 2 percent last year.

The country has set a goal to reach 100 percent sales of electric vehicles by 2040, under the Paris Climate Accord, and is working with California to adopt that state's goals for clean air and clean fuels.

In a statement announcing the subsidies' effect, Garneau said that the 14,000 EV purchases—which include plug-in hybrids—will eliminate the emissions of 36,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year, or 429,000 tons over their expected lifetimes.

“Through these efforts, the Government of Canada is encouraging the use of zero-emission vehicles and making this clean technology more affordable to Canadians, while promoting a cleaner environment and better quality of life,” the Ministry said in a release. “Canadians’ quality of life—and Canada’s future growth—are deeply tied to the environment.”

Tesla brings back free Supercharging to juice high-end sales of Model S and Model X

Tesla announced Saturday it is bringing back free Supercharging on its high-end Model S and Model X.

We've heard that before.

What makes this time different is that the company isn't just offering the incentive on a few cars or in a limited amount. Instead, the company will offer free lifetime Supercharging to all buyers who purchase a Model S or Model X. It doesn't have to be a car in inventory, and no referral fee is needed. The only catch is that it only applies to the original owner of the car and isn't transferable when owners sell the car.

Free, lifetime Supercharging was originally included as standard equipment with every Tesla when charging was rare and buyers were skittish about charging.

Tesla began phasing out free Supercharging at the end of 2016 but has brought it back several times along the way for those with referral codes, as a sales incentive, on certain cars, and for limited amounts, such as 400 kilowatt-hours.

From the beginning, CEO Elon Musk said free Supercharging was designed to give Tesla drivers confidence to take their cars on road trips but was not meant to provide free power for everything a Tesla driver might want to do. In an earnings call last year in the midst of losses for the company, Musk said free Supercharging was “not really sustainable,” and said Tesla would end the practice. Still, it was revived a few times as limited offers on all of its models.

Tesla Supercharger station V3, Las Vegas

Last month, some owners on the Tesla Motors Club reported that the company was disabling free, unlimited Supercharging on early used cars that previously had lifetime free Supercharging, after Tesla bought them back to resell as certified used cars.

Now the free, unlimited Supercharging is designed to boost sales of Tesla's older and more expensive models, which have dropped in half as the Model 3 has ramped up to full production.

As the company struggles to generate steady profits even with full production of the Model 3, Tesla is counting on sales of its higher-profit Model S and X to get it there.

Green Car Reports reached out to Tesla for comment on this story, but did not hear back before publication.

VW ID R Nurburgring lap sets efficiency record too

As the Volkswagen ID R electric race car blistered around Germany's famous Nurburgring-Nordschliefe race course in June, it broke another record too: for the lowest fuel consumption driving around the course.

Volkswagen announced Friday that the ID R set a new fuel-efficiency record of the equivalent of 17 mpg on the lap. If that sounds like something you could pull off in a 1991 Ford Explorer, try it at full throttle while covering a 16.12-mile course in 6 minutes, 5.33 seconds at an average speed of more than 127 mph.

Charging the ID R's 43-kilowatt-hour battery pack using its exclusive glycerin-powered generators (that Volkswagen says non-toxic and “virtually” emissions free), VW says it used just 24.7 kwh of energy to complete the loop, the lowest of any car recorded.

Volkswagen ID R electric race car sets Nurburgring lap records

Volkswagen says that's about a quarter of the energy that a GT3 car would use. The fastest GT3 cars are more than a minute and a half slower around the track.

Before the run, ID R team members said they hoped to use the record lap to record all kinds of data from the car. Among the revelations is that the car generated 9.2 percent of the energy it used on the lap through regenerative braking.

On its way to the lap record, driver Romain Dumas loaded up to 3.49 Gs of lateral acceleration in cornering, at which point his neck had to hold up to 44 pounds of force from his head and helmet.

The ID R's top recorded speed 169.6 mph.

Making the point that electric cars can be both clean and fast seems worth that amount of energy.

Battery supply shortages may be linked to rising demand for nickel

As automakers fret over materials and supplies of electric car batteries, it may not be lithium keeping executives up at night.

A new report from Bloomberg reveals that prices for class one nickel—high purity and required in some electric car batteries—has jumped more than 35 percent since the end of 2018 on the London Metal Exchange.

As volume production of new EV models and plug-in hybrids expands—and Tesla works to bring its new Chinese factory online—supplies of high-quality nickel are getting tight, Peter Bradford, chief executive officer of Australian nickel producer Independence Group NL, told Bloomberg.

Nickel isn't a necessary ingredient in all electric-car batteries, but it is a key part of the compound that makes up most successful automotive lithium batteries. Auto- and battery-makers add compounds of nickel, manganese, cobalt to batteries to help stabilize battery cathodes, making the batteries last longer and be less susceptible to thermal runaway, which can lead to fires.

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structure

The amounts of those materials vary and is proprietary to each automaker and battery supplier, but most commercial battery chemists name nickel as a necessary component to build stable, long-lasting, and powerful lithium-ion batteries.

Such high-quality nickel is also a primary component in nickel-metal-hydride batteries still used in many hybrids. Nickel also remains in demand for other products, such as stainless steel.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that demand for nickel will multiply 16 times by 2030, and half of that is expected to go into batteries.

“The dramatic price rise we’ve seen will pale into insignificance compared to the future,’’ Bradford told Bloomberg.

Experts in related fields have also expressed concern over supplies of cobalt, which some say is the most critical element in balancing power and stability in batteries. Cobalt historically has been mined mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it has been associated with child labor. Automakers have made strides to develop sources of socially responsible cobalt.

While some automakers have run into shortages of lithium batteries, and it's unclear whether sufficient supplies of lithium will come online in time to meet increasing demand by automakers, some lithium mining companies have expressed concern about short term price drops as new mines have come online before large numbers of EV arrive.

Since NMC makes up only a small portion of the components of lithium batteries and pales in comparison with lithium itself, battery prices could still come down, even as prices of these minority metals rises—up to a point. Sustained price hikes though could take a toll on the affordability of both batteries and electric cars.

BMW reveals steering wheel for self-driving iNext electric SUV

Once cars are able to drive themselves, drivers—er, occupants—shouldn't need steering wheels to control them.

Yet when BMW teased a new picture of its planned self-driving, electric iNext SUV last month, the photo showed nothing more than a steering wheel—which itself is not even round.

BMW says that in the iNext the driver is no longer required to take care of the task of driving but can still actively take command at any time. When drivers need to take over from the automated system, the off-center octagonal wheel will help drivers identify where it's pointed.

With the hub below center, it leaves more room for those in the driver's seat to slide in and out—and potentially to open a book or boot up a tablet in their laps. The company says the large opening at the top will also make it easier to see the gauges, although it's not really clear what they'll need to see when the car is driving itself.

BMW says the design was inspired by racing cars. It's flat at the top and bottom with curved hand rests at the sides. Fiber optics in the wheel will illuminate sections in different colors to indicate when the car can drive itself and when drivers need to retake the “wheel.”

BMW Vision iNext concept

The iNext is a large electric SUV that is scheduled to debut in 2022 as one of the most advanced cars in BMW's new round of 13 electric vehicles expected to debut by 2023. When it arrives it could be known as the i5 or the i7.

As BMW's first planned self-driving car, the company experimented with lounge seating and other new interior ideas for the iNext concept car.

BMW curved display in iNext SUV

Last month, the company teased pictures of the car's curved touch-screen display perching on the edge of the dashboard like the center screen of the Tesla Model 3.

It's designed to mimic the latest curved EV screens for more seamless entertainment while on the road. The touch screen will also monitor trip parameters and let drivers know when they need to take over and when they can let the car do the driving.
With all this new technology, the iNext may be on track to become BMW's first “ultimate riding machine.”

California sues Trump administration again over fuel economy fines

California launched another lawsuit against the Trump administration over fuel economy regulations Friday, this time over a federal decision to suspend planned increases in penalties for automakers who miss required targets.

In announcing the lawsuit, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra accused the Trump administration of trying to make fuel-economy standards “meaningless.”

California was joined by 12 other states in the latest lawsuit, according to a Reuters report. New York Attorney General Letitia James called the rule “another misguided and reckless attempt by the Trump Administration to roll back the clock on our clean air standards.”

NHTSA responded to Reuters that it is following the intent of the congressional mandate in freezing the fines.

In 2015, Congress required agencies across the government to re-examine civil fines and set them at the maximum feasible level in an effort to prevent companies from simply opting to pay fines as an alternative to meeting standards, as automakers have sometimes done.
In response, in 2016, under the Obama administration the NHTSA raised the fines from $5.50 to $14 per tenth of an mpg the automakers exceed the standards. (The fines are multiplied by the automaker's annual production of light vehicles that miss the standards.) Automakers say the increase could cost them up to $1 billion a year.

Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-buss

California has the right under existing law that comes from the Clean Air Act, to set tighter emissions standards than federal law requires, because its standards predated the Clean Air Act. As part of that effort, California requires major automakers to sell a certain portion of electric cars in the state as a condition to sell other cars.
Last August the NHTSA announced a joint decision with the EPA to freeze fuel economy standards—the numbers automakers have to hit to avoid the fines—at 2020 levels through 2026. The EPA could release its final plan after Labor Day.

Although the EPA's current proposal aims to freeze fuel economy standards at about 37 mpg, the final plan is expected to include small year-to-year increases through 2025.

California sued the EPA over the proposal to freeze fuel economy and emissions standards and was joined by 16 other states and Washington, D.C. The governors of 23 states—including several reliably Republican states—also wrote to the EPA to protest the freeze.

Under federal law, other states can choose to follow federal standards or stricter California rules, but they cannot set their own. Thirteen states and Washington, D.C. have opted to follow California emissions standards for gas cars, and nine of those have joined California's electric car requirement. These are among the states that have joined in the lawsuits.

As part of its effort to freeze the emissions and fuel economy standards, the Trump administration has also threatened to sue to overturn California's right to set any standards.

Tax credit credited for boosting Canadian EV sales by 30 percent

After Canada introduced a nationwide $5,000 tax credit for electric cars, sales shot up by 30 percent, the country's Transport Ministry announced on Thursday.

The government announced the tax credit in March, after a new provincial election in Ontario last July brought a Conservative government to power which ended that province's $14,000 tax credit for electric cars.

Since the new national tax credit has been in effect, the government has issued 14,000 of the tax credits, about a 17 percent increase over the quarter a year ago. Transport Minister Art Garneau reported that sales of plug-in cars in the country reached 3 percent in the second quarter, up from 2 percent last year.