Author: Green Car Online News

Pickup drivers target Tesla Superchargers in “ICEing” incidents

Dodge flatbed blocking a Tesla Supercharger in Tennessee, fake charging [CREDIT: freckletan, Reddit]
People are jealous of things they can't (or don't) have.

In a spate of incidents reminiscent of “rolling coal,” truck drivers have begun seemingly intentionally blocking whole banks of Tesla Superchargers across parts of the South.

Trucks blocking Tesla Supercharing station at Sheets in Hickory, N.C. [CREDIT: Leicina, Reddit]

Photos shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit over the weekend showed all kinds of trucks blocking Superchargers, from small pickups to big semis. Some have termed it ICEing—a reference to the internal combustion engines under the hoods of the offending trucks.

The incidents occurred in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, and even overseas.

In two cases, whole rows of trucks either pulled across whole rows of Superchargers or backed in to block several at a time.

READ THIS: 'Rolling Coal' Fine Would Be $5,000 Under Proposed Illinois Law

In two more cases, semi-trucks pulled across rows of Superchargers, blocking them, when other parking was available.

Another time a full-size quad-cab pickup with a fifth-wheel horse trailer did the same.

One flat-bed pickup driver backed into a Supercharger spot and draped the cable onto his pickup bed so it would look like he was charging.

Trucks block Tesla Superchargers in at Hampton Inn, El Paso, Texas [CREDIT: RedfieldStandard, Reddit

So many incidents in a short period of time make it look like an organized campaign, though it's not yet clear who might be behind it.

In the North Carolina case, the pickup drivers reportedly began yelling obscenities about Tesla. Tesla driver and Reddit user Leicina contacted a Sheetz employee, who got the drivers to move the trucks. “Who do you report activity like this to?” Leicina wrote. “It was really uncomfortable.”

In an incident in El Paso, Texas, police were called.

CHECK OUT: What does a “green car” mean to you? Twitter poll results

Many cities have passed laws restricting parking at electric-car chargers, including Tesla Superchargers, to electric cars, or even to electric cars that are actively charging.

The incidents seem to reveal a growing hostility toward electric cars, or at least Teslas, as Tesla moves into more markets across the country.

President Trump has taken issue with electric cars from General Motors after the company laid off 15,000 workers and announced the closing of five factories, including the one that makes the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid. “All-electric is not going to work,” he tweeted.

DON'T MISS: Plug-in hybrids to charge again in Beverly Hills

And he has promised his constituents that he will save the coal industry, which has not recovered, even as electric-car sales have expanded.

It's also possible that Teslas are being targeted specifically because they are expensive luxury cars and qualify for a large federal tax credit. That credit is shrinking by half for buyers who take delivery after Monday, however. Tesla owns its Superchargers. They are not a government endeavor.

Porsche Taycan sold out for a year—to mostly Tesla drivers

Porsche Mission E concept electric car
As much as they evangelize Tesla, it turns out Tesla owners may be looking for an upgrade.

Klaus Zellmer, Porsche's president and CEO for North America, disclosed in an interview that the company's upcoming 2020 Taycan electric sports car could be sold out for a year with pre-orders from customers who have put down $2,500 deposits.

Then he added that most of the pre-orders are from Tesla owners.

READ MORE: Porsche adds wagon to upcoming Taycan electric lineup

Teslas are fast, silent, and sporty, but they've gotten a reputation for having interiors that don't live up to the plush quality of other luxury cars.

Not so Porsches, which have impeccably finished interiors with individually customizable option upgrades, such as suede headliners and custom-colored dashboard pads.

Porsche has also endowed the Taycan—formerly known as the Mission-e, after the concept car that previewed it—with the world's first mass-production 800-volt battery pack, which will allow it to charge more than twice as fast as a Tesla at a Supercharger—adding about 240 miles in less than 15 minutes.

CHECK OUT: Porsche Taycan specs trickle out ahead of debut next year

Porsche has not released either production estimates or the number of deposits it has on the Taycan, but earlier this year it estimated it would sell 20,000 of them worldwide without giving a time frame. That many per year would be near record-volume for any Porsche model.

Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo concept

The company plans two models, the Taycan sedan and the Taycan Cross Turismo, sort of an elongated hatchback similar to the gas-powered Porsche Panamera, which may have a taller ride height, and which may follow a year or two later.

Porsche announced last spring that demand for the Taycan was so strong that it would increase its production plans.

DON'T MISS: Would a Porsche Taycan Turbo confuse the Mission for sports-car brand's electric car?

In a recent letter to The Drive, Porsche hinted that the Taycan will have three basic trim lines: a base model, 4S, and Turbo, with prices ranging from just over $90,000 to well over $130,000. (Remember all those custom options?)

Porsche has said that the Taycan will have “up to” 600 horsepower and 300 miles of range. That will probably be the Taycan “Turbo” trim line, though as we've said, we can't figure out what a turbo has to do with it.

Tesla Model 3 now in the running for IIHS Top Safety Pick+

2018 Tesla Model 3 Long-Range RWD
Most cars these days perform really well on crash tests.

Where they fall down in ratings from the IIHS is usually in either headlight performance or underperforming active safety features.

The IIHS confirmed on Wednesday via Twitter that updated headlights on the Tesla Model 3 received the Institute's highest “Good” rating, as first reported last week on TorqueNews.

The car's active safety systems—the adaptive cruise control and active lane control included with Autopilot—also received the Institute's top Superior rating for such systems.

That means the two primary obstacles to the car becoming an IIHS Top Safety Pick have been met.

The IIHS has still not crash-tested the Model 3, so it has not yet earned the Top Safety Pick+ rating. If the car were to receive a lower rating in one of the IIHS crash tests: moderate- and small-overlap front tests, a side test, or a roof-strength test, or measurements of its head restraints, it would jeopardize the Top Safety Pick+ rating, which the Institute gives only to cars that perform well in all its tests.

DON'T MISS: IIHS: Self-driving systems aren't that, and aren't ready for prime time

When the IIHS first tested the Model 3's headlights back in May, its headlights earned only an Acceptable rating—not high enough to win the Model 3 a Top Safety Pick+. (No Tesla has yet earned a Top Safety Pick+ designation. The Model S scored the second-highest “Acceptable” rating on the Institute's difficult small-overlap front crash test, and its headlights were rated Poor—the lowest rating. The Model X has not been rated.)

Since then, Tesla has improved the Model 3's headlights to reach farther down the road and produce less glare, both of which improved their rating.

The new rating applies to Model 3s made since June. So far, Tesla hasn't found a way to give the car new headlight reflectors via an over-the-air software update.

Would a Porsche Taycan Turbo confuse the Mission for sports-car brand’s electric car?

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Porsche Taycan production
The Porsche Taycan—since way back in its early 2015 Mission E Concept days—has been discussed by Porsche in two distinct ways.

On one hand it’s a Tesla rival, capable of meeting higher standards of performance than the Model S or Model 3. And on the other hand it’s at the lead of a big part of Porsche’s future, as it sees all (or nearly all) of its cars eventually becoming electric.

At the center of Porsche’s intent to one-up Tesla—outside of the Nürburgring bragging rights that might not matter to many Tesla fans—has been its 800-volt electrical architecture, and the faster 350-kw CCS-format charging that it allows without added bulk. Porsche Turbo Charging, as it’s been called along the way, allows an 80-percent charge in as little as 15 minutes, and the capability will be included in all Taycan production models.

DON’T MISS: Porsche Mission E to be called Porsche Taycan

Up until now Turbo Charging seemed like a healthy jab at Tesla and its Supercharger network, and a term that would be smart to place all over charging hardware and marketing materials while the advantage is theirs. However, it may never become a true shot at the bow.

Porsche is big on heritage and continuity, and a hint on model positioning for the production 2020 Porsche Taycan suggests that on the way to the future, the sports-car maker may not be willing to give up all of its internal-combustion past—perhaps especially its “Turbo” badge.

In correspondence from a “Porsche Global Brand Ambassador” at the automaker, The Drive’s Alex Roy was informed of initial pricing from the low $90,000 range up to over $130,000 (in line with what has previously been said). But what accompanied that was that there will be three models, Taycan, Taycan 4S, and Taycan Turbo.

Although this is a single correspondence, and the person who wrote the e-mail might have accidentally included Taycan Turbo—a “legacy automaker” stumble like the oil-change notices that were widespread for early Nissan Leaf owners—it’s crafted in a way that doesn’t leave a lot of room for that confusion.

CHECK OUT: Audi e-tron GT electric sports car is its take on Porsche Taycan

Porsche executives have said previously that the Taycan (Mission E) would borrow some pieces of existing Porsche model nomenclature. However, the term Turbo was not one we expected to see. When contacted by our colleagues at Motor Authority, Porsche Cars North America confirmed that no official pricing or information has been announced.

Porsche Mission E concept, 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show

As of earlier in the year, Porsche said that it was still working on how to present its high-power charging technology for North America. With one each at its 189 U.S. dealerships, several at each of its Experience Centers (LA and Atlanta), and a few more 350-kw CCS stations through Electrify America and EVgo, it’s likely that there will be more than 200 stations capable of charging the Taycan at its peak rate around the time the vehicle is launched.

READ MORE: Porsche already has a prototype that will charge faster than its 350-kw Taycan

Porsche currently has a number of models that are turbocharged yet don’t bear the Turbo badge, so it’s already using the badge to denote top-performance versions rather than everything that uses exhaust-fed forced induction.

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Tesla Model 3 headlights, Porsche Taycan Turbo, expiring tax credits: Today’s Car News

Porsche may be planning electric “Turbos.” Expiring electric-car tax credits hit U.S. automakers and benefit imports in contrast to Trump policies. And our Twitter followers are not optimistic about climate talks. All this and more on Green Car Reports. After Tesla updated the headlights on the Model 3, the IIHS retested them and gave the new…

Chargepoint partners with Greenlots to expand access for drivers

2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid charging at ChargePoint station, Santa Cruz, California, Dec 2017
Forget five-minute fill-ups. What seems to drive many electric car drivers crazy is making sure the charger they find has the right connector, how fast the charger is (in kilowatts), and whether they have the right credentials to activate it.

Without a single one of these parameters, you may not be able to charge. (With most charging done at home or at work, however, most electric-car drivers rarely have to visit public charging stations.)

Now the largest charging network, ChargePoint, has announced a roaming partnership with Greenlots, another of the oldest charging networks in the U.S. to allow subscribers to each network use each other's chargers.

READ THIS: ChargePoint users can now access networks in Canada, Europe

Such agreements are accelerating, with ChargePoint also announcing agreements with EV Box in Europe and FLO in Canada in October.

Third-party software integrators such as Hubject are also working to help networks cross-connect, sharing charging locations and use data on each other's apps, for example, and enabling roaming payments.

Charging executives from several networks and other service providers have said they expect the industry to consolidate in coming years, with fewer, larger networks. That could help simplify matters for electric cars drivers.

DON'T MISS: ChargePoint commits to build charging stations for 2.5 million cars by 2025

ChargePoint made a commitment at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in September to build charging spaces for up to 2.5 million electric cars globally.

Like ChargePoint, Greenlots works to help businesses and individuals install new chargers. The company is working with Electrify America to build out its new nationwide network of DC fast chargers for non-Tesla electric cars.

To match the utility of gasoline, electric cars will have to not only be able to go 300 miles on a charge, but also to charge faster. Agreements such as this one are among the first steps to making that happen.

Tesla Model S catches fire—twice—after flat tire in California

2018 Tesla Model S
A week after reports surfaced that a 2014 fire in a Tesla Model S was caused by a bullet fired from inside the car, in the battery of another brand new Tesla Model S caught fire in California.

The owner told local news crews that he was driving on Highway 17, which runs from San Jose to Santa Cruz, California when the low tire pressure warning suddenly went off. He pulled off the highway and waited for a tow.

DON'T MISS: First Tesla Model S Fire Caused By Collision With Road Debris (2013)

After the car was towed to a tire repair shop in Los Gatos, the owner began hearing hissing sounds from the car and went to investigate. When he got to the car, he found flames lapping underneath.

Fire crews came and put out the fire and waited six hours before towing the car to another repair shop in Campbell, California, where it caught on fire again.

CHECK OUT: Director's Tesla Model S catches fire in L.A.

The owner took delivery of the car three months ago and said the car had only 1,200 miles on it.

Coming so quickly after a low tire-pressure warning, the incident sounds similar to some cases in 2013 after the Model S first went on sale where battery fires were caused by cars running over debris in the road.

READ MORE: Tesla Model S To Get Titanium Battery Shield, Plus Deflectors (2014)

Tesla issued two recalls after those events to slow the spread of fire in the battery pack and give drivers more warning to exit the car, and to add physical safeguards below the front of the battery pack to prevent road debris from puncturing the pack at a vulnerable point.

It's not clear whether the latest case had a similar cause.

Another Model S belonging to stage director Michael Morris caught fire suddenly while driving in Santa Monica in June. Tesla says it is investigating both of the latest incidents.

Tesla offers to cover remainder of full tax credit if it can’t deliver by year-end

2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD
Buyers interested in a Tesla have just one week to take delivery before the full federal tax credit gets cut in half—unless Tesla can't get the car delivered until the new year, that is. Then, Tesla says it will make up the difference.

There are some caveats, of course.

CHECK OUT: Tesla (again) says buyers must order today for full tax credit

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that if Tesla committed to make a delivery and a customer made “good faith efforts” to receive the car before the end of the year, Tesla will cover the difference between the new $3,750 half-credit and the full $7,500 credit for 2018.

Musk has twice set deadlines for customers to order new cars to receive the full tax credit, the latest one being the end of November. The latest tweet refers to cars ordered before that point, if Tesla can't deliver them by Dec. 31. He didn't specify what efforts might constitute “good faith” in Tesla's estimation.

Last week, Tesla released all the cars that customers couldn't receive by the end of the year for immediate delivery to new customers. Musk said he would return the deposits of those customers who ordered the cars and couldn't receive them. He also noted that display and test-drive Teslas are available for immediate delivery at discounts off the standard MSRP.

DON'T MISS: Tesla sells 200,000th car, starting phaseout of federal tax credits

The federal tax credits were structured so that after any automaker sells 200,000 plug-in cars, the credits start a wind-down period. At that point, buyers can continue to claim the full $7,500 credit for the remainder of that quarter and for the full quarter following. After that, the credits are cut in half for six months, in half again for another six months. After that, they are eliminated altogether.

Tesla's full-tax-credit marketing campaign covers deliveries until midnight New Year's Eve. The clock is ticking.

How Nissan hopes to market its future electric cars

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2018 Nissan Leaf
The Nissan Leaf with a roughly 60-kilowatt-hour battery was expected to make its public debut at the LA Auto Show earlier this month. It didn’t.

That car is expected to appear “very soon,” perhaps at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas next month.

DON'T MISS: Long-range Nissan Leaf missing from LA Auto Show

But we didn't arrive back entirely empty-handed on new insights about where the Leaf is headed. With that plus a fully electric compact crossover utility vehicle on the horizon—and more electric cars close behind it—we sat down with Dan Mohnke, Nissan’s senior vice president for sales and marketing, to find out what Nissan had learned about how to market plug-in vehicles, and how that might evolve once new products arrive.

We spoke with Chevrolet more than two years ago on the same topic. That brand’s answer at the time was that it would continue to look for Bolt EV and Volt buyers who were similar to those who had already bought its cars—hardly a recipe for growing volumes.

READ THIS: How GM plans to market Chevy Bolt EV electric car

Nissan’s Mohnke said the company had taken away several lessons from its seven-plus years of selling the Leaf in North America.

Range anxiety is real. A 74-mile range may suit Japanese or European drivers who travel shorter distances and have access to a comprehensive, reliable, safe, affordable network of mass transit options. It is not enough for U.S. drivers in dispersed suburbs, who probably need something like 200 miles or possibly a bit less.

The entire “customer journey” needs to be addressed. Not the routes driven, but the process of marketing to, educating, and partnering with buyers from their first Internet search through visits to the dealership, delivery of the car, education on how it works and how charging is done, and follow-up contacts. Nissan is now focusing heavily on the “customer journey” for all shoppers, but electric cars add several specific requirements that gasoline vehicles don’t, such as education about charging options.

2017 Nissan Leaf showing battery pack (Source: Nissan)

Different buyers want different vehicles. This should be obvious, but over the last seven years, the U.S. market has swung decisively away from passenger cars (sedans, hatchbacks) toward utility vehicles of all sizes. The Leaf, for all its advantages, is visually a compact five-door hatchback, and that segment is a non-starter for many buyers. Bring on the all-electric compact crossover with optional all-wheel drive!

Each market is different, and the pace of adoption varies a lot. California is known to be the nation’s friendliest market for electric cars. Marketing and dealer communications are very different there than in, say, the central states where trucks predominate and dealers may only have a single Leaf in stock—if that.

All that said, Mohnke expects the company to start to market the advantages of electric cars as cars more confidently than it has in the past.

ALSO SEE: Documents: 60-kwh Nissan Leaf pricing aligned with Chevy Bolt EV

Those include “taking the stress out of driving” through both electric cars’ quieter, smoother travel and power delivery and the company’s suite of active-safety systems that it calls “intelligent driving.”

Another is the pure “exhilaration” of driving an electric car. When pressed as to what exactly that meant, Mohnke noted drivers definitely see an electric car’s strong, smooth maximum torque from a standstill—and at legal speeds—as a benefit they enjoy. Which is to say, power. That can be stressed in ads, he suggested.

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Rivian fast charging, Volkswagen electrics, Trump vs GM: The Week in Reverse

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC
Which upcoming electric car has a battery pack engineered to be upgraded to 800 volts?

What company plans to do more serious marketing of electric cars' strengths?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending December 21, 2018.

This week contained a mix of news about upcoming faster electric-car charging and the effects of more automakers getting more serious about selling electric cars. The green car world was not without political and business setbacks, however.

EVgo 350-kw DC fast-charge station, Baker, Calif.

Two of the biggest charging networks in the U.S. announced plans and actions to open new ultra-fast 350-kilowatt DC fast chargers. Electrify America got plans approved in California to start the second phase of building out its nationwide fast charge network, as required under the Volkswagen legal settlement.

Competitor EVgo announced that it has opened its first ultra-fast 350-kilowatt charging station between LA and Las Vegas. Such 350-kw charging stations can refill up to about 200 miles of range in a long-range electric car in 20 minutes or less.

Rivian R1T electric pickup concept

The cars capable of charging that fast aren't yet on the market, but a wide-ranging interview with the founder and CEO of Michigan-based electric-car startup Rivian revealed that the company has engineered its upcoming trucks to be upgraded to the 800-volt battery pack that 350-kw charging will require.

2019 Nio ES6

Those new electric cars are coming, though. The first 800-volt electric cars, the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, and Aston Martin Rapide-E, are expected to arrive late next year.

Chinese electric startup Nio introduced its second, more affordable, electric SUV, the ES6 this week. It's not clear, however, whether it will have an 800-volt battery capable of charging at 350-kw.

Another Chinese automaker, Qiantu, announced plans to bring its new sports car to the U.S. through Mullen, the California company that holds the rights to sell Coda electric cars here.

2020 Volkswagen ID Neo spy shots

In all, electric-car sales have taken off, and hit a milestone, reaching 1 million sales in the U.S. in November, with half of those in California.

Nissan, the original electric-car leader, aims to get even more electric cars on the road by amping up its marketing of electric advantages: smooth, silent power and low operating costs. The company also renewed plans to introduce a new electric crossover SUV that may be more attractive to American car buyers.

Kia released prices for its upcoming Kona electric crossover vehicle. And VW released video of its upcoming ID hatchback testing in South Africa and hinted it might build a new electric beach buggy.

Donald Trump

Not all was rosy on the plug-in car sales front, though. After GM announced that it would kill the Chevy Volt, and lay off 15,000 workers, it announced 50 additional layoffs at the factory that builds battery packs for the Volt, throwing hope for a successor to the car into doubt. Still, GM maintains that it is committed to building electric cars. For that, President Trump took to Twitter to excoriate the company. “All-electric is not going to work,” he tweeted.

MWI microwave ignition module

Perhaps President Trump would be happier with a plan by former Porsche CEO to promote a new technology to make gas cars cleaner and almost as efficient as diesel, microwave ignition to replace spark plugs.

Meanwhile, German automakers are dramatically ramping up their purchases of battery supplies for electric cars.

And a new analysis of Trump's proposal to freeze fuel-economy increases by the Consumer Federation of America shows that rolling back the standards will make driving less affordable for the citizens who can least afford it and who depend on it the most.

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