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UPDATE 2-VW and Ford close to deal on self-driving and electric cars – VW

HAMBURG (Reuters) – Volkswagen and Ford are close to reaching a deal on a partnership for developing self-driving and electric cars, the German carmaker’s chief executive said on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: The logo of Volkswagen carmaker is seen at the entrance of a showroom in Nice, France, April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo Volkswagen and… Continue reading UPDATE 2-VW and Ford close to deal on self-driving and electric cars – VW

New Alpine A110S: faster, more hardcore flagship revealed

Alpine says the new high-performance A110 S is a true “focused sports car” with a “very different character” from existing versions of the two-seater. The new range-topping variant of the mid-engined Alpine is built around a reworked version of the 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, with the turbo boost pressure increased by 0.4 bar. That means… Continue reading New Alpine A110S: faster, more hardcore flagship revealed

New Renault Zoe EV styling leaked ahead of official reveal

Part of this overhaul will include a revamped interior, which is expected to take inspiration from the new Clio. It will also offer sustainable materials. Van den Acker claims that such features “fit well with our philosophy that EVs should be more ecological.” The new Zoe is expected to use a bespoke EV platform shared across the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.… Continue reading New Renault Zoe EV styling leaked ahead of official reveal

Lead battery tech could make electric car charging cheaper

Could old-school lead batteries come back to life and speed-up the introduction of electric cars as part of a nationwide charger network? That’s the thinking in the US, where industry and government are teaming-up to explore if banks of high-capacity lead cells sited at conventional fuel stations could make life easier for EV owners. Tesla is… Continue reading Lead battery tech could make electric car charging cheaper

New Honda e: powertrain details of BMW i3 rival revealed

The firm believes the car’s retro design will give it an Apple-style appeal to customers.  It maintains the styling of the Urban EV, albeit with the addition of an extra set of doors. While Honda has yet to reveal full technical details of the car, its designers told Autocar at the Geneva show that it would… Continue reading New Honda e: powertrain details of BMW i3 rival revealed

Spring Labs Raises $23M in Series A Funding

Spring Labs, a Chicago, IL- and Los Angeles, CA-based developer of a blockchain-based platform to share information and data globally, raised $23m in Series A funding. The round was led by GreatPoint Ventures with participation from existing investors August Capital, as well as General Motors Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of General Motors, RRE… Continue reading Spring Labs Raises $23M in Series A Funding

Diesel claimants achieve important victory against VW

Schlappe for Volkswagen in the exhaust scandal: The group has to pay the driver of a Sharan 26,000 euros, decided judge in Koblenz. Thus, the legal risks for the company continue to grow. Julian Stratenschulte / DPA Logo sparkling, Image not: VW has to pay damages Wednesday, 12.06.2019 20:24 clock VW has suffered a painful… Continue reading Diesel claimants achieve important victory against VW

VW continues to Aurora with Ford

VW ends its collaboration with the US robot car company Aurora – and wants to cooperate with self-driving cars in the future with Ford. Even with a Swedish battery manufacturer, the German group enters. Hauke-Christian Dittrich / DPA Autonomous vehicle “Cedric” Wednesday, 12.06.2019 15:59 clock Autonomous driving is considered a key technology for the future… Continue reading VW continues to Aurora with Ford

ChargePoint and Electrify America simplify charging access with roaming agreement

While public charging sessions are few and far between for most electric car owners, who typically charge at home the vast majority of the time, they can present a disproportionately high level of frustration.

The mess of multiple apps, fobs, and RFID cards may soon be a thing of the past. So, too, will the late-night calls to tech support to process credit card numbers, or to enroll as members in a different network in order to just use one of its chargers once.

Electrify America DC fast chargers

Although some of the charging and utility sector wants to term this “interoperability,” the word “roaming” is appropriate because the users who most need to understand it—people new to electric cars—can think of it like cellphone coverage. Simply put, you use the app for the charging network you most use, and occasional sessions on other networks will just work—and be billed via your usual network.

The new partnership agreement was announced Tuesday, and should prove especially useful from a consumer standpoint as those using an existing account from one of the networks won’t incur additional fees on the other.

“This roaming agreement further accelerates the seamless integration of individual EV fueling networks and brings us even closer to the day when the movement of all goods and people will be powered by electricity,” said ChargePoint president and CEO Pasquale Romano. “Partnerships like this make transitioning to electric drive easier than continuing to use fossil fuels.”

2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid charging at ChargePoint station, Santa Cruz, California, Dec 2017

In all, there will be more than 30,000 individual charge points connected by the two networks, including Level 2 AC and DC fast charging (CCS or CHAdeMO). ChargePoint claims to be the largest electric vehicle charging network in the world, while Electrify America, created by the Volkswagen diesel emissions settlement, is committed to having 2,000 charge ports at 484 locations by July 1.

Both Electrify America and ChargePoint have already made such partnerships with Greenlots. Electrify America also has allied with EV Connect and SemaConnect, while ChargePoint has roaming agreements with EVBox and FLO.