Tag: FCA

Fiat Ducato Electric debuts in Europe, first electric commercial van from brand

In the U.S., pickups reign supreme for most work detail. Abroad? That duty often falls to slab-sided commercial vans like the Fiat Ducato. In the U.S. the Ducato is offered as the Ram ProMaster, but is largely identical.

Earlier this month, Fiat Professional rolled out its 2020 Ducato van with slight updates inside and out, but the brand offered for the first time an electric powertrain that could make it into wider production soon.

Fiat didn't offer many details about the electric powertrain such as range, power, wheels driven, or batteries, but the automaker said the vans would be available for pre-order soon and would be offered to select buyers first to test and study how owners will use the vans.

A spokesman for Ram didn't immediately comment on whether the vans would be offered in the U.S.

Although hardly sexy, electric commercial vans on the roads would reduce emissions significantly in dense cities. The vans are often used for myriad jobs and constantly run. Any emissions improvements in commercial vehicles can have wide-reaching impact in carbon reductions in cities all over the globe.

Although this is Fiat's first foray into electric vans, they're not alone. For instance, Mercedes-Benz has announced an electric version of its Sprinter van, the eSprinter; Ford has a range-extended version of its Transit Connect commercial van; and Nissan offers in the U.K an electric e-NV200.

That's a boon to businesses across Europe, who have significantly higher running costs for gasoline-powered vehicles than they would with electric vehicles. EVTrader found last year that light-commercial vehicles in Europe cost roughly 23-28 cents per mile to run versus 6-7 cents per mile for an electric van.

Maserati confirms UK prices for hardcore Levante GTS and Trofeo

Maserati has confirmed the new GTS and Trofeo variants of its Levante SUV will be coming to the UK, with prices starting from £104,900. Both models share a Ferrari-derived 3.8-litre V8 with the Quattroporte GTS performance saloon, in a state of tune that produces 542bhp in the GTS and 582bhp in the hardcore Trofeo.  The… Continue reading Maserati confirms UK prices for hardcore Levante GTS and Trofeo

Waymo launches test drive of self-driving Jaguar crossover on public roads

SAN FRANCISCO, June 17 (Xinhua) — Alphabet Inc's Waymo has begun testing of self-driving Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles on public roads in Silicon Valley, local media reported Monday.
With a safety driver behind the wheel, an autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicle was spotted running on public roads in Mountain View, California, where the headquarters of both Waymo and Google are located, and Waymo later confirmed the test driving to the Bay Area-based TechCrunch media outlet.
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned Google spin-off, signed a deal with Jaguar Land Rover, a manufacturer of high-performance luxury cars and off-road vehicles, in March 2018 to add 20,000 e-vehicles to its driverless fleet over the next two years.
It received the first three Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in July last year, and the cars have been running on the streets of the Bay Area under the control of human drivers.
Waymo's test of the Jaguar I-Pace is one of the latest steps to expand its existing fleet of self-driving..

Aston Martin Valhalla name announced for 003 Concept

Aston Martin has confirmed its new mid-engined hypercar will be called the Valhalla. Due to launch in 2021 the British brand’s rival for the McLaren Senna was first previewed as a concept at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. Aston Martin Valhalla production will be limited to 500 coupe examples, with each costing around £1 million.… Continue reading Aston Martin Valhalla name announced for 003 Concept

Fiat and Renault resume negotiations for the merger

As pointed out by an Italian economic newspaper, the top authorities of both automotive brands have resumed contacts on the merger. Undoubtedly, the merger between the Italian and French brands is being the summer soap opera in the automotive world. After Fiat’s tough statement announcing that it was withdrawing its merger offer with Renault for… Continue reading Fiat and Renault resume negotiations for the merger

Volkswagen-Ford to make electric and self driving cars together: VW

HAMBURG 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. Volkswagen and the No. 2 US automaker signed a deal in March to develop a pickup truck, and have been in talks about extending the alliance to include… Continue reading Volkswagen-Ford to make electric and self driving cars together: VW

Waymo-JLR: I-Pace now in action

Jaguar’s I-Pace vehicles are now being tested by Waymo on the public road. in the March 2018 agreed the Google sister Waymo and the manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, the purchase of I-Pace models for the Waymo fleet. The first three models were still in July last year delivered. Waymo is now testing the automated vehicles… Continue reading Waymo-JLR: I-Pace now in action

Beyond Tesla, electric cars lose value faster than other vehicles

Lower maintenance and repair needs plus lower energy costs can make a very convincing case for electric car ownership.

The same isn’t always true for those who own vehicles the old-fashioned way, going with what’s new and fresh every three years or so, before trading it in for the next. Then, electric vehicles have an issue that can turn the math on its side: appalling resale value.

The average new electric vehicle loses 56.6 percent of its original value in three years, according to the car-deal search engine iSeeCars. The average among all kinds of vehicles is 38.2 percent of depreciation over three years.

The depreciation is from its sticker price, so it doesn’t include things like a potential EV tax credit of up to $7,500—which not every buyer may be able to claim.

In a recent analysis, iSeeCars found that the Fiat 500e had the steepest value plunge among EVs. Its average three-year-old used price was just $10,358—a depreciation of nearly 70 percent from its original price. The BMW i3 after three years cost just $19,784, which was a 63-percent cut from its original price. The Nissan Leaf (despite hints of an uptick last year) and Volkswagen e-Golf also posted steep value losses of nearly 60 percent over three years.

2018 BMW i3s

The Ford Fusion Energi was also called out by iSeeCars a plunge in value that was nearly as steep as that of those EVs. The Fusion Energi is worth just $15,983 after three years.

The new trends come from an analysis of more than 4.8 million car sales, comparing average price weighted by sales volume for vehicles sold between January and May 2019 with those of the same model sold between January and May 2019, adjusting for inflation via the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2019 Tesla Model S

Tesla is an exception to the rule, though—and proof that EVs don’t have to be resale-value money pits. After three years, the average Tesla Model S remains worth a strong $57,517, according to iSeeCars, which is just a 17.1-percent reduction from its price when new.

For nearly all the other non-Tesla models, these losses help enforce the value of leasing (under what are in many case highly subsidized offers), while purchasing may only make sense when planning to keep an EV over a longer timeline.

All of the electric models that lost the largest chunk of their original value are short-range models. One of the keys to success (and a signal of success) for the new long-range fully electric vehicles is that they escape the pull of strong depreciation. With the first Chevrolet Bolt EVs due to near that three-year mark early next year—and the new ones in their tax-credit phaseout—we’ll start getting some answers on whether that's the case in a matter of months.