Honda – Page 532 – I wish I had more to offer

Honda e Dedicated EV Platform Equipped With 35.5 kWh Battery

Honda e to be the ultimate commuter car with a powertrain designed for maximum efficiency and usability. Honda shared the first image and a few details about the upcoming dedicated EV platform, designed from the ground up for all-electric cars. The first model to be based on the new platform is Honda e. In the… Continue reading Honda e Dedicated EV Platform Equipped With 35.5 kWh Battery

ALL-NEW HONDA E PLATFORM ENGINEERED TO DELIVER EXCEPTIONAL URBAN DRIVING EXPERIENCE

Chassis optimised for next-generation small car agility in urban environments Honda e powertrain is designed for maximum efficiency and usability Efficient battery technology with fast charge capability Clean, aerodynamic styling ensures new EV stands out as the ultimate commuter car Honda’s new compact electric vehicle, the Honda e, is the first Honda to be built… Continue reading ALL-NEW HONDA E PLATFORM ENGINEERED TO DELIVER EXCEPTIONAL URBAN DRIVING EXPERIENCE

Toyota Mirai gets deepest discount yet—amid hydrogen shortage

Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles aren’t exactly cheap to own or run—if you take them at face value.

The two modest fuel-cell models you can currently purchase (versus lease) both carry luxury-vehicle prices: a base $59,430 for the 2019 Toyota Mirai and a base $59,345 for the eco-focused Hyundai Nexo Blue. Trade-in or resale value remains an unknown. And at the last time we filled with hydrogen, last October, it cost $17.49 per kilogram—potentially up to a $75 fill for the 312-mile Mirai or a $110 fill for the 380-mile Nexo Blue.

However, today’s fuel-cell vehicles live in a world that turns a blind eye on face value. Highly subsidized leases factor in at $349 and $399 per month for the Mirai and Nexo, respectively, or $379 for the other lease-only alternative, the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell. And all three include a big bank of subsidized hydrogen that will help ease at least the cost concern of refueling.

It follows that Toyota, which has been offering its Mirai for sale for several years, leases 95 to 99 percent of its fuel-cell vehicles. But now with multiple discounts, Toyota may be seeing if it can get any more takers on the idea of buying a Mirai.

As our partners at CarsDirect pointed out late last week, Toyota is offering a mammoth new dealer cash incentive of $15,000 on the Mirai.

Toyota Mirai emissions-scrubbing billboard

The deep discount is, from what we can tell, exclusive to the Bay Area—where, oddly, there’s currently a severe hydrogen shortage. And the discount appears to stack with the existing Trailblazer cash-back offer of $7,500.

That gets a whopping $22,500 potentially off the price of the Mirai. There’s also a $5,000 California Clean Vehicle Rebate―provided buyers stay under income caps of $150,000 for single filers, $204,000 for head-of-household, or $300,000 for joint filers. Clean Air Vehicle decals are another precious perk for vehicles that qualify for that rebate, even if the household makes too much money to claim it.

But hold on; the new $15,000 discount is what’s termed a “manufacturer-to-dealer incentive”—a kind of incentive that dealerships aren’t required to pass along to buyers.

CarsDirect crunched the numbers and found that for the savings (for a narrow subset of shoppers, admittedly) could add up to more than $42,000.

2019 Toyota Mirai

That includes the value of the hydrogen itself that Toyota wraps in, at up to $15,000. But even if your dealership doesn’t give you the full $27,000 discount they’ve tallied so far, you’re likely to end up with a vehicle that costs less than $40,000, with free fuel.

Don’t be led to believe that there’s any federal tax credit on fuel-cell vehicle purchase, though; that arm, called the Fuel Cell Motor Vehicle Tax Credit, formerly ranged up to #8,000 but expired at the end of 2017.

Green Car Reports has reached out to Toyota about whether the purchase-offer timing, which is good through July 8, is coincidental or intentional. Toyota remarked to CarsDirect that its incentive programs “are regional and flexible, allowing our regional sales offices to tailor incentives to their specific markets.”

Sometimes it’s funny the way timing works out for such offers. But perhaps in the middle of what’s been a rather sour, disruptive situation for some households, Toyota can make lemonade.

SoftBank, Toyota self-driving car venture to launch in SE Asia next year

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Nissan CEO Saikawa Now Under Microscope In Carlos Ghosn Case – Forbes

Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa Nissan In an interview Sunday with the Japanese magazine Bungei Shunju, former senior Nissan executive Greg Kelly gave his account of the circumstances behind the Carlos Ghosn case and questioned why Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa was spared by Japanese prosecutors despite being intimately involved through the entire process. Kelly was also a… Continue reading Nissan CEO Saikawa Now Under Microscope In Carlos Ghosn Case – Forbes

Toyota to launch ultra-compact battery vehicle, tie up with China’s CATL

The company has partnered with CATL. TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp will launch an ultra-compact, battery-powered car that seats two by next year and will tie up with Chinese battery maker CATL, it said on Friday, to accommodate an accelerated shift to electric vehicles. Japan’s largest automaker said it aimed to have half of its global… Continue reading Toyota to launch ultra-compact battery vehicle, tie up with China’s CATL

Toyota to tie up with China’s CATL to accelerate electrification: Nikkei

FILE PHOTO: A Toyota logo is displayed at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp will tie up with leading Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), in a move to accelerate the electrification of its products, the Nikkei… Continue reading Toyota to tie up with China’s CATL to accelerate electrification: Nikkei

GM’s Cruise Is Valued At $19 Billion — Does That Make Any Sense?

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Published on June 6th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

GM’s Cruise Is Valued At $19 Billion — Does That Make Any Sense?

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June 6th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

The self-driving vehicle startup Cruise that GM acquired in 2016 was recently valued at $19 billion after another round of investments.

That puts Cruise’s valuation at more than half the value of Tesla, and 38% the value of GM as a whole (as of this moment).

That implies, of course, that certain portions of the investment world expect a lot from Cruise, and think it is well on its way to a promising future.

I find the whole thing tremendously interesting. I understand that some auto industry players think Cruise as the perfect approach to autonomous driving, but others think it has fatal flaws and will never outcompete what Tesla is developing. Fine and good — there are differences of opinion in the auto world, and more specifically in a burgeoning new new industry that most consider to be the future. But it still blows my mind a little bit that very little money is invested in the idea Tesla is the world’s autonomous driving leader while Cruise is being valued at $19 billion.

First, though, a few more details on the news. GM raised “an equity investment of $1.15 billion from a group comprising institutional investors, including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and existing partners General Motors, SoftBank Vision Fund and Honda.” The result: “This investment increases Cruise’s post-money valuation to $19.0 billion, inclusive of SoftBank Vision Fund’s previously announced investment commitment. In the last year, Cruise has secured capital commitments totaling $7.25 billion.”

From what I’ve gathered, Cruise’s autonomous driving architecture is much more similar to Waymo’s than Tesla’s. We’ve never done a deep dive on Cruise versus Tesla Autopilot/Full Self Driving, but we have published these comparisons of Tesla’s system with Waymo’s:

Tesla Autopilot Hits 1 Billion Miles! & Why Tesla Autopilot Is The Top Approach To Autonomy
Deep Dive Into Tesla’s Autopilot & Self-Driving Architecture vs Lidar-Based Systems

Aside from those, the following may bring some useful light to the overall story:

Tesla vs. Self-Driving Competition — New MIT Video
Elon Musk Calls Lidar “A Fool’s Errand” … & Other Autonomous Driving Experts Starting To Agree
Tesla Autopilot Miles Soaring
Tesla Autonomy Day: What We Learned
Tesla Autonomy Day Video & Dozens Of Quotes

See more in our Tesla Autonomy Day archives.

Is Cruise worth $19 billion? Well, I certainly couldn’t tell you. Should it be worth $19 billion when Wall Street hardly values Tesla’s autonomous driving leadership? Well, that seems crazy to me, but such is the market today.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species). He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and Solar Love. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada.

Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.

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