Uber is putting $10 million behind sustainable transportation over the next three years. As part of the fund, Uber is donating $250,000 to SharedStreets, a nonprofit organization focused on creating a shared standard for public streets and data sharing. Lyft, also in the name of environmental impact, invested millions of dollars in carbon offsets earlier… Continue reading Uber commits $10 million to sustainable transportation
Tag: Electric vehicles
Uber makes $10M bet on bikes and transit
Ride-hailing giant Uber, which helped jumpstart the ongoing revolution in mobile technology and urban transit by popularizing a new way to move about cities, has decided cars aren’t always the best way to get around. In a blog post, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced a three-tiered plan to support sustainable mobility by reducing congestion, supporting… Continue reading Uber makes $10M bet on bikes and transit
Renault plans Europe’s largest battery storage network
Renault utility storage network to deploy used electric car batteries in France and Germany
European electric-carmaker Renault plans to build the continent's largest stationary battery storage network next year using old electric-car batteries.
Renault announced on Tuesday that it will install used (and some new) electric car batteries in three locations: two Renault factories in France, and the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Germany.
The company says the battery storage network will be expanded gradually over time.
DON'T MISS: (Reverse) Engineering Explained: What happens to old electric car batteries?
By 2020, Renault says the network will deliver 70 megawatts of power and store at least 60 megawatt-hours of energy storage to smooth out supply from solar and wind power to make them available at peak times when consumers need it.
The stationary battery storage network will use batteries from 2,000 of the company's European electric cars—the Renault Zoe and Twingo and the Nissan Leaf, among others—built into containers.
The network will comprise used batteries from the cars as well as some new electric-car batteries that have been inventoried as replacement packs for older models but never sold.
Renault Zoe and Kangoo ZE electric cars on the Outer Hebrides
Inside the containers, the batteries will be installed on racks. Each container will also include charge controllers and battery monitoring systems.
Once built, the batteries will provide enough power for 5,000 homes.
The system is designed to target a weak spot in the grid, where power consumption exceeding supply has often compromised the stability of the grid.
CHECK OUT: As used electric-car batteries set to flood market, Automakers ramp up reuse efforts
“One of the main challenges when it comes to increasing the share of renewable sources in the energy mix is to manage the discrepancies between electricity consumption and electricity production at a given moment,” Nicolas Schottey, Renault’s director of new energy business, said in a statement.
“Our energy stationary storage system solution helps to compensate for those gaps: it delivers its energy reserves at the exact moment an imbalance occurs in order to mitigate its effects,” he said.
READ MORE: Renault plans huge energy storage plant using old Zoe electric-car battery packs
The system was originally planned to be even bigger, with up to 100 megawatts of storage, but Renault alludes to potential future expansion under the existing plan.
Renault says its goal is to create Europe's largest stationary energy storage system to encourage the growth of renewable energy sources on the grid.
The network will be operated by Renault partner Mobility House.
Tesla building car carrier trailers amid “delivery logistics hell”
Tesla boss Elon Musk has announced that the company has built its own car transporter trailers amid its difficulty in delivering the Model 3.
Musk previously tweeted that the brand is in “delivery logistics hell” amid complaints of delayed deliveries from customers awaiting their Model 3s, and took to the social media site again to explain that the company was “running into an extreme shortage of car carrier trailers”.
To quell the problem as the end of the third quarter approaches, the company is upgrading its logistics system, including the construction of its own carrier trailers.
@elonmusk Leased a Model S for two years in 2016. Have a day one reservation for a M3 AWD. Placed order at end of June. Still don't have M3 AWD. Lease ends in one week! New customers getting M3 AWD before me? No help from Tesla. I helped keep the lights on at Tesla! Please help? pic.twitter.com/grMvFwJMdm
— Chris Barker (@ctbarker32) September 24, 2018
The Tesla CEO has also in the past tweeted that the company was in “production hell” when it encountered bottlenecks in the production process of the Model 3, although these problems have been quelled, with Tesla reporting targets for Model 3 production being hit.
Watch a Tesla drive in Paris through the eyes of Autopilot
Tesla’s approach to autonomous driving is rather simple – albeit hard. It has some radar and ultrasonic sensor technology but the goal is to drive based on computer vision with cameras feeding into a neural net system that it is able to recognize what it sees – much like a human. We are now getting our best… Continue reading Watch a Tesla drive in Paris through the eyes of Autopilot
Lucid Motors CTO: We offer a luxury electric vehicle
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has invested more than $1 billion in Lucid Motors. CTO Peter Rawlinson explains how the Lucid Air stands out from other electric vehicles. Go to Source Go to Source
Elon Musk wants Tesla to do collision repairs in-house, blames outside shops for long wait times
Musk wants Tesla to do collision repairs in-house
6:55 AM ET Mon, 17 Sept 2018 | 00:54
Tesla CEO and Chairman Elon Musk on Sunday said the electric vehicle maker will soon bring most collision repairs in-house — a promise he first made during the company's annual shareholder meeting in June.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Musk blamed outside shops for taking too long to complete repairs.
Specifically, Musk wrote: “Tesla is bringing most collision repairs in-house, as outside firms take weeks to months for repairs, driving Tesla owners (and us) crazy.”
He acknowledged that some collision repair shops are able to turn around a Tesla customer's car after an accident rather quickly.
When Tesla eventually rolls out its own collision repairs service, he said, the goal will be to make each vehicle “better than before accident.”
Musk also suggested that Tesla has an advantage over outside collision repair shops when it comes to timely service. “Outside repair shops are jack of all trades, which means supporting 1000's of makes & models. Tesla collision repair specializes in three,” he wrote. “Having all parts in stock & not waiting for insurance approval also make a world of difference.”
Ron Arth, the owner of Oakland, California, repair shop George V. Arth & Son, told CNBC that he's not sure how Tesla could repair vehicles without waiting for insurance approvals, unless it's willing to do work for free or temporarily carry the cost on its books while it works out approvals. “Collision repair shops have to document everything we do, and justify it in order to get paid for the repairs,” he said.
Tesla owner frustrated so repairs his own Model S and says it's easy as 'Legos'
1:58 PM ET Tue, 28 Aug 2018 | 05:16
“I think the whole concept of Tesla is awesome, ideologically, and a lot of manufacturers are chasing their designs,” Arth said. “But I think they need to revisit how to deal with collision repair shops of any kind, certified, independent, whatever.”
Arth said Tesla's ultimate goal “should be to repair cars safely and correctly for customers wherever they seek service. That way they'll be happy with their cars, long-term. And when they're ready to buy a new one, they'll come back to you.”
When a Tesla comes through Arth's shop, the automaker requires his team to drive to pick up parts from one of its showrooms or service centers, he said. Other major automakers, in contrast, typically deliver parts to collision shops and give them wholesale discounts.
Aftermarket parts for Tesla vehicles aren't widely available, either. No major company manufactures them.
Arth's business fixes about 100 vehicles a month and has worked on at least a dozen Teslas, he said.
Musk acknowledged on Twitter that spare parts are not abundant, but he promised a fix: “Service & parts supply in general will be the top Tesla priority after we get through the insane car delivery logistics of the next few weeks.”
Lucid Teams With Electrify America For Ultra Fast Charging
1 H BY MARK KANE Lucid selects Electrify America for ultra-fast charging ABB fast chargers at Electrify America station Lucid Motors, after securing financing for further developments and market launch of Air in 2020, turns to another topic, which is fast charging for long-distance travel. The company announced that it entered a preliminary agreement with Electrify… Continue reading Lucid Teams With Electrify America For Ultra Fast Charging
Luxury electric car maker Lucid is building a charging network with VW in another jab at Tesla
Robert Ferris | CNBC
The Lucid Air Alpha test car, displayed at the New York Auto Show, reached a software-limited 217 miles per hour on a text track in Ohio.
Luxury electric car maker Lucid is building a high speed charging network for electric cars across the United States with Volkswagen, the companies said Tuesday.
According to the deal, VW subsidiary Electrify America and Lucid will build a network of 500 charging sites across 40 U.S. states by the end of 2019.
The deal gives Lucid another leg up against Tesla and signals increasing competition in the luxury electric car segment.
Lucid, which is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, plans to start producing its own upscale electric sedan in 2020.
The company recently upped the ante in the race to catch Tesla after receiving $1 billion investment from the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund. The company's chief technology officer is Peter Rawlings, who was former Tesla's chief engineer, and who worked on the team that developed the Model S sedan.
Robert Ferris | CNBC
The interior of a Lucid Air on display at the New York Auto Show on April 13, 2017.
Legacy automakers such as Jaguar and Volkswagen subsidiary Audi have recently debuted their own high-end electric cars designed to take a piece of the market where Tesla is the most recognizable brand. Tesla is the only other automaker with a dedicated charging network, with 1,344 of its high-speed Supercharger stations around the world.
Volkswagen started the Electrify America program as part of its settlement with the U.S. from its diesel emissions scandal, after it was discovered the automaker used devices to cheat diesel emissions tests. The company agreed to spend $2 billion in the U.S. to promote electric vehicle technology.
Out of juice: Infiniti Q50 Hybrid luxury sedan dropped
2016 Infiniti Q50 Hybrid
The long-running Infiniti Q50 Hybrid luxury sedan won't return for 2019, the automaker said Thursday.
Infiniti spokesman Kyle Bazemore confirmed the demise of the Q50 Hybrid this year for Green Car Reports. The automaker axed the Q70 Hybrid in July.
Although Infiniti didn't report sales for the Q50 Hybrid and Q70 Hybrid models separately, it's likely that the hybrid-battery powered sedans were a small fraction of overall sales for both.
The Q50 Hybrid sedan was powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 and electric motor combo that produced 360 horsepower. According to the EPA, the Q50 Hybrid was rated at 29 mpg combined for front-drivers, 28 mpg combined for all-wheel-drive versions. The Q70 Hybrid sedan was powered by a similar hybrid powertrain and returned 30 mpg combined, compared to 21 mpg for V-6-only versions.
The Q50 Hybrid first appeared in Infiniti dealers in 2013.
DON'T MISS: Infiniti announces new electric car lineup based on Q Inspiration
Last year, Infiniti quietly killed its slow-selling QX60 Hybrid crossover after relegating it to special-order only for buyers.
The move leaves Infiniti without an electrified powertrain in its vehicle lineup, for now.
Infiniti announced most new models coming from the luxury automaker would be electrified by 2021. The company also announced it would build a range of electric cars based on its Q Inspiration concept before 2023.
This year, the QX50 debuted a new variable-compression turbocharged engine that can change its operation for better efficiency or better power. The turbo-4 found under the hood of the popular crossover contributed to an overall fuel-efficiency improvement of more than 20 percent, compared to prior generations.