Electric vehicles – Page 9450 – I wish I had more to offer

VW-Ford, Nissan electric SUV, an electric Cadillac? Today’s Car News

GAC Entranze concept, 2019 Detroit auto show
Nissan reveals some details about its upcoming electric crossover SUV. Ford and VW announced a partnership to develop vans and pickups for overseas markets that could spill over into electric cars. And we ask readers if they would buy an electric car from Cadillac in our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports.

An announcement from Volkswagen in Germany revealed that the company plans to launch a new brand, called Elli, to sell clean power, electric-car charging equipment, and maybe even stationary batteries for home installations. The plan looks modeled on Tesla's ancillary services aimed at promoting environmentalism beyond selling electric cars.

In an exclusive interview, Nissan revealed some details about its upcoming electric crossover SUV. The model, due out in 2020, is expected to have 300 miles of range and a flexible battery architecture that Nissan can upgrade over time.

As part of their new tie-up to produce small commercial vans and pickups, VW and Ford announced plans to announce plans to cooperate on developing electric vehicles. Naturally, those plans sound pretty murky.

Following GM's announcement last week that it will turn Cadillac into its lead brand for electric cars, and its first peek at a Cadillac SUV in Detroit on Monday, our latest Twitter poll asks readers whether they would buy an electric car from Cadillac.

Infiniti set a new direction for the brand with its new QX Inspiration electric concept SUV in Detroit on Monday. As Nissan's luxury brand plans to convert to selling primarily electric cars, the QX Inspiration could lead the way.

As a measure of validation for car sharing and autonomous ride-hailing services, a new study by Pew Research shows that more than a third of Americans have used one. That number, however, hasn't been going up.

Finally, Chinese automaker GAC showed a new electric minivan called the Entranze at the Detroit auto show Monday that could be the first car from a Chinese automaker to be sold in the U.S. Its debut, however, has been pushed back to 2020.

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Tesla Model X Converted Into An Ambulance — Real-World Pilot Project By Falck

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Published on January 15th, 2019 |

by Jesper Berggreen

Tesla Model X Converted Into An Ambulance — Real-World Pilot Project By Falck

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January 15th, 2019 by Jesper Berggreen

Today, in a press release in my home country of Denmark, the Denmark-based first responder and ambulance operator Falck announced that it has developed an ambulance on the platform of the Tesla Model X.

Falck operates in over 20 countries worldwide, and provides ambulance services in close cooperation with the national authorities. With over 2500 ambulances, Falck is today the world’s largest international ambulance operator. So, why not go ahead and try to implement the electric vehicle era in the fleet?

Indeed, and why not do it with a roomy, fast, and long-range Tesla Model X? (Sorry Nissan, too late with the e-NV200, even though it is roomy.)

Image credit: Falck.dk

First responder & first mover
In total, Falck has more than 5000 vehicles around the world, but very few are powered by electricity. Rescue tasks require a lot of energy, which is inconsistent with an electric car’s limited battery capacity. However, that has not been the case with Tesla vehicles for some years now, and more manufacturers are getting in the game at around 100 kWh of capacity and beyond. “In Falck we are concerned with using less fuel. It is beneficial both for the environment and the economy, and since no one else in the world has yet made an electric ambulance, we ourselves decided to develop one,” says Jakob Riis, CEO of Falck.

Separate electricity & heating
One challenge has been the fact that an ambulance uses power for much more than just driving, which can deplete the car’s battery too fast. It was crucial to solve this so that the patient is safe during transportation as well as actually reaching the hospital. Running out of juice in any EV is no joke, and in an ambulance it would spell disaster. Jakob Riis elaborates on the system:

“We use separate electric systems in the car, which means that all auxiliary equipment is not powered by the car’s own battery, so things like emergency lights, sirens, radio, medical equipment, and cooling/heating equipment is run in a separate system which is charged prior to departure, and backed up by a fuel cell that constantly charges the system on the road.”

The fuel cell is powered by methanol, and this fuel is also used directly for heating:

“So even on a frozen winter day on the highway, where the rescue personnel often wait at length for the rescue operation of the patient being moved into the ambulance, we can guarantee that a warm car is ready for the patient. This is a very important element in a future of electric powered ambulances.”

Real-world testing
Other than starting with patient transport around Copenhagen in electric vehicles, this particular test car will be used in the ambulance service in the southern region of Denmark. “I also expect to see more in the ambulance offering, and we will be better prepared than anyone else. We have both the desire and the duty to develop the ambulance segment, and I am pleased that we already have the first electric car in operation,” says Jakob Riis. “It is being tested under real-life response with rapid acceleration and hard braking, and this has never been done before.”

Falck is an international leader in ambulance services and healthcare. For more than 100 years, Falck has collaborated with local and national authorities to prevent accidents, illness, and emergencies; to rescue and help the injured and distressed quickly and competently; and to rehabilitate the sick and injured. Going electric will surely make these services faster, cleaner, and more reliable.

About the Author

Jesper Berggreen Jesper had his perspective on the world expanded vastly after having attended primary school in rural Africa in the early 1980s. And while educated a computer programmer and laboratory technician, working with computers and lab-robots at the institute of forensic medicine in Aarhus, Denmark, he never forgets what life is like having nothing. Thus it became obvious for him that technological advancement is necessary for the prosperity of all humankind, sharing this one vessel we call planet earth. However, technology has to be smart, clean, sustainable, widely accessible, and democratic in order to change the world for the better. Writing about clean energy, electric transportation, energy poverty, and related issues, he gets the message through to anyone who wants to know better. Jesper is founder of Lifelike.dk.

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Charging ahead: VW follows Tesla into power business

2020 Volkswagen ID Neo spy shots
For car companies to sell electric cars, they have to get into the power business.

That seems to be Volkswagen's conclusion in announcing a new business to set up electric-car chargers around Europe, and sell clean energy and battery storage to homes.

Volkswagen plans to set up a new brand called Elli—for “electric life”—to sell ancillary electric services such as clean power and chargers. The services will initially be focused in Europe.

DON'T MISS: VW plans 27 electric cars by 2022 on new platform

Elli will include several services:

– Clean home power. The company will launch a new service called Naturstrom that delivers 100-percent renewable power to customers' homes. These customers don't have to own an electric car or even a Volkswagen.

Volkswagen charging at VW Elli charging station

– It will sell various levels of home chargers, including two 11-kilowatt wall boxes, a basic model and a higher-end one with WiFi and smart charging capability. For customers wanting future-proof installations, it will also offer 22-kw DC chargers that can connect to a smart grid and enable two-way vehicle-to-grid integration. Volkswagen will develop software to integrate the systems to optimize charge times and ensure cars are charged only with renewable power. The company suggested that the system could use car's batteries, for example, to store home solar power. It did not suggest that Volkswagen might get into the business of building or installing solar panels as Tesla does through Solar City.

READ THIS: VW Group has nailed down $25 billion of batteries for electric cars, it said today

– The company offered few details, but said it will also offer stationary home batteries, similar to Tesla's Powerwalls.

– Elli will also work to build up fast, Level 2 destination charging, including at 4,000 of its own dealers by 2020 as well as providing consulting services to other businesses and parking garages about how to install and operate charging stations.

– It will also develop systems to make public charging simpler and easier, for example by developing a simplified payment structure that can work with multiple networks. Volkswagen is part of a consortium of German automakers working to build a network of public DC fast-charging stations across Europe called Ionity.

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“Volkswagen is going to force the pace of the urgently needed transport and energy transition to emission-neutral e-mobility,” said
Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen brand Board Member responsible for E-Mobility.