Tag: Electric vehicles

A new partnership between the RTC and Communauto for integrated mobility

Quebec, October 10, 2019 – In a press conference on October 10th, the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) and Communauto, a pioneer in America as the manager of the oldest and one of the largest carsharing services, announced a new partnership. Reserved spaces in certain Parc-O-Bus (POB), the location of stations and free-floating cars in real time, the reservation within the real-time RTC Nomade application and the creation of an “integrated package” will be gradually rolled out until spring 2020 for the benefit of customers. This is an important milestone in integrated mobility.

M. Rémy Normand, President of Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) and M. Benoit Robert, President and founder of Communauto

Integrated mobility will allow everyone to choose their mode of transport adapted to the sector where they are, the conditions of the moment and the type of travel, all on the same digital platform. This partnership with Communauto is therefore significant for urban mobility, be it for the supply of services, infrastructure, pricing and customer information.

“Since it was founded in 1994, Communauto aims to offer alternative modes of transportation and the RTC has been working with this organization since 2004. Its vision is directly aligned with the RTC’s vision of offering a selection of mobility solutions. In fact, in its Strategic Plan 2018-2027, the RTC clearly identifies Communauto as a key player and we are very proud to have taken this step, which truly marks the first stage in the development of integrated mobility in Quebec City.” – Rémy Normand, President of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale.

“Today’s announcement marks a new milestone for multimodal mobility. In particular, the “integrated package” is a unique initiative, among the first in the world. We are delighted that this project is born thanks to the involvement of the RTC. For carsharing to have all its benefits, it must be paired with a well-established public transportation offer. Moreover, it becomes more relevant when modes of transport such as carsharing are added in, hence the importance of this initiative.” – Benoît Robert, president and founder of Communauto.

Details of the new partnership

From now on, parking spaces will be reserved for these shared vehicles in eight (8) local and regional POBs. This is one more step towards integrated mobility, an objective precisely defined in the RTC’s Strategic Plan 2018-2027.

Starting this fall, the first component of the partnership will focus on two identified parking spaces for Communauto carsharing vehicles in five local and one regional POB. These are the POB’s 41e Rue / 1re Avenue, Carrefour Les Saules, Jardin zoologique, Promenades Beauport, Pie-XII (corner Quatre-Bourgeois) and Le Gendre. Then, upon their opening, future POB’s Bastien and Sainte-Anne will also include these two spaces.

The main point of the agreement is the integration of Communauto’s data into the real-time RTC Nomade app, the mobile application of the RTC which notably allows the viewing of real-time schedules and the creation of itineraries. Starting this fall, the user will be able to locate Communauto stations as well as free-floating vehicles (FLEX cars) on the map of the mobile app. Booking will also be possible from the application’s interface in the winter of 2020.

To support this new partnership, the RTC will offer an “integrated package” that will include a monthly general RTC ticket for a given month and 10 FLEX Communauto trips of 30 minutes or less. It will be available in the spring of 2020, at a cost of $99.

Finally, Communauto improves the DUO Auto + Bus by adding the free late return. The DUO Auto + Bus already allows members to have the RTC L’abonne BUS and the subscription to an advantageous Communauto carsharing plan. In order to facilitate certain trips for members, the free late return will allow them to keep the car at night at no additional cost (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.).

About the RTC

The Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) transports more than 155,000 different people each month in the Greater Quebec City area. It operates a fleet of nearly 600 buses, several of which are hybrid and air-conditioned, which run on 134 routes and serve more than 4,500 stops, including 20 temperate stations. It employs more than 1,600 people in its two operation centres and offers real-time schedules on all its routes thanks to the range of real-time RTC Nomade tools. Transportation tickets meeting all needs are available in nearly 170 outlets throughout the agglomeration of Quebec City.

About Communauto

Founded in Québec City in 1994, Communauto is the oldest carsharing service in North America and the one serving the largest number of communities in Canada. It is also the first company in Canada to offer its customers a large fleet of 100% electric cars and to create offers combined with public transportation services. Present on two continents in 14 cities (Edmonton, Toronto, Kitchener / Waterloo, Hamilton, Guelph, London, Kingston, Ottawa, Gatineau, the regions of Montreal and Québec, Sherbrooke, Halifax and Paris in France) with a fleet of 3000 vehicles, it is one of the few operators in the world able to offer its customers access to vehicles available with or without reservation. Studies conducted in recent years show that each carsharing car replaces, on average, ten private vehicles in Québec.

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Source

Brigitte Lemay
Public Relations Advisor
Phone: 418-627-2351, extension 5160
Email: brigitte.lemay@rtcquebec.ca

Stockholm-based electric boat maker X Shore raises €1.5 million through crowdfunding

Stockholm-based electric boat maker X Shore has raised €1.5 million through a crowdfunding campaign on FundedByMe, which closed at midnight last night.

Founded in 2016, X Shore boats are fully electric and silent to combine minimal disruption of marine life with optimised user experience. Customisable through modular elements, the boat’s design offers an endless variety of features. The motor comprises an inverter designed to handle stress; a battery that has outstanding power to weight ratio; and a magnetic gearbox, which ensures silence and zero air friction. X Shore craft have a top speed of 40 knots and can hold up to 12 people.

X Shore has already brought its first range of fully-electric, silent boats to market, and the company’s flagship craft ‘Eelex’ will hit the waves in January 2019.

The capital raised through the crowdfunding campaign will be used for R&D, production, and the continuous development of X Shore’s boats.

X Shore had been funded in full by its founder and CE..

Lexus teases design of upcoming city-sized electric car

Lexus has released a teaser shot—and video burst—for a new electric-car concept, due to be revealed later this month at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The model, which is expected to be a production-bound small city car based on the Lexus LF-SA concept from 2015, will be what Lexus chief Koji Sato described to Autocar earlier this year as being “a tall, boxy hatchback.”

Reports have also suggested that a fully electric version of the Lexus UX crossover is also on the way, but these are likely completely different products. Although an urban-sized EV would be unlikely for the U.S., such a model could be an important step for Lexus in Europe particularly, where for minicompacts battery-electric powertrains are quickly becoming expected—and seen as premium and desirable.

The car is expected to be fitted with an evolution of the brand’s complex spindle-grille design—likely a challenging task to fit that to a small, blunt nose that doesn’t have the same cooling challenges as if an engine were underneath. The video released shows an especially creased-and-sharpened—yet curvaceous—look in front, with soft lighting strips that illuminate downward in a way that establishes motion.

In-wheel motor technology is also reportedly in the works from Lexus—perhaps sooner than other brands, and even in a new concept iteration at Tokyo—but it’s unlikely yet in a production model and this latest teaser contains no additional information for that.

Lexus LF-SA concept, 2015 Geneva Motor Show

Lexus does say that the new vehicle will be “leveraging continued advances in technologies such as electrification and autonomous driving.”

We’re curious to see how that matches up with what it then maps out as the brand’s future vision—one in which it “caters to consumers who are equally passionate about driving and uniquely crafted luxury experiences.”

Lexus is expected, potentially as soon as 2022, to also get an electric SUV based on the new electric-vehicle platform being jointly developed with Subaru.

VW signals with light, Lexus teases EV, Volvo delegates engine development: Today’s Car News

Volvo is done developing internal-combustion engines. Well, almost; it’s delegating them to a new joint venture with parent Geely. Electrify Canada is pushing out some very high-power fast-charging hardware. Lexus will show the new iteration of an electric city car that’s likely production-bound. And VW is using light to send messages. This and more today at Green Car Reports.

Volkswagen is introducing a new light-based communication feature in its ID 3 electric car—and potentially all ID models—that helps the driver understand alerts and status updates without chimes and warnings.

Electrify Canada is pushing ahead with plans to install 32 high-power DC fast-charging stations by the end of 2020. On Thursday it mapped out more than 20 of those—all 350-kw-enabled—to be installed at Canadian Tire locations starting this year.

Lexus has teased the design of its production-bound all-electric city car, potentially to be shown in concept or prototype form at this month’s upcoming Tokyo Motor Show.

By 2025, half of all Volvos by sales volume are to be battery-electric. But for the other half, which will be hybrids in some form, Volvo still needs internal combustion engines—and this week it merged engine-development operations with its parent Geely.

And car-to-infrastructure technology, or C2X, is being tested in Germany as a way of directing road-maintenance crews to respond quicker to road conditions like ice and snow on roadways—one of many potential important steps toward autonomous-vehicle tech becoming viable.

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Dyson kills its electric car project and turns to solid-state batteries

Dyson said it will end its electric vehicle project after determining it could not make the car commercially viable or find a buyer. The company, known for its high-tech vacuum cleaners and fans, said in a statement Thursday that its automotive team had developed a fantastic car, but decided to close the project. Dyson also… Continue reading Dyson kills its electric car project and turns to solid-state batteries

Britain’s James Dyson scraps electric car project

* Project was not commercially viable
* Company said the car was a technical success
* Tried but failed to find a buyer
* Will seek to redeploy 500 engineers working on project (Adds further details)
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) – James Dyson, the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, has cancelled his ambitious plan to build an electric car because the project was not commercially viable.
Dyson said his engineers had built a “fantastic car” and that the project was not being closed due to any failures in research and development.
“However, though we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable,” he told staff on Thursday.
The company had tried to find a buyer for the project but had not succeeded, he said.
Dyson announced two years ago that his engineers had been working a on a secret automotive project, building on its expertise in batteries and electric motors to develop a vehicle.
The company bet that its ba..

Toyota unveils revamped hydrogen sedan to take on Tesla

TOKYO, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp unveiled a completely redesigned hydrogen-powered fuel cell sedan on Friday in its latest attempt to revive demand for the niche technology that it hopes will become mainstream. Japan’s biggest automaker has been developing fuel-cell vehicles for more than two decades, but the technology has been eclipsed by… Continue reading Toyota unveils revamped hydrogen sedan to take on Tesla

GM CEO Barra takes role in talks to end UAW strike

(Reuters) – General Motors (GM.N) Chief Executive Mary Barra met with senior United Auto Workers officials to discuss the No. 1 U.S. automaker’s most recent proposal to end a more than three-week-old strike that has cost it over $1 billion, a union spokesman said on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra… Continue reading GM CEO Barra takes role in talks to end UAW strike

Volkswagen ID.3 Banana Box Test Beats Tesla Model 3, VW e-Golf

Volkswagen ID.3 beats the Volkswagen e-Golf in the banana box test. It’s slightly better than the Tesla Model 3 too. Volkswagen ID.3, as with all modern all-electric cars, is built on a skateboard platform. It’s therefore supposed to be roomy (for its size) with plenty of cargo capacity. The recent Bjørn Nyland’s Banana Box test… Continue reading Volkswagen ID.3 Banana Box Test Beats Tesla Model 3, VW e-Golf