Category Archives: Electric Cars

Nissan Taking Early Orders for its LEAF Electric Vehicle

Reply

Purchasing Nissan’s Leaf pure-electric vehicle is a four-part process and the carmaker wants to make sure that potential customers how to go about it by announcing an outline. Delivery is set to start in December in some markets.

Registration can be made online. Customers can then reserve a Leaf starting in April and order one in August. Nissan has yet to reveal which markets will be the first recipients of the vehicle. Interestingly, the process coincides with the end of a 24-city U.S. and Canada Leaf marketing tour in New York.

Nissan said that so far, 50,000 people have registered online. Pricing for the Leaf will be announced in April; this will also be the time that it will open reservations accompanied by a refundable $100 deposit.

And in August, consumers can inform Nissan about plans to either lease or purchase a Leaf. Nissan sells the Leaf and home charging stations as well. Production of the Leaf and its battery pack will begin by 2012 at the Smyrna, Tenn. plant.

The plant’s conversion and construction of a batter plant will begin in May for the plant after Nissan closed on a $1.4 billion loan with the U.S. Department of Energy. Hertz Corp. has stated that it plans to rent the Nissan Leaf in selected markets in the US and Europe starting in early 2011.

Audi to Use the e-Tron Designation for its Electric Vehicle

Reply

As you may know already Audi is working hard on its upcoming electric cars, but today we find out something new regarding these cars. It appears that the German manufacturer is planning to use e-Tron designation for its electric vehicles, just like the current vehicles bear the “quattro” designation.

According to the latest reports, Audi will produce an initial run of 100 units of its e-tron electric sports car at the Ingolstadt factory in 2012, but an expansion of the production volume to 1000 units is planned. The first electric car will be based on the E-Tron Concept, unveiled back in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show and will use a modified platform as well as its aluminum construction from the R8 sports car.

U.S. Government Closed a $1.4 Billion EV Loan With Nissan

Reply

The Department of Energy received $25 billion from Congress to dole out for green vehicles, the latest recipient of which is Nissan. The funding, which was part of an energy independence bill passed in 2007, intends to give a $1.4 billion loan to Nissan to help prepare its US production site for the all-electric 2012 Leaf.

Nissan’s Smyrna, Tennessee, plant will be modified. Nissan will also break ground on a new nearby factory to manufacture the battery packs. The Smyrna plant manufactures the Maxima, Altima, Frontier, and Pathfinder.

Scott Becker, senior vice president of administration and finance at Nissan North America, said that Nissan applauds the Department of Energy’s “support of the development of innovative, advanced vehicle technologies, and the creation of clean energy jobs.”

Becker talked about Nissan’s commitment to zero-emission mobility. He said that the loan is a “significant step in sustaining American jobs and American manufacturing.” An upshot of the loan is that up to 1,300 jobs will be created.

Nissan aims for the facility to produce up to 150,000 Leafs and 200,000 batteries per year for global consumption. The modification project will begin later this year. Nissan plans to launch the Leaf in the U.S., Japan, and Europe in December of this year.

Tesla S to Go on Sale in 2012

Reply

This is the production version of Tesla’s Model S luxury electric hatch that will go on sale in 2012. The Model S is a five-door car that has the same size as the BMW 5-Series. It will likely be sold in the UK after its launch. Incidentally, Tesla’s European HQ will open in London later this year.

According to Tesla’s engineering boss, former Jaguar and Lotus man Peter Rawlinson, the car is “deep in the design and engineering phase.” It is claimed that the Model S is able to seat seven – with standard front and rear seats for five and two rear-facing seats in the boot similar to the style of the Mercedes E-class estate. Luggage is supposed to go under the bonnet. In an interview with Autocar, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that they’re still figuring out a way to improve headroom. Musk said that 20,000 Model S hatches are expected to be built in about a year but with the addition of other variants on the S platform, this figure could rise to 30,000-40,000. Rawlinson also told Autocar that two extra models are probable. The choices include a crossover, a coupe and a cabrio. Tesla announced that so far, 1,000 of its Lotus Elise-based Roadsters had been sold.

[Source: Autocar]

MINI Hands Over 40 EVs to British Test Drivers

Reply

MINI has officially begun the UK phase of its electric vehicle test program. Six months after 500 MINI Es were delivered to customers in the U.S., another 40 examples have found new homes in British garages. While U.S. customers got 12-month leases on the battery-powered cars, British drivers will only get six-month terms. After that time, a second group will their get their hands on the cars.

Just as MINI is doing here in the U.S., BMW is using this test to evaluate both how the vehicles behave in real world use with ordinary drivers as well as how the drivers themselves behave. What they are looking for is to see how often drivers plug in, how far they drive and how much of the range they use.
 

[Source: BMW]