Transportation

Chinese seem to share Americans' fears that EVs aren't ready for the big time.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Better Place

Better Place, the Silicon Valley company founded by former high-tech executive and Israel native Shai Agassi in 2007, has delivered the first 100 electric cars to Israeli customers. After years of tests and trial programs, the deliveries mark a big step in the company's efforts to build out an electric-vehicle charging and battery-exchanging network throughout the country.

Better Place has delivered the Renault Fluence Z.E. EVs to Israel, Bloomberg News reported, citing an e-mail from Better Place Israel Chief Executive Officer Moshe Kaplinsky. The company will deliver more EVs to Israel and is planning on rolling out a similar network in Denmark. Better Place said last month that it would roll out the program with Eldan Group, Israel's largest rental car company, and would target private consumers and corporate fleets.

Better Place is looking to promote the concept - based on the cell phone model - that motorists should be able to lease batteries and battery charging time so that buying an electric vehicle does not require them to also purchase a battery pack that can cost as much as the car itself.

The company said late last year that it raised another $200 million in equity financing from companies such as General Electric and UBS AG and that it would use the funds to expand its electric-vehicle battery swapping network throughout Western Europe and other parts of the world. The funding brought the company's total to almost $800 million in equity financing and almost doubled the company's valuation to $2.25 billion since its previous round of equity funding in January 2010.

Better Place starts Renault EV deliveries in Israel originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, MPG, Legislation and Policy, USA

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is holding meetings that could put the hammer down on getting more zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) on the road - or so it seems at first glance.

CARB, which always looks far down the road, is discussing how it will change the ZEV program that concerns the model year 2018 vehicles and beyond. The proposal (PDF, but watch out: it's 670 pages that are not searchable!) could force automakers to add half a million pure electric or fuel cell vehicles and another 900,000 plug-in hybrids by 2025, writes the New York Times. Overall, CARB's proposal would increase the market segment of advanced clean cars from four percent in 2025 to up to 15 percent. CARB is also asking for more hydrogen stations to be built.

That may all sound good, but there's another side to the story, one that's a big loophole. Plug In America is calling on its members to oppose a portion of the proposal that could actually reduce the number of ZEVs on the roads in the future. Comparatively, anyway. In a letter to the DOE and EPA, CARB Chair Mary Nichols wrote:

California commits to propose that its revised ZEV program for the 2018-2021 MYs include a provision providing that over-compliance with the federal GHG standards in the prior model year may be used to reduce in part a manufacturer's ZEV obligation in the next model year.

The details are that, for every two grams per mile of GHG overcompliance, an automaker could "cut the number of pure electric-drive vehicles [it has to offer] by as much as 50% over the 2018 to 2021," writes Plug In America, which also calls it a "sweetheart deal" and "a bad deal for California and for the United States." PIA writes that Honda, Hyundai and Toyota lobbied for this overcompliance language. We'll keep following this one.

CARB's new ZEV mandate revision could add 1.4m more advanced green cars, while creating a big loophole originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Green Culture

Revenge of the Electric Car filmmaker Chris Paine's sequel to 2006's Who Killed the Electric Car? is now available on DVD and videostreaming. The film, which was released in theaters last fall, became available on Tuesday through retailers such as Wal-mart, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and Amazon.com. The title is also being distributed via video-on-demand through companies such as Verizon, DirecTV and Netflix.

The film, which was released in theaters last fall, follows the progress of industry executives and electric-car players such as former General Motors executive Bob Lutz, Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk, and includes commentary from Wall Street Journal auto writer Dan Neil. AutoblogGreen reviewed the film here. The home-video version includes extras such as footage of a 35-minute panel discussion at the Tribeca Film Festival that included Paine, Musk, Ghosn and Neil that was moderated by actor David Duchovny.

Paine's Who Killed the Electric Car? documented the demise of GM's beloved but ill-fated EV1.

Continue reading Revenge of the Electric Car now available on DVD and streaming

Revenge of the Electric Car now available on DVD and streaming originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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