BYD’s electric taxis hit Hong Kong roads with big ambitions

Warren Buffett-backed Chinese carmaker BYD Co Ltd rolled out Hong Kong’s first electric taxi fleet on Wednesday, marking a milestone for its all-electric battery car that highlights its promise and its limitations.

“We expect to increase the number of e6 taxis in Hong Kong to 5,000 in three years,” said Liu Xueliang, general manager of BYD Asia Pacific sales, after the company announced it is making a push in the former British colony to encourage the use of its all-electric e6 taxi.

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Manufacturers welcome electric vehicle road map

Vehicle manufacturers in South Africa have welcomed the launch of the Electronic Vehicle Industry Road Map, which aims to introduce electric vehicles into the South African market.

“It’s a tremendous initiative and a good start to working with all stakeholders. We will fully support it,” Nisssan SA CEO Mike Whitfield said on Thursday.

Toyota SA CEO Johan van Zyl and BMW CEO Bodo Donauer congratulated the initiative. “This is not a short term issue; it’s a long term plan. It is a process whereby we have to work together to first of all, establish the infrastructure. From the motor industry side, the technology has already been developed and is available whether it’s electric or hybrids. In the future, [most] vehicles will use alternative technology.

“This is the right time to start. If we don’t start sometime, we will be left behind,” said Van Zyl, adding that the country needed to ensure a greener environment in future.

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Officials celebrate as electric vehicle-to-grid technology sells power to PJM power grid

Joined by government and industry leaders, the University of Delaware and NRG Energy celebrated an important milestone for their eV2g project on Friday, becoming an official resource of PJM Interconnection and proving for the first time that electric vehicle-to-grid technology can sell electricity from electric vehicles (EVs) to the power grid. 

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and senior officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and the state were among those who participated in an event at UD’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus to mark the achievements.

“Moving innovative ideas out of the classroom and into the marketplace is critical to growing our economy,” said Markell. “The partnership between NRG and the University of Delaware perfectly illustrates the potential for research institutions to spur economic development.”

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London has been officially selected as one of only eight cities around the world to host a race as part of the upcoming Formula E electric car racing series.

The capital beat stiff competition from 23 cities around the world that expressed an interest in hosting one of the 10 races planned for next year. It now joins Rome, Los Angeles, Miami, Beijing, Putrajaya, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro as the selected locations for the inaugural season. Formula E Holdings, the promoter of the FIA Formula E Championship, said two more races would be announced at a later date.

The organiser is now planning to work with each of the selected cities to confirm their feasibility and finalise the calendar for the first season, with a view to signing formal agreements with the host cities by July. The final calendar will then be presented to the FIA for final approval at its World Motor Sport Council summit in September.

“The fact that cities from all over the world are interested in the FIA Formula E Championship is extremely heartening and shows a global commitment to clean mobility and sustainability,” said Alejandro Agag, chief executive of Formula E Holdings, in a statement. “The provisional calendar we publish today is composed of cities in America, Europe and Asia. We look forward to also racing in Africa and Australasia from 2015 onwards.”

He added that the company would now work with the cities to ensure the tracks adhere to the championship’s goal of delivering city centre racing that can demonstrate the benefits of electric vehicles to as wide an audience as possible.

“[All the races will] be in city centres, easily accessible by public transport, and will feature some of the most beautiful and well-known landmarks as a spectacular backdrop for the races,” he explained. “The fact that we will only race in city centres highlights the main message of our Championship: the electric car as a solution for mobility in cities of the future.”

The news was welcomed by London Mayor Boris Johnson who described the plans for an electric vehicle championship as a “scintillating concept”.

“I am hugely keen that London be involved in the birth of Formula E,” he said. “It has the potential to highlight the impressive strides being made in the manufacture of electric vehicles and hosting a street race could also be of considerable economic benefit to our city.”

Formula E Holdings will now turn its attention to filling the grid for the championship, after the UK-based Team Drayson and Team China Racing recently became the first two teams to confirm their involvement.

Estonia has become the first country in the world to install a nationwide system of fast chargers for electrical vehicles, the manager of the new system said, as part of European efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

The 165 chargers were produced and installed by engineering group ABB, and construction was financed from the government’s sale of 10 million surplus CO2 emission permits to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation.

The 2011 deal with Mitsubishi also provided the government with more that 500 electric cars and the financing of a subsidiary system for people to purchase electric cars.

“Now is the time to really press the pedal and move forward in electrical mobility. We have proved that there is a real possibility to set up a network in a country, and there are no technical barriers,” Jarmo Tuisk, head of the program which has run the scheme to set up the network, said in an interview on Wednesday.

Estonia and other countries have seen weak take-up of electric vehicles due to high driving costs and their short range from a single charge.

The network of fast chargers strategically placed along roads and in towns means that users need not worry about running out of power during their journeys. It also features a nationwide unified payment system.

Estonia, with a population of about 1.2 million, has 619 all-electric cars, of which 500 are used by public authorities and about 100 by private people and companies.

That amounts to one electric vehicle for every 1,000 cars, second only to Norway, which has four per 1,000. The Netherlands is third at 0.6 per 1,000.

Tuisk said that with the national charging network in place he hoped the number of electrical vehicles owned individuals or companies would double to 200 this year.

Electric vehicle consortium signs bus agreements with Poland

A Chinese electric vehicle consortium led by the Beijing Institute of Technology has signed agreements to help develop an electric bus network in Poland.

According to the agreements signed with Warsaw University of Technology and Tauron Polska Energia SA - the largest Polish electric power company - the Chinese side and Tauron will establish an electric vehicle public transportation system in Poland in the first phase.

Six electric buses with a platform developed by Beijing Institute of Technology, including apower battery swapping system, a battery charging and discharging station, and an emergencyservice system, will be made for the two-year trial project in Poland.

The Chinese group consists of BIT and its subsidiary BIT Huachuang Electric VehicleTechnology Co Ltd, along with CITIC Guoan Mengguli Power Science and Technology Co Ltd,and Shanghai Dianba New Energy Technology Co Ltd.

Six charging and swapping stations will later be set up in five Polish cities, with 780 purelyelectric buses in operation.

BIT Huachuang and Tauron will also seek to promote their jointly developed technology in otherEuropean countries.

As one of the earliest research units to develop a commercial purely electric vehicle powersystem platform, BIT has cooperated with more than 10 Chinese automobile companies,including Foton, Yutong, Zhongtong Bus and GAC Group, to produce more than 2,000 purelyelectric commercial vehicles.

It has also cooperated with Beijing Public Transport Holdings, CITIC Guoan Mengguli andBeijing Dianba on the operation of electric buses at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo,Guangzhou Asian Games, and the Chinese government’s 10-city 1,000-electric vehicleprogram.

Analysts said the electric vehicles would remain primarily for public transportation because ofgovernment and corporate procurement.

Battery and electric car producer BYD Co Ltd has also started to enter overseas electric busmarkets.

In December, the Warren Buffett-backed company said it will establish its first wholly ownedoverseas manufacturing plant in 2013 in the United States to produce electric buses.

The facility in California will be operational in 2013 and is expected to have an annualproduction capacity of more than 500 vehicles by 2015.

BYD has also signed a joint venture with a Bulgarian company to set up its first factory toassemble electric vehicles in the Eastern European country.

The first batch of 50 to 60 of its K9 electric buses is expected to roll off the production line this month.

The move was a result of BYD’s aim to use local production to export its electric buses to more European countries, including the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark.

Besides Europe, BYD has signed agreements with local governments in Singapore, Uruguay,Canada and the United States on the use of its buses in public transportation.

According to a recent report from US-based market research and consulting firm PikeResearch, the global market for electric buses is expected to grow steadily over the next sixyears, with a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent from 2012 to 2018.

US: Maine ski area installs electric car chargers

Western Maine’s Mount Abram ski area says it’s the second in North America to install electric vehicle charging stations.

The Greenwood ski area has installed a pair of 220-volt charging centers. They’re located close to the main lodge, rewarding guests who arrive in electric and hybrid cars. Mount Abram says its charging centers show the privately owned ski area’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Stevens Pass Ski Area in Washington also has electric vehicle charging stations.

Finland: Sporty electric car on its way

The Finnish company Scarlet Motors was born out of two men’s passion for cars. They are now developing a sporty electric car. Although it will take a while before it will be launched on the market, expectations are already red hot.

The men behind Scarlet Motors are Julien Fourgeaud and Joona Kallio. Both say that their love of cars goes back to when they were little boys. Kallio discovered electric cars after joining the “Electric Cars – Now” community, whose objective is to convert cars fitted with a combustion engine into electric cars.

Joona soon understood the potential that lies in electric cars. I had also been monitoring the development of the modern electric car pioneer Tesla and I was quite interested in its technology, says the company’s CEO Fourgeaud, recalling the company’s early days. Surprisingly little effort has been put into the design of electric cars. As a designer, Joona looked at the cars from a new perspective and came to the conclusion that if someone designed a car sexy enough, people wouldn’t care whether it’s electric or not. He founded a company and asked me on board.

Developing a new car takes three years on average. According to Fourgeaud, Finland has the perfect conditions for developing a new car. The country has a high number of companies operating in the automotive industry. The Finns are car aficionados and Finland is home to some top drivers. The perseverance inherent in Finnish culture has also made it easier for us to start developing our own car and to build a partner network, Fourgeaud lists.

Scarlet Motors was launched in August 2012, but prior to that, a lot of work had already been done to create the team and the technology. The car’s design language is now complete, and a prototype is currently under construction. Unlike people tend to think, technology is not the biggest challenge. In the midst of all the excitement, the most important thing is to maintain a clear goal and keep the product as simple as possible.

When asked when the car will be ready to hit the roads, Fourgeaud refuses to give any forecasts. The car will be ready in due course. We have learned from our past experiences that it’s more important to focus on quality and to spend as much time on the development work as it requires rather than try to carry out a project as fast as possible.

In Fourgeaud’s view, the future of electric cars is promising — once the technology and the attitudes have matured.

When smartphones were launched, they were seen as products intended for a small, specific target group, the equipment and data connections were considered expensive and the number of services limited. Since then, the situation has changed. Today, the majority of people have smartphones. The costs have come down and a myriad of useful applications is available. Electric cars may still be in their early stages, but thanks to their energy efficiency, they will rapidly gain ground over time.

In addition to new electric car companies, such as Scarlet Motors, an increasing number of conventional car manufacturers are introducing electric vehicles to the market.  Consumers are being provided with a broader selection of products, and competition drives the market forward. The significant increase in charging points will also boost interest in electric cars during the next few years.

Electric vehicles to make headway in Hong Kong with taxis

Wong Sek-lun, a taxi driver in Hong Kong, is not impressed by the idea of using an electric cab.

“They wouldn’t go very far before running out of battery, which means you’d have to recharge them twice in a shift,” he said, while driving through slow-moving traffic in his petrol-engine vehicle in the ubiquitous red.

While the adoption of electric vehicles has been slow here, Hong Kong’s large fleet of taxis could soon become a testing ground for meaningful inclusion of more electric and hybrid cars on the roads. But the limitations of driving electric vehicles, which have no emissions when driven, make them seem impractical for taxis, experts say, for precisely the reason that Wong mentioned.

Roadside pollution is one of the most in-your-face environmental problems here — you really do feel it, on a daily basis, in your face. Vehicle emissions, some of them diesel, on highly congested roads are to blame, and they contribute to 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the government.

In April, there were a meager 310 purely electric vehicles in use in Hong Kong, many of which belonged to the government. That is out of the more than 550,000 vehicles in the city. But Hong Kong taxi companies’ adoption of electric vehicles, as well as hybrids, soon to be in a trial stage, could be a first step in creating awareness about these types of cars, analysts say. Hong Kong has more than 18,000 taxis.

Earlier this year, Nissan had announced plans of introducing 50 of its Leaf model electric taxis next year as a trial, and then deliver about 100 of its NV200 electric vans, which are slated to be used in London and New York as taxis. The Chinese electric carmaker BYD had similarly said it would also introduce into the local fleet its e6 model, while the dealer of Fiat planned to make its move with its Doblo electric van.

This month, Toyota’s distributor here said that it had received orders for 20 hybrid taxis, which are fueled by petrol but run partly on batteries, which lessens their carbon emissions significantly. And in a city that has been slow in adopting “green” car technologies, riding as a passenger in one of these taxis will be the first contact for many here to the world of low-emissions vehicles.

“Most people in Hong Kong still have some reservations about using electric cars,” said Eric Cheng, professor of electrical engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Cheng said having electric taxis on the roads would be a strong way to promote electric vehicles to the Hong Kong population in general, especially if the government could subsidize rides in those taxis.

The main concern among the public, Cheng said, is the limited distance that electric vehicles can go before needing to be recharged, which produces what the industry calls range anxiety. “In a taxi, they don’t know how much of the battery is left, so more people will be brave about taking the EV car.”

But the short range of electric cars — about 100 kilometers — is particularly problematic for taxis. Most taxis travel about 400 kilometers per shift, which means they will have to be recharged at least twice, according to analysts. Another reason the general public is reluctant to adopt electric vehicles is worries about accessing charging stations. Right now, there are about 1,000 charging ports in the city.

“Unless the government has a law or rule that every car park has charging ports so we can recharge our vehicles at night, it will be very difficult” to have widespread usage of electric vehicles, said K.T. Chau, the director of the International Research Centre for Electric Vehicles at the University of Hong Kong.

For this reason, Chau said he does not think it makes sense to use electric taxis. Instead, he thinks hybrids are a more realistic solution. “The hybrid electric vehicle is very mature and it can instantaneously not totally solve but alleviate pollution problems, particularly roadside emissions,” he said.

Some other developed countries in the region like Japan and South Korea have come to embrace electric cars, but that is because they have car industries that promote the use of electric vehicles, says Chau.

Despite the drawbacks, the public transportation sector is receiving large subsidies from the government for introducing low-emissions vehicles into their fleets.

But for Wong, who rents his cab from a taxi company, he only sees hassle in the prospect of becoming a guinea pig in the early days of electric taxis. “Unless the government requires you to use electric taxis, then there’s nothing you could do about it,” he said. “Otherwise, no one would want to recharge twice a day.”

Free EV chargers installed along the Trans-Canada highway

Executives of a Canadian company that distributes electric vehicle chargers are crossing the country in a Tesla Roadster to show off the network of free 240V chargers the company has installed along the Trans-Canada highway.

Kent Rathwell, founder and president of Sun Country Highway, set off last weekend from St. John’s, carrying a jar of Atlantic sea water to be deposited in the Pacific when he and SCH vice-president Christopher Misch complete their journey in Victoria around Dec. 20. The jar of water substituted for the original plan of dipping of the car’s wheels into the Atlantic after the two men checked out the slick ramp to the Atlantic. “We didn’t want the drive to end before it started,” Rathwell said in a phone interview this week.

The wet weather and slick ramp were not the only potential hazard the two encountered in Newfoundland in Rathwell’s low-slung electric Tesla Roadster, which has an EPA rated range of about 356 km, or more than double most “mainstream” EVs like the Leaf or Ford’s electric Focus. “We managed to make it through before a rock slide came down that hit the road with rocks the size of pickup trucks.”

A map for the entire network is under wraps until its official unveiling when the month-long journey is completed in Victoria just before Christmas, though a company release about the drive launch noted that SCH partnered with “over 80 leading Canadian businesses and tourism destinations.”

But since the Level Two stations donated by SCH are now up and running, many have been identified, mapped and discussed among EV owners already, including one at the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa and another at the Hilton Garden Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., which is about a 10-minute drive from Niagara Falls.

“We haven’t focused on the urban cores,” said Rathwell, which is where most electric vehicle infrastructure is currently located or planned. “Our model is to do the tough stuff first, and with no [direct] provincial and federal government funding.”

He credits the host locations for picking up the costs of installing the chargers SCH donated, which surprised him, as his plan was originally to fund it all. “Many of the people we spoke to had never seen an electric car, and some didn’t know they were already available at dealers.”

Rathwell says the 60- to 90-amp chargers help charge vehicles like the Tesla quicker than most L2 chargers, while it also future-proofs the stations to be able to charge faster in the years to come. He’s hoping the growing network will encourage more manufacturers to come out with more advanced EVs that can take advantage of these higher capability chargers, and more plug-in vehicles in general, and consumers to consider taking their own cross-country drive with their own plug-in vehicles as well.

“I can’t think of a better Christmas present I could give to Canada,” said Rathwell. “With this highway, we’re trying to help folks discover their country in an economically and environmentally responsible way.”

Canadian auto pricing site Unhaggle.com released its findings of the best factory discounts on sub-$60,000 vehicles recently; the largest was a $9,000 cash discount on 2012 Acura MDX models.

All five top discounts were for cash purchases, or for consumers who arranged financing elsewhere. Close behind was the perennially discounted Dodge Caravan, with eye-popping discounts of up to $8,100.

Deals such as these have whipped the new-car market into a buying frenzy lately, with last month being the best October on record, and 2012 being on track to beat the overall new-vehicle sales record of 1.7 million set in 2002, when a low Canadian dollar prompted dealers and consumers by the thousands to purchase vehicles here that went directly to the United States, according to a recent sales report by auto consultant Dennis DesRosiers.

Other deals were on 2012 vehicles that have been or will soon be replaced by all-new vehicles, such as the Mazda6 with a $7,000 rebate, the 2012 BMW 3-Series with up to $5,000 in factory discounts, the Nissan Sentra with a discount of up to $4,750, and the Toyota RAV4, with up to $4,000 in factory rebates.

“Dealers are also offering aggressive discounts on top of the incentives, too,” Radek Garbowski, co-founder of Unhaggle.com, which offers free Canadian invoice pricing, said in a statement.

“Though as consumers scoop up these great deals before the year-end, they need to move quickly and remain flexible on their options and colour choices as inventory dries up.”

The Chevrolet Spark EV and the Fiat 500e will both be shown at the Los Angeles auto show next week, but only the Spark EV will make it to Canada in 2013, with Fiat saying only that its electric hatchback will come to California in 2013.

The Spark EV will launch in the summer in the United States as the affordable performance EV, with 130 hp, a huge 400 lb-ft of torque, and weighing about 400 lb more than the regular 2,337-lb (1,060-kg) Spark.

Though GM is keeping some stats general until its official debut, it will offer a 20-kWh-plus battery pack that will provide the car with about 117 to 130 km of real-world range, according to its onboard displays after a brief sampling at a recent GM event. The displays provide a high and low range for current conditions, plus where you’re on track to end up.

GM predicts a 0-60 mph time of under eight seconds. No fuel economy predictions, production estimates or battery specifics yet, and certainly not prices.

A request for confirmation from Chrysler Canada on whether the electric Fiat 500 would come to Canada next year was not answered before my deadline, but if it was coming soon, we would have heard more about it by now.

Audi Canada did confirm, however, that the four diesel models it will unveil at the L.A. show will also come to Canada, all of them with a similar 3.0-litre TDI V-6. The A8 TDI will arrive first in the spring, with the A6, A7 and Q5 crossovers coming in the fall.

Nissan upgrades Leaf electric car, lowers price

The upgraded Nissan Motor Co. Leaf electric car can travel further without recharging, comes in a cheaper model and tells drivers how much battery life is left.

The changes in the revamped model, shown Tuesday at a Tokyo hotel, were based on feedback from owners whose chief worry was running out of electric juice while driving, Nissan officials said.

Electric cars emit no pollution, but they need to be recharged. Owners have charging equipment installed at home. But the scarcity of recharging stations on the roads has limited electric vehicles use to short commutes and kept zero-emission cars confined to a market niche.

The new model can travel 142 miles on a single charge, up from 124 miles as long as you don’t use air conditioning, because of improvements such as streamlining the battery system and the vehicle’s lighter weight, according to Nissan.

It sells for less than 2.5 million yen ($31,000) in Japan when stripped of fancy options and adding government green subsidies — more affordable than the cheapest previous model at just below 3 million yen ($37,000).

Nissan did not detail overseas sales plans but said similar upgrades were in the works.

The Leaf is the world’s most popular electric vehicle, comprising more than half of all electric car sales. Leaf global sales since late 2010 total 43,000 vehicles, about half of them in Japan.

More than 17,000 Leaf cars have been sold in the U.S. and monthly sales are recently at about 1,500 vehicles, according to Nissan.

Senior Vice President Masaaki Nishizawa told reporters the Leaf does away with the hassles of going to gas stations and allows drivers a cleaner conscience.

“People who try out the Leaf are moved,” he said. “But they are worried about cruise range.”

When the Leaf first went on sale, recharging facilities were at 200 Nissan dealerships in Japan. That will grow to 700 Nissan dealers later this year, or 1,200 locations, when including other spots such as convenience stores.

Among other changes to the Leaf:

- Roomier luggage space after the recharging mechanism became smaller and was moved to the front.

- A dashboard display that tells how much battery charge is left.

- A navigation system that calculates the best energy-saving route to your destination.

- A smaller, lighter recharging nozzle.

- Reduction of rare-earth use by 40 percent for the electric motor.

Croatia breaks EV speed records with 1984 BMW

The companies said the collaboration would lead to a collaborative research and development centre of excellence for EV technology.

“It will also allow both parties to work hand-in-hand to bring to market commercial applications for EVs to Malaysia and Singapore,” it said in a joint statement.

GE Asean, country director of growth initiatives, Azli Mohamed, said he was confident that their consistent efforts in EV deployment would contribute towards the Government’s aim to turn Malaysia into a green technology hub.

“The collaboration is aligned with the goal of the Asean Economic Community to integrate industries across the region to promote regional sourcing and enhance private sector involvement,” he added. - Bernama

A battery-powered car has broken the UK land-speed record for electric vehicles at Elvington airfield near York, its makers have said.

The Nemesis, a heavily-modified Lotus Exige which was originally bought off eBay, clocked an average speed of 151.6mph (244km/h). The car was designed and built by a team of British motorsport engineers in Norfolk, and driven by estate agent Nick Ponting, 21, from Gloucestershire.

The old record was 137mph (220km/h). The vehicle clocked 151.607mph during two runs along the mile-long course. During an earlier attempt it managed an average speed of 148.419mph

Mr Ponting said: “It was brilliant. The car felt really good. The conditions were perfect. We’ve smashed the record and then gone and done a second run and done it again. The acceleration is phenomenal. It gets to the top speed very quickly.”

The car runs on green electricity which has been generated by wind turbines, run by the Stroud-based company Ecotricity. Dale Vince from Ecotricity said: “We built the Nemesis to smash the stereotype of electric cars as something Noddy would drive - slow, boring, not cool.” The previous record had been held by Don Wales, the grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell.

An attempt by Mr Wales’s son, Joe Wales, to beat the record in Bluebird Electric last year, was thwarted after the vehicle’s suspension was damaged by a pothole at Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire.

The record still needs to be ratified by the Motor Sports Association before the record can be officially declared.

The Government of B.C. is partially funding 454 new electrical vehicle charging stations, which will be built by businesses, community groups and local governments across the province by March 2013.

The charging stations will go up at key locations like city halls, shopping centres and hotels, explained Environment Minister Terry Lake from the Brentwood Town Centre parking lot on Wednesday — one of 71 groups that have been approved for 75 per cent funding to install 286 electric fuelling stations.

“We’re providing more accessibility for electric vehicle owners so that they can have the convenience of charging up at Brentwood Town Centre here in Burnaby and of course different locations across the province,” said Lake.

The province is also distributing $182,416 among 12 local governments to help them choose locations for another 168 public charging stations.

In April, the Ministry of Environment announced a $2.7 million Community Charging Infrastructure Fund to promote the use of electric transportation.

The ministry says 210 electric vehicles have been sold or leased since the province introduced a $5,000 credit program last November.

The 71 organizations to install the 286 level two charging stations and the number of charging stations to be installed are  HERE.