Startups
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Mysterious startup carmaker Faraday Future has now revealed the FFZERO1 concept, a supercar built to demonstrate the flexibility of its modular electric-car architecture. The Variable Platform Architecture, or VPA, is essentially a skateboard design with a flat battery pack, a motor on one or both axles, and crash structures front and rear. Faraday plans to build its first production car using VPA within two years. DON'T MISS: Faraday Future Asks: How Would You Invent A Car With A Clean Sheet Of Paper? But what form that car may take was not discussed in the presentation, nor were any details...
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Is An Electric Scoot Quad (Nee Renault Twizy) Car-Sharing's Urban Future?
In San Francisco, driving a bright-red tandem two-seat electric Renault Twizy gets you noticed--by everyone from sweet little old ladies to skate punks. Even on Castro Street. On Halloween. We spent a weekend with the low-speed electric vehicle, which is just being added to the Scoot Networks fleet...
John Voelcker -
More Faraday Info: Chinese Billionaire Backer, Ex-Tesla Staff For Electric-Car Startup
It seems like something out of a movie: a mysterious startup company operates for a few years in total secrecy, then drops plans for a billion-dollar factory that will build electric cars. But that's the summary of the secretive Faraday Future, about which a bit more information slipped out last...
John Voelcker -
Faraday Future: Startup Promises Long-Range Electric Car In 2017
Over cocktails, two former Lotus colleagues met up in Irvine, California, the mecca for car design. They realized they shared a common dream: to create a next-generation electric vehicle... With a photo of a drink on a bar napkin, so begins the creation myth for Faraday Future, the secretive...
John Voelcker -
Elio Motors Raises $22 Million From Small Investors, Still Needs $130 Million More
As one website put it--in a piece tagged to lure Tesla Motors fans--Elio Motors is "the other automotive startup" to which those fans should presumably pay attention. But even Tesla CEO Elon Musk hasn't proposed "crowdsourcing" his product-development funds. Given that Elio now seems to have raised...
John Voelcker -
Is Next Battery Advance Not In Chemistry But Fabrication?
A Boston-area startup claims it can drastically reduce the cost of battery manufacturing.
Stephen Edelstein -
When Paul Elio said in April that his startup carmaker, Elio Motors, was pursuing crowdsourced funding, most journalists likely imagined sites like Kickstarter or GoFundMe. In fact, the investment opportunity is slightly more formal than that. Elio needs to raise roughly $230 million to start manufacturing its three-wheeled, two-seat, "84-mpg" vehicle in a 4-million-square-foot former General Motors plant in Shreveport, Louisiana. DON'T MISS: Elio Motors: First-Ever Auto-Show Press Event In NYC Touts '84-MPG' Three-Wheel Car So the company is now offering early-stage investments to so-called...
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Tesla Model S, Three Years Later: What Electric Car Taught Us
Three years ago today, the very first production Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan was delivered to its buyer. That would be Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, who's also a Tesla board member. The delivery took place, on a weekend, as soon as the Model S had been fully certified...
John Voelcker -
The Challenges Paul Elio Faces To Launch A Three-Wheel, 84-MPG, $6,800 Car
Startup Elio Motors, which needs $230 million to begin production of its radical lightweight, two-seat, three-wheeled fuel-efficient vehicle, is still about $165 million short. CEO Paul Elio, speaking at last week's New York Auto Show, said it has taken more than 41,000 deposits from eager...
John Voelcker -
Elio Motors: First-Ever Auto-Show Press Event In NYC Touts '84-MPG' Three-Wheel Car
Startup automaker Elio Motors put on its first-ever car-show press conference last week, taking the last slot on Thursday's media schedule at the New York Auto Show. Founder and CEO Paul Elio appeared at a simple podium in front of a bright-orange prototype Elio three-wheeled vehicle. He spoke...
John Voelcker -
How Many Tesla Model S Electric Cars Have Been Built So Far?
While Tesla likely won't reveal last year's total production of Model S electric cars until it releases year-end financial results, it has said it expected to build 33,000 during 2014. And with the Model S in production for more than two and a half years, clearly there are tens of thousands of them...
John Voelcker -
Mobile Battery Carts: The Answer To Blocked Charging Stations?
FreeWire believes its Mobi Charger is the answer to overtaxed workplace charging infrastructure.
Stephen Edelstein -
Lit Motors demonstrates a prototype of its C-1 self-balancing electric motorcycle.
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Echo Automotive Fails: Bolt-On Plug-In Hybrid Kits Used Bright Technology
Starting a company is tough; starting a company in the green automotive field may be even tougher. So it seemed like the engineering team from defunct startup Bright Automotive, once granted investment by GM, might have a second chance to see their technology on the road. The assets and...
John Voelcker -
Will 'Bolt-On' Plug-In Hybrid Package Succeed For Fleets Where Bright Failed?
"Green is a tough sell if it doesn't actually save money." Those are the words of Echo Automotive chairman Jason Plotke, whose company aims to make bolt-on hybrid solutions for existing commercial vehicles a reality. Speaking to Charged EVs, Plotke says he's explaining very clearly the advantages...
Antony Ingram -
Why Tesla's Elon Musk Must Sell 6 Million Electric Cars To Make History
Many entrepreneurs have tried to start car companies in the U.S. over the past century, but the last person to do so from the ground up with a brand that survives to this day was Walter P. Chrysler. He started his company in December 1924--which indicates the magnitude of the challenge faced by...
John Voelcker -
The Epic Failure Of Better Place, As Covered By Fast Company
The remarkable scope, overwhelming ambition, and epic failure of the Better Place electric-car service in Israel is worthy of a book, or several. But until one appears, Fast Company magazine has produced the most comprehensive article yet on the founding--and foundering--of the great Better Place...
John Voelcker -
Electric Truck Maker Smith Vehicles Suspends Operations, Not Shutting Down
Kansas City-based Smith Electric Vehicles has become the latest electric-vehicle building startup to cease operations--though the company says it isn't shutting its doors for good. The firm builds electrically-powered commercial vehicles both in the U.S. and abroad, but hasn't yet turned a profit...
Antony Ingram -
In the world of startup electric car automakers, things don't always go to plan. With the best will in the world, release dates get pushed back, prices go up and initial promises fade away as if they were never made. It may not come as much of a surprise then to learn that Detroit Electric, a small automaker aiming to build a Tesla Roadster-like sports car called the SP:01, will no longer be building the cars in the city which shares its name. According to The Detroit News, the company will instead build the cars in Holland, a region of The Netherlands in Europe. The company first announced a...
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Lit Motors C1 All-Electric Two-Wheeler Update: Still In Development (Video)
Human beings are curious beasts. Tell them something outlandish, even something backed by scientific method, and they'll try and prove it wrong anyway. Non-stick pans? Let's see what I can burn onto it! Unbreakable pen? Yeah, sure. ALSO SEE: Life With Tesla Model S: Is Pedal Placement A Problem?...
Antony Ingram -
Delays At Detroit Electric Postpone Electric Sports Car By A Month
Forgive the cynicism, but color us not all that surprised at the news that startup automaker Detroit Electric is postponing production of its SP:01 electric sports car by "at least a month." Launched in a flurry of media attention in early April, the plug-in electric SP:01 sports coupe is...
John Voelcker -
Tesla To Issue More Stock, Pay Off Energy Dept With Proceeds
Since Tesla issued its first-quarter financials last week, its stock has been on a tear. Not only did the company have its first profitable quarter ever, but the many investors who had shorted the stock of Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] are now faced with the threat of expensive margin calls. So Tesla is...
John Voelcker -
VPG Shuts Down; Startup Van Maker Was Backed By DoE Loans
While Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] is on a roll--with a rave review from Consumer Reports and a profitable quarter--other startup automakers aren't faring so well. And now another small car company that received low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Energy is in trouble and has halted...
John Voelcker -
Greentech Auto's Electric Sedan: Haven't We Seen This Before?
Suppose you took a Chinese-made compact sedan, converted it to a battery-electric vehicle, and sold it in the U.S. market. Does that story line sound familiar? If so, you may be thinking of Coda Automotive, the now-all-but-defunct maker of the 2012 Coda Sedan. Coda flashed into our minds on reading...
John Voelcker