Proposed support from the federal government could help automakers catch up with China on EVs, over 10 years. Nissan teases a dual-motor Leaf. SUVs are a big part of the CO2 problem. The EPA says that despite a higher limit it will reduce CO2. And Honda renames its hybrids and plug-ins. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.
Honda has announced a new global rebranding strategy for its electrified vehicles. Gone is the existing hybrid badging—including “two-motor” and “i-MMD”—replaced by nomenclature like e:HEV for hybrids and e:BEV for fully electrics. Honda in the U.S. hasn’t yet verified it’s signed on, though.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler claimed last week, after an address to the Detroit Economic Club, that its new emissions rules—at a fuel-efficiency equivalent of 37 mpg—should actually cap CO2 output at a lower level than the Obama-era rules. How? By cutting out loopholes, he said. We’re eager to see an independent organization to a number-crunch on how this would work.
On a per-mile basis, SUVs are responsible for the second-largest increase in CO2 emissions over the past 10 years. The results relate back to a surprising reality: the increase in carbon emissions across the U.S. over the past decade, despite gains in vehicle efficiency.
After years of saying that it couldn’t make a dual-motor Nissan Leaf, mostly for battery and underfloor packaging reasons, the carmaker has found a way—by fitting the current-generation Leaf with at least part of its next-generation scalable electric powertrain. So far they’ve only called it an engineering exercise, with no plans to produce this very quick Leaf.
And over the weekend we reported on Senator Chuck Schumer’s proposal to boost EVs and the companies making them in the U.S. Would it be a little too much like Cash for Clunkers, or at $454 billion over 10 years, is it the long-term support the industry needs to catch up?
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