Department of Energy
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Well, give them credit for resolve, anyway. General Motors said today it was withdrawing its applications to the U.S. Department of Energy for $14.4 billion of low-interest loans under the DoE's advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program. That's the program that so far has granted loans to Ford, Nissan, and Tesla in June 2009, and added more for Fisker the following September. Under the terms of the loans, carmakers must refurbish factories to make cars or parts that are at least 25 percent more fuel-efficient than the ones they replace. Ford will use its $8 billion of loans primarily...
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2011 Nissan Leaf Laurels: Euro Car of the Year, U.S. Cell Plant Underway
Initial deliveries of the 2011 Nissan Leaf battery electric car have been fitful, compared to hundreds of Chevy Volts sold each week. But Nissan's first modern mass-produced battery electric car continues to rack up accomplishments (and the company says it will be at full production by March)...
John Voelcker -
Struggling Startup Carmaker V-Vehicles Names CEO, Renames Itself
Startups are hard. Automaker startups may be harder. But one of the necessary qualities in startups--tenacity--was on display recently from Next Autoworks. New name, new CEO That's the new name of the former V-Vehicles Inc., which attracted funding from famed Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner...
John Voelcker -
A123 Spin-Off 24M Lands $16M To Explore Next Frontier Of Batteries
Last week, advanced battery company A123Systems announced that it was spinning off a new venture called 24M Technologies, which would focus on more unorthodox energy storage innovations, including grid-scale flow batteries. One of the reasons it decided to release the new entity into the wild was...
John Voelcker -
Who Buys a 2011 Nissan Leaf? Toyota Prius Owners, Of Course
So who are these strange people who might want something as unusual, as perplexing, as downright radical as an electric car? More specifically, an all-electric 2011 Nissan Leaf compact hatchback? Turns out they're the same people who wanted the last most radical type of family car: a...
John Voelcker -
2010 Coda Sedan: Exclusive Video Gives Electric-Car Details
Launching a brand-new car make is a tough task; just ask General Motors (RIP Saturn). But if you're electric-car startup Coda Automotive, you have at least one plus (it's a pure electric car, which is sexy) to offset several potential minuses (who's Coda? it's made in China? I can't buy one outside...
John Voelcker -
Over the last year, the U.S. Department of Energy has granted almost $9 billion of low-interest loans to help automakers retool for more fuel-efficient cars. But until now, General Motors and Chrysler had been shut out while Ford, Nissan, and Tesla were awarded loans last June, joined by Fisker in September. According to a report last week in the Detroit News, that exclusion may be about to end. The DoE is said to be ready to grant loans to each company now that both have emerged from bankruptcy. General Motors has applied for $14.4 billion, including a number of requests originated by...
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Exclusive: VVC Reveals Its White Plastic V-Car, But No Photos
Just a month after being turned down for low-interest loans by the U.S. Department of Energy, the reclusive V-Vehicle Co. has shown a drivable prototype of its affordable, green V-Car to Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and members of the press in Baton Rouge. While no photos were allowed, many more...
John Voelcker -
DoE Says No, Denies Secretive Startup V-Vehicle Loan Request
Looks like secretive startup V-Vehicle Co. won't be joining Ford, Nissan, Tesla, and Fisker in getting government guarantees for low-interest loans to invest in advanced vehicle technology. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Energy turned down a $321.1 million loan application by V-Vehicle (VVC)...
John Voelcker -
Wait A Month For Details of 2e Electric Car, Aptera Says
On Friday, Aptera held its first online Town Hall Meeting--a chat among eager followers and some of the Aptera marketing team. Their intent, according to the opening spiel, was to "reduce some of the mystery around the company and open our supporters and depositors up to some of the great things...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
If Tesla Roadster Production Ends in 2012, Show Us The Money
Whenever we're asked whether electric-car startup Tesla Motors will make it, we respond with our own question: What's the last carmaker started from scratch in the U.S. by entrepreneurs that's still with us, and when did it launch? The answer is Chrysler, and the year was 1924. In other words...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Gets $115 Million, New Battery Supplier, Stays on Schedule
Last Friday, startup plug-in hybrid maker Fisker Automotive announced it had raised another $115 million in funds from private backers, including lithium-ion cell supplier A123 Systems and legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Buried in the press release was a...
John Voelcker -
The lithium-ion battery pack for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicles officially went into volume production today. The 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, containing 220 lithium-ion cells made by Korea's LG Chem, will be assembled in a 160,000-square-foot factory in Brownstown Township, Michigan, newly renovated at a cost of $266 million. That plant will be the first in the U.S. in which a major carmaker assembles lithium-ion packs. Almost all current hybrid vehicles use nickel-metal-hydride cells, which contain less energy than the lithium cells. Fear of China Various...
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Jay Leno Debuts New 2012 Ford Focus EV Racer, Conferees Drive Old One
Attendees excitedly swarmed around a prototype of the all-electric 2012 Ford Focus EV at an October conference held on Microsoft's Redmond campus, outside Seattle, Washington. But a newer, nice, cooler, and much flashier prototype of the 2012 Focus EV made its debut a few weeks earlier in rather...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Announces Tour Dates, Cities for 2012 Leaf Electric Car
Dates and cities have been announced for the "Zero Emission Tour" that will introduce the 2012 Nissan Leaf hatchback electric car to potential buyers in the U.S. markets where it will first be sold. The car won't be sold nationwide for more than two years. Instead, it will be offered where Nissan...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Joins Tax-Incentive Trail for Not-Yet-Sited Model S Factory
It's starting to seem like tit-for-tat around here, as startup electric automakers Tesla and Fisker vie for--and get--federal- and state-funded loans and tax concessions to build future electric cars. The latest salvo, mere days after Fisker announced its purchase of a former GM plant in Delaware...
John Voelcker -
100-MPG Bright Idea Delivery Van: Now With 40 Electric Miles!
Back in April, startup company Bright Automotive unveiled its design for a plug-in hybrid light delivery truck. Now, we've had a chance to drive the prototype, briefly, just as Bright raised its electric range to 40 miles. Our test vehicle was the only Bright IDEA van prototype built thus far by...
John Voelcker -
It's Official: Aptera 2e And Other Three-Wheelers Are Cars Now
By voting 80 to 17 to approve a compromise bill allocating $33.5 billion to fund energy and water projects, the U.S. Senate yesterday also redefined what qualifies as an "automobile". Once President Barack Obama signs the measure, a vehicle with only three wheels can--for the purpose of allocating...
John Voelcker -
Executive turnover continues at Silicon Valley electric-car startup Tesla Motors, with three executives leaving in nine months and two more hired. The turnover comes both in Vehicle Engineering--the group that must executive and deliver the 2012 Tesla Model S electric luxury sports sedan--and in Marketing, which includes the company's energetic public relations department. Engineering in the spotlight On the engineering side, Tesla's new chief vehicle engineer is Peter Rawlinson. He had previously headed vehicle engineering at Corus Automotive, an advanced engineering consulting firm...
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Will 20,000 U.S. Buyers Order 2012 Nissan Leafs Within A Year?
The 2012 Nissan Leaf hatchback, the first all-electric car from a major manufacturer to be offered in the U.S. since GM's late lamented EV1 two-seater a decade ago, won't go on sale nationally for more than two years. Nonetheless, Nissan is hoping to accumulate 20,000 U.S. advance orders for the...
John Voelcker -
Your Tax $$$ At Work: Argonne Lab's Better Batteries, Greener Fuels
If you watch TV or read the papers, you'll see lots of coverage of people who are pretty unhappy with one facet or another of the U.S. government. This post is about something government seems to do relatively well: pre-commercial research and development. Here at GreenCarReports.com, we usually...
John Voelcker -
Want a Cash-For-Clunkers Rebate? Do It RIGHT NOW. Today!
OK, kids, this is it. If you have a clunker and you want to trade it in and get a $3,500 or $4,500 rebate for a new vehicle under the Car Allowance Rebate Systems (CARS) program ... STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING. Do it right now, today, and get to your dealer no later than 4 pm. Today. But call first, to...
John Voelcker -
Poetry In Motion? It's the 2010 Tesla Model S Electric Sedan
Back in April, GreenCarReports.com was lucky enough to get a ride in the world's only running version of the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sedan. It happened at the car's New York City preview, the first time since its unveiling in an LA rocket factory that it was seen in public. Now, a prototype of...
John Voelcker -
Why $2.4 Billion of Battery Grants? To Get US Competitive in Electric Cars
It's now clearer than ever: Electric cars are coming to showrooms near you. They will be fully competitive, their makers are deadly serious, and they will be "real cars" rather than the golf carts people seem to worry about. At GreenCarReports.com, we've experienced the 2011 Chevrolet Volt mule...
John Voelcker