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Proterra wants to build autonomous vehicles for public transit
The company that built an electric bus capable of driving 350 miles before needing a recharge wants to take public transit to the next level: autonomous driving. Working with the University of Nevada, Proterra has launched an autonomous driving program to help develop self-driving electric buses in Reno. The idea is simple, but implementation is complicated, partially because Proterra buses have to serve the public and abide by completely different laws than private vehicles. That's why the company's CEO says autonomous bus lines will probably never run without a human co-pilot.
Honda's hydrogen car costs $500 a month, if you can find one
Hydrogen vehicle technology still faces many technical hurdles, but there's a slight chance early adopters can buy Honda's latest model. The company revealed that it will start selling the Clarity Fuel Cell sedan by the end of the year for around $60,000, though it will only be available under a retail lease for "under $500." That's the same price and terms as for Toyota's Mirai and Hyundai's Tucson Fuel Cell vehicles. However, the pool of potential buyers will be small. The vehicles will only be offered in Los Angeles and Orange counties, the San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento.
Audi's hydrogen concept car fuels up in four minutes
CES was a hotbed of car announcements this year, but luckily some surprises have been saved for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Take Audi's h-tron quattro, a hydrogen-powered concept car with a Tesla-beating range of 372 miles. It has three fuel tanks hidden beneath the passenger or luggage compartments which can be replenished in just four minutes. The fuel cell has an output of up to 110 kW, supported by a lithium-ion battery which supplies a further 100 kW for short, temporary bursts of acceleration. While you're driving, this secondary power source then slowly recharges every time you tap the brake.
Chevy unveils its pure-electric Bolt
Chevy's Bolt is finally here. The pure EV was unveiled at the company's event at CES and it's got a ton of technology that you can get in the near future unlike a few concept cars that were unveiled earlier in the week. It's the everyperson's electric car that Tesla is working on and Chevy is delivering.
VW shows off its quick-charging electric microbus concept
When the US government has filed a civil suit against you because your vehicles violated emissions laws, it's a good idea to start showing off some electric vehicles. That's exactly what Volkswagen has done during its CES keynote. The company showed off the BUDD-e new concept bus that's packed with technology and like all concept cars, you'll probably never get to buy in its current state of awesome.
Porsche green lights its all-electric Mission E concept
You might have to wait a few years to get behind the wheel of one, but the first all-electric Porsche is happening. The automaker announced that its Mission E, a concept first revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, will go into production. Porsche says that it'll invest 700 million euros (around $762 million) at its main site in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen to help with the project. Among the renovations are a new paint shop and assembly facility alongside an expansion of the engine shop to build the electric motors and a larger body shop. In total, the company expects Mission E production to create 1,000 new jobs.
Elon Musk hopes to conquer electric car range limits by 2020
Range anxiety may keep you from driving an electric car right now, but Tesla chief Elon Musk doesn't expect that to be a problem for very long. When grilled about driving distances in a Danish interview, Musk revealed that he expects the battery technology to improve at a rate of 5 to 10 percent per year, which could lead to some massive range gains in a relatively short space of time. The CEO notes that people have already driven the Model S up to 500 miles on a charge at slow speeds, and that this could extend to over 600 miles as soon as 2016, and a whopping 746 miles by 2020. While it's doubtful that you'd get these figures blazing down the highway, Treehugger's back-of-the-napkin math suggests that this should still lead to a realistic range of 382 to 483 miles. That's enough for many city-to-city trips, and it doesn't account for lighter materials or other efficiency refinements.
Chinese automaker shows off country's first EV sports car
It shouldn't be a surprise that China is looking to zero-emission vehicles to help tackle its air-quality issues. Beijing-based CH-Auto is looking to take advantage of that push with the country's first all-electric sports car dubbed the Event. The company used the recent Beijing Auto Show to show off its sleek two-seater EV. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Event packs a 48kWh battery and can sprint to 100KPH (62MPH) in less than five seconds. As for range, WSJ says we can expect about 155 miles on a charge, while recharging takes around six hours using a 220-volt source.
Audi promises an all-electric SUV in 2018
If you want an all-electric SUV, you don't have many options right now, although Tesla's Model X is on the horizon. Audi will have an answer if you're willing to wait, though. The company's engineering lead, Ulrich Hackenberg, has revealed that the company is planning to launch an electric "sports activity vehicle" in 2018. He didn't say much about it, but he briefly showed a conceptual drawing of the from-scratch design (above) and vowed that it would have a long range of more than 500 kilometers, or 313 miles. Even a Model S P85D is only expected to manage 270 miles, so this might be the EV of choice for taking the family on a drive through the back country.
Toyota reportedly working on a hydrogen-fueled Lexus limo
Toyota's first hydrogen car hasn't even gone on sale yet here in the US, and already we're hearing rumors about a follow-up vehicle. According to the Australian website Motoring, the Japanese auto giant is planning on taking the same fuel cell system it used in its mid-range Mirai sedan, and putting it into a higher-end Lexus LS limousine. For the most part, then, the new vehicle will make use of the same technology, though Toyota will apparently have to do some retro-fitting in order to make it work inside the current Lexus LS. (Unlike the LS, the Mirai was built from scratch as a hydrogen car.) If Motoring's report is correct, the new Lexus will have a fuel cell under the front seat, with the hydrogen tanks located behind the rear seat. Also, despite the fact that the LS wasn't originally designed as a hydrogen vehicle, it will reportedly offer nearly the same range as Toyota's existing FCEV: 239 miles, versus 300 on the Mirai. No word yet on price or whether this report is even true. And we suspect it could be a while before anyone sets the record straight -- the hydrogen-fueled Lexus LS is rumored to launch "by 2017," up to two years from now.
What you need to know about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Damn the torpedoes (and Teslas)! Two of Japan's biggest automakers are about to make sizable wagers on a different kind of clean fuel tech: hydrogen power. Toyota will launch the $57,500 Mirai fuel cell vehicle (FCV, above) next year, while hydrogen veteran Honda will out a model in 2016. But wait, aren't EVs the last word in green cars? Fuel cell cars are EVs, in a way, but you can fill one up with hydrogen in five minutes rather than waiting hours for a charge. The only way to do that in an electric vehicle (EV) is by swapping the entire battery. So why is there exactly one production FCV available to buy today, but EVs everywhere? That's a tale of efficiency, fuel, pollution and politics.
Italy's first electric supercar comes from a brand you've never heard of
Italian supercar makers are willing to embrace hybrids, but they're reluctant to develop pure electric cars -- not surprising when they're virtually defined by their sweet-sounding gas engines. They may have to reconsider that strategy pretty soon. Tecnicar, a startup whose main claim to fame is a city car, has revealed plans to build the country's first super-fast EV, the Lavinia SE. The finished vehicle is expected to produce the equivalent of 800HP, or enough to take it to 62MPH in 3.5 seconds. That's just behind a Ferrari 458 Italia, folks. It should also be nimble thanks to both a lightweight carbon fiber body and high-performance ceramic brakes, and the 186-mile range will be enough for a blast through the countryside, if not much more.
Tesla's $35,000 car will be called the Model 3
Tesla hasn't quite delivered its new Model X SUV yet, but at least we have a name for its first electric vehicle pointed at the mainstream. In an interview with AutoExpress, CEO Elon Musk (pictured above with an old Model S prototype) revealed it will be called the Model 3 (with three bars to represent it), after Ford put the kibosh on calling it the Model E. Musk has repeatedly targeted 2017 as the release window for a smaller $35,000 vehicle. He's said it will be the third generation after the original Roadster and Model S, and in the interview claims it will have a range of over 200 miles per charge, probably using batteries built in Tesla's planned Gigafactory. Musk also told the mag about a range boost upgrade coming for the original Roadster that will give it a modern battery capable of going up to 400 miles on a charge, "which will allow you to drive from LA to San Francisco non-stop." [Thanks, Weapon] [Image credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma]
