TOP EV NEWS #1 – GERMANY TO ELECTRIFY AUTOBANH
Electric vehicles have developed tremendously in recent times, battery capacity and range have increased exponentially, and new investors are flooding into the market to get their share of the pie. The logical question is, where to next with this amazing technology?
Siemens and Germany have announced their collaboration the eHighway which is being constructed on a 10 km strip of the Autobahn close to the Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Though 10km (6miles) doesn’t seem like much, this could be a groundbreaking step for electric trucks in the future. eHighways could cut input costs for companies dramatically and could make the price of goods independent from oil prices.
To learn more about eHighways check out this video.
TOP EV NEWS #2 – QUEENSLAND eHIGHWAY ONE OF THE LONGEST
eHighways have been dominating the news this week, Queensland Australia has announced that they are busy developing the continents biggest electric vehicle friendly highway. The strip of road will stretch over 2000km and will be supplied with 18 charging stations. This will make it possible for citizens to drive up the east coast from Brisbane to Cairns without worrying about recharging their EV’s.
This is a big push from the Australian government to increase the number of electric vehicles in the country. The charging stations will be free of charge for at least the first year and this could incentives consumers to go electric (there are only 700 EV owners in Queensland at the moment).
TOP EV NEWS #3 – GM IS SELLING A $5,000 EV IN CHINA
Baojun is a mass-market car brand from General Motors‘ SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture in China. This week they have reviled their brand new fully electric commuter vehicle, the E100.
The E100, which is Baojun’s first electric car, is powered by a single 39-horsepower electric motor and has a top speed of 62 miles an hour. The E100 can drive about 96 miles on a fully charged battery. More than 5,000 people have already registered to buy the first 200 vehicles. Another 500 vehicles will be made available this week, and buyers will be chosen on a first-come-first-served basis. The Baojun E100 will sell for around $5,000 after incentives.
TOP EV NEWS #4 – NISSAN CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF EVs
Exactly 70 years after the debut of its first electric vehicle, Nissan’s most advanced EV ever – the Nissan BladeGlider sports car – took center stage at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK.
Electric cars may only be booming now, but Nissan has been at it for the past 70 years and by the looks of it the blade runner could be another masterpiece in the making.
Check out this video if you don’t believe us:
TOP EV NEWS #5 – BOLT OUTLASTS MODEL S IN RANGE TEST
Consumer Reports just published the results of its range test of the Chevrolet Bolt and came up with some surprising results.
While the Bolt is rated for 238 miles of driving by the EPA, the car exceeded that in the Consumer Reports test, squeezing out 12 more miles for a total of 250. That means the Bolt officially beats Tesla’s Model S, at least in this particular test. When CR tested the Model S 75D, it got 235 miles, compared to the EPA estimate of 259. This test may not be particularly telling but with the Tesla S costing double what the Chevy Bolt costs, some eyebrows could be raised at Tesla’s reliability when it comes to range.
Compiled by Ruan Goosen
