Hasta La Gadget!

Bad news for Leaf lovers. Back in December Nissan representative Tim Gallagher said “By the end of summer, our goal is to have everyone in their car.” That would have meant 20,000-odd Leafs shipped before leaves start falling from trees, but now Nissan North America’s Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Brian Carolin thinks we won’t even see that many until next year. “I think 20,000 will be too high,” he said, referring to total deliveries for 2011. “You just have to make this launch absolutely perfect. It’s not a numbers game.” Indeed it isn’t, it’s an expectations game, and how much lower can they go?

Nissan backs off 2011 Leaf delivery promises, expects ‘a few hundred’ sold in February originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GM-Volt  |  The Detroit News  | Email this | Comments

You think the rent’s too high? Try buying a depressed property with a hope that it’ll appreciate. As of today, the vast majority of EV chargers are being marketed towards those who have garages to install ’em in. While that’s all fine and dandy for Mr. and Mrs. Suburbia, it’s a bit of a stretch to ask the modern day apartment dweller to install one on the nearest street corner. In an effort to make electric vehicles more feasible for renters, 350Green is envisioning a vast network of chargers near places of work, and it’s getting things going in the Bay Area. Thanks to a little financial help from the folks at Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the aforementioned company will be installing a range of fast chargers in six cities around the area: Albany, Menlo Park, Milbrae, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sunnyvale. We’re told that 100 percent of the plazas will be installed in the parking lots of select, high-traffic retail locations, at no cost to the host location, with specific locations to be named in the coming weeks. If all goes well, NorCal’s gem will be hooked up by June of 2012, with additional markets around the US to be addressed following that. Jump on down and mash play to see how it’ll work, and while we’re on the topic, good luck securing one of those HOV stickers for your future EV. Ain’t no lane like the fast lane, ya heard?

Continue reading 350Green plans EV charging network for apartment dwellers, Jimmy McMillan

350Green plans EV charging network for apartment dwellers, Jimmy McMillan originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Autoblog Green, 350Green  | Email this | Comments

Algae biodiesel has looked so promising (as in 100 times more fuel than corn or soy) that the U.S. Department of Energy gave $9 million to Cellana, a joint research venture between Shell Oil and HR Biopetroleum, specifically to look into the alternative energy source’s prospects. It seems, however, that those prospects were no longer attractive to Shell, which has announced it will no longer pursue algae biodiesel, because it feels it doesn’t have sufficient commercial viability. Partner HR Biopetroleum has stated it cannot continue the project on its own as Shell pursues other biofuel initiatives with other companies.

Shell Oil pulls the plug on its last algae biodiesel research project originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Autoblog  | Email this | Comments

The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are alike in a lot of ways: both rely on electric motors for their locomotion, both have earned Car of the Year awards (Volt in North America, Leaf in Europe), and both have had stunningly low sales in their first couple of months on sale. January’s numbers have just come out and the Volt leads the way with 321 vehicles sold or leased, while Nissan scores an even weaker 87 purchases. That compares to figures of 326 and 19, respectively, for the month of December. Before we all start writing off the EV as DOA (again), let’s remember that both companies have massive back-orders for their electrified people carriers, leading us to believe that the most likely cause for this slow trickle of deliveries is a limited supply rather than dwindling demand. Production volumes of the Volt and Leaf are expected to ramp up as we go forward, so panic’s inadvisable — unless we come around to January 2012 and are still looking at fewer sales than the Joojoo managed.

408 Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs sold in US during January, limited supply probably to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Green Car Reports, PluginCars  | Email this | Comments