Magna set to invest millions in electric car research

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 29, 2011 at 12:16 PM - 0 Comments

Magna international is teaming up with the Ontario government in a $400 million bid to build better electric cars. A government official told the Canadian Press the province will chip in $48 million toward the project, which is expected to create 700 jobs.

Canadian Press

Running out of juice

By Erica Alini - Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 8:35 AM - 0 Comments

Last month, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson unveiled two new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations—part of a plan to prepare the green-friendly city for the era of battery-propelled cars. In the United States, meanwhile, AAA announced it will deploy fast-charging trucks to rescue electric car drivers whose batteries have run down. “We know electric vehicles are coming,” a spokeswoman told Bloomberg, “and we’ve got to be ready for them.”

Electric cars may be coming, but not quite as fast as expected, it turns out. Lower gas prices and fast progress on fuel efficiency are slowing down the pace of electric cars’ market penetration, according to Boston Consulting Group, which downgraded its estimates of electric car adoption by 2020 to three per cent from five per cent of the U.S. market. Another drag on EVs comes from a recent British study warning that electric cars aren’t as green as commonly perceived, once emissions from manufacturing are taken into account. An electric car owner would have to drive 129,000 km before making up for the CO2 released while producing the vehicle’s battery, noted the Times, reporting on the study. At least in the near term, petrol may still be a better option than plug-ins.

So much for the age of electric vehicles

By Chris Sorensen - Monday, March 28, 2011 at 5:42 PM - 3 Comments

Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

With oil prices above US$100 a barrel, it might seem like the age of the electric vehicle has finally dawned. But there remains little practical reason to buy one. Recently, some drivers of Nissan’s electric Leaf reported suddenly running out of juice despite gauges that suggested miles of motoring left on the battery.

Meanwhile, testers at Consumer Reports magazine suggested GM’s plug-in hybrid Volt can cost more to drive than Toyota’s hybrid Prius, despite being twice the price. There have also been complaints over Volt’s uneven cabin heating in cold temperatures and the strain it puts on the battery. Another big issue: finding a plug. Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motor Co., has noted that most cars prior to the Model T were also electric. “This isn’t a new technology,” he said, adding that drivers of early electric vehicles had few places to charge them. And more than 100 years later? “We have the same issue.”

The greenest car of all?

By Chris Sorensen - Friday, February 11, 2011 at 11:25 AM - 23 Comments

Photographs BY Colin O’Connor

At a recent automotive conference in Detroit, Nissan Americas chairman Carlos Tavares hoisted a large car muffler over his head and then accused Nissan’s competitors of misleading people when it comes to electrically powered vehicles. “If you’re calling your car electric and it has one of these,” he said, waving the auto part. “You’re only muddling the message.”

Though sales of electric or hybrid electric vehicles represent a tiny fraction of the overall market, automakers aren’t pulling any punches when it comes to talking up their newest creations. The nascent segment, which automakers have pumped many billions of dollars in research and development into, is fast becoming one of the most competitive. But the rush to go green has created an unintended consequence: consumer confusion. Each automaker has come up with its own take on the electrified car of tomorrow, a category that also includes hybrids and plug-in hybrids—both of which incorporate a gasoline engine. And nobody wants to get stuck with a four-wheeled equivalent of a Betamax in the garage.

For its part, Nissan is betting the future won’t involve gas stations at all. Its compact Leaf electric car, the result of US$6 billion in research and development that began in 1992, is touted as the first-ever mass-produced electric vehicle, and is priced to compete with cars powered by conventional engines (it costs about US$32,000 in the United States before government incentives, which can bring the sticker price down to around US$20,000). “That’s why we went to Detroit with a muffler,” Tavares said during a recent interview with Maclean’s in Toronto. “We wanted to explain to people visually that when you have a zero-emissions car, you don’t have a tailpipe—because there is no gas.”

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Detroit’s dirty secret: SUVs rule

By Jason Kirby - Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 2 Comments

At the height of the U.S. economic crisis, one of the most potent symbols of American excess was the gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle. When oil prices spiked and millions of Americans lost their jobs, sales of big trucks collapsed, taking General Motors, Chrysler and nearly Ford with them. Only small cars would have a future in this more frugal, sensible economy, we were told. Well, so much for that.

The SUV is back, and American drivers can’t get enough of them. According to Ford, sales of the Expedition jumped 45 per cent in December, while the Lincoln Navigator was up 60 per cent. GM, meanwhile, has announced plans to spend US$1 billion revitalizing its lineup of full-size pickups. The companies are still heavily focused on smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, and the next generation of SUVs will undoubtedly do better on gas. But any notion that the SUV would go the way of the Model T is gone.

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Detroit Auto Show: Electric dreams

By Chris Sorensen - Friday, January 15, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 7 Comments

There was a whiff of optimism, albeit of the cautious variety, mixed with the usual scents of rubber, new car and acres of indoor carpet at the Detroit auto show this year. After a brutal 12 months that saw sales plummet across North America and two of the former “Big Three” Detroit carmakers file for bankruptcy, auto executives were understandably eager to put the past behind them and get back to the business of selling cars, trucks and SUVs amid growing evidence of an economic turnaround.

While the show lacked the glitz and glamour of even just a few years ago—no trucks were dropped from the Cobo Center’s ceiling or cattle-herded through downtown Detroit—the cloud that had hung over last year’s displays lifted to reveal an industry that, if not completely transformed, believes that it’s finally found the right mix of smaller and greener cars to survive in the new and more cutthroat automotive landscape.

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Newsmakers '09: Wheels of fortune

By Colin Campbell - Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 1:45 PM - 0 Comments

	American muscle Forget the hybrid. This year, the American auto industry went back to doing what it does best: making affordable sports cars with big, throaty engines. The Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro (above) and Dodge Challenger were all surprise hits for the Detroit Three. While overall car sales saw double-digit declines, muscle car sales jumped over seven per cent. Perfect for the driver who wants to get where he’s going fast—and preferably in a straight line.
	Detour ahead A Swedish couple travelling in Italy planned to visit the idyllic Isle of Capri. Instead, they drove 650 km off course to the industrial city of Carpi. They had mistyped the destination into their car’s GPS device. “Capri is an island,” noted a local official in Carpi, in northern Italy. “They did not even wonder why they didn’t cross any bridge or take any boat.”
	Roadside assistance For the auto industry, the month of August stood out like a gleaming new Ferrari in a junkyard. That was when the U.S. government’s US$3-billion cash for clunkers program kicked into high gear and Americans were offered as much as US$4,500 to trade in their old cars for new ones. Car sales spiked and the entire North American economy was given a brief boost.
	Dream machines Toyota, perhaps best known for making reliable, if bland, family sedans, launched a US$375,000 supercar, the 552-hp Lexus LFA. Not to be outdone, Porsche introduced its first four-door sedan, the Panamera, which costs US$133,000 for the turbo version. Audi has a new version of its R8 supercar (above), the V10—a US$146,000 car that auto critic Jeremy Clarkson called “spectacularly good. It’s like Scarlett  Johansson’s lips.”
	Liftoff Car doors have been an overlooked design element. But the doors of the new Mercedes SLS, which swing straight up, are a thing of beauty. This latest take on an old idea gives the car its moniker, the Gullwing. Swedish manufacturer Koenigsegg is also taking door design to a new level with what it calls the dihedral synchro-helix actuation system. The doors on its cars slide forward and away from the car, then pivot up. Somewhere, an engineer earned his keep.
	Got a boost? Chrysler disbanded the group of engineers working on its electric-car program. The world’s most hyped electric car, GM’s Volt (above), is still a prototype. Canada’s Zenn Motor Company said it was getting out of the electric-car-making business to focus on battery technology. The only real electric carmaker in North America is Tesla, with its $100,000 Roadster. Are electric cars the future? We’re still waiting.
	Exit ramp The meltdown that industry watchers have taken to calling the Carpocalypse saw the demise of some much-loved brands. Saturn was dropped by GM, as was the storied Pontiac nameplate, despite its loyal following and a critically acclaimed new model, the G8 GXP. Rick Wagoner, GM’s long-time chief executive officer, also didn’t last (he was forced aside by the Obama administration). Car dealers felt the sting, too—GM is shuttering 42 per cent of its Canadian dealerships.
	Autopilot The new BMW 760 Li (below) is a fortress on wheels. It is big, comes with a V12 engine, and features a host of high-tech features: night-vision technology, radar sensors to detect cars in its blind spot, and cameras on the front fenders to help drivers see what’s coming at intersections. Mercedes has a comparable monster, the S63 AMG. One advantage it has over the Bimmer: front and rear massaging seats. Both sell for about US$135,000 (chauffeurs not included).
	Formula Won It was a tough year for Formula One racing. Toyota announced that it would pull out of the circuit. Renault was found guilty of race-fixing. The good news: Jenson Button. The British driver came out of nowhere to win the world championship while driving for a brand-new team, Brawn GP. Asked to describe in three words what it’s like to be an F1 driver, he told the BBC, “Wow, wow, and wow.”
	Roadside Distraction A driver crashed his $2-million Bugatti Veyron into a saltwater marsh near Galveston, Texas, after he said he became distracted by a low-flying pelican. In Peterborough, England, the driver of a $125,000 Lamborghini Gallardo (above) noticed smoke billowing from his car. He stopped to search for a fire extinguisher, but the vehicle burned to a blackened crisp. Both incidents ended up on YouTube. Lovers of fine sports cars quietly wept.
	Cruise control Ford’s new sonar-based parallel parking system can guide your big SUV into the tightest spots. It automatically steers; you simply work the gas and brake. Not to be outdone, Volvo has a system on its new XC60 in which the vehicle will automatically brake if you’re about to hit the car in front of you. Future young drivers rejoice—with cars like these, driver’s licence tests will be a snap.

The race for the perfect battery

By Stephanie Findlay - Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 8:40 AM - 23 Comments

Imagine your daily commute in the age of the electric car: on Monday, you charge your car in minutes by plugging it into your garage outlet. The total cost comes to about $8. The charge lasts the whole week, and still handles a 200-km drive to the cottage on the weekend. You’ve long forgotten about the frustration of soaring gas prices, and the kicker is, your car was the one of the cheapest on the market.

That’s the promise, at least, being held out by a new array of super-batteries for cars. Thanks to a sudden surge in research funds—including US$2.4 billion in stimulus grants for the electric vehicle industry just announced by U.S. President Barack Obama, and a $16.7-million investment in battery research announced by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty—new developments are happening at a heady pace. This has lead to a spate of amazing new battery claims from a handful of bleeding-edge start-ups. But are they credible? Venture capitalists familiar with the field say a little skepticism may be wise. Continue…

Will electric cars ignite a lithium boom?

By Jason Kirby - Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 1:41 PM - 19 Comments

During last year’s American presidential campaign, John McCain laid out his plan to jump-start the electric car industry with a US$300-million reward for whomever could build a better battery. His then rival, Barack Obama, roundly mocked the scheme, calling it a “gimmick.” But it turns out that Obama’s biggest problem with the plan may have been there weren’t enough zeros in the prize.

Any day now, the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to announce the winning recipients of grants to foster a domestic automotive battery industry, and this time the pot is worth US$2.4-billion. Washington has already handed out US$8 billion in loans to Ford, Tesla and Nissan to promote cleaner vehicles—which the latter plans to tap to build an automotive battery plant in Tennessee. And just last week Ontario jumped in to pledge incentives of as much as $10,000 per car to lure drivers into buying electrics. Continue…

The slow birth of the electric car

By Colin Campbell - Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 5:21 PM - 27 Comments

The electric car company, Tesla Motors, plans to unveil a new prototype this week, the Model S. Judging by the early photos leaked on the Internet, it will have all the sleek, sports-car looks the company is known for, but with one very important difference: the price tag. Unlike Tesla’s US$109,000 electric Roadster, the new car will cost less than US$50,000, the company says. That’s still pricier than your typical four-door family car, but cheap enough for Tesla to move beyond selling cars to Hollywood celebrities and start courting the all-important mainstream customer.

So far, Tesla is little more than a fringe player in the auto industry. It has a 1,000 person wait list for its Roadster, but that says as much about how slowly the cars are being built than it does about demand. Since its launch in 2006, Tesla has delivered just 250 Roadsters, which it now makes at a rate of 20 per week. Tesla is also not making money yet, and late last year had to borrow $40 million from investors. It says it could be profitable by later next year.

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