We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

A recent column by Leo Hickman in The Guardian set off a wave of debate over the true merit of electric vehicles (EVs) compared to internal combustion engine vehicles (EVs). Hickman used a study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) called Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Electric Vehicles that explored a variety of factors involved in the lifecycle of the car – from materials used to vehicle emissions to the source of energy moving the metal – as a starting point. The problem, as we'll see, is that the study uses some dubious assumptions to badmouth EVs.

The study sends something of a warning signal in its finding that the production and lifecycle of EVs makes them not as great as proponents have been stating. Specifically, the technology is more energy-demanding during production and can actually bring more CO2 emissions than conventional vehicles.

The study doesn't outright condemn EVs. At its conclusion, the report authors said that the production phase of EVs is more "environmentally intensive," but it does bring with it substantial overall improvements for GPW (global warming potential), TAP (terrestrial acidification potential) and other positive impacts if powered by appropriate energy sources. That being said, it's counterproductive to push for EVs in regions where electricity is generated by oil, coal, or lignite (coal in its early stage) combustion.

As for recycling of the EVs, Guillaume Majeau-Bettez, one of the paper's authors, wrote,
"Hopefully, subsequent 'waves' of electric cars would be made with a higher fraction of recycled metal (ecars made from ecars, cradle-to-cradle...), but the industry is not there yet."

Several readers left comments on Hickman's article saying the report overstated the downside of EVs. And criticism is growing. Fully Charged's Robert Llewellyn wrote an important article drawing connections between the report authors and the oil industry (hint: there are many). He also points out some egregious assumptions the authors make, for example, "Their calculations were for a 1,000 kg motor, the motor in the Nissan Leaf weighs 53kg. As you can imagine, an error of this magnitude could skew the figures rather badly. "

Earlier this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a report analyzing emissions and costs for both EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles. The study provided a well-to-wheel (drilling, refining, burning for gas and mining coal, making electricity for EVs) comparison and found greater benefits coming from EV technology than that determined by NTNU. In a new blog post directly analyzing the NTNU article, UCS' senior engineer of clean vehicles, Don Anair, references the earlier work and then writes:

The numbers show that even in the worst case, on the dirtiest grid and assuming EV vehicle production creates twice the number of global warming emissions as a gasoline vehicle, an EV still has a slight (6%) emission advantage compared to the average new compact.

It's well worth the read. In fact, any time there's a study purporting to decimate arguments against plug-in vehicles, it's worth investigating the back story.

A few years back, Mate Rimac replaced the internal combustion drivetrain in his 1986 BMW E30 with an electric one and dubbed it the bi-moto EV – it was originally intended it to have two motors. Then, in a quest to build the fastest electric car ever, he reconfigured that original setup four more times.

His patience and hard work paid off and the old Bimmer became a 600-horsepower, battery-powered monster capable of slingshotting from a dead stop to 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds. Indeed, it was fast enough to fulfill its maker's record-setting dream and, after taking about 17 months to dot i's and cross t's, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has officially recognized it as the quickest electric car in the world in its Category A, Group VIII (electric vehicle), Class 3 (above 1000 kilograms). Its respective 1/8 and 1/4-mile times of 7.549 and 11.808 seconds displaced the former record holder, the very lovely Peugeot EX1.

If the Rimac name rings a bell, you'll be well aware that the young Croatian has not been waiting for the FIA paper work whilst resting on some beach alongside the Adriatic, leafy laurels between his buttocks and the time-worn sand. No, he has taken what he's learned from that first project, started Rimac Automobili and built the (even faster) glorious Concept_One.

Scroll below to watch both of these cars in tire-smoking action as Rimac celebrates its latest achievement.

When the Fisker Atlantic was revealed in April, no one was saying anything about production dates. Even in recent interviews and statements, Fisker has remained coy about when it might start building the smaller cousin to the Karma.

Given Fisker's financial difficulties and questions about where it will build the car, none of this was a surprise. It's also not at all shocking that reports now say Fisker might not start making the Atlantic until 2014 or 2015. Reuters says that was "the first time Fisker disclosed a production timetable for the Atlantic," but way back in 2009, the official timeline said the Atlantic (then called Project Nina) would start production by the end of 2012.

Fisker representatives used the new 2014 date in slides presented to investors. It was also revealed that a lot of the work on the car is done, since "about 90 percent of the parts in the Atlantic have been engineered." Should the Atlantic still be built in Delaware, as originally planned, suppliers might use some of the large factory that Fisker bought from General Motors. Of course, with the news that one of Fisker's main suppliers for the Karma – A123 Systems – might go bankrupt, we'll see how long the 2014 date holds firm.

If it works for passenger cars, it can certainly work for passenger buses.

Wireless charging is being tested in small batches in cars like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, but there's big work being done in Den Bosch in the Netherlands, where E-Moss is testing a 39-foot all-electric bus and induction charging panels. Unlike the BYD electric buses being tested in another part of Holland, the bus in den Bosch is a converted Volvo rig that has had its diesel heart ripped out and replaced with batteries and a Inductive Power Transfer wireless charging system from Conductix Wampfler. We're not sure which pack this bus uses, but E-Moss offers electric buses with 80-, 120-, 160- and 200-kWh LiFePo4 battery packs. E-Moss says the wireless bus uses both overnight wired charging and on-the-route wireless opportunity charges at bus stops "to run reliably for 18 hours, covering some 288 kilometers a day, without the need to stop for prolonged periods." Since the energy supplied is green, E-Moss says, operating the bus is "completely climate-neutral." The bus can carry just as many people as it could before its operation

There's another electric bus program with wireless testing going on in the US, at Utah State University's Energy Dynamics Laboratory. You can read all about that here and find the E-Moss press release below.

Last year, it was the BMW i8. Next year, it'll be the Fisker Karma. That's the recent progression of plug-in vehicles making an appearance in blockbuster films.

The Fisker Karma extended-range plug-in hybrid will play an important role in a scene in Paranoia, a corporate-espionage thriller starring Harrison Ford, according to USA Today. In the flick, which doesn't come out until next fall, a balding Ford hands the keys to a younger worker, played by Liam Hemsworth, as part of his "seduction" into the luxurious world of the one percent, according to the newspaper with the blue dot logo. Gary Oldman plays Ford's business mentee/opponent in the film.

The Fisker has already gained favor with other entertainment figures, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Cee Lo Green and Justin Bieber among those who drive the six-figure car. The Fisker isn't the only plug-in ride to hit the silver screen. Last year, the BMW i8 electric-concept vehicle was featured in the Tom Cruise hit "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."

Let's start the day off with some less-than-encouraging news for anyone who's been rooting for A123 Systems: bankruptcy may be just around the corner.

In an Securities and Exchange Committee filing yesterday (download or view it here), A123 says it "does not expect to timely pay" the next payment due on the $143 million it owes on notes that will come due in 2016 and that it "does not intend to timely pay a 6% P&I Payment due today, October 15, 2012." It has thus defaulted on these loans and is "considering a broad set of strategic alternatives to address its liquidity constraints." Then there's this:

The Company may not have sufficient cash to fund operations and may need to seek the protections provided under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to, among other things, obtain access to new financing and facilitate one or more of the transactions it is contemplating. No assurance can be given that the Company will be able to avoid restructuring, reorganization, or a bankruptcy filing.

A123 has contracts with automakers like Fisker and BMW. A battery recall involving the Fisker Karma earlier this year is said to have cost A123 around $67 million. So, it's not like we didn't have any warnings that A123 was in trouble. In July, A123 filed an SEC report that said it "expects to have approximately four to five months of cash to support its ongoing operations." In August, Chinese company Wanxiang Group Corporation and A123 made a deal to give Wanxiang an 80 percent ownership stake for an investment of up to $450 million.

There is a decent chance that this will come up during the presidential debate tonight, since Republican candidate Mitt Romney attacked President Obama for giving money to green energy "losers" like Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors in the last debate and A123 got a $249 million federal grant in 2009. Of course, A123, based in Waltham, MA, also received money during the Bush Administration (it was started in 2001 with a $100,000 Department of Energy grant and, in 2006, was given a $7.5-million award from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium) and said in 2009 it was "seeking rebates, tax exemptions, tax credits and financing that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has offered to support the expansion of our facilities in Massachusetts." Romney was governor of Massachusetts from 2003-2007, but we haven't yet found any proof he supported the company at that time. Anyone have any links to share on this topic?

*UPDATE: And, this morning, A123 did indeed file for bankruptcy and will sell its automotive assets to Johnson Control. See press release below.

Just how important are all the luxury touches of a Lincoln compared to a Ford? They'd better be worth a two-miles-per-gallon penalty, since that's what buyers will be hit with if they choose the MKZ Hybrid over the 47-mpg Fusion Hybrid. Ford announced today that the MKZ Hybrid has been certified by the EPA to get 45 mpg in the city, 45 mpg on the highway and 45 mpg combined.

Granted, 45 mpg does put the MKZ into the top-of-its-class fuel economy range, beating the Lexus ES Hybrid by five mpg combined and delivering "more miles per gallon than any luxury vehicle in America." The MKZ Hybrid is also available for the same price as the non-hybrid model. The more efficient 2.0-liter, four-cylinder automatic MKZ gets 26 combined mpg, 22 in the city and 33 on the highway. The MKZ Hybrid will go on sale later this year and the press release is available below.

To get behind the wheel of most new 2013 Toyota Prius models, you'll have to pony up some extra cost compared to 2012 models. Around the cost of a few tanks of gas. The standard Prius Liftback version goes up by $200 and the Prius V goes up by between $100 and $155. The price for the Prius Plug-In stays the same (as does the one for the Prius C, we assume, as that model is not mentioned in Toyota's press release).

The Liftback version also gets a new Persona Series Special Edition that slots in between the Three and Four trim lines at $27,130 (plus delivery). Based on the Three trim level, the new Persona Special Edition gets a unique exterior color called Black Cherry Pearl (also available in Black and Blizzard Pearl), special badges and 17-inch alloy wheels. Inside, you'll find something called Softex on the steering wheel in a charcoal color and a dark chrome shift knob ring.

Full details on the price increases are available below.

It appears that Tesla's new $600-per-year service program for its Model S is not going over well with some of the owners and wait-listers. David Noland, a Model S reservation holder and freelance writer, has dug into it the details and clarified the one he's finding most annoying. And as it turns out, he's not the only one taking issue with the program.

According to Green Car Reports, Noland owns a 2011 Chevrolet Volt and likes the service coverage for the plug-in hybrid's electric motor and battery thermal-management system. It only needs minimal maintenance – a $49 annual system check at a local dealer and a $35 oil change every two years. That's $84 for two years of routine maintenance. For the Model S, it's a lot higher: $600 per year, and that electric car doesn't even need the oil change.

Tesla's official website says that the annual fee includes an inspection, replacement parts such as brakes and windshield wipers, roadside assistance, system monitoring, remote diagnostics and software updates, so it is more comprehensive. Looking for more detailed information, Noland contacted Tesla's public relations department but reportedly never heard back. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, though, did eventually respond to Noland's questions. "We are matching service cost to be less than a Mercedes of comparable purchase price," Musk wrote. "This basically amounts to $50/month and covers all software upgrades as well as concierge level service."

When Noland responded with a question about whether Tesla owners who opt out of the service program won't receive software upgrades, Musk apparently didn't respond.

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Tata's much ballyhooed Nano isn't exactly selling as expected in its home market of India, especially after the well-publicized fires engulfing the several examples of the world's cheapest car. Despite that, the head of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, says his company remains intent on bringing an updated sub-$10,000 Nano to the States, and he intends to do so in three years.

While the Indian market gets a bare-bones Nano powered by a two-cylinder, 37-horsepower engine, Tata unsurprisingly says the US version will have a larger engine, power steering and traction control.

"The Smart and the Fiat 500 have high sticker prices, and people buy them because they are small cars," Tata tells Automotive News. "But everyone knows you put a lot of money into it. We hope that the sub-$10,000 car has appeal."

With the US economy still slowly recovering, a car for under $10k could have plenty of appeal. But the Indian automaker has several obstacles to overcome first, not the least of which is building a dealer network for the Nano. Tata owns Jaguar and Land Rover, but that group's CEO, Andy Goss, says there has been no discussion about using those dealers to distribute the Nano.

Perhaps the updated US-bound Nano will be more like the Nano Megapixel concept (pictured above) we saw at the Geneva Motor Show back in March. That car had a longer, 138-inch wheelbase and a larger 325cc engine supplemented by two electric motors. It's safe to assume that if Tata wants to keep costs down so that it can offer the car below $10,000, the next Nano won't get a hybrid powertrain like the Megapixel, but perhaps it will pick up some of the car's size and styling cues.

Remember when selling 100,000 hybrids was something to tout? Today, Honda comes calling with the news that, since putting its first-gen Insight on sale in 1999, the company has sold more than a million hybrids around the world.

Clearly, the company's gas-electric sales pace is quickening – it took Honda until 2005 to sell its first 100,000. At the time, only the Insight, Civic Hybrid and Accord Hybrid were available. By 2007, with no new models added to the list, another 100,000 had been sold. Honda introduced the second-gen Insight in 2009 and the CR-Z and Fit Hybrid in 2010. By December of that year, the company had cleared its decks of 600,000 units, and the pace of new introductions was about to increase. 2011 saw three new hybrid models (in Japan only), the Fit Shuttle, Freed and Freed Spike. This year, Acura introduced the ILX Hybrid in the US and Canada and, last month, after almost 13 years of offering hybrids, cumulative sales for the two brands hit seven digits. The US is responsible for 318,000 of those. Next year, a new Accord gas-electric and Accord Plug-In Hybrid will arrive with improved powertrains.

To compare, the world's hybrid leader, Toyota, is now making and selling over a million hybrids a year and has sold over four million through the years. That's impressive, but let's remember that it's taken over a decade for Honda and Toyota to reach these numbers, which can help put the White House's goal of having one million plug-ins on the road by 2015 into perspective. For more information, check out Honda's official press release by scrolling down.

Our friend David Herron recently discovered that charging infrastructure supplier Better Place has added another automaker to its international network – Coda – though the company had yet to announce it. Better Place is known for partnering with Renault overseas to expand its network of charging stations and battery swapping locations.

Herron, a former Silicon Valley software engineer with a passion for transportation alternatives and fossil fuel reduction, now writes for online publications including his blog The Long Tail Pipe. He did research on a public filing from California Energy Commission on $20 million grants for clean transportation. The grant project is managed by Better Place and covers taxis serving the San Francisco and San Jose Airports. The goal is to deploy two battery swap stations and six battery-switchable electric taxis there and then collect data on the operations. While reading through the CEC filing, he stumbled across a PDF with more details on three involved parties. Their names:

• Better Place Mobility Services, Inc.
• FEV, Inc.
• Coda of Silicon Valley

FEV Inc. is an automotive engineering company and Better Place is obvious. But what about the third? Did this mean Coda Automotive? While the electric automaker has had a slow start in the market, yes, it is in fact providing these six electric cars. We asked, and John Proctor, director of global communications at Better Place, provided this response to AutoblogGreen:

As you may know, we're developing an electric taxi program in the Bay Area. To fulfill our program commitment to demonstrate switchable-battery taxis, Better Place, CODA and FEV are moving forward with a collaboration to convert six CODA electric cars with fixed batteries into switchable-battery cars. It's another example of our ongoing efforts around the world to develop more makes and models of electric cars with switchable batteries.

For Herron, understanding the relationship between Better Place and Coda didn't make much sense at first – Coda isn't in a good place to make use of the alliance, especially since Coda doesn't distribute electric cars in countries where Better Place has swap stations in place.

There could be a global alliance that makes sense down the road though, Herron wrote. Coda announced a deal in April with Great Wall Motors. China would be a good market for a global electric car distribution system to expand for Better Place and Coda.

Tesla Motors recently completed its summer cross country road trip, from San Francisco to the Big Apple, in its Model S electric sedan. While that is slow going for most electric vehicles, the Model S can drive up to 300 miles on a full charge, depending on options. It can go even further under some driving patterns – using the 2-cycle EPA testing method with 55 percent city driving and 45 percent highway, the high-end Model S with an 85-kWh battery pack was able to go 320 miles on a full charge. "With this kind of range and a full charge, this sedan is unstoppable!" the company says in a new video of the Model S in NYC you can watch below.

Eventually, there will be more of the Tesla Supercharger fast chargers stations to make a cross-country trip even easier. As Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, the 30-minute Supercharger experience can be a good fit for passengers to stop and take a break, get a bite to eat before getting back on the highway for three more hours of driving. We are still early in the Supercharger deployment process (i.e., none of the stations are active yet, even if a half-dozen are already installed), so Model S drivers moving from San Francisco to NYC today will need to access a map of public charging stations and be ready for serious downtime during charging sessions.

What's next? Tesla says it will continue the Model S journey worldwide offering "the world a chance to see, drive and experience the car of the 21st Century." Somehow, we assume more videos of the car in interesting locations will be involved.

Ahh, synergy.

DHL, which Renault chose last year to be the delivery company for replacement battery packs for its electric vehicles (EVs), has ordered at least 50 EVs from the French automaker itself. DHL will take possession of four Kangoo Z.E. utility vans by the end of the year, and will acquire the remaining Kangoo and Zoe compact EVs by 2015.

Renault, which accounts for almost a third of all EVs sold in Europe, has sold more than 5,200 Kangoo Z.E.'s since debuting the vehicle a year ago. The Kangoo Z.E. has a single-charge range of about 100 miles while the Zoe's range is about 130 miles on a full charge. See Renault's press release below.