Hydrogen supply shortage leaves fuel cell cars gasping in California

2018 Toyota Mirai

The biggest challenge to driving a fuel-cell car is finding fuel.

Automakers who sell fuel-cell models—Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai for now—have made progress in getting 33 hydrogen fueling stations built around Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It's not helping drivers this week though. According to a photo tweeted by user Paolo NonVTEC Acoba, the hydrogen pumps around LA are out of fuel.

A large sign on a hydrogen pump in LA, dated last Thursday and addressed to Toyota Mirai owners, reads: "Be advised: Hydrogen delivery issues everywhere. Don't take chances, top off frequently. Toyota hotline says dealers know, will comp you for rental car."

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Paulo NonVTEC Acoba@ferio_252

Bleak situation for Hydrogen car owners in Southern California. They're suffering their own micro energy crisis.

3:00 AM - Jul 25, 2018

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It may be easy to advise drivers to top off frequently; not so easy to do if all the surrounding stations are out of fuel.

"Toyota is aware that certain fuel-cell vehicle owners in the Los Angeles area are currently experiencing refueling challenges because of limited hydrogen supply at several local fueling stations. While the station operator works to resolve this short-term issue, we are working with our Mirai (fuel-cell car) customers to help identify alternative fueling options, including as a temporary measure, opening our commercial hydrogen fueling station at the Port of Long Beach...We sincerely regret the current inconvenience for our customers," Toyota said in a statement emailed to Green Car Reports.

It's not immediately clear from the statement whether Toyota is offering rental cars for Mirai owners.

The problem has been traced to a problem with hydrogen supplies delivered by chemical provider Air Products.

"We are actively working to resolve this unexpected disruption, which has been caused by a contemporaneous series of unrelated issues at several liquid hydrogen production and supply sites. We are addressing the matter as rapidly as we can and are hopeful to have the situation remedied and have restored regular hydrogen supply in the early days of August. We regret any inconvenience that may have resulted.... We regret any inconvenience fueling customers may be currently experiencing, and reassure you we are focused on resolving the issue as soon as possible," Air Products spokesman Arthur George said in an email.

Securing a a clean, affordable, and reliable, source of sufficient hydrogen supplies has always been the biggest challenge for fuel cell cars, and this shortage could give potential fuel-cell car buyers pause, just as the cars—and pumps to fuel them—are becoming more widely available.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne dies suddenly

Sergio Marchionne

Sergio Marchionne, the man who engineered a historic merger between Fiat and Chrysler to rescue the Detroit automaker from financial collapse, died Wednesday in Switzerland. He was 66.

Marchionne died after complications from surgery last week. On Saturday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles quickly replaced him as CEO with Mike Manley, who most recently led Jeep and Ram brands, when it was clear that Marchionne wouldn't recover. Marchionne is survived by his sons Alessio and Tyler, and his longtime partner Manuella Battezzato.

During his tenure Marchionne was plainspoken and blunt about many topics, including electric cars. He famously dissuaded people from purchasing the electric Fiat 500e, which is sold in California as a "compliance car."

"I hope you don't buy it," he said in 2014, shortly after the car debuted. "Every time I sell one it costs me $14,000." (The 500e, with 84 miles of electric range, sells for $33,990 before tax credits, though Fiat leased a lot of them for $199 a month.)

“Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone,” John Elkann, grandson of former Fiat CEO Gianni Agnelli and chairman of Fiat's parent company Exor, said in a statement.

2013 Fiat 500e electric car, Los Angeles drive event, April 2013

A Canadian born in Italy, Marchionne was known as a chain-smoking workaholic among many in the automotive industry. Trained as a lawyer and an accountant, he worked first in finance and as a tax consultant before he was plucked from a Swiss trading firm to work at Fiat. Battered by sagging revenues and skyrocketing costs, Marchionne helped turn Fiat around.

After taking the reins of Fiat in 2004, Marchionne famously unwound a partnership with General Motors and got GM to pay $2 billion for the privilege.

With that money, he turned Fiat into Europe's fastest-growing automaker and developed a range of models for sale worldwide.

He reintroduced the Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati brands to the U.S. and turned Ferrari into the fastest-growing maker of sports cars, even introducing hybrids to the brand.

In 2009, he negotiated with the U.S. government to take over bankrupt Chrysler Corp.—for free—and merged it with Fiat.

In June, FCA announced it had paid back its sizeable industrial debt and would focus on crossovers, SUVs, and trucks to stay profitable.

Filing may uncover plans for hybrid VW Beetle coming soon

Volkswagen Beetle Dune Hybrid concept, New York City, May 2015

Just a few months ago, we heard that Volkswagen was not planning to develop a successor to the current Beetle but a recent filing shows that it might have one last hurrah for 2019.

A June filing by supplier Magneti Marelli shows an instrument cluster that appears almost identical to the current Beetle cluster, but with an all new tachometer window that shows an electric charge gauge similar to the e-Golf’s cluster.

It may be an indication that Volkwagen is planning to build a hybrid Beetle similar to the concept that it showed a few years ago.

A spokesman for Volkswagen declined to comment on the filing.

Possible Beetle Hybrid gauge

Details on the potential new car are scarce, but the attachments in the filing show that Magneti Marelli submitted the information on June 14 and requested to keep a portion of the application confidential until December 14.

While the full user manual for the car is indeed confidential, they neglected to properly hide the diagram for the cluster in the public label document which displays the electric charge gauge.

The Beetle Hybrid concept was based on the 44 mpg Jetta Hybrid and its 1.4-liter gasoline engine combined with a 20-kw (27-hp) electric motor, but that car is no longer in production. This new Beetle could possibly be based on the Audi A3 e-tron that is still available. Unlike the Jetta, which was a traditional hybrid, the A3 e-tron is a plug-in hybrid which has a range of 16 miles on electric-only power. The A3 e-Tron uses a variant of the same 1.4-liter gasoline engine but coupled to a bigger 75-kw (100-hp) electric motor.

A report included in the filing shows that tests were completed on the cluster in May, which gives us some confidence that this is a product that is nearing production.

The diagrams for the cluster also show a light update for the speedometer but the rest of the cluster is generally identical to the most recent Beetle.

We will be digging further to see if this is the latest electrified Volkswagen and the last blast for the Beetle before it's exterminated.

Study Says Daimler Will Overtake Tesla In EV Rank – Model 3 Issues Cited For Fall

German car makers could catch up to Tesla in just a few years

The current state of affairs at the German car industry giants – Daimler AG, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG – sort of resembles that first day of boot camp when the hardened drill sergeant comes into the dorm room at 4 in the morning and pulls off the fire alarm. In a nutshell, everybody’s scrambling and for the most part, look like headless chickens trying to make themselves look useful. However, according to Bloomberg, just like the marine recruits, after a few months of proper testing and training, the German car industry is set to reinvent itself as an electric vehicle powerhouse.

According to a consultancy’s ranking of electric automakers, Daimler AG, BMW AG, and Volkswagen AG might soon close by or surpass Tesla in the EV market. The ranking comes from PA Consulting, a consultancy specializing in management consulting, technology and innovation. Their ranking system factors in the strategy, battery technology, culture, supplier networks, partnerships and financial performance into an overall score. While this couldn’t be farther from reality (with the current state of affairs), the sheer might – engineering, design, production and financial aspects of the car industry. With that in mind, the German car makers are on a path to might swivel the odds in their favor within the next few years.

According to the forecast set by consultancy, Tesla is to remain the king of the castle to at least 2021. This is the time when the traditional rivals are set to flood the market with a variety of fully electric models, giving Tesla a run for their money. The forecast doesn’t go easy on Tesla, as it weighs down the California based automaker with a fall to seventh place. The pecking order in 2021 should see Daimler firmly at the helm. The Stuttgart based vehicle industry giant is then closely followed by BMW, the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance and finally, the dieselgate struck, but clearly not that hurt – Volkswagen – filling the list’s last top spot before Tesla.

BMW Concept iX3

“Achieving CO2 targets and improving e-mobility performance go hand in hand,” Thomas Göttle, head of PA Consulting’s automotive business, said in a statement. “For the manufacturers, however, this also involves a great need for action in terms of organization and personnel.”

For Tesla, the highly-touted production issues, matched with an uncertain profit outlook, all played a major key in the lower ranking for the U.S carmaker, according to PA Consulting. However, there’s a long way to go until 2021, and Tesla Motors may well turn the tide. Their production woes are slowly becoming less of a burden, new markets are emerging for the electric car maker and overall, the demand for electric cars is ever growing.

Looks like we’ll find out in 2021 if this prediction turns out to be accurate.

Chevy Volt First Plug-In To Reach Cars.com Most American-Made List

Bolt EV, LEAF, Tesla Model 3 and others don’t make list due to global sourcing of batteries and other vehicle parts.

Determining just how “American-Made” a car is isn’t a simple task. In fact, not all organizations that attempt to make such a determination agree. Last month, Cars.com released their 2018 American Made Index (AMI) list.  Their evaluation considers five factors: assembly location, domestic-parts content, engine sourcing, transmission sourcing, and factory jobs provided by the automaker’s U.S. plants.

While Cars.com has published the AMI for over a decade, in 2017 they updated their methodology. Prior to 2017, the AMI was based more heavily on the American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA) that does not distinguish between U.S. and Canadian parts. Their new analysis is focused purely on U.S. sourced components. In 2018, the Chevy Volt has made the list for the first time. In fact, the Volt is the first plug-in vehicle to make the list with 66% U.S.-sourced materials and labor.

Regarding the Chevy Volt and why most plug-ins do not make the list, Cars.com states:

The Chicago-built Ford Taurus ranks No. 4, followed by the AMI’s highest-ranked newcomer, the No. 5 Chevrolet Volt. Plug-in cars, be they fully electric or a plug-in hybrid like the Volt, often lack high domestic content amid global sourcing for batteries — one of the most cost-intensive aspects of any car with a significant electric driving range. But the Volt’s battery is assembled near Detroit, with cells from a plant in western Michigan.

GM recently announced a series of upgrades at their Brownstown battery assembly plant near Detroit. In Cars.com’s survey of 1,000 drivers, 83% claimed assembly location was an important factor in determining a cars economic impact. However, 7 in 10 respondents said other factors impacted their purchase decision more. They also found only ~53% of passenger-vehicle sales were assembled in the United States.

CHEVY VOLT

15 photos

Source: Cars.com