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.

DRIVEN BY RENAULT’S ADVANCED LEVEL 4 AUTONOMOUS CAR - VIDEO

I’m not gonna lie- it’s been a bad week for autonomous cars. First, GM was sued when one of its autonomous Chevy Bolt EVs allegedly injured a motorcyclist. Then, an Autopilot equipped Tesla Model S plowed into the back end of a fire engine in Culver City, California … at 65 MPH!

So, yeah. That’s a tough PR week for just about anybody to live down. That’s doubly true, too, for a nascent technology that a lot of people aren’t even really sure they want to begin with and that may just be another way for companies to sell us stuff, anyway. On the other hand, the Tesla is a “level 2” autonomous ride- what would happen if, say, we upped that to a level 4?

Renault let the guys at Car Throttle get behind the wheel of their level 4 autonomous car- a prototype called the Renault Symbioz. Ignoring the fact that purposely misspelling things has been lame for twenty-off years, these guys really gave the self-driving Renault a good spin. Good enough, at least, to make for an entertaining 8 minute video.

Check out the video, below, of the lone, operational Symbioz in existence. I’ve also included a quick photo gallery of the car for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, and invite you to share your thoughts on the car (and the laughable VR interface) in the comments at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Renault Symbioz Goes for a Drive + Photo Gallery

Source | Images: Car Throttle, via Drive Tribe.

Renault ZOE Sport Concept Lights Up Geneva

The Renault ZOE is a slightly smaller cousin to the Nissan LEAF — a battery electric four door sedan suitable for getting most people and their families from here to there and back again using electrons instead of molecules. A perfectly fine car, in other words, and one of the best selling electric cars in Europe, but not a car one would normally associate with the word “performance.” Renault is largely unknown to American drivers, but it has a long history of success at the top levels of international motor racing and has produced some superb road cars with sporting pretensions over the years. It has been involved in Formula One for decades and currently is the factory backer of the e-dams Formula E effort. Its Alpine division was once a force in rally competition.

40 years ago, some Renault engineers with deliciously deranged minds took an ordinary Renault 5 front wheel drive sedan, known in the US as the LeCar, stuffed it full of a mid-mounted turbocharged engine, converted it to rear wheel drive, expanded the rear track by about 2 feet and voila! The insanely fast Renault Turbo 5 was born. The children of those engineers must still work for the company. They have to conspired to put together a sporting version of the ZOE known as the ZOE-e and it’s brilliant.

Drawing on the knowledge gained from its Formula E program, the ZOE-e is a purpose built carbon fiber two seat sports coupe with an awe inspiring 460 horsepower. It has two identical electric motors — one in front and one in back. To put things in perspective, the Formula E car is limited to a maximum of 270 horsepower. The ZOE-e tips the scales at around 3000 lbs including its 40 kWh battery and can scoot to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds.

Where the Turbo 5 was no svelte ballet dancer, sacrificing styling for brutish performance, the ZOE-e is molded and sculpted into a work of art that features excellent aerodynamics. It is painted the same Satin Blue as the e-dams Formula E racer with tasteful flashes of yellow scattered around the exterior. Inside, driver and passenger are cossetted in Recaro racing seats. The entire car conforms to FIA crash standards for racing vehicles. The driver can select from three power modes and the car has a range of about 125 miles — assuming the driver can resist the urge to mash the go pedal constantly.

The ZOE-e is just a concept — one of those cars that manufacturers bring to major car shows like Geneva to make people’s hearts beat faster. Are there plans to put the ZOE-e into production? No, not that anyone is talking about publicly. But the fact that it exists is a sure sign the electric car revolution is in full swing and the future will not be devoted exclusively to boring autonomous transportation pods. There is still hope for those of us who like cars and enjoy driving con brio. Build it, Renault. They will come.

Source: Electric Cars Report

Shared Electric Car Platform Will Reduce Costs For Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi

In an attempt to significantly reduce the costs of manufacturing an electric car, Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi will share their engineering resources to develop one chassis suitable for every electric car model the three companies build. Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is pushing hard to get the retail price of the electric cars down to the point where they are cost competitive with conventional cars.

Despite the fact that electric cars are superior to cars with internal combustion engine in many respects, the buying public continues to do what it always does in a market economy — seek the lowest price. In an effort to get people to choose an electric car over a conventional car, governments around the world offer a bewildering array of incentives to those who choose to buy electric.

In the US, electric car buyers can qualify for up to $7,500 in federal tax credits, but what really lights a fire under some people are non-monetary incentives like access to HOV lanes, free parking in cities, or access to free charging. In China, someone who buys a conventional car in one of that country’s crowded cities — China has 106 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants, the US has 8 — may have to wait as much as 5 years to register their car. A person who buys an electric car instead qualifies for a registration immediately.

Mitsubishi has recently come under the control of Nissan, after a fuel economy scandal earlier this year came close to bankrupting the company. A report in Japanese business news source Nikkei says all three companies will use the redesigned chassis intended for the upcoming second generation LEAF — due to arrive in 2018 — as the basis for every electric car they sell. Developing one chassis rather than three will significantly lower development costs. The three companies will also share key components such as the motor, inverter, and battery — a move that will further reduce production costs.

Ghosn is on record as wanting to make an electric car for the Chinese market that retails for $8,000 or less. It will be no Tesla, but in a country that sells nearly 20 million news cars a year, many drivers are looking for basic transportation rather than luxury appointments.

Electric cars are not novel anymore like they were in 2010 when the LEAF first went on sale. Interest in driving electric is at an all time high. Many industry observers expect electric cars to become the norm within the next decade. Higher prices than conventional cars are the only thing keeping the dam from breaking. If Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi can figure a way to slash the cost of their electrics by 20%, they could become a dominant force in the global vehicle market.

Source: Reuters    Photo credit: navets via Foter.com / CC BY

40 kWh Battery Gives Renault Zoe 400 Kilometer Range

The Renault Zoe was the best selling electric car in Europe in 2015, even though its range with a 22 kWh battery is only about 85 miles. At the Paris auto show, Renault quietly announced it has increased the size of the Zoe’s battery to 40 kWh, giving the small sedan 400 kilometer of range in the European driving cycle. Renault estimates its real world range at 186 miles in urban and suburban driving at 186 miles. Since the Zoe and Nissan LEAF are corporate cousins, improvements to one may offer hints about improvements to the other.

“This month Renault surpassed 100,000 electric vehicles sold and now ZOE will travel up to 250 miles (400km) without recharging. We are continuing to push in areas where innovation matters most for Renault customers. Making it easy for them to choose electric, with new connected services to enhance their driving experience, is a top priority for us and for ZOE customers,” said Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

The new Z.E. battery has almost twice the capacity of the standard 22 kWh battery. It was developed in partnership with LG Chem and uses high density lithium ion technology. LG Chem and Renault were able to increase the energy density of the battery without adding more battery cells. That means it will fit in the same space as the older battery. The engineers also kept it from being significantly heavier.

Renault is pioneering battery leasing programs. The Zoe itself retails for a feather light 23,600 euros. After that, buyers can chose battery leasing plans as low as 69 euros a month up to 119 euros a month, depending on how miles will be driven. Battery leasing eliminates two worries many EV owners have — premature battery failure and technological obsolescence.  It’s a wonder other companies haven’t thought of leasing the batteries in their cars.

For the moment, the Renault Zoe is the lowest prices long range electric car in the world. Everyone invested in the coming green car revolution is anxious to see that record broken many times over in coming years.

Source: Electric Cars Report, AutoBlog

Will Canada Embrace The Renault Twizy?

The Renault Twizy is now available in Canada. Do we care? Most of us snicker at the thought of low speed electric vehicles. “Glorified golf carts,” we call them. But will they have a place of honor in the green car revolution? The notion of mobility is changing. As more and more people crowd into cities around the world, having a small, light, highly maneuverable, easy to park vehicle available to take us a few miles from home and few miles back is beginning to make more sense.

Let’s face it. Like most vehicles from the land of champagne and brie, the Twizy is, well, quirky seems like the right adjective. It is limited to a top speed of 25 mph. It comes without doors (they are an available option, however). And it looks more like a lunar rover than a car. The province of Ontario, which is where a lot of us are going to go when Donald Trump becomes president, has recently announced a major program of electric car incentives.

That EV friendly environment has convinced Canadian company Azra, which specializes in the installation of electric charging infrastructure, to start selling the Renault Twizy to its customers. The Canadian government recently approved the Twizy for sale in Canada as a low speed vehicle. In the US, such cars are known as neighborhood electric vehicles and are allowed on certain public roads where their limited top speed will not interfere with other traffic.

According to Green Car Reports, the company will provide more details on how it will sell the Twizy, along with pricing and other specifications, at an event to be held in Montreal on April 15. Azra will stream the introduction live on its website that day. Maya Vautier, Renault’s press officer for EVs and environment says, “Renault wanted to find an innovative way & partner to sell [the Twizy] in Canada.” She calls the Twizy “a particular and different object, between a car and a moped.” That seems an apt description.

The Twizy is part of car sharing services in Yokohama, Japan and San Francisco. It is also Renault’sbest selling electric car in France. Will it be a hit in the northern climes of Ontario? A Tesla Model S P90D it is not, but it might just be the small, fun, and rather adorable electric car that most people really need. We will know soon enough.

Photo credit: Azra

Renault Twizy low-speed electric car comes to Canada

Renault Twizy 40 arrives in Canada, March 2016 [photo: Azra]

The Renault Twizy has always been an unusual vehicle, the sole low-speed electric vehicle to carry the brand of a major global automaker. Sold in a number of European countries, it's been tested here and there in North America.

To date, the only way to experience a Twizy has been to rent one from San Francisco's Scoot Network, which is offering them on a test basis as "Scoot Quads."

That's about to change, however. The Renault Twizy has now been certified for sale in Canada as a low-speed electric vehicle, and will be launched in Quebec next month.

It will be sold through Azra, which specializes in the installation of electric charging infrastructure.

Sir Stirling Moss in his Renault Twizy electric car, London, May 2015

The company will provide more details on how it will sell the Twizy, along with pricing and other specifications, at an event to be held in Montreal on April 15.

Azra will live-stream the introduction event on its website that day.

According to Maya Vautier, Renault's press officer for EVs and environment, "Renault wanted to find an innovative way & partner to sell [the Twizy] in Canada." That reflects the little electric car's position as "a particular and different object, between a car and a moped," she said.

Scoot Quad (nee Renault Twizy) tested in San Francisco, Oct 2015

Renault departed from the North American market in 1987 when it sold the remains of the American Motors Corporation to Chrysler, which wanted AMC largely for its Jeep brand.

Its North American-built passenger cars, the subject of many consumer complaints over reliability, were briefly rebranded Eagle, but that brand was phased out after 1999.

The Twizy itself, as Vautier notes, is about halfway between a moped and an actual highway-capable electric car. It doesn't have fully bodywork—which will pose a challenge in Quebec winters—and is limited to a top speed of 25 miles per hour.

Renault Twizy in New York City. Photos: Renault Official on Flickr

But its quirky looks and distinctive design attracted much attention in San Francisco, where Green Car Reports tested a Scoot Quad (nee Renault Twizy) last fall. It's certainly a far more interesting vehicle than more utilitarian low-speed (or neighborhood) electric vehicles, whether they're more utilitarian vehicles or modified golf carts.

What this portends for a revival of the Renault brand in North America, however, is anyone's guess.

But if any region of North America is likely to be receptive to a Renault revival, it would be the heavily Francophone province of Quebec. We'll have more details on the Twizy launch when it takes place.

Renault going with EV push at COP21

Renault is looking for the proverbial home court advantage to spur electric-vehicle sales at the United Nations' COP21 United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris. The French automaker has deployed a fleet of 200 EVs to shuttle delegates during the confab, which started November 30 and ends today. In fact, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has invested more than $4 billion in electric-vehicle technology and is looking for the green-minded event to improve the automakers' return on investment.

As part of the conference, Renault is publicizing recent patents that have led to shorter charging times and longer single-charge range figures for models such as the Renault Zoe. Renault also says its Zoe sales have surpassed 30,000 units in Europe while its Kangoo Z.E. sales have topped 20,000 units. Renault is also touting its position as the electric-vehicle expert for the Formula E electric-vehicle racing circuit. See more information from Renault here.

The Alliance said in September that it had moved more than 265,000 electric vehicles globally, or more than General Motors and Mitsubishi (the two next-largest plug-in vehicle sellers) combined, and accounts for about one in four EVs since the Nissan Leaf started sales a few years back. That said, companies such as Volkswagen and BMW had been making inroads into the Alliance's EV leadership this year, and the 2015 market share of the Alliance had been trending more towards about 18 percent through the first eight months of the year. You know, a new Nissan Leaf would probably help turn that around...

Renault Twizy EV Comes to California

When it was introduced several years, the Renault Twizy was the cheapest electric car you could buy. With a race car like central seating position and instant torque, it was one of the most fun, too- withFormula 1 greats like Sebastian Vettel having fun putting a Twizy through its paces both on the track and in a shopping mall. American EV fans, meanwhile, have had to wait. Until now, that is.

Thanks to San Francisco based car and scooter sharing company, Scoot, the Twizy is now available for rentals at the low low price of $8/half hour.

It’s little different from the Renault version, though. For example, the US Twizy is now called the Nissan New Mobility Concept- which is a terrible name. Even so, the little electric car still tops out at around 30 MPH, so it’s technically a moped. That means you don’t need any kind of license to legally drive the thing (although, it should be noted that Scoot does require a license and the completion of a short online safety course).

So, if you’ve been eager to drive a Renault Twizy down some of California’s twistiest roads- or you’re just itchin’ for some driftin‘- head on over to Scoot and check the little car out. If you take a few pics and send them in, we’ll publish them!

Source | Images: Wired Autopia.

Recharge Wrap-up: Renault-Nissan hits 250,000 EVs, will the next Toyota Prius be an SUV?

Will the next Toyota Prius be an SUV? Mazda and Toyota recently reached an agreement to share powertrain technologies, which will help Mazda comply with California's tightening ZEV restrictions with a plug-in vehicle. On the flip side, Toyota will have access Mazda's Skyactiv diesel powertrain, which a source tells Motoring will be used in an SUV based on the Toyota Prius (and, as Hybrid Cars suggests, on the Toyota C-HR concept). Interestingly, the collaboration will also give Mazda access to Toyota's fuel cell technology, which could mean more hydrogen powered cars on the road and the subsequent expansion of hydrogen fueling infrastructure. Could it also make way for a long-awaited hydrogen powered rotary-engine sports car from Mazda?Read more at Motoring.

Samsung SDI unveiled two new lithium-ion stationary batteries at Intersolar Europe. In doing so, Samsung throws its hat in the ring with the likes of automakers Tesla and Mercedes-Benz, using knowledge from electric vehicle batteries in the arena of home solar energy storage. In addition to its 3.6-kWh battery, its new 5.5-kWh and 8.0-kWh batteries offer storage solutions at a larger, more practical scale for solar customers. Called the All-in-One, the battery system, borrowed from electric vehicles, is made up of a photovoltaic inverter, battery PCS and lithium-ion battery, and promises efficiency, compactness, fast installation and an affordable price. Read more from Samsung SDI.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has sold its 250,000th electric vehicle. The quarter-millionth EV was a white Renault Zoesold to a French computer engineer from Bordeaux named Yves Nivelle. While he credits a government program offering a €10,000 rebate for EV buyers trading in an older diesel vehicle for helping him make the decision to pull the trigger on the new Zoe, "I have to say, I was convinced the first time I drove the car. It's a real pleasure to drive and it feels good to do my part for the environment," says Nivelle. The Alliance had sold around 31,600 EVs from January to May this year, up 15 percent from the first five months of 2014. See the video above, and read more in the press release below.

PRESS RELEASE

Renault-Nissan Alliance sells its 250,000th electric vehicle

• Historic EV milestone reached in early June
• Alliance sells half of all EVs globally
• EV sales up nearly 15 percent through May vs. same period last year
• Nissan LEAF remains world's best-selling EV
• Frenchman from Bordeaux bought 250,000th Alliance EV: a Renault ZOE

PARIS/YOKOHAMA (June 24, 2015)—The Renault-Nissan Alliance, the world's leader in zero-emission mobility, has sold its 250,000th electric vehicle: a white Renault ZOE sold to a French engineer.

The Alliance reached the historic milestone in early June, 4 ½ years after the launch of the Nissan LEAF, the world's first mass-market zero-emission vehicle.* The Alliance today accounts for half of the electric vehicles sold worldwide. Nissan LEAF remains the best-selling electric vehicle of all time, with more than 180,000 units sold.

From January through May, the Alliance sold about 31,600 EVs -- up nearly 15 percent over the same period of last year.

"Demand for our electric vehicles continues to grow thanks to government incentives and the expanding charging infrastructure," said Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. "The positive response of our customers is also driving demand. These vehicles enjoy some of the highest levels of satisfaction rates from our customers around the world."

Frenchman from Bordeaux takes delivery of 250,000th EV
The 250,000th owner is Yves Nivelle, a computer engineer, who traded in his 21-year-old diesel car for the subcompact Renault ZOE. Nivelle bought his EV after the French government introduced an environmental bonus in April to allow owners of older, polluting diesel cars to trade them in and get a rebate of €10,000 on a new EV.
"The government's environmental bonus was a big factor in my decision to get an EV," Nivelle said. "But I have to say, I was convinced the first time I drove the car. It's a real pleasure to drive and it feels good to do my part for the environment."

Alliance has full range of six 100% EVs; Renault leads in Europe

With six models on the road, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is the only global car group with a full range of 100% electric vehicles. In addition to the LEAF, Nissan also sells the e-NV200 van, which has been on sale in Europe and Japan since last year. In addition to the ZOE, Renault also sells the Renault Kangoo Z.E van, the SM3 Z.E. sedan and the Twizy, a two-seater urban commuter vehicle.

Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan has sold 185,000 electric vehicles worldwide since December 2010, when the Nissan LEAF went on sale. LEAF has collected numerous industry honors, including the 2011 World Car of the Year, European Car of the Year 2011, and Car of the Year Japan 2011-2012. The LEAF is sold in 46 markets. Nissan's top EV markets are the United States, with about 80,000 sales since LEAF's launch, Japan with about 53,500 units, and Europe with about 41,500.

Renault, based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, has sold 65,000 electric vehicles worldwide since its first model, the Kangoo Z.E., went on sale in October 2011. Kangoo Z.E. was voted International Van of the Year 2012.

Renault was the No. 1 EV brand in Europe for the last two months, with a market share of 26 percent. Renault's top markets are France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway. In France, where ZOE is the most popular EV with almost half the market, the government's environmental bonus allows drivers to lease the ZOE, including the battery, for as little as €99 a month.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance was recently chosen as the official passenger-car provider for the United Nation's COP21 climate conference in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. The Alliance will provide a fleet of 200 EVs to shuttle delegates to the annual conference. It will be the first time the U.N. will use a zero-emission fleet for its entire passenger car shuttle at a COP event.