A review of the Renault Twizy EV in the rain. Love this car, but driving it in London when its raining cats and dogs? Click on the image to view video
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Category: Electric Family Cars
The Ampera is our version of the Volt here in the UK. Lithium Ion battery technology and a range extending petrol engine. I got a chance to have a chat about the car with Vauxhalls Ian Allen, Launch Manager for the Ampera in the UK and a drive in the car.
Click on the image to view video
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Volvo C30 Electric
A look around the Volvo C30 all electric with one of Volvo’s Product Managers (poor bloke – spent my whole time telling him to stand here, move there..). I’m liking this car a lot. It seems to have ticked all the boxes and even comes fully loaded with those great Volvo safety features. Click on the image to view video.
Here’s an extended test drive of the Nissan Leaf in Lisbon at the European Press launch. Thanks to Russell Bray for his invaluable contribution. Click on the image to view video.
Here’s part 2. This time we look at the Vauxhall Ampera (or Volt equivalent for you Americans) and the Liberty E-Range Rover followed by a quick round up!
Whilst I was at The Paris Motor Show, I began to notice a theme amongst some of the automakers – namely Peugeot, Citreon and Mitsubishi. We love the BB1 from Peugeot, and the Survolt from Citroen, and what do we get? The I-MiEV! Click on the image to view video
Renault are making some very impressive strides into the Electric Car game. I had a chance to talk to them about the fantastic Desir concept and also a look around the new Zoe. Great stuff.
Click on the image for a look around the vehicles and a chat with their knowledgeable PR and communications people.
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Driving the Nissan Leaf EV.
I got to drive the new Nissan Leaf last week. Here’s film of the car, the journey and talking to Nissans EV staff.
On another note, great news that the new Government has stuck with the £5000 subsidy (or at least for some of the intended investment). Fantastic as these family cars are, they need subsidies to help reach prices that are realistic for most people to even consider switching to electric drive.
Click on the image to view video.
Roger Saul (top man from Mulberry) and Kevin McCloud (famous sustainable housebuilder from the telly) were driving Think EV’s at Ecorally ’10. I got a chance to have a chat with them both about how they felt about the car and the forthcoming EV Cup, which looks great.
Click on the image to view video.
I was down at the ecorally yesterday talking to Peter Curran about his 4500 mile odessy in a Think EV as part of a programme for the BBC called Electric Ride. He ended the trip driving from Brighton to London with a host of low carbon vehicles.
He’s an interesting and entertaining guy and he offered a unique perspective into the world of electric cars.
I managed to grab a few good pieces of content at the eco rally and I’ll be posting it over the next few days.
Click on the image to view video.
Trusty Tom from the office went to Paris and got some great footage of the Fluence ZE being driven yesterday, along with help from Lem over at Green Motor (thanks Lem). This is the better place car in action and it looks mightily impressive. A real four seater family car with (some) boot space being driven on public roads, that isn’t drop dead ugly! Thought I’d never see the day.. Keep an eye out for the ZE blog and also the sustainable mobility site where news and interviews are regularly posted by Renault. Click on the image to view video.
Never quite had the chance yet, even if it looks a great family car. But today Mitsubishi announced pricing for this vehicle – over £33 grand! Yes thats £33,699. Incredible, for a small 4 seater. The ICE version is a shade under £9 grand! (and that’s not cheap in this sector). I understand that these cars will come down in price, but how can they ever expect to be taken seriously with luxury car launch prices and limited range.
I really hope this isn’t the start of ridiculously expensive electric cars in the UK, or anywhere else. Another reason to keep us in the gwiz for now!
Heres some footage I got of the Sport and the regular Imiev in Geneva
A chance to look at the car electric car intended for Project Better Place. Quite Nice, Actually!
Click on the image to view video.
There was the Revolve Brighton to London Eco rally today – a range of low carbon cars ending up at City Hall, along with an interesting conference organised by the Low CVP. I dived down there at lunchtime and grabbed some footage. No desperate stories of searching for a power socket or a hydrogen filling station, I’m afraid.
Click on the image to view video.
Here’s a video of a chat with a well informed man from Mitsubishi about not just the imiev but also the imiev sport.
Click on the image to view video.
This one’s a discussion with the head of electric vehicle development at Renault. Talking about the upcoming ZE Concept (Kangoo..) technology and project better place.
Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging Renault ZE Concept Kangoo Project Better Place
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Toyota FT EV Video
Toyota have been showing off their pure electric FT EV. Phew, I was beginning to think Toyota were going to miss the boat on that one… It’ll make a nice little city EV. Bring ’em on Toyota! Here’s a chat with Dirk from Toyota Germany. Click on the image to view video..(5 mins)
Links:electric car vlogging Toyota FT EV
A look around the new Opel Ampera to be badged Vauxhall in the UK with GM’s head of Electric Vehicle development, and a chance to ask him whether this could be another EV1.. Click on the image to view video.
inks:electric car vlogging GM Ampera opel Range Extender Chevy Volt EV1 Vauxhall Vauxhall Ampera
Here’s where Bob meets the bloggers…! It’s coming in at 20ish minutes, and I’ve left most of it in for you. Broadly speaking the subject matters were in the following order;
State Of the Automotive Industry / Bobs views on Formula 1 / The Volt / Gas prices / The Opel GM Split / The future for cars and the hydrogen/electric debate.
Click on the image to view video.
A load of bloggers (and a vlogger!) were invited to the Vauxhall Ampera launch at the Geneva Motor show… The car will run on battery alone and run 60km on plug in only, but it also has a range extending engine built in that charges the batteries, similar to the Chevy Volt. Nice idea…great looking car…but can it save GM? Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging GM Ampera opel Range Extender Chevy Volt Vauxhall Vauxhall Ampera
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General Motors in Geneva
Today was preview day in Geneva. Tomorrow is the first press day. It’s a whirlwind of interviews for the GM execs and they’re spending a lot of time fielding questions about the state of their business. Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging GM Ampera opel Range Extender Chevy Volt
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Honda FCX Clarity.
Talking to Honda’s Environmental Manager, John Kingston, about the FCX Clarity Hydrogen car. Hmmm. Still no plans for a pure EV Honda? Click on the image to view video.
Links:hydrogen car vlogging video podcast Honda FCX Clarity Fuel Cell
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Opel Flextreme
A look at the Opel Flextreme – Europe’s version of the Chevy Volt. 40 mile range on the battery and a small engine purely for recharging purposes. They say we’ll have it by 2010. Gosh, that’s only 2 years away. Doubt we’ll even have the Smart ED and Subaru R1e by then, but there’s always hope….
I’m back to posting some of my remaining BMS footage. I have a ton of content to cutdown and upload (including a trip in a Tango and a Tesla. Yeeeeehaaaa!).
Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast flexstreme Chevy Volt Tango Smart tesla Tesla Motors Subaru R1e EV
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The Think: Driving
This is the second part of today’s filming, driving the Think. Click on the image to view video. (31 meg QT)
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The Think: Pictures
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The Think: First Look
Got a first look at the new Think today. £14000. 125 mile range. 65 mph top speed. Lithium Polymer battery….This first clip takes a look around the car. Click on the image to view video (25 meg QT)
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Opel Flextreme (Part ii)
Here’s some more pictures and detail of the Flextreme. Autoblog Green are reporting on similar releases from Dodge and even an EV Jeep Renegade.
Don’t let’s get too excited. Each and everyone is a concept right now
and we may well be driving a lead acid g-wiz for years to come! Click
on an image to see it in more detail.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast opel flextreme Opel Flextreme Chevy Volt Dodge Jeep Autoblog green Gwiz
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Opel Flextreme
Is this really happening? Are some of the mainstream manufacturers really spending more time and money on EV technologies? Detroit 2008 seems to be heralding a whole range of EV concepts.
The big guys seem to be concentrating on using EV and battery technology but charging those batteries with an on board generator (usually diesel and known as a range extender). They’ll also have an option to plug in. In the States the cars thats best known in this form is the Chevy Volt. Here in Europe, Opel have been showing the Flextreme Concept. It’s a four seater EV that has a range of 55km when charged up, but has an extended range when the batteries are charged using a 1.3 litre diesel engine of 715 km (not connected to the wheels like a hybrid). Top Speed will be 160kmh with a 0-100 kmh of 9.5 seconds.
I’m hugely excited about it all. Let’s hope there’s something in this for the future…Here’s a short video of its unveiling at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2007. Mind out for those Segways. They’ll be everywhere before you know it… Click on the image to view video (2.3 Meg QT)
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast opel flextreme Opel Flextreme Chevy Volt Detroit 2008
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i miev
The i miev is ace. 4 seats. 4 doors. Great range. Proper safety features. Apparently Mitsubishi’s chief exec in the UK fully supports the electric version of this car and we should have it by 2010…. They’ve just previewed a concept called the i miev sport at the Tokyo motor show. Take a look at this you tube link. They claim this one will do 110 mph. I really hope that the i miev happens in Europe – it’s a perfect urban car. Thanks to dig info for the video and autoblog for the pics.
A think got me thinking (sorry..) yesterday about the new model that’s coming to our shores in the near future. Looks like it’ll be a great little car but there’s a question mark over charge times. With a Wiz you can do an 80% battery charge in 2 hours – something we often need to do. I’m not sure the new Think will have this facility. Click on the image to view video (3.5 meg QT).
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The car park
Some Westminster car parks offer free electricity for electric vehicles. This is ace, quite frankly, as it does away with the worries one would normally have with range. On this particular trip I parked next to a Ford Think. I looked into buying one of these a couple of years ago but they seemed very difficult to get hold of at the time. Click on the image to view video (2.8 meg QT).
Links:electric car vlogging