One of the great hopes behind electrified vehicles is reduced dependence of not only foreign oil, but all polluting energy sources. In a step towards that greater goal, Ford announced that they have teamed up with solar energy panel manufacturer SunPower. While not the first domestic manufacturer to team up with a solar energy provider (GM recently announced a $7.5million investment in Sunlogics), they are the first to provide a customer-centric solution towards decreased grid-dependence.

The fruit of the team up is a rooftop solar system designed to provide Focus Electric owners enough renewable energy to offset the electricity used for charging. The 2.5Kw SunPower system is projected to provide 3000 kilowatt hours of energy annually.

“Under the ‘Drive Green for Life’ program, Focus Electric owners can reduce their total cost of ownership by generating enough energy from their high efficiency SunPower rooftop solar system to offset the electricity required to charge the vehicle at night,” said Mike Tinskey, Ford director of Global Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure. “It’s an eco-friendly solution that perfectly complements our plug-in products and other green initiatives.”

The panels are sized to provide approximately 1000 miles of driving for an average customer. Ford and SunPower intend the system to be an offset to customer’s charging needs, and would provide renewable energy back to the grid when they are charging during the day.

The SunPower E18 panel at the heart of the system is touted by the company as being 50% more efficient than competitive systems. The total panel conversion by the E18 panel is 18.5%, which makes it a competitive solution to most of its current competitors in the home solar market.

The complete SunPower solar system is offered at a base price of less than $10,000, after federal tax credits. Local and state rebates, along with other incentives, may drive the system cost down even more, depending on a customer’s location. Included in the purchase is a residential monitoring system, which includes the ability to track the performance of their solar system on the web or through an iPhone application.

For the coin consumers won’t be saving money in a direct comparison with just buying a gasoline powered Focus, but that isn’t the point. The goal of the project is to spur interest in home solar initiatives as being directly related to plug in driving. As the cost of solar systems continue to drop more of these home systems would make plug in motoring a truly green alternative.

SunPower has worked with other automakers in the past, putting the largest rooftop solar installation in North America on Toyota’s North American Part Center California.

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During a dealer meeting held in Las Vegas on June 29th, Toyota announced a launch date of the highly anticipated Scion IQ city car with a fully electric drivetrain. While knowledge of this compact hatchback has been making the rounds of the internet for a few months, up til now Toyota had declined to offer a release date. The IQ city car has been on sale since 2008 in Japan, and has impressed critics with its novel packaging (3+1 occupants within a footprint similar to the Smart ForTwo) and refined driving characteristics for its class. With a 50 mile projected range however, the electrified Scion iQ faces stiff competition from the 80-mile Nissan Leaf, and 85 miler Mitsubishi i-MiEV. It should be noted that contemporary tests of both those cars indicate that the stated range of an EV is a very flexible figure, and highly subjective to variance in driver and environment. Nevertheless, without the MSRP it remains to be seen how Scion will position the diminutive iQ against the rest of the class.

Bigger questions concern packaging the electric drivetrain such that the iQ’s killer app of 4 seat space in a 2 seater’s shadow arrive intact. With Toyota’s recent announcement of its technology partnership with Tesla Motors, it is likely the Scion EV will bear fruit from the early stages of this relationship.The most novel aspect of the iQ (at least in gasoline form) is the “3+1” seating arrangement. While some media characterize the iQ as a 4 seater, the 4th seat is actually quite small and designed for a small child or enhanced luggage space. Through an innovative design process at Toyota’s ED2 European design center, engineers and designers threw away preconceived notions of how to layout an interior. The result is a world first for an under 3 meter car, and so highly regarded it won a car of the year award in Japan in 2008.

The Scion iQ will also arrive with a RAV4 EV sibling, as well as the highly anticipated plug-in Prius. The RAV4 will provide balance to Toyota’s nascent EV lineup, as it is based off the highly successful and roomy crossover. Between the two EVs, the plug-in Prius will likely be most sought after advanced EV tech vehicle in the Toyota portfolio for 2012. Forums have been espousing DIY techniques to create plug in Priuses for several years, so it is likely Toyota will not have left anything to change with their fully engineered and realized model.

While Nissan can claim “first” in the EV race, Toyota is bringing a gun to the knife fight with its new models. Hopefully the Scion will provide a viable alternative for consumers looking for an EV to round out a home fleet of vehicles.

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Have you ever talked to your car, or given it a name? Most people have probably known someone who nicknamed their Beetle “Daisy” or call their old beater by a funny nickname. Most of us have some sort of presence in social networking too, with accounts on Facebook and Twitter or other platforms of the social networking diaspora. Toyota has taken the initiative to introduce social networking for Toyota owners in a project called “Toyota Friend.”In a strategic alliance with San Francisco-based Salesforce.com and computing giant Microsoft, Toyota intends to build a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars. Intended to roll out in Japan, the network will be built around the latest Prius Plug-in hybrids and the upcoming pure electric Toyotas scheduled for 2012 release.

 

Similar to a tweet on Twitter, Toyota Friend will keep owners and cars connected with exchanges about the status of an electric charge or other critical conditions. The messages would be sent to owners phones, and could expand to their Twitter, Facebook or email accounts as well – thereby bringing family and friends and other Toyota cars into the fold. Toyota has said the exchanges could be kept private as well.

The Toyota Friend social network will be available as an app for smartphones, tablets as well as in browser windows on computers. A demonstration in a Tokyo showroom in this past May had an owner of a Prius Plug-in being tweeted by his car about the status of charging. When the owner plugged in his car to recharge it, the car replied, “The charge will be completed by 2:15 a.m. Is that OK? See you tomorrow.” Other features Toyota has discussed include your car telling you when it is due for service, and linking up to a dealer to schedule an appointment automatically.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda has been talking up his personal connection with the cars he races around the track, and wants the dialog familiar to enthusiasts to grow and become an important part of the brand “I hope cars can become friends with their users, and customers will see Toyota as a friend,” he said.

Bolstering the discussion, Salesforce.com Chief Executive Marc Benioff said: “I want a relationship with my car in the same way we have a relationship with our friends on social networks.” The information gathered from cars adds to the social networking dialog fast becoming an integral part of our lives.

In the quest for loyal customers, manufacturers have jumped head first into the new world of telematics – the use of internet-related technologies in cars. Chevrolet and Nissan have both rolled out apps that work with their EVs to better educate the driver about the needs of their vehicle’s batteries and help locating charging stations. Toyota’s Friend network takes the strategy one step further by personalizing the experience.

What could be next? Certainly more companies could introduce their own networks. Indeed the early Web 2.0 was littered with social media sites that have since quietly folded or have given up to the ubiquity of Facebook and Twitter. It is possible that separate manufacturer’s networks might merge into one more cohesive automotive community, but of course that would depend on all automaker’s willingness to collaborate more closely with each other. Considering the amount of energy and affection people put into their cars, having them finally be able to communicate back to us will likely burnish their indelible impact into our lives.

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REVA, an automobile company based in Bangalore, India, is preparing to launch its own plug-in models, except with a twist.  Shown off at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, and scheduled for production early this year, the NXR, a 3-door, four-seater hatchback, will have a range of about 100 miles and a top speed of 65 mph.  The NXG (shown above) will sport a top speed of 80 mph and a range of 125 miles.  Both of these car models will feature REVive, a reserve-charging technology.

According to key experts in the company, REVA will be adding a unique technology to its plug-in cars, which will be designed to combat “range anxiety”.  This phenomenon arises when motorists worry that their car will run out of charge mid-way through their journey — or perhaps on their way to a charging station. The REVive telematics™ feature will operate like an “invisible reserve fuel tank”, enabling drivers to get their reserve battery power remotely activated during an electricity crisis on the road.  In such a situation, drivers would need to call or text-message REVA for an immediate top-up, however, remotely.

This idea might sound gimmicky at first, however it is meant to address a key issue with plug-in vehicles: the lack of charging infrastructure.  Knowing that there is “spare fuel” in your vehicle might be an incentive to purchase a plug-in.  However, the actual usefulness of this technology will depend on motorists behavior.  The instant they start thinking of this extra charge as part of their normal battery life, its function will be worthless.  Granted, having to text message your auto manufacturer in order to continue to operate your vehicle, and the embarassment it might cause when others are inside, might be enough of a hassle so the technology is not misused.

Prices for the REVA NXR start at $9,995 for the lead-acid battery version and $14,995 for the lithium-ion version.

About Reva:

REVA Electric Car Company is a Bangalore-based car manufacturer. It is a venture of AEV LLC of California and Maini Group of India, which is supported by US investors such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson and the Global Environment Fund.

Launching its 1st electric car in 2001, the company is capable of manufacturing around 30,000 cars in a year at its factory in Bangalore.  They are developing a new plant in Bangalore for an “ultra-low carbon” motor vehicle. This plant will have the capacity to produce an extra 30,000 units per year.

REVA operates in a country with a population that is becoming more affluent and highly invests in clean-energy vehicles.

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Late in 2011, Toyota Motor Corp will launch a hybrid sub-compact and broaden its electric car line-up. The vehicle will be available for 1.5 million yen, or $15,760. Government tax breaks, subsidies on cleaner technology, and an increasing demand for gasoline-electric vehicles have promoted EVs in Japan greatly.  Toyota may have future plans to produce the new hybrid model in France as well, to cater to a European market.

According to a Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, the new hybrid compact by Toyota will use the platform and engine of the Yaris sub-compact, which is likely to be fully remodeled before launch in order to compete with the fuel efficiency and cost competitiveness of the Prius.

Dominant automakers Honda Motor Company and Toyota have reduced prices on their premier hybrid cars recently. The price of Toyota’s Prius has been lowered to 2.05 million yen and that of Honda’s Insight has been lowered to 1.89 million yen.

The month of April listed Honda’s Insight, the first hybrid car, on top of the best selling cars list. However, in May, Toyota’s new Prius replaced the Insight, and became the No.1 hybrid car in the Japanese market.

The Toyota sub-compact hybrid, which is yet to be launched, would be a tough contender to some of the upcoming small hybrid cars like Honda’s Fit Compact and the Honda CR-Z Hybrid.  It has been reported by The Daily that the automaker is likely to raise its daily production target in Japan. This will increase production to about 13,500 units in September and around 13,700 in October.

Why the sub?

Toyota and Honda have introduced sub-compact hybrid models to introduce a fresh alternative to existing hybrid cars (which were mostly SUVs) in the last couple of years. These SUV hybrids are more fuel-efficient (15 to 20 percent more than their counterparts). However, the mpg of these models ranges from the late teens to the early twenties.

The new subcompact hybrids are likely to be marked high in the fuel economy rankings, possibly at the 50 mpg mark or higher. Moreover, their prices are slated to be comparatively lower than the prices of current hybrid cars.

If the past is any predictor, car enthusiasts and organizations such as CalCars will begin upgrading these new hybrids into plug-in models as soon as they are released.  It remains to be seen, however, if and when they are brought to the American market, whether they will be adopted on a mass scale by an increasingly price-conscious and choosy consumer.

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The Renew America Roadtrip, hosted by the Element Hotel Summerlin, has dual functions: It aims to promote electric cars and public awareness in renewable green technologies.  And, in addition, the event has the intention to raise funds for various charities, such as the Autism Society of America.

Touted as America’s first ever electric coast-to-coast trip, the journey initiated from New York City on Wednesday July 15^th and is scheduled to end in San Francisco on the 31^st. With the aim of attracting local press and the YouTube generation of bloggers, the organizers state on their website that it is “NOT about making another geeky cross-country technology trial, but is rather about a real-life road trip, with real people and a real production vehicle – the Tesla Motor’s Roadster.”

The Roadster arrived as part of the procession early on, showing off its $109,000 pristine white body. More than 40 people welcomed the car along with yet another blue roadster that traveled with it through Pennsylvania. You can see the itinerary of the Renew America Roadtrip below. As part of the exhibition, the organizers are also offering rides to the public for a donation.

Michael Craner, owner of Tesla Motors Roadster and co-founder of Renew America Roadtrip said, “We hope that by driving a production electric vehicle, the Tesla Motor’s Roadster, across the country, we can demonstrate by example that green technologies are here today and do not represent a compromise. At the end of our trip, we plan to auction our Tesla Roadster and distribute the money earned to the different charities that have joined with us during our journey, including the American Lung Association, Parkinson’s Association, and local homeless shelters.”

If you’re interested in seeing close-up shots of the Roadster during the roadtrip, wizzardkitten snapped a few photos.

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