Germany will likely have to delay its target of having 1 million electric vehicles on the road by two years to 2022, according to a government-sponsored report.
The Toyota Motor Company has invested in over $267 Million towards renewable energy development in Japan. The investment has been made in partnership with the SPARX Group in Japan and will be called the 'Mirai Renewable Energy Fund'. The fund has been set up to promote and increase the use of renewable clean energy across the island country in order to make Japan more self reliant towards its energy needs in the present and especially in the coming future. The find will essentially help promote the likes of solar and wind power apart from other sources like biomass, geothermal energy and hydropower.
Tesla's Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk acknowledged there were delivery bottlenecks and promised to swiftly iron out the delays. The company has eliminated some color options for its cars to streamline operations to ramp up production.
The Audi E-Tron gets typically Audi styling which is sharp and edgy along with keeping it more conventional than wild, as was the case for earlier concept models. The front end gets an octagonal grille with active flaps, that allow air to pass through and cool the front axle motor.
MG Motor India, a fully owned subsidiary of SAIC Motor Corp. showcased its ERX5 electric SUV at the recently concluded MOVE: Global Mobility Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a look at the ERX5, which is the re-badged version of Roewe ERX5, which was first showcased in China more than a year ago. Roewe is another automotive brand under the SAIC Motor Corp Group of China. The ERX5 electric SUV has a reported range of 425 kilometres on a single charge and the car can be charged up to 80 per cent within 45-60 minutes, thanks to a fast charging system.
The new Maruti Suzuki Wagon R will be launched in India in early 2019. The new car has already been launched in Japan and is available there with a small 660 cc engine as it is classified under the Kei Car category. In India, the new Wagon R will most likely get the 1-litre K10 engine that already powers the car today and also powers the likes of the Alto K10 and the Celerio. While the current version of the car also gets CNG, it is not confirmed whether the new version of the car will get this alternate fuel option too.
While there has been a lot of talk about the diesel version of the Wagon R in the past, considering the fact that the 1.3-litre engine might be a little too much and the smaller 2-cylinder diesel engine that Maruti offered on the Celerio in the past is too noisy, we guess the car will get only a petrol option. Incidentally, Maruti Suzuki sells about 14000 Wagon Rs every month!
Electric cars are the inevitable future of mobility across the world and in India. Maruti Suzuki, India's largest automaker has already announced plans for a battery plant in India that will start making Lithium Ion batteries from 2020 and now, Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, Suzuki Motor corporation has announced more detailed plans for EVs too. Maruti Suzuki will start testing 50 electric vehicles in India from next month onwards and will launch its first EV in India in 2020. The electric vehicle program for India will be run alongside and with help from Toyota Motor Corporation with which Maruti Suzuki has a vehicle sharing joint venture.
Around 87 per cent of the respondents believe that the need for reducing air pollution is the best reason to purchase an electric vehicle, a survey commissioned by Climate Trends and carried out by FourthLion Technologies showed on Thursday. The survey was conducted online from August 21-24 among 2,178 Indian drivers, vehicle owners and those who plan to purchase, own or drive a vehicle in the next 10 years. Vehicles account for about 24 per cent of India's carbon emissions and is a major source for air pollution in several cities across the country.
