The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Events News

Electric high-tech bubbles, test-drives with racing go-carts and Daimler going electric smart: The second press day at the Geneva Auto Show had to offer more surprises spiced up with big carmakers that compete for the electric vehicle crown. + IMAGE GALLERY

The International Motor Show in Geneva is opening its doors to the general public today. Attending the two press days, cars21.com informs you already about more new electric car models and what the industry really thinks about the future of electric vehicles.

More EVs at display: from petit to powerful

Rinspeed: The UC?, branded as “clever high-tech bubble with electric drive” comes with a top speed of 120km and a range of 105km on average. The UC? concept car which stands for “Urban Commuter” is integrated in a whole mobility concept and was designed to be ready for future series production. To circumvent the limited range the concept foresees public transportation facilities that can load custom railcars with the cars and the journey can be continued while recharging the UC?. An intelligent internet software on board makes sure that the train can be booked from the car and features telephone service, video chat or conferences and e-mail as well.

Daimler: Also Daimler is trying to push the electrification of transport with its smart fortwo electric. The first models were handed over to customers in Germany end 2009. Further cities in Europe and the US will follow and finally from 2012 the electric smart will be available to the general public. To not forget the technical details: the smart has a power output of 30 kW, 120 Newton metres of torque and the li-ion batteries ensure 135km of driving range.

Tesla: With the only full electric sports car that is actually already available and has been on the street since two years, millions of driven kilometres of know-how. Trusting in this long-time experience, Daimler has also equipped its smart fortwo with the company’s li-ion batteries. Tesla’s triumph, already started in the US, is now continuing in Europe. At Geneva’s press conference yesterday, Tesla confirmed to cars21.com that they had a very successful entry in the Swiss market and already a 10% market share in its segment in Denmark. Now the Californian car manufacturer is ready to go big and show the power of electric for the high-end market.

Battle for electric leadership

Renaul / Nissan: Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, said yesterday in Geneva that the industry has to rush in building capacity for electric cars and the batteries to meet the demand within the next 2-3 years. He even claimed that Renault and Nissan would be “the only one on the market” with an electric car by 2011. This issue probably allows for differentiated views as PSA Peugeot Citroën plans to launch two electric cars in Europe this year, and Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV is already on the road in Japan (and in Europe end of this year). However, Ghosn is convinced of a boom in electric car sales by 2011 and is installing capacity to build about 150,000 such cars in Japan, 200,000 in Europe and more than 200,000 in the US.

Chevrolet: A Chevrolet communications representative confirmed to cars21.com that the future will drive electric and that this will happen with Chevrolet at the forefront. The company is just waiting for the infrastructure to be available and the battery prices to go down, however, this will be only a matter of time and in the meantime the hybrid technology will serve as the bridge to complete transition.

Honda / Audi: Still, there are doubts. President and CEO of Honda, Takanobu Ito, presented a concept of a battery electric vehicle for commuters and said that the company is planning to launch it in the near future. However, he added: “We are not expecting too much sales volumes for this model.” Also Rupert Stadler, head of Audi, said: “We’ll only know in 10 years if electric cars are worth it.” Even though they presented with big effects and Justin Timberlake the electric Audi A1 e-tron at the Geneva event and announced more electric models to come under the e-tron name.