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Let me correct you on one factual error, before replying to the meat: The Spark has a 21.4 kwH battery, of which 17.3 kWh is usable; the i3 has a 22 kWh battery, 18.8 kWh of which is usable. The i3 is a somewhat larger car than the Spark, although considerably smaller than a LEAF (see the post...

That would be a violation of copyright, and besides it runs several pages. I posted a two-paragraph exceprt in another thread, so here that is again: The article's first paragraph reads "The makers of the cars you see here were dragged kicking, screaming and, in some cases, litigating into...

Without getting into the whole recyclable/sustainable issue, which as I said is due to German requirements, as I said above lightweighting is important, but let's look at exactly how much battery BMW saved through using CFRP, meanwhile achieving about the same range as the Nissan LEAF and most...

Because you wish to demean it, and thus use a term in which you have embedded disdain and contempt. If I wished to do the same thing with CHAdeMO I could, as I once suggested over on MNL, constantly refer to it as the Godzillaplug (if I wanted to be totally politically incorrect that would be...

The only 'cutting edge' thing on the i3 is the carbon fiber, and BMW is just using the i3 to get the initial bugs out of the way so they can port it to their big, profit making cars and keep selling them under ever more restrictive CAFE. The success or failure of the i3 won't affect that. As...

No, because a what's a minor nuisance at first becomes a major irritation when you have to deal with it all the time. Kind of like having to stop at a QC every day to make your commute. Because I keep my cars for so many years, I make sure that the ergonomics and switchology of frequently used...

Yes, with incentives, and if you are leasing and thus don't have to deal with major battery degradation issues, a BEV like the Spark can be a good deal, and the driving experience is much better on the electric version. But it's still far too expensive to sell without the incentives, for anyone...

Consider the conditions, though: 40 degrees, Portland on what looks like a wet track, probably stock tire pressures, 24 mph versus 18 or so. LEAFfan probably would have managed the same or less, and I imagine he's got a lot more practice hypermiling.

Indeed, the only reasons EVs sell at all (other than Tesla) is because the government subsidies bring the price down from 'ridiculous' to merely 'still too expensive for what you get, but workable for some with the right motivation'. And most EVs are still optioned up to the max of what their...

There's nothing wrong with the existing terms, as BEV and FCEV adequately describe and differentiate them (even if all FCEVs currently use a battery for short power boosts and regen storage). I think the issue arises with your admitted lack of support for personal FCEVs (certainly a defensible...

Autonomous? How do you figure that? The batteries certainly aren't being charged by on-board systems (other than a limited amount of regen). Tony, other than a hypothetical BEV covered with solar panels and taking a week or so to charge, there aren't any 'pure EVs with stored on-board and...

Cold air is denser than warm air, so air drag is increased in cold weather. In addition, cold temps will lower the air pressure in your tires slightly if you don't adjust them (Tire Rack says the rule of thumb is 1 PSI per 10 deg. - see...

If GM decides to sell BEVs in Japan, sure I can see them using CHAdeMO there, if that's the best thing to do from a business point of view. Since they probably won't sell this generation there it's a moot point. As for the LEAF being the best selling EV, well, yeah, but I consider it a...

They are serious about pure electric vehicles, they just have their doubts about the mass-market viability of current BEVs and believe FCEVs have more potential. That being said, here's what the gearheads at Car & Driver, who are about as far from being EV enthusiasts as it's possible to be,*...

Right. iMiEV sales won't take off until the '14s arrive, but then I expect to see them zoom, at least relatively. And I think the FFE may surprise us too, now that Ford is putting so much money on the table. Now if only they could get the batteries out of the cargo area, offer CCS or some...

Right. And for much the same reason, those who live in one of the four major California metro areas that will definitely get CCS chargers will probably want to get the CCS charging option, unless they are certain they will never use the car for anything other than commuting and local errands.

Well, considering that there are now four CCS (not all operational) in California compared to one CHAdeMO (Mitsubishi's) at a similar stage of deployment, they're not doing too badly here. But we're agreed that if it doesn't get support beyond the (state) government mandating it, it will fail...

And for completeness, let's not forget Tesla Superchargers: USA: 73 locations with 470 stalls Europe: 14 locations with 93 stalls They'll be passing CHAdeMO in the U.S. soon, I expect, and they're certainly deployed better (except for the ones in South Dakota and Wyoming), as they're all...

I agree it's inefficient, but suspect they were stuck by the requirements of the settlement. They had to install a certain number of QCs by certain dates, but IIRR were only required to include CCS when there was at least one car on sale that could use them and at least two UL or similar...

Perhaps you missed this (or maybe you just don't believe them; it's too early for them to have established much of a track record here): "All of eVgo’s charging sites will eventually have a combo plug, said O’Day. “We are planning our combo rollout,” he said. “We will make an announcement in...