Will it drift? That is the age old question being asked by the guys at AutoCar, but this time they have chosen to get sideways in an electric car, although it boasts sports car power and styling, is the Tesla Roadster driftable? You’ll just have to watch the video to find out.
Times are tough and Chrysler is was keeping their chin up when they revealed their EV electric concept car at the Detroit Auto Show. The production version of the concept is expected to be unveiled sometime in 2010. The forward thinking sportscar will be powered by lithium-ion battery technology and have a maximum output of 268 HP.
The EV should be able to hit 60 MPH from a standstill in under five seconds and is capable of reaching a top speed of 120 MPH. The production version will be a purely plug-in model. There will be neither gas tank nor any trace of an internal combustion engine. The battery pack should provide enough juice to cruise for 150 to 200 miles before requiring a recharge.
Following the success of the EV sportscar, Chrysler will come out with electric-powered cars, SUVs and crossovers. That is if they American auto giant can survive their Chapter 11 proceedings.
The latest in the Chevrolet E-Flex line up are a series of Chevrolet Cruze bodied extended range electric vehicles. In order for General Motors engineers to perfect the working parts of the future production Volt, Chevrolet has developed a series of test mules to work out all the kinks and prepare GM for the November 2010 deadline for a road going Chevrolet Volt.
Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors are very similar in their intent to mass-produce electric vehicles for a wide range of consumers, but how they are planning to get the public behind the wheel couldn’t be any more different.
Fisker plans on licensing their products to already established dealerships to sell their Karma Sedan and Karma Sunset convertible. This will streamline the process from the initial manufacturing to the final sale of the electric vehicles. Benefits of this approach include established logistics and knowledge of what it takes to sell to the local clientele.
On the other hand Tesla dealerships will be owned and operated by the environmentally friendly automotive manufacturer. This will give them more control over the sales and service aspect regarding the open air Roadster and Model S sedan. This approach is a risky one because at the moment Tesla only has outlets in California, but with an added cost are planning to open retail outlets in major population centers around the U.S. in places like Chicago, New York, Seattle and Washington D.C.; and across the pond in London.
Just as we suspected, the Cadillac Converj is stuck in a conundrum. Yesterday’s story of a General Motors insider confirming the Converj’s production was matched by an official statement from GM. Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell told Inside Line, "There is no change to the status of Converj. It is a concept — a proposal — and it’s being reviewed, and the review is not completed."
No surprises there. Yesterday’s story was about an insider, not an official statement. But another insider let the beans s----even more. This one suggested to IL that the Converj’s fate lies in the hands of the presidential automotive task force that is helping GM create it’s viability plan. So Cadillac will likely have to prove that it needs to spend the money on the Converj to make money — that’s not an easy thing for a bureaucracy to understand.
Cadillac stunned us at the Detroit Auto Show with the Converj, and apparently we we not the only ones. A source inside General Motors told Motor Trend the buzz from the car has caused GM to green light the hybrid car for production.
Although GM won’t officially confirm the car’s production, the target is to have the Converj on sale in 2011 as a 2012. That’s pretty ambitions considering Chevy is working overtime to reach the 2010 target date on the Volt, the car on which the Converj is based. While the Volt’s set up of the lithium-ion battery pack with 1.4-liter combustion engine backup will be a good starting point, it will take Cadillac a while to develop its own exterior and interior. Also Cadillac will likely modify the Voltec platform to accept more batteries, allowing for more speed and greater luxury (weight).
The Converj will be a step in the right direction for the fuel-efficient cars GM needs to show on its viability plan. This makes the Converj in charge of its own fate, because the only way the Converj can go into production is if the government approves the plan due on June 1.
The current Fisker Karma is priced at $87,900 - not bad for an electric car, but pretty bad when they announced models like Tesla Model S priced at just $49900, or the future Chevrolet Volt that will be also kept in the same $40k area. In conclusion Fisker will also need a cheaper model.
In an interview with Inside Line, Fisker spokesman Russell Datz said: "One of the future products we have is something that is significantly less than what will be on the market first. It may be a step above [the Chevrolet Volt and Tesla Motors Model S], but it’s hard to say right now."
He gave no name for the future model, but he confirmed that future plans include a lower-cost vehicle.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, General Motors decided to reinvent the automobile. It teamed up with Segway to create a two-wheeled, two-seat urban people mover. Called the P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), it carries many of the design ideas that we once thought were pipe dreams coming out of design schools.
The PUMA is part of a vision of a vehicle network that is able to recognize outside objects, including other moving vehicles, so that they can all interact and avoid each other. The compact vehicle integrates a lithium-ion battery, digital smart energy management, two-wheel balancing, dual electric wheel motors, and a dockable user interface that allows off-board connectivity. If anyone is scared of two-wheeled motoring, there are two small wheels placed at the front and back of the concept for stability.
Each charge to the PUMA’s battery should be good for 35 miles (GM did not indicate recharge times.) Since this is designed as for urban areas, the top speed is 35 mph.
There may be a new electric sports car to kick around. The Sigma GTE goes rummaging around in Ford’s parts bin and comes out with an electrified Mustang. It’s an all-wheel drive electric car that uses two Advance Motors DC motors connected directly to front and rear Ford differentials. Each motor provides a of peak 100 hp each, running at 144 volts.
All of this is built around a fiberglass body with a previous generation Mustang interior. The lithium-ion batteries should be good for 100 miles per charge.
Like any good startup company, Sigma has very ambitions plans. It wants to to start selling cars in 2010 and producing 500 examples per year. Considering the established benchmark, the Tesla Roadster, has taken orders for about 1,100 examples in a little over a year (and has only build of around 320 them), Sigma’s plans are very ambitious indeed.
Tesla’s Model S just debuted last week, and the company is already reporting 520 reservations for the all-electric sedan. Hopefully it can keep up with production demands when the sedan appears in 2010. Tesla has produced about 320 of the 1,100+ orders of the Roadster since production began about a year ago.
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