What would lead a company to walk away from negotiations for a coveted federal loan guarantee, as solar company Suniva did recently? As I learned while reporting this article for Earth2Tech, it has to do with the terms of the government deals, the time it takes to obtain one, and the recovery of private markets. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Earth2Tech
BMW Rolls Toward Zipcar’s Turf With Hourly Rentals
BMW's Mini Cooper is among the most frequently requested models in Zipcar's fleet.
A new pilot program from BMW will let customers rent any current BMW model by the hour from the company’s event center in Munich, Germany. In this piece for GigaOM’s Earth2Tech blog, I explore how “BMW on Demand” fits into much larger trends of innovation around providing mobility as a service — and growing competition for the current car sharing heavyweight, Zipcar. Continue reading
Posted in Auto, Collaborative Consumption, Transportation
Tagged Analysis, BMW, Car Sharing, Daimler, Earth2Tech, Mobility on Demand, RelayRides, Reuters, Spride Share, Trend, WhipCar, Zipcar
A123 Spins Off Energy Storage Venture, Drops Chrysler Project
Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems quietly cultivated a new energy storage venture and set it loose as an independent company. A123 executives revealed in a call with shareholders this week that the startup, dubbed 24M Technologies Inc., was recently spun out of A123 with venture capital financing and a plan to develop what CEO David Vieau called advanced non-traditional lithium-ion based storage technology. As I reported in this article over on Earth2Tech, the executives also revealed that A123 has dropped out of Chrysler’s scaled-back electric vehicle development program.
Posted in Auto, Energy Storage, Greentech
Tagged 24M Technologies, A123 Systems, Batteries, Chrysler, Earth2Tech, Electric cars
Electric Vehicle 101: Know Your Warranty
When it comes to warranties, it’s helpful to think of plug-in vehicles in two general categories: all-electric models with zero tailpipe emissions (such as the Tesla Roadster and Nissan LEAF), and hybrid models that use electricity but also have an internal combustion engine (as in General Motors’ Chevy Volt and Fisker Automotive’s Karma).
For this Earth2Tech article, I’ve explained how California emissions regulations factor into green car makers’ warranty decisions, and reported the scoop that General Motors aims to get what’s called enhanced AT-PZEV designation for the 2013 model of the Volt. The first-generation model of the car won’t carry that status (which can open the door for certain purchase incentives), partly due to the battery warranty.
Posted in Auto, Energy Storage, Policy
Tagged Batteries, CARB, Chevy Volt, Earth2Tech, Electric cars, General Motors, Hybrid Cars, Nissan LEAF, Tesla Roadster
Tesla IPO: Will Tesla See a Powerhouse Public Offering?
Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley electric car startup gunning to raise $185 million next week through an IPO and sales of shares to Toyota, has won over members of the Silicon Valley, Capitol Hill and Hollywood elite. But will the company, which has never turned a profit, charge up Wall Street with a blockbuster IPO?
I dove into Tesla’s regulatory filings and interviewed several analysts to weigh the comany’s prospects for a blockbuster, lackluster or middle-of-the-road IPO. Written originally for Earth2Tech, this article also appeared on Salon.com and NYTimes.com, and was featured in the New York Times’ DealBook blog.
Tagged Analysis, Earth2Tech, Electric cars, IPO, New York Times, Salon, Tesla Motors
Toyota Deal Not a Silver Bullet for Tesla’s Mass Market Goals
After sorting through Tesla’s amended S-1 filing, I wrote this Earth2Tech piece answering some key questions about electric car maker Tesla Motors’ deal with Toyota. Despite Toyota’s agreement to invest $50 million in the startup, ties between the two companies remain very limited, and hurdles remain for Tesla to start cranking out the Model S in large numbers at the old NUMMI facility in Fremont.
Posted in Auto
Tagged Earth2Tech, Electric cars, Regulatory Filings, Tesla Motors, Toyota
Hacking the Car: Next-gen Vehicles at the Mercy of Cyber Attacks
The shift to an increasingly digital transportation system brings with it one of the banes of the Internet: hacking. Computer scientists at the University of Washington and University of California, San Diego, have shown what kind of havoc a sophisticated hacker could wreak on vehicles that rely heavily on in-car networks and connect to the web via wireless.
Over on Earth2Tech, I’ve explained some of the researchers’ findings and possible implications for electric cars that are linked to communication networks and the power grid. This post also appeared (through syndication) on CNNMoney.com.
Posted in Auto
Tagged CNNMoney, Cybersecurity, Earth2Tech, Electric cars, Vehicle Intelligence
How Zipcar Can Scale Car Sharing on the Cheap
Zipcar isn’t the oldest car sharing network, but it is the world’s largest and it aims to eventually span across the globe — partly by acquiring competitors. The grand vision behind Zipcar’s global expansion is for a subscriber who lives near the company’s Cambridge, Mass. headquarters, for example, to rent a car in a Barcelona or London Zipcar fleet just as easily as in their home network. Continue reading
Posted in Auto, Collaborative Consumption, Transportation
Tagged Acquisitions, Car Sharing, Earth2Tech, Streetcar, Zipcar
After DOE Nod, a Long Road Ahead for Green Car Startups
At a time when dozens of vehicle and components makers are gunning for government funding, it might seem that a fat federal loan is the end-all-be-all of green car manufacturing. But as I’ve explained in this Earth2Tech post, when the Department of Energy makes a conditional loan commitment under its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, it represents just one of many milestones for companies racing to bring greener cars to the mass market.
Why A123 Threw Down for Fisker & Who’s Next
Battery maker A123Systems and plug-in car startup Fisker Automotive, which announced a new partnership this week, seem like natural dance partners. Each exists as an outsider in an entrenched industry, they’re both gearing up for a ramp up in 2011 and they share one mega backer — the U.S. government. I interviewed A123′s VP of Automotive Solutions, Jason Forcier, for this Earth2Tech piece analyzing why the battery maker pledged to not only supply Fisker with battery systems and collaborate on a new vehicle, but also to invest $23 million in the startup.
Posted in Auto, Energy Storage
Tagged A123 Systems, Analysis, Earth2Tech, Electric cars, Fisker Automotive
