Tag Archives: plug-in hybrids

Wrangler 4xe Plug-in Hybrid Pre-Booking Begins in Europe

This latest marketing ploy started early last year, with pre-booking of the Renegade and Compass 4xe. Jeep claims it was a “resounding success, generating a lot of interest across Europe.” The arrival of the Jeep Wrangler 4xe is the latest step in the brand’s evolution and another step in the strategy towards the electrification of its entire range, announced in 2020. This will include the introduction of at least one electric or electrified version of each model in the coming years. Continue reading

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Green Talk from EV Makers Ignores Key Buyer Concern – Cost

While existing buyers of electric vehicles are true EV believers, the vast majority of car shoppers are not. In a new study, nearly half of current EV buyers claim the best benefit of their ac/dc wheels is lower emissions when compared with emissions from gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles, and it’s not clear if they know how their electricity is generated. However, when you get past this “puddle” of EV buyers – they don’t even form a “pool” since they comprise only about 2.5 % of the U.S. new vehicle market of 14 million – and that’s if you include hybrids as EVs; pure EVs have less than a 1% share – other people need to be brought into the clan. This assumes auto manufacturers are interested in recouping the billions invested so far in electric modes of transportation, prompted almost entirely by government regulations. Continue reading

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The Business of Plugging In Adds EV Experts to Panels

The Center for Automotive Research is holding a timely conference – The Business of Plugging In, an electric vehicle conference – this October that will discuss the emerging plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) against a background of contentious budget debates in Washington about subsidies for automakers, global warming, emission regulations, and tax policies. Continue reading

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Toyota Prices 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid at $32,760 and $40,285

With its tiny battery, plug-in Prius has a pure electric power range of a mere 25 miles and runs off of its gasoline engine at full-throttle. This is apparently enough to qualify for a federal taxpayer subsidy under consideration via a direct tax credit of about $2,500 in these deficit ridden times. Continue reading

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The Business of Plugging In Conference Returns in October

The Center for Automotive Research announced today that The Business of Plugging In, a plug-in electric vehicle conference, will take place this October 11-13 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, MI. The agenda for the conference – now in its third year – includes representatives from utilities, automotive manufacturers and suppliers, investors, regulators and researchers. Continue reading

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Why “Green” Alternative Vehicle Sales Will Remain Limited

To veterans of the automotive ecological wars, the conclusions of the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Green Automotive Study released today are, numbingly, familiar. For most consumers cost is the not so invisible hand that drives a free market – even a semi-free one with lavish taxpayer subsidies in place in an attempt by the government to mandate technologies. Continue reading

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