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"It was interesting to hear that Dr. Marco Loglio worked with Aoxin in 2013 on the e-GO. I am sure that at that time Marco must have met the Italian engineers working on the e-GO. It is public information that the e-GO was developed over a five year period by Dongfeng Motor.
As you know, Dongfeng is a major producer of automobiles in China and last year they produced four million automobiles. They also have major joint ventures with many automobile companies throughout the world and actually supported Peugeot last year, funding them one billion Euros and furnishing them with a line of credit of up to three billion Euros.

The Italian engineers working with Dongfeng Motor developed a carbon fiber technology that now exists for the e-GO. The whole point of the research and development was to find a new method to make carbon fiber parts very inexpensively, which they have successfully done.

It is our opinion that the technology is indeed a disruptive technology that will change not only the automobile industry but also has its place amongst advanced aircraft and other industrial applications such as boats.
2050Motors has worked very closely with the Italian engineers and has formed personal relationships with them prior to 2012. All of the Italian engineers have worked for the biggest companies all over the world including German auto companies.
As you may understand, we are all reluctant to use their names in any of our press releases because we at 2050 Motors intend to stand on our own two feet. 2050 Motors does not rely on using other people's brand name or recognition to our benefit. Our future and strategy is well planned.

We will set many new world records within the next 12 months. The e-GO only weighs 1,400 lbs and is literally bullet resistant. This makes it the lightest and toughest vehicle ever built. In addition, it would also be the most efficient vehicle ever to hit the highways. The so-called quarter panel overlap crash test for the e-GO will be like a walk in the park.
We will make all the other vehicle manufacturers that have failed this important test wonder how we obtained these results.And make no mistake, the people that surround and support 2050 Motors have been in the electric vehicle business for many years and have set many world records.
In 1994, one of our consultants broke the 1993 world record climbing one of the highest peaks (Pike's Peak) in the United States, 14,000 feet high. The previous record was surpassed by a record-breaking margin of more than three minutes. The run up Pike's Peak, as you may know, is a yearly classic that was held every year since the late 1800's right to today.

Furthermore, one of the consultants for 2050 Motors also drove an electric car without stopping and without charging from San Francisco to Anaheim, California, a distance of 450 miles.
That world record had been held all these years until recently, now that I hear from you that Dr. Loglio's Fiat/Zotye vehicle has achieved 801 km on a single charge. It took 20 years to break that world record: Congratulations !

To answer your question, yes. Please send us your correspondence with Dr. Loglio. We are certainly anxious to hear about any new battery technology."

Thank you. George Hedrick Vice President of Nevada Operations 2050 Motors, Inc.

Since you are in touch with 2050Motors please inform them that I could design battery packs for them to extend the range of their cars for another 50% more to 300 miles for the same cost.

Aoxin is really a leader in design and technology and is the only company in China (together with Yema auto) that is able to produce EVs with more then 400 km range with one charge and at an affordable price.
Not to mention that I also am cooperating with Yema Auto in Chengdu to create their high energy density battery pack. "

EVUK editor update  August :    Loglio has just assured us that the 400km/charge Yema T70 SUV that was due to go on sale in April "should be appearing later this year". But only in China,obviously and unfortunately.
(Oh c'mon now - why would any Western consumers possibly want a long-range all-electric $35,000 dollar SUV in 2015 which has been proclaimed "The Year of the SUV" by the West's carmakers ?)

Marco continues: "My overall feeling after the Shanghai Auto Show 2015 is that, the giant Chinese automakers are still completely unaware of the real progress that has been made in the battery field. In the show there were over 100 EVs on display, but apart from Aoxin and Yema, two small private enterprises, all the other EVs were in the range of 150/180 km per charge with low performance and a heavy car body based on normal gasoline / ICE car production.

It's frustrating to see that in China engineering is so badly appreciated and battery technology advances almost totally ignored. When I go around and describe how today there are cells with 330 Wh/kg energy density with 3000 cycles and reasonably priced, Chinese engineers still think that this is impossible, even though I have already demonstrated it with my 801km range prototype 3 years ago already !

Anyway, I am persevering, hoping that people with good will will join together to demonstrate that EVs with long range and at affordable prices are a reality today and not a far-off dream of the future.
Marco "

Marco to EVUK's PG - on Pečjak's "expensive" cells:
"I read in Autoblog Green that your friend Mr Andrej Pečjak reached the distance of 826 km on one charge in his converted Mazda.
Firstly I would like to send my personal congratulations to Mr Pečjak. But I also read that the cost of the Kokam battery pack was about $50,000, an incredibly high price for a 100 Kw/h capacity.
The key point in the future of electric vehicles will not be the creation of large capacity battery packs(that's relatively easy - you just put together more cells in a large enough battery box) - no, the key point will obviously be the cost of that large capacity battery .
To achieve the 801 km with my Zotye M300 EV/Fiat Multipla at highway speeds and finishing still with about 15% of the usable capacity in the battery (meaning I could make 950 km with one charge before reaching the BMS cut-off limit of 20% energy remaining in the battery) the cost of my battery pack was only $160 for 1 Kw/h.

That means if Mr Pečjak had used my cells instead of Kokams the cost would have been around $16,000 - so less than a third of what he spent.
I know the Kokam cells very well, as they have been on the market for many years so I am able to ensure that the cells I provide have the same good quality but even higher energy density. It would be good - to say the least - if EV enthusiasts and campaigners finally got to realize that long range and low cost are already now a reality.
Using expensive Kokam cells for the Mazda5 record is clearly a little misleading with respect to people's understanding of the future of EV's.
I hope that you can write an article about this.
Marco "

And neither would the SRZero's 290 mile single charge London-Paris day-trip.   Loglio says that his latest (MLCA Ltd) cells are now 3-4 generations better than even those truth-exposing SRZero super-cells.
Funny ain't it, how the BBC and the rest of the media, since the epic SRZero slam-dunk, have never mentioned Marco Loglio or his Thundersky cells or his new company MLCA's even better EV cells or his 801km Shenzhen to Nanning Fiat Multipla/Zotye EV world record.
Is BBC World not interested in world records that could help save their world, their planet and their audiences from cataclysmic climate change and resource depletion(NASA study warns) ?

And what of Fiat's anti-EV boss Marchionne ? Italian Loglio's Fiat Multipla achieved almost 5 times the range of that company's deliberately mediocre compliance 500-e - so why has no journalist challenged Marchionne with the embarrassing truth - exposed by an EVangelical compatriot, an adversary, his antithesis..and nemesis ?

Marco v Marchionne - sounds almost as good as Ali v Frazier..

Imagine if range rivals Pečjak(826km) and Loglio(801km) were to join forces, pool resources and together succeed in breaking the 1000km range barrier - at average/normal speeds - slashing battery costs to boot.
What if  they/we were to then spend a month or two driving said awesomely subversive, transformative vehicle around Europe - especially targeting car-manufacturing centres/cities such as Wolfsburg(VW), Munich(BMW), Sunderland(Nissan), Italy(Fiat), Spain(Seat/VW) etc. - a far-fetched fantasy, surely ?
Possibly, maybe, moeglicherweise.

It's partly up to YOU. You could help make it happen. Or to put it another way:   if you're interested in helping to crowd-fund a fearlessly, genuinely disruptive, people-powered project - get in touch !

July, 2015

(NIKOLA) Tesla's Time Has Come - the "ICE" Age*  must pass and fade away...
- Nikola Tesla was born "at the stroke of midnight with lightning striking in a summer storm" on July 9-10 1856
("ICE" = Infernal or Internal Combustion Engine)

Watch:   "The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla".
A mind-altering message  -  mood-altering  music.  Almost 2 million Youtube views.   MUST-See.  (Tell your friends and your foes)

OK - so we're a little late with this, but our post-Battersea Formula E jest(see below) as to whether series and energy-saving champion Nelson Piquet might be channelling positively charged energy clean out of the air - like a lightning rod - was an oblique reference and birthday-nod to Nikola Tesla famed for his ability to create and manipulate spectacular bolts of lightning-like energy. The Youtube'd TV documentary "The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla" is worth watching and re-viewing at regular or irregular intervals.

Here're a few additional facts that should shed some light on the soul and spirit of the man:
- Tesla always said that if he had to choose a religion it would be Buddhism
- he became a vegetarian later in life but was always scrupulously aware of the effects that food and drink had on his creative ability and energy.
He was very tall, slim as a younger man, emaciated or thin as a rake later. He believed that drinking a glass of whisky a day would significantly prolong his life and claimed to need only two hours sleep a night but took frequent naps.

- Tesla never married and was not known to ever have had relationships with women. Many women tried and vied - including the actress Sarah Bernhardt - all apparently failed.
He often stated that women sapped his creative energies and distracted him from his work. He even claimed to have "destroyed his sexuality" at age 40. Whether deliberately or by accident remains unclear.
A pity perhaps that he didn't find a woman with the "brilliantly inventive" talents that his mother possessed...
(But the teasing question remains: would it ruin or enhance Tesla's reputation if it were to be established that he (regularly) frequented houses of ill-repute or had ladies of the night visit the hotels where he preferred to reside ? He never owned or lived in houses or apartments.)

- there is no concrete evidence that Tesla ever owned or drove either a gasoline or electric-powered automobile - although there are (in)credible anecdotal stories about a cosmic or free-energy-powered(cf. FE's Nelson Piquet !?)  Pierce Arrow he reputedly created/converted and drove for hours at a time at speeds of up to 90 mph. See EVWorld/Dave Cutter ""

- slightly off-topic:   Elon Musk did not choose his company's name:   Tesla Motors was founded and named by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning months before Musk came on board. See BusinessInsider: "The Untold Story of How Tesla Motors Got Its Name".

- but returning to Nikola, the original:  according to Jane Alcorn, president of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe(Long Island) Tesla "..speaks to those who work hard but don't get recognition" and says that Tesla was an environmentalist and humanitarian and "very concerned about the fact that we were using up the Earth's resources too quickly, and he wanted to make sure that we were using nonfossil, renewable fuels..so Tesla researched ways to harvest the natural energy in the ground and in the sky."
(from Nat Geographic's "5 Surprising Facts about Nikola Tesla".

- and finally of course, see Wikipedia Nikola Tesla for a few hundred more surprising and..er..enlightening facts and photos.

Post-Script-Screenplay: Time for a Tesla-themed Tinsel Town film-pitch...amid persistent rumours of a Back to the Future remake.

  Just imagine, if you dare, an all-new, time-tripping and  space-hopping sequel in which the world's fastest superbike - the 350 km/h all-electric Lightning LS-218 - is time-ported back to Tesla's test-labs circa 1900 or lightning-flashed back to his NY hotel room 30-40 years later as he tends his cherished pigeons. 
Haha !  And the world thought he spent his time alone pampering birds...not racing through time and space on a lightning-fast motorbike !   Sshhh !   Another Tesla secret...
(Note:  the standard non-supernatural Lightning LS-218 superbike would have blown more minds - and possibly fuses - a century or so ago than a thousand gas-guzzling DeLorean dinosaurs)

So how's about it Hollywood, Tinsel Town, Robert Zemeckis - is it not perfectly the time for a Tesla-themed, time-travel blockbuster franchise ?
Sit back and enjoy the thrill-ride of your life+time as the Lightning(superbike)-powered, wizard-like "Nikola T" whizzes back and forth through time - and space - accompanied, pillion perhaps, by a genius boy and a gifted girl ...with his favourite, beloved, once-lame New York park-pigeon(see Wiki) perched on warp-speed handlebars or flying free alongside.

So, voilà  les voiles:   movie  plus original idea  plus pigeons  pitched and perched.  Let the futurist phoenix(and the pigeon)  fly - without McFly.

Come on guys - every kid and every (un)grown-up reading this would love to see this realized and materialized !   Tesla brought back to life - and right on time.  ($50k plus an EVUK credit - and it's all yours)
Film title ?
Hmm. "Tesla Lives !", "TT -Tesla's Time", "Bike to the Future", "Race Against Time", "Tesla Rides Again !", "Timeless - The Amazing Adventures of...", "Time Flies", "Tempus Fugit" , "Time Space"...

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------------- Postscript:   Mirko Hannemann(see below) has contacted us to express his gratitude for the increasing groundswell of support he is receiving from around the world(no thanks to a silent media of course..)
July, 2015

605km+ Munich-Berlin in 2010(with (with 18% capacity remaining = 714km):  they called him a cheat and a fraud - now new foes want DBM founder/CEO Mirko Hannemann prosecuted and jailed on new 'charges'

 Before you read anything else or are swayed by anything else - here's an extract from Mirko Hannemann's defence and counter-attack posted at MirkoHannemann.com which we've exclusively translated into English:

"Since I am having problems sleeping - due to my continued state of bewilderment - I'll continue with Part 2.
I believe everyone should know what took place on the 24.04.2015 even though there is a long time-interval between the company's formation in 2011 and the 24th of March 2015.
What was not mentioned in the FAZ article - or deliberately forgotten and not communicated - is that on the 24.03.2015 a meeting was called by Helmuth von Grolman and James Astorian. In this meeting a heated argument took place between myself and Grolman/Astorian.
The reason - and this is really the crux of the matter - was that Kolibri Power Systems AG, with a core valuation of almost 100 million euros, was to be handed over - or from my point of view - sold to an Asian investor who was demanding conditions which would have allowed him total control over the company while effectively excluding me from the decision-making process.
Moreover, I would be required to disclose all of the technology's secrets, hand over all intellectual property rights etc and maintain complete no-name non-disclosure confidentiality. All of these conditions have been insisted upon until the present day.
I was also repeatedly subjected to - what I felt to be - intense pressure from Helmuth von Grolman and James Astorian and it was also repeatedly stressed that the prospective investor was the best hope and last chance for Kolibri - the only other option being insolvency.
Finally, in a nutshell, the 24.04.2015 dispute escalated around the issue as to whether the investor's demands could not be met, the argument being that everything would be in good hands and that the Asia-based investor - who happens also to be a close family relative of Herr von Grolman - would only sign up and get on board if all of these conditions were met. Additionally, during those discussions on the 24.03.2015 I was offered personal payments amounting to almost a million euros - an offer which I am still gratefully declining !
In my view this is all nothing other than a comprehensive, concerted action on the part of public authorities, the media and business people with financial ambitions. "

Much more to come from us - this is just a taster to hopefully whet your appetites:  in the meantime - until we unleash our next abrasive little blast - here's the defamatory (and surely libellous ?) article in the Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung/FAZ that once again targeted Hannemann with a shameless salvo of wild and woolly allegations and accusations - essentially of raiding company coffers - and based almost entirely on unsubstantiated hearsay, hear-tell and purported rumour.
(We won't dignify the FAZ attack with a translation - and the Google translation is even more outlandish than the German original)

It's clear to us at least, that in April this year Hannemann was 'made an offer he couldn't refuse' - but did refuse:    sell up, sell out, accept a million euro bribe/bung/financial inducement/sweetener - or else you'll be sacked on the spot from your own company(he was) and we'll have our friends at the FAZ defame you and character-assassinate you...as the German auto-industry's obedient ADAC Attack dogs or lap-dogs did in 2010 with the help of a largely compliant or silent press-gang.
(ADAC = Germany's AA/RAC/AAA)

It's equally clear to us that it is Hannemann's accusers who should be in the dock - von Grolman and James Astorian for attempted bribery and the Frankfurter Allgemeine for libel, defamation and journalistic negligence, assault and battery.

See also:
- Wiki re: DBM's Kolibri-powered Audi A2 2010 record run.
- our own 2014 EVUK piece re BMW-DBM and long range reality.
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - not to be confused with the more liberal Frankfurter Rundschau. Here's our exclusive translation of the latter's 2011 interview with Hannemann.

In 2010/11 Hannemann was as determined to fast-track affordable, long-range EV's into showrooms as Elon Musk once was. But in one key respect the exiled, evicted DBM-Group CEO still beats Musk hands down:   he actually invented  a record-breaking, award-winning technology that could have changed everything.

And finally, here's DBM CEO & founder Mirko Hannemann speaking in 2010(quoted in Wikipedia) about low-cost long-range(200+ miles) - succinctly telling BMW, VW & Co what they just don't want (you) to know :
"The technology could be implemented today(2010). It is up to industry to use this potential."

June, 2015

"Jesus ! (x2)...My God !(x3)" - to quote the series champion*. And what a phenomenal FE Finale London served up !
(*NB: despite the multiple Jesus, God, Papal etc allusions this scribbler remains a devoutly EVangelical agnostic and agagnostic)

- Watch the full Formula E London race series climax - or just the finale's final 20 minutes..

  Like most of the best dramas, the concluding ePrix race was a classic 'grower'. A frantic, intense, narrow-margin frenzy - simmering at the start, building like Ravel's Bolero and boiling over beyond the finish.

Here's the full race - plus a few pre-and post-race interviews.
And for once, 5 minutes into ITV's eclectic electric coverage, a royal personage - albeit born a mere commoner - had something surprisingly important to say - just a few simple words but clear enough and unusually bold.(It rarely happens that a celebrity or "public figure" - blue-blooded or otherwise - dares to utter those dirty words "environment" or "environmental" on camera - nice one, "Ferg E")

Other celebrities in attendance - Antonio Banderas, Will.I.Am, Naomi Campbell - apparently had nothing green or blue or regal to say on camera - but their endorsing presence was appreciated...not least by the Daily Mail for whom glitz, glam and home-soil patriotism can thankfully sometimes trump loyalty to oil and fossil-fuelled business-as-usual.

On Sunday there was again, as in China, an eerie feeling that EVents were being magically and majestically orchestrated by unseen hands, by a higher power.  Mightier even than FE mechanics or Mayor Boris J.
You may recall our headline for the FE opener in Beijing :

"The Gods Smiled On EV's in Beijing"

Well, they appear to have returned in force for the London finale. The EV Smile - the EV Spirit - was spookily omnipresent and sent shivers down the spine as drivers let rip for the last ten laps.
And Piquet Jr. became the leading lightning rod for most of that palpable, positively charged energy that filled the air and wowed the crowd. (Hmm - so is that where Nelson P. gets that extra charge he always seems to have over everyone else - is he just channelling it clean out of the air ?!   Cheat !   Drive-thru penalty ! )

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Just one possibly churlish-sounding but constructive gripe re the circuit's controversial narrowness:  although Sunday served up a sporting classic, Saturday's contest felt more constricted, constrained and hemmed in than a go-kart race.   So if there is any way at all, Agag, guys & gals, that any of the narrowest stretches of the Battersea track could be widened by just a yard or even a couple of feet before next year without violating trees... the end would surely justify the means - even if a little tarmac is involved. But given the spooky surfeit of FE : EVUK synchronicity we've seen over the last year it's almost certain Agag's people are well on top of the problem.

And talking of broader tracks, wider horizons and synchronicity:  8-9 months after our pleas for a race to be staged in India - specifically at the wide-open, top-rated Buddh stadium circuit near New Delhi(watch lap video, right) - Agag has by sheer happenchance(don't ya know) begun talking about the possibility and desirability of a race in India... most likely in New Delhi (!)

Now there's a thing...
Time to put us officially on the payroll, Alejandro ?

This one last thought might just seal that deal(in our dreams):
  FE organisers are also looking to add African and other countries to the planet-wide race-schedule.
So, for what it's worth, we'd like to suggest - not Johannesburg - but Casablanca, Marrakesh and Masdar City - the UAE's new-ish (and frustratingly under-reported) green city development and renewable energy R&D hub in Abu Dhabi.  We've circled a potential circuit site right next to the city's protective perimeter walls...

But back to Morocco:   why not have race-sponsors help fund a "2020 Solarvision" initiative ?   Working with existing agencies to deliver 20 x 20Kw micro PV-powerplants to twenty of the most needy communities or villages throughout the host country ?   What better way to win hearts and minds sustainably, all year round, alleviating (often) oil-rooted anti-Western sentiment and demonstrating how FE and EV's are genuinely helping to drive the transition towards a greener, more ethical and, yes, more caring or altruistic form of capitalism.

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June, 2015

Formula E(London etc): Watch FREE UK TV and/or
FIA Live Streaming (just 1-2 clicks away)

It gets better: choose between ITV4 & ITV4+1.
Note:   ITV4+1 is the same as ITV4 - but with a 1 hour repeat-delay. Flip between the two...no need to panic if you tune in 59 mins+59 secs after live coverage begins on ITV4 ...

NB: the final race is being covered - for the first time - by ITV1 on Sunday 28.  Watch ITV1. See also: ITV1 FE schedule/listing. Note: ITV1 Sun highlights at 17.20 - so Formula E goes primetime on a prime/primary TV channel for the very first time. When will it switch permanently to ITV1 ? Season Two or Three ?

Summary of all FE London ITV4 and ITV TV broadcast times: here are Locate TV's ITV4 and ITV1 schedule listings for Sat 27,  Sun 28 and Mon 29 June.(It's almost all a.m. / morning action - so adjust or caffeinate your bodyclocks, viewers..drivers !)

But (online) TV-wise - we're almost spoilt for choice...even in countries like Spain where familiar vested interests are ensuring that Formula E is barred from TV...whilst Formula One is almost everywhere you look.

June, 2015

Stationary, driver-less, dis-connected Tesla - Kolibri/DBM déjà vu all over again ?
...some taboo Tesla truth trickles out at last - via Bob Lutz and Harvard Prof Bartman.

  
Left:  Stirling Moss - more disruptive than Musk ? He sure would be if he were to swap his Twizy for a Zoe long-ranger(both are Renault EV's of course)
Centre:  ex-GM's Bob Lutz on Tesla's (DBM-Kolibri-like) stationary stop-gap diversion
Right:  Harvard's Prof Thomas Bartman dares to state the obvious - no mention of the Denza, Zoe or e-Go though...or of any (theoretically) disruptive 800km+ range record-breakers. It's difficult to be disruptive if you're ignored by the media and academia...

Bartman also fails to mention one key, perversely ironic dilemma facing Tesla:   the low(er) cost Model III would itself inevitably disrupt and diminish sales of the Model S - though not in China where the too-pricey "S" has flopped(the Harvard professor has presumably/hopefully forensically researched his subject matter for many years, if not decades).

Thankfully, unlike Tesla, 2050Motors(see below) and their Chinese partners Aoxin have wisely opted to present their Model III and Model S equivalents, the e-Go and Ibis, simultaneously from the get-go or ab inicio - thus avoiding any Teasela-like temptation to un-disruptively dither, dangle and delay the launch of the lower cost vehicle hasta mañana ...or the year after.
See: The Pulse/Linkedin : "The Ibis is China's Answer to the Tesla Model S"

The Model 3-Years-Too-Late:
Alas & Alack !
- Most of us gave Musk the benefit of much doubt for the past couple of years - hoping he might display the genuinely disruptive defiance and courage/cojones to deliver the lower cost long-range Model 3 in 2015 ...or early 2016.

Maybe he wouldn't eventually genuflect and capitulate like almost every other wannabe EVangelical rebel and squander the low(er) cost E/III 's crucial ahead-of-the-game Unique (Timing+Price) Selling Point. Perhaps he wouldn't bottle out and EVentually comply with the not-till-2017 diktat-consensus...cosily relying on a fawning courtier press to fill the void with a constant stream of vacuous divert'n'distract fairy-dust press releases about anything other than the Model E/3/III or obediently refusing to criticise its USP-squandering, disruption-killing postponement.

Sorry Elon - but by 2017 the Model 3-Years-Too-Late will be totally lost in the long-range crowd. And the world's major carmakers will be undercutting you by at least $5k.
Now Musk desperately dangles and teases 250 miles of 3/III range as a possibility, as a new, worth-waiting-for USP.   Perhaps, potentially.
But who cares anymore ? Disruptiveness is all about:
a) timing
a) technology
a) price

.. all THREE factors have equal triple "A" Grade, Alpha status and importance. Musk has missed the boat big time - and it's no wonder that so many have jumped ship(or would like to).

    cf. Renault:   the French FE title-contender and race-car co-creator has already trumped Tesla in the disruptiveness stakes with its 149 mile/charge ZOE - and further, regular 19 mile range increments are promised.
Again, it's so conveniently fortunate for Teasela/Tesla that the ZOE is being kept out of US (and Canadian) showrooms. (Unlike the undisruptive glorified golf-cart the Twizy - now famously Stirling Moss's favourite racey runabout round London)

And of course it is to be expected that Vegas-based valiant attempts to bring the subversively superlight 200+ mile/charge e-Go to US assembly-plants from China this year will be quietly and relentlessly undermined at every turn by the usual opposing forces. (Right, Professor ?)

Ah yeah, free-market protectionism and,er, free enterprise / free speech capitalism - don't ya just love it ?

"Tesla is haemorrhaging" says Bob Lutz.
Cash and key personnel.
A slight exaggeration perhaps - but frankly, we'd be very surprised if Musk doesn't - or wouldn't like to - cut and run within a year or ASAP - with the likes of GM or Daimler swallowing up and consolidating Tesla as a luxury / elite premium EV brand - quietly dumping the also-ran Model 3/III pretender altogether and focusing on their own in-the-works prototypes.

The time to launch a disruptive Model E/3 was always 2014 or 2015 - early 2016 at the very latest.
Musk the Musketier, the fearless, un-vanquishable Man of the People - as opposed to Elon the Elitist - knew that himself once...4-5-6 years ago.
He probably still does. By late 2017(y-a-a-w-n) the "III" will have completely lost its disruptive lustre and allure.

As for the Model X - it too is now way past its start-selling-by date - and risks being lost in the trail of a bulging high-end, luxury EV crowd. It could and surely should have been hitting showrooms within a year of the Model S's launch - no surprise Tesla's frustrated/disillusioned communications VP Simon Sproule legged it hot-foot to Aston Martin where an all-electric "Rapide" has recently been teased)

- Voice in the media wilderness: Harvard Professor Bartman states the obvious(ie. because "journalists" and our lame-tame media refuse to...): "Tesla No Longer a Disruptive Force"

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Finale thought:  will FE-endorsing British race-aces Hill & Moss be rolling up at Battersea Park on the 27-28 June for the ePrix season finale ?
Almost certainly - but will they again both decline on-camera interviews ?

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June, 2015 736km v 801km - the Slovenia v China range challenge heats up as Pečjak eyes Fiat Multipla Shenzhen-Nanning record.

 

No, there'll be no ugly WWF-style head-to-head face-off - but Metron Institute's Andrej Pečjak tells us he believes that their Big Auto-shaming, ever-evolving Mazda5 conversion(Letrika Motor/Kokam batteries) is now capable of achieving 800+km and so - for what it's worth - could soon snatch the world record back from the Chinese-Italian team (Marco Loglio, Global Vantage Power) that drove a Fiat Multipla aka Zotye M300 at (almost) normal highway speeds from Shenzhen to Nanning in 2012.

Pečjak also confirmed that his amazing Mazda will again be taking part in this year's (imminent) WAVE 2015 (12-21 June - the Berlin FE WAVE event was just an appetizer)

Meanwhile China-based Dr. Loglio is confident that his new company's (MLCA Ltd) latest generation cells would now make 1000km realistically achievable on a single charge and - perhaps even more importantly - insists that his batteries are good for 3000 full recharge cycles(do the math).

But the question has to be asked yet again :   why bother  breaking real-world range records at all - given that the Mazda5's 736km feat was almost as steadfastly and predictably blanked, buried and ignored by the media(old & new) as Loglio's earlier truth-exposing 801km Chinese record run ?

So given the inexorable decline and demise of corporately incorrect(sic), non-compliant journalism, prospective range-record contenders will probably need to get their records done driverless in order to tempt the world's media to break their collective silence.

Note: slow-rangers - in Nov 2013 a Japanese team achieved 1300 km on a single charge on a specially selected village-circuit and at a very slow average 30km/h or 19 mph - so unlike their Slovenian and Chinese rivals NOT on normal roads and NOT at (near-)normal highway speeds.

Finally, to all those who have been successfully programmed and propagandized to view most news out of China with scepticism, cynicism or outright sino-phobia - a reminder that range-busting Marco Loglio is a former VP of ThunderSky - the Chinese company that supplied the long-range, robust batteries for Imperial College's almost legendary 26,000km Pan-American SRZero EV odyssey:     Chinese news sceptics should perhaps consider redirecting their cynicism towards our own habitually self-censoring, corporately compromised media here in the West - a month, for instance, after Formula E TV coverage was unceremoniously ditched in madrileño Alejandro Agag's homeland Spain - aka the Costa del RepSol. (Says it all, really)

Qué lástima !  Nominally Catholic Spain shamed by Russia(Moscow hosts Formula E: June 6).

How on Earth will the Spanish media and the country's largely eco-comatose, keenly consumerized, petrol-headed population react to their Pope's upcoming and rare "climate change ?
With: "Sorry - but there's just no audience for the Pope here in Spain" ? ie. a repeat of the recent no-more-FE-on-TV excuses ?

Plan E + Formula E ?
But seriously - there is surely now a glimmer of hope that the door could be opened for a Formula E race in Madrid - the belly of the beast - following Podemos's recent political power-surge in the capital.
With a rascally race circuit, perhaps, that literally runs circles round Repsol's massive Madrid headquarters.
Forget "FE for Zaragoza"(sorry guys) - let's conquer the capital !

Repetimos: Podemos o no podemos, Pablo? Iglesias ? Catolicas ?  Note that Podemos's Pablo Iglesias is now proposing a 'Plan E' ...for a job-creating Green Economy.
Plan E : Formula E.   What are we waiting for Alejandro/Pablo ?

Once again we seem to have tracked back to Formula E after opening on a different subject altogether(Pečjak's 800km range aspirations, WAVE 2015)
All roads lead back to Rome. Talking of which...why did that city - and Rio too for that matter - really cancel their plans to host Formula E ?

No doubt for more or less the same reasons that:

- Spanish TV has stopped covering the series
- FE CEO Agag has been unable to persuade any Spanish city to sign up for the ePrix
And for more or less the same reasons the world's chronically compliant media would in all probability ignore a 1000km range record set someday by Pečjak or Loglio or by any other non-corporate upstart - even if achieved driverless....or topless.

May, 2015

WAVE 2015 Parade EV Record attempt at Berlin Formula E Tempelhof track
- ending 2 hours before race start

Inevitably the words "WAVE 2014" or "WAVE 2015" or "WAVE Trophy" will still mean nothing at all to 99.9% of EU citizens or FE TV viewers - and probably even less to 99.999% of humans globally.
The mainstream media has thus far shown near-zero interest in the event.

The record being attempted:   getting as many all-electric EV's as possible to gather in one location(FE race cars not permitted, not eligible - verboten !).

It all began in 2011 - here's the and the of 2014.
Last year Chris Paine of "Who Killed the Electric Car" & "Revenge of..." fame was in attendance.
And Andrej Pečjak's Metron Institute/Letrika Mazda5 range record-breaker (unsurprisingly !) took first prize in the WAVE 2014 range competition. See our excl. Q&A piece: "736km Bled-Dubrovnik on a Single Charge".

This year Formula E's Berlin buzz should help boost the event's impact and reputation - even if TV companies and the mainstream media once more opt to turn a blind eye.

So:   the Formula E race proper begins at 16.00 Berlin time - and the WAVE Parade record-bid ends punktlich at 13.55(not 14.00, OK Volks ?!).

Louis Palmer - who drove the "

May, 2015

FE Monaco race-wrap: range-busting Zoe earns trackside product placement, Agag breaks silence re stroke-victim(etc) Gildo Pastor (Venturi CEO), Branson does a Dario(two race-tech romanticists ?)

 
Left: the range-busting, lower cost Zoe gets well-earned trackside product placement position
Right: FE CEO Alejandro Agag honorably mentions(for the first time publicly) stroke and family tragedy-victim Gildo Pastor(Venturi CEO and owner). See Youtube Monaco Gala Night speech(don't panic or yawn - it's an easy, breezy bit of banter..)

Let us explain and expand...

- If you've been following our gushingly positive comments re the Renault range revolution and the (now) 149 mile/charge Zoe(more 19 mile increments to come) you might once again be tempted to believe it was no coincidence that Renault decided for the first time ever to product-place or product-park a next-gen Zoe trackside for last Saturday's Monaco ePrix - just a stone's throw from that familiar FE "Drive The Future"(if you're a millionaire)  placard.

But now, at long last, thanks to Renault's lone long-ranger - you don't have to be a cash-stashed Tesla-owner or Chinese Denza-driver to consign range-anxiety to your annals of personal EV history.

Rest assured - blatant product placement normally has us reaching for the sick-bucket as rapidly as any other self-respecting propaganda-refusenik - but the sight of the silently disruptive Zoe Supermini being defiantly thrust in the faces of the short-range automotive establishment (Teasela/Tesla included - Model 3 not till "late 2017") was a sublime sight for sore eyes on May 9 - and we were treated to it once every lap - so 47 race-track "revolutions" in all.

- Virgin's Richard Branson continues to promote the romantic and fluffy fallacy that carmakers need FE race-tech and don't yet possess the technology to produce and sell long-range lower cost EV's..er..like the Zoe...or the 150-200 mile/charge, 5-seater ultra-lite carbon-fibre Aoxin e-Go(half the weight of the BMW i3 - see Vegas-based 2050Motors.com).
Like ITV's Monaco-absentee Dario Franchitti, Branson seems determined to believe and promote the myth that EV race-tech is or needs to be a key driver of road-car advances - whereas in truth all we have ever needed is a forensically informed, BS-intolerant population with the wherewithal and critical mass to pressurize carmakers into delivering low-cost, long range EV's - like the latest Zoe - now as opposed to  n  years from now.

The technology is already there Mr Branson - see Zoe, e-Go or EVUK's News, Trews or TrEVs archives if you think you can handle the truth.
Formula E participants, protagonists and agents provocateurs  should simply continue to do what they're doing - focusing on inspiring, entertaining and electrifying the event's ever-expanding global audiences.

But if "Sir Rich" or indeed EasyGroup's Monaco FE-sponsor and tax-resident Sir Stelios(see his orange banner ad right above the tracksided Zoe..) really want to help fast-track state-of-the-art, affordable 150-200 mile/charge consumer EV's into showrooms now or asap - then they could right now - as we speak - consider grasping the golden opportunity of working with wannabe Chinese game-changers Aoxin(right) and doing with that company's e-Go and Ibis EV's what Warren Buffett has so famously failed to achieve with sino-BYD and their e6 or Denza-Daimler JV. Aoxin don't need FE race exposure - they need a fearless, defiant household-name Western/American/European partner or ally to help them counter the relentless global onslaught of anti-Chinese-brand propaganda and protectionism.   (Video:  e-Go / Aoxin factory built in 120 days)

Sadly though, the chances that the words "Denza" or "Aoxin" or "e-Go"(as written, not spoken) mean anything at all to research-averse mythologists like Branson (or Franchitti) are probably minimal at best.

---

Note:  it's now a dozen years since this EVUK scribbler(PG) chatted far-from-soberly with a bemused, then un-beknighted Stelios Hani-Ioannou at an Oxford Street magazine launch-party(as you do..) about EV's, Tom Hanks' RAV4 EV...while repeatedly pressing the question: "Why no Easy EV Car Rental, Stell ? Based on the RAV4 EV ?"
High time we re-framed the question for 2015: "Why no Easy e-Go rental, Sir Stelios ? Rent an e-Go !"

May, 2015

French Connections:  007, Aston Martin(E ?), Bond Fetish video in Monte Carlo, Top Marques & FE monocoques for Monaco, Michelin's Bibendum Challenges, EVER, Rallye de Energies Nouvelles
- and a Monégasque Murder Mystery(Victim: Venturi CEO's Mother - Monaco's Richest Resident)

 Voila !   No doubt about it, EV karma is now flowing from the States and gathering over France - epicentering in Monaco and around its hill-top capital Monte Carlo for Formula E's May 9th Riviera debut.

So here are a few Bond-and-beyond  bullet-points to help sum up the country's and principality's true, underreported EV / green track-record, credentials and legacy :

  •  Aston Martin(E ?) - a silent, stealthy, spectral electric ride for Bond ?   Apart from the fact that the Aston DBX is a hybrid - and even though an all-electric Panamera is now(May 5th, Autocar) being teased - note that none of the many recent speculative DBX-for-Bond reports mention that an 007 has already driven an all-electric sportscar - in classic Casino Royale territory and style - around Monaco/Monte Carlo(video):

  •  two quotes from our permanent-fixture  Fifth Gear Moore-Bond_Fetish video are always worth re-highlighting - but especially now as Formula E prepares for its French debut in Monaco:

"Keanu Reeves, the head of Michelin and the head of fashion-label Diesel(!!) have all expressed an interest in trying one out(a Fetish)"

- thus spoke Jason Plato, Fifth Gear''s Monaco-resident race-driving co-host back in 2005 - two years before the Tesla Roadster was unveiled.
Add this bit of mischief from Roger Moore:

"No-one can hear you coming"

Surely just as importantly, Big Roge, no-one can hear you going or sneaking away, making your getaway, leaving the scene of the crime or the secret rendez-vous or tryst ...

  •  incidentally: the aforementioned Fetish-fancier and high-profile EV / green car campaigner and Tyre Co. CEO Edouard Michelin was dead within a year(2006) - allegedly drowned in a suspiciously fishy fairweather fishing accident or "accident" .... following a very acrimonious split with Formula One and other anti-green fossil-fuel fundamentalist die-hards - aka the usual suspects.
(right - Michelin on ebike, Bibendum Kyoto)

---

In a similar sudden death vein:    in May last year Monaco's wealthiest resident Hélène Pastor - mother of Venturi CEO and owner Gildo Pastor - was murdered in broad daylight along with her chauffeur after visiting her 47 year-old, FE team-owning son in hospital, where he was recovering from a devastating stroke. Now you may be asking what all of that has to do with Formula E, EV's etc.

OK - you've suffered a seriously debilitating stroke, you've lost the ability to speak, and then you lose your mother to a gunman's bullet just a few hundred yards from your hospital bed.  All of that might just ever-so slightly affect your ability/will to manage and motivate your co-owned Formula E race team.
See Bloomberg and Vanity Fair.

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  •  Formula E in Monaco. Victory, Vindication, Validation, Victoire  for, among many others, the Automobile Club de Monaco and Prince Albert - but especially for Edouard Michelin. RIP.
Race In Peace.    Repeat In Perpetuity.

And last but not least, Formula E en France represents a much-merited, right-royal, what-goes-around-comes-around  Crowning Glory for Michelin's fellow green car champion and advocate - the long-time EV-believer and EVangelist His Serenely Green Highness Prince Albert(II) - the EVER-hosting Monaco Monarch himself.

In fact, there's so much EV/ green car commitment, so much prestige, creme-de-la-creme automotive and elite racing action and promotion in Monaco that it can all get a little confusing :   note however that Edouard Michelin's globally but sporadically-staged Bibendum Challenge has yet to be held in Monaco.

Unfortunately - despite all of the above - when FE CEO Agag and ITV/media commentators wax lyrical about Monaco's racing and automotive heritage on May 9th they'll be thinking and reminiscing about F1 and the Monte Carlo Rally - whilst EV and green car connoisseurs will be far more mindful of the Rallye de Energies Nouvelles, EVER, even Top Marques and, yes, Roger Moore's wicked little pre-Tesla fling with a Fetish - manufactured of course by Monaco-based Venturi - a company founded by ex-F1 racer Gildo Pastor -  the principality's (still second ?) wealthiest resident who has now famously teamed up with Leo DiCaprio to bolster and benefit from Formula E.

But with their team languishing at the bottom of the rankings the Leo-Gildo crew will no doubt be avidly anticipating FE Season Two and the new-found freedom to modify at least some of the Renault-Spark race car's key components including the motor(though sadly not the batteries as many had anticipated).

And whilst we're obsessively, quasi fetishistically, focusing on France - it's worth mentioning the many recent reports lamenting or celebrating the decline in EV sales in the US - but not en France - over the past few months.

None of those reports mention the primary, patently obvious reason for the stateside sales slump - namely the carrot-dangling prospect of 200 mile per charge   EV's from GM, Ford and others in 2017. A drop in EV sales between now and then is inevitable - and precisely what we predicted two months ago.

It ain't rocket or socket science, people !

Does anyone really believe that US EV sales would be falling if GM, Ford, BMW, Nissan et al had adopted Renault's incrementalist strategy - increasing the range of the Zoe now to 149 miles and cutting prices into the bargain ?  Here's the we-told-you-so extract from our February piece:

"...an additional question must be asked:  whatever happened to the industry's historical commitment to "incrementalism" ?  Why no gradual range increases year-on-year ? If 200 miles are achievable in 2017 - why not a 150 mile/charge, gap-filling electric Ford Focus now, this year, in 2015 for instance? Why not give us a pure electric 150 mile/charge Volt/Ampera option to fill the pre-Bolt void, GM ?
Inevitably, the prospect of two major carmakers' long-range game-changers arriving in showrooms 20-24 months hence will diminish demand  for today's short-range EV's - so a win-win for petrol/diesel vehicles, EV's on ICE once again, and a return to business as usual until 2017-18."

So a final shout-out and quizzical Q or two for all of those lame-tame pundits still doggedly refusing to state the obvious: come on guys - take a wild guess - do you predict that sales of the Renault Zoe will:
a) decrease
b) increase
...now that range has been incrementally and more-or-less immediately increased to 149 miles and the vehicle's sell-price reduced ?  And why not give us your best-shot  hunch as to why the Zoe is unavailable  and rarely referenced(quelle surprise !) in the US ...ditto the Denza ?

- Vive La (range/price) Difference !
- Vive La France !
- Go Monaco !
- And now pray silence please...for the .  Anyone ?

April, 2015

Formula E: Dear Dario: 
FE race technology won't speed up EV progress - but ITV's / global TV's top-drawer coverage will
ie. by dramatically  raising EV awareness and massively increasing global pressure on carmakers to accelerate  real EV's into showrooms.
  Put simply, thanks to FE on TV tens of millions more humans are now regularly keyword-searching all things EV-related. A significant minority - perhaps even ITV's Dario Franchitti - will sooner or later uncover the real history - recent and not-so recent - of potentially game-changing electric vehicles and EV facts and truths that our media, including ITV,  (have) worked so hard for so many years to ignore, bury, wilfully underreport or misrepresent.

Click for Clip-Clash Collage - a Crash Course in Research + Racing + Road Car Realities(1 min 42 secs) :

From Left to Right, East to West, Miami to Long Beach via Warwick(University)
...or more to the point - from fallacy to fantasy  via R&D reality(centre pic: Dr. Kerry Kirwan)

Here are just a few clashing clip-quotes to juxtapose:

- Dario Franchitti(ITV): "there's no better place to prove technology and develop technology quickly(than in race cars) "

- Dr. K. Kirwan: "The truth is that since the 50's and 60's very little has made it from this sort of thing(race-cars) to the cars you drive"

- ITV's Jack Nicholls(Dario F's relatively well-researched co-commentator):
"It's called research Dario - you should try it !"
"It's called research Dario - you should try it !"
(sorry - but it IS worth repeating)

- Alej Agag(FE CEO): "we hope here that they can invent batteries that last forever, basically"
Q:  Are FE teams not testing Power Japan Plus's dual carbon cells, Alejandro ?  100% recyclable, 20xfaster recharge, up to 300 miles range, 3000 recharges, cheaper ..(Video: In The Fast Lane - PJP & Taisan")
(Note:   just 100kg of PJP cells could deliver the same range as an FE race car's current 200kg pack. Better still, increase that to 150kg of PJP cells and drivers could stay out on track for around 6-8 extra laps of flat-out racing while their alternate second car is being superfast-charged in the pits. To paraphrase Agag: "FE races could last forever, basically" .  And of course a 50kg lighter, PJP-powered FE car would also inevitably be easier to handle, slimmer, faster.  D'accordo, Dario ?  Verdad, Agag ?)

_____
Extreme intensive testing in the real world(no short, fairweather FE races needed..)
Video: DENZA EV(Daimler-BYD)  :

A breathless, speechless(literally), all-action mini-movie that eloquently demonstrates...Dario - if you're listening or web-researching...that by far the best, quickest, most efficient, effective way to test and prove automotive technology - electric or otherwise - is to subject vehicles and their individual, potentially game-changing components - batteries, motors, powertrain configurations, battery management/cooling systems - to thousands of miles of relentless, forensically monitored pummelling in some of the most extreme weather and driving conditions imaginable - rain, floods, snow, ice, desert heat - in the real world and in purpose-built state-of-the-art test-facilities.

Anyone still tempted to fall for the fond fallacy di Franchitti that "there's no better place to prove and to develop technology quickly(than in race cars) " should  also bear in mind that consumers obviously have very different priorities and objectives to motorsport and FE team bosses/owners. Whilst everyone wants maximum range, the likes of Andretti, Branson, Abt, Prost and even DiCaprio won't be overly concerned for instance if they're able to track down new batteries with triple the energy-density of today's cells but which are far too expensive or exotic ever to be commercially viable in consumer EV's or are a nightmare to recycle or which begin to fade after just 500 charge cycles.
In short, team bosses and drivers wanna win races while most (would-be) EV-owners want long range, low cost and maximum battery life-expectancy (=minimum depreciation anxiety).

As for FE race cars' deliberately unpredictable, intrusive regen and carbon braking system - well, clearly no-one wants to see that technology ever heading for showrooms or hitting the streets(or pedestrians, lamp-posts, cyclists..)

All of that said, we have to selectively disagree with ex-GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz's recent comments(11. April, MTR) that " Motor Racing Is Now a Waste of Money",  Yes, fossil-fuelled motorsport and transport are both fast becoming yesterday's yawn for the younger iPod/smartphone generation and for enlightened evergreens of any age.
But Formula E and ITV's generally superlative race-coverage and commentary team(s) are serving up the ultimate ICE-free icing on the cake.
Bread and circus with champagne on one level - but also with a much higher and nobler purpose than any other motorsport or race series has ever aspired to or inspired  in global audiences.
All of this seems to be lost on Lutz.

We should all probably just thank our lucky stars, fate - or who knows - perhaps even divine intervention (Merci Michelin, Edouard ? ) that:
a)  ITV decided to hand over Formula One broadcast rights to the BBC in 2008
b)  Michelin lost out to Pirelli in its 2013 bid to be Formula One's sole/exclusive tyre supplier.

If it weren't for a and b above - just where would we now be FE ?   ITV ?  Franchitti ?

_____ Q: Teaser - research this ! (Jack? Bring Dario up to speed ?)
 What is the key, intriguing link between the 200km/h, 290+ mile/charge, Pan American highway-conquering(26,000km, 2010) electric Radical SRZero (Imperial College, London)...and the modified Formula E race-car that China Racing/NextEV are developing for next season ?
A: ..instead of just one motor the Chinese car will be powered by twin/dual motors as is the FE Race Director's (rarely-seen) Croation Rimac hypercar. And they will almost certainly also be so-called Axial Flux Motors.

---

• Axial Flux Motors: this premium drive technology is currently also all the rage and virtually de rigueur in the latest glut of Billionaire Boy Toy electric supercars - see :
- the Renovo Coupe, Drive eO's PP03, the Lola-Drayson Formula E/le Mans prototype(Lordy, whatever happened to that 2012 endeavour ?!).
Finnish Toroidion have not confirmed whether their recently unveiled "1MW"(which also features fast pit-stop battery-swap capability) utilizes AFM's - so it's just a 'probably' at this point.

UK-based Yasa Motors and EVO-GKN appear to be the top-choice manufacturers of Axial Flux Motors internationally at the moment. EVO supplied the SRZero's AFM's in 2010 and have now tied up with FTSE-100-listed GKN. See EVO's SRZero detailed pdf Paras 5-8.
Here's a gem extract which we'd love to hear ITV's D. Franchitti casually trott out on air at some point:
"This disc-shaped geometry allows for a greater effective electromagnetic area, which means the torque is proportional to the cube of the machine radius, in contrast to a radial motor where it's proportional to the square. The end result is that it produces significantly more power and torque for a given size and weight. "

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March, 2015

Vive La Renault-Revolution !   ZOE range increased to 150 miles(well almost:  149=240km)
- Price cut promised.
Unsurprisingly the roomy 5-door supermini has shot straight to the top of its class.

Despite the refreshingly low-key, nul-hype nature of the announcement, this week's action-not-words move has to rank as one of the boldest, most genuinely disruptive EV developments of the last 15 years...

Spooky synchronicity or simple coincidence - if it's OK with you, we'd like to fondly imagine that Renault have hurried to heed our recent pleas to GM, Ford and the rest of the long-distance carrot-danglers and ditherers that they rediscover incrementalism and deliver a "mere" 150 miles of range now instead of forever promising 200+ miles the year after next or thereabouts.

OK, in truth Renault did signal a ZOE/Zoé upgrade in Geneva three weeks or so ago but the news was inevitably drowned out by the usual tsunami of teases and make-believe pledges that plague all motor shows.

But Alors or even Chic Alors - the revolutionary gauntlet has been quietly, exquisitely thrown down and a grand surprise sprung in Paris in the Spring - it will be entertaining to say the least to see how the rest of the 100-ish mile/charge manana-banana bunch respond to this massively momentous and daring overtaking manoeuvre by Formula E force majeure and now long-range provocateur Renault.

Now that the French have taken the lead on the race-track and in showrooms, long-distance laggards like GM, Ford, VW must be feeling the heat as never before - or would be if the world's press would pile on the pressure. (OK,OK - pigs will be flying supersonic before that happens...)

Will Renault's "strategic alliance" partner Nissan now leap to take a leaf out of their French ally's livre ?
Will France's BMW neighbours and i3 rivals stop stubbornly stalling at 81 miles a charge ?  Can they afford to stand still ?

It's suddenly champagne and crunch time at the EV crossroads - almost two years sooner than expected. The world's carmakers will now surely have no choice but to rise to the challenge and hit fast forward if they're to avoid being thoroughly thrashed and Flash-Fried by the French.

But despite the applause and the plaudits from the pundits, we'd urge Zoe-fanciers not to rush out and buy the quietly revolutionary 149 mile EV just yet - hold on for another month or two if you can - the low-range automotive consensus may be about to crumble at last - almost 2 years earlier than tacitly agreed / decreed.

Finally - a few moot Zoe/ZEV points could use a quick airing:

1) What's in a name ?   Far more than there should be.   So why call a car "Clio" or "Zoe", "Zoé" or even "Zoë" ?
Why choose such gender-specific, market-limiting, divisive names ?  Names designed and destined to appeal disproportionately to females and repel (wannabe) macho males, petrolheads, die-hard Clarkson clones(who'd still choose an i3 over a Zoe even if BMW were to slash the range by 20%).
Can we not have gender-neutral names please Renault ?  Too late ?  Not necessarily !  Why not tear up the rule-book altogether and offer the same car with a choice of names - the Zoe or the Joe, the Joey ?   A Renault Joe would certainly sell and work well in the US where the Zoe still isn't sold - despite eager pleas like these from CleanTechnica's Zero Emission sleuth Zach Shahan .
But if it's a 'No' to a Joe or a Joey then why not cut a deal with Moët ?
After all, Citroen purloined Picasso's name and fame sans problème. (thankfully Toulouse Lautrec didn't make the short-list..)

2) Battery life-expectancy, charge cycles. The subject is still being avoided by the media and automotive mainstream - but when it comes to the thorny question of depreciation and residual or resale value, battery life-span is of primary concern.
If Renault were to promise or simply predict 2000+ full charge cycles(x 149 miles) it would really seal the deal for most of us. The cells may be guaranteed for 60,000 miles but how do they fare beyond 150,000 ?  Or 200,000 ?

3) Why 149 and not 150 miles of range ?   Why did Renault literally not go that extra one mile ?

See also:
- all recent Renault 149 mpc Zoe News reports:
 Bing    /    Google.

- all Youtube Zoe reviews(earlier models only)

March, 2015

Formula E London and Battersea Battery-power: a triple-bill, long-weekend, bonanza-extravaganza.
- well, it's one way to tackle FE's short-range, short-race deficit ...

Left : the Battersea Park circuit - easily Formula E's greenest venue(contrast Zaragoza's proposed venue below)
Right: Battersea Power Station - now decommissioned and fashionably residential - was once London's ugliest, sootiest eye-sore. But soon locals will see Formula E for free from its roof-gardens.

So three equally important races for all ages: Two senior (SAT/SUN). One junior (FE Schools kit-cars, courtesy charity GreenPower, Youtube highlights)

No surprise that EVUK, London's Mayor , UK audiences and Battersea organisers have tuned into the same it's-too-short wavelength vis-à-vis race duration-deprivation since the race series kicked off in Beijing.
And following London's stretched race-car fiesta and competition climax it'll surely be difficult for Agag, Todt and FIA officials to revert to offering a paltry, frenetic, hectic, never epic 50-minute race-chase at any venue next season.

As we said in our post-Beijing piece in September - if FE cars and batteries can safely, flamelessly and famously somersault through the air, crash down onto hard tarmac from a height of 3-4 metres and regularly smash into walls and barriers - then clearly at the very least each driver's first car could be rapidly and safely cell-swapped while he/she is out driving car number two - giving spectators and growing global audiences an extra 12-lap full-throttle flat out finale. After each 6-8 week wait between races it's the least we all deserve.