Automotive IT News and Facts
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche this week reaffirmed the premium car maker’s commitment to new connected-vehicle technology across its product range. “Soon you will not be able to make money anymore with cars that don’t integrate customers’ smartphones,” Zetsche said at a technical conference hosted by Germany’s auto industry association (VDA). This is particularly true when [...]
Daimler will start testing inductive charging on a real car in an effort to make the refueling of electric vehicles easier. The carmaker said it would fit a technically modified Mercedes-Benz A-Class E-CELL model with a special charging coil that merely has to be positioned over another charging coil in the ground to start the [...]
MUNICH — It wasn’t so long ago that a typical discussion with BMW’s r&d chief would focus on new combustion-engine technology, the aerodynamic qualities of the latest car designs or the relative driving characteristics of Germany’s three premium carmakers. Those topics are still important. But in an interview with automotiveIT, Klaus Draeger, BMW’s board member [...]
Tesla is embarking on North American and European tours to show its new Model S, which it claims is “the world’s first sedan built from the ground up as an electric vehicle.” The electric sports car maker will provide potential buyers with a detailed look at the engine, battery pack, front suspension and rear drive [...]
Daimler and Chinese car and battery maker BYD said they plan to show a concept version of their planned electric vehicle at next year’s Beijing auto show. The German premium car maker said the joint venture between the two companies, Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd. (BDNT), plans to have its own presence at [...]
The new electric version of the Honda Fit, which will be for sale from the summer of 2012, will be powered by Toshiba battery modules that the company says will charge quicker and provide less heat than more conventional EV batteries. The Japanese electronics group said the Japanese carmaker has evaluated the systems since December, [...]
Seat is getting ready to test two electric prototypes in advance of a full market introduction in 2015. The Spanish carmaker, a member of Germany’s Volkswagen Group, said it will make available for evaluation to government institutions in Catalonia and Madrid early versions of the Seat Altea XL Electric Ecomotive and the Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive. [...]
Electric vehicles have a much shorter driving range when the weather turns cold, according to tests conducted by Dekra, a German testing and certification company. Dekra conducted simulated summer and winter tests on a Citroen C-Zero EV. It found the car had an electric range of 138 km at 22 degrees centigrade. At minus 5, [...]
BMW and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen Tuesday officially launched their joint venture to develop new electric powertrains and components for use in future models. The German and French car companies said in a statement that the cooperation, BMW Peugeot Electrification, aims to star building hybrid components from 2015. These will be used in models built by both carmakers. [...]
Nissan will develop an all-new front-wheel hybrid as well as a new plug-in hybrid model as part of a six-year environmental plan unveiled Monday. The Nissan Green Program 2016 (NGP 2016) calls for 70 pc of the carmaker’s annual research and advanced engineering budget going to environmental technologies. With that kind of focus on new [...]
