We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

When your country boasts a fairly desolate area called the "Outback" that's about 1,800 miles wide, driving range is paramount. Researchers at Australia's University of Wollongong appear to have that in mind as they develop an electric-vehicle battery that can provide more than twice the single-charge range of a typical lithium ion battery. That may not quite equal 1,800 miles, but it's getting closer.

The school's Institute for Superconducting & Electronic Materials (ISEM) came up with a way to both extend driving range and shorten charging time by using a Germanium-based nanomaterial that can boost energy storage more than fivefold compared to typical lithium-ion batteries, Australia's Illawarra Mercury reports. As a result, an EV battery can be modified to provide about 240 miles of single-charge range while cutting its full recharge time down to a few minutes. This doesn't mean they are just creating a big honking 85-kWh pack like what's in the Tesla Model S (and can already go 300 miles), just so you know.

The University, which is about 50 miles southwest of Sydney, says it's working with DLG Battery Corp. and Redarc Electronics for potential commercialization of such a product.

China seems to be hedging its bets on meeting stiffening emissions and fuel economy regulations, and addressing consumer demand for cleaner air. Electric vehicles remain part of the strategy, but their high cost, limited range and lack of infrastructure have kept sales at a slow pace. Hmm, that kind of sounds familiar, doesn't it?

As automakers are doing in the US, China-based manufacturers are exploring fuel-saving technologies that don't rely on plugging in, things like turbocharging and direct injection for gasoline and diesel engine powertrains. Chinese consumers are reticent about spending more on EVs, but they are paying extra for technology upgrades that improve fuel economy and driving experience.

Automotive supplier BorgWarner has seen its turbocharger sale double in China over the past three years. The company expects it to double again in the next three years, thanks to tougher fuel economy and emissions standards, and the fact that turbocharged vehicles are more fun to drive, according to BorgWarner China president Tom Tan. About 80 percent of turbochargers will be installed on engines between 1.4- and 2.0-liters, he added. Chinese government policy plays a role in turbocharger growth in small engines, since taxes are much higher on engines above 2.0L.

Direct injection technology is following the turbocharger trend. UK-based engineering consultancy, Ricardo, is seeing automakers clients requesting more direct injection, and expects that all gasoline-powered engines in China will include turbocharging and direct injection within 10 years.

Chinese automakers would like to be seen as technologically innovative, a central theme at last month's Shanghai Motor Show. Geely, for example, showed off its "self developed" turbocharged direct injection engine integrated with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Government subsidies have failed to incentivize consumers to buy battery-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles in China in huge numbers. Larger subsidies are expected for hybrids, including plug-in hybrids, in the next few months. The Chinese government wants 500,000 hybrids and EVs on the road by 2015 and five million by 2020, but Chinese consumers only purchased 11,375 EVs and plug-in hybrids last year.

Life can be good in a 2013 Nissan Leaf, even when you're crashing one. The all-electric five-seater from Nissan, which is enjoying surging sales this year, has now received the top safety rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

The Leaf joined the Nissan Altima and Infiniti M37/M56 on Nissan's stable on the 2013 Top Safety Picks list (which includes a heap of other vehicles) by getting "good" ratings in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests. Among safety-related goodies in the Leaf are its front and side airbags, sensored seat belts and traction-control systems for EV drivers looking to get squirrely.

Ever since Nissan cut the price of the US version by $6,400, to a base of $28,800, Leaf sales through the first four months of the year more than doubled from a year earlier to 5,476 units. Check out Nissan's press release below.

Volkswagen and former nemesis Greenpeace recently kumbaya'd to pledge to meet the European Union's strict 2020 emissions standards. Not everyone is feeling the love.

BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer says the standards, which would require about a 30-percent improvement over current levels, are "impossible to meet." That is, they are impossible to meet without huge technology investments that will require extra help from government, Australia's Drive website reports.

Reithofer accused the EU of playing politics and said the 2020 standards were set without sufficient analysis. He also added that, when compared to China and the US, the EU undercredits makers of advanced powertrain vehicles in their efforts to meet emissions standards.

This doesn't mean BMW isn't trying to make cleaner vehicles. The company will start selling the i3 electric vehicle, the successor to the lease-only ActiveE, later this year, while the i8 plug-in hybrid goes on sale next year. BMW also showed off a coupe concept version of the i3 at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November. Automotive News recently reported that the i3 will be priced at about $40,000, about the same as a well-equipped 3 Series gas-powered sedan.

Consumer Reports is awfully fond of the Tesla Model S. The EV managed to pull down an impressive score of 99 out of 100 in the organization's evaluation, besting the Porsche Panamera Hybrid by a full 16 points. CR calls the battery-operated sedan "the most practical electric car we've ever tested" thanks to its 200 mile range and blistering 5.6-second dash to 60 miles per hour. Testers also had praise for the vehicle's excellent handling characteristics and clever packaging, but found issue with the large touch screen mounted in the center of the dash. According to CR, the screen requires too much time looking down and away from the road.

The publication also called out the car for skipping the spare tire, compressor and run flat tires, but those issues weren't enough to keep the machine from earning a top nod. You can head over to Consumer Reports to read the full review for yourself, and be sure to check out the video below for a better picture of the machine's highlights, including some EV drifting (even CR likes to have some fun).

What used to take Ford a year now takes less than five months. The automaker continues to expand its stable of hybrid-electric and plug-in vehicle models, and that's one reason why the company is about to pass its previous annual hybrid-sales record this month, Bloomberg News says.

Through the first four months of the year, Ford's advanced-powertrain sales increased almost fivefold to more than 30,000 units, including plug-ins. To compare, Ford's previous company record was 35,496 hybrids sold in all of 2010. Ford is benefiting from a broader offering of advanced-powertrain vehicles, and its newer C-Max Hybrid has done particularly well, moving 11,708 vehicles through April. The revamped Fusion Hybrid has sold almost 14,000 units.

The company also appears to be eating into Toyota's market leadership. The Japanese automaker, which still accounts for almost 60 percent of US hybrids, sold 19,889 vehicles last month across its four Prius variants, down 21 percent from a year earlier.

These days, electric vehicle activists want to see more public events like EV ride-and-drives and plenty of time for education and socializing. The annual National Plug In Day brings out a lot of fans, but it's certainly not the first time such an event has taken place. On Memorial Day – May 27, 2013 – drivers and fans will show up in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 99th anniversary of the Electric Sociability Run of 1914.

On May 27, 1914, a group known as the Electric Vehicle Association of America gathered 54 electric vehicle owners to rally in a caravan down a 14-mile stretch. It took the group more than an hour and 15 minutes to travel that distance and reach Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC.

The current group of EV drivers will arrive at the same destination as the original gathering. Just like the first group, they'll have a picnic, participate in contests and try for prizes for their achievements. They're hoping this year's event will be biggest gathering of EV owners in the nation's capital since 1914.

EV activists want to see more gatherings where EV owners meet and talk shop about their experiences. They'd like the public to understand that electric vehicles were mass market EVs 100 years ago, before affordable and prolific gasoline and internal combustion engines bumped them out of the mainstream.

The Electric Vehicle Association of America was led by a group of auto dealers who wanted to educate people and spark enthusiasm to purchase EVs. They were able to do that in 1914, but it's taken a century for EVs fans to witness a real comeback. As the Electric Sociability Run states on its Meetup page: "We are witnessing the rebirth of mass market electric cars with thousands of people getting new EVs each month. The automobile is finally being brought back to its electric roots."

Julie Christie, the rumors are true. After plenty of hint-dropping over the past few months, Tesla officially released 2013 first quarter (Q1) financial details today, and it was the first quarter in which the ten-year-old company was actually profitable. CEO Elon Musk, speaking on a conference call to investors today, made it clear that the numbers are good, but behind-the-scenes factors make them even better.

Take, for example, Tesla's capital expenditures. The automaker was profitable in Q1 despite spending a lot of money on things like new stores and Supercharger stations, things that won't require as much money moving forward. Tesla says it plans to spend about $200 million on capital expenditures in 2013. Or how about the Tesla's gross margin, which grew from eight percent to 17 percent from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013. That's the average for the whole quarter, Musk said, and "the gross margin at the end of Q1 was much better than at the beginning."

The call wasn't all about money-rolling-in news. We knew Tesla would make money selling zero emission vehicle (ZEV) credits to other automakers, and it did, to the tune of approximately $68 million (12 percent of revenues). Musk said Tesla expects ZEV credit revenue to decline throughout the year, going to zero in Q4. The shareholder letter reads, "We expect this to decline significantly in future quarters, as ZEV credits will only apply to about 1/6 of worldwide deliveries, versus roughly half of US deliveries, and the price per credit has declined." Some estimates put Tesla's annual ZEV credit income at $250 million.

More numbers and tidbits from the announcement can be seen below.

A sub-$30,000 Chevrolet Volt? General Motors CEO Dan Akerson says that could be in the making within a year, Car and Driver reports.

Akerson, speaking recently at a green-technology conference in California, said the company may be able to shave as much as $10,000 off the sticker price of the next-generation version of the extended-range plug-in. He also said the car, which loses GM money each time one is sold, could be profitable at that price.

At just shy of $30,000, the newer Volt would be in the price range of the Nissan Leaf and plug-in Toyota Prius and Ford C-Max models. Akerson said GM was getting better at pulling weight out of the Volt but didn't give much as far as additional specifics. This isn't the first time we've heard the next-generation PHEV will be a better deal. In January, GM North America President Mark Reuss said the company would cut "thousands of dollars" off the Volt's sticker price for the model's next generation, citing improvements in the model's electric motor and battery pack.

Through April, Volt sales were up 3.2 percent from a year earlier to 5,550 units after selling almost 23,500 vehicles in 2012. Sales of the Leaf, which underwent its own price cut for 2013, have more than doubled from a year earlier to 5,476 units.

It looks like the last hand's been played at those reputed card games that not-so-busy employees at LG Chem's lithium-ion battery factory in Michigan were playing. The South Korean company is planning to start production of batteries for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in in July, with the first batteries rolling off the factory's three assembly lines by end of summer, the Detroit Free Press reports. US Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) is using the announcement to call the partially government-backed factory a "flawed program," MLive says.

And the gentleman has a point. The factory broke ground in 2010 and about half of its $300-million cost was bankrolled by the US government. Volt battery orders came in slower than expected, though, so by last fall, many of the workers were being paid not to work, and production was at a standstill, according to a February audit by the US Department of Energy. LG Chem was ordered to repay the Feds $842,000 in funds reputedly used to pay workers who weren't doing anything productive. LG Chem admitted that the plant is taking longer than expected to actually, you know, make a battery, releasing a statement six months ago that said, "taxpayer money has not been wasted, because when the market demand justifies production, the facility will be utilized." It appears that time is almost here.

You know the feeling you get when the hottie you have a big crush on starts dating someone else, which breaks your heart, but then that relationship suddenly ends and your petit chou fleur is romantically-available again and your heart becomes unbroken? (Just indulge us and say, "Yes.") Well, that's kind of how we feel about the appearance of the above teaser from Mission Motors promising the most advanced, "highest performing street-legal electric vehicle ever made."

The truth was, the Mission One design was dead, and the company would soon change its business model.

The Mission Motors story is packed with more twists and turns than any Californian canyon road. It burst onto the scene four years ago with the radically-designed, but super-powerful (and super-expensive) Mission One. A year later, it announced a production delay but the truth was, this design was dead, and the company would soon change its business model to one that focused on selling components to OEMs instead of motorcycles to the public. Our hearts were a little bit broken.

The startup then unveiled the fabulously-fabulous Mission R superbike and raced it in exactly one TTXGP event, where it won and set the EV-lap record at Laguna Seca (1:31.376, which stands to this day). Later, Mission fashioned the R into a street legal machine, handing it off to the likes of Jay Leno and the odd motorcycle journalist, and getting high marks for the two-wheeled effort. Still, no production plans were forthcoming.

Despite their successes, the company looked like it was in trouble last Fall as it laid off a significant number of staff – the end, it seemed, was near. Instead of final repose though, the San Francisco concern is jolting back to life. It started looking for new employees again back in February and this latest teaser would indicate that it's reversed its business-model reversal and is going back, at least in part, to its original plan of selling its own electric motorcycles.

When the lights come up on the promised production bike June 3rd, we expect to see a machine based on the Mission R, but featuring further refinement and, perhaps, higher performance. Truly, spring has returned, the dream is once again alive. Our hearts, they are unbroken.

Our friend Theophilus Chin has a thing for creating Tesla vehicles that we can't have. Earlier this year, he made a digital Model ST wagon appear and he's now back with a sleek Tesla Model S Coupe. The rendered results, which you can see in the gallery, are an elegant, smaller take on the nearly universally praised Model S design from Franz von Holzhausen. Chin writes, "There's a huge market for an electric 2+2 GT. And I feel Tesla has the right product for that niche."

As he did with the ST, the front end is left intact, with all of the changes happening in the rear. At its core, this is just a Model S with the second set of doors removed and Chin has so smoothly meshed the lines so that you almost don't notice anything's missing at first glance. We can only speculate what the smaller size would mean for reduced battery pack capacity, and if the new style would make up for the expected range loss. Which leads us to this important question: does the Model S coupe still have a frunk? Also, does the car appeal to you?

San Francisco and Los Angeles are known for their fog and smog, respectively, but at least the some folks representing the state of California want to make sure the view is crystal clear for plug-in drivers looking to juice up their vehicles.

The EV Open Access Act, or SB454, was recently passed by the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. The bill guarantees plug-in owners "same access" to publicly accessible charging stations as conventional car owners have to gas stations. That means no special access card, password or secret handshake required, just a credit card like any other corner station. It also means pricing transparency when it comes to disclosing charging rates, advocate group Plug In America says.

That California took the lead here is no surprise. Californians have bought more than 35,000 plug-ins – more than a third of all the plug-ins in the US – since 2011. As of the end of last month, the Golden State was home to 1,276 publicly accessible charging stations, or more than a fifth of the country's total, according to the US Energy Department.

Read Plug In America's press release below.

Turns out, the good folks at Audi aren't nihilists. The German automaker has joined up with Columbia University researchers to make predictions about city life in 2050, when 7 billion people will be urban dwellers. The result is five potential future scenarios, and none of them involve world destruction. Or even replicants.

The project is called the Extreme Cities Project of the Audi Urban Future Initiative, and the scenarios envision cities as places where high population density forces a greater sense of collaboration and innovation, so long as turf wars don't get in the way.

Here's how the five ideas play out. The "Complexity" scenario specifies how density necessitates advancements in things like technology. "Generosity" is a bit of a spin-off of that scenario, forecasting cities where closer-knit communities collaborate on everything from transportation to food harvesting. "Asymmetric Mobility" describes a city where the process of moving between different modes of transportation is smooth as silk. "Migration" surmises that the concept of decades-long residency in one city will be rare, and picking up stakes and moving the family multiple times across multiple continents will become the norm. Lastly, "Transgenerational Capacity" predicts that innovation speeds because lifespans will have lengthened, allowing older city dwellers a more extensive chance to share knowledge with the young ones.

Check out Audi's press release below. Or maybe you could just go rent Blade Runner.