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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla opens 50th European Supercharger, BMW smart charging in Singapore

Southeastern Illinois College wants to create a biofuel processing certification program. The school is waiting to hear about receiving $750,000 from a US Department of Labor grant that would allow it to expand its Biofuels Education curriculum to include certification for manufacturing biodiesel and ethanol. There are currently no such programs in existence, and its development would require Labor Department approval as well as input from biofuel companies. Southeastern Illinois College believes that biofuel processing certification would be a large draw for potential students. Read more at The Southern Illinoisan. Tesla has opened the 50th Supercharger in Europe. In the year since the first on was installed in Norway in August 2013, Tesla has been building the network that, like it does in the US, will allow Model S drivers to go long distances for free. There are now 168 Superchargers open throughout the world. Find more in the press release below. BMW is partnering with Greenlots to bring an open standards EV charging network to Singapore. As part of BMW's 360 Electric program, Greenlots will install public chargers and manage the network that allows BMW i owners to find and use the chargers with BMW's navigation system and ChargeNow card. The 30 possible public chargers Greenlots plans to install will use the company's SKY Smart Charging platform. Greenlots will also install the BMW i Wallbox Pure charger at customer's homes and offices. Read more in the press release below. Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales are forecast to reach 1.8 million a year by 2023, according to a report by Navigant Research. Right now, North America is the biggest buyer of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, but that should change as the Asia Pacific market is expected to outgrow it; still, the US alone is expected to have more than 2.7 million PEVs on the road in 2023. Urban areas are where we'll see the largest concentration, naturally, with Tokyo, Los Angeles and Paris having the most sales in 2023, respectively. With the increase in PEVs comes an increase in residential load on the electric grid, which is expected to rise by 33 to 37 percent. Read more at Hybrid Cars, or head to the Navigant Research website. Chinese automaker Dongfeng is now manufacturing its first mass-produced electric vehicle, the Aeolus E30. The small, two-seat urban EV has a limited speed of 50 miles per hour, but has a range of up to 100 miles.

BMW X4 opens up alongside its boxier brother

It doesn't seem so long ago that BMW (not to mention Audi, Volvo and a handful of other European automakers) weren't in the crossover market. But it's been over a decade since BMW began producing the first-gen X5, and in the fourteen years since, the Bavarian automaker has steadily expanded its portfolio to include the X1, X3 and X6.
The next to join the family will be the X4, which is essentially to the X3 what the X6 is to the X5. That is to say, basically the same vehicle, only with an (arguably) more stylish but less utile roofline. Previewed in concept form at the Shanghai Auto Show half a year ago, the X4 has been snapped by our plucky paparazzi in the past, but this is the first time we've seen inside.
Not only that, but the prototype in question was spotted next to the current X3 on which it is based, which gives us ample opportunity to see the differences between them. Of course, that still primarily comes down to the slantback profile, because otherwise, the two are essentially the same inside and out. Or at least they will be: many of the differences between the two are expected to port over to the X3 when it's refreshed next year, including some subtle interior upgrades - just not the roofline.

BMW calls in 50,000 motorbikes over fuel pump leak

If you don't often see motorbikes being recalled, it's probably because there's less to go wrong on a motorcycle. But a problem with the fuel pump on a wide array of BMW Motorrad products has prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall for over 50,000 of the Bavarian two-wheelers across America.
The issue revolves around the fuel pump flange on R-model, K-model, S 1000 and HP2 motorcycles built as far back, in some cases, to 2005 and as recent as 2012, depending on the model. The flange was found to be prone to crack and leak fuel, which NHTSA evaluated as a fire risk. As a result, precisely 50,184 such motorbikes are being recalled to have their flanges reinforced or, where necessary, to replace the entire fuel pump. If you're the owner of such a Bimmer bike, expect a call from your dealer sometime next month, but you can read the full notice below.