2011 Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie on 2040-cars

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Watch Atieva's electric van outrun a BMW i8 and Dodge Viper

A little while back, automotive startup Atieva drag raced its electric van, called Edna, against a Tesla Model S and a Ferrari California in order to compare its performance against known and revered mechanical athletes. Again, the Silicon Valley-based company is putting its prototype up against electrified and conventionally powered performance vehicles on the drag strip. Last time around, Edna, the Mercedes-Benz Vito van equipped with a 900-horsepower, all-wheel-drive powertrain, bested both of its foes. In that showcase, Edna was hitting 60 mph in a little over three seconds. Comparatively, BMW lists the i8's 0-60 time at 4.2 seconds, though Road & Track clocked it at 3.8 seconds, with a quarter-mile time of 12.3 seconds. The Viper does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. Before you even watch the video above, you can imagine how it will end, as the retuned Atieva Edna rips 0-60 mph in 2.94 seconds. Atieva clocked the quarter mile at 11.3 seconds at 117 mph. It's worth noting that driver skill can have a lot to do with a car's straight-line performance. We've witnessed Viper's elapsing the quarter mile in well under 12 seconds, which means it should be quicker in this test than the i8, if not the Edna. Still, the performance showcased in the video is exceptional. To improve Edna's stats, Atieva says it has used testing data to fine tune its AC induction motors at higher speeds once it got low-speed performance locked in. After testing in the hot California sun, including the race you see above, Atieva drove Edna 90 miles home with range to spare. As for production plans, Atieva will put this powertrain into a sedan slated for sale in 2018. In the meantime, the company will keep testing and tuning its working prototype, and has even invited the public to put their cars up against Edna in future sessions. Related Video: Related Gallery 2015 BMW i8 in Petoskey, MI News Source: Atieva, YouTube: Atieva via Electrek Green Motorsports BMW Dodge Automakers Electric Future Vehicles Videos drag race atieva

Dodge, Hyundai crowdsourced-funding sites deemed successes

What's not to love about crowdsourcing? This idea, after all, has given us Kickstarter as well Local Motors, but automakers are starting to use the social platform to sell more cars (or just drum up a little PR). Both Dodge and Hyundai have used "crowd-funding" recently, and while Automotive News is reporting that neither has racked up big sales with this gimmick, both automakers are pleased with the attention.
For Hyundai, it teamed up with website Motozuma.com to help customers crowdsource money for a down payment, and the automaker matched this amount up to $500. Last year, this helped Hyundai sell an extra 1,600 units, a fraction of its total 2012 sales. That figure is far larger than Dodge fared with the Dodge Dart Registry - it netted only two sales and a small number of individual options. This registry did help University of Southern California fraternity crowdsource $18,000 to buy a Dart for a local Meals on Wheels, however. Despite the low sales figures, Dodge and Hyundai are considering their crowdsourcing programs a success since it helped them connect with younger buyers.

Stellantis earnings rise along with EV sales

AMSTERDAM — Automaker Stellantis on Wednesday reported its earnings grew in 2022 from a year earlier and said its push into electric vehicles led to a jump in sales even as it faces growing competition from an industrywide shift to more climate-friendly offerings. Stellantis, formed in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and FranceÂ’s PSA Peugeot, said net revenue of 179.6 billion euros ($191 billion) was up 18% from 2021, citing strong pricing and its mix of vehicles. It reported net profit of 16.8 billion euros, up 26% from 2021. Stellantis plans to convert all of its European sales and half of its U.S. sales to battery-electric vehicles by 2030. It said the strategy led to a 41% increase in battery EV sales in 2022, to 288,000 vehicles, compared with the year earlier. The company has “demonstrated the effectiveness of our electrification strategy in Europe,” CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “We now have the technology, the products, the raw materials and the full battery ecosystem to lead that same transformative journey in North America, starting with our first fully electric Ram vehicles from 2023 and Jeep from 2024.” The automaker is competing in an increasingly crowded field for a share of the electric vehicle market. Companies are scrambling to roll out environmentally friendly models as they look to hit goals of cutting climate-changing emissions, driven by government pressure. The transformation has gotten a boost from a U.S. law that is rolling out big subsidies for clean technology like EVs but has European governments calling out the harm that they say the funding poses to homegrown industry across the Atlantic. Stellantis' Jeep brand will start selling two fully electric SUVs in North America and another one in Europe over the next two years. It says its Ram brand will roll out an electric pickup truck this year, joining a rush of EV competitors looking to claim a piece of the full-size truck market. The company plans to bring 25 battery-electric models to the U.S. by 2030. As part of that push, it has said it would build two EV battery factories in North America. A $2.5 billion joint venture with Samsung will bring one of those facilities to Indiana, which is expected to employ up to 1,400 workers. The other factory will be in Windsor, Ontario, a collaboration with South KoreaÂ’s LG Energy Solution that aims to create about 2,500 jobs. The EV push comes amid a slowdown in U.S.