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Recharge Wrap-up: liquid-cooled Tesla Supercharger, Acenta+ Leaf

A new video offers a close look at Tesla's updated Supercharger. Recently, Elon Musk spoke about the new charging station with a thinner, suppler liquid-cooled cable that is not only easier to manage, but has the potential to handle larger loads and offer quicker recharging. The first examples have been installed in Mountain View, CA, which we can see in this video. Besides the new cable, the new Supercharger also features a solid "button" on the charging handle as well as vents around the bottom of the unit. The video even shows thermal imaging of the new Supercharger, which shows the cable to be cooler than the cameraman usually records. See for yourself in the video above, and read more at Treehugger. Nissan has added a new trim level to the Leaf in the UK. The Acenta+ slots above the Acenta and just below the range-topping Tekna. It comes standard with the 6.6-kW onboard charger and Mode-3 32-amp (EVSE) cable. Using a fast charger, the Acenta+ Leaf can charge to 100 percent in just four hours. "We're delighted to add a new member to the Leaf family in the UK," says Nissan Motor GB Managing Director James Wright. "More than 9,500 Leafs have already been sold here and Nissan is the undisputed leader in the EV market. This new model delivers exceptional value and showcases the Leaf's incredible technology and engineering." Read more at Next Green Car. Mercedes-Benz Malaysia says its vehicles are compatible with B10 biodiesel blend. Malaysia recently announced a mandate for diesel to be sold blended with 10 percent palm-oil based biodiesel, after which, carmakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz came forward with concerns over compatibility with their vehicles. "We have evaluated carefully the influence of B10 Biodiesel blends on our current diesel vehicles for the Malaysian market and we are now able to confirm its compatibility," says Mercedes-Benz Malaysia President and CEO Roland Folger. "We have service intervals of 12,000 km to ensure that our customers are not affected by the diesel quality. Our diesel-powered vehicles currently sold in Malaysia were seen to have run both smoothly and safely with the use of the B10 biodiesel blend." Read more from Paul Tan's Automotive News. Renault has honored its leading electric vehicle dealers with the 2015 Renault EV Awards.

Nissan e-NV200 electric taxi comes to Amsterdam

Amsterdam's Taxi Electric liked its two-plus years with an all-Nissan Leaf electric vehicle fleet so much that it just got bigger, or at least with its vehicle choice. The company, which says it's the first private-taxi outfit to boast an all-electric fleet, is going to start adding Nissan e-NV200 electric compact vans to its stable of vehicles. The company started out with its Leaf fleet in late 2011 and has since put about a million miles on the 25 EVs. Nissan said in January that the new electric van will start being tested by FedEx here in the state and it has already been put through the wringer by FedEx in Singapore, Japan and Germany. Last September, Nissan said it was in the "final development phase" of the electric compact van and would start selling it to the public this year, though it wasn't real specific with details. That month, it was also announced that the vehicle, which uses the same drivetrain as the Leaf, would go into taxi service in Barcelona sometime this year. Nissan representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for more details on when the model would start public sales, how much it would cost and what it's single charge range is. Until we hear back, you can check out the official press release below. This summer Taxi Electric becomes the first taxi company in Amsterdam to adopt the zero-emission Nissan e-NV200 Taxi Electric first 100% Nissan LEAF fleet since November 2011 Pioneering Amsterdam-based company have covered 1.5 million km demonstrating Nissan EVs' quality and reliability AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Taxi Electric will be the first private taxi company to add the new 100-percent electric Nissan e-NV200 taxi to its green-energy zero-emission fleet. The combination of Nissan's innovative zero-emission technology, in the form of the 100-percent electric Nissan LEAF, and Taxi Electric's ground-breaking city transportation model have been a recipe for success since the start of operation in 2011. Now the two companies have teamed up again to build on this success and take the next step forward by introducing the game-changing all-electric Nissan e-NV200 taxi this summer. Amsterdam-based Taxi Electric operates a fleet of 25 Nissan LEAF vehicles. It was the first private taxi service to switch to a fleet of 100% electric taxis in 2011. The Dutch company's fleet of Nissan LEAFs has now amassed a trouble-free 1.5 million km in taxi operations – proof of the electric vehicle's high quality and reliability.

Nissan Leaf has 2nd-best sales month ever, Chevy Volt does a 2013 repeat [UPDATE]

UPDATE: The official press release says that "Volt [sales were] up 7 percent," but Randy Fox let AutoblogGreen know that this is simply due to a change in the fleet/retail mix between March 2013 and 2014. The actual number sold was exactly the same in the two months. A month ago, Nissan's director of EV sales and marketing, Toby Perry, said he expected to see the Leaf's sales momentum continue into March. It wasn't a big leap, since January and February were slow sales months in 2013 (around 640 each) before a big climb to 2,200 in March. In 2014, the first two months of the year were better (around 1,300 each) but Nissan can still be happy that the Leaf just had the best March ever and its second-highest sales month ever, with 2,507 sold. That's a 12.1 percent increase from 2013 and Perry said in a statement to AutoblogGreen that one reason is all of the buyers who are becoming evangelists for the vehicle. "We've also seen an increase in showroom traffic as we enhanced our marketing presence in March," he said. Nissan pointed to cities like Washington, DC, Raleigh-Durham, NC and urban areas in Texas as strong Leaf markets last month. On the Chevy Volt front, January and February were also slow months in 2014, down roughly half from the 2,000-ish the plug-in hybrid was selling at the end of 2013. For 2014, sales were up slightly from the first two months of the year and Chevy spokesman Randy Fox told AutoblogGreen that the March number was "pretty flat, year-over-year." Even with that warning, we were surprised to see the total come in at 1,478. Why's that? Because the total for March 2013 was ... 1,478. So, yeah, that's pretty steady even if there were 26 selling days in March period this year compared to 27 last year. As always, our more complete report of last month's green car sales will be coming soon. News Source: General Motors, Nissan Green Chevrolet GM Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales