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Recharge Wrap-up: Elon Musk talks autonomous cars, Renault to run ZOE in ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally

Elon Musk discussed the autonomous driving capabilities of the Tesla Model S with NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. He said the car is already equipped with the hardware needed for highway driving. "Even with the current sensor suite, we could make the car go fully autonomous, but not a level of reliability that would be safe in, say, a complex urban environment at 30 miles an hour," says Musk. That would require "a bigger sensor suite, and you need more computing power." Huang and Musk also discussed car hacking and artificial intelligence during the interview at the 2015 GPU Technology Conference. See the video above, and read more at Teslarati. Renault will send four of its ZOE electric cars to the ZENN (Zero Emission, No Noise) Monte-Carlo Rally. The rally, which travels through the principality beginning and ending at the Port of Monaco, is open to electric cars with ranges of less than 250 kilometers (about 155 miles). Visitors can also explore an "electric village," which includes vehicle test drives and information about the future of automobiles. The race takes place from March 20 through 22. Read more in the press release from Renault below. A Seattle-area Nissan dealership has opened a "charging depot" with six fast chargers. Bellevue Nissan now claims to have a larger group of fast chargers than any other dealership in the country. The chargers are part of the NRG eVgo network, and will be available to drivers around the clock every day of the week. They'll also be part of Nissan's "No Charge To Charge" program for Leaf customers. Washington Governor Jay Inslee was on hand at the dealership for the opening, where he called such fast charging stations, "the backbone of our future transportation infrastructure." Read more at Hybrid Cars. A coalition of environmental groups and renewable energy advocates want New York to require all heating oil sold in the state to include at least two percent biodiesel. The proposal passed the Assembly's Committee on Environmental Conservation Tuesday. Its sponsor is Assemblyman Steven Englebright, a Long Island Democrat who says a biodiesel standard would reduce carbon emissions while boosting the state's agricultural industry. Supporters of a biodiesel standard include the New York League of Conservation Voters, the New York Public Interest Research Group and the state's Corn and Soybean Growers Association. Conventional oil companies are opposed.

Nissan: We lose money on each Leaf replacement battery

Nissan has been playing its cards pretty close to its chest when it comes to the production costs for Leaf battery packs. The company recently put a price on replacement batteries for customers at $5,500 plus the requirement to return the old battery. If the decommissioned battery is worth $1,000 to Nissan, as they have stated, that means the battery costs about $6,500 to make, right? Maybe even less if Nissan wants to turn a profit, as automakers are wont to do? Wrong.
Green Car Reports spoke to Nissan about these battery costs, and found that the automaker actually loses money on selling the replacement battery for the Leaf at the current price. Jeff Kuhlman, Nissan's vice president of global communications said, "Nissan makes zero margin on the replacement program. In fact, we subvent every exchange." All you English majors will know that "subvent" is a fancy way to say "subsidize." Kuhlman added, though, "We have yet to sell one battery as part of the program."
The fact that Nissan offers its replacement batteries for less than it costs to manufacture them is telling of a company both cares about what its customer needs and is dedicated to the success of its product. In this case, both of those things encourage people to give up fossil fuels and adopt electric mobility, which is heartening. As more people switch to battery-powered driving, though, battery technology should become better and cheaper, and the scale of production should cause manufacturing costs to decrease. Eventually, Nissan could easily see itself breaking even selling the Leaf battery replacements.

Pontiac Aztek enjoys rebirth thanks to Millennials

Apparently, Millennials – those between 18 and 34 – aren't afraid to look different on the road, and they like performance, too. A new study by Edmunds is discovering some surprising vehicle choices by this group. Among them, the long-derided Pontiac Aztek is getting a new day in the sun with 25.5 percent its buyers coming from this generation in the first half of 2015. For comparison, Millennials represent an average of 16.8 percent of used car purchases. The Aztek is slowly shaking its reputation as a styling abomination, which seems tied to its appearance on Breaking Bad. The show premiered in 2008, and the Pontiac has been on this list for four of the past five years, according to Edmunds. It even led the pack in 2010. A recent Retro Review from MotorWeek also showed that the crossover wasn't always so hated. While it's still a shock to see the Aztek on any popularity list, the awkward-looking crossover only ranks sixth among Millennials. The vehicle with the biggest portion of buyers from the generation is the Dodge Magnum with 27.6 percent. According to Edmunds, the bluntly styled wagon is especially popular in Detroit and Chicago. The Chrysler Pacifica comes in a close second at 27.3 percent. When it comes to used cars, value and utility appear to trump just about anything else for many Millennial buyers," Edmunds analyst Jeremy Acevedo said in the report. Young buyers aren't afraid of sporty rides, either. The Subaru WRX has 26.4 percent Millennial buyers to rank third place on the list, and the Volkswagen R32 takes fifth at 25.7 percent. Just a few points lower in seventh place is the Nissan GT-R at 25.4 percent, and the final performance machine in 10th place is the Lexus IS-F with 24.7 percent. Related Video: