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Nissan Leaf hits 3,000 sales in July, Chevy Volt climbs over 2,000

It was a good sales month for both the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt, with the two 'elder statesman' plug-in vehicles reaching numerical milestones in July. The Leaf sold 3,019 units and the Volt crossed the 2,000 sales level for the first time in 2014, hitting 2,020 sales. With Tesla also announcing it is delivering around 2,500 Model S EVs a month (but that's globally, compared to the US-only numbers for the Volt and Leaf we're talking about here) and Ford's plug-in vehicles selling well, we are certainly in a golden moment for EV sales. The Volt was a bright spot for the Bowtie brand last month. For the Volt, the 2,020 units sold represents a 13 percent increase from July of 2013 even thought year-to-date sales are down 8.7 percent this year compared to last year. Overall, total Chevrolet deliveries for July 2014 were up eight percent compared to 2013, so the Volt was a bright spot for the Bowtie brand last month. On the Leaf front, this is only the second time that the EV has sold more than 3,000 units in a month (the other being in May of this year). The year-over-year increase for the Leaf was 62 percent in July and represents the 17th straight month of record sales, as Nissan is more than happy to report each month. Overall, Leaf sales are up 34.6 percent, year-to-date, and Nissan's director of Leaf sales and infrastructure, Brendan Jones, said in a statement that a free public charging incentive was responsible. "Since we launched the No Charge to Charge promotion in the first 10 markets, we've seen a surge in Leaf sales in those areas. Leaf sales in the northeastern US are also picking up with new tax incentives for Massachusetts and Maryland residents." With No Charge To Charge set to expand to 25 markets over the next year, we expect Leaf sales to continue to grow. We will have our monthly look at all green car sales available soon, so stay tuned. Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric PHEV ev sales

Nissan 'Ride of Your Life' campaign turns an Altima into a race car [w/video]

Nissan definitely makes some exciting vehicles. The GT-R has received continuous improvements to keep it at the head of the pack in the performance car world. And the Leaf might not bring driving intensity, but its technology is quite impressive. However, there is nothing especially thrilling about the Altima. Granted, it races in the Australian V8 Supercars series, but that car really only shares its basic shape with the production version. So it may see surprising that the Japanese automaker is hoping to inject some drama into its midsize sedan with its new Ride of Your Life ad campaign.
The project is pretty clever. Nissan invited several people to the Horse Thief Mile circuit at Willow Springs Raceway for a ride in an Altima racecar. After a few laps with a professional driver around the course, they pulled into the pits, and the passengers got a big surprise. We won't spoil what happens for you. You can check it out in the video below.
The concept is somewhat similar to Toyota's thrill ride ads for the Camry last year. Both promotions try to show that that these four-door, family sedans can be more than just boring transportation. Nissan's commercials will begin airing on TV soon. The automaker hopes to excite potential Altima buyers ahead of its upcoming national sales event. Scroll down to watch the video to find out the big secret and read the full release about the campaign.

Recharge Wrap-up: Cruz defends ethanol stance, Bloomberg gets EV numbers wrong?

Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz is defending his stance against ethanol subsidies in an opinion piece in The Des Moines Register. In the piece, Cruz says he doesn't oppose ethanol, but opposes mandates and subsidies, favoring a "free and fair energy marketplace," and an "'all of the above' policy." "We should embrace all of the energy resources with which God has blessed America: oil and gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and biofuels and ethanol," says Cruz, "But Washington shouldn't be picking winners and losers." To farmers' benefit, Cruz says he would enforce antitrust laws against those who try to keep ethanol out of the marketplace, and fight the EPA's hard blend walls prohibiting higher amounts of ethanol in gasoline. Read Cruz's article at The Des Moines Register, and read more from The Washington Times.Hybrid Cars calls out Bloomberg Business in a post saying it used inaccurate data in a piece highlighting dim plug-in sales. While the Bloomberg article, titled "Plug-in Electric Autos Left Behind in Record Year," accurately points out a slower year for EVs, it claims sales slipped 17 percent in 2015. According to data from Hybrid Cars, that decline was just 2.88 percent. Hybrid Cars claims that Bloomberg lumped a number of PHEVs with regular hybrids when it calculated the faulty data. Read more about the discrepancy and the more realistic picture of EV sales at Hybrid Cars.The National Biodiesel Board has hired Sandra Franco as general counsel. The Georgetown University Law Center graduate gained experience in environmental litigation during her time as a partner at the Morgan Lewis Law Firm. "There isn't an attorney in the country who knows renewable fuels law better than Sandra Franco, and we are thrilled to have her join our team," says National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. "Sandra is a tremendously skilled and seasoned attorney who will help us ensure that the US biodiesel industry has a strong voice and expert counsel in Washington as well as on legal and regulatory issues across the country." Read more at Crop Protection News.Nissan and Infiniti will use Microsoft Azure to power the Connect Telematics System (CTS) for the Nissan Leaf and Infiniti cars in Europe. CTS allows a remote connection to the car, enabling customers to perform a variety of functions from afar. This includes adjusting climate control and programming charging from a smartphone.