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Tesla, BMW and Nissan meeting in secret to discuss charging tech

It's interesting what's happening in the electric vehicle field. It used to be that BMW and Tesla were competitors. Then – and of course they're still competing, especially in the public mind – they were working together on ... something. Maybe. And now, the Financial Times reports that the two luxury automakers are meeting with Nissan. Again, maybe. The scuttlebutt is that the three companies are interested in working together on something to do with charging electric vehicles, potentially a global recharging standard. Currently, when it comes to fast charging, BMW uses the SAE Combo standard, Nissan uses CHAdeMO and Tesla uses its own Superchargers. The meeting was prompted by Tesla opening of all of its patents the other day, FT says. Speaking during the recent annual shareholder meeting, Musk said he was "more than happy to have other manufacturers" use Tesla's Superchargers but that, "there is no other electric car that can accept anything close to 135 kilowatts." Let's assume the technical hurdle can be overcome. With any potential patent/licensing problems out of the way, these discussions with BMW and Nissan might be revolving around this other angle that Musk mentioned: "They (other automakers) just have to contribute to the capital cost, so figure out what percentage of the time are their cars using the Supercharger network and then they can make a contribution proportionate to their customer usage of the Supercharger network." That certainly sounds like something that could take some time to figure out. News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: Elbilforeningen / Flickr Green BMW Nissan Tesla Electric supercharger chademo sae combo

Tesla breaks 28-year-old monthly sales record in Norway

Someone may want to try to translate "Gigafactory this!" into Norwegian. Tesla Motors just set the all-time monthly sales record for a single model in Norway, The Wall Street Journal says, citing Norwegian transportation officials. And that's for any type of model, gas-powered or not. The California-based electric-vehicle maker, which is planning a massive Gigafactory battery plant in the US as it prepares to unveil a lower-priced model, sold 1,493 Model S sedans in Norway last month. The sales total more than doubled the No. 2 selling Volkswagen Golf (624 units) and beat a 28-year-old monthly sales record set by the Ford Sierra (1,454 vehicles). And March marked the second straight month an electric vehicle took Norway's best-selling crown, which was won by Nissan for its Leaf in February. That's heady stuff, and it gets headier when you factor in Norway's population of only about 5.1 million people. That means that on a per-capita basis, that'd be like Tesla selling about 94,000 Model S vehicles in a month in the US. By comparison, Ford sold "only" about 71,000 of its best-selling F-Series trucks last month. With cheap and abundant hydroelectric power, Norway heaps lots of incentives for its EV buyers, including perks such as free parking, an extensive recharging network, use of bus lanes and free ferries and road tolls. With EV subsidies tallied at about $8,000 per vehicle, the country reportedly may reach its limit of providing incentives for 50,000 EVs by mid-2015, or about two-and-a-half years ahead of schedule. And for that, Norwegians, blame Tesla.

Mary Barra thinks GM is a leader in autonomous tech

Saying General Motors is "among the leaders" in autonomous vehicle technology, CEO Mary Barra rapped about her company's driverless work in an interview with USA Today. Barra covered a number of topics, including well-known efforts, like Cadillac's upcoming Super Cruise technology, as well as hinting at "a lot of efforts that are confidential." "Things are moving quickly in autonomous [cars] because there's so many different pathways and the standards aren't even set. A lot of people can claim leads because people are making advancements in different areas," Barra said. "Next year we're going to have Super Cruise on one of our Cadillacs. On highways you'll be able to take your hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals – with a very creative way to make sure the driver is alert and involved in the driving process." As for those "confidential" efforts, feel free to speculate. GM has recently confirmed that it'd be running autonomous Volts at its Warren, MI tech center, which certainly indicates that the company is playing with much more than Super Cruise. GM will need to continue to embrace autonomous driving, owing to both traditional competitors like Toyota, as well as non-traditional opposition, like Google and Apple. Speaking of its competition from Silicon Valley, Barra was asked about two of the region's biggest names – Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla boss Elon Musk. "I have tremendous respect for Tim Cook, and I don't really think he needs advice from me," Barra told USA Today with a laugh. And when asked about Apple's future as a "viable competitor," she said, "I have no insights other than what I read in the papers. But it would be foolish for me not to assume that they're going to." As for Mr. Musk's openness about future products and how it contrasts with GM's relatively closed attitude, Barra also gave a chuckle. "I'm sure you would like me to say yes. I think we're fundamentally different. Look at our volume and look at the segments where we compete. His product line – his two products – his scale, it's completely different." The rest of Barra's interview is certainly worth a read, and includes talk about the Volkswagen diesel scandal, GM's changed relationship with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Uber. Head over to The Detroit Free Press website for the full story from USA Today.