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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla factory loses power, plant genes modified for biofuel

Tesla's Fremont factory was shut down on Friday morning when a crane knocked out power to the facility. No injuries were reported and Tesla didn't say what effect the outage would have on production. Read more from SFGate or from CNBC. Researchers have genetically modified a plant for lower-viscosity seed oil to make biodiesel. With the viscosity of many plant-based oils being too high for use in modern high-pressure conditions required by emissions laws, this breakthrough is promising. Kansas State University scientists have added Euonymous Alatus (burning bush) genes to the Camelina Sativa plant to produce a thinner seed oil more suited for use in biofuels. Camelina grows easily, and since it isn't a food crop, concerns of genetic modifications are minimal. Testing of the oil in fuel could begin next year, after harvesting a large enough supply. Read more from Green Car Reports and from The Topeka Capital-Journal. The EPA's Mobile Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) could cause problems for higher ethanol blends. According to an editorial from Urban Air Initiative president David VanderGriend, MOVES is biased against ethanol blends, using test fuels that don't reflect the characteristics of real-world consumer fuels. "We must stop the MOVES model from being implemented, or all of the industry's other initiatives will be undermined," says VanderGriend. "States will have their hands tied and will simply not be allowed to approve higher blends." Read the column from Ethanol Producer Magazine. A Citroen C-Zero driver experienced unexpected fees when turning in the car at the end of its lease. The final bill included inspection and transportation fees under the "Damages" section of the report, totaling over GBP300 (about $470). The author has found no mention or documentation of such fees prior to collection, and is contesting the charges. Read more at EV Meerkat, where the author will update readers while Citroen customer service looks into the matter. Featured Gallery Tesla Factory Related Gallery Citroen C-Zero News Source: SFGate, CNBC, Green Car Reports, The Topeka Capital-Journal, Ethanol Producer Magazine, EV MeerkatImage Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma Government/Legal Green Plants/Manufacturing Tesla Citroen Alternative Fuels Biodiesel Ethanol recharge wrapup

Demand for electric car rentals unplugged by range anxiety

It's the hurdle that electric vehicles must clear to be launched into the mainstream: range anxiety. But this time it isn't prospective customers who worry about running out of juice, Bloomberg reports, but renters who return to car rental agencies before their lease is up and trade their EVs in for more traditional gasoline-powered autos and gas-electric hybrids.
"People are very keen to try [electric vehicles], but they will switch out of the contract part way through ... they think they can't get to a charging station," says Lee Broughton, head of sustainability at Enterprise. Enterprise customers who rent EVs reportedly trade them in 1.6 days into the rental period on average, which compares unfavorably to the six- to seven-day rental periods of traditional, fuel-burning automobiles.
Christopher Agnew, an analyst at MKM Holdings LLC, says that longer range would help rental customers' range anxiety, especially since they are usually renting vehicles in unfamiliar places.

Analyst calls on Apple to buy Tesla

This is the layman's understanding of how the tech world works: come up with an idea; execute idea; start making money; get bought out by Apple, Google or some other wealthy company seeking the Next Big Thing; retire to Fiji at age 23. Occasionally, though, one of those startups grows quickly enough to avoid being bought out by the big boys of Silicon Valley. Tesla is one such startup, and while it's an automaker as much as a tech company, the mingling of both worlds in its business model has helped the company survive since 2003, become publicly traded in 2010 and avoid being bought out by a bigger company (though the personality of its co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk, may have something to do with that, too).
This record of independence hasn't stopped the analysts from talking, though. According to CNN Money, Andaan Ahmad, a London-based investment banker with German bank Berenberg, has petitioned Apple CEO Tim Cook to buy out Tesla and bring Elon Musk into the Apple family. On paper, the move would sort of make sense: since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple appears to some to have been sagging, releasing better iterations of its currents products but lacking the big, new, industry-investing widget that makes people go mad. Expanding into the automotive market, a long-rumored destination for Apple, would allow the Cupertino, CA-based brand to stretch its legs in a new direction. As Ahmad notes, Apple needs to go "out of the box" or "the key debate will always be about [Apple's] ability to sustain these abnormal margins in [the] iPhone business."
Although not expressly discussed in the CNN story, we could also see some big benefits for Tesla. The Palo Alto-based automaker has been locked in a war over direct sales to customers with a number of dealership groups across the country, many of which have particularly powerful political lobbies. If Tesla had the backing of the world's most powerful company, which also has success in the business of upgrading traditional retail experiences, it could help establish the direct-sale model on a wider scale.