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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla says it will adapt cars to China's charging standard, Toyota previews Mirai for NY officials

Tesla says it will adapt its cars to meet China's charging standards. As Tesla sales in China fail to meet targets, in part due to range anxiety, the company has been working to build chargers for its vehicles to allay concerns surrounding its unavailability and its incompatibility with the country's charging standard. While China says it won't support charging infrastructure incompatible with its own, Tesla says, "We will fully cooperate with the Chinese government in drafting the national charging standards as well as building public charging infrastructure." Cooperation stands to help Tesla meet its sales goals in China, and to help China meet its goal of promoting electric vehicles. Read more at The Wall Street Journal. Abstract Ocean offers LED replacements for the Tesla Model S license plate bulbs. The folks at Teslarati purchased and installed a set to review and shared the results. At $21.99, the LED License Plate Bulb Kit offers a slightly more high-tech lighting solution to match the high-tech nature of the Model S, and is appropriately inexpensive for a decidedly minor upgrade. It is also very easy to install, requiring just a Phillips-head screwdriver and a few minutes. While you're not likely to see any significant energy savings from the LED bulbs, the reviewer likes the look and is happy with the customization experience. Read more at Teslarati. Toyota and Air Liquide hosted a ride-and-drive of the Toyota Mirai at the New York State Capitol. As the hydrogen fuel cell car gets closer to its US launch, Toyota has been hosting informational events to get the word out about the vehicle and hydrogen technology. At the event, which included an informational session on the hydrogen economy, elected officials got to get behind the wheel of the zero emissions vehicle. "After more than a century with the automobile, we are making decisions about socially significant technologies aimed at building a true hydrogen society over the next 100 years," says Toyota Group Vice President of Government Affairs Steve Ciccone. Air Liquide and Toyota are teaming up to develop hydrogen fueling infrastructure in the Northeast US. The Mirai goes on sale in the Northeast in 2016. Read more from Air Liquide.

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.

Here are the best-selling cars and trucks from January 2015

Every month, Autoblog slogs through all the sales figures reported by automakers that do business in the United States, and, after a little bit of sorting, we put it into an easy-to-read chart in an attempt to make it as easy as possible to follow the ins and outs of sales and shipments. But that only covers the brands themselves, not the individual models they sell. And we think you'd all be interested in knowing which vehicles beat their rivals in sales from month to month, so we've put together this handy gallery to keep you in the know. While the leader of the pack may not come as much of a surprise, the order that the top ten finishes in changes frequently – due to automaker deals, the price of gas, etc. – and we've included some statistics to help you see how their current performance stacks up to month's past. Click here to see January 2015's Top Ten Best-Selling Cars And Trucks In America. By the Numbers Chevrolet Ford GM Honda Nissan RAM Toyota Car Buying