2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 Work Truck on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Chevy Volt CarPlay video, Tesla Supercharger importance

A video demonstrates Apple CarPlay on the touch display in the next-generation Chevrolet Volt. The Volt's eight-inch (bigger than an iPad Mini) capacitive display is capable of putting Siri and your iPhone apps and right at your fingertips. It's "the best CarPlay display I've seen," says the user in the video. In case you're not in the market for a new Volt, 9to5Mac offers some of its favorite aftermarket CarPlay screens. See the video above, and read more at 9to5Mac. A single Supercharger can make a big difference in the life of a Tesla owner. Teslarati's Electric Jen talks about purchasing a Model S, being assured by both Tesla employees and the map of planned Supercharger sites that one would be built along an important route for her. With the construction being pushed back, it made visiting family tricky. "As if owning such a grand car isn't embarrassing enough, asking for a ride to drop off and pick up said car because you can't make it home without charging really made me feel awkward," she says. "You see, one single charging location can mean the world to some people," Jen adds. Read the whole article at Teslarati. Tesla once had considered creating mobile range extender trailers for the Model S. Elon Musk touched upon the abandoned idea during his visit to Paris. While Tesla ultimately dismissed the concept, Nomadic Power has taken the opportunity to hitch their product onto the Tesla brand. "We are delighted, that Tesla Motors' CEO Elon Musk is thinking about a concept like ours for even more extending the range of the Tesla models," says Nomadic Power's CEO Manfred Baumgaertner. He adds, "This confirms our approach to build a long distance mobility provider for all electric vehicles on the market." If you say so, Baumgaertner. Read more from International Business Times, and in the press release below. Renault is giving its EV batteries a second life through Connected Energy's E-STOR. When the batteries have degraded to the point that they're no longer suitable for use on the road, they still have a significant capacity that can be used for other purposes. Still useful for stationary storage, they can be used to support charging sites in order to allow for faster charging. The stationary batteries can charge slowly at the site, but then offer up the juice in a hurry when it's needed for a vehicle. Read more from Renault.

1 in 7 Americans say they might buy an EV next, as sales of electrics surge

About one in seven driving Americans may likely purchase an electric vehicle as their next car, according to an AAA poll, meaning that as many as 30 million Americans may pony up for an EV within the next three to five years. While some of the motivation is environmental, survey recipients say that lower maintenance expenses and solo access to high-occupancy-vehicle lanes are also among the factors behind potentially going electric. Take a look at the AAA press release on the study here. The poll indicates that about as many people are planning to buy an EV for their next car as are looking to buy a pickup, which is impressive given that the best-selling US vehicle is the Ford F-150. And things should only improve, as about 20 percent of millennials polled said that their next car would probably be an EV. The results are all the more encouraging, at least among green-car advocates, because gas prices have fallen about 40 percent within the past five years, meaning that there's less of an incentive to go electric from a purely economic perspective. Through the first quarter of this year, US plug-in vehicle sales were up about 63 percent from a year earlier to about 39,000 vehicles. Meanwhile, when it came to AAA's annual green-vehicle awards for this year, Tesla's Model S and Model X took the large car and SUV categories, respectively, while the Chevrolet Bolt and Volkswagen e-Golf were listed atop the subcompact and compact lists. The Lexus GS 450h hybrid and the Ford F-150 took home AAA's best green vehicle in the midsize and pickup truck categories. Related Video:

Nissan Leaf sells 3,186 in best month ever as Chevy moves 2,511 Volts

The end of summer seems to inspire people to go out and buy a lot of plug-in vehicles. Last year, for example, the Chevy Volt had its best month ever in August, with 3,351 sales. This year, the Nissan Leaf is going up to the winner's podium, setting its own best-ever record with 3,186 units sold. This beats the Leaf's previous record by 69 vehicles. This beats the Leaf's previous record of 3,117 set in May 2014 by 69 vehicles and is up 31.7 percent from August 2013. Nissan is once again quick to remind us that the popular EV's record sales streak has now been extended to 18 months in a row. This record is simply noting that the current month, in this case August, had the highest sales that that month has ever seen in the US. Over all, US Leaf sales are up 34.1 percent so far this year. In a prepared statement, Nissan's director of Leaf sales and infrastructure, Brendan Jones, said that the Leaf is selling well on both coasts, including cities like Raleigh, Boston and Washington, DC. "It's what we call the 'cul-de-sac phenomenon,' where once someone in a community buys a Leaf, then friends, family, co-workers and neighbors see the benefits of this fun-to-drive electric vehicle firsthand and are sold on the idea of going electric," he said. The Volt also had a good month - its best of 2014 by almost 500 sales – but the 2,511 Volt sales still represent a drop of 25.1 percent from the excellent sales the Volt had this time last year. In fact, August 2014 represents the Volt's best sales month since, well, August 2013. Apparently, there's just something about the end of summer. As always, we are working on our in-depth round-up of green car sales across the country and will have that up soon.