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Recharge Wrap-up: Fiat 500e on sale in Oregon, Germany to offer EVs free parking

The 2015 Fiat 500e is now available in Oregon. The new 500e features an updated center console, as well as two new exterior colors: Luce Blu (which Fiat describes as light blue with a pearl finish) and Celeste (light blue). The 2015 500e is available for lease in California and Oregon for $199 a month for 36 months, plus $999 down. Fiat offers 500e owners and lessees 12 days of free rental per year through Enterprise in the first three years of ownership for days when the driver needs something with greater range or capacity than their small EV. Read more in the press release below. Germany moves to offer free parking to EVs in an attempt to encourage their adoption. The German cabinet has backed the bill, set to begin in spring 2015, which would also include certain hybrids in the free parking scheme. The eligible cars will get some sort of special label to make them more recognizable. Germany has a target of 1 million EVs on its roads by 2020. Read more at Bloomberg. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have determined that the best automotive use of natural gas is to provide electricity for EVs. In a well-to-wheels analysis, using the natural gas to power efficient turbines to produce electricity uses less energy and produces fewer emissions than other fuels, including on-board CNG. The research also concludes that CNG cars are a viable option, particularly if the fuel could be integrated into hybrid vehicles. The study digs into other future technologies, and what they might mean for overall energy use compared to using natural gas as a stationary power source for EVs. Read more over at Green Car Congress. Scientists have created a new device to generate electricity from wind. Wind passing through the device causes gold-plated "tongues" to rub against PTFE tape, generating electricity using the triboelectric effect. Researchers created a triboelectric generator prototype that fit on top of a car in order to test it out. While mounting it on a vehicle may not necessarily be an ideal way to generate electricity for practical purposes, the test showed that the device works to produce a certain amount of energy at a specific windspeed, It could certainly be useful in stationary applications at the least, and might have further-reaching implications for generating electricity through wind or friction. Read more at Gizmodo.

Fiat celebrates 30 years of Panda 4x4 with Antartica edition [w/poll]

Typically, 4x4s are rather large affairs, but the Fiat Panda stands resolutely against the trend. And what's more, it's done just that for 30 years now, over the course of which Fiat has rolled out three successive generations and sold over 400,000 examples of the little off-roader that could. So to celebrate three decades of the Panda 4x4, Fiat is rolling out this special edition.
Called the Fiat Panda 4x4 Antartica, it's set to debut next week at the Frankfurt Motor Show alongside a new Black Code trim for the Freemont (known to us as the Dodge Journey) and an anniversary edition Abarth 595. Fiat has based this special edition on the Panda 4x4 Rock and upgraded it with two-tone paint, 15-inch diamond-finish alloys, orange trim, fog lights, tinted glass and special badging. Inside, it's got gray and orange upholstery, and European buyers can order it up with either the 85-horsepower 900cc TwinAir engine or the 75hp 1.3-liter diesel.
A limited run will reach European showrooms by the end of the year. But we wonder... should Fiat consider bringing the Panda Stateside to share floor space with the diminutive 500? Have your say in our informal poll below, and feel free to read through the press release, too.

Strike looms for FCA workers as soon as Wednesday night

A strike is on the very near horizon for at least some United Auto Workers members at FCA US. On October 6, the union sent a letter to the automaker that officially announced the termination of its agreements with the company as of 11:59 PM on Wednesday, October 7. Assuming that a deal or extension hasn't happened by that time, workers could hit the picket line. While neither side is talking much publicly, it does appear that negotiations are still underway. In a very brief statement, the automaker simply says: "FCA US confirms that it has received strike notification from the UAW. The Company continues to work with the UAW in a constructive manner to reach a new agreement." The UAW seems equally receptive, and it says in a post on Facebook: "Negotiations with FCA continue. Your bargaining team is hard at work and we will continue to post updates when there is more to report." If a strike happens, it could put a serious financial burden on FCA US. Economist Sean McAlinden from the Center for Automotive Research estimates the cost at as much as $40 million per week, according to Reuters. The union hasn't clarified at this time whether all of its workers with the automaker would stop working or if the picket lines would only be at specific plants. The first tentative agreement posted to UAW members working with FCA US utterly failed in voting. Raises and a healthcare co-op would have been among the new benefits. However, the employees were upset that the proposed deal retained a two-tier wage structure, and they also didn't like the lack of details about rumors of major production changes.