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Recharge Wrap-up: Ford HQ gets giant solar array, Chevy City Express gets 24 MPG city

Ford will be building Michigan's largest solar array at its Dearborn headquarters. With funding from DTE Energy, the solar carport will provide covered parking, as well 30 charging stations for electric vehicles. The array is expected to generate 1.13 million kWh per year for Ford's operations, and offset 794 metric tons of carbon emissions. Read more in the press release below. Chevrolet announced the fuel economy for the 2015 City Express, at 25 mpg combined. The cargo van is rated at 24 mpg in the city, and 26 mpg on the highway. Chevy credits the van's inline four-cylinder engine and continuously variable transmission for its impressive city mileage. For its customers - which are mainly businesses - "The fuel economy of the City Express will help stretch their dollar at the pump and give them the flexibility to invest the savings back into their business," says Chevrolet's Ed Peper. The City Express starts at $22,950. Read more in the press release below. Engineers at the University of Wisconsin have developed an efficient engine that runs on a diesel-gas blend. The engine, which uses a computer to control the blend proportions, is about 15 percent more efficient than the any diesel engine according to mechanical engineering professor Rolf Reitz. The team has put the experimental reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine in a demonstration car - a 2009 Saturn. "This vehicle can do 50 miles per gallon," says Reitz, who believes the system could be improved further. Read more at Wisconsin Public Radio. The Southeast Alternative Fuel Conference and Expo will take place in October in Raleigh, North Carolina. Held at the NC Clean Energy Technology Center from October 22-24, the event will feature a variety of exhibitors, speakers and, most importantly, alternatively powered vehicles. "The three day conference will be a one-stop shop for fleet and transportation related decision makers to learn about return on investment, efficiency and alternative transportation fuels such as biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, propane and natural gas," says Anne Tazewell of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center. If you can't make it to Raleigh for the Expo, you can still enter to win a free two-year lease of a Nissan Leaf at the Center's website. Learn more about the event in the press release, below.

Hyundai, BMW and Ford win Concept Vehicle of the Year awards

More than two dozen jurors started with a pool of 23 concept cars introduced at the most recent Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto and New York auto shows, then pared it down to three winners in three categories for the twelfth annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards. The trophy-bearers are said to be those "vehicles most likely to shape the future of the automobile industry," and lead their classes in the Concept Car, Concept Truck and Production Preview divisions.
Hyundai had two cars as finalists for the Concept Car category, the competition boiled down to the Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis concept, Veloster C3 Roll Top, Honda EV-STER and the Toyota Corolla Furia. It won with the HCD-14 Genesis that was introduced at the Detroit Auto Show, a sharp sedan that sharply divided opinion between those who thought it was too much, those who thought it was too much Audi A7, and those who thought it was perfect. The award panel's judges, however, thought so much of it that it's got two awards in one sitting, not only taking concept car honors, but because it earned the highest overall score in the competition it also takes the crown for Most Significant Concept Vehicle of 2013.
The final selection in the Concept Truck category was down to the Ford Atlas, Kia Cross GT, Nissan Resonance and Volkswagen Cross Blue. The Ford Atlas took the silverware, after also winning the Eyes on Design award - shared with the Nissan Resonance - at the Detroit Auto Show where it was introduced.

Ford Focus Electric gets $6,000 price drop, now starts at $29,995

In early 2013, the Nissan Leaf shed a massive $6,500 from its $35,200 base price to offer a new starting price of $28,800. Since then, we have seen numerous other plug-in vehicles get smaller price tags, from the Honda Fit EV (lower lease price) to the Chevrolet Volt (around $5,000 lower) to the Mitsubishi i (a $6,130 drop). Last year, Ford lowered the $39,200 price of the Focus Electric by around $4,000, but that hasn't been enough to get the Ford EV to really compete, saleswise, with other plug-in vehicles on the market. But wait, as they say, there's more. This past weekend, Ford lopped another $6,000 from the price of both the 2014 model year Focus EVs currently on dealer lots as well as the redesigned 2015 models that are now rolling out (they're basically the same car, minus some appearance changes). Ford spokesman Aaron Miller confirmed to AutoblogGreen that the Focus EV will now start at $29,995 and said that reducing the price should make the Blue Oval's only pure EV competitive. "We hope by reducing the price we're giving consumers another reason to consider it," he said. Through the end of September 2014, Ford has sold just 1,534 Focus EVs in the US (the model sold 1,335 in the first nine months of 2013). For comparison's sake, the Nissan Leaf starts at $29,010 and sells around 3,000 units a month in the US. Miller notes that the Focus EV has been selling the best on the West Coast, and is also doing well on the East Coast. After that, he said Atlanta and the Great Lakes area also see decent sales of model's admittedly small pie. We can only assume that offering the EV for under $30,000 will make that pie somewhat bigger.