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PHEV conversion company Echo Automotive completes $3M financing, joins CALSTART

Green Car Congress

a developer of technologies enabling the conversion of existing fleet vehicles into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, completed a $3-million financing with United Fleet Financing, LLC, through a private placement offering and mezzanine financing. Echo Automotive, Inc., —Dan Kennedy, Echo’s CEO.

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XL1 dive and drive: Volkswagen aggressively optimizes for efficiency in its sleek diesel plug-in hybrid

Green Car Congress

The XL1 is aggressively optimized for efficiency in all areas of its design and technology—from materials (carbon fiber reinforced polymer monocoque); to powertrain (0.8L The XL1 is not a product of any of Volkswagen’s modular Baukästen (assembly kits such as the MQB, MLB or MSB, earlier post ). Click to enlarge.

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GM Says Chevrolet Volt Won't 'Pay the Rent' | Autopia from Wired.com

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

Newly installed CEO Fritz Henderson argues that pioneering projects like the Volt typically lose money until the technology catches on. "On some products, the costs, particularly in advanced technologies, are high," he said in a lengthy interview with Automotive News (free subscription required). It is 12 years later.

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MAEAA Web Links

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

FordFestiva : Brian has a new project going GM/SaturnEV-1 : EV1 owner GM/SaturnEV-1 : Dave and Jeans Chronicles. EV conversions in Canada CommuterCars: Builders of the "Tango" tandem EV Currie Technologies: Homeof US ProDrive Electric Scooters and Electric Bicycles. Micro :Electronics, Kits, Surplus, Online Catalog Cand H Sales Co.:

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A 100 m.p.g. truck? A Bright IDEA | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

For years now, inventors and sellers of electric car conversion kits have been blasting traditional automakers for not providing the 100 m.p.g. s ill-fated EV1, which was and remains the only all-electric vehicle from a major automaker. .  will be unveiling its IDEA, a 100 miles-per-gallon plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

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Electric-Car Fans Rally Around the Volt - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

“Any new technology like the Chevy Volt takes time to become profitable,&# said Jay Friedland, the legislative director for Plug-In America , an electric-car advocacy group. First-generation technology is expensive, but you can’t have a second generation without a first generation.” rolls toward bankruptcy. and Chrysler. .’s

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New EV electric car calendar

EV Central

Byton M-Byte – Chinese start-ups power play is technology, underpinned by an enormous 48-inch screen that sprawls across the dash. General Motor eCrate conversion kits – by late 2021 GM plans to offer battery and motor kits for classic cars, allowing an easy EV conversion. It could kick off with a sleek electric ute.