EV Intersection | Porsche First to Market with Luxury Plug-in Electric Vehicle

EV intersection for Sept. 29 travels the back roads this week to find electric vehicle and infrastructure articles you need to read. Includes Porsche's SUV/Crossover hitting dealers, BMW's DC fast charging strategy and the secret police in Iowa go after Tesla ride-and-drives. 

The plug-in hybrid from Porsche Cayenne to be available starting in November 2014.

1.The Porsche Cayenne SUV beats Tesla Motors's Model X to the punch by releasing its SUV S-E Hybrid plug-in at the Paris auto show this week and then to dealers in early November, reports The Detroit Bureau. The article does not address U.S. deliveries, but this model is priced around $76,400...right in the same spot for the Model X and it's 260 miles to a charge (assuming). Rumors say the Porsche will be able to deliver 11-22 miles on a charge. Mileage improves somewhat with the plug-in component and Porsche says:

"So far, battery-based vehicles haven’t exactly charged up the global automotive market, but Porsche notes that 9% of the Panameras it sold worldwide so far this year were S E-Hybrids. And that figure jumped to 16% in the U.S."

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KIA EV Soul Targets Fast-Charging 'Animals'

ABB's Terra 53 charger wrapped in Greenlots' SKY network, charging the new Soul EV, based on Kia's best selling Soul model;

As electric vehicles appears on more roads and drivers put more miles on these cars, the need for more DC fast-charging stations emerges pretty clearly. Today, KIA Motors announces a new program to install ABB's Terra 53 50kW fast-charging stations in its dealerships across the country, starting on the west coast in the "first wave."

Kia's electric vehicles use a CHAdeMO fast charging interface and is capable of charging the EV Soul—began selling in the U.S this month—vehicle in 15-30 minutes.

According to the press release, Soul EV owners will be provided an RFID card, giving them access to the DC fast chargers via Greenlots SKY network system. Drivers will be able to easily find these charging stations via Kia's smartphone app or the touchscreen inside the vehicle.

Other fast-charging stations have different interface standards, such as the SAE combo and Tesla Motor's DC fast-charging network. KIA did not mention whether it has adapters for those other interfaces.

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EV Events, Hyperloop and Road Trips

Just back from vacation and catching up on recent articles related to all things EVs, alt fuels and next gen manufacturing.. See links below, enjoy!

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Tesla Superchargers and New Sensations

Supercharing your electric vehicle offers the great American myth of freedom. I experienced partial freedom yesterday as I drove my Tesla Model S to Normal, Illinois, to see the ribbon-cutting for the first installed superchargers in the Midwest. The superchargers are located on the third floor at 11 Uptown Center in the college town. Even before I arrived to the third floor, I saw many other level 2 charging units and a DC fast charger from Eaton Corp. on preceding floors.

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Tesla Supercharging: EV Chicken and the Egg

Probably makes a whole lot of sense to Musk and, in a sense, is an olive branch to the industry he is trying to disrupt. Tesla builds out the quick-charge infrastructure, does the heavy lifting, but you, Mr. OEM, will have to pay us some kind of fee.

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