The electric vehicle future is fast approaching, as Germany is now moving forward with aggressive subsidies for new buyers.
According to The Guardian, in an attempt to meet climate change goals, Germany will be handing out 1 billion euros in subsidies to new electric and hybrid car buyers.
Here’s how it works: Buy an all electric vehicle, get 4,000 euros; buy a hybrid, get 3,000 euros. Money is split 50-50 between the public purse and auto manufactures. This is being done to jump-start the lackluster electric car market in Germany at the moment.
The program is set to launch next month, and if things go according to plan, then Germany will have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2020. It’s a lofty goal, as currently Germany only has 50,000 electric vehicles on the road out of about 45 million total cars.
So far the major German auto manufacturers have signed up. This includes BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen. The program is open to all manufacturers, both foreign and domestic.
Does that mean buyers can use the subsidy on the futuristic looking BMW i8? Not exactly. The subsidy will only apply to vehicles that cost less than 60,000 euros.
Germany also seems very optimistic about the programs success. “If you want one, buy it quickly,” said the country’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble.
Germany will also invest 300 million euros in charging infrastructure, adding stations in cities and along the autobahn, which is its federal highway system. It will also invest another 100 million euros to purchase electric cars for its federal fleet.
The country will continue to pursue environmentally conscious goals for the next decade, leading into the rest of the century. This includes phasing out nuclear power by 2022, as well as boosting wind and solar power production. Germany hopes to have 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.
Here’s hoping the rest of the world follows Germany’s example.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.