germany

It may not be the bleak times of the credit crunch, but demand for new cars slumped dramatically during January. In the first month of the year, new car registrations fell by 7.1 per cent in the EU compared to the same month one year ago. The data, from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, shows [...]

BMW is planning a third electric model for its new ‘i’ ‘Born Electric’ range, according to Germany’s Autobild magazine. It is believed that the car maker could be planning a to launch an i5 compact MPV model in 2015 to complement its first two electric models; the i3 electric supermini and the i8 plug-in hybrid [...]

It’s been a strong start to life for the electric Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL vans – which have covered 404,000miles in Berlin and Stuttgart. The electric vans were launched in two projects, each with 50 Vito E-CELL models, expected to run for around four years. They are being used in a number of application areas, including: [...]

German carmaker Daimler is the latest big name to take tentative steps towards wireless charging after launching a research project with Conductix-Wampfler. Funded byGermany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the goal of the project is to offer a safe, automotive-grade charging system with maximum efficiency. Two prototypes will be built [...]

Tuesday 9 August 2011. The Green Piece Column. Has the time finally arrived for us to make the switch to electric cars? The results of two studies, both revealed over the last week, offered deeply contrasting answers. On one side of the equation, the BMW Group revealed the results of its MINI E trial across [...]

It appears that electric vehicles will face a number of challenges before they can hope to become successful in Germany. A Gartner Inc study has revealed that German consumer purchase considerations for fully battery operated electric vehicles remain low compared to other powertrain technologies – and most current electric vehicles miss consumers’ ownership requirements. The [...]

BMW is to expand its recently-launched Munich car-sharing scheme to other cities across Europe, with plans to include the UK. The German car maker has teamed up with car rental company Sixt to put 300 1-Series models on the road for people in the German city to hire for as little as 25p per minute. [...]

Germany is set to gain twenty new hydrogen filling stations over the next three years as part of a partnership project between car giant Daimler and the Linde technology group. The new stations will be set up in Stuttgart,Berlin and Hamburg, as the country develops all important infrastructure to facilitate the use of hydrogen fuel [...]

Fuel producers in Germany have cut their production of E10 as the country continues to suffer from a consumer backlash against the new fuel. From the beginning of this year, German petrol stations have been required to offer the new Super E10 petrol or face fines. However five months into the compulsory presence of E10 [...]

The German government has stepped up its funding for electric cars as it seeks to become a world leader in the technology, according to The Independent. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, the country’s Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that an extra one billion euros would be put to use in the research and development of EVs, [...]