For those interested in battery research, here is a paper that if true is a major breakthrough in battery development: https://xnrgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/XNRGI-Consumer-White-Paper.pdf

20 GWh is just a start. U.S. sales were 17 million in 2018; if all these car were EVs and used 50 kWh batteries, the battery industry would sell 850 GWhs of storage in the U.S. alone...that's huge.

The tradeoffs: more weight; more maintenance cost, increased complexity, increased initial cost. And the question; Do you really need this for a street car designed for point to point transportation? If you are using it as a track car, that's different.

The kind of car you want to rent for a day at the track and then let someone else pay to keep it running.

Never bought a new car until I retired and then bought two. The PU is now 20 years old and the EV is 8. The used cars bargain buys used to be at about the three year mark, especially in the premium market where the depreciation is crippling for the first buyer.

I thought BMW would be the leader in lightweight EVs; however, they sold their part of the JV carbon fiber plant at Moses Lake, WA. to their partner, SGL...don't understand why.

Way too late in the cycle of innovation to be considered, just another ICE polluter, albeit more efficient.

It's interesting to note the first production Leaf batteries were 141 Wh/kg and now we are talking about pushing 265 Wh/kg for current batteries...8 years later.

Installing a buffer battery in an overhead electric trolley makes a lot of sense. This gives the trolly flexibility when not attached to the overhead power.

Coal is the cheapest fuel in China and gas is in short supply so in many households coal is used for cooking as well as heating. The Government is pushing RE with the desire to provide clean electricity as the more common form of energy...that'll take a long time. regardless of the good progress to date.

It will be interesting to see how HD changes their PR to continue appealing to insecure, old fat guys in dumb looking helmets, trying to be bad boys, but now on whisper quiet bikes.

So, Ford is buying its way into EVs; Well, I hope that works b/c they are way behind the EV leaders; but, with VW? I would never have thought it!

Keep moving, nothing to see here but slow motion EV development from a disinterested company as it blunders its way to bankruptcy.

As a 2011 Leaf owner, I find it disappointing that Nissan has waited so long to even start improving their batteries; it's 8 years before they announced a range increase...what you have is a great little car chassis without development support from the maker, who forces the early adopters, about 340,000 buyers, to abandon their cars because Nissan charges more for a replacement battery than the used car sells for...there is an aftermarket for overhauled and range updated Leaf batteries if someone wants to jump in.

Purpose built race cars improve branding and are good PR...have little to do with street cars; comparisons are meaningless.

LNG is a good alternative to replace dirty bunker oil diesels until a clean ship can be developed...Start by halting the build of diesels.

The Germans makers seem to give their engineers the freedom to innovate; Let's see what they can do with EV drivelines.

The EPA is very political under Trump and the EPA administrator is working to undo past policies, based on science, in favor of policies based on campaign donations.

How about more information on the 34% conversion rate solar cells; are they in production? If so, that's a major breakthrough in the solar industry where production cells are below 20%.

The more Teslas on the roads , the better for us all.

Battery development and battery cost reduction are the main factors holding back BEV growth in the markets. In time these interim, complicated solutions, i.e., all forms of hybrids, will not be needed.

HyperLoops could solve this pollution problem for short to medium distance fast transportation...Hydrogen turbines in place of fossil fuel jet engines would solve the problem for long distance travel until hybrid fuel cells and electric motors can be developed. I'm pleased to see the concern for jet pollution is finally being voiced.

Interesting; but, is it practical? We'll see.

SR: Good comment, especially when you understand jet engines are giant blow torches blowing out toxic smog at the airports and tons of CO2 in the upper atmosphere...2100 EVs is definitely not a Manhattan project.

There are numerous ways to create clean energy, i.e., hydro, solar, wind, wave; and, there are countless ways to store the energy cleanly. Why keep using methodologies that create detrimental toxins and then increases the overhead by having to clean them up? Why not just spend the time and money to develop the known clean methods and devices and not create the toxins?