Williams Auto Group

Making Us At Home on the Range

 

Ready to learn a new term?  Feel like the modern world just doesn't contain enough things to be stressed about?  Introducing "range anxiety".

Range anxiety is the term designers are using to describe the fear potential consumers have regarding electric cars and where to charge their batteries.  Imagine undertaking a trip in your gas-powered car, knowing there was only one gas station between your house and your destination three hundred miles away.  Would you be sure to plan your route and your refill very carefully?  Us too.

That's why the ChargePoint America program is underway.  Tasked with helping change the way America drives, ChargePoint America is providing electric vehicle charging infrastructure to nine selected regions in the United States.  Soon, electric charging stations will be as ubiquitous as gas stations.  And gas stations?  Well, tanks for the memories!

Reserve the Future at Williams Nissan Today!

For the first time ever, you can reserve your all-electric, zero-tailpipe emissions plug-in Nissan Leaf starting today at Williams Nissan of Sayre, PA!  The Leaf promises to be at the forefront of evolving automobile technology, and you can be there, driving right along the cutting edge!  See Williams Nissan today for details!

Toyota Still Most Reliable Brand!

 

The 2010 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study has been released, and once again Toyota outshines the competition.  A Press Release published on the Toyota website states, "We are please that (Toyota) has once again led the way with the most segment awards in the J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Stury.  We're especially proud of our consistency in the annual study.  Since 1990... Toyota has been in the top five amond non-luxury manufacturers.  Toyota has once again topped this year's study as the top-ranking full-line manufacturer."

Williams Toyota congratulates Toyota on their continuing commitment to product excellence, and is proud to sell and service Toyota vehicles throughout Southern Tier NY and Northern Tier PA!  Pictured above: the 2011 Toyota Sienna - photo credit Paul Giamou/nationalpost.com

 

Congress Goes Postal Over Electric Vehicles

Graphic by edrive.org

Will the U.S. Congress try to help the Post Office deliver email by giving it money to buy electric vehicles?  Well, maybe not, but this article sheds some light on one possible future for the Postal Service and electric vehicles.

According to HR4399, a bill now before Congress, the US Postal Service fleet is an ideal test bed for large scale electrification because of its predictable routes, frequent stops and starts, range of weather and terrain conditions, and high visibility. Post offices could provide the public easy access to EV charging stations with its more than 37,000 brick-and-mortar facilities located throughout the US.  At the same time, this new mission could help provide the Post Office with a "salvation strategy" to counter diminishing demand for its traditional services.  Further, electric postal vehicles could feed excess storage capacity back into the grid during the protracted periods of idleness they experience during the parts of the day when the letter carriers are preparing the mail for route delivery.  The Postal Service currently spends almost $3 billion per year on fuel and maintenance, but the cost of electric vehicles would still require extraordinary financing arrangements for USPS.  One scenario envisions the Postal Service being given authority to issue bonds, to be paid from the savings realized by the use of the energy efficient fleet.  The chart above was developed by evworld.com based on the details of the bill (HR4399) now before the House of Representatives.

Whatever the final outcome, it appears that the future development of the electric fleet will see an intimate involvement between government, the business and scientific communities, and gthe public at large.

Buy the Sizzle, Lease the Steak?

I thought I had my hands full with reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic.  How am I going to do with "Reuse, Resell, Refabricate and Recycle"?  Nissan Motors and Sumitomo Corporation aim to find out.  In this article, they announce a joint venture to recycle the lithium ion batteries slated to power the new Nissan Leaf electric vehicle due out in 2010.

The business model recognizes that after the end of normal vehicle life, the high-performance lithium-ion batteries to be used by Nissan will retain 70 to 80 percent of residual capacity and can be reused and resold to various industries as a solution to energy-storage.  Nissan and Sumitomo's intent is to create a market for these so-called "second life" batteries.  According to the Sumitomo website, "Second-life batteries present an ideal solution to the renewable-energy sector, allowing energy to be stored for later use. Such ecological application of second-life batteries would contribute to a net reduction of CO2 beyond what is achieved by the all-electric, zero-emission car".  This will also serve as a carbon-footprint offset to the generation of the electricity used by electric vehicles.

But wait, you say, these batteries are quite expensive, are they not?  How will the average driver afford them?  "This direct management of the battery's entire value chain is important to ensure that our EV customers do not bear the cost of the battery," said Hideaki Watanabe, head of Nissan's Zero Emission Business Unit. "Nissan is exploring several options including battery lease or credit model based on a monthly payment scheme. With this proposition, the total running cost, which equals the monthly battery payment plus the cost to charge the battery, is comparable to the cost to refuel a similar gasoline-powered car. Ultimately, this is a compelling economic proposition for a zero-emission car that meets all your driving needs."

So, under this proposed arrangement, I may someday buy an electric car, but lease the battery?  And the cost (including charging) should be about what we pay for gasoline?  We'll continue to keep you posted as this fascinating new technology emerges.

The 5th Generation 2010 4Runner is Arriving Soon!

The Philadelphia Examiner called it a "new SUV that actually wants to go off road".  Taller, wider and longer than the 2009 model, it's capable, it's comfortable and it's beautiful!  The new fifth-generation Toyota 4Runner is due in early November, and you can learn all about it, as well as see some great images of this vehicle, here!