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Tesla, BMW and Nissan meeting in secret to discuss charging tech

It's interesting what's happening in the electric vehicle field. It used to be that BMW and Tesla were competitors. Then – and of course they're still competing, especially in the public mind – they were working together on ... something. Maybe. And now, the Financial Times reports that the two luxury automakers are meeting with Nissan. Again, maybe. The scuttlebutt is that the three companies are interested in working together on something to do with charging electric vehicles, potentially a global recharging standard. Currently, when it comes to fast charging, BMW uses the SAE Combo standard, Nissan uses CHAdeMO and Tesla uses its own Superchargers. The meeting was prompted by Tesla opening of all of its patents the other day, FT says. Speaking during the recent annual shareholder meeting, Musk said he was "more than happy to have other manufacturers" use Tesla's Superchargers but that, "there is no other electric car that can accept anything close to 135 kilowatts." Let's assume the technical hurdle can be overcome. With any potential patent/licensing problems out of the way, these discussions with BMW and Nissan might be revolving around this other angle that Musk mentioned: "They (other automakers) just have to contribute to the capital cost, so figure out what percentage of the time are their cars using the Supercharger network and then they can make a contribution proportionate to their customer usage of the Supercharger network." That certainly sounds like something that could take some time to figure out. News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: Elbilforeningen / Flickr Green BMW Nissan Tesla Electric supercharger chademo sae combo

Porsche Taycan is here, Lamborghini Sian is near | Autoblog Podcast #594

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. They start the conversation with the cars they've been driving, including the Subaru Forester, Lincoln Navigator, Mercedes-AMG C 43 and Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid. Then they talk about the biggest news of the week: the reveal of the all-electric Porsche Taycan. After that, they sweep up other news, like the Lamborghini Sian, new Nissan Juke and the Aston Martin Vanquish 25 by Ian Callum. Next, Autoblog's Erik Meier, who both produces this very podcast and also hosts our Twitch livestream, joins the chat with his impressions of the latest racing game, "WRC 8." Finally, our editors try to provide some helpful guidance in the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #594 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2019 Subaru Forester 2019 Lincoln Navigator 2019 Mercedes-AMG C 43 Coupe 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid Porsche unveils 2020 Taycan Turbo and Turbo S 2020 Lamborghini Sian Next-generation Nissan Juke Aston Martin Vanquish 25 by Ian Callum Autoblog plays "WRC 8" Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:     Green Podcasts Toys/Games Aston Martin Lamborghini Lincoln Mercedes-Benz Nissan Porsche Subaru Used Car Buying Coupe Crossover SUV Electric Hybrid Performance

Watch Nissan's autonomous Leaf in action

Getting its semi-autonomous Leaf legalized in Japan was just the first step. Now, Nissan is giving demonstrations of what its fully autonomous car is capable of at this year's Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) show - Japan's equivalent to America's Consumer Electronics Show. To show off the possibilities of its technologies, Nissan had an oval track set up at the show giving rides in an autonomous Leaf to the media. Even Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and Toyota CEO Akio Toyodo caught a ride.
Nissan has since released a couple videos of its CEATEC demos, with one designed to look like a news report. In this video, you can watch the car go around the track and navigate intersections and road hazards. The second video shows Ghosn riding in the car, and he hints that Nissan's goal of having an autonomous vehicle in production by 2020 might be more of a worst-case scenario. Watch both videos and read through Nissan's official press release below.