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Recharge Wrap-up: Lucky fan to drive Porsche 918 Spyder, Avis Denmark has 861 Nissan EVs

A Tesla Model S customer shares his story of ownership over the course of 120,000 miles. Dante Richardson describes new software updates as being akin to anticipating the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks. Over the many miles he's driven the car, he has only learned to enjoy it more. "I don't know if it's the software updates or some of the other changes that have occurred with the car, but I find myself increasingly enamored and happy with the car as time has passed," Richardson says. His Volvo C70, in the meantime, usually sits idle as he opts to drive the Tesla. Read more at Tesla's website. A Facebook fan from Austria has won the opportunity to drive the Porsche 918 Spyder more than 622 miles. As part of a celebration for Porsche accumulating 10 million likes on the social media platform, Ingo Georges Vandenberghe will drive from London to the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone, via Wales and the Cotswolds, stopping occasionally to have other fans meet up to see and sign the car. It's a rare opportunity for the lucky driver, as every example of the high-performance Porsche hybrid has been sold. Read more at Hybrid Cars, and learn more about the celebration at Porsche's microsite. Avis Denmark now has the largest fleet of Nissan electric vehicles in Europe. The company has ordered 401 new Nissan e-NV200 vans and 60 Nissan Leafs for its leasing scheme. This is in addition to the 400 Leafs the Avis added to its fleet last year. "We had great success already with the Nissan Leaf in Denmark and we leased all of the units we purchased from Nissan very quickly, which has led to us ordering more," says Kasper Gjedsted, managing director of Avis Denmark. "To follow up that success we have decided to add the e-NV200 vehicle to broaden our offering and appeal to new types of customers." Read more in the press release below. AVIS ORDER CREATES EUROPE'S LARGEST FLEET OF NISSAN ELECTRIC VEHICLES - AVIS Denmark orders 401 Nissan e-NV200 vans and 60 Nissan LEAF electric cars - Combined with last year's order of 400 LEAFs, Avis now has largest EV fleet in Europe Copenhagen, 29th April 2015 - Nissan and AVIS Denmark have signed a deal to create the largest fleet of Nissan electric vehicles anywhere in Europe, with a new order of 401 Nissan e-NV200 vans and a further 60 units of the 100 percent electric Nissan LEAF.

Tesla prepping Supercharger network for big growth across Europe

It'd be a nice life to be able to tour across Europe in a Tesla Model S. And that's something the California-based electric-vehicle maker is looking to enable by the end of the year. We're ready. Who's got the key fob? Tesla opened three Supercharger stations in Germany on Thursday and is aiming to string enough together to let drivers roam across the continent purely by Supercharger power by the end of 2014, Bloomberg News says. The company now has 23 Superchargers in Europe, including nine in Germany and six in Norway. Those high-powered stations can half-charge a Model S in about 20 minutes. Tesla has 97 Superchargers in North America. Tesla's most recent Supercharger deployments across the Pond merely reinforces Tesla chief Elon Musk's pledges earlier this year to ensure that all European Tesla owners would be within reach of a Supercharger by year-end, Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean wrote in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen. Musk said in March that Tesla drivers would be "able to travel almost anywhere in Europe using only Superchargers" by the end of 2014. Earlier this month, Tesla started deliveries of right-hand-drive Model S sedans in the UK. Additionally, Musk estimated that the company would open a factory in Europe once annual sales on the continent reached 160,000 units. By all accounts, that's likely to be a long way off. Earlier this year, Tesla dropped the price of the Model S in Europe, though the company said that move was due to the strengthening Euro and not because of any demand issues.

Recharge Wrap-up: BMW integrates EV charging into streetlights, EV Fleet debuts electric pickup

BMW has unveiled prototypes of LED streetlights that also serve as EV charging stations. "Light and Charge is a simple and innovative solution to naturally integrate a reliable network of charging stations in the city," says BMW's Peter Schwarzenbauer. Connected to the ChargeNow network, they're simple to use, and would be readily available when tied to the lighting infrastructure. The two prototypes are currently in use at BMW World, with a pilot project planned for Munich in 2015. Read more at Green Car Congress, or in the (translated) press release below. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is accusing retailers of price gouging E85 to discourage its use. An RFA study found that retailers in St. Louis were marking up E85 as much as a dollar, roughly twice as much as the markup on regular gasoline. "Sneaky E85 pricing strategies ultimately give oil refiners the opportunity to wrongly claim that consumers are 'rejecting' E85," Says RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen, "and it gives them an opportunity to claim they can't comply with Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requirements above the so-called 'blend wall.'" Read more at Biofuels Digest. Charlotte-based EV Fleet has announced the Condor electric pickup (pictured). The vehicle-to-grid-ready Condor has a 1,000-pound payload capacity, and can travel over 100 miles on a single charge. The company plans to build 300 trucks a month when it revs up production next year, with sales targeted toward fleet managers. See the EV Fleet Condor in the video below, read more at Treehugger, or visit EV Fleet's website to learn more. Here's a bold claim. Mutual fund manager Ron Baron says that every home will have a Tesla vehicle in 25 years. The financial guru, well regarded for his predictive stock strategies, is confident about the long-term outlook for the electric carmaker. He feels that Tesla is far ahead of the electric car game compared to other automakers like BMW, whom he believes will end up switching focus from internal combustion to electric powertrains. Read more at ValueWalk. BMW Group presents innovative street lighting with integrated charging station for electric vehicles. Munich. As part of the Eurocities conference in Munich, discuss in from 5 to 8 November 2014 more than 500 representatives of major European cities on pioneering infrastructure projects, the BMW Group presents the prototype of a highly energy efficient street lighting that is both charging station for electric vehicles.