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Recharge Wrap-up: Atieva making EV with former Tesla talent, Holland lowers PHEV incentives

A reduction of tax incentives on company cars in Holland is expected to put the brakes on plug-in hybrid sales. Cars are taxed at an average of 25 percent, with plug-in hybrids taxed at just seven or 14 percent, depending on emissions. Taxes on PHEV company cars will increase to 14 and 21 percent. With company car leases making up a third of vehicle sales in 2014, the uptake on PHEVs "will likely go back to regular volumes," according to Volvo's Christiaan Krouwel. It could be a boon for battery electric cars, as their tax rate will remain at four percent for company cars. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Ford is testing cylinder deactivation in its 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine. On-road prototype testing has shown improvements in fuel economy of as much as six percent. Ford engineers developed a system using a new dual mass flywheel, pendulum absorber, and tuned clutch disc to allow cylinder deactivation under a wider range of speed and engine loads with less NVH. "The highest priority in the development of new combustion engines for automotive applications is the ongoing reduction of fuel consumption," says Ford's Andreas Schamel, presenting Ford's findings to the Vienna Motor Symposium. Read more at Green Car Congress or in the press release from Ford. Atieva is building an EV with the help of numerous former Tesla employees. The Silicon Valley-based startup was founded in 2007 by a former Tesla vice president, and its roster includes 12 other former Tesla employees. Already well funded, Atieva is now looking to fill its ranks with more talent, with 32 engineering positions, two recruiter positions and other job openings posted at its website. As for the EV it is working on, Atieva says it is "redefining what a car can be, by building an iconic new vehicle from the ground up." Read more at Charged EVs. Testing shows that Joule ethanol, made from recycled CO2, meets standards for use in the US and Europe. In partnership with Audi, Joule has been working toward making its recycled CO2 fuels ready for commercialization. "We are pleased to achieve another critical step towards our planned near-term delivery of fuel-grade ethanol from recycled CO2," says Joule President and CEO Serge Tchuruk. "Using waste CO2 as a feedstock, our technology has the two-fold advantage of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and producing cost-competitive, drop-in fuels." Joule will use these test results to get government approval for the use of its ethanol in highway fuel.

2015 Audi A8 and S8 get some new goodies

Luxury car buyers are a demanding bunch. They've got this crazy notion that just because they're spending the better part of a hundred grand on a top-tier luxury sedan, they should get the very best and the cutting edge of what the industry has to offer. That has tended to come down to the S-Class even when it had grown long in the tooth, and now that Mercedes-Benz has rolled out an all-new version, the competition is falling all over itself to release updates to keep their flagship sedans in the running. Jaguar did that just yesterday with its XJ sedan, and now Audi has revealed the latest revisions to its A8 range.
Set to debut at the Frankfurt show in just a few weeks from now, the latest A8 (and its performance version, the S8) benefits from a series of stylistic, powertrain, and technology upgrades. Among the most prominent, of all things, are the new Matrix LED headlights that can automatically lower the high-beams for oncoming vehicles, with integrated turn signals that light up to point in the direction the driver's about to turn. But that's hardly the end of the story.
Audi has apparently reduced the output on the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 to from 328 horsepower to 310 but raised the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 from 414 hp to 435, which now offers a 0-60 run of just 4.5 seconds. That's just three tenths behind the S8, which remains unchanged at 513 hp, as does the 493-hp 6.3-liter W12. The 3.0-liter TDI is up from 247 hp to 258, the 4.2-liter TDI grows from 345 hp to at 385 (with a massive 627 pound-feet of torque to boot) and the hybrid that offers a combined 245 hp and 354 lb-ft. That makes for one massive array of engines globally, although only some of them will be offered Stateside. Each is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive, but thanks to the A8's lightweight construction, it's lighter than any other all-wheel-drive model in its class.

Audi A8 could spawn Mercedes-Maybach S600 rival

Five years ago, there was no middle ground for big luxury sedans. You either bought a $100,000 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Audi A8, or BMW 7 Series, or you spent $225K on a twelve-cylinder Bentley Continental Flying Spur. But today, the market is changing. Bentley sells a V8-powered Flying Spur for around $200,000 and Mercedes is successfully selling a longer, twelve-cylinder, ultra-lux S-Class for $190,000. The middle ground is growing, and Audi wants in on the action. Audi is looking closely at the Mercedes-Maybach S600, according to Dr. Stefan Knirsch, the company's new technical leader. The company recently introduced a one-off A8 limo, shown above, although we'd imagine an S600 rival would be a more manageable size. "We are thinking about it," Knirsch told AutoExpress at the launch of the new SQ7. "The success of the extra-long version of the S-Class has got us wondering about whether there could be a business case for that in the future." Knirsch's comments raise a number of questions about a potential ultra-lux A8. Would it be longer than the A8L? The extra backseat space is a key part of the Maybach S600's appeal. What about the badge? Audi doesn't have a nameplate to rival Maybach to distinguish such an exclusive A8 from its more affordable siblings. Will the Audi offer more or fewer shades of black/silver than the S600? But the biggest question is what a bigger, more luxurious A8 could mean for the rest of the A8 range. As AE explains, Mercedes has done a remarkable job of fleshing out the S-Class range, with the normal sedan, Maybach, Coupe, Cabriolet, and their accompanying AMG variants. The Maybach S600 started that process – could an extra-large competitor kickstart Audi's full-size luxury expansion? The A8 has long been subject to gossip that it'd spawn an A9 Coupe (2014's Prologue Concept only fed that particular rumor mill), after all. Beyond hinting at a more luxurious A8, Knirsch expounded on another piece of exciting news: the next A8 will get Level 3 automation. That would mean full driverless ability "with the expectation that the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene," according to the SAE's official definition. While Audi confirmed last year that the A8 could drive itself at speeds up to 37 miles per hour, Knirsch's more specific comments make it sound like the system could be even more advanced than originally thought. Related Video: