*no Reserve*! Super-clean Veloster W/upgrades Fuel Efficient 6480 Mi on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Electric Bayliner conversion, China considers EV mandates

An electric mobility enthusiast converted a Bayliner boat to electric power. Using 10 Tesla modules to build a 32-kWh battery pack, Scott Masterson's 2016 Bayliner 175 now uses an electric motor in place of the original 3.0-liter Mercruiser engine. With a top speed of about 53 mph and a range of about 25 miles, Masterson can enjoy a nice cruise on the water without the accompanying gas fumes. He says the conversion wasn't all that complicated, and it took him about three months of part-time work. Check it out in the video above, and read more at Electrek. Audi's updates to the 2017 A3 include the E-Tron plug-in hybrid. Inside the car, it will likely get Audi's "Virtual Cockpit" instrument display. The MMI infotainment system will be updated, with available Apple Carplay and Android Auto functionality. Slight changes to the headlights, taillights, and grille will make up the bulk of the exterior visual changes. Its powertrain will remain unaltered from the 2016 model, including its 83 MPGe combined rating and 16 miles of all-electric driving range. Read more at Green Car Reports. Hyundai has delivered its first hydrogen-powered car to Quebec. The Centre de Gestion de l'Equipment Roulant (Rolling Stock Management Center), which manages the province's government fleets, took delivery of a 2016 Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell. It is leased in partnership with the University of Quebec's Hydrogen Research Institute of Trois-Rivieres, where the vehicle will be refueled. Read more from Green Car Congress. China is considering mandates for cleaner cars similar to those imposed by California. Unlike its current subsidy-based incentives, China could potentially require automakers to either produce or import more electric vehicles or purchase carbon credits from automakers that do. A draft of the legislation from the National Development and Reform Commission would fine non-compliant automakers at five times the price of the credits. "Without question, this will be good for the industry and will promote the development of all types of clean-energy vehicles," says China Association of Automobile Manufacturers Deputy Secretary General Ye Shengji. Compliance would be voluntary for smaller automakers. Read more from Automotive News.

2016 Hyundai Sonata PHEV will be a 50-state car, sort of

Technically, the upcoming 2016 Hyundai Sonata Plug In Hybrid will be available in all 50 states. It will just be a lot easier to get in the ten ZEV states. That's because in the 40 states that do not follow California's Zero Emission Vehicle regulations, Hyundai dealers will not be stocking the plug-in version of the Sonata when it goes on sale in the fall of 2015. In the ten ZEV states (California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont), Hyundai will stock and sell the PHEV Sonata just like any other model, with numerous colors and trim levels available on dealer lots. In the other 40 states, "we're not going to encourage dealers to stock them," because the company expects demand to be low, said Mike O'Brien, Hyundai's vice president of corporate and product planning. O'Brien was speaking at a launch event for the two new Sonatas in California this week. Hyundai has a reason for choosing the ZEV states as a starting point, O'Brien said. "The ten states are spending more money on charging infrastructure, so you can park at work, you can park while you're in the grocery store, and you can charge your car while you're doing it." In any other state, where the plug-in infrastructure is weaker, a customer can order a PHEV Sonata just as if they were going to get a specific color Veloster that the local dealer didn't have in stock, O'Brien said. "It's really no different." "If you just look at the sales, basically all our competitors, over half of their plug-in hybrid sales are right here in the state of California," O'Brien said. "Usually, much more than half. If you cover the ZEV states, you're going to cover over 85 percent of the sales already. And we're going to make sure that our dealers can accommodate and customers that wish to buy outside those states." In other ways, the PHEV buying process will be similar. The customer can choose, at time of purchase, to rely on standard 110-volt outlets or to work with the dealer to install a Level 2, 240-volt charger at their home. Hyundai will train its dealers to offer a preferred partner's charger (Hyundai would not specify which company it will be working with). With 110, an empty-to-full charge of the 9.8-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery will take around nine hours, but with Level 2 it'll be around three hours. "The essential technical elements [of the PHEV] are the same as the hybrid," O'Brien said.

Hyundai Sonata successor to seek evolution, not revolution

Hyundai hit a home run with its current-generation Sonata midsize sedan, so don't expect the Korean automaker to make revolutionary changes when its replacement comes out for the 2015 model year. The four-door sitting in showrooms today was launched in 2010 with radical new lines that marked a big departure from its rather bland predecessor. Even with stiff competition from the Honda Accord, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry - all newer designs than the Sonata - sales have been strong. Consumers embraced its new design language, taking home a record 230,605 units last year.
"I think we found a design language that works, the 'Fluidic Sculpture' stuff, so I would say (the new styling) is not pulling back in any way. It's more continuing to refine on that same trajectory that we're on," John Krafcik, Hyundai U.S. CEO, told WardsAuto in a recent interview. Consumers don't seem to be fazed by the its age either. "A lot of consumers are just entering (the) midsize (segment) for the first time. They don't see (the Sonata) as a three-year-old car. They see it as, 'Whoa, that's a pretty good-looking midsize car,' so it's doing quite well," added Krafcik.
Sonota sales have been down over the last few months, but Krafcik says that is a reflection of the automaker's decision to increase production of its Elantra compact at the Montgomery, Alabama, plant - where both are built - and a limited supply of its mid-grade GLS Sonata model.