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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla Model S full speed, Pheonix EVs at LAX

A Tesla Model S driver shows what it's like to maintain about 125 miles per hour on the German Autobahn. In the video, Bjorn Nyland records his trip from a stop at a Supercharger 25 miles to the Danish border while driving about 200 kph for about 12 minutes. Upon entering the Autobahn, he hits the limiter at about 212 kph, or almost 132 mph. As he's driving, the car's estimated driving range adjusts for his speed, and he quickly loses quite a few miles. He doesn't care, though. He's having fun. See the video above, and read more at Inside EVs. Phoenix Cars has provided an Electric Shuttle Bus to an airport parking company at the Los Angeles International Airport. As LAX's first electric shuttle bus, it is expected to run two shifts seven days a week, saving more than 60 tons of CO2 emissions yearly. The electric shuttle bus will be on display from June 29 to July 2 at the International Parking Institute Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. Phoenix also recently supplied its ZEUS electric flatbed to the US Navy. Read more in the press release below. Ballard will operate a fleet of eight hydrogen-powered buses in London for an additional five years. Transport for London uses the buses, powered by Ballard fuel cell technology, for its central Covent Garden-Tower Gateway route. The first five buses went into service in 2010 as Transport for London aimed to reduce CO2 emissions by 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2025. The three additional buses joined the fleet in 2013. "This contract extension is a positive endorsement of zero-emission fuel cell technology in transit applications, based on the demonstrated performance of these buses over the past five years," says Ballard Chief Commercial Officer Steve Karaffa. "Clean transportation is a growing concern for transit authorities globally and our fuel cell modules deliver a proven solution." Read more from Ballard. Volkswagen and SAIC are expanding electric vehicle operations in China. The partners will expand the main Shanghai Volkswagen plant to build electric vehicles. "Over the next four years, we plan to localize more than 15 different electric vehicle models in China, including plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles," says Volkswagen's Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann. Volkswagen will also step up fuel cell and plug-in hybrid research in China. In about four years, Volkswagen will build a new EV, based on the popular Lavida, at the Anting plant outside of Shanghai. Read more from Volkswagen.

Aurora's Chris Urmson on autonomy — that's one way to avoid speeding tickets

Although this year's CES was full of companies announcing and exhibiting their real and conceivable self-driving car technologies, while actual self-driving cars from Aptiv-Lyft were giving conventioneers 400 rides around town, the biggest news came when Volkswagen Group — and recognize this is the entire group, not just the brand — and Hyundai announced that they'd both partnered with Aurora Innovation. While the VW announcement was vague — "The collaboration brings the two companies together to realize self-driving electric vehicles in cities as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) fleets" — Hyundai provided a concrete goal: "a strategic partnership to bring self-driving Hyundai vehicles to market by 2021." You may not have heard of Aurora, which has been described in some news accounts as "mysterious." But Aurora Innovation has been in business since December 2016, and it is to autonomous technology what the 1927 Yankees are to baseball. The three leaders of the company are Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO, who had previously been chief technology officer for Alphabet Self-Driving Cars; Sterling Anderson, co-founder and chief product officer, who had directed the development of Tesla Autopilot; and Drew Bagnell, co-founder and chief technical officer, who had been autonomy architect and perception lead at the Uber Advanced Technology Center. We had the chance to sit down with Chris Urmson after he appeared onstage at a Hyundai press conference. He shared his insights on Aurora's approach to automated driving. Initial deployment of self-driving cars? "We think the first place this technology comes to market in in the transportation services or ride-hailing applications, but that's for our partners to decide." (Ride-sharing is a strategy a lot of players in the field are shooting for, as round-the-clock use is one way for paying for what will initially be a technology too costly for private ownership.) Transporting goods or people? "I personally — and as a company — am more excited initially about moving people around. Urban mobility. That's where you see the largest social impact. And it provides better access to mobility for people." Can you create a car that doesn't crash? "It is a fundamentally hard problem because other operators on the road can behave erratically at any moment. For example, if you are in a two-lane, opposing-traffic road, if you want to be safe, you don't drive there, ever.

Volkswagen poised to enter F1 with Red Bull

The Volkswagen Group could finally be preparing to enter Formula One, and enter it in a big way. That is, at least, if the latest reports prove accurate. And given the source, we're taking notice. The word around the paddock this weekend in Singapore has it that VW is entering into a partnership with Red Bull Racing that would see the German auto giant not only supply the team with engines, but buy the team altogether. The move would come as a welcome development for Red Bull, which took four consecutive world championships between 2010 and 2013, but has fallen off pace over the past couple of seasons due in large part to the under-performance of its Renault engines. The deal, which according to the report is currently being finalized, would see VW develop an all-new engine for Red Bull (and potentially for Toro Rosso and other customer teams), but the new power unit wouldn't be ready before 2018. In the interim, Red Bull would break off its current deal with Renault a year early and switch to another customer engine arrangement, with Ferrari currently rumored to be the favorite. The energy drink company that currently owns the team, in turn, would revert to a (prominent) sponsorship role - similar, it bears noting, to the role it plays with VW's World Rally Championship team. The termination of the relationship with Red Bull could spell the end of Renault's current F1 program, unless the French manufacturer carries through with plans to reacquire its stake in the Lotus team that was once its own. The VW deal would also ostensibly put to rest the mooted arrangement that would have seen Red Bull switch from Infiniti sponsorship and Renault engines to a similar deal with Aston Martin and Mercedes. What isn't clear at this moment is which brand Volkswagen would choose to promote with the new F1 program. Audi is speculated to be the favorite, which would likely spell the end of its Le Mans prototype endurance racing program – leaving that realm to Porsche after a solid decade and a half of dominance. The board in Stuttgart could, however, opt to hand the opportunity to one of its other brands, including Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, or the Volkswagen brand itself. The news comes from not only from the BBC, but from its analyst Eddie Jordan – a man who knows a thing or two about running an F1 team... and selling one. Jordan ran his eponymous grand prix team from 1991 through 2005.