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February, 2012 "BPC Electrification" -
- recruitment drive - or more EV PR & PR-EVarication ?
(Email BPC ? See below..)
BMW i3 .. circa the same range(80-100 miles) as the 1997(!) Toyota RAV4 EV. For the nth time.
Just disconnect: BMWi(sic) - Munich-Berlin - DBM Audi A2(605 km)
BPC : BMW-Peugeot-Citroen Electrification. Based in Munich.
For anyone just emerging from winter hibernation - BPC Electrification have been running an extraordinary, maximum publicity, high visibility recruitment / novel EV PR campaign over the past couple of months. The Google ads are everywhere - it's gone global / virtually viral.
So why the scepticism ? Well, again, all we can do is lay out the evidence, load up the barrel, fire off the bullet points and urge you to join the dots yourselves..to spot the disconnects, the screaming inconsistencies, the confounding contradictions and the deafening silences :
- BPC are based in Munich. Recap: Munich to Berlin 600+ km range record set by DBM Energy 16 months ago.
It's been right under their noses, yet BPC - BMW-Peugeot-Citroen - appear obtusely oblivious to DBM Energy's charging elephant / gift-horse: witness the BMW i3 and Alexei Sayle's Citroen C-Zero - both offering just 80-100 miles/charge.
- whilst the BPC electrification PR narrative or script repeatedly begins or opens with the words "transition now", within a few sentences the word "now" is quickly, seamlessly and safely replaced with the words "tomorrow" and/or "the future". Here are a few examples :
BPC's Electrification recruitment/EV PR video begins promisingly with the words "The transition is now".
But elsewhere on the same BPC website we are offered this:
"Working at BPC Electrification means contributing to the vehicle technologies of tomorrow." ( BPC source page)
"Setting the standards for tomorrow's mobility" (BPC source page)
"The new hybrid components will equip both partners' vehicles from 2015 onwards". (BPC source page)
- Now Compare & Contrast that BPC "by 2015" comment with the following bullseye pre-emptive remark made by DBM Energy's Mirko Hannemann in his June 2011 Frankfurter Rundschau interview:
"Whilst the industry is aiming to supply batteries by 2015 that can run for 200-300 km under normal day-to-day conditions we've proven that that much - and more - is already possible today." (Note: "today" was in fact 16 months ago in October 2010 - or 16 months earlier than "now" , 16 months earlier than BPC Electrification's "transition now" and 5 years earlier than their "2015" delivery date quoted above)
 
- BMWi - not to be easily confused with BMW-i and the BMW i3, i8.
BMWi = Bundes/German Ministry of Economics and Technology.
In December(see EVUK report) the BMWi's parliamentary State Secretary Hans Joachim Otto spoke(clip extract) at the Roland Gutsch award ceremony in honour of Mirko Hannemann and his team at DBM Energy.
Hans Joachim Otto and the BMWi claim to be full-square behind DBM Energy - so why are Germany's BMW, BMW-i and BPC Electrification cold-shouldering Germany's BMWi(the Ministry..) and DBM Energy ?
Confused ??! Born electric, BMW ? Born to confuse !
Why do we not have a unified electrified Germany ?
Otto, Hans Joachim - tear down these Walls of Silence !
(And replace them with DBM battery-factory walls !)
BPC / Bavarian Bottom-line: Why expensively recruit countless EV Engineers and "Professionals" to produce short-range 80-100 miles/charge electric cars that the public patently and understandably don't want to buy in significant numbers - let alone in droves ? Unless of course - and here's the awfully obvious truth - BPC and the rest of the automotive establishment simply don't want pure EV's to escape beyond niche for yet another 3-5 years.
Cynical ? Yes, they most certainly still are...
(and they get away with it largely because our selectively silent, compliant, complicit, compromised media allows them to...)
*******
Email BPC Electrification - get involved, get active, get even, get angry even(channelling it positively of course..)...
- contact@bpc-electrification.com
- recruiting@bpc-electrification.com
- Needless to say, we have contacted BPC Electrification several times over the past few months with a selection of pertinent, not impertinent, comments and questions (as outlined in our almost angry article above) - for example with these tastily barbed Q's:
- "Do you not share parliamentary state secretary Hans Joachim Otto's belief or confidence in DBM Energy's range-redefining Kolibri cells ?"
- "Would not prospective BPC recruits prefer to be designing and developing the long-range, state-of-the-art electric vehicles that consumers actually want to buy - rather than the unnecessarily short-range vehicles that all major automakers still insist on selling ?
Would they not, as a consequence, enjoy far more secure and satisfying careers than would otherwise be the case ?"
January, 2012 Cher Alexei(Sayle,Telegraph): more Bolloré - less Boll**ks please !
(Daily Telegraph: daily readership - over 1.5 million. That's why this matters...)
Alexei Sayle shows off his acting range: as short-lived artful dodger & all-round black marketeer Fedor Golodkin in a scene from Gorky Park. (NB: The car depicted boasts absolute zero battery-range and is possibly powered by black market black gold..)
Yes - once again a mainstream media outlet allows one of its proudly arty-pharty dinner-party greentech-refuseniks to test a woefully short-range EV - the 100 miles max C-Zero - from a major automaker(Citroen) - and to wilfully mis-inform its selectively incurious readers that(quote) :
"..because of issues with range and charging, electric cars are not quite there yet." ("the low-charge warning light came on after 60 miles")
No Alexei - it is the major automakers and legions of self-preserving, conveniently compliant commentators, editors and up-for-sa(y)le / sold-out "satirists" that "ain't there yet" !
Allez, Alexei(what's in a name, Trev ?) avec le Eurostar à Paris, why don't you, and take a ride - with or without un chic clique of arty-pharty Parisian passengers - in one of the capital's wildly popular 160+ miles per charge Bolloré Bluecars. Sortez Sayle - Storm the Bastille in a Bolloré and join the revolution*...don't oppose it !
Or are you - and the Telegraph - still "not quite there yet" ?
To its credit The Telegraph did report the launch of the Bluecar Autolib scheme.
Which begs the question, Cher Alexei - do you not read your own newspaper ?(OK - we're with you on that particular refusenik front..)
And après Paris, why not head for Rotterdam to try one of the City Authority's 75 BYD e6 EV's(range circa 200 miles - air-con full on) ? 
Or perhaps Castagna's new 160 mile per charge stretch limo Fiat 500 would be more up your street, Sayle ?
(Obviously, when you or your unequally Telegraph'ed comrades have checked out or test-driven any or all of the above - we'd sincerely appreciate a formal correction / humble apology eg. "Turns out all EV's aren't equal after all etc.." )
Alexei "Art" Sayle - so full of art: a few more fluffily luvvlie extracts from "Alexei Sayle: My Electric Car" :
"My friend Oscar, an Argentinian graphic novelist, took to calling the Citroen "Coche Patito" - Little Duckling - because of its friendly appearance and vibrant yellow paint."
"On hearing this, my friend Siobhan, herself a well-known actress and therefore someone who understands the psychology of the profession, thought that the C-Zero might thus be the perfect actress's car...act like a damsel in distress, in order to borrow people's charging sockets."
***
Laugh ? To cringe or to cry - that is the question here, surely ?
*Revolutionary footnote - from the Bastille to Bolloré to (more) Boll***s :
- a petit coup de grâce / pièce de résistance from (now) fully paid-up Telegraph pundit Alexei's Wiki pages:
"In the aftermath of the May 1968 French uprising, he joined the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)..".
Ah yes, luvvlie Lenin ...
January, 2012 Racing world champions pure electric drive(FIA, Le Mans, Lola-Drayson, Damon Hill, ex-Top Gear 'Stig' ..)
- as Big Auto backs 'extended' PRocrastination / prEVarication
Time - high time - for a quantum lordly leap from one sorry heap'o'sheep masquerading as wolves(='cheatahs' !?) - to a soon-to-be race-ready Lola Le Mans leopard - the thoroughly UK born & bred B12/69EV ...
Note from EVUK Ed: we interrupt this Race World v Big Auto work-in-progress to bring you the following late-breaking, ground-breaking, must-see(and listen) video...
Red Hot ! Just in from Birmingham NEC Low Carb Event !(Jan 12) Lola Drayson Le Mans race car(video newly submitted by Richard Burden MP) :
Watch : Lord Drayson - Paul Rudd Drayson - recent Labour Minister for Science & Innovation - talks passionately about pure electric racing, the burgeoning British EV-tech industry, the urgent need for speed and expertise (Paul Drayson, Wiki)
Click here for all Lola-Drayson Youtube videos. Drayson Racing homepage/news. All Google News re Lola Drayson B12/69EV Jan 12 unveiling at Birmingham NEC
And so to our topical top selection of related quotes, links, announcements etc:
- Ben Collins, formerly known as The Stig on BBC television's Top Gear:
"Motorsport still offers the purest research and development platform to deliver the true potential of electric power and dynamic energy recovery - perhaps to a level that will shame the carbon combustion engine the way rubber tyres did the wooden cartwheel." From Celsias.com - Climate Change Is Not A Spectator Sport - "Electric Cars on the Race Track".
- Damon Hill from "Damon Hill on Going Green"(D.Telegraph):
"..and what about the world of electric cars? "You'd expect me to say that I like the sound of a petrol engine, and that's true, but I've also driven completely electric cars and they're fantastic - the silence is really enjoyable, it's like cycling, you can hear everything else going on, it's a totally different experience. Fundamentally, I'm a great believer in technology, in mobility, in ingenuity being able to overcome new challenges."
Damon Hill again:
"The wider question is whether racing can drive on electric car development. Former Formula One world champion Damon Hill is a supporter of the EV Cup.
"Racing electric vehicles should convince the wider public of their potential. Racing was initially used to develop and prove a new product called the motor car. I see no reason why electric vehicle development will not benefit in the same way."
Again - from Celsias.com - Climate Change Is Not A Spectator Sport - "Electric Cars on the Race Track".
- American Le Mans & Quimera to launch EV Race Series(Jan 12, PRNewswire)
Click to watch pure electric Quimera AEGT on track.
"Quimera, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS) will form a joint venture combining their respective areas of expertise in 2012.." Add this from Quimera RR: "The championship is also looking to include motorcycles as part of its event roster."
See also: Quimera Project.com
- FIA Embraces Formula E Championship (Motorsport.com, Dec 21)
Watch Formulec EF01 racing through the 'Bavarian' streets of Moscow
- DTM & DBM Energy. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
In his June 2011 interview with The Frankfurter Rundschau DBM's Mirko Hannemann expressed his hope or expectation that an all-electric DTM series would be launched "next year" / 2012.
But no signs so far that DTM are likely to be changing their religious racing stripes any time soon - perhaps Hannemann should just join in the fun with the Formulec EF01(above) on the streets of Bavaria, Moscow, Rotterdam - or consider a friendly tête-à-tête or competitive head-to-head with Lord Paul "Lola" Drayson ..
.. or even more enticingly, perhaps, with Belgian race-ace Vanina Ickx(Le Mans Series, DTM / Touring Cars, Lola-Aston Martin..). Watch Youtube hit - is Vanina the victor in the Citroen Survolt ? See :
Supercharged Showdown: Electric supercar v electric superbike
Watch : Citroen Survolt v Agni Z2. Two furiously fast, fiendishly feisty females face off on the track
Vanina Ickx(Le Mans Series & Touring Cars) in the Citroen Survolt - Jenny Tinmouth(TTXGP Series) on the Agni Z2
Come on DTM, DBM, Hannemann & Co - what are we waiting for ? Worauf warten wir noch ?
January, 2012(still 2 minutes to midnight) DBM Award/Fish Bowl video (courtesy EnergyTV24/Pressw0rds)
..and yet another English exclusive, obviously
No exploding firewalls, fireballs, fireworks this time: but behind these Berlin Walls a  near-silent revolution is being celebrated by a host of unlikely-looking revolutionaries & rebels masquerading as mild-mannered men-in-suits.
Make no mistake - this time it's the suit that's the mask, the disarming disguise, the double-cuffed bluff.
Don't be fooled, these guys are the real deal - wolves wrapped for show in sheep's clothing, 24/7 rebels without applause or a pause. Forget all those Easy Rider recreational "rebels" with their wars-for-oil-powered Harleys ...and your carbon-copy tribes of tattoo'd, oil-slicked, fake-macho mechanics in souped-up vroom-vroom gas-guzzlers with regulation boom-boom sound-systems
- the likes of BP, Bush, Cheney, Chevron, Exxon and Shell will love your "rebellion" to the very last drop of other people's blood...
But what's this - no video subtitles, no translated highlights ?
No - the highlight is the event and the award itself - and the fact that it was in part hosted by Daimler Benz defector/deserter Helmut von Grolman.
Again it is and was abundantly clear that DBM are determined to let the product - and the independent testers - do the talking. Nothing provocative or incendiary or inflammatory was uttered by anyone present at the ceremony. References were made to the company's courage and willingness to take risks and stay firmly focused on achieving fixed goals on a "just in time" basis(stifle that yawn ?) - and it was also reassuring to see that von Grolman(ex-Daimler) not only showed up but stayed on stage to host the pragmatically low-key, self-censoring, non-inflammatory Fish Bowl discussion - or diplomatic damp squib Q&A.
It's worth noting that explicit use of the words "electric car" and "electric vehicle"( "Elektroauto") was/is conspicuously and consistently avoided by all GPM/DBM representatives - the fuzzier, woollier, more sheepish term "Elektromobilitaet" is clearly still the preferred, talking-point prescription even in the company of roaming packs of radical innovators, revolutionary upstarts and (lone) wolves ...
Of course - it's only when the cameras stop rolling, the mikes are switched off, walls have been signal-swept and the audience has left the building that the gags and masks come off - only a fly-on-the wall or wire-tapped chat(or NSA/CIA/Wikileak leaker) could fill in the blanks and answer the many DBM-related non-FAQ's that we've loaded up over the past 14 months or so.(eg. "what do you guys really think and know about the automotive establishment's EV agenda ..15 years after the launch of
the 100(-ish) mile-per-charge Toyota RAV4 EV ? Please spill the beans, fill us in. Tell us something we haven't known for 15+ years ..
But hey - at least it's only the product that's on trial - not the revolutionary guy(s) who created it.
Although most global auto execs - as fork-tongued as ever(see News Just In below) - still see the flagrant promoting and reporting of price-busting, range-blasting, renegade electric cars as fawk-tongued high treason, heresy - or at the very least, assault with battery.
News Just In ! Hold the front page !
- from defiance ..... baack to compliance :
 
"Global Auto Execs Don't (Want to..) See Spark in Electric Vehicle Sales for More Than a Decade: KPMG Survey"(Jan 5, 2012 - have KPMG ) -
- that's right, sheepish global auto execs - even now - just don't want to see the charging elephants in the room - let alone the wolves in sheep's clothing who've put them there ...
(Tip re: anti-real-EV's-now 'surveys', 'polls', 'studies', 'research' - for the real message, simply replace the keywords "don't expect" with "don't want".. )
December-January, 2011-2012(2 minutes to midnight)
DBM's Vision - "will be realized in the near future".
So one very sorely needed revolutionary resolution for the New Year (and another EVUK English exclusive)
 V for Vision, V for Vindication, V for Victory ?
As opposed to V for Vengeance, V for Vendetta - or even R for Revenge ...
Whilst it's still too early to celebrate victory or revel in revenge - the gauntlet has been cast down by three serious contenders(not pretenders) and the world's automakers(the 100 mile-per-charge brigade) will find it difficult to ignore DBM's, Bolloré's and BYD's genuinely long-range EV technology for yet another year.
But ironically, DBM's uniquely reassuring and recently revised Vision (under)statement is easily ignored since it is NOT visible or directly displayed on its website's homepage(take a look - click on "Unternehmen" to reveal a tiny-fonted, low-key link to the half-hidden "Vision")
And given that this revelatory, confirmatory and coolly matter-of-fact text remains largely unseen and unreported - even in Germany - we'd like to take this opportunity to bring it to the full attention of the English-speaking world as economically vision-less 2011 draws to a close - and yet another year of austerity for the many & prosperity for the few fades into the next..
So here's our in-house translation of two Vision extracts:
"It is our stated aim to deliver a key gateway technology with our Kolibri AlphaPolymer technology - which was developed and produced in Germany - and to do so in such a way that the realisation of our vision of a clean energy future is achieved in the near future("zeitnah") and in a focused, targeted fashion.
DBM Energy is committed to promoting/advancing the marketing of the Kolibri technology from Germany and in Germany.
Fundamental core research is complete and products in the areas of Transport, Logistics and Renewable Energy are now available on the market.
In the next few years DBM will establish itself as one of the largest producers of high capacity energy storage systems in its market sector and Germany will thus become a leading producer of high-performance energy storage technology."
*****
Reading between the lines, you could perhaps populistically paraphrase this for das Volk(and for all would-be arsonists, saboteurs and spoilers) as :
"We're coming - whether you like it or not! DBM's products will speak louder than words, PR or press release hype. You ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Read DBM's Vision in original German - and here's the passable Google translation. (Note: Google's German translation tool has noticeably improved since our blistering-blitz attack last June on its miserable mangling of the Frankfurter Rundschau DBM/Hannemann interview )
And now - why not follow up that Vision statement with this equally unique and inspiring Chinese television report - in English and introduced by an Australian newsreader - in which even Germany's post-attack ADAC(cf.RAC/AA) has something positive to say about DBM and EV's..
 
 
d
Ah yes,
New Tang Dynasty TV - funny how an obscure but highly professional and polished Chinese TV company can do what UK/US/EU/Western broadcasters so adamantly refuse to do - despite the distance that separates China from Germany and despite the fact that DBM will compete head-to-head with China's own dream battery builder - BYD.
An illuminating lesson in free speech(TV) and free market capitalism from China.
So - Happy New Year & Hogmanay, Guys, Folks.
Click exploding Midnight Big Ben to watch fawking fabulous firework fusillade ..
Finale: the EV Revolution is coming. Ready or not. And whether the usual suspects like it or not. The Knives & Fawkes are out. Ignore us at your peril. The little people - and smaller companies - are revolting.
In the guise - most noteably - of Mirko Hannemann & his humongous Hummingbird.
Verily - all Ye xenophobic Little Englanders - Germany's done it again !
Can canny Scotland's revolutionary rivals at St. Andrews - catch up, close the gap, overtake ? Will the university's 1000 miles-per-charge lithium air researchers now feel impelled or pressured to redouble their efforts and leap into the fast lane...at a 1000 miles an hour ? Let's hope so ..
But for now DBM Energy quietly leads("Leitproduzenten") the charge, the pack, the ReVolt - but don't expect a dozen DBM press releases a month ...and don't expect this ReVolt to be televised(except perhaps on China's New Tang TV) - unless audiences open their eyes wide and vote en masse with their remotes.(Or with their sharpened Knives & Fawkes ..)
(By sheer coincidence - whilst typing this piece in an "Irish" bar the author overheard this sobering little gem from a few tables away (quote):
"..don't forget - 'Remember, Remember the 5th of December' "
So is/was the glass half full or half empty? Are the customers half asleep or half awake ?)
*******
Compare & Contrast :
Two trailblazing trailers: Revenge & Vendetta
This Guy - plus smoke & mirrors - feature in both films
See : Open Your Eyes & Look in the Mirror
Postscript: sundry bright sparks have suggested that this 'guy' may be Robespierre not Fawkes. Frankly, who cares / why split hairs ? Similar guys, same guise, different demise ..
Click above/below for Before & After pics/clips
*******
December, 2011 Radical Redefined: Get It Done !/Stop the BS ! speech
(Anjali A,Durban, DN! December 9,2011)
Talking the talk, walking the walk..and e-biking..on treacherous, deadly ground.
Watch both classy classic clips in tandem - for maximum, stereotype-confounding, X-demographic, beyond-the-choir impact.
But for the record and in the name of balance, here's the alternative, equally popular perspective - ie. down the pub and as viewed, brewed and skewed by Britain's gutter-sewer-cesspit press and by almost everyone infected by it - including tribal armies of BBC Clarkson clones and Hammond/May/Murdoch mutants:
"b****y eco-freaks.. bunch of overgrown b****y students, wussies, peaceniks, politically correct b****y do-gooders.. make ya sick...gotta live in the real world, kiddo...get a proper job, ya dunno what real work is, b****y PC brigade and their b****y global warming conspiracies - get a life.."
(so that's Seagal sorted then..)
And on the same wavelength - savour this toxically tasty US Senatorial Video Nasty(scratched & half-rapped - with viral potential ?) -
- "Durban: You are Being Ignored !" :
 
- click Sen Inhofe or Deadly Caine to experience the message & the mantra from Washington, Big Oil and most of the world's media re: this month's Durban Climate Summit and for that matter re: any transformative, revolutionary green technology or innovator or initiative that threatens to seriously disrupt the fossil-fuelled status quo(eg. long-range, low-cost EV's, ultra-low-cost/energy 60 year £2 LED's, low-cost, low-electricity-bill eco-homes, low cost, 94 mpg, 4-seat & fast Fiat Ecobasics etc etc)
Democracy Now - watch full "Get It Done/You Are Being Ignored" Durban broadcast(Fri,Dec 9,2011) - which also includes an impressively impromptu corridor Q&A with suddenly green Greek ex-PM Papandreou(out of office & out of the closet)
December, 2011 DBM - a non-anonymous post-award posting :
Berlin-Bound or Gagged ? Is the DBM Berlin Wall of Silence about to crumble ?
Battering or (better)battery-rammed into EV history ?
Sadly no - although Hannemann himself has just(28. Nov) broken his own latest media silence - and at some length in the German Auto Gazette's "Electric Mobility" section : here's the English version traduced by Google's new and now slightly improved Deutsch-Englisch translation tool. (Again - thanks to Pressw0rds for the unique heads-up)
 
Well - as in 1989 it is of course ultimately up/down to the people, das Volk(as opposed to Volkswagen & Co.) to storm the barricades and tear down those walls(cf. the ongoing Siege of Wall St. ).
This time round and in the context of a green, EV-driven revolution/revolt - it should theoretically at least - thanks to the internet, the blogosphere and social aka surveillance networks be happening far more rapidly than was the case in web-less 1989 and that other Fall of a Wall. (So much for theory, freedom of speech and web-empowerment ..)
A little (a)side note: in 1989 EVUK's own pimpernel-provocateur Paul G - the Royal We if you will - was gainfully freelancing in Germany amongst German-only fellow employees - most with car-crazy East German relatives - and 'we' have to tell you that at that time - with the Wall's Fall imminent - the day-to-day revolutionary Office, Stammtisch and Canteen Conversation on both sides of the Deutschland-Divide was dominated not by 'intangibles' such as freedom and democracy - but by constant car-talk and the words "Mercedes", "BMW", "Opel" ...and "Trabi/Trabant". It was - on the ground - as much a car-driven materialistic, media-enabled revolt as a political/idealistic one(a lesson/truth not lost on Chinese leaders of course):
- the Burning Berlin question now is - can electric cars, das Volk and disruptive upstart-startups like DBM Energy help drive the next political, material, ethical-capitalist Green Revolution/ReVolt - despite the media's Wall of Silence ?
As for last Monday's eagerly anticipated Roland Gutsch award ceremony and, alas, damp squib Fish Bowl forum - well the Royal Editorial We has decided in its not infinitesimal Wisdom that.. we will post up our award/forum highlights when and only when our mainstream, same-stream, tame-stream, lame-stream media finally breaks its ongoing post-ADAC-attack silence - or to spell it out and specifically shame tame names: when any two of the following self-censoring yet still widely respected media outlets finally begin to (re-)acknowledge the existence and persistence of DBM Energy and its award-winning, record-breaking, transformative Kolibri cells - then and only then will "we" give out our version of what did or didn't transpire on Montag 28. November at the ceremonial "Berlin Bowl".
Again - it is ultimately up to the people, das Volk - to bombard or battering-ram mainstream media outlets with "end the silence" emails, tweets, blog comment and good old-fashioned Letters to the Editor. Call us 'sanctimonious'(à la Al Gore press-assassination..) - but silent Shoulder Shrugging and hoping that others will rise up from their car-cushioned rear-ends to demand change is a strategy that didn't work in 1989 in Berlin and, Mensch, it sure as hell won't work now.
So to repeat - just as soon as any TWO of the following self-gagging news providers break their self-imposed sheep-ish (2011) silence we'll carry on where we left off (ie. see DBM/GPM pre-award piece below). So here's the "we're waiting" list:
J.Clarkson's BBC, Channel 4 TV, CNN, the Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The (fairly)Independent, Murdoch's Tarnished Times and clouded Sky News...and Germany's very own state-funded, silent 3Sat TV, ZDF, ARD/Das Erste  (click any of the above to see/search 'total' DBM coverage by each to date ..). For slightly less in-action - watch this similarly barren Tumbleweed animation.
Finally - let's see if we can topically connect Berlin to Brighton via BBC bigotry, hypocrisy, cowardice :
Nov 16, BBC News: Breaking News in Brighton - new EV charge-points installed !
Hmm, vaguely newsworthy perhaps - but surely far less remarkable than the fact that if DBM's record-breaking Audi A2 were to compete in the annual 53 mile Brighton to London Eco Rally it could comfortably cruise from the beach to London and back 3-4 times with no need for a single charge-point pit-stop - though it would almost certainly grind to a halt and/or  mysteriously burst into flames after just 50 miles if driven by the BBC's / auto-industry's / fossil-fuel fraternity's favourite Egotist-Bigot Jeremy Clarkson.
Amusing, is it not, that the BBC 's Jonathan Ross was fired for offending just one person - yet when the oh-sooo adorably, heroically, manfully, sexily and (so far) un-sackably un-PC £million-a-year Clarkson 'jokingly' insults millions of public sector workers("line 'em up, execute 'em, shoot 'em in front of their families etc" Youtube) - it is the BBC who obsequiously apologize on his behalf.
So there you have it: connecting Berlin..via Brighton..to the shell-shocked, Shell-sponsored BBC's bigotry, hypocrisy and corporate cowardice: the fact is that most unprotected journalists would now face the firing squad, the axe, the chop or career suicide for just daring to join such dissident, disparate dots as we've just joined ...
**************************************************
Q for the Ladies: a tricky little teaser for the girls, las chicas, las señoritas ..
(Click pics for a little pre-decision revision)
- if forced to choose between:
a) a simple walk on the beach, stroll in the park, bike ride with Oscar-winner Javier Bardem(doesn't drive, hates cars, has no driving licence..)
OR
b) a jaunt in a Jag and a politically/terrifically incorrect tête-à-tête with "Babe Magnet" and corporate media-darling Jeremy Clarkson - who would it have to be ?
Q 2: who most deserves the sack ?
Q 3: Corporate Incorrectness(Bardem) v Political Incorrectness(Clarkson) - which really requires the greater courage/cojones/chutzpah ?
**************************************************
November, 2011 Six 'o' the Best: Q's for DBM Energy Award "Fish Bowl" forum(Mon, 28 Nov, Berlin)
EVUK Anonymous/Incognito : EVUK's PG or MG may or may not be attending the Roland Gutsch award event Berlin this coming Montag, 28 November.
But(sssh!) we may know someone who is...
So - here're six non-FAQ questions for the elusive-reclusive mysterious Mirko Hannemann that we - or an anonymous EVUK stand-in or surrogate - may or may not be pitching :
1) Samsung would surely not have offered you 600 million Euros unless they had thoroughly tested the Kolibri technology and verified your performance claims - esp. as regards 5000 charge cycles and of course range/energy density.
So are you able to confirm that Samsung did indeed test the Kolibri cells - if not, on what evidence or basis did they make that extraordinary offer ?
Or was it a conditional/provisional offer that you turned down - ie. made along these lines:
"If our tests confirm your performance, charge cycle, range claims we would be prepared to pay 600 million for the patents, intellectual property rights etc.." ?
On the same Samsung theme - are you confident Samsung were acting alone and not perhaps as part of a consortium of €-contributing companies or vested interests(the usual prime suspects) hoping to buy up and bury the technology or shelve it indefinitely in order to protect existing product lines and said vested interests ?
2) Following the ADAC & arson attacks the German and international media is steadfastly refusing to report or reference DBM Energy at all (with very few exceptions - most notably the Frankfurter Rundschau and more recently the Wall street Daily).
DBM Energy has become what we have called the invisible charging elephant in the room.
Have for example any German* or global TV networks covered ongoing DBM-related developments since the start of this year ? (*Correction - see rare, obscure, fluffy 2-Part Berlin TV interview, May 2011, I & II)
3) For a while BYD were claiming 6000 charge cycles for the e6's batteries - they have since quietly cut these claims to 2000 - but that still gives a potential life expectancy of around 373,000 miles. Can you confirm again the Kolibri's 5000 charge cycles and describe how you yourselves have proven that capability ?
3000 charge cycles would be more than ample for most of us - for a car with a range of around 200 miles, for instance, 600,000 miles seems sensational enough.(And again - did Samsung test, confirm, prove the 5000 charge cycle capability ? If so - how ?)
4) In your Frankfurter Rundschau interview you said:
"I do get a kick from making people feel nervous. Nervousness is a sign that something isn't right, isn't as it should be.."
Do you feel nervous, intimidated - especially following the arson attack ? Do you fear for your personal safety at all ?
5) As far as we can tell, ADAC have not had the good grace to applaud your unexpectedly robust one-two punch response to their not unwarranted criticism of the Munich-Berlin record run. In retrospect the BAM & Dekra tests are probably more convincing from an engineering perspective than a Guinness World Record Book entry - though BAM, Dekra and Guinness would arguably have been the tastiest mix. So the question is: have ADAC been in touch or made any comment anywhere - congratulatory or otherwise - regarding the successful BAM / Dekra tests ?
6) Your own DBM Energy website has also failed to report most company-related news and developments this year apart from the BAM/Dekra test results. For example - the intriguing high-profile appointments to the Kolibri board, the testing of three shortish-range Audi A2's by Next Energy and even this Roland Gutsch award itself - none of these newsworthy stories have been reported/mentioned on your own website ! Could you please explain the silence ! (eg. "We'll let actions speak louder than words or hype or PR.." perhaps ?)
Obviously - our own six questions aside - DBM FAQ Nr.1 continues to be "Mass production - when/wann ?"
- but unless we know or at least ask why journalists(and therefore investors) are not flocking to Berlin and why the charging Kolibri elephant is still being internationally ignored we can't possibly understand what needs to happen, what needs to be done in order to break the silence, the roadblock, the deadlock - and help get DBM factories financed and built and Kolibri production lines rolling..
GIGA OM(Nov 23): "25 battery breakthroughs for gadgets, electric cars & the grid
"
- the latest in a long line of "we need a battery breakthrough" reports that completely ignore DBM's record-breaking and now award-winning Kolibri cells.
November, 2011 DBM's Hannemann to receive top Project Management award (2009 winner: the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System - GITEWS)
Berlin: 28 November - all interested parties are invited to attend: gpm-hauptstadtbuero@gpm-ipma.de. See below or click here for exclusive EVUK English translation of GPM's press release and impressive Pressw0rds pressing Nov News Alert.
 
Elon laughs at BYD on Bloomberg TV - but would a question re award-winning, record-breaking DBM Energy have wiped the slightly smug smile from Musk's face, Betty Lu ?(Click Musk or Lu for our cropped clip. Or watch full Bloomberg TV interview.
Google all "Elon Laughed At Reporter" articles.
Mirko's Mirth - the laughter's contagious..
 
Be there ! Jump in a jet !(Elon, Betty Lu, Buffett, Bloomberg ?)
DBM Energy's elusive-reclusive Mirko Hannemann & Co will reportedly be happy to take your "Fish Bowl" questions(28. Nov, Berlin, GPM Award ceremony)
GPM/DBM - please post up video of the EVent - esp. the Fish Bowl Q&A !
6-5-4-3-2 degrees of separation - let's try once more to join the dots and draw a few lines - laughter lines, fault lines, knock-out punch-lines - between long-range lithium leaders Tesla, BYD and award-winning, record-breaking, independently/govt-validated and outrageously un(der)-reported DBM Energy/Kolibri.
And let's not forget or leave out, last-and-least, the LEAF:
- just 8 months ago BYD were pitching the long-range e6 against the short-range Nissan ...not the Tesla Model S..see links and comment below.
- BYD's e6 technology is "not very strong" guffaws Musk...but,um,er, what's with battery life expectancy Elon, Betty Lu, Bloomberg et al ?
How many charge cycles can we expect from the top three leaders in the current long-range lithium race ?
Yes - forget range anxiety for a moment - what about lithium "life expectancy anxiety" ?
"End-of-life anxiety" ? "Depreciation anxiety" ?
Who will get the last laugh - a million miles or so down the road ?
Here's the relative & rough break-down/low-down:
- DBM: 5000 charge cycles/1,250,000 miles(projected, independently verified)
- BYD: 2000 charge cycles/373,000 miles(projected, not yet verified)
- Tesla: 500 charge cycles/150,000 miles(projected, not yet verified)
That's right - only DBM's Kolibri cells have been independently & rigorously tested by state-certified technicians and only DBM's cells are being rigorously, ridiculously, laughably ignored by 99.999% of old/new media outlets..
A few more seismic fault lines, laughter lines, punch lines to chuckle over:
- BYD e6 v Nissan Leaf v Tesla Model S(continued) : as recently as January of this year(2011) BYD were wisely pitching the taxingly-tested 187 miles/charge 5-seater e6 pricewise & otherwise against the now significantly less expensive 100 miles/charge, competitively crushable Nissan Leaf - NOT as now against the 7-seat extravagantly/deliciously ostentatious Tesla Model S(an ideal televisual VIP luxury limo for image-conscious politicians forever gathering at ski & sea-resort summits to impose austerity measures on the rest of us - green PR not greed PR you understand..)
Here's what BYD's Michael Austin told Brad Berman of Plug In Cars in January this year ("BYD Announces Breakthrough U.S. Pricing for Chinese Long-Range Electric Cars") :
"BYD's all-electric e6 sedan with a huge 60 kWh battery pack will sell in the United States for $35,000 before incentives(..) On the eve of the 2011 Detroit auto show, Michael Austin, the Chicago-based BYD vice president of marketing and public relations duties, confirmed these prices and told me that BYD will sell 'tens of thousands' of both models in the United States by 2012."
$35,000 / $27,500 for the BYD e6 just 10 months ago - that is/was
$200 less than the short-range Nissan Leaf which is/was priced at $35,200...$27,700(confirmed still at Nissan USA.com )
So why has BYD now quietly decided to up the price and pitch the e6 up-up-up against the Tesla sedan - not the Leaf ? And why are commentators failing to mention those lower, Leaf-focused e6 price pledges ?
- Musk tells Bloomberg's Betty Lu that Tesla isn't sourcing components from 'expensive' China.
But will Musk confirm that the Model S's next generation Panasonic batteries won't in fact be Made in China for Panasonic ?
We all know how unusual it is to find any non-antique Panasonic or Japanese-branded electrical item that doesn't bear the small-print "Made in China" tell-tale tag. And given current trends the odds must surely be that by 2012-2015 Panasonic will be sorely tempted to go that extra mile and shift, outsource, sub-contract production from China to even cheaper Vietnam/Indonesia. So Elon - please precisely define the words "not sourced from China", "country of origin" etc
************
Courtesy
Pressw0rds Award Alert - EVUK exclusive English-language translation:
"Mirko Hannemann of DBM Energy is to receive the 4th Roland Gutsch Project Management(GPM) Award in Berlin on the 28.11.2011 - the GPM's 9th Parliamentary Evening."
"GPM is honouring Mirko Hannemann as head of this Research & Development project in recognition of the innovative nature of the work, the observable/visible achievement of ambitious goals in a short time-period and in view of the not untroubled but ultimately successful and sustained commitment to real world viability. With his EV single-charge world record trip from Munich to Berlin in October 2010 the prize winner has proven that battery research here(in Germany) is on an encouraging path."
The award will be presented by parliamentary State Secretary Hans-Joachim Otto(German Ministry of the Technology & Economics - BMWi - NOT to be easily confused obviously with BMW's "i" EV concepts the i3, i8 etc)
The presentation will be followed by an open forum "Fishbowl" discussion with Hannemann and a range of experts and specialists from the world of politics, economics and EV battery development(..)
All interested parties are invited to attend - contact:
gpm-hauptstadtbuero@gpm-ipma.de
Note: Hannemann finds himself in unusually exalted, ethical company: in 2009 the GPM Award went to Dr. Jorn Lauterjung and Dr. Sri Woro Harijono, project leaders of the joint German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System - GITEWS.
But will even that be enough to break the deafening media silence ?
************
"Anxiety" footnote - fuel cost "anxiety":
The E6 will cost $672 a year in power bills, compared with $1,571 in fuel costs for an equivalent family sedan that runs on gasoline, according to BYD projections based on annual mileage of 15,000 miles. BYD's self-developed iron-phosphate battery takes 40 minutes to fully charge at public stations and as long as six hours when plugged in at home.
Similar low-anxiety running costs can be expected from almost any EV of course - Tesla Model S's and DBM Audi A2's included. But imagine the sheer Absence of Angst if your batteries deliver a million miles..of EV Smiles(smugness optional).
************
Official 454 - 714 km range: 2011 DBM Audi A2 BAM/DEKRA pdf test summary
Frankfurter Rundschau interview with DBM's Hannemann - exclusive EVUK English translation: Samsung's 600 million offer..decoding battery DNA, mass production possible within a year etc
************
October/November, 2011
Bardem - Bond Villain Elect has
- no Licence to Drive
- no car
...but gives TWO contradictory explanations (ie "I'm ethical" v "I'm frightened")
..depending on the demographic/dumb-ographic of his audience.
- So to pre-empt the tabloid take - we ask:
Bardem - is he green or just plain yellow ?
So which is it Javier ? Ecological/political Big Oil concerns(Charlie Rose interview) or "Fear ..of other drivers"(Jay Leno) ?
Click image to watch our combined clips(Rose-Leno, 3 mins)
Type-casting - or (mis)judging a bloke by his cover ?
Bardem, a fuzzily anti-car, car-dependent non-driver(no real hardship in major cities like Madrid, Berlin, London, New York) has been cast once again - twice again - as the Evil Villain of the piece:
Firstly as Bond's next nemesis: an intriguing choice now that Bond movies so often resemble Top Gear product placement specials - vroom vroom - with fossil-fuelled espionage sub-plots.
Secondly as the voice of "El Macho" in the animated
"Biutiful Me 2" - sorry, make that "Despicable Me 2".
Q: You may be asking "Why does Bardem matter..what's this got to do with EV's ? Is it news or even EV newsworthy ?
A: Again it's tempting to say "the dots join themselves...draw your own pictures & conclusions"
- but here's our point: like most activist-led campaigns - the campaign to get real, long-range EV's into showrooms and onto streets has been perhaps primarily about demolishing stereotypes, shattering silences, exploding media-fed myths, redefining and finding role models, redefining or un-defining what our same-stream media promotes/prescribes as "normal" -
- nonetheless, like it or not, the masculinity, virility, normality of non-driving, EV-driving, cycling(as transport-not-sport) males is still seriously doubted by the easily manipulated masses - male and sadly female(ah yes - so much for Nature/Nurture/Earth Mother/Mother Earth/My Kids' Kids etc)
But Bardem smoothly shatters almost every stereotype - and is surely just a nudge and a nod away(in LA ..with Jay) from full-blown EV conversion / liberation(not least from - to use his words to Rose - "Big Oil Empires" ).
And if El Macho makes the switch, millions more males may plug in - on both sides of the pond and way beyond China & Chile.
My Car is My Manhood ?
- The following Bardem & Bicycle clips should puncture those tiresome macho preconceptions for good:
- Bardem family bicycle trailer ..
- La Bicicleta : beautiful, 'biutiful' 2006 film homage to bicycles and lives without cars - starring(relatively speaking..) Javier's brother Carlos and mother Pilar. Watch trailer & read reviews.
But ex-Spanish national rugby team player Javier himself does not feature. (The Ox-like Bardem on a bicycle - a bison on a bike ? Even in "Eat Pray(Pedal?) Love" it's only Julia Roberts - not Bardem - who rediscovers cycling karma: watch trailer)
- Bicycle Race : Freddie Mercury - another macho-softie illusionist - subversively singing and ring-a-ding-dinging "I want to ride my bicycle".
It's Queen's most political jingle: Nixon's Vietnam, pro-war John Wayne, Watergate are fleetingly slammed. But even Queen rarely risked playing this live - audiences simply prefer the strutting Mercurial Macho ..
Back to car-less, car-dependent Bardem & Cruz in LA ...
- Let's see if we can once again anticipate, pre-sense and perhaps even influence EVents and EV developments and help create or precipitate a Hollywood headline or two - 3-6 months or so down the road.
In the form of a few hopeful, hypothetical headlines that are surely begging to be written now that BYD have opened an HQ in LA - and given California's / LA's erstwhile status as pioneering EV capital of the world.
Come on Jay & Javier - the novelty of the "I don't drive" confession is wearing thin - think of the talk-show mileage that could be squeezed from Bardem bombshells like these:
"Bardem Buys BYD e6 Taxi - Engages Driving Safety Instructor as Chauffeur"
"Bardem & Leno Create EV-based Car-Pool"
"Revenge's 'Gadget' Guy to Build Bardem EV"
"Bardem Buys eBox EV" (Watch Tom Hanks in his eBox )
In other words - Bardem/Cruz championing genuinely oil/gasoline-free alternatives to petrol-car-sharing. Infinitely more convincing, positive and practical than their hush-hush LA reliance on chums' cars(incl.SUV's), studio limos and taxi cabs:
Click inconvenient "in-car" images of Bardem/Cruz - for stories and talking-points that Leno and Rose chose not to probe..
No (EU) Country for Bold Men - or women :
- One final Q for U - or one more question you won't hear in any Pub Quiz/TV Quiz(ie. where all things green are taboo):
- Please name one British or European showbiz celebrity who has ever dared to come out as an EV believer, EV driver, Tesla-owner etc ? (Postscript! Victoria Wood Nov News )
A: Um. Well Clooney has a house and a Tesla near Lake Como..and Schwarzenegger's still Austrian at heart - do they count ?
But seriously - just where are 'green' Europe's answers(m/f) to Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Tim Robbins et al?
¡Vamos Javier y Cruz ! What are you waiting for ? A word in the ear of Queen Sofia perhaps - your country's most illustrious EVangelist ?
Leno at (premature ?) premiere of "Revenge of..".
Sadly no sign of 'vengeful villain' Bardem - who cites and indicts 'Big Oil Empires' - but never refers to EV's - and is never asked to by the likes of Leno & Rose(video).
October,2011 EV TV ads: e6 / EV1 / Bulli / RAV4
- the best, worst, old, new, now ..
Plus: how Enemy of the State's EV ad got Lost in (German) Translation
Zukunftsmusik ('Future Music') - the German word for innovation, inventions, ideas that are constantly trumpeted but rarely delivered ... or to put it another way :
Muzak to our ears...
VW Bulli etc - Watch English version above - Spanish below,,,
- Bulli: odd that VW is still(October) running its Bulli-bragging Think Blue(not green ?) Symphony spot in Spain and several other Spanish-speaking countries. (Watch English & Spanish versions).
Note the irony-free opening line of its butchered Beach Boys soundtrack:
"VWouldn't it be nice if VWe VWere older / Then VWe Vwouldn't have to VWait so long"
No VW ! Time travel and wishing to be 5-10 years older so as not to have to wait for you to deliver on your countless concept PRomises isn't, hasn't been and "VWouldn't be nice"...
So what's the score ? Has VW changed its tune re the electric Beach Boyish Bulli ? As mentioned in our earlier piece - recent reliable rumours report only that a petrol-powered(yawn) version of the Bulli might possibly be produced in Mexico - exclusively for the US market(double yawn) - so why then is the company currently running this Bulli-boasting ad on primetime
TV in Spain, Europe, S. America ?
Is this just another blue-rinsed greenwash PR offensive(two words that sit so well together..) - or is VW at last for once(to re-quote Edmonds.com's Alistair Weaver) considering "putting its money where its mouth is" and delivering on its exceptionally well-received, unconventional Geneva concept - the long-range li-ion 6-8 seater Bulli Car-or-Van / Campervan ?
All we can do of course is keep up the collective pressure and pray figuratively for EV Deliverance or Delivery.
So click here : www.volkswagen.es/thinkblue -
but NOT here: www.volkswagen.es/thinkgreen
Music to our Ears...
 
- Above left video: BYD e6 TV ad - with Taylor Swift soundtrack "Fearless" and the refrain "I don't know how it gets better than this.." (cf. VW's lame lamentable lyrics..)
- Above right video: BYD e6 on Chilean TV in Spanish - from "China to Chile"(to cite our reply to the BBC's Tim J. re EV's in Spain)
- Verdad: this is without doubt one of the best and most fearless TV EV reports we've ever seen - focusing on the e6 and BYD Chile.
In contrast to the self-censoring, formulaic EV narrative and e6 silence now in force almost everywhere else, this primetime Chilean TV report freely explores all of the many advantages and benefits of long-range EV's in general and of the trailblazing BYD e6 in particular.
Compare & contrast: in Britain, Europe and the US, EV reports invariably focus almost exclusively on
a) petrol/gas prices and b) CO2 emissions
- whereas these Chilean free-speech champions have happily ditched the script - eagerly EVoking and applauding the EV-enabling elimination of (local) air pollution/traffic stench and noise (which most in-denial drivers are oblivious to and insulated from) - whilst fearlessly highlighting both the e6's low-running and maintenance cost as well as the recyclability and relative low-cost of the car's ferrous lithium battery packs. In short - a breath of very rare fresh air-time ...we sure "don't know how it gets better than this".
So why is this report important and worth highlighting ? Well - let's not forget that Spanish is spoken, twittered, texted in and between 18 countries and throughout California, Texas and many other US states - which makes it the second most widely used and potentially the second most influential language globally.
And quite simply: we know of no other TV EV/e6 report in any language to rival or trump this one in terms of free-wheeling, spin-free, fearless honesty - Spaniards, Brits, Europeans should ask themselves why they are being denied their own BYD Spain, BYD UK, BYD Europe - with free-speaking Chilean-style TV EV/e6 media coverage to boot. As we recently told Michigan journalist Garret Ellison("What Does The EV Industry Need To Succeed") - it's not range anxiety that's stalling EV's in the UK, US, EU ... but long range reporting anxiety. (BYD e6, DBM/Kolibri's Audi A2 now - the RAV4 EV, Solectria Sunrise then..)
Fearless journalism, Garret, is what the EV industry AND, for that matter, the global economy both urgently "need to succeed"..
BYD Chile-China latest: e6 & e-Bus agreements signed with much fanfare - but even BYD Chile is still not selling EV's of any description...
Taxi tip: why not begin by creating a fledgeling fleet of e6 taxis à la Shenzhen in order to rapidly maximize EV visibility, accessibility, public awareness ?
"Enemy of the State", Staatsfeind Nr.1 - the film's TV EV ad gets lost in translation(German version) ...
Click for cropped clip : "The Electric Car is Here" - but scandalously NOT in the German version of the film !
- EV1 TV commercial - the electric car - the GM EV1 - that was quietly Lost in (German etc) Translation - from Enemy of the State" aka "Staatsfeind Nr. 1" (Will Smith/Hackman,Voight).
Yes, that's right - this ever popular, ahead-of-its-time Hollywood classic may well have been made 14 years ago(1997) but 
this long overdue EVUK exclusive rEVelation will still come as silence-Breaking News to all but a tiny handful of forensically-informed film-buffs(English or German-speaking). So brace yourselves - please put away those reflex "conspiracy nut/wacko" put-downs - and at least try to swallow and digest yet another awesome EV truth :
- Recall or picture the scene, 18 minutes into the film: birdwatcher & activist Daniel Zavitz sits at his computer in his apartment.
On his TV a car's headlights briefly appear, a male & female voiceover is clearly heard but not seen.
In fact the film's EV TV ad is directly drawn from an original 1996 GM EV1 commercial(Watch, Youtube) - with the keep-it-simple strapline "The electric car is here".
And here's the key English film transcript extract - followed by the 100% EV/EV1-less German rewrite:
***
"All new, designed for today. The electric car is here. A sedan for you."
German lost in translation rewrite - Staatsfeind Nr.1 :
"Der N-Trigue - die neue Definition der Sport Limousine. Der Wagen fuer die aktiven Fahrer."
(= "The N-Trigue - the new definition of the sport limousine. The car for active drivers".)
***
- Ironic, nicht wahr, that German censors and synchron studio (self-)censors had no problems at all with the other hotly controversial themes and content of the film ie. the semi-secret surveillance techniques/technologies employed by the NSA/CIA etc - yet they clearly did shudder at the idea that German cinemagoers and subsequently endless TV audiences could be suddenly and repeatedly awoken from a carefully maintained state of EV ignorance & incuriosity ...
A shout-out to owners of French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili etc versions of "Enemy of the State": please let us know if the electric car was likewise lost in your translation ..
New: Watch our freshly Youtube'd snip-clip - English version - straight to Zavitz's apartment..)
 
Left: EV headlights - in "Enemy" and original EV1 TV ad.
Right: EV1 in original TV ad. Click images to run "Enemy" or original ad
NB: There is/was no lip-synch imperative or requirement or excuse here - ie. the words 'electric car' etc are spoken by unseen off-screen male/female TV ad voiceover artists
NB 2: no 'product placement' excuse - ie. no company name, no vehicle name or product/brand name etc is specified in the film's EV TV ad - what's more the car is glimpsed only once - 100% unrecognizably eclipsed behind the glare of its own headlights - see image / clip above left. No - it is clearly 'idea placement' - generic electric cars per se - that German censors, self-censors and the usual corporate suspects so strongly and scandalously objected to. German audiences - and the film's producers/director for that matter - should even now be outraged - and demanding that the EV ad and the words 'electric car' be reinstated 14 years on .. let's just call it Revenge of the Electric Car - Enemy of the State-style.
Base Notes: 
- Fact not fiction: in 2005 US EV owner and activist Josh Connole was wrongfully arrested, jailed, chained to the floor, acquitted and eventually awarded $100,000 in compensation/damages. See EVUK report and Grist Magazine's : "Electric Car Driver was not an Eco-terrorist, FBI Admits"
(More Grist/Connole reports here).
See & hear Gene Hackman('Brill') re conspiracy fact
- Toyota RAV4 EV commercial(Watch,Youtube). But no record of where or how many times this ad was actually aired on TV screens - or cinema screens. (Never in the UK/EU - or Jersey ie. UK Channel Islands of course !)
********
Postscript - a month on - to our critical BYD content/comment above & below: BYD opens HQ in US - but still no EV's/e6's for sale(only buses!!!!)
..and now by sheer "post-EVUK" coincidence - this:
"BYD Starts Sales of E6 Electric Car to Individuals in China" (Bloomberg online - not TV) &
"Buffett-backed BYD shuns electric vehicle sales to consumers"(USA Today)
September, 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show no-Shows: BYD, DBM, VW Bulli
Plus: German TV tests & confirms BYD taxis' 305+ km range - with air-con full on !
(ironically they flew from Frankfurt to China to do it - video below)
Update : BYD trip clip(7 mins) now Youtube'd - see below
The most taxing test of all - 24/7 ..
Click pics to view exclusive blue BYD e6 scenic taxi trip(Youtube - 7 mins -Hi Res version here). 305 km covered comfortably on single charge with air-con full-on.
(Note the e6 taxi paintjob/respray from stressful red-eye'd red to tranquil sky blue. As of Sept 2011 we can find no other images - let alone video - of the new cool blue e6 taxis in action..so another virtual global EVUK exclusive)
Just Juxtapose:
A few barely reported dots to join:
- Sept 16th: German TV's 3Sat Nano/Hitec renowned innovation-tech shows confirm BYD E6 taxis' 305+ km range in special report from Shenzhen, China. (Play key BYD trip clip excerpt or click here for full 28 minute 3Sat video)
- in the same breath-of-fresh-air broadcast BYD's head of Export & Marketing Paul Lin tells 3Sat that BYD will be exporting to Europe "sooner than you might think" (hmm- sorry BYD - but we'd like to know - after 3-4 years of highly-Buffetted EV hype and this 2010 "BYD HQ in Germany" PRomise - why you are not already exporting the 300+ km taxi-tested E6 to Europe and the US - why just the 75 vehicles to Rotterdam ??
Big Auto bullies shutting you out ? Making offers that can't be refused ? Surely not !
The demand is clearly there when awareness is - so where's the "free market" supply ?
And just as importantly - why are (motoring) journalists not flocking to easily-reachable Rotterdam to test-drive and rave-review the subversively, disruptively long-range BYD E6 ?
As so often: Mum's the Word.
Don't Ask - Don't Tell - Don't Sell. A shameful rerun in-the-making of the continuing decade-old "RAV4 EV in Jersey" reporting blackout & burial..)
Alistair Weaver(Edmunds.com,clip) :
"VW has a history of showing us fantastic-looking concepts and then never ever putting them into production - so please VW for once put your money where your mouth is.." (Amen Alistair!)
- VW Bulli: Déjà VWu & Boy Cried VWolf .. from Wolfsburg. Yes, it's just 6 months since the capacious, versatile, retro-stylish 6-seater VW Bulli Car-or-Van / Campervan / Microbus was presented and universally applauded at the Geneva Motor Show(Edmunds, Youtube).
But how has VW all-too predictably responded to that popular demand and acclaim? Well, with the absolute antithesis of the pluralistic, beach-party-packing Bulli - the single-seater "NILS" - an extraordinary, entirely unsolicited, unwished-for single-digit gesture to the global EV community. "NILS" - yet another last-ditch attempt to revive that age-old, divisive EV comedy staple and cliché - the archetypal "Nerdy Introvert Loner Stereotype".
Or: Back to Square One - albeit on Steroids. Another segway to nowhere..
- ex-VW design chief Murat Gunak bullishly presents the latest version(on sale now, above right) of the MIA Microbus in Frankfurt(debut near VW Bulli microbus in Geneva, Youtube).
- A valiant, heroic effort by yet another disillusioned Big Auto defector - but the MIA's acceleration, range and unsubsidized price still leave a lot to be desired - we'd all surely prefer the (claimed) 186 miles/charge li-ion VW Bulli - "The People's Car-or-Van".(To add further insult to injury, VW are vaguely promising/threatening to produce - by unpopular demand - a petrol-powered version only...for the N.American market.)
- e-WOLF - continuing the Wolf/Wolfsburg theme: the impressive lightweight li-ion e-Wolf(not a VWolf !) is also appearing at the Frankfurt show
- DBM Energy - for several months the company's website has indicated DBM's intended presence at the Frankfurt IAA Show.
But they've not shown up(or are appearing safely incognito). And frankly - who cares and who can blame them ?(Tesla and BYD are similarly shunning the show ..)
In any EVent(so to speak) the key message to the media is clear: for inconvenient real-world EV/e6 truth why not take a leaf(confused ?) out of 3Sat TV's book ie. flee Frankfurt and race to Rotterdam or Shenzhen.
 
 
BYD blues: when will the taxi show up - in Frankfurt, Barcelona, Athens, Rome.. Croydon..?
Note the e6 taxi paintjob/respray from stressful red-eye'd red to tranquil sky blue. As of Sept 2011 we can find no other images eg. Google - let alone video - of the new cool blue e6 taxis in action..so another virtual global EVUK exclusive(courtesy 3Sat)
Two other key points mentioned in 3Sat's BYD taxi and Shenzhen HQ report:
1) the e6 taxi is by far the most popular attraction amongst public visitors to the BYD HQ
2) the e6 car itself costs the same in China as an equivalent gasoline-powered car - with government subsidies
September, 2011 Red Hot: Wall Street Daily(not Journal!) breaks English-language DBM/range silence
"This Breakthrough Will Soon Slash EV Prices Drastically"
(so no - please don't confuse the Wall Street Daily with - disgraced & discredited - Murdoch's Wall Street Journal..)
..as stated below - EVerything else - EVery other truth-avoiding, water-treading, corporately correct EV-related PRess release and news item - is as significant as synchronized swimming...
- Thanks, Danke and Big Up etc to Pressw0rds(who else, wer sonst!?) for the this all-eclipsing, wickedly subversive, almost exclusive little heads-up...
In case you still haven't heard:
Official 454 - 714 km range: 2011 DBM Audi A2 BAM/DEKRA pdf test summary
(Compare & contrast: Motor Show con-cept EV's - the range/performance claims made by major carmakers are rarely if ever officially tested or verified by the likes of BAM or DEKRA or any independent third party - yet 1000's of old/new media outlets readily & uncritically report them to the world ...)
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