Daimler R&D chief Thomas Weber talked EVs in an interview this week with Automotive News Europe’s German sister Automobilwoche. Weber believes the upcoming Mercedes B class Electric Drive will be a worthy competitor for the BMW i3: “In all the key criteria, this vehicle will be at least as competitive as our competitors’ models. With… Read more »
Chinese EV-maker BYD has been in the news lately, selling its electric buses to transit authorities in cities around the world. Alas, the ride in a city bus, regardless of its powertrain, is seldom as smooth as one would wish. In March, the Long Beach Transit Board approved a $12.1 million contract to purchase 10… Read more »
As some analysts are predicting spectacular growth in the public charging market, something of a Wild West atmosphere is developing. Last month, Ecotality, one of the country’s largest network operators, filed for bankruptcy. Last week, Florida-based Car Charging Group announced that it would purchase Ecotality’s Blink charging network. Now Chargepoint, another giant network, is looking… Read more »
The future of battery swapping technology in general is far from clear, but it seems to be well suited to the needs of electric scooters. Fujitsu and venture start-up RESC Ltd. have announced that they will collaborate in developing a system that uses Fujitsu’s cloud service to manage the cassette-type secondary batteries used in RESC’s… Read more »
California-based Simbol, Inc. has succeeded in selectively extracting pure lithium carbonate from the brine provided by a geothermal power plant for the first time, at the company’s demonstration plant near the Salton Sea. Today, approximately 70% of the world’s lithium is produced through solar evaporation using brine from salt lakes in South America. Simbol’s technology results in lower… Read more »
What’s built on the same platform as the Volt, has the same powertrain, and costs more than twice as much? The 2014 Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid, which will go on sale in January with a sticker price of $75,995, including destination charges. GM plans to produce only a limited number of the luxury sedans, and… Read more »
We already know that Tesla is motoring ahead with autonomous vehicle technology. This week, Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel reaffirmed that in an interview at Stanford’s Global Climate and Energy Project Symposium. Referred to the technology as “autopilot,” Straubel called it an inevitable step that will be “transformational” for the auto industry. Tesla has invested… Read more »
A123 Systems has outlined its organizational structure and strategic focus as a member of the Wanxiang Group, the Chinese company that acquired most of A123’s businesses last January. During the next year, Wanxiang’s lithium-ion battery activities will be integrated under A123’s leadership, both in China and the US. The executive team is headquartered in A123’s… Read more »
Blink Acquisition, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Car Charging Group, Inc. (OTCQB: CCGI) has submitted the winning bid to purchase the Blink charging network from ECOtality, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. The deal makes Miami Beach-based CarCharging one of the world’s largest public charging networks. “Since our inception, CarCharging’s intent has been to… Read more »
The state of Vermont became the latest to hit the charge button this week, as it announced two new initiatives to support EVs. The first expands the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) loan program, and the second provides financial resources for public charging stations in Vermont’s historic downtown areas. Under the SIB program, municipalities and businesses… Read more »
