The commercial fleet market promises great opportunities for startups, but also great dangers. A number of companies are trying to electrify this segment, and several have already fallen by the wayside. The latest to run out of juice is Echo Automotive, which was profiled in our April issue. The Arizona-based company has been forced to… Read more »
A new report offers a detailed look at Tesla’s battery technology and how it fits into the overall EV industry. Titled simply The Tesla Battery Report, the slide-show-style presentation examines the following topics: Tesla’s success and the direction of the EV market EV battery technology: Tesla vs. conventional Tesla battery intellectual property EV battery cost… Read more »
Midtronics has released detailed information about its newest battery diagnostic platform. The DSS-7000 Battery Service Diagnostic System features full battery service management with VIN-driven testing and integration with the Midtronics Battery Management Information System (BMIS). Features include: Complete Battery Management – Enterprise-wide battery management reporting and analysis is enabled with database-driven testing, VIN-based vehicle service… Read more »
US plug-in vehicle sales have surpassed the quarter-million mark, just in time for National Drive Electric Week, September 15-21. Sales have increased by a healthy percentage every year since the Volt and LEAF went on the market at the end of 2010. 2014 sales total 76,799 so far, on track to handily beat 2013’s figure… Read more »
Proterra has selected Toshiba as the battery supplier for its next-generation electric bus. Toshiba’s SCiB batteries feature a lithium titanate oxide chemistry, making them resistant to thermal runaway and lithium metal plating. The 20 Ah prismatic cells have nominal voltage of 2.3 V, gravimetric energy density of 90 Wh/kg and volumetric density of 177 Wh/L…. Read more »
Kia Motors America (KMA) has announced pricing for the Kia Soul EV, which will go on sale this fall in California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The new EV will be offered in two trims: MSRP for the Base model is $33,700; the Plus model, which adds leather-trimmed heated and ventilated seats, fog… Read more »
Tesla and Toyota might just patch up their differences and form a new partnership some day, Elon Musk told reporters at an event for the start of deliveries in Japan (with a cool backdrop of three Model S in a showroom high above Tokyo). “If you look out maybe two or three years from now,… Read more »
The University of California, Davis, and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) have agreed to work together to establish the China-US ZEV Policy Lab, a research institution for US and Chinese ZEV/new energy vehicle policies. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) and China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will co-chair the new… Read more »
Scientists around the world are testing new ways to look inside lithium-ion batteries to gain a better understanding of what happens during charging and discharging. A team of chemists and engineers at Ohio State University claims to be the first to use Neutron Depth Profiling (NDP) to track the flow of lithium ions into and… Read more »
Public charging and parking have a symbiotic relationship, for obvious reasons. A number of companies in the charging field are forging business relationships with parking providers, which may be large employers, owners of commercial, residential or government properties or third-party operators of paid parking facilities. Most of us devote surprisingly little thought to parking, considering… Read more »
