As BMW prepares to bring its new i3 to market in 2014, expectations are running high. The upscale city car fills a vacant niche in the market, and it embodies all the advantages of a pure EV. Equally important, the company seems committed to making the i3 a success in the marketplace, rather than taking… Read more »
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have demonstrated a lithium-sulfur (Li/S) battery that has more than twice the specific energy of current lithium-ion batteries, and that lasts for more than 1,500 charge/discharge cycles with minimal capacity loss. This is the longest cycle life yet reported for any lithium-sulfur battery. The results were reported in the… Read more »
VIA Motors has announced that John Weber, former CEO of motor manufacturer Remy, has been chosen as VIA’s new Chief Executive Officer. “John’s many years of experience as an auto industry manufacturer and his keen leadership skills make him a tremendous asset to VIA Motors as we ramp up production and work more closely with… Read more »
A perfect score ought to be good enough for any car – that’s the message from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has issued new marketing guidelines that explicitly prohibit automakers from promoting safety scores higher than 5 stars. The updated guidelines also say that NHTSA safety scores are always whole numbers. The… Read more »
This week, the ChargePoint network reached a milestone as driver number 50,000 joined up. Unsurprisingly, the 50,000th ChargePoint member resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. Less than an hour after signing up, the new user plugged in a Tesla Model S to a ChargePoint station at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael…. Read more »
The SAE task force working on a standard for Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) has reached agreement on two important factors. These will be incorporated into a Technical Information Report, which is scheduled to be complete in early 2014. The TIR will be followed by publication of the official SAE J2954 Standard. “A common frequency of… Read more »
Researchers from Stanford University and the DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have developed a battery electrode that heals itself, a very useful trick indeed. “Self-healing is very important for the survival and long lifetimes of animals and plants,” said Chao Wang, one of two principal authors of the paper, which appeared in the latest issue… Read more »
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technology for wireless power transmission that could bring the goal of dynamic wireless EV charging a step closer to reality. “We’ve made changes to both the receiver and the transmitter in order to make wireless energy transfer safer and more efficient,” says Dr. Srdjan Lukic,… Read more »
What’s the fastest accelerating EV in the world? The Spark Formula E racer? The Drayson B12? Nope – according to Guinness, it’s a converted BMW built by Croatian engineer Mate Rimac. If you feel the need to get to 60 mph in under three seconds, you can actually buy Rimac’s latest model, the Concept One,… Read more »
Field tests in Sweden have shown that Volvo’s plug-in hybrid buses reduce fuel consumption by 81% and total energy consumption (diesel plus electricity) by 61% compared to a comparable Euro 5 diesel bus. The silent, smooth ride is an added benefit. “Our performance results are even slightly better than we had anticipated. The plug-in hybrid… Read more »
