There’s a new kid in the EV pool, and there’s every reason to believe it’s going to make a big splash. BMW proudly announced the first delivery of an i3 to a US customer this week. A Boston university professor and ActiveE “electronaut” drove his new i3 off the lot on May 2. Demand for… Read more »
A team of Belgian entrepreneurs has resurrected a storied motorcycle brand to create an electric racing bike that will compete in the 2014 TT Zero race on the Isle of Man at the end of May, and also in the FIM eRoadRacing world cup series. Saroléa was one of the first producers of motorcycles in… Read more »
The city of Boulder, Colorado has installed two Envision Solar EV ARC standalone solar charging stations. The new chargers are located at the East Boulder Community Center and the Broadway & Spruce Parking Lot, and are available free of charge to the public. San Diego-based Envision Solar (OTCQB: EVSI) bills its EV ARC as a… Read more »
Monthly plug-in sales dropped a bit in April after the March surge, a typical pattern for this time of year. 8,605 car buyers saw the light last month. The LEAF easily held onto its lead with 2,088 units, a little less than its March sales but an incremental increase over last April. Nissan has already… Read more »
The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has issued a funding opportunity announcement (DE-FOA-0001106) to award up to $10 million for projects to accelerate electrification of the cargo transport sector, a worthy mission that has been dubbed Zero Emission Cargo Transport (ZECT). ZECT technologies are defined as those that produce zero emissions from a cargo-carrying… Read more »
GM has begun construction of a new facility in Pontiac, Michigan for race engine design and development, which will also include an electric motor laboratory and gear center. The GM Performance and Racing Center will be home to about 100 employees, and is expected to be in use by mid-2015. The electric motor lab produces prototype motors… Read more »
When one thinks of Nikola Tesla and electric vehicles, the obvious connection points to Elon Musk’s favorite part-time project. However, we also have to give the Serbian inventor proper credit for pioneering technology that eventually may become even more important to EVs than battery breakthroughs. Tesla’s obsession with wireless power transmission defined much of his… Read more »
BYD revealed its first pair of electric buses manufactured in California this week. “It’s a small beginning. A few buses. But like many things, it holds promise as something very big and very important,” said Governor Jerry Brown during a ceremony at the company’s manufacturing plant in Lancaster. “I hope to come back in a… Read more »
Elon Musk is not the only EV pioneer who’s been inspired by Nikola Tesla. Just a few hours’ drive from the small village where Tesla was born, a Croatian company is building a 1,088-horsepower beast called the Rimac Concept_One. Like Musk, Mate Rimac, the 26-year old founder of Rimac Automobili, has plans that extend far… Read more »
In the past few decades, the automotive industry has seen a shift from traditional mechanical systems to a world dominated by electronics, chips and software. If you go to a car show and look in the engine compartment of an older vehicle, you’ll see only a handful of connections from the cockpit. Modern vehicles, however,… Read more »
