Toyota has made no secret of its disdain for battery-electric vehicles in favor of fuel cells, but like other high-volume OEMs, it was compelled to produce an EV by the California authorities – the RAV4 EV, which the company did not market, and discontinued as soon as possible. Now it seems that the world’s largest automaker will… Read more »
Energica Motor Company has received NHTSA and EPA certification, clearing the way for its Energica Ego electric sport bike to be sold in the US. Deliveries are planned for the third quarter of this year, and the first batch is almost sold out. Energica, located in northern Italy’s Motor Valley, grew out of a company… Read more »
Here come the plug-in SUVs! The Audi Q7 e-tron 2.0 TFSI quattro made its debuts at this week’s Auto Shanghai show, along with the Audi A6 L e-tron. Both are scheduled to go on sale in Asia in 2016. The Q7 e-tron is a large SUV that Audi has developed specially for China, Singapore and Japan. It features a… Read more »
American Volvo fans have been feeling left out, watching the V60 diesel PHEV wagon shatter sales projections in Europe. However, their depression should lift soon, when the Swedish automaker introduces what it considers to be a more US-friendly model, the new XC90 T8 Twin Engine Plug-In Hybrid. The corded crossover will go on sale in… Read more »
“Iron fluoride has the potential to triple the amount of energy a conventional lithium-ion battery can store,” says Song Jin, a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “However, we have yet to tap its true potential.” Jin and his colleagues have been using a novel X-ray imaging technique to visualize and study the… Read more »
The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $9 million in grants to three companies to encourage the manufacturing of heavy-duty EVs and components in the state. Proterra received a $3 million grant to develop a manufacturing line for battery-electric transit buses in the City of Industry in the San Gabriel Valley. The location is in… Read more »
Siemens’s new VersiCharge Smartgrid (SG) is a Wi-Fi-enabled charging station that allows residential owners to monitor and control usage remotely through a mobile app. Users can automatically turn charging on or off, schedule charging when rates are lowest, and view past power consumption data in graphical form. The cloud-based charging station can also interact with… Read more »
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has set out his vision for the city’s environmental goals in an upbeat report entitled “the pLAn.” It covers a wide range of topics, from water conservation to energy-efficient buildings to renewable energy to recycling to public transit. Many of the goals are very modest, such as the call for… Read more »
California is the most electrified state in the US, thanks in part to its ZEV mandate that requires automakers to produce a certain number of zero-emission vehicles. In addition to leading the way in EV adoption, the state has also installed the most public charging infrastructure, by far. According to PlugShare, there are about 6,597… Read more »
The Formula E electric racing series is only a bit more than halfway through its first season, but it’s already looking like a big success, attracting sellout crowds, major new investors, and a long list of aspiring host cities. “We have over 180 cities that have requested to have a race, and many of them… Read more »
