Newswire

Hyundai to handle hybrids and hydrogen, Kia to cover cars with cords

Hyundai Motor Group has announced a record-high budget for 2012 that includes 5.1 trillion Korean won (about $4.4 billion) for R&D, of which the lion’s share will be for hybrids and EVs, according to Singapore news portal AsiaOne. Company spokespeople made it clear that eco-friendly cars will be its main focus in 2012. The giant… Read more »

Indian firm Hero to expand its EV empire to the UK and North America

Could an Indian firm come to dominate the world market for electric two-wheelers? The Hero Eco Group may be planning just that. Hero, which builds 65,000 electric scooters and bicycles per year at its plant in the Punjab, recently acquired UK-based Ultra Motors, which sells its A2B and F4W brands of electric bikes and scooters… Read more »

Toyota secures mother lode of lithium in Argentina

  Listen to my story ‘bout a company named Toyota Crankin out the Pria, tryin to make their sales quota Without enough batteries, production would halt Good thing they found a bunch of carbonate salt Lithium, that is…white gold…Argentine applesauce… …but seriously folks, Japanese news site Nikkei reported this week that the Toyota Tsusho Corporation… Read more »

Washington State DOT breaks ground on West Coast Electric Highway

Construction began Wednesday on a public EV charging station in Bellingham, Washington, the first in a network that the state plans to build along major highway corridors. The West Coast Electric Highway will provide EV drivers with fast chargers every 50 miles or so, all the way from Oregon to Canada. This in turn is… Read more »