The Electrification Coalition has released two case studies describing how the cities of Houston, Texas and Loveland, Colorado are saving money by using EVs in their vehicle fleets. Houston has converted 50% of its light-duty fleet to hybrids, including 15 converted Prius PHEVs. Recently, the city purchased 27 LEAFs, and has plans to deploy more…. Read more »
GM has announced plans to invest $121 million to improve its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, where the Volt, Ampera and the new 2014 Cadillac ELR are built. The company will expand the 3.6 million-square-foot plant, adding an additional 450,000 square feet to give it more space to store parts on-site. “We basically started busting at the… Read more »
When the LEAF first went on sale in the US in December 2010, it was manufactured in Japan. Nowadays, US-bound LEAFs, and their batteries, are built in Smyrna, Tennessee, and the electric motors are produced down the road in Decherd. Nissan is finding more and more ways to localize LEAF production in the US. The… Read more »
It’s technically still a rumor at this point, but it’s beginning to sound likely that Chevrolet plans to launch not only a next-generation Volt, but a new EV with a 200-mile range, around 2016. A recent article in Bloomberg Business Week about Mary Barra, who will take over from Dan Akerson as CEO of GM… Read more »
India plans to roll out generous subsidies for EVs beginning in April 2014, under the country’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, a senior government official said this week. As reported by Indian news outlet The Economic Times, Ambuj Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, said that, now that the Indian economy is picking up,… Read more »
Like EVs themselves, charging stations come in all shapes and sizes. Power management giant Eaton has announced the release of what may be the world’s highest-capacity charger. The new HyperCharger is capable of fast-charging EVs at power levels up to one megawatt (MW). Designed to charge fleets of electric buses and other mass transit vehicles,… Read more »
Ultracapacitors (aka ultracaps or supercapacitors) are the toast of the town, thanks to their rapid charge and discharge capabilities, tolerance of extreme temperature conditions and long operational life. However, their killer application may be as partners with lithium-ion batteries, which offer higher energy density. Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL), a manufacturer of ultracapacitor-based energy storage products,… Read more »
ChargePoint is offering a trade-in credit of up to $1,250 to customers who upgrade to the company’s new dual-port CT4000 charging station. Designed to address both the cost of installation and the growing demand for charging spots, the CT4000 series includes a power sharing feature, which allows a single circuit to power a dual-port charging… Read more »
ABB, the international power broker, announced that it has received the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listing for its latest family of DC fast chargers, the Terra 53 with SAE Combo functionality. The Terra 53 is available in 20 kW, 30 kW, 40 kW and 50 kW models, and buyers have the option of compatibility with SAE… Read more »
The Big Apple took a big step towards electrification this week, as the New York City Council passed a law requiring that a minimum of 20 percent of any new parking spaces be equipped with buried electrical conduit that can support future EVSE installation. Retrofitting a parking lot for EV charging requires trenching to bury… Read more »
