The variety of electrified vehicles on display in Frankfurt is amazing – from huge luxury sedans to practical little city cars, they’re all plugging in. This one is at the high-speed end of the scale: the Spark-Renault SRT_01E electric race car that will be driven in the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship, the global electric… Read more »
BMW is looking highly charged in Frankfurt this year. Its first production EV, the i3, is taking center stage, but the boys from Bavaria have plans to electrify other segments of their product line, and this new concept vehicle might be a preview of things to come. The Concept X5 eDrive (not an SUV, mind… Read more »
Only the coolest of the cool can tempt Jay Leno out of his garage. This week he makes a road trip to Monterey to see the Porsche 918 Spyder, a plug-in roadster that embodies the highest of tech and speed. Porsche gave us a sneak peek at the prototype back in April. This is the final production… Read more »
A pair of German investors has submitted a formal offer for Fisker Automotive, according to Green Car Reports. Last month, the German magazine AutoBild reported that Fritz Nol and Ingo Voigt group were interested in acquiring what remains of Fisker for $25 million. “I am proud to tell you that we just sent our detailed… Read more »
Nissan is in the final development phase of its second global EV, the e-NV200 compact van, which is scheduled for launch in 2014. The e-NV200 is based on Nissan’s multipurpose commercial van, the NV200, and uses the same powertrain as the LEAF. It has been undergoing real-world testing with several large commercial fleets since 2011,… Read more »
Many have posed the question of why the EV market in Europe has lagged behind the market in the US, considering the Continent’s higher fuel prices and strong green tradition. While there are several plausible answers, on closer examination the question itself makes little sense, because in fact there is no European EV market, but… Read more »
Panasonic’s lithium-ion battery division is seeing a dramatic turnaround, mostly thanks to healthy sales of Tesla’s Model S, according to Lux Research. In the second quarter of 2013, the Li-ion division made about $40 million in profits, compared to a loss of $20 million in Q2 2012. Panasonic plans to invest $200 million over the… Read more »
The Range Rover Evoque compact SUV will be the platform for a £16 million research program supported by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board. The Evoque_E program will investigate the benefits of high-speed motors and multi-speed transmissions for hybrid and electric vehicles. The project will build three development vehicles based on Land Rover’s new Range Rover… Read more »
WiTricity hopes to leverage a wireless energy transfer breakthrough out of MIT into a commercial solution with far-reaching potential Inside a standard electrical transformer are two coils that transfer power wirelessly. They utilize the principle of magnetic induction, sending energy from a primary coil to a secondary coil without a direct electrical connection. Inductive chargers,… Read more »
NOHMs Technologies, a lithium-sulfur battery spin-off from Cornell University, will locate a new research, manufacturing and product development facility in Lexington, Kentucky. The company will use the Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center, a partnership of the Argonne National Laboratory, the state and the Universities of Kentucky and Louisville. Ford, Hitachi and Toyota are some… Read more »
