InsideEVs recently ran an article with the provocative headline “European Parliament Prepares Draft Calling for Termination of CHAdeMO in Europe.” To anyone who’s been following the European fast charging standards “war” (or “issue” for those of a calmer disposition), this certainly sounds like a crazy idea. Predictably, this scare story generated dozens of reader comments… Read more »
The eagerly awaited 2014 Volt will have no changes from the 2013 model, except for a couple of new colors – and a $5,000 price cut. The new sticker price will be $34,995, including an $810 destination charge. The 2014s have already begun shipping from GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, and will arrive in showrooms within… Read more »
British EV drivers now have 13 more places to stop for a lovely cup of tea and a DC fast charge. Nissan and Ecotricity have announced the deployment of 13 new rapid chargers at Welcome Break service stations at motorway sites across the country. There are now 16 fast chargers available at Welcome Break service… Read more »
Researchers at Australia’s Monash University have developed a compact graphene-based supercapacitor device that lasts as long as a conventional battery, an advance with the potential to bring next-generation energy storage a step closer. Professor Dan Li of the Department of Materials Engineering and his team published their work this week in Science. Supercapacitors (SCs) are… Read more »
Total US plug-in sales saw a substantial drop in July, to 6,592 units. Last month’s three front-runners all succumbed to the summer doldrums, but the second-tier sellers held steady or showed slight improvements. The LEAF edged into first place in July with a total of 1,864, which is a drop from June’s 2,225 but still… Read more »
The first Electric Defender has started real-world trials at the Eden Project, a sort of environmental theme park near St Austell in Cornwall, UK. Land Rover calls the Electric Defender “a rolling laboratory to develop new ideas and investigate electrification in a real-world environment.” A fleet of six vehicles will be placed with various organizations… Read more »
US Representative Thomas Massie has co-sponsored bills to abolish the Federal Reserve, slash taxes and government spending, and make it legal to carry guns in school zones (as reported by the Wall Street Journal). He also drives a Tesla Model S. Massie, who holds an engineering degree from MIT, leans libertarian, and has often voted… Read more »
Panasonic has told the Japan Times that it will increase domestic production of lithium-ion automobile batteries in order to meet robust demand in the US. The giant electronics maker said that it will restart idled production lines at an Osaka factory that produces batteries for Silicon Valley standard-bearer Tesla Motors as early as January, while… Read more »
PowerGenix, a developer of Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) batteries, announced that it has entered into an innovation contract with PSA Peugeot Citroen Automobiles. Peugeot will conduct an evaluation of NiZn batteries as a replacement for lead-acid in stop-start vehicles. Stop-start technology is one of the most cost-effective and efficient means of optimizing fuel economy. Current estimates put… Read more »
Porsche’s new Panamera S E-Hybrid PHEV incorporates dramatic improvements over the hybrid model that it’s replacing, and the company expects that to drive dramatically better sales. Porsche is forecasting about 10,000 sales over the E-Hybrid’s life cycle, which represents double the figure for the company’s first-generation hybrid, and about 10 percent of all Panamera sales…. Read more »
