Newswire

Hyundai unveils automated charging and parking system concept

Hyundai and Kia have released a video featuring a proposed system that would relocate fully charged EVs from charging stations and allow waiting vehicles to charge. Here’s how the Automated Valet Parking System (AVPS) works: the driver tells the vehicle to charge using a smartphone app, and the vehicle automatically cruises to a vacant wireless… Read more »

Elon Musk breaks ground at Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory

Elon Musk joined the mayor of Shanghai and other local government officials for a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of Tesla’s new Chinese plant. Tesla plans to invest around $2 billion in the facility, which is expected to have a capacity of about 500,000 vehicles per year. The company hopes to finish initial construction this… Read more »

Toyota and Lexus have hybrids for every taste

Toyota has got the hybrid powertrain down pat. Having honed its hybrid technology over the last 22 years of building the Prius, which has sold over 10 million units and is now in its 4th generation, the Japanese giant now offers seven different hybrid models, and its luxury brand Lexus offers six more. Charged recently… Read more »

EV-ready building codes are the best ways for cities and states to encourage switch to EVs

By Matt Frommer – Transportation Program Senior Associate at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP)   Imagine that you just bought a new condo and, since you care about saving the planet while saving yourself money, you’re also thinking about buying a new EV. You check your new parking lot for an electrical outlet, only… Read more »

Sumitomo Electric’s new generation of SiC transistors offer low on-state resistance

Sumitomo Electric’s new V-groove superjunction transistors, which it developed through a joint research project with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) use silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, and the company claims they offer the lowest on-state resistance yet achieved in an SiC transistor. Sumitomo has already developed V-groove MOSFETs that use a… Read more »

Electric truck maker Workhorse secures $35 million in new financing, works with Duke on battery leasing program

Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS), which manufactures electric delivery vans for UPS, FedEx and other fleet operators, has secured $35 million in new financing from Marathon Asset Management. Workhorse will use the proceeds to repay a July 2018 round of senior secured notes, and to acquire parts to fulfill customer orders. Marathon will provide the funds… Read more »

China to cut EV subsidies by 30% in 2019

Generous subsidies have helped China to become by far the world’s largest EV market. However, the government has begun to phase out the incentives – EV subsidies are expected to be substantially reduced in 2019, and eliminated completely in 2020. “Next year’s subsidies will likely be reduced by approximately 30% compared with this year,” a… Read more »

Next-Battery moves a step closer to commercialization

Shanghai-based EV maker Lvchi has partnered with Next-Battery to fast-track the commercial rollout of Next-Battery’s battery technology. At its Ukraine facility, Next-Battery is producing cathode prototypes with ultra-porous metal oxides and a lithium-infused nanostructured surface. The company’s proprietary process significantly increases the surface area of the metal oxides in the cathode, which allows dimension reduction… Read more »

Tesla’s Q4 vehicle delivery numbers and $2,000 price reduction spook investors

Tesla announced production and delivery figures for the fourth quarter of 2018, and simultaneously announced that it would reduce the prices of all vehicles by $2,000 in order to compensate for the reduction of the federal tax credit for EV purchases. “In Q4, we produced and delivered at the rate of nearly 1,000 vehicles per… Read more »