The German-based discount supermarket chain Aldi, in partnership with electric utility RWE, opened a public DC charging station at a store in Dusseldorf in May. Charging is free, and energy is generated from solar panels installed on the building. The new installation uses the QC20 charging station from Portuguese electrical equipment manufacturer Efacec. The QC20… Read more »
Volvo’s home town, the Swedish city of Gothenburg, has become something of a center for electric bus research, as the company operates pilots of electric and plug-in hybrid buses, some using dynamic wireless charging. This month the city opened its first fully operational route featuring electric buses. Bus route 55, which runs through the city… Read more »
PowerGenix, a supplier of automotive nickel-zinc (NiZn) batteries, has completed a product evaluation test plan with the Institute of Automotive Technologies Dresden (IAD). IAD evaluated the capabilities of NiZn batteries used as a 12 V auxiliary power unit for plug-in vehicles, or as a 12 V starter battery for stop-start applications. “The unique cost and… Read more »
California’s ZEV mandate, which will require 15 percent of cars sold in the state to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2025, will soon be expanded to include medium-size OEMs such as Mitsubishi and Volvo, which naturally have some helpful ideas as to how the rules could be watered down. At a May hearing, automakers and… Read more »
Tesla may have made it trendy, but the California company is far from the only automaker exploring the commercial energy storage market, which is expected to grow from $200 million in 2012 to $19 billion in 2017, according to research firm IHS CERA. Nissan has joined forces with Green Charge Networks to deploy second-life EV… Read more »
EVSE manufacturer eMotorWerks has partnered with Slingshot Power to offer a bundled solar power/EV charging solution. Customers who buy a solar installation from Slingshot Power will receive a free JuiceBox Pro 40 home charging station. The 40 A/10 kW JuiceBox Pro 40 is small and lightweight (15 lbs), and is designed to be quickly removed… Read more »
There’s currently a lot of talk about a trend that Tesla co-founder Ian Wright discussed in our pages a year ago: even as software becomes a more and more critical part of the automobile, the user interfaces built by the (non-Tesla) automakers are clunky and old-fashioned, especially when it comes to integrating with our other… Read more »
Still looking for a replacement for lithium? How about magnesium? It’s divalent, so it can displace double the charge per ion (i.e., Mg2+ rather than Li+). It’s much more abundant than lithium, and more stable. However, researchers investigating Mg-ion batteries have run into several limitations, including anode/electrolyte incompatibility. Now a team at the Toyota Research… Read more »
Once again, Tesla has come up with an innovation that could be far more significant than is apparent at first glance. Speaking at the latest shareholders’ meeting, Elon Musk said that Tesla has “just introduced” a liquid-cooled cable to the Supercharger system (around 24 minutes into the video below). Liquid cooling allows the cable to… Read more »
Bangalore-based startup Ather Energy has received $12 million in funding from the private equity fund Tiger Global. The company will use the new capital for development, testing, production and launch of the Ather S340, an electric two-wheeler. “Ather Energy aims to build smart, connected electric vehicles of the future,” said CEO Tarun Mehta. “We want… Read more »
