It’s a fair question: Do EVs powered by grid electricity result in lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than legacy ICE vehicles? On average, yes they do, according to studies by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the University of Minnesota, and Carnegie Mellon University. However, regional differences in the energy mix mean that EVs are much… Read more »
To produce EVs, you need batteries. To build batteries, you need lithium. That’s why Tesla has signed a long-term contract with a pair of mining companies to supply lithium hydroxide from a site in northern Mexico. Bacanora Minerals Ltd and Rare Earth Minerals PLC are partners in a joint venture called the Sonora Lithium Project…. Read more »
On the anniversary of last year’s South Napa earthquake, California utility PG&E has donated a plug-in hybrid truck to the city of Napa for use in future disaster response operations. The truck, developed in California by Efficient Drivetrains, Inc (profiled in the March/April 2015 issue of Charged) in partnership with PG&E, has a 30-mile electric… Read more »
The UK firm Evolute Drives makes a multi-speed transmission system for hybrids and EVs that it says allows a vehicle’s traction motor to be smaller and more efficient by running it in a more power-efficient regime. The company will present test results for its 3-speed MSYS transmission at the upcoming CTI Symposium in Shanghai. In… Read more »
Scottish EV buyers can now finance their purchases with sweetheart loans, in addition to receiving the UK Government’s Plug-in Vehicle Grant of up to £5,000 for a new EV (£8,000 for a van). A new £2.5-million fund, financed by Transport Scotland, offers six-year, interest-free loans for the purchase price of a plug-in vehicle (up to… Read more »
The battery business is booming, and a new report from Navigant Research aims to flesh out the picture with some facts and figures. “Advanced Energy Storage for Automotive Applications” predicts that the global market for automotive Li-ion batteries will grow from $7.8 billion in 2015 to $30.6 billion in 2024, an almost fourfold increase. Total… Read more »
Portland, Oregon is proud of its reputation as a charged city – it’s home to about 4,000 EV drivers. Four years ago, the city designated a downtown block as an EV zone called Electric Avenue, complete with a number of public charging stations. It soon became a popular place for EVSE makers to test new… Read more »
EVs require far less maintenance than legacy vehicles, and some have predicted the demise of the friendly neighborhood repair shop. However, an increasing number of independent workshops are carrying out routine servicing and repairs on hybrids and plug-ins, according to Autodata. Autodata supplies technical information to the automotive aftermarket, and over the last quarter, it… Read more »
A coalition of European manufacturers and research institutes has launched ALISE (Advanced Lithium Sulfur battery for EVs), a collaborative effort to develop and commercialize lithium-sulfur technology. The objective of the 7-million-Euro ($7.6 million) project is to achieve a stable 500 Wh/kg Li-S cell by 2019. The final deliverable of the ALISE project will be a… Read more »
Piece by piece, EVSE is spreading across Europe. Little Luxembourg is the latest country to establish a charging network, announcing that up to 850 public charging stations will be installed over the next five years. Details of where the chargers will be located and how they will be operated and maintained remain to be worked… Read more »
