Dyson, a manufacturer of high-tech vacuum cleaners, fans, restroom hand dryers and other nifty gadgets, has invested $15 million in Sakti3, a Michigan-based developer of solid-state battery technology. As CEO Ann Marie Sastry explained in a panel discussion last November, solid-state batteries theoretically offer higher energy density than current Li-ion designs, and could also be… Read more »
The currently unfolding electromobility revolution has spurred a surge of interest in the history of EVs, and some fascinating fossils are coming to light. Our colleague Jason Torchinsky at Jalopnik unearthed an interesting relic in The Complete Book of Electric Vehicles, by Sheldon Shacket, which was published in 1979. The book describes a prototype Volkswagen… Read more »
When it comes to finding a way to charge EVs more quickly, human ingenuity has come up with some pretty wide-ranging solutions, from battery-swapping to flow batteries that store energy in tanks of liquid electrolyte. The latest innovative idea comes from startup Tanktwo, and is called a String Battery. Tanktwo’s system replaces a vehicle’s battery pack with a container filled… Read more »
Policymakers in many countries remain skeptical about the benefits of EVs, but a new study has added weight to the pro-EV argument, at least in the UK. According to a paper that was written by Cambridge Econometrics and commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, large-scale deployment of EVs could cut the UK’s oil imports by… Read more »
The buildup was pretty big: earlier this week, Elon Musk’s tweeted that an upcoming software update for Model S would “end range anxiety.” The reality – announced at a press conference today – is neat, but perhaps not quite so game-changing. Software version 6.2, which is expected to be enabled in the next 10 days,… Read more »
New Jerseyans are now free to test drive and order a new Model S, after Governor Chris Christie signed a bill that legalizes direct sales by manufacturers of zero-emission vehicles. Tesla can now sell cars directly to consumers at its Paramus and Short Hills showrooms, and potentially open up to two more. The company will… Read more »
The Formula E Championship may be the world’s greatest ambassador of electromobility. Last week in Miami, over 20,000 folks got a thrilling look at what EVs can do, and none of them will ever again think of them as poky little golf carts. The Miami Formula E race was the fifth round of an inaugural… Read more »
If we’ve read it once, we’ve read it a thousand times: increasing EV adoption depends on providing more public charging infrastructure. Governments, automakers and some public utilities tend to agree with this conventional wisdom, and many are investing substantial amounts in rolling out public charging networks. Many in the EV world are skeptical of this… Read more »
In January 2009, ChargePoint installed its first charging station in downtown San Jose, California. Five years later, the company is the king of the charging networks and boasts over 20,000 charging spots in North America. The company has a staggeringly high attach rate for new plug-in vehicle drivers. Somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of… Read more »
EV advocate to charging entrepreneur You may remember a little Nissan LEAF battery controversy that popped up a few years ago. Beginning in May 2012, a handful of LEAF owners located in Phoenix, Arizona started posting on forums that, according to the car’s dashboard display, their batteries were losing capacity much faster than they were expecting…. Read more »
