Long charging times represent one of the most commonly-cited barriers to widespread EV adoption, and with ranges getting longer, the need for faster charging becomes even more pressing. Pennsylvania-based Phoenix Contact plans to demonstrate its CCSplus fast charging system at the upcoming North American International Auto Show. CCSplus builds on the established CCS charging standard,… Read more »
EV startup Lucid Motors and battery giant Samsung SDI have entered a partnership under which Samsung will supply lithium-ion cells for the Lucid Air executive sedan, which is scheduled to begin production in late 2018. The two companies have collaborated to develop next-generation cylindrical cells that they say exceed current performance benchmarks in energy density,… Read more »
San Diego-based Envision Solar (OTCQB: EVSI) makes two unique solar-powered charging solutions (see the May/June 2016 issue of Charged). Just a few days after announcing a sale of 13 EV ARC self-contained charging units to a California transit agency, the company announced that an Illinois municipality has ordered 12 Solar Tree arrays. The Solar Tree… Read more »
The California Public Utilities Commission has unanimously voted to approve Pacific Gas & Electric’s Charge Smart and Save charging infrastructure program. The $130-million project will deploy 7,500 charging stations across northern California, primarily at multi-family dwellings and workplaces. PG&E has agreed to install 15 percent of the charging stations in disadvantaged communities, and aims to… Read more »
The coming generation of longer-range EVs will require faster charging, and network operator EVgo isn’t waiting around – the company has broken ground on a public charging station capable of charging at up to 350 kW, which the company says is seven times faster than any fast chargers currently available. The new high-power charging station… Read more »
Boston-based XL Hybrids has announced the launch of its new XLP product line, a ship-thru upfit for half-ton pickup trucks that the company says will deliver a 50 percent improvement in fuel economy. The new XLP solution will build on the company’s existing XL3 hybrid powertrain, which was introduced in 2013, and has logged over… Read more »
The future of the EV industry is bright. We’re losing count of all the planned EVs that automakers have in the pipeline. And it seems increasingly likely that they will follow through with those plans. If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that all EVs in the near future will have a range of… Read more »
Researchers from Idaho National Laboratory (INL), along with the DOE and several automotive companies, have completed bench testing to support SAE Technical Information Report (TIR) J2954, a guideline for wireless charging that was published earlier this year. The SAE’s TIR J2954 is designed to ensure the performance and safety of Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems,… Read more »
Lucid Motors, formerly known as Atieva, has unveiled its Lucid Air electric luxury sedan. Some of the specs are already known, as the powertrain seems to be much the same as that used in the company’s hotrod van Edna, but the new car’s design was revealed for the first time. The Air uses a new… Read more »
By now, the main events in Volkswagen’s dirty diesel scandal are familiar to Charged readers. For years, the world’s second-largest automaker opted not to produce hybrids or EVs, instead relying on “clean diesel” to meet government-mandated emissions standards. In 2015, scientists at the International Council on Clean Transportation were puzzled to find that they couldn’t… Read more »
