EV-Box, an international EVSE manufacturer that has offices in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris, London and New York, has installed its 40,000th charging point, at a hotel in The Netherlands. The Hotel & Restaurant Central Park by Ron Blaauw, in Voorburg, strives to make all its operations as sustainable as possible. “Lending electric cars to our hotel… Read more »
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zurich in Switzerland have developed a simple procedure that they say can enhance the performance of Li-ion batteries by improving the design of the electrodes without changing the underlying chemistry. In “Magnetically aligned graphite electrodes for high rate performance Li-ion batteries,” published in Nature Energy, Juliette Billaud… Read more »
Chinese-backed startup NextEV has produced a Formula E race car, and plans to reveal an electric supercar later this year. “When we launch the car it will not be a concept,” Co-president Martin Leach told the International Business Times. “It will be engineered and validated and you will see it driving at some point shortly… Read more »
Governments around the world have established aggressive fuel economy standards, and meeting them will require a substantial percentage of the planet’s vehicle fleet to be converted to electricity (despite the desperate hopes of many auto company execs). New research by the World Energy Council (WEC) attempts to answer the question of just how many EVs… Read more »
Swiss auto component maker BRUSA Elektronik has given its NLG664 onboard fast charger a performance upgrade. The NLG664 is now available with 45-65 Hz input frequency and 30 A single-phase current capability. The flexible input frequency means that the NLG664 can now be operated in countries (such as the US) that use 60 Hz AC… Read more »
Tesla’s recently announced production and delivery figures for the second quarter of 2016 point to a battery that’s either half-full or half-empty, depending on your outlook. On one hand, Q2 production and deliveries both fell slightly short of projections. On the other hand, production continues to ramp up quickly. While Q2 production of 18,345 units… Read more »
Retro drive-in restaurant chain Sonic (NYSE: SONC) has become the latest retailer to jump on the EV charging bandwagon, installing stations at locations in Boerne, Texas and Westminster, Colorado. Charging is free for customers. Sonic VP of Facilities Wayne Brayton told the San Antonio Business Journal that the chargers are part of a pilot to… Read more »
Powin Energy, a maker of stationary storage systems, has been awarded a patent for its Battery Pack Operating System (bp-OS). The bp-OS uses an algorithm to actively and passively balance batteries down to the cell level, and also offers a picture of battery health through real-time monitoring, state-of-charge management and diagnostics. According to Powin, it… Read more »
Torotrak Group has made several improvements to its continuously variable transmission (CVT) technology, providing a wider ratio spread and seamless power delivery. Torotrak’s main drive CVTs combine its full toroidal traction drive variator with other conventional transmission components. The variator is suitable for both front- and rear-wheel-drive platforms. It’s designed to be highly scalable, and… Read more »
Clean tech consultant Julian Cox made some interesting points about the coming disruption of the auto industry in a presentation at CleanTechnica’s recent Cleantech Revolution Tour in Berlin. Cox begins his talk with a recap of some past technological disruptions, which he says have usually played out within 20-30 years (good news for us older… Read more »
