The province of Ontario has released a new Climate Change Action Plan that calls for the investment of up to $8.3 billion in projects to fight climate change. Considering that more than a third of Ontario’s greenhouse gas pollution is caused by the transportation sector, and that much of the province’s electricity comes from renewable… Read more »
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which serves the cities of St Petersburg and Clearwater on Florida’s West Coast, has become the latest of many transit agencies around the country to consider deploying electric buses. At a recent public meeting, the PSTA board voted to buy 3 diesel hybrid and 2 electric buses, if the necessary… Read more »
The United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) has awarded a $4-million contract to SiNode Systems for the development of advanced anode materials for automotive lithium-ion batteries. The 30-month program will focus on the development of silicon-graphene anode material for vehicle applications, and the development and scale-up of pouch cells. SiNode’s technology uses a composite of… Read more »
Wireless charging pioneer WiTricity has announced a new charging system that uses magnetic resonance technology to deliver a range of power over distance and through materials. According to the company, its new system enables power transfer at up to 11 kW, and has the ability to scale up to 25 kW and higher. WiTricity, in… Read more »
Specialty chemicals firm Strem Chemicals plans to manufacture and distribute nine battery solvents and additives based on intellectual property for next-generation battery materials that it has licensed from Argonne National Laboratory. The materials were invented at Argonne’s Electrochemical Energy Storage Center and scaled at Argonne’s Materials Engineering Research Facility (MERF). The DOE established MERF to… Read more »
The driver of a Tesla Model S was killed in a crash that occurred while the vehicle was in Autopilot mode, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration (NHTSA), which has opened an investigation. The accident occurred on May 7 in Williston, Florida. The victim, Ohio resident Joshua Brown, is the first known fatality… Read more »
Stationary storage provides the missing link between EVs and renewable energy. Tesla made it trendy, but other automakers, including Nissan, GM and Toyota, have been exploring the technology for some time. Now BMW has announced a stationary storage solution that integrates its i3 vehicle battery. BMW’s new system, announced at the recent Electric Vehicle Symposium… Read more »
One solution to the problem of long-range over-the-road electric trucks could be electrifying sections of roadway with a system similar to that used by railroads. The Swedish Transport Administration recently inaugurated a two-kilometer stretch of “electric road” on the E16 highway in Sandviken. The test area is equipped with electric catenary lines over one of… Read more »
The DOE has announced nearly $16 million in funding from its Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), which has a mission to help businesses move promising energy technologies from the DOE’s national laboratories to the marketplace. This round of funding will support 54 projects at 12 national labs, involving 52 private-sector partners. EV-related TCF awards include: Manufacturing… Read more »
The EV of the future will be just one component of an integrated transportation/energy ecosystem that includes private cars, public transport, renewable energy sources and stationary storage. Could trains and cars, both powered by electricity, share not only passengers, but also energy? The idea may not be as outlandish as it seems. Hybrid and electric… Read more »
