Google and the IEEE Power Electronics Society established the Little Box Challenge to stimulate the development of inverters, key components of both solar energy installations and EV systems. The challenge to engineers: “Figure out how to shrink an inverter down to something smaller than a laptop (a reduction of 10× in volume), and you’ll win… Read more »
First Priority GreenFleet, a company that provides a range of services to fleet operators, has acquired the assets of Electric Vehicles International (EVI). California-based EVI manufactures battery-electric light- and medium-duty trucks as well as a plug-in-hybrid utility service truck. It also sells powertrains and performs conversions. First Priority GreenFleet’s corporate parent, First Priority Global, manufactures… Read more »
Everyone who watches the sketch comedy show Portlandia knows that the dream of the 90s is alive in Portland. Our dream of the 90s was vehicle electrification, and we hoped the GM EV-1 would kick-start the trend more than a decade before the Tesla Roadster actually did it. Well, the vehicle electrification dream is alive… Read more »
“When you get off the plane in Oslo, Norway, it is like entering fairytale land for people in the EV industry,” says Rami Syväri of charging network operator Fortum. Thanks to hefty government incentives – including zero import taxes, charging incentives and bus lane access – Norway has quickly catapulted its EV market from early-adopter… Read more »
ClipperCreek has added a new 24-amp Level 2 charging station to its product line. The LCS-30 provides up to 5.8 kW of power, and is available for both hardwired and plug-in installations. The American-made LCS-30 is aimed at the residential, workplace, fleet, and public amenity charging markets. It features a fully sealed NEMA 4 enclosure,… Read more »
The City of St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta, has ordered three battery-electric buses from BYD, which will be delivered by early fall of this year. Each bus has a range of up to 250 kilometers. St. Albert chose BYD buses because of the Chinese company’s 12-year battery warranty, and because BYD was able… Read more »
At the recent Geneva Auto Salon, a number of smaller automakers had electrified supercars on display. Few of these are likely to be seen on the world’s roads any time soon, but it’s interesting to see how designers are combining electric and legacy drives for maximum performance. The British firm Arash (via Green Car Reports) unveiled a… Read more »
The EV charging markets in the US and Europe look very different, but at least one company is building bridges across the pond. EV-Box, a Dutch firm that was founded in 2010 and has an installed base of over 36,000 charging points in 20 countries, now has an office in Brooklyn. EV-Box’s North American HQ is… Read more »
Charging levels are headed higher, and greater efficiency could make it easier to top up tomorrow’s bigger batteries without straining the grid. Researchers at the Advanced Power Electronics Lab at Kettering University, in partnership with auto electronics giant HELLA, now report that they have built a Level 2 onboard charger with an efficiency of 97%,… Read more »
US plug-in sales are on the rise again – February’s figure of 7,881 was the fourth consecutive monthly record, and an increase of 13% over last February’s 6,951. The Tesla Model S regained the lead that it briefly lost to the Volt in January – estimated sales were 1,550 units in the US (via InsideEVs). The… Read more »
