The city of Columbus, Ohio has won the Smart City Challenge, a competition organized by the DOT to encourage cities to develop plans for a 21st-century intelligent transportation system. 78 cities submitted applications for the award, which will provide up to $40 million from the DOT and an additional $10 million from Paul Allen’s Vulcan… Read more »
Human ingenuity continues to address the important problems of the world, pushing vehicle acceleration time ever faster. A team of Swiss students has set a new world record for EV acceleration with an experimental race car that reached 62 mph in 1.513 seconds. The Grimsel, built by the Academic Motorsports Club Zürich, shattered the previous… Read more »
Australian electric utility AGL Energy has announced plans to offer its electricity customers an “all you can eat” EV charging service. “If you have an electric car and you have an AGL smart meter…you can get energy for that car, as much as you want, 24 hours a day, for a dollar,” said AGL CEO… Read more »
China-based bus manufacturer BYD announced several nuggets of good news at the recent Transports Publics event in Paris. The company has received orders for 16 battery-electric buses from French operators, and will begin a six-month e-bus trial in Paris. BYD also unveiled a new 12-meter e-bus optimized for the European market. B.E. Green of Yvelines,… Read more »
A team from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has developed a touring electric motorcycle it calls the STORM Pulse. A 28.5 kWh battery pack enables up to 236 miles of range. The pack is made up of swappable modules made up of 18650 lithium-ion cells. The battery pack can be swapped for… Read more »
PlugShare, the maker of a popular charging station locator app and purveyor of public charging data, is betting that homeowners who go solar would also like to drive electric, and vice versa. Under PlugShare’s Drive Solar program, purchasers of a home solar system from Sungevity can receive a free GE WattStation home charging station, including… Read more »
The tiff between Tesla and British car show Top Gear was the EV world’s equivalent of the OJ Simpson circus. After prickly presenter Jeremy Clarkson, a famous hater of all things electric (and most things American) gave the Roadster a snarkily negative review in 2008, Tesla sued for libel. The ensuing drama dragged on for… Read more »
Already familiar sights on rich-country roads, electric vehicles are now starting to appear in the developing world as well. Australian EVSE manufacturer Tritium has announced a distribution agreement with Sunrise Engineering of Sri Lanka. The local renewable energy pioneer has unveiled the first Tritium Veefil fast charger in the island nation’s capital, Colombo, and plans… Read more »
Daimler has cranked up the voltage several notches with a series of EV-related announcements. The German auto giant plans to invest €7 billion ($7.9 billion) in green tech R&D over the next two years. Mercedes’ seventh and eighth PHEV models, the GLC Coupé 350 e 4MATIC and the E 350 e, are to arrive in… Read more »
Driving the Future, by former EPA official Margo Oge, tells the fascinating story of how the agency achieved a historic agreement with the auto industry to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions – an agreement that delivered cleaner air and millions of dollars in savings for consumers, and gave a huge boost to the growing… Read more »
