As Tesla evolves from a low-volume startup into a major automaker, its decision to stop offering unlimited free Supercharging for new vehicles is entirely understandable. The company recently announced the details of the new pricing policy, which is designed to keep charging convenient for everyone, while still allowing drivers to fill up for long highway… Read more »
It was a tragic milestone: last May, Joshua Brown, “a friend to Tesla and the broader EV community,” became the first person to die in a crash that occurred while his Model S was in Autopilot mode. The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration (NHTSA) made a full investigation into the circumstances of the accident, and… Read more »
The electromobility revolution is gathering speed, but most of the public is still unaware of what’s going on. A recent survey of 2,557 Americans by Altman Vilandrie & Company found limited awareness of EVs. About 60 percent of respondents picked the multiple-choice answers “I’ve never heard of electric vehicles” or “I’ve heard of electric vehicles… Read more »
Two Michigan companies, New Eagle and Inventev, have teamed up to convert full-size commercial vans to electric drive. They are demonstrating a fully electric Ford Transit van at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Production and sale of the vehicles is scheduled to begin in early 2018. New Eagle will provide the core… Read more »
Wolfspeed, a Cree Company, has introduced a 900 V, 10 mΩ MOSFET rated for 196 A of continuous drain current at a case temperature of 25° C. According to the company, this device enables the reduction of EV drivetrain inverter losses by 78 percent. Wolfspeed has already supplied Ford with a full-SiC, 400 A power… Read more »
King County Metro Transit, which serves metro Seattle, has announced plans to acquire 120 battery-electric buses by 2020. Up to 73 of these will be ordered from Proterra, at a cost of up to $55 million. Eight of the buses are to go into service this year, and 12 more in 2019. In a pilot… Read more »
The Bolloré Group, which operates all-electric car sharing services in Indianapolis and several European cities, plans to expand to Los Angeles. The new BlueLA service is scheduled to open in 2017. It will start off with 200 public charging points and 100 EVs. No details are on offer at this time, so we don’t know… Read more »
Sendyne, a New York-based developer of sensing, modeling/simulation and control products, has introduced the SFP200MOD, a turnkey module designed specifically for the needs of EVs and energy storage systems. This newest automotive-grade member of Sendyne’s SFP family is capable of precisely measuring currents from mA to kA, while simultaneously measuring three high-voltage potentials (800 V… Read more »
At a recent event for investors, Tesla revealed some tantalizing details about its Nevada factory, which is now producing battery cells. The company is now calling the massive manufactory Gigafactory 1 (GF1), a hint of hopes to build similar facilities in Europe and/or China. Tesla has long planned to make this a fossil fuel-free facility…. Read more »
Irizar e-mobility, the newly formed electromobility division of Basque coach builder the Irizar Group, has won a contract with a French transit authority to provide 18 of its i2e 18-meter articulated electric buses, together with charging infrastructure. The Agglomeration of the Basque-Adour Coast in France plans to create two completely electric lines, featuring dedicated bus… Read more »
