Search Results Found For: "ZF"

France moves to unify charging networks

As more and more French drivers go electric, public charging stations are proliferating – the country currently has around 9,400 – but so are charging networks, each requiring its own subscription and payment method. Now the French government plans to make things easier for consumers by requiring network operators to unify some of their features… Read more »

New study: Nighttime EV charging may increase carbon footprint (Updated)

The question of the “long tailpipe” is a fraught one: does an EV deliver lower carbon emissions than a legacy vehicle if the electricity comes from dirty coal? The latest study to address the issue comes from Carnegie Mellon University, and it includes a couple of surprising new findings. “Regional Variability and Uncertainty of Electric Vehicle… Read more »

Loyal GM customer told CEO Mary Barra he is tempted by Tesla’s “beautiful” user interface

There’s currently a lot of talk about a trend that Tesla co-founder Ian Wright discussed in our pages a year ago: even as software becomes a more and more critical part of the automobile, the user interfaces built by the (non-Tesla) automakers are clunky and old-fashioned, especially when it comes to integrating with our other… Read more »

Lodging network teams with Tesla to deploy 170 destination charging stations

Tesla is on a mission to make electric road trips as convenient as possible. Complementing the worldwide network of 2,349 (and counting) Superchargers is the Destination Charging program, which partners with hotels and other travel destinations to deploy Level 2 chargers for overnight charging. The latest to join the program is Select Registry, an independent association… Read more »

Formula E electrifies Miami

The Formula E Championship may be the world’s greatest ambassador of electromobility. Last week in Miami, over 20,000 folks got a thrilling look at what EVs can do, and none of them will ever again think of them as poky little golf carts. The Miami Formula E race was the fifth round of an inaugural… Read more »

Tesla goes to China: charging is a genuine challenge

It’s no secret that Tesla’s sales in China are materializing more slowly than expected (and no surprise – China has proven a tough nut to crack for many Western firms). Elon Musk acknowledged the difficulties in February, but as always, put a brave face on things: “Things were a little weaker in China because of… Read more »

Nickel-metal hydride: the battery tech of the future?

Conventional wisdom has it that lithium-ion batteries are the state of the art, and that nickel-metal hydride chemistry, which is used in most conventional hybrids (some of the newer Prius models now use Li-ion), is pretty much obsolete. However, scientists at BASF believe that NiMH technology still has much to offer. According to MIT Technology Review, the… Read more »

Tesla’s next competitor might not need to build a single car

These days, the media insists on describing every future plug-in vehicle as a “Tesla competitor.” The latest putative challenger is not an automaker at all, but Apple, a company that has a lot in common with our favorite EV maker (including about 150 former employees). Reports that Apple has been bulking up on battery expertise… Read more »

Tesla Q4 earnings: still in the red, but great things coming soon

Tesla’s earnings report for the 4th quarter of 2014 followed the usual pattern: there’s plenty of good news, but the company is still operating at a loss; Elon Musk dropped his customary vague hint of more wondrous goodies to come in the future; and the stock market reacted in its usual way – TSLA shares… Read more »

Tesla has picked over 150 employees from Apple

Disruptive technology in an elegantly designed package that sells itself – that’s the formula that’s been working wonders for two American companies. The parallels between Tesla and Apple, and the fact that quite a few employees have made a move from the computermaker to the carmaker, isn’t news, but a recent Bloomberg article puts some… Read more »