Search Results Found For: "DOE "

California: Smaller automakers can earn ZEV credits with PHEVs (UPDATED)

For several years now, the California Air Resources Board’s ZEV mandate has required the largest automakers to produce a certain number of zero-emission vehicles for sale in the state. Beginning in 2018, smaller OEMs will be subject to the rules, too. Unsurprisingly, these companies would rather skip it, and at a May hearing, Jaguar Land… Read more »

New Elon Musk biography reveals new details, sows controversy (book review)

Ashlee Vance, the author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, has had unprecedented access to his subject, spending many hours in face-to-face interviews with Musk. He has also spoken with many of Musk’s family members, friends and business associates, and has crafted a comprehensive biography that’s replete with details… Read more »

ORNL breakthrough could enable wider application of graphene composites

Graphene, a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms, has great potential in a number of EV-related applications, including anodes, lithium-sulfur batteries and ultracapacitors. With current technology, however, it’s impractical to use on a large scale, and researchers have been limited to using small flakes of the material. Now a team of researchers at the DOE’s… Read more »

Tesla to adapt to Chinese charging standards – as soon as they exist

Tesla has announced that it will fully support China’s charging standards, modifying its vehicles to ensure that they are compatible. This is surely a wise and necessary policy, as concerns about charging infrastructure are widely considered to be the main reason that EV sales in the world’s largest auto market have been slow to take… Read more »

EDI delivers extended-range EV drivetrains for some of the biggest vehicles on the road

Powerful plug-ins: Q&A with Efficient Drivetrains Inc. CEO Joerg Ferchau. In November 2014, US officials and electric utility executives stood in front of the White House to announce a new EV commitment from power companies. More than 70 investor-owned electric utilities have pledged to spend an estimated $50 million per year – $250 million over five… Read more »

LG Chem Power CEO: We’re the Li-ion leader for PEVs because of material science

Q&A with LG Chem Power’s CEO: Dr. Prabhakar Patil on how the company became a Li-ion battery front-runner, the economics of building batteries, and why it spends little energy on what comes after lithium. Among Tier 1 automotive suppliers of lithium-ion cells, LG Chem is off to a clear lead, based on the number of announced… Read more »

MOEV Inc. develops distributed power smart-charging systems

An educated EVSE: Part of the academia-to-enterprise pipeline, MOEV Inc.’s distributed power smart-charging systems may be the economical answer to California utilities’ grand infrastructure plans. The usually pejorative term “ivory tower” refers most often to an intellectually cut-off academia, which sits separated from the practical world, musing away on obscure research or useless pursuits. However, it’s… Read more »

FTC officials: States should allow consumers to choose how they buy cars

Federal Trade Commission officials have weighed in for a second time on the war between Tesla and the auto dealers. In an 11-page letter that is summarized in the Competition Matters blog, a trio of senior FTC staffers wrote that a recently-passed Michigan law, which strengthens the requirement that automakers sell only through third-party dealers,… Read more »

EXCLUSIVE: Stealthy EV startup Atieva ramps up hiring, including many top ex-Tesla engineers

Last month at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, Charged came across a very interesting booth in the career development section. Atieva, a company we’ve heard little about, is hiring a lot of engineers for a new EV project. “Atieva is designing and creating a breakthrough electric car in the heart of Silicon Valley,” says the… Read more »