Croatian startup Rimac Automobili, located just a few hours’ drive from the birthplace of Nikola Tesla, has ambitions of becoming a major carmaker. Its first-generation vehicle, and the first step in its master plan, a powerful beast called the Rimac Concept_One, may be familiar to EV cognoscenti as one of the pace cars for the… Read more »
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FIA Formula E Championship aims to change perception and push EV technology to new heights
A race towards progress: The all-electric racing series The greatest obstacle to getting more EVs on the road isn’t high upfront costs, range anxiety or a lack of infrastructure – it’s simple consumer awareness. Despite the fact that the Model S, Volt and LEAF are becoming common sights in many cities, a surprisingly high number of… Read more »
Apple exec: “The car is the ultimate mobile device.”
Will Apple’s next blockbuster product line have wheels and a windshield? Well, the company hasn’t said it won’t, and Senior VP Jeff Williams made some tantalizing comments at last week’s Code Conference. Responding to a question about what the company might do with its massive pile of cash, Williams said, “The car is the ultimate… Read more »
Ford opens up its EV patents, puts 200 more engineers to work on electrification
Tesla isn’t the only company that can play the patent-opening game. Ford has announced that it will make its portfolio of over 650 electrification-related patents available to competing automakers. Unlike Tesla, which has implied that it will allow others to use technology “in good faith” free of charge (and Toyota, which plans to make some… Read more »
Uber adds PHEVs to its fleet in China
It’s a logical convergence of three tech trends: Uber, EVs and China. The pioneering ride-sharing service, which has already been testing EVs in Chicago and Prague, has announced that it will add ten PHEVs to its fleet in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The new car service, called UberGREEN, will use Guangzhou Automobile’s Trumpchi GA5… Read more »
California BMW dealer opens EV-only showroom
As Tesla realized from the beginning, trying to sell EVs alongside legacy vehicles could be a losing proposition. Dealerships that also sell gas-burning cars have incentives to steer customers away from plug-ins and toward their proven sellers. For an automaker that actually wants to sell its electric models, it may make more sense to establish separate, EV-only dealerships… 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 »
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 »
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 »
New PlugShare Data tool offers comprehensive EV infrastructure analytics
In the past five years, the amount of public PEV charging infrastructure in the US has skyrocketed to over 25,000 charging stations. In June 2010, that number was fewer than 1,000. That’s when the PlugShare team first began mapping EV chargers, allowing its app users to share tips and tricks about their favorite places to… Read more »