The monthly sales race has presented a predictable pattern for many months: LEAF, Model S and Volt in the lead, Ford and Toyota plug-ins in the second rank, low-volume and compliance cars way in the back of the pack. So it was quite an upset when a couple of models that everyone had long ago… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "UPS"
VIA Motors launches voucher program for Chicago fleet buyers
VIA Motors has announced a voucher program for Chicago-area fleet and business owners that reduces the purchase price of its extended range electric pickups and vans. The Drive Clean Chicago program offers a voucher worth $41,200 for the VIA Motors Extended Range Electric Pickup, $42,892 for the Cargo Van, and $39,460 for the Passenger Van. Combining… Read more »
Toyota forced to build electric cars in China
Toyota has made no secret of its disdain for battery-electric vehicles in favor of fuel cells, but like other high-volume OEMs, it was compelled to produce an EV by the California authorities – the RAV4 EV, which the company did not market, and discontinued as soon as possible. Now it seems that the world’s largest automaker will… Read more »
March plug-in sales: Tesla grabs lead, Fiat surprises, Kia and Cadillac disappoint
There are several interesting developments to report on the EV sales front this month – an overall increase, a lead change, and a sales surge in the most unexpected of quarters. Total plug-in sales for the month were 10,341, a healthy recovery from February’s slump, and a 7% increase over the March 2014 numbers. Interestingly,… Read more »
British Columbia renews Clean Energy Vehicle incentive program
British Columbia has announced the renewal of its Clean Energy Vehicle (CEV) incentive program, effective April 1 (via Green Car Reports). The CEV program, which expired in the spring of 2014 after exhausting its original $12-million budget, offers point-of-purchase rebates of up to $5,000 Canadian ($4,000 US) for battery EVs and $6,000 Canadian ($4,800 US)… Read more »
Is String Cell battery technology the future for EVs?
When it comes to finding a way to charge EVs more quickly, human ingenuity has come up with some pretty wide-ranging solutions, from battery-swapping to flow batteries that store energy in tanks of liquid electrolyte. The latest innovative idea comes from startup Tanktwo, and is called a String Battery. Tanktwo’s system replaces a vehicle’s battery pack with a container filled… Read more »
FleetCarma digs deep into cold-weather EV data
Matt Stevens is the CEO of FleetCarma. The company created an EV monitoring solution and has compiled a large database of real-world EV performance. Is this normal?That is the question many first-time EV owners ask when the mercury drops below the freezing point. While cold weather affects all vehicles, the impact on plug-in vehicles can feel particularly intense. A… Read more »
Argonne National Labs hosts the Interoperability Olympics
At Argonne National Labs, the pursuit of greater compatibility between DC fast charger EVSE and EVs connected some dots between industry standards and industry stalwarts. America’s first national lab, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), has always been steeped in the purpose of discovering and developing sustainable energy sources for promoting national security and prosperity. While the… Read more »
Tesla Model S performs more cold-weather battery maintenance between trips than other EVs
Over the past five years, FleetCarma has been logging conventional vehicles in fleets to determine suitability for EV replacement. It also created an EV monitoring solution since existing telematics systems were unable to read and log the new EV signals. The result is a large database of real-world EV performance, and from time to time… Read more »
UK startup improves free piston linear technology, generating power with no drive shaft
A free piston linear power generator (FPEG), which uses combustion to generate electricity directly, using no drive shaft, could provide an EV range extender that’s far smaller and more efficient than a legacy ICE. Several research groups, including a Toyota R&D team, are investigating this intriguing technology. UK startup Libertine LPE has developed an FPEG… Read more »