Battery startup Britishvolt has announced plans to build its first battery factory, on the site of a former coal-fired power station in Blyth in northeastern England. Construction is to begin next year, and production of lithium-ion batteries is to start by the end of 2023. The company plans to invest 2.6 billion pounds ($3.5 billion)… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Clean Cars"
2020 EV Charging Infrastructure Best-in-Test: Rating the DC fast charging user experience
If EVs are to replace fossil-fuel vehicles, they need to be able to make long highway trips, which means that DC fast charging needs to be reliable, convenient, affordable and ubiquitous. However, as Charged and other media have often reported, we’re still in the early days of public EV charging, and the user experience often… Read more »
New emissions scandal? Tests show PHEVs emit more pollution than claimed
Sometimes it seems automakers will try any powertrain technology in order to avoid selling battery-electric vehicles. First diesels, then hydrogen, were touted as ways to reduce CO2 emissions while still maintaining the fill-er-up-with-fossil-fuel business model (and continuing to crank out the colossal SUVs that carmakers claim consumers crave). Many electric purists have long suspected that… Read more »
Tesla’s success is “a combination of thousands of heroic feats that no one knows about” (book excerpt)
A new excerpt from Tesla: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Remade the Automotive and Energy Industries, Edition 4.1. An inside look at the early days David Havasi was a car guy from birth. He grew up near Auburn Hills, and his dad worked in the auto industry. “My childhood was… Read more »
Canadian and Ontarian governments invest $590 million to retool Ford plant for EV production
The governments of Ontario and Canada have announced that each will invest $295 million to help Ford upgrade its assembly plant in Oakville to start producing EVs. The grant was agreed to as part of last month’s $1.8-billion deal between Ford and the Canadian trade union Unifor. Ford plans to produce five new electric car… Read more »
The monster that wouldn’t die—varied reactions to GM’s electric Hummer unveil
EV fans tend to be divided into two groups: Greenies and Car Guys, and reaction to GM’s upcoming Hummer EV has, unsurprisingly, been divided along those lines. Hummer good Most of the media is ecstatic over the new machine. Many are praising its “bad-ass” looks (GM says it wanted to make it look “less military”… Read more »
Both candidates support EVs? Don’t you believe it.
During the recent presidential debate, Donald Trump falsely stated that he has “given big incentives for electric cars.” At least one credulous major news outlet took the bait, and ran a headline saying that Biden and Trump agreed on support for EVs. In fact, as everyone who follows the industry knows, nothing could be further… Read more »
New Volta Zero electric truck designed for safety and sustainability
Startup Volta Trucks has revealed its first vehicle, a purpose-built fully-electric 16-ton commercial vehicle designed specifically for inner-city parcel and freight distribution. The new Volta Zero will begin trials with European parcel delivery and logistics companies in the first half of 2021. The company has secured several orders for customer-specific vehicles, which are to be… Read more »
Xpeng P7 review: The company’s making headlines, but how is the car?
Chinese automaker Xpeng is the most recent of a string of EV-makers to launch a headline-grabbing IPO. The company’s US stock-market debut (NYSE: XPEV) raised $1.5 billion off the bat, and the stock posted healthy gains on its first day. However, as John Voelcker writes in The Drive, the exploits of Xpeng and its Chinese… Read more »
Dürr to partner with Techno Smart for battery electrode coatings
A pair of industrial coating specialists, Dürr and Techno Smart, have reached an agreement to provide technologies for coating lithium-ion battery electrodes. Dürr CEO Ralf W. Dieter said, “With Techno Smart as our cooperation partner, we want to secure a larger share of this future-oriented market. The Japanese company’s coating systems are in high demand… Read more »