The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), a regional association of local governments, has partnered with the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) and Smith Electric Vehicles for a pilot program that will deploy 30 of Smith’s Newton electric trucks in the Houston-Galveston region, the country’s fifth-largest metropolitan area. The project is partly financed by a… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "DOE "
Leonine Volvo plug-in coupé to prowl in Frankfurt
Volvo’s Concept Coupé, which will debut at September’s Frankfurt Auto Show, is the first of a series of three concept cars that will use the company’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). So far, Volvo’s announcements about the new concept have featured plenty of braggadocio… “Think about the powerful calmness of a lion. He doesn’t have… Read more »
MetLife installs workplace chargers at 14 US campuses
Good grief! Insurance giant MetLife (NYSE: MET) has installed 32 Level 2 charging stations for employee use at 14 of its facilities across 10 states. According to the company, this is the largest number of stations of any non-EV industry company currently participating in the DOE’s Workplace Charging Challenge. “MetLife has a broad and deep… Read more »
ARPA-E awarding $36 million to 22 projects in RANGE program to improve EV batteries
When the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) announced its Robust Affordable Next Generation EV-Storage (RANGE) program in February, it envisioned doling out $20 million in research funding to 8- 12 recipients with the goal of developing a better EV battery. Now the agency has announced the recipients of the awards, and both… Read more »
Tesla takes aim at rear-view mirrors
The latest automotive icon that Tesla is setting out to smash: side mirrors (wing mirrors to our British friends). Eagle-eyed EV watchers may have noticed that the original concept of the Model X had no mirrors, and neither does Volkswagen’s diesel hybrid spaceship, the XL1. According to John Voelcker of Green Car Reports, the rear-view… Read more »
ECOtality suspends trading, speaks of possible bankruptcy
ECOtality, the operator of the Blink charging network (Nasdaq: ECTY), has suspended trading and filed an 8-K report that details serious trouble for the company. Here’s the bad news: Although the Company is currently exploring options for a restructuring or sale of the entire business and/or assets, [it] may need to file a petition commencing… Read more »
GM uses ultrasonic welding to build ELR battery packs
Ultrasonic welding is one of many high-tech manufacturing processes that GM uses to produce its EVs, including the Chevy Volt and the new Cadillac ELR electric luxury coupe. The technique employs a pair of tools called an anvil and horn to apply rapid mechanical vibrations to the battery’s copper and aluminum electrodes. This creates heat… Read more »
Musk expands on Tesla’s Q2 financial report
Last evening, Tesla Motors announced its Q2 2013 financial results, and afterward, Chairman & CEO Elon Musk and CFO Deepak Ahuja took questions from journalists and analysts for about an hour. As expected, Musk did most of the talking, and covered a lot of ground concerning Tesla’s future production plans and international expansion. On… Read more »
Europe to ban CHAdeMO fast charging, and/or fast jumping to conclusions
InsideEVs recently ran an article with the provocative headline “European Parliament Prepares Draft Calling for Termination of CHAdeMO in Europe.” To anyone who’s been following the European fast charging standards “war” (or “issue” for those of a calmer disposition), this certainly sounds like a crazy idea. Predictably, this scare story generated dozens of reader comments… Read more »
New Panamera PHEV provides progress over its predecessor
Porsche’s new Panamera S E-Hybrid PHEV incorporates dramatic improvements over the hybrid model that it’s replacing, and the company expects that to drive dramatically better sales. Porsche is forecasting about 10,000 sales over the E-Hybrid’s life cycle, which represents double the figure for the company’s first-generation hybrid, and about 10 percent of all Panamera sales…. Read more »