Electricity was en vogue at the recent Paris Motor Show. Few automakers had any new ICE vehicles (isn’t that an oxymoron anyway?), but there were updates to several production EVs, and a couple of promising concepts, on display. The Renault Zoe, Europe’s best-selling plug-in vehicle, has gotten a substantial battery upgrade. An available 41 kWh… Read more »
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Magna Steyr engineers still working on Apple EV?
The word on the street is that Apple is scaling back its automotive ambitions – the New York Times and others have suggested that the company may be planning to develop autonomy software in partnership with an existing automaker rather than build its own car. However, Bloomberg now reports that automotive heavyweight Magna Steyr still… Read more »
Bloomberg: Second-life EV battery storage will total 26 GWh by 2025
In a new report for clients, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) forecasts that there will be 29 GWh of used EV batteries available in 2025. This far exceeds the size of the current stationary storage market. Of this, almost a third will get a second life as stationary storage (10 GWh), bringing the cumulative installed… Read more »
Plug-in sales continue to climb in July, Volt retakes the lead
US plug-in sales continued their steady growth last month, and even the mainstream press is now beginning to understand that rock and roll is here to stay. 13,432 EVs and PHEVs changed hands in July, an incredible increase over July 2015’s 8,951. The Chevy Volt regained its accustomed first place, as accolades accumulate for the… Read more »
Peugeot Citroen evaluates free-piston linear generator for range extender
PSA Group, the maker of the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands, is preparing to test a free-piston linear generator from Israeli startup Aquarius Engines as a range extender for its EVs. “We are evaluating the technology,” said PSA Research and Development Director Gilles Le Borgne. “Nothing has been decided yet.” The free-piston linear generator has… Read more »
Swedish initiative lets EV owners share charging stations a la Airbnb
A recent survey conducted by Renault found that 60 percent of Swedish drivers would like to see more EVs on the roads. Renault’s poll also found (as others have) that a lot of people believe that a shortage of charging points is a major obstacle to EV adoption. In response to these findings, Renault has… Read more »
Silicon-carbide power electronics enable new ZapCharger Portable charger
Norwegian power electronics firm Zaptec has developed a new portable charger in partnership with Renault. The ZapCharger Portable is designed to be compact (3 kg, 45x10x10 cm), rugged and smart – it’s waterproof, operates at temperatures from -40° to 55° C, and continuously monitors the grid to shut down immediately if it detects a fault…. Read more »
Fast-E project to install 278 dual-mode fast chargers in Germany and Belgium
Long-distance electric driving in Europe is getting easier by the day, as DC fast-charging stations sprout up along the continent’s highways. The Fast-E project, co-financed by the European Union and nine companies, will install 241 fast-charging stations in Germany and 37 in Belgium, spaced every 80 km along main motorways. A sister project will add… Read more »
Two UK organizations join forces to facilitate large-scale EV deployments
UK organizations Elm EV and Zero Carbon Futures have teamed up to create EV Works, which aims to help businesses and other organizations to roll out large-scale EV charging networks across multiple sites. Elm EV has installed over 2,000 EV charging stations at homes and businesses in the UK. Zero Carbon Futures is a non-profit… Read more »
While US EV sales shrank, Europe’s almost doubled
What a difference a year or two makes. Not so long ago, we EV pundits were trying to figure out why EV sales were so slow in Europe compared to the US, despite the continent’s green reputation and high gas prices. Now they must be wondering the same about us. Annual US plug-in sales actually… Read more »