September plug-in sales showed a slight decrease compared to August, but 2014 is still on track to decisively beat 2013’s figure. Pure electricity ruled this month, as the leading EVs made strong showings, and all the major PHEV models showed steep declines. The Nissan LEAF still leads the pack. Sales shrank slightly to 2,881 in… Read more »
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Tesla bulks up Hong Kong operations
Tesla plans to double its Hong Kong workforce to over 100 people by the end of the year, and has hired a country director for the Chinese city. “Hong Kong could potentially be the place to showcase the success of electric vehicles to the rest of Asia,” said Veronica Wu, Tesla’s VP for China operations…. Read more »
Foothill Transit inaugurates fully electric bus line
As cities around the world test electric buses, Foothill Transit – a public transportation provider in Los Angeles County, California – will start regular service on a fully electric bus line this week. Four years ago, Foothill Transit became the first public transit agency to put fast-charging electric buses into service. It now has a… Read more »
New report: Used EV batteries and California’s energy storage needs
As California searches for cheap energy storage options, a new report by the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative at the UCLA and UC Berkeley law schools suggests that used EV batteries may be the ideal solution. “Most batteries will retain much of their capacity and value after the use of the car,” said report… Read more »
US plug-in sales break 250,000 as National Drive Electric Week kicks off
US plug-in vehicle sales have surpassed the quarter-million mark, just in time for National Drive Electric Week, September 15-21. Sales have increased by a healthy percentage every year since the Volt and LEAF went on the market at the end of 2010. 2014 sales total 76,799 so far, on track to handily beat 2013’s figure… Read more »
Studies indicate that EVSE and shade structures could attract prime customers
Public charging and parking have a symbiotic relationship, for obvious reasons. A number of companies in the charging field are forging business relationships with parking providers, which may be large employers, owners of commercial, residential or government properties or third-party operators of paid parking facilities. Most of us devote surprisingly little thought to parking, considering… Read more »
Q&A with Qualcomm’s Joe Barrett, Appealing to the wireless generation
In January 2014, the Alliance for Wireless Power announced Qualcomm Technologies Inc. as one of the first companies to earn Rezence certification, a technology and set of specifications endorsed by the world’s leading mobile chipmakers, mobile phone manufacturers and other key industry partners. With Qualcomm and other companies now certified, it is expected that Rezence-based… Read more »
Membrane technology and the importance of venting EV electronics
Protecting a car’s sensitive electronics throughout its lifetime is a must, whether it’s a conventional ICE vehicle or an EV. However, the larger electronics in plug-in vehicles have more power, more heat and higher pressure differentials that present new technological challenges to OEMs and suppliers. Any power semiconductor inevitably generates heat while conducting current, due… Read more »
Impregnating motors with thermal management materials to reduce hot spots
A doctoral candidate plucks a thermal management material out of LORD Corporation’s voluminous catalog, and one Ph.D. later, the EV world may have an exciting new boon for the efficiency of electric motors. Anyone working within the corporate world has probably been battered with the word “synergy” to the point of it being rendered meaningless…. Read more »
A closer look at how batteries fail
A lot of research has been done to improve lithium-ion battery safety, cycle life and power output over a range of high and low temperatures, yet understanding the fundamental processes and degradation mechanisms in Li-ion batteries remains a challenge. To understand the degradation processes of lithium-ion batteries, it is important to understand how they operate…. Read more »