Establishing a plug-in vehicle tax credit in North Carolina would boost the state’s GDP by $52 million over the next 16 years, while reducing the impact of fluctuating gasoline prices, says a new study. The study, “Impact of Introducing an Electric Vehicle Rebate on the North Carolina State Economy,” was published by Keybridge Research, and… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "our next energy"
NextEV founder: Chinese Tesla wannabes have no idea what they’re up against
The lure of China’s EV market, with its vast potential size and a government committed to promoting new energy vehicles, is an enticing one for established automakers and startups alike. Shenzhen-based BYD (in which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns a 9% stake) currently dominates China’s new energy vehicle market, with an 18% share. Tesla is… Read more »
DOE issues $25-million funding opportunity for next generation of electric machines
The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy intends to issue a new $25-million Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0001467) entitled “Next Generation of Electric Machines: Enabling Technologies.” Goals for next-gen motors include high power density, high revolutions per minute and integrated power electronics. The FOA may include the following topic areas: High Performance Thermal and… Read more »
NREL report: Battery-electric buses are four times more fuel-efficient than CNG
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published a new report that found that Proterra’s battery-electric buses are nearly four times more fuel-efficient than comparable compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. The study focuses on a pilot project for California’s Foothill Transit, in which 12 Proterra e-buses logged nearly 400,000 miles of on-road testing. The NREL… Read more »
Data-driven energy management system can improve the efficiency of PHEVs by 12%
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have demonstrated an energy management system (EMS) that learns from historical driving cycles how to combine the power streams from an electric motor and an internal-combustion engine in the most energy-efficient way. In “Data-Driven Reinforcement Learning-Based Real-Time Energy Management System for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles,” published in Transportation Research… Read more »
The next nifty EV feature: perpendicular steering
Add another item to the list of neat tricks that cars will soon be learning: the ability to maneuver sideways in order to slip into tight parking spaces. The OmniSteer project, funded by Germany’s Ministry of Education and Research, aims to develop a vehicle with “a lateral and transverse guidance system capable of performing orthogonal,… Read more »
Inventev wins grant to develop plug-in hybrid Energy SWAT Truck
Detroit startup Inventev has won a $500,000 grant from the DOE’s ARPA-E agency, as well as a $50,000 matching grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, to develop its plug-in hybrid drive system for commercial trucks. Other collaborators include Pacific Gas & Electric, A123, BorgWarner, Ford and NextEnergy, which will provide testing and demonstration services… Read more »
Paraclete Energy says its low-cost silicon nanoparticles can at least double your current anode capacity
Silicon has a theoretical charge capacity ten times higher than typical graphite. That is why a mind-blowing number of researchers are working towards replacing more and more of the graphite used in today’s lithium-ion battery anodes with silicon. In the last issue of Charged, we discussed Tesla’s announcement that it had begun to use small… Read more »
Tesla CTO JB Straubel: Stored solar energy will be cheaper than fossil fuels within 10 years
Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel had some interesting things to say at the recent Intersolar North America conference. Savvy observers of the energy transition understand that the synergy between solar power and EVs is a critical part of the transition to electromobility, and Tesla, with its alliance with SolarCity and its new energy storage… Read more »
Guangzhou Automobile Group to invest $322 million in factory for new energy vehicles
Guangzhou Automobile Group plans to invest 2 billion yuan ($322 million) in a factory in China that will exclusively build new energy vehicles (plug-ins, hybrids and FCVs). The new plant is scheduled to go online in 2018, and will have an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles. The location of the new factory has not… Read more »