electric vehicle

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has announced funding for a new program focused on improving electric vehicle (EV) battery technologies.[read more]

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Energy storage can contribute to the smart grid by facilitating integration of renewable sources and provision of important ancillary services. At the same time, energy storage cannot really be exploited to its fullest potential without a smart grid infrastructure capable of managing bidirectional energy flows. Because of that reciprocal...[read more]

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Recently, the choice of the electric vehicle charging mode once again became the hot topic in China. The debate started last year, when State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) together announced that their EV charging strategy is to focus on battery swapping mode instead of charging mode.[read more]

Good thing GM is planning to start building Chevy Volts again soon—March saw 2,289 of the cars sold, by far the biggest month ever for the plug-in electric, the company reported. Nissan, meanwhile, said sales of its all-electric Leaf also climbed, though more modestly, from 478 in February to 579 in March [PDF].In early March GM...[read more]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change begins its latest meeting today in Durban, South Africa.  Only the sunniest of optimists expect real progress in forging a global agreement as developing and developed nations argue about voluntary versus legally binding emissions reductions and funding measures. ...[read more]

Fascinating poll results about what people think a reasonable recharge time is for an EV: Vehicle Technologies Program: Fact #702: November 21, 2011 Consumer Preferences on Electric Vehicle Charging: Question: Considering your expected vehicle use, what is the longest time to fully recharge the battery that you would consider acceptable when buying or leasing an electric vehicle?[read more]

Guest post by By Craig Shields, Editor, 2GreenEnergy.com As I told the audience in my recent presentation at the Electric Vehicle Summit, I actually see this subject as one of very few bright spots happening in the world today. In particular, it appears that the divorce between Big Auto and Big Oil will be a messy and ugly affair, but...[read more]

The great pitfall of government policies, no matter how well-intended they might be, is their inevitable unintended consequences. When those are truly surprising, it's hard to attach much blame to the legislators or regulators involved. However, that degree of indulgence shouldn't apply when the unintended consequences are as obvious as...[read more]

Last Thursday the U.S. space shuttle touched down for the last time, and a part of history came to an end. N.C. Senator Fletcher Hartsell, Jr., reflected that morning that “It’s sad to think we might have lost our vision a bit [in the space program]. But, when you look at the area [of electric vehicles], it says we might be finding it...[read more]

Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi takes energyNOW! Chief Correspondent Tyler Suiters on a tour of the charging infrastructure his company is installing in Israel, and demonstrates how battery replacement can increase electric vehicle efficiency.[read more]

Detroit’s the Motor City. California’s car culture is unsurpassed. But when the electric car industry staged an “innovation motorcade” of electric cars and trucks today, it did so in Washington, D.C.–fittingly, because, without the government, there would simply be no electric car industry. Indeed, the market for electric cars is so...[read more]

 Outside the door to General Motors’ Washington office is a photo of the Chevy Volt framed by the U.S. Capitol. GM loves to market the Volt, the 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year (“A car of the future you can drive today.”) It’s an engineering breakthrough, a darling of the “green” media and evidence that stodgy old GM knows how to...[read more]

 With all the dismal environmental news of late–from the nuclear crisis in Japan to the Republican attacks on EPA in Congress–it will be a pleasure this week to turn my attention to one of the most exciting developments on the sustainability front: the arrival of electric cars in the U.S. To be sure, the sales figures so far for the...[read more]

I’ve written before about a company called Evatran that has developed a wireless charging system for electric vehicles. Earth2tech is reporting that Google is now testing out the technology with a retrofitted plug-in vehicle. See Evatran press release here. It will be interesting to read about the results. Obviously, efficiency of the...[read more]

First there was music sharing and then car sharing. Now get ready for plug sharing. Xatori, a Silicon Valley software start-up, aims to create a network of electric car enthusiasts who make their household power outlets and home chargers available for drivers who need to top off their battery or who find themselves out of range of the...[read more]