Tag archives for electric cars
Posted by A hot pink wind turbine turned above one paddock at Shell Eco-marathon Europe this year; it was the stall of the team from Inholland University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The students, all studying aeronautical engineering, have designed a vehicle with a detachable rear end that can be changed in few minutes and converted…
The “Let’s Do It Again!” team from James B. Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina weaves reuse, recycling, and waste reduction into construction of the high-efficiency electric cars it builds for Shell Eco-marathon Americas. This year, the team’s three vehicles incorporate parts of an old baby carriage, a child car seat, a chair, some…
In Tesla Motors-NYT Spat, Cold Realities About Electric Cars
Posted by Josie Garthwaite on February 13, 2013 
A New York Times reporter’s white-knuckled 206-mile journey in a Tesla Model S ended with the high-end EV on the back of a flatbed truck, and his account of the drive is fueling debate this week over the potential and the pitfalls of electric cars. Tesla’s chief executive fired back at the Times, calling the…
Battery Maker A123 Systems’ Bankruptcy by the Numbers
Posted by Josie Garthwaite on October 17, 2012 Battery maker A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, saying that the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls would be taking over its automotive operations in a deal valued at $125 million. This past August, A123 had arranged for Chinese auto parts company Wanxiang Group to invest $450 million, but that deal fell apart amid what A123 CEO…
We recently took a look at the new electric cars that are charging into the automotive market, despite the obstacles they still face in displacing the gasoline-powered vehicles that are still king of the road. One reader raised a simple, but excellent question, because it really is at the heart of why EVs are expected…
GM Again Temporarily Halts Volt Production Over Low Sales
Posted by OilPrice.com on August 31, 2012 In the same week that the Obama administration announced its new fuel economy standard, U.S. automaker General Motors announced it would halt production of the Chevrolet Volt electric car for four weeks, citing the car’s failure to meet targeted sales projections, according to Bloomberg news. (Related Photos: Rare Look Inside Automakers’ Drive for 55 MPG)…
Battery-Swapping Aussie EV Sets 24-Hour Record: 1,170 Miles
Posted by EarthTechling on August 22, 2012 It didn’t go 1,170 miles (1,886 kilometers) in 24 hours without stopping, but for an electric car, it’s still a mighty impressive distance — the equivalent of a mad dash from Seattle to Orange County, Calif. The Aussie consortium that pulled it off saw this unofficial EV world record as confirmation of their homegrown vehicle’s capabilities.…
News that China’s largest auto parts maker is seeking a controlling stake in one of the most heralded U.S. green technology companies, A123 Systems, has quickly ignited into a debate on national security and the energy future. Of course, the Obama administration, which supported A123 with a $249.1 million grant in 2009, like the Bush…
New U.S. Navy Electric Trucks Sport Solar Panels
Posted by EarthTechling on August 7, 2012 They may not be sexy in a Top Gun kind of way, but the U.S. Navy’s continued investments in clean technologies for use throughout its operations recently extended to Pearl Harbor via 36 new electric vehicles. These new two- and four-passenger trucks and cargo vans are from Vantage Vehicle International out of California, who get the chassis for the vehicles from China…
Posted by In March we took you on a video test drive of the all-electric Nissan Leaf (see below). Today we explore a few other electric models. With estimated electric car sales in the United States set to jump from less than 20,000 in 2011 to 40,000–60,000 in 2012 (with some optimistic predictions going as high as…
Posted by Change is hard in the world of energy, and nothing shows that more than attempts to change the deep roots of the vehicles Americans drive every day. Almost all the oil we use as a nation goes for transportation, with all the implications that brings in terms of dependence on foreign oil, gas prices that…
Wireless Power Can’t Yet Replace Utility Poles, But Could Offer More Options for Electronic Charging
On the heels of the violent storm system that felled enough overhead wires to disrupt electricity for 4.3 million utility customers on the U.S. East Coast, new research suggests that the technology for transmitting power without connection to the vulnerable electric grid may be closer at hand than most people think. “Wireless power” will be…
Laurens van Mulukom, a mechanical engineering student at Hogeschool van Amsterdam, talked about why hydrogen is “one of the most innovative fuels to work with,” at Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 in Rotterdam. With this year’s competition that ended Saturday taking place on its home country’s soil, <a href=”http://www.h2a.nu/h2a-news/”>Team H2A</a> was proud to achieve a new…
A pair of French student teams from schools side-by-side on the Loire River shared technology, team spirit, and sleek aerodynamic styling to capture top fuel efficiency prizes Saturday at Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 in Rotterdam. Team Microjoule from the technical school La Joliviere in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire won the gasoline prototype division for the third year in…
Oguzhar Yalcin, a student at the University of Celal Bayar in Manisa, Turkey, explains the inspiration for his team’s solar car at Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 in Rotterdam. The car is named for the “Manisa Tarzan,” the environmentalist Ahmet Bedevi, who is legendary for his work in the first half of the last century planting…
Many engineering students, like Matthias Jungbluth of Fachhochschule (The University of Applied Sciences) Trier in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, are attracted to a project like Shell Eco-marathon by the hands-on experience involved in designing and building a fuel-efficient car. The Trier school’s team, called team ProTRon (a combination of the word “protype” and the abbreviation for the…
Nicole Miranda, a first-year doctoral student at the University of Oxford, practices her vehicle exit technique and timing at Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 in Rotterdam. She is assisted by fellow student and driver, Lucy Mahoney. (Often female students serve as drivers in the fuel efficiency competition because they weigh less than the men on the…
The drive for a new and better way of doing things is built into the car designed by students from Italy’s Italy’s Politecnico di Torino, and entered in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012 this week in Rotterdam. Most students in the fuel efficiency competition choose ultra-lightweight material like carbon fiber to shave mileage. But for their…
Posted by The electrical prototype of the Polyjoule team is the most energy efficient vehicle in the world. During the EducEco Challenge competition (from May 2-4, 2012), on the Nogaro circuit in Gers, France, the all electrical prototype of Polyjoule got the result of 10,017 km with the energy equivalent of 1 liter (a bit less than…
The 1 Percent’s Electric Car: The $980,000 Rimac Concept_One
Posted by EarthTechling on April 27, 2012 In life there will be most of us, and there will be the one percent. There will be those of us who fly in coach, and there will be those of us who have their own private jets. There will be those of us who enjoy our small homes, and those of us who dwell…
Posted by For the past 20 years, Purdue Solar Racing (PSR) has been designing and building a variety of solar powered vehicles. While these cars have all varied greatly in their designs and manufacturing processes, Shell Eco-marathon’s urban concept category motivated PSR to enter into a completely unexplored realm with its eighth car, Celeritas. Urban concept vehicles…
Come along on a test drive of the Nissan Leaf. Ever wonder what one of those all-electric cars feels like when you’re behind the wheel? Well, here’s your chance. We’ll start by getting the lowdown on what it means to be a “zero-emission vehicle” from one of the Energy Department’s car specialists. We’ll kick the…
GM Pulls the Plug on Chevy Volt Production—Temporarily
Posted by Amy Sinatra Ayres on March 6, 2012 With sales far lower than expected, General Motors says it will halt production of the Chevy Volt, its promising but high-priced plug-in car, for five weeks starting later this month. Still, just days after GM’s announcement, the Volt was named European Car of the Year. Analysts blame the Volt’s low sales on the vehicle’s high…
Ford Debuts Its Focus Electric For 2012
Posted by EarthTechling on December 20, 2011 It’s been what seems a long time in coming, but Ford finally officially pulled the wraps off its brand-new electric vehicle, (EV) the 2012 Focus Electric recently, and also said that production of the sporty, five-seat hatchback has gotten underway at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, MI. This is the company’s second EV, following…
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While the Tesla Roadster is still the sexiest car in the electric vehicle market, companies are piling on the industry this year. Ford released its first electric car, the Focus Electric, along with a partnership with Best Buy to sell home charging stations. Rolls Royce also unveiled its new electric car, the 102EX, for the…
