June 6th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Ironically, as I was gathering notes for an upcoming article on the state of the electric air propulsion industry, I read about the tragic electric Siemens Magnus eFusion prototype crash that recently took the lives of its two passengers in Hungary
May 30th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
The state of electric vehicle (EV) batteries can get confusing. Although internal combustion engine (ICE) aficionados talk about engine displacement and horsepower, EV drivers often consider energy storage as the most important part of their decision making. Today, there are more lithium battery chemistries than ever and figuring out which one is used where and what appears after the dust settles can be difficult. Here's a brief look at what's in store tomorrow from the major EV battery OEMs
May 29th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are all the rage. Sport? Well, not really. In fact, most of them never leave the comfort of paved roads. Utility? Sometimes, once or twice a year, or you could include kids in that definition. Vehicles? Definitely, they are vehicles, and lot of them! So much so that SUVs have become Detroit's bread and butter for decades. It's more profitable building big heavy cars than it is building fuel-efficient vehicles
May 28th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
A highly accomplished grid-edge startup, Sonnen, has just received a significant investment from European energy giant Royal Dutch Shell. The investment will help it to develop its U.S. and Australian solar + storage market share
May 26th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
In the race to electrify vehicles, electric buses (e-buses) and other utility platforms have been kept in the specialized news media. Despite the low profile, this market segment has the industrial and financial might to catapult EVs into mainstream use earlier than predicted
May 25th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Although the term "fast train" in this context might make a few European and Asian railroad commuters smile, US "fast trains" are getting more abundant nonetheless — albeit, at an American pace — and that's a good thing. From California to Texas (a coming story) to Florida, progress is being made
May 23rd, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
BP Ventures invests $20 million into an ultra-fast-charging battery developer called StoreDot that targets a battery for electric vehicles that charges in just 5 minutes. The goal is to commercialize a flash battery for mobile communication devices as early as 2019 followed by an EV battery. Who said petroleum companies were sitting on a goldmine and not taking advantage of it
May 23rd, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
This story hits home in more ways than one since I live in Long Beach, California. Although Long Beach is a fun city, we pay a high price living in such a highly polluted Californian city
May 21st, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Good old Subaru. We don't hear much from the company, and rightfully so. It doesn't have much clean news to report beyond a 2004 net-zero landfill factory in North Carolina and the introduction of its hybrid CrossTech in 2013 — if you count that
May 18th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Hang onto your hats, we may be entering the era of the electric SUV. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid, BMW X5 xDrive40e, and of course Tesla Model X have been around for a while, but we now have the Kia Niro EV, Tesla Model Y, Jaguar I-PACE, Audi E-Tron Quattro, VW ID Crozz, Nio ES8, Weltmeister EX5, Nissan iMx, Byton's first entry into the market, and others on the way. The latest to join the club? Aston Martin. As Jo Borras writes, Aston Martin is planning to revive the legendary Lagonda brand. The electric SUV concept it is ... slick
May 18th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Alejandro Agag will introduce the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY this Saturday, May 19, on the Berlin Tempelhof Circuit for the start of the 2018/19 season of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. Get ready for another season of electric racing!
May 18th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
We're glad to see we're not the only ones impressed with the amazing Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV). We reported in January that it had just passed 100,000 sales in Europe. Now we get news that it is still the top best-selling plug-in vehicle in the UK, and there is a reason of 10 for that
May 13th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
One whole year ago, Uber launched its Elevate summit. Uber continues to invite and gather electric aircraft leaders in order to advance, explore, and promote electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi pods — or something like that. This sounds exciting, but will such ideas survive the company's negative public image
May 13th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Hot on the latest Uber Elevate summit this month in Los Angeles, Pipistrel planned the unveiling of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft concept to the public
May 10th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
California can stand up against whatever flavor of the year Washington, D.C., tries to impose on the rest on the country. As the world's 5th largest economy, it continues to push for renewable energy and electric vehicles despite an unruly political landscape that has slowed down cleaning up our pollution. Once more, California has forged ahead, with the latest news being that it is requiring most new homes to be solar energy ready
May 10th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
These are times when you wish you could gather children over a bonfire to tell the story of how slime saved the day!
May 9th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
While PlugShare works well for most electric vehicle (EV) drivers, building ever more precise and accurate databases is key to an even better adoption of those cars. A new Californian database tries to establish just that
May 9th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
General Motors is not the only carmaker suffering from manufacturing inefficiency and significant contributions to runaway pollution. But it is reported to have a plan that tackles both
May 7th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
The future of electric aviation seems so far off and yet so very close that I think the only possible similarity would be to compare it to the electric vehicle (EV) rebirth of 2008. But just as back then, how many get the importance of electric aviation and its most urgent breakthroughs
May 5th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
California might be on the leading edge of renewable energy and electric mobility, but sometimes even the Golden State bows to industry pressures and powerful lobby arms. The highly successful access greener drivers get to dedicated high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on California roads are now being pulled away from those greener drivers (drivers of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. EV drivers aren't being kicked out of the lanes immediately, but the same usual carmaker suspects have apparently been successful in lobbying for anti-EV changes — they only get three years in the lanes
April 27th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Electric race car fans can rejoice! Coventry University has been working overtime to give you a shared platform that can be raced by third parties
April 26th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
Lynk & Co is finally revealing what it has been teasing for a year or so — its very first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The Lynk & Co 01 PHEV SUV (enough acronyms for you?) wraps together its own experience with PHEV drivetrain systems and Volvo's
April 24th, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
For all the talk of free markets and self-regulation, we are forced to observe that little to no market has proven to self-regulate itself well. Despite its rhetoric, autonomous vehicle (AV) companies proclaim working towards industry standards while acting otherwise behind the scenes
April 23rd, 2018 | by Nicolas Zart
A silent, under-reported, highly polluting industry is that of cement factories all over the world. Wherever they are, pollution spikes happen, belching out noxious particulates ill-affecting the health of those who live near their path
