Nissan has announced its support for National Plug in Day to take place on October 16th and the theatrical release of Chris Paine’s new film Revenge of the Electric Car to be shown in NYC and LA on October 21. Other showings will follow.
Tesla’s Roadster is one of the sexiest electric cars on the road, and their new sedan looks pretty sweet, too. Not only does it seat up to 7, there’s also a performance model available (0-60 in 4.5 seconds!). Helping keep costs down so more of us can ride in this sweet silent sedan is Panasonic, providing the lithium-ion battery cells.
As long as there are complaints about electric cars, Nissan just isn’t satisfied. Having already resolved the bulky home charger issue with a smaller version, Nissan will next tackle the excessively long time it takes to charge an EV.
The eCarTec fair in Munich this month addresses issues of energy, infrastructure, and finance, as related to electric vehicles and energy conservation technology. To get visitors in the door, the fair has announced eCarLiveDrive — a host of EVs to test drive on a 0.6 mile test course are part of the package, including a massive Dutch “superbus” prototype.
Tiny short-range electric cars with room for one or two were not uncommon at the IAA 2011 – VW brought the Nils, Audi had the Urban Concept, and Opel showed the Rak e. Peugeot missed the auto show, but has announced its own tiny electric car anyway – the Velv.
Toray’s TEEWAVE AR1, on display at the IAA 2011, seems to be a very rare thing – an environmentally friendly sports car. The next-generation EV concept car was made with environmentally friendly materials developed by Toray itself, with the hope that it could serve as an example for other automakers.
Surface-mediated cells (SMC,) from Angstron Materials Inc., offer us the advantage of increasing both power and energy densities.
Electric cars have giant batteries (useful for a number of things besides driving the actual car, even). Also under consideration as the primary power source for electric cars (and buses, motorcycles, yachts, etc.) is the lithium ion capacitor.
A hydrogen fuel cell-powered hybrid electric bus supplied by UTC Power for the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District has set a performance record by operating for over 10,000 hours. The milestone is another step toward reducing the life cycle cost of hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles, which produce zero emissions and are more than 50% efficient in terms of converting energy to power.
BYD Co Ltd is on schedule to enter the growing EV market with the E6 crossover in Q2 of 2012. E6 represents the big battery solution to EV range. Other solutions…
