Tag Archives: electric vehicles
A group of European and American car makers has announced the adoption of the J1772 standard developed by the International Society of Automotive Engineers for electric vehicle charging. The single plug system is to be adopted by Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, BMW and the Volkswagen group (including Porsche and Audi). The problem is that Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Toyota have already adopted a different "standard", called CHAdeMO, which uses two plugs – one for home charging and another for fast charging. The J1772 "standard" peg won't fit into the CHAdeMO hole And, of course, Tesla is completely different again.
Nissan is planning four new electric vehicles. A new version of the Leaf is expected to be released at the Paris Motor Show in October. It is expected to be offered with various levels of trim and a lower entry price. An electric van, the e-NV200, is expected by late 2013. It was previewed at the Detroit Motor Show in January. It is being tested as a delivery van by FedEx in London and as a taxi for New York. In 2014, Nissan is planning to release an electric luxury car to rival the Tesla Model S. And, in 2015, … Continue Reading
The Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer, Pipistrel, has delivered the first of what it claims is the only commercially available "electric 2-seat aeroplane in serial production". An optional trailer, which houses the aircraft, is equipped with solar panels for charging its batteries. The aircraft is actually a self-launching glider with a retractable electric engine and propellor. The motor peaks at 40 kW for take-off and allows continuous climbing at 30 kW power. It has two alternative lithium battery configurations capable of lauching it to 1,200 metres or 2,000 metres respectively. The company claims that its Taurus Electro G2 can use a … Continue Reading
IBM, together with Honda and the California utility Pacific Gas & Electric, is about to start trialling a smart-charging system to charge a fleet of electric vehicles without disrupting the grid. The electricity grid already has the capacity to accommodate millions of plug-in vehicles. The problem arises if there is a concentration of electric vehicles charging at the same time. Even as few as four or five vehicles charging at the same time in nearby locations could cause local stability problems. IBM’s smart-charging system monitors a car’s battery charge state along with the grid load. Consumers indicate when they want … Continue Reading
DK City, a Taiwanese company, has come up with a kit which converts a standard bike to electric by simply changing a wheel and clipping a wireless console to the handle bar. The kits come in eight colours and two sizes but, unfortunately, are quite expensive at $US 1,170.
A New York-based company, Eos Energy Storage, is developing a system that refills an electric vehicle’s battery in a way similar to the way petrol cars are refueled at service stations. Eos Energy Storage says that it can make a zinc-air battery in which the used electrolyte can be pumped out and a new electrolyte pumped in, just like filling up a petrol tank. The process would take about three minutes to provide sufficient charge to travel more than 600 kilometres at about one-tenth of the cost of petrol. An electric car, with zinc-air batteries, would have a similar cost … Continue Reading
A New Zealand-owned company has launched the world’s first wireless technology which allows parked or moving electric cars to charge automatically without being "plugged in". The technology was developed by the University of Auckland’s Power Electronics Group HaloIPT, a UK based company, owned by Auckland UniServices Ltd and Ove Arup & Partners, is the first in the world to bring to market "inductive power transfer" technology which allows cars fitted with a receiver pad to charge automatically when parked over transmitter pads buried into the ground. Inductive power transfer systems can be configured to power any road-based vehicles from small … Continue Reading
The Electric Motors and Vehicle Company in Indiana has launched a a self-propelled diesel generator on wheels, called a "Power Regeneration Unit", that can be hitched to an electric car and towed along as a trailer to serve as a range-extender. This allows the electric car continuous operation over long distances when required without having the extra weight when long range is not needed. The Unit aims to extend the range of a typical electric vehicle by up to ten times – from an average electric vehicle range of 160 kilometrs per charge to 1,600 kilometres. The 550 kilogram trailer … Continue Reading
The team from VisLab have completed their 92 day journey from Belgrade to Shanghai in two driverless vans.(See our previous story). The main problems proved to be border crossings, particularly at the Russia / Kazakhstan border and Kazakhstan / China border and a brush with a very puzzled Moscow policeman who tried to tell the driver that the vehicle was in a restricted pedestrian area. One of the few times that the crew had to take over driving was also in Moscow when the local vehicles formed three lines despite there being only two marked on the road – the … Continue Reading
BMW’s Smart and Daimler’s Mini divisions are both plannig to show concept electric scooters at the Paris Motor Show in October. Both are rumoured to have litium batteries giving a range of 100 kilometres. The Smart scooter is said to include an airbag. Both companies have released sketches of their designs: Mini scooter Smart scooter
Videos
Renewables News- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted WaterScientists from Deakin University, together with French colleagues, say that they have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes, while repelling … Continue Reading → […]
- Aussie Researchers Make Efficient Solar Cells from Low-grade SiliconResearchers at the University of New South Wales have found a way to make very high efficiency solar cells out of cheap, low-grade silicon. It has been known for several decades that hydrogen atoms can be introduced into the atomic … Continue Reading → […]
- First Aussie “Hot Rocks” Power Plant Begins ProducingThe first power plant in Australia to produce electricity using an enhanced geothermal ("hot rocks") system has begun producing electricity in the far north-east of South Australia. The one-megawatt Habanero pilot plant near outback Innamincka is operated by Geodynamics. Geodynamics … Continue Reading → […]
- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted Water
