The amount of time it takes to recharge lithium-ion batteries has been a major impediment to consumer acceptance of electric vehicles. But a host of companies and researchers are working intensively to develop a battery that can recharge in 10 minutes and power a car for hundreds of miles. (more…)

One of the biggest hurdles to getting more plug-in electric vehicles on the road has been a lack of charging infrastructure – but America may have many more charging options than previously thought.

Of all U.S. households that own at least one car, an estimated 49.6 million housing units (49 percent of all (more…)

Let me first preface this piece by saying Alaska may not, in fact, be the best place to own and operate an electric car. Confused? Let me explain. A new study (pdf) by the Union of Concerned Scientists explores the often asked but rarely answered questions surrounding the issue of whether some geographic regions may be better than others for electric cars in terms of their (more…)

A couple of times a year, I order up a free “press pass” and head out to a local conference on electric vehicles. Tonight, I’ll be driving south, staying with a friend in Los Angeles, then getting up early and continuing down to San Diego for the first day of the Plug-In Electric Vehicle Infrastructure USA 2012. Topics include: (more…)

Despite several years of economic woes and rapidly expanding debt, a country commits to plug-in electric vehicles and an aggressive roll-out of charging infrastructure. The Republic of Ireland (you were thinking of someplace else, perhaps?) is installing 1,500 public charging stations this year, which puts (more…)

The U.S. Air Force recently announced that its Los Angeles base would be the first federal facility to replace 100 percent of its general purpose fleet with electric vehicles.

This switch will mean all 40 vehicles owned or leased by the base, including passenger sedans, two-ton (more…)

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week the 16 winning projects in 24 states that will receive funding for projects that support community planning for plug-in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The projects won funding as part of the Clean Cities initiative, a competitive program that (more…)

I recently set out to look into all electric car sharing programs, like the one recently started in San Diego by car2go. After a little research into the program – run by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler, stocked with Daimler Smart Fortwo EVs, and using ECOtality (more…)

There is general industry agreement that electric vehicle charging needs to be smart enough to respond to the changing conditions on the grid (to limit the impact on the grid) and to changing prices (to maximize the savings of driving electric). The looming question that will help to shape the (more…)

Last week, I was fortunate to meet with two of the people driving Los Angeles’ transition to plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). Beth Jines, the Director of Sustainability for the City of Los Angeles, and Sarah Potts, City Director of Los Angeles for the Clinton Climate Initiative, are working together to navigate the (more…)