It’s not every day that you see an electric vehicle driving down the street. Certainly for me, I don’t see electric vehicles parked in the garage of my building. So, when given the opportunity to test drive the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, I jumped at it. I always wondered what it would be like to drive an electric vehicle on the streets and freeways of San Diego. (more…)

The BMW i3 represents one of the biggest parts of the manufacturer’s Project i series, which is focusing on electric city cars. The i3 is expected to be released in 2013, and converts what has been a long process of developing all electric vehicles at BMW into a reality. The i series cars, which will be marketed separately from other BMW marques, are primarily defined by their all electric drivetrains, zero emissions, and (more…)

Here’s a consumer-oriented piece from the U.S. Department of Energy: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Electric Vehicles. Nicely done.

There are a couple of issues with EVs, however, that make this a trickier issue than the article implies:

• Even though the fuel savings versus gasoline are significant, (more…)

For more than ten years, Heslin Rothenberg’s Clean Energy Patent Growth Index has been reliably tracking green technology patent grants. The CEPGI consistently provides interesting data, which often put solid numbers behind the trends those of us in this field see, hear anecdotally, or just intuitively know. (more…)

Here’s a cool infographic called “The Fastest Electric Vehicles on Earth” that I thought readers would enjoy. What they say here is certainly true: we tend to think of EVs as slow, glorified golf carts. Yet those of us who have driven a Tesla have quite a different impression; they’re little rockets, with better acceleration than Porsches. (more…)

GM is already the maker of the Chevrolet Volt, the first wide-selling domestic plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to hit the market. With new CAFE standards put in place by the US Government, and with growing public demand for cleaner vehicles, GM has decided to expand its electric vehicle inventory. According to GM’s product development chief, by (more…)

Green continues to be a dominant shade of innovation in the automotive sector as 2013 looks to be a banner year for vehicle efficiency. According to AutoTrader.com, total shopper interest for alternative fuel and highly fuel-efficient models is up 54 percent so far in 2012. This year’s LA Auto Show ® reflects this trend and will host significant debuts in electric, (more…)

FedEx Express currently operates 130 all-electric vehicles (EV’s) worldwide, making the company an ideal collaborator for social innovation research and development initiative with Nissan. These two companies have been working together since 2011 to test the e-NV200 in real world operations to help shape development of the 100% electric compact (more…)

Hybrid electric vehicles have frequently been targeted in court, taking flak for alleged greenwashing (see, e.g., here and here) and alleged patent infringement (see, e.g., here and here).

That trend continued and extended to electric plug-in vehicles with a recent (more…)

Here’s an overly simplistic article that questions the validity of electric vehicles as “green” transportation, suggesting that charging EVs can require more coal to be burned. I note the comment: “I power my electric car totally from solar PV panels. This article should be citing coal-fired power plants, not electric cars.” He has an excellent point, but, since most EV (more…)