In response to my recent piece on electric vehicles, a few readers sent me John Peterson’s position on the subject. Thanks, but I’m already quite familiar with it. John’s a brilliant, honest, and levelheaded guy; in fact, I plan to visit him in Switzerland when I’m in Europe next spring. Having said this, I disagree with him here. (more…)

Renewable energy such as solar has a basic problem: No sun , no power. In order to make it more usable the Power must be stored for off peak use when the sun does not shine. Batteries though die when repeatedly recharged. Stanford researchers have developed part of better battery, a new electrode (more…)

With all the electric vehicles that are being made available now and in the years to come, many are hailing the changing point towards a greener transportation industry as starting right here and now. Most electric cars also boast about how quickly they can be charged, frequently offering a quick charge mode and an overnight figure. The key to all of that, however, is the very (more…)

In a previous post, I discussed the patent litigation between Boston area lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc. (A123) and Canadian utility Hydro-Quebec (H-Q).

A123 initially brought a suit in April 2006 against H-Q in federal court in Boston as a declaratory judgment (DJ) action for non-infringement and invalidity of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,910,382 (’382 Patent) and 6,514,640 (more…)

As we reach the end of this year and the beginning of the next, the United States is bracing itself for the impending release of several new, mass produced electric vehicles. With so many models slated to roll out, each manufacturer is scrambling to prove why their electric vehicle is the one you should choose. For CODA, an independent electric vehicle manufacturer, (more…)

Some people think our economy can run on white collar and service jobs alone, but they are wrong. We can and must make high quality products in America. We are on the verge of a new Industrial Revolution and I believe it will revolve around the greatest untapped opportunity of our time, clean energy. China and Europe see this opportunity and they are already moving (more…)

Imagine that every car in America was an Electric Vehicle (EV) powered by a electric battery like the Tesla’s (Nasdaq: TSLA) Roadster.  Imagine also that each and every car was powered with solar energy. Here’s a question: what amount of land would you need to generate the solar energy to power every electric vehicle in America?  And how would that solar acreage compare with the land surface that the oil industry uses to drill today?

I did the numbers and the answer will surprise you. (more…)

Driving to work and flipping on a light switch may seem to unrelated activities, but very soon lithium ion batteries will assist in making both possible.

The nascent electric vehicle market is likely to standardize on lithium ion batteries. Today the cost of plug-in and all-electric vehicles is too high for many consumers thanks to batteries, which can add $10,000 or more to the price tag. The cost of batteries is only expected to come down after battery cells and packs are produced in sufficient volume to achieve economies of scale.

(more…)