Now that Toyota’s Prius Plug-in Hybrid has been officially announced, we can begin the comparisons with the other plug-in electric vehicle with an extended driving range, the Chevrolet Volt. The underlying question is which is more important to consumers: electric driving range, or total vehicle (more…)

Do you remember the show Knight Rider, featuring David Hasselfhoff and KITT, the smooth-talking Trans Am, that aired back in the early ‘80s?

I remember going over to my friend Art’s house and finding his dad glued to the TV set every Friday night watching what I thought was a lame show. But maybe (more…)

While electric vehicles are only being delivered by the hundreds today, plans for clusters of fast DC charging stations around major cities and along highways are fully underway. During the next 18 months it may be more of a challenge to find enough cars to warrant the chargers’ existence than it will be for EV drivers to find a fast charge station. (more…)

Akio Toyoda, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Corp, promoted his “Prius Family” with the unveiling of the Prius v and Prius c at the Detroit Auto Show on January 10, 2011.

The Prius hybrid came to America in 2000 as “a misunderstood concept struggl[ing] for acceptance”. Now, with nearly 1 million (more…)

It’s not the biggest news of the new week, or the new year, but it is indicative of the gradual tilt toward renewable energy taking place all across America, as Green Mountain Power, a Vermont utility, pledges to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations within its service territory.

And while the charging stations themselves (more…)

Felix Kramer of Calcars thinks 2010 will be the year of the plug-in car.  He’s got a good case: After years of advocacy and technology development, 2010 is the year that major manufacturers will finally make plug-ins broadly available, and rapidly decreasing battery costs are helping the conversion industry reach new customers and help retrofit the existing fleet at scale.  After years of work and promise, 2010 is the payoff year.

I see a similar trend in solar in California, where years of policy and business development are all coming together to make 2010 an extraordinary year for solar development.

There are four major market drivers:

(more…)

Ford’s goal of electrifying its fleet appears to be running on all cylinders. The company is creating battery electric versions of both of its award winners –2009 Car (Focus) and Truck (Transit Connect Van).

Because energy storage will make or break the arrival of electric vehicles, Ford has joined GM in bringing the battery pack assembly and management under its tent.

Ford is investing nearly $1 billion in manufacturing facilities in Michigan that will include hybrid, battery-electric and plug-in vehicles as well as the lithium ion battery packs. Ford manager of global electrified fleets Greg Frenette explained that “there’s a strong tie-in marrying battery control…. to the rest of propulsion, and we’re in the best position to manage that.”

(more…)

While the title of this article may be a little premature, if you ask any auto company about their most exciting models coming out in the next few years, you would be hard pressed to find any auto maker without a plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicle hitting the market in the next few years. And as fellow CleanTechies blogger Levent Bas suggested in August last year, “the future of electric vehicles may be here sooner than we think.”

With expected release dates in 2010, the plug-in Nissan Leaf, plug-in Toyota Prius and many other models will offer a green/clean-tech alternative from their gas-powered competition. Recent estimates place the number of models available by 2014 at over 70. Not all these vehicles will make their way to the US market and some wonder if the market will be ready but in other circles there are different concerns about the electrification of the transportation industry. Will the electric grid be ready for the additional load?
(more…)

There has been a great deal of talk and excitement about the electrification of transportation that is expected to occur over the next few years. The Prius proved to everyone that electric technology can work as well as or better than only gas power. Now, companies such as Tesla and Mission Motors are proving that high-performance and electric not only belong in the same sentence but that these terms are increasingly becoming synonymous.

How far along are we? Its already common to see Teslas’ quietly cruising around many parts of California and partially electric bicycles are becoming an increasingly regular sighting.

(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…)