By Andrew Williams •
November 2, 2009
A US-built Tesla Roadster has broken the world record for the distance travelled by an electric production car on a single charge.
While competing in the Global Green Challenge, Australian Simon Hackett and co-driver Emilis Prelgauskas drove an incredible 313 miles before the batteries finally died in their Roadster.
Until now, the record has been held by another Tesla Roadster, after completing a 241 mile road rally on one charge.
One major obstacle on the road to widespread acceptance of electric cars is reliability. Electric cars are still relatively new ground, and anybody who has ever gotten a cellphone wet or left a laptop in a car during a hot summer day (guilty on both counts) knows that electronics are very sensitive to the elements. Apparently, they are also sensitive to potholes.
One of the “lucky” few who were given an Electric Mini to test out—the founder of GM-Volt.com found out just how sensitive when the Mini came to a dead stop in a construction zone after hitting one such pothole.
By Joanna Schroeder •
October 30, 2009
They say that nothing is free, but I may have come across the exception. In West Texas and Illinois, electric customers are being paid to use electricity. With the growth of wind energy in areas like Texas, Iowa and Minnesota, electric companies are occasionally producing more energy—especially during off-peak hours—than they can use. Why not store it you ask? Because there are not yet any good ways to store energy; a quest since electricity was created.
According to expert Terry Boston, who is the CEO of PJM, a company that manages the electricity grid in 13 mid-Atlantic states and Washington, the oversupply of electricity has forced prices into the negative range. The result: some customers are paid to use electricity.
The Nissan LEAF promises to be the first affordable all-electric car on the market when it hits showrooms around this time next year. With a target price in the $25,000 range it is affordable, anti-petrol, and kinda cute too. The production model makes its North American debut next month in Los Angeles. It will be the first chance for the American public to see this car in person. [ed. note: Gas 2.0 will be there for the unveiling in L.A.]
After making its debut, Nissan will take the LEAF on a countrywide tour, giving the denizens of 22 cities a chance to sit and drive an important part of our electric future.
Tesla has not always had an easy time breaking new ground in the electric roadster market. There have been plenty of hiccups along the way, and it doesn’t help that their first production vehicle costs well north of $100,000. That is, unless you live in Colorado.
The state best known for its snowy peak and undefeated football team (boooo Broncos) also offers a substantial tax break on all hybrid and electric vehicles. For the Tesla Roadster, that amounts to an amazing $42,000 off of the $109,000 car.
By Susan Kraemer •
October 27, 2009
This gorgeous interior is emblematic of the change marking the NMG2 electric vehicle from its precursor, the NMG, from Myers Motors in Ohio. Two years ago, Myers was the only company in America with a true freeway speed (up to 75 miles an hour) fully electric vehicle on the market; the three wheeler NMG EV. At under $25,000, even. There was just one problem, and it was huge. The thing looked as if it just escaped from the circus:
By Clayton B. Cornell •
October 26, 2009
If I could sum up last week’s conference on electric vehicles in a single sentence, it would be this: I’m now certain that my kids will grow up driving electric cars.
Advocates have been saying it for a while, but now all sides of the debate—including automakers, utilities, venture capitalists, and policymakers—are saying it too: electric-powered automobiles are the real deal, and we’re on the cusp of the biggest transformation in automotive history since the invention of the internal combustion engine.
By Jo Borras •
October 26, 2009
Yamaha didn’t pull any punches at last week’s 2009 Tokyo AutoMotoShow, bringing no less than five (5!) innovative new eco-conscious motorcycle concepts to a predominantly car-centric show in a bid to monopolize 2-wheeled press coverage and establish Yamaha as the leader in 2-wheeled hybrid technology.
Did it work? Maybe!
More about the seemingly production-ready HV-X hybrid concept—including video—after the jump…
By Nick Chambers •
October 23, 2009
According to CEO Carlos Ghosn, unlike its other Japanese rivals, Nissan has made a strategic decision to cede the standalone hybrid wars to them and will not make hybrid-only models such as Toyota’s Prius or Honda’s Insight.
By Chris Milton •
October 23, 2009
The Salamander of myth and legend: a creature which lives in water but renews its life in fire. It’s rubbish, Bunkum, steaming horse manure… a bit like an electric car with neither plug nor solar panels.
Except no one’s told those clever boffins over at Advanced Power and Energy Sources Transportation (APET) in Hong Kong. According to them, the Salamander and the cordless EV are about to step out of myth and into reality.
APET’s revolution centres upon how zinc air batteries can power EVs. The technology is proven on the small scale: hearing aid battery adverts dominate any Google search for “zinc air battery”.
Furthermore, as zinc air batteries need only zinc, air and water to produce electricity they are likely the most environmentally friendly ones around.
However, upscaling the technology from a hearing aid to a car has always been a problem.
Until now.
By Susanna Schick •
October 22, 2009
At this point, most of us have heard of Better Place and their battery swap station idea, but they aren’t the only ones who’ve though of such a thing. NuTech, a company I recently discovered at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica, CA, has developed their own take on the concept of drive-thru battery swap stations… only theirs is portable.
