By Andrew Williams •
July 21, 2009
It seems we just can’t move these days for news of Nissan’s EV strategy. Well, today’s no exception, with news of Nissan’s plan to develop wireless charging technology to make charging electric cars easier and faster.
The system, based on the principle of inductive charging, employs the same electromagnetic field technology used to charge an electric toothbrush.
Nissan has already adapted the system for use in its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) electric car, which can charge wirelessly in a suitable parking bay, but the latest report suggests that the major Japanese outfit has more expansive plans for its system. The Guardian reports that Nissan hopes to lay a series of plates into the surface of designated electric vehicle lanes on highways, enabling drivers to charge as they travel.
Sometimes when looking forward, you have to look back to really get inspired.
110 years ago electric cars were at their peak, representing over a quarter of all cars on the road in America, but Henry Ford and the mass-production gas motor changed all that. And while most of us have gotten used to the idea of an engine under the hood, a transmission, and sometimes a driveshaft as integral to our cars, Volvo is taking a nod from the first electric carriages and putting their motors where they are most needed: the wheels. The Volvo ReCharge is a plug-in hybrid concept that relys on four indepedant electric motors, one in each wheel, to move and power the C30-based concept.
By Karen Pease •
January 19, 2009
It seems there’s always a hunger among electric-vehicle enthusiasts for new information about the Aptera 2e, that composite-skinned energy sipper that looks like the future, where everyone’s wearing jumpsuits and has numbers as last names and crystals embedded in their palms that turn black on Lastday.
Unfortunately, the company tends not to be very talkative, so it’s those rare events where they go public that offer the most details. With their recent appearance on EVcast, they certainly didn’t disappoint. A transcript of the show follows.
By Ariel Schwartz •
January 13, 2009
if you’re like me, you’ve probably been caught numerous times with a dying cell phone and no outlet in site. That’s when a product like Freeplay’s ZipCharge comes in handy. You may remember Freeplay for inventing the world’s first hand-cranked wind-up radio in 1996. Now the company is back with a sleek hand-held rechargeable power stick. The ZipCharge, which debuted last week at the Consumer Electronics Show, takes only ten minutes to power up with enough juice for an iPod or cell phone.
By Karen Pease •
November 14, 2008
The net is buzzing with discussion about the fate of the Big Three automakers. The American auto industry is in the middle of a meltdown of epic proportions. As the New York Times reports:
Whichever path they choose, Democrats could be headed for a confrontation with Mr. Bush and were setting the stage for a dramatic lame-duck session
The confrontation in question is a proposal from Senate Democrats, with backing from President-elect Obama himself, to bail out the Big Three, under the premise that they are too big to fail and that if they went under, the ripple effects would be devastating. Curiously absent from the discussion, however, is the fate of a host of cleantech startups making extremely efficient vehicles powered by electricity, electricity plus gasoline or biofuels, and so forth.
By Andrew Williams •
October 23, 2008
The Australian government has given the green light to a plan to establish one of the world’s largest electric car recharging infrastructures, powered entirely by renewable energy.
