From the category archives:

Cars

GM And Segway Unveil Their Electric 2-Seater

April 8, 2009

Yesterday, GM and Segway unveiled an electric-powered urban vehicle called the Puma. The Puma seats two people, and is said to reach a top speed of 35 miles per hour. The vehicle can go 35 miles before needing a recharge.
Larry Burns, vice president of research and development for GM, said it would cost about 35 [...]

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How To Convert Your Car To An Electric Vehicle

May 30, 2008

Gasoline-powered cars are perhaps the most inefficient devices that many of us use daily. The internal combustion engine is inefficient in term of pollution, gas costs and maintenance costs. Electric motors are comparatively simple devices that do not require much maintenance at all. But, as you may know, it’s difficult to obtain an commercial electric [...]

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A Round-Up Of 100% Electric Cars

May 28, 2008

 
At MetaEfficient, I am a strong advocate of car-free living (see my review of the books How To Live Well Without Owning A Car and Car-Free Cities). However, clean, electric vehicles can be useful in some situations. If you recharge them using a renewable energy source such as solar power, they are completely emissions-free. The [...]

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Danish Drivers To Fill Their Tanks With Wind Power

March 27, 2008

Denmark has a problem — it’s generating too much power from the wind. Currently, Denmark gets about 20% of its total electrical power from wind. On windy days, that percentage can double. The ups and downs of wind power can strain an electricity grid. In western Denmark, the price of electricity can drop to zero [...]

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Toyota To Release Plug-In Hybrid In 2010

January 14, 2008

Toyota has just announced that it plans on building its first plug-in hybrid by 2010. This car will be direct competition with GM’s high-profile Volt, which is set to released that year. However, many pundits believe that the Volt is “vaporware” and will not be released in 2010.

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Hybrid Gets 150 Miles Per Gallon Using Ultracapacitors

January 12, 2008

It’s a prototype hybrid car that gets 150MPG, and goes 40 miles on electricity alone, drawing its power from a combination of lithium-ion batteries and ultracapacitors. The ultracapacitors provide a burst of energy to the engine, when needed. They are then recharged by the lithium-ion batteries. This avoids the problem of emptying the batteries too [...]

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Aptera Test Drive A Success!

December 24, 2007

It’s the Aptera — a futuristic car that has generated a lot of buzz lately — and with good reason — the Aperta is a very, very efficient vehicle (just check out the video: you’ll see what I’m talking about). The car’s head-turning design has a purpose: the shape is highly aerodynamic (much like a [...]

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First Hybrid Car To Use Lithium-Ion Battery

December 3, 2007

Ener1, an alternative energy company, has become the first to successfully integrate a lithium-ion battery into an operating hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), an important milestone for the electric vehicle industry. The company’s battery division, EnerDel, will exhibit its lithium-ion battery pack in an operating HEV at the EVS-23 show in Anaheim, California Dec. 2-4.

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Volvo Unveils A Plug-In Hybrid

September 7, 2007

Volvo is unveiling an innovative plug-in hybrid at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The ReCharge Concept is a specially designed Volvo C30 with individual electric wheel motors and batteries that can be charged via a regular electrical outlet. When fully charged the Volvo ReCharge Concept can be driven approximately 62 miles on battery power alone before [...]

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Lithium-Powered Electric Car Now Available In U.K.

September 6, 2007

This month sees the launch of the Elettrica, the first production electric car on the UK market with the option of a lithium power supply. The car is said to provide almost twice the range of other small electric cars at 70 miles. Lithium-ion batteries are more commonly found in laptops and mobile phones. They [...]

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$30,000 Electric Car For 2009

August 14, 2007

Miles Rubin, founder of Miles Automotive Group, wants to build an all-electric car that costs $30,000. It would be a zero-emissions vehicle with a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a range of 120 miles. Basically, the idea is to have this electric car compete head-to-head with a conventional sedan like the [...]

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It’s Official: Toyota Testing Plug-In Hybrid In Japan, U.S. and Europe

July 25, 2007

Toyota has developed a plug-in hybrid vehicle for public road tests in Japan and plans the tests for the U.S. and Europe. (Cars that can run on electricity are much more efficient and economical than gasoline powered cars. They can recharged via renewable energy sources like the solar power and wind power. Even if the [...]

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100% Electric SUV Recharges In 10 Minutes

July 19, 2007

This SUV by Phoenix Motorcars is an all-electric, zero-emissions vehicle. It can recharge in 10 minutes, and it has a range of a 100 miles (or more) per charge. It’s fast too — it can achieve speeds of 95 MPH while carrying five passengers and a full payload. The vehicle uses the innovative NanoSafe [...]

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Convert A Golf Cart To Solar Power

July 11, 2007

A new product called the Sunray Solar Roof Kit, from Cruise Car, will allow most golf carts to become solar powered vehicles. It will soon be available to golf courses, resorts any anyone who owns a golf cart. The solar panels can generate up to 180 watts and supply 3 amps directly to a 36 [...]

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Ford’s New Plug-in Electric Partnership

July 9, 2007

Ford and Southern California Edison (a utility company) will be partnering in a joint initiative to test and demonstrate a fleet of plug-in hybrid electric cars. Ford will give the Californian utility a demonstration fleet of 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid SUVs that will be converted by Ford to become plug-in electric vehicles.
A Ford press release [...]

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Google To Spend $10 Million On Electric Cars

June 19, 2007

Wow, this is great news for those of us who would like to see electric cars go mainstream. Yesterday, Google switched on the 1.6 megawatts solar roof on its corporate campus. The roof will provide about one third of the company’s electricity. Google also announced plans to accelerate the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. [...]

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Rapid-Charging Electric SUV Demonstrated

June 11, 2007

Recently, Phoenix Motorcars demonstrated their plug-in electric SUV that will go on sale in 2008. The SUV uses AltairNano’s fast-charge lithium-ion battery technology for power. The vehicle has a top speed of about 100 miles per hour, and its range is about 250 miles. Here’s a video of the SUV in action.

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Plug-In Hybrid Conversion Packs: 2008

May 2, 2007

A lithium-ion battery manufacturer, A123Systems, will begin marketing a kit in 2008 that will convert a regular hybrid car into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, as known as a PHEV. Currently priced at $10,000 (with a $3,500 tax credit), these modules are still expensive for the average car owner. For example, a commuter driving 11,000 [...]

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$14 Million From DOE For Plug-In Hybrids

April 12, 2007

This week the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will provide up to $14 million in funding plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery development. This research aims to find solutions to improving battery performance so vehicles can deliver up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging. This would include most round-trip [...]

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Plug-In Cars That Power Your Home

April 9, 2007

Soon, in California, you may be able to power your home with your car during a blackout, or even have the utility company pay you for the power that your car produces. San Jose Mercury News reports that PG&E, a Californian utility company will showcase a converted Toyota Prius in Sunnyvale, CA. (Update: See a [...]

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