Indiana University (IU) in Bloomington is home to great basketball, and also to the prodigal son, now a history professor, and dear old friends, John and Carole Clark. IU is a 650-mile drive from Bethesda, Maryland, mostly on Interstate 70 – that’s one long day on the road each way, or maybe a more civilized… Keep reading →
I recently took delivery of my Tesla Model S, and it brings me back to a time when the word ‘electric’ stood for cool, as in electric fantastic, electric banana, electric kool-aid. So last month, I decided to hit the electric highway, and try out smoke-free driving from Washington through New England and back. Family… Keep reading →
Tesla has issued a voluntary partial recall for Model S cars manufactured from May 10-June 8 2013, citing concerns that the mounting bracket for the left-hand latch of the second-row seat is “weaker than intended”, and “reduces our confidence that the left hand seat back will be properly retained in the event of a crash”.… Keep reading →
Last week luxury electric sports car company Tesla Motors announced a major charging station build out, but a Cornell University researcher has cautioned that further scrutiny may be required. Two of the greatest barriers EVs need to overcome in order to compete with gasoline vehicles are range and charging time. You can fill your gas… Keep reading →
Electric car manufacturer Tesla has announced plans to dramatically expand its electric vehicle charging network – the company claims that within six months, it will connect most major metropolitan areas in the US and southern Canada. [Forbes] In somewhat related but perhaps slightly less dramatic news, the US Navy has unveiled its first solar-powered EV… Keep reading →
Poor performance for cleantech stocks this year may continue in 2013 despite some silver linings during 2012, a leading analyst and a panel of VCs recently warned.
Kevin Genieser, Managing Director and Global Head of Clean Technology Banking at Morgan Stanley, said that cleantech equities had underperformed this year despite a bright start to 2012 with three IPOs in the sector. Keep reading →
GM’s recent decision to suspend production of its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid may either be the latest indication that America isn’t ready for electric vehicles, or a distraction along the road to growing public acceptance of a new kind of automobile.
Partisans on both sides of the EV debate are adamant in their interpretation of the latest hiatus in output of the vehicle that is vilified by some as too expensive and impractical to ever be more than a plaything of well-heeled tree-huggers, while being praised by others as an early but hopeful step toward a post-gasoline transportation economy. Keep reading →
Energy efficiency and solar are the low hanging fruit for American companies both at home and overseas, former President Bill Clinton said yesterday.
“We should pick the low hanging fruit. It always begins with efficiency. We’re much more energy efficient than we used to be but we have not made a serious attempt to get it to scale,” Clinton said in the closing keynote of the National Clean Energy Conference in Las Vegas last week. Keep reading →
How a quest for a ten-fold improvement in batteries promises to make electric vehicles deliver on their remarkable potential.
The din that accompanied the birth of modern electric vehicles has quieted, despite a steady parade of new models and the ascent of gas prices to worrisome highs. The relative quiet is good news though, a sign that electric vehicles (EVs) are entering a critical period when the technology must evolve from exotic to everyday. Keep reading →
Less than 16,000 battery electric vehicles and 2,000 plug-in hybrids were produced last year, according to IMS Research. But that figure will soar to 16 million by 2021, thanks in part to government initiatives driving innovation in motor manufacturing.
President Barack Obama wants to see 1 million electric vehicles on US roads by 2015, and his administration has implemented proposals for the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE standards) of 54.5 mpg by 2025. Keep reading →
