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It’s Over: Five Reasons the Electric Car Wins
It could take ten years or more to become apparent, but I’ll call it now: the electric car will replace the internal combustion engine.
A caveat: I am not an automotive industry expert. Which is why I’m right. I’m not mired in the details, the past failures, the what ifs or the buts. All I see are the big, obvious things. When it comes to sea change in human behavior, though, obvious matters.
So, since no prediction is worth its salt without an accompanying list, the following are five overlapping reasons why our children will all be driving electric cars...
Better Place to trial battery-swapping taxis in Tokyo — Autoblog Green
When Better Place wanted to demonstrate how their battery switching station would operate they chose Yokohama Japan as the backdrop and now the land of the rising sun is returning some of that love. The electric vehicle infrastructure company has received an "award" to carry out a pilot project involving a switching station and battery-powered taxis operated by Nihon Kotsu in Tokyo. Although cabs comprise just two percent of the cars in Japan they're responsible for a whopping 20 percent of the CO2 emitted.
Electric-car maker Coda gains high-powered investors | Green Tech - CNET News
Electric sedan maker Coda Automotive has attracted some well-connected people with its latest round of funding, including former Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson.
The company, which plans to sell an all-electric sedan in California next year, said on Tuesday that it has completed a series B round of $24 million in equity. The money will be used to bring its car to market and fund a joint venture to manufacture the car battery.
The Coda is a highway-capable sedan with a 100-mile range to be made in China.
(Credit: Coda Automotive)
Joining Paulson as an investor and President Clinton's former chief of staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty. Other investors include investment bank Piper Jaffray, energy investor Tom Steyer, former Edison International CEO John Bryson, and company executives
Mercedes-Benz Confirms 526 HP Fully Electric Gullwing : Gas 2.0
It’s official. Last week, German automaker Mercedes-Benz confirmed its intentions to build a fully electric version of the SLS AMG Supercar.
The AWD car will have separate transmissions for both axles and electric motors at each wheel. With a combined power output of 392 Kw–which packs 649 lb-ft of torque–the car will get a jaw-dropping 526 horsepower.
Eco Cars: Teenager Mods Ford Escort To Run On Electricity - Ecofriend
17-year-old Andrew Loader wanted an electric vehicle not because of its low impact on the environment, but because he didn’t want to spend too much on gas.
The need turned Andrew into an automobile engineer, when he converted his clapped-out Ford Escort to run on electricity using some batteries, an old forklift motor and automobile engineering skills from the internet.
My Weekend with the Electric Mini Cooper (Mini-e) and my review, photos, and videos.
Introduction:
The Mini-e is in a 'field trial' in the US. It is an all-electric car. It has the same body as a Mini Cooper S. People were invited to apply for one. Well, actually, for a 1-year lease. My sister and her husband applied and recieved one of the first ones to be delivered in LA. (They are only availalbe in the LA and New York areas.) At the end of the year the car will have to go back to Mini Cooper for evaluation.
We picked up the Mini-e at Alexander Mini in LA on Saturday, May 30, 2009.
This the review...
Car Companies Standardize Plug for Electric Vehicles : Gas 2.0
Just a few hours after General Motors called for a standardized EV plug, one has been created!
Caroline Reichert, a spokeswoman for the Germany energy company RWE, said leading automotive and energy companies have reached an agreement for a standardized plug for electric cars. Some of the automakers include in that agreement are Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
Costs and environmental impacts of electric cars
a guest post by Joost van den Bulk in which the costs and benefits of electric cars available by 2010 are compared with internal combustion cars powered by gasoline for the Netherlands. It is a summary of his Master thesis in environmental science at Wageningen University in the Netherlands (PDF, 3 Mb, 72 pages).
Developments in battery technology have made cars driven by electric propulsion cost competitive with internal combustion based cars. Based on a scenario in which a car owner drives 15,000 kilometers annually, the car is owned for a period of 6 years, and the oil price on average remains above 100 dollars per barrel in the next two decades, it was found that an electric car for the consumer is already cheaper than a gasoline powered vehicle in the Netherlands, and that this will only improve in the future. This is the case because higher initial investments in the purchase of an electric car are more than compensated by lower fuel costs, reduced maintenance and tax benefits. Furthermore, greenhouse gas emissions of an electric car are at least half that of the gasoline powered car based on the current Dutch electricity mix.
In Bolivia, Untapped Bounty Meets Nationalism - NYTimes.com
n the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world’s lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia — a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily.
Shelby announces world's fastest electric car | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews
Shelby SuperCars announced details of an electric version of its supercar, due to be launched in the second half of this year.
According to Shelby, the powertrain developed for the Ultimate Aero EV uses a lithium ion battery pack, which can be fully charged from a 110 volt AC outlet in 10 minutes. This powertrain can be scaled from 200 up to 500 horsepower, with a special, dual-motor configuration that could produce 1,200 horsepower.
On top of that, Shelby claims a 200 mile range. If this powertrain can truly meet these specifications, Shelby will revolutionalize electric cars. Fortunately, we only have to wait about 10 months to see if it happens.
Toyota to Launch 10 New Hybrids by Early 2010s, Battery-Electric Vehicle Confirmed for 2012 : TreeHugger
Seems shrinking gas prices haven't deterred Toyota's need for hybrid developin' speed. Starting with the third generation Prius and the new Lexus hybrid, the HS250h, which are being unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the car company has announced that it will launch as many as 10 new hybrids by the early 2010's.
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