This is what we call a good investment! Warren Buffet is investing $230 million or 10% stake in BYD which is China’s largest producer of lithium ion batteries. BYD is on track to sell an electric car in China next year and hybrid gas-electric cars in the U.S. & Europe by 2010. Read More
Researchers are working on nanotech based energy storage systems or ultracapacitors using graphene. How does it work? One atom thick sheets of carbon are densly packed together. When a charge is applied, electrons go into the sheets and get stuck to electrons of opposite charges. The high amount of surface area allows a high-density storage of electrons. To further increase the amount of electrical charge that can be used the sheets are polarized with oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. Don’t expect to drop one of these into your new electric rig or prius anytime soon, these are still far from going to market. Read More
California utilities Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Company will be receiving Mitsubishi MiEV electric cars in the 4th quarter of 2008. Both companies will be doing extensive testing on how electric cars and how they affect the current power grid during charge ups. Japan has already done testing over the last 2 years and will be able to purchase the MiEV in summer 2009.
San Diego High School students are learning the fun new trade of electric car conversions. So far they have converted three cars, a 2000 VW Beetle, 1933 Rolls Royce and a 1955 Porsche Spyder kit car. The 10 day workshop includes learning about how electric cars work and the components involved in converting a gasoline-based car into an electric car. Read More
In the video is a hyundai electric conversion by an Austrailian electrician using lithium ion batteries. Top speed is around 120 Km/h.
In this video, AMP test drives its new Electric Saturn Sky. Only 300 are planned so far and this definitely is a sign of good things to come. You can hear the whining sound of the electric engine and driving it looks like any other car except for the fact that it has an emblem on the side that says ‘electric’ Read More @ AutoBlogGreen
Lee Hart and Electrical Engineer and mechanic friend Tim Medeck are setting out to develop an electric kit car that people can put together themselves. They bought out the rights and parts from Solectria, a defunct electric car company from the 1990s that had a solar car design with a range of 375 miles and a top speed of 65 Mph. Currently they are piecing together what will be the foundation of their new car (an old Ford Thunderbird & Solectria Sunrise body) If their plan works they will have an electric kit car design that could sell for as little as $10,000. Read More
This article is a geeks dream come true. EESTOR has announced important production milestones in its production processes and chemical purification levels. The successes that they published and certifications they received state that EESTOR’s ultracapacitors have a voltage breakdown level of 1,100 volts per micron, much higher than its target working voltage of 350 volts per micron. This means that their capacitors will be far more reliable than previously thought and could possibly exceed its targeted ranges. Read More
Tata Motors is currently developing five different electric car prototypes and will be using its Indica platform. The drive system will use lithium ion batteries for an extended range of 200 Km or 120 Miles. Tata motors is known for creating the most inexpensive cars for developing countries and plans to do the same with electric cars.
GM announced today it will be working with 30 different utility companies to test the effects of large amounts of electric cars being plugged into the grid. GM wants to work out any issues prior to launching their new Volt in 2010. After getting their asses handed to them by Toyota and Honda, GM has since been struggling to get back in the game of hybrids and EVs. Hopefully their new initiatives in EVs will help them get out of the red. Read More
