San Francisco today announced an agreement with start-up Better Place to start the planning and installation of electric car charging stations in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. The cost to build the electric car charging infrastructure is estimated at one billion dollars and will start testing phase between 2010-2011.
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Korean researchers have found a way to increase the efficiency of lithium ion batteries by 90 percent. They achieved this feat by replacing the graphite electrode with a three dimensional porous silicone particle made of silica & hydrogen fluoride. This could lead to smaller more powerful batteries for both electronics & cars.
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Not many details here but rumor has it that Nissan is looking into ways to charge an electric car by itself while its moving. This may involve ultracapacitors or other regenerative techniques. They mention the car will be similar to the Chevy Volt but will not use gasoline. We’ll post more when we find out more.
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As the technology progresses racing electric cars is becoming more appealing. The Bee Four ERV is one of these new technical marvels. Independent motors on each wheel and designed by a former Lotus F1 designer Martin Ogilvie this EV is set to smoke its gasoline based predecessors. The driver, Graeme Wight Jnr admits he’s used to driving racing cars with engines but is excited to take advantage of the new technological advantages electric cars have over gas powered cars. Read More
Talk about an economic stimulus package. France’s government has announced a partnership with Automaker Renault and Electric Utility EDF. Over the next few years they will work together to design and build an electric car infrastructure complete with a network of charging stations. Project Better Place is one of the companies that has joined the project and is on board.
Solar powered cars are not very common these days but one company in China (Zhejiang) has a car for only $5,560! It charges in 30 hours and has a range of 150Km so don’t plan on going anywhere for a while if you run the battery low. As far as a concept its a great start. Most cars sit under the sun for 7-8 hours a day anyway so why not take advantage of all those rays of wasted energy that your car sits in all day right?
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Although there have been bmw mini cooper electric conversions in the past. BMW has finally announced one of its very own. The new Mini E will be revealed at the 2008 LA Auto Show (We’ll be there). Information available mentions it will have a 204 horsepower engine (similar to the Tesla) and will go 0-60 in 8.5 seconds. The range will be about 150 miles and the charge times are 2.5 hours with a high voltage charging station. Only 500 lucky souls in California will be able to lease the Mini E when it first comes out.
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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.
