electric cars
US researchers are hoping to develop a cheaper and more practical electric car by studying how people commute and then developing a “commute ecology” to design just the right vehicle for their needs. Carnegie Mellon University’s ChargeCar research project aims to find ways in which electric vehicles can be
electric cars
While a shift to electric cars is widely touted as a brilliant way to reduce carbon emissions and dependence on oil, less attention goes to the issue of where the electricity for those cars will come from. That’s a big question to leave sitting out there unanswered. If we
electric cars
Toyota has become the first auto-maker to take part in a project aiming to create the first fully functioning smart grid-enabled city in the world. As part of Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity™ project, Toyota will place 10 Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) in Boulder, Colorado. The cars will be the
electric cars
Imagine being able to recharge your electric car battery as easily as filling the tank in a petrol-driven car. Researchers in Germany think they’ve found the answer in a new type of redox flow battery. Using such a battery, motorists with electric cars could simply go to the gas
electric cars
Understanding how fluid boils in tiny “microchannels” could help engineers design more efficiently cooled electric and hybrid cars, aircraft, computers and other devices, according to research from Purdue University. Allowing a liquid to boil in cooling systems dramatically increases how much heat can be removed, compared to simply heating a
electric cars
It has been a drawn-out process for electric vehicles (EV’s) to be seriously taken up by motoring manufacturers — mainly because of technological constraints – but Nissan seems to be the first major company to get out of the EV starting blocks. With last month’s unveiling of the Nissan LEAF,
electric cars
Ten innovative research programmes that will lead to the development of cutting-edge ultra efficient electrical systems (PDF) for electric and hybrid vehicles are to receive over £10 million support from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board. This is the first competition run under the Integrated Delivery Programme, a £200 million investment
electric cars
Nissan’s UK manufacturing plant in Sunderland will produce the batteries going into the new Nissan LEAF, which the company bills as “the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car.” Unveiled over the weekend, the LEAF is set to launch late next year in Europe, Japan and the US. A spokesperson
electric cars
Students at the University of Hertfordshire won a competition this month with what they say is the world’s first completely electric Formula Student car. Their vehicle won the Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technology Award for Lowest Carbon Production Car in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Formula Student competition.
electric cars
The Scottish Government has published a new consultation on the use of low-carbon vehicles that calls for a widened use of electric vehicles. The consultation proposes twin targets: * 100 per cent use of low-carbon vehicles by public sector vehicles by 2020; * 95 per cent of all new vehicles to be
electric cars
Misplaced faith in the energy efficiency of electric cars threatens to “distort UK transport policy and, potentially, to waste a great deal of public money,” according to Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Pike’s latest analysis, “The electric cart before the low-carbon horse,” (PDF) is
electric cars
Amsterdam will become the first European city to install Coulomb Technologies’ networked charging stations for electric cars. The city will start with 45 ChargePoint stations as part of a two-year public demonstration project. It then plans to deploy 200 stations by 2012 and expects to have enough stations installed by