Some good news for CHAdeMO in Europe is that the European Union has adopted a draft proposal supporting the “Dual Standard Approach”. While the Directive requires that all DC Fast Charging infrastructure support the Combo Charging System, through the EN62196-2 plug, it allows such charging stations to also support CHAdeMO. …
Time is ticking on the Tesla Gigafactory project, so let’s try to catch up with the latest on that project, and does the new facility in Lathrop CA play a role with the Gigafactory? The Gigafactory is an item Elon Musk began discussing publicly in the Fall of 2013 and…
While it’s understood electric car owners gain range confidence after a couple months of EV ownership, a question still lingers how an EV owner handles longer trips. The easy alternatives are to either rent a gasoline powered car, buy a plug-in hybrid (like the Volt), or use a fast charging…
At first they ignore you, then they attack you, and then you win. Is this the pattern playing out with a flyer being distributed to Tesla Model S owners in San Francisco alerting them to deep dark secret “facts” about Tesla and the Model S? The flyer, posted today on…
In a recent video stunt, Nissan held a Nissan Leaf “race” in the quietest village in Europe to demonstrate how electric vehicles can rid the world of noxious noise pollution problems. Most of the worry causing us to think about electric vehicles is fumes – greenhouse gases and other stuff…
Does familiarity breed contempt, or confidence? That depends on a lot of factors, but a recent study showed that after about 3 months of electric vehicle ownership, EV drivers gain confidence and drive further afield. Familiarity can breed range confidence rather than range anxiety, so please don’t buy into the…
Yesterday Daimler released information and new pictures of the MBZ B-Class Electric Drive. It’s due to go on sale in the U.S. this summer, no word on whether that will be limited just to California or not, and will go on sale in Europe sometime later. It’s due to have…
World oil supplies – of the easy-to-get oil, anyway, are at their peak. Our appetite for oil products has led the oil companies to drill for oil in all kinds of places. Of course they drilled the easiest-to-tap fields first, because those gave the best return on investment (dollars spent…
Is the best way to regain control over charging electric cars the DIY charging station? The do-it-yourself is about individuals exercising skills to do things ourselves, rather than surrender all power to the megacorporations. For better or for worse, the powers-that-be decided electric cars must be charged through a charging…
The Nova Scotia provincial government is doing a review of fracking, and the Ecology Action Center just released a report for that review describing severe and costly impacts from fracking. “Fracking is such a new technology, with horizontal drilling and slickwater mixtures being developed only in the past decade. We…
On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine to jumpstart plans frack that country. The aid package offered to Ukraine is $50 million split over several forms of assistance to restructure Ukraine’s government. Some of which is, of course, development of shale gas resources, or in other words fracking.…
Tesla Motors is apparently setting up a small manufacturing facility, in California, that has little or nothing to do with the Gigafactory. The latter facility is meant to double the worlds production of lithium-ion batteries, requiring over 10 million square feet, a rail line, and space for a big solar…
Where is the rage in America over fracking? In some countries anti-fracking protests have gained widespread attention, and there are even protest encampments lasting for months at a time. Is anything like that happening in the U.S.? If the Sierra Club-sponsored meeting I attended this evening is any sign, Americans…
Supposedly California is out of the running for the Tesla Gigafactory, but according to a Sacramento Bee article the state is working to get Tesla Motors to change their mind. Most of the article is spent on government subsidies trying to paint Elon Musk as being a Billionaire solely because…
How can anyone whose job creates lots of problems in the world live with themselves? The problems created by some jobs are obvious. For example gasoline station attendants are enablers to all the ills that come from burning gasoline. The job of an “insect/pest control” workers is spraying poison in…
