Electric Vehicle drivers in Minnesota will soon enjoy appropriate electrical rates for EV recharging, thanks to a new law that’s due to go into effect in 2015. The law requires the electric utility companies in Minnesota to set up rates for EV recharging, to support off-peak rates, and offer customers…
Earlier today, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced a new Patent model for Tesla Motors, and in writing my blog post I came up with several questions. What does it mean Tesla won’t sue other automakers so long as their use of Tesla’s patents are in “good faith”? Will Tesla…
Last week Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk hinted that Tesla was about to make a controversial announcement, and today we learned it’s a bombshell. Where most technology companies, whether they make cars or social networks on the Internet, use patents for defense from other companies, or as weapons to bludgeon…
Last week Elon Musk laid a bombshell during the Tesla Motors shareholders meeting, one that I barely mentioned in my report. I kind of brushed over it, writing a couple paragraphs about whether Tesla Motors should rebrand itself as a B Corporation because the company is seeking to create so…
A couple weeks ago when Hyundai announced they’d begun shipping the Hyundai Tuscon Fuel Cell Vehicle to California, a couple items in their press release clued me in that this was just a Compliance Car move (see post on examiner.com for writeup). Now, in a post on Wards Auto, Byung…
In an electric car, as soon as your foot lifts off the accelerator pedal the regenerative braking system activates slowing the car down while recovering energy. The extent of this effect varies from car to car, but this is generally the way they work. The effect is similar to engine…
One of the negative impacts of regular gasoline powered cars is the lead-acid battery that drives the starter motor, and also helps to run the 12 volt system. Lead acid battery production has a negative impact because Lead is obviously one of the horrid chemicals. While lead acid batteries are…
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland walk to a bilateral meeting after posing for photos at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, June 3, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) President Obama just announced a massively great program to combat climate…
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk just concluded the annual Tesla Shareholders meeting for 2014. As in previous years, it was the Q&A session that was most interesting, with Musk revealing some tidbits that perhaps hadn’t been said elsewhere, and generally answering concerns currently floating around the fate of Tesla Motors.…
Fuel cell’s seem like this magic technology – you pour in a clean fuel (hydrogen and oxygen) and out comes clean energy (electricity) and water. Make a fuel cell big enough to power a car, or truck, and you’ve got a “clean” vehicle that can go a few hundred miles…
The Japanese automakers have just announced a joint venture on charging infrastructure that points in a very good direction. The JV, Nippon Charge Service, LLC, is tasked with promoting “the installation of chargers for electric-powered vehicles (PHVs, PHEVs, EVs)” and “the installation of chargers, for the good of society and to…
While California is thinking about banning fracking, other states in the U.S. are working to greenlight the practice. This involves either lifting existing bans, or enacting rules to ease the way for fracking operations, or even to criminalize discussion about fracking chemicals. Anson County North Carolina has an existing ban…
We just noted the California Senate is working on a fracking moratorium, but it’s being reported today that Oil companies and state regulators in California are willing to flout the law and commit fracking without informing the residents. A new California law, SB4, requires that the State notify residents of…
The California Senate is about to vote on a bill, Senate Bill 1132, that would impose a moratorium on fracking and acidizing until the state studies the risks and determines whether these heavy industrial extraction processes can be allowed to continue. The bill comes hot on the heels of news…
A big critique of the current crop of electric vehicles is the price is out of reach for low- or middle-income people. We have this situation where tax breaks and other perks are being given to well-off people, with the Tesla Model S and Fisker Karma both explicitly targeting the…
