Peak Neodymium? A recent Reuters article quotes Jack Lifton, an independent commodities consultant and strategic metals expert, as raising an alarm about the use of rare earth materials (like Neodymium) in hybrid and electric cars like the Prius. The article raises the specter of running out of these rare earth…
Nissan has sent out an email attempting to answer a bunch of questions that have been asked about the LEAF. This is coupled with an expanded LEAF website and the promise of a newsletter. You can ask questions on the site and they’re giving answers. The answers appear to also…
Crowd-sourcing is one of those buzz words going around. Crowd-sourcing is the act of enlisting a crowd of people into providing useful data in a shared space. For example digg.com is a crowd sourced ranking of web page popularity. Of course crowd sourced data can be skewed by the nature…
Ford Motor Company has announced an intelligent vehicle-to-grid communications and control system for its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The system is meant to exchange data with the electric grid in the “smart grid” future. The data exchange is meant to help recharge the onboard battery pack without strain on the…
A string of recent vehicle announcements contain miles per gallon fuel efficiency claims that are causing a bit of a stir. The Nissan LEAF, over 300 miles per gallon, the Chevy Volt, 230 miles per gallon (in city driving), and now Raser Technologies is claiming to have built a Hummer…
For 37 years the Silicon Valley chapter of the Electric Auto Association (EAA) have been holding an annual EV Rally. This annual event began in 1972, predating the first of the oil crises in that era, and predating most of the other events that induced awareness of the need for…
A recent report published by CEOs for Cities finds, using Walk Score data and techniques, that walkable cities have higher land values than unwalkable cities. The study claims it illustrates “the value that homeowners attach to locations that enable them to easily access a variety of urban destinations by walking…
The eGrandPrix is an electric motorcycle racing organization launched over the last year. Their first race, the TTXGP, was held in June on the Isle of Man as part of the yearly TT racing event. The second event was an eGrandPrix exhibition at the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days event in…
What if your commute could be a bicycle ride through parks and side streets? It would produce less traffic anxiety, improve your personal health, negate noise pollution, and improve the environment. While obviously bicycle commuting is not appropriate for those with a long stretch of highway between home and job,…
One of the side effects that may come from greening transportation is to reduce fossil oil dependence. Whether the green transportation uses biofuels or electricity, it’s not a fossil oil based fuel. The negative effects of fossil oil dependence include higher prices, and geomacroeconomic imbalance stemming from the primary location…
There is a chicken and egg situation with large scale adoption of electric vehicles. Electricity is everywhere (more or less) meaning electric vehicles could theoretically be recharged pretty much anywhere. All that’s required is to install appropriate electrical outlets for electric vehicles to plug into. That requires an investment of…
Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. For all of human history until about 300 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. That’s a useful amount—without some CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap…
Because electric vehicles have so few moving parts many claim there are low maintanence requirements and they are more reliable. While it’s true you don’t have to change the oil every 3000 miles or perform other required maintanence at regular intervals there are many things which can break and which…
A twitter account claiming to be General Motors has been making vague statements about the number “230”. It’s started a fair bit of speculation about what the heck they mean by “230” and today GM revealed the news behind the “230” teaser. Namely that “the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle…
It is the battery which makes an electric vehicle go. The electronics of sending an electric current through an electric motor to spin wheels is very well understood and has been used in vehicles for over a hundred years. Key among the technological advances enabling todays electric vehicles to begin…
