I have some preliminary news on a new electric motorcycle racing season in Europe – MotoERacing. I learned of this series last week thanks to a posting by the Danish team, Future Electric, who made a blog post seeking sponsorship. Their reason for seeking sponsors? Because they’ve been invited to…
Current cars, and the cars coming in a few years, are simply not at all like the cars of just a couple years ago. These newfangled cars for young whippersnappers are like rolling computer networks, with various embedded computers and software services all talking to each other. It’s even common…
BMW may be joining the ranks of automakers giving serious support to the electric vehicle cause. Those companies are currently Nissan/Renault and Tesla Motors, both of whom have a strong EV sales record and are working to develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure. GM is almost a serious electric vehicle maker,…
Did President Obama really launch an illegal war? We know that Pres. Bush did (the invasion of Iraq), and that war was clearly about securing supplies of fossil oil so we can all keep driving. I saw the “Obama launched an illegal war” in one of those raving paranoid lunatic…
If Nissan develops a 180+ mile range Nissan Leaf & Infiniti EV, and GM develops a 200+ mile range electric car, and BMW continues pushing into the EV market, and VW follows through on plans to be a major force in the electric vehicle market, all of which is due…
Normally I cover Lord Drayson on ElectricRaceNews, because his company is developing an electric race car, but their electric race car program is meant to explore electric vehicle technology, including wireless charging technology. Their idea is for race tracks to have wireless charging pads scattered around the track, with electric…
Is it a mistake if Nissan waits until 2017 to unveil better battery pack for the Nissan Leaf? A month ago I covered some rumors suggesting the “Hot Battery” and other battery improvements were just around the corner for Nissan, and that the company might even do a mid-year upgrade…
What will it take for the rest of the automobile industry to stop dismissing Tesla Motors as a boutique car manufacturer? That phrase was actually used by a Nissan sales representative at the Silicon Valley Driving Charged and Connected event two weeks ago. He was answering a question about whether…
Tesla Motors’s model for the Gigafactory is, as is usual for Tesla, unusual. The factory will be wholly owned by Tesla, but the plan is that it will be like an “industrial park under one roof” with several companies all performing their bits, but working together on the goal of…
Ahead of today’s earnings call for Tesla Motors, there’s some positively good news to report. The company has opened a few new stores, set up a new Supercharger station, and there may be a ray of light allowing Tesla to continue selling cars in New Jersey. According to NorthNewJersey.com, Assemblyman…
Hey Toyota/Lexus, pay attention, we don’t want stinking gasoline, we don’t want to fund wars and terrorism to get gasoline, and we don’t want to participate in the poisonous patterns of fossil fuels. We want clean cars powered by sunlight! We do not appreciate your attempts to keep us stuck…
As the days go by, the crisis between Russia and Ukraine is getting more worrisome, with what looks like a Civil War brewing in Ukraine, and Russia and the U.S. perhaps coming to blows. Readers of the LongTailPipe blog will know the backstory is Russia’s desire to remain in a…
The situation in Ukraine is getting worse, with increasing violence between anti- and pro-Russian factions. While the news media is full of detailed reports of day-day changes, LongTailPipe readers will remember the backstory is all about natural gas in Ukraine, Romania, and the rest of Europe, as well as plans…
The U.S. is saddled with an extensive highway system and a car-dominated transportation landscape. Under current policies the federal Highway Trust Fund is the primary funding source for the Interstate Highway System, and it’s about to run out of money. The balance will go to $0 by July or August…
A couple recent materials science breakthroughs could, if they pan out, reduce the need for rare materials in electric cars, reduce their cost, etc. Researchers see rare-earth-like magnetic properties in iron: The issue is the rare earth metals normally required in magnets for electric motors. While Iron can hold a…
