We get a short test drive of the long-awaited all electric car from Coda Automotive that is now being delivered to dealers, with customer deliveries beginning in March. Coda Automotive is in the final stretch before beginning first customer deliveries of the company’s all electric sedan. Over the weekend a…
What’s the energy cost embedded in every hybrid or gasoline powered car? That is, how much energy it takes to manufacture a car is the beginning greenhouse gas footprint of that car. Every manufactured thing involves extracting raw materials, processing them into parts, assembling into the final product, etc, and…
Startup lithium battery manufacturer A123 Systems is in a rocky period, between troubles at Fisker Automotive, and new deals with Tata and SAIC, the largest automakers in India and China respectively. A123 Systems is on a roller coaster of a ride right now. The company has announced several new deals…
Mike Corbin is back with the Corbin Sparrow, his jelly-bean like electric motorcycle that looks like a car that escaped from Toon Town. In the mid 1990’s Mike Corbin, famous for his custom motorcycle seats, introduced a car that was actually a motorcycle, that looked like it had escaped from…
UBM Electronics recently performed a teardown of a Chevy Volt to better understand the technology, and learned the battery management system makes it easy to adopt future battery technologies. UBM Electronics, as part of their Drive For Innovation tour, recently conducted a teardown of the Chevy Volt down to the nuts and bolts. The disassembly team…
Bright Automotive, would-be manufacturer of a plug-in hybrid delivery van, shut down today while CEO Reuben Munger and COO Mike Donoughe delivered a blistering letter to Energy Secretary Stephen Chu calling the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program a debacle. Indiana based Bright Automotive, a start-up company which hoped to sell hybrid-electric delivery trucks, has closed its…
As the Toyota Prius Plug-in makes its way towards dealer show-rooms, Toyota announces that, in California, the Prius Plug-in will qualify for an additional rebate under the CVRP program, and additionally qualifies for the same green HOV access sticker that the Chevy Volt will get. The Toyota Prius Plug-in is making its way towards dealer…
The Audi A3 e-tron is the company’s latest electric car design, and a pilot project for the the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Denver markets is being launched at the TED conference this week. The Audi e-tron is a family of all electric concept cars Audi began showing in late 2009. Today, at…
Lithium battery startup company Envia Systems plans to announce tomorrow, at the ARPA-E conference, development of a high energy density lithium battery (400 watt-hours per kilogram) which could be the tipping point enabling long range affordable electric cars. Long range electric cars have been possible for quite awhile, Solectria built…
Following the controversy over whether a Tesla Roadster battery pack can be destroyed, Tesla Motors speaks saying the fears are “irrational”, based on limited information, and oh by the way it’s nigh-on impossible to brick a Model S. Two days ago news broke from a single blogger, Michael DeGusta, claiming…
The controversy over whether a Tesla Roadster can be bricked is building, running the risk of spooking Tesla’s customers just as the company is about to start production and delivery of the Model S, and just as customers are beginning to line up with deposits on the Model X. Yesterday…
Reports are circulating claiming a Tesla Roadster design flaw can destroy the battery pack, at a large cost to the owner. Tesla dismisses the problem, saying they’ve designed in safeguards to prevent it from happening. Last night a blog post by blogger Michael DeGusta (reposted by Jalopnik) went into great…
Henrik Fisker says production of the Fisker Karma is not dependent on Dept of Energy loans, and that the company is pursuing a “plan B” to fund the company independently from private investors to prevent the company from being a political football. In early February, Fisker Automotive laid off a few workers following a suspension of…
During a campaign sweep through Georgia last weekend, Newt Gingrich had some interesting things to say about the ability of a Chevy Volt to carry a gun rack, and his fantasy of returning to $2.50 a gallon gasoline. Last weekend Newt Gingrich decided to unload both barrels on the Chevy…
Ford (and other automakers) envision future cars with high tech infotainment systems galore where car dashboards could have downloadable app’s just like todays smart phones and tablets. With the OpenXC platform Ford is creating a channel for open collaboration with 3rd party application developers, allowing them to use cars like the Ford Focus to prototype their…
