Yesterday the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire and, while it was saved from complete destruction, a question has come up about restoring the building. Where will they get timbers big enough to replace the roof? Those timbers were cut 800+ years ago when Primal Forest was still available,…
Today the FBI and the US-CERT (United States Cybersecurity Emergency Readiness Team) issued a warning that Russian Government hacking groups are not only attacking US energy sector facilities, but that they are INSIDE the systems. That is, the attackers began by infiltrating networks of 3rd party organizations who had lax…
Before the VW Group follows through on their promise of electric car leadership by 2018, VW has to face an EPA and California investigation over evasion of emissions laws. Within minutes of publishing my previous piece saying the VW Group may be in the opening stanza’s of an electric vehicle symphony,…
Volkswagen has promised that by 2017 the company will be a (?the?) leader in electrified vehicles. Apparently they mean the word “electrified” to include Fuel Cell Vehicles, because of a deal just announced between VW and Ballard. The agreement has VW paying Ballard $50 million so VW will have…
This morning, PG&E announced a massive new charging station network of over 25,000 charging stations in its service territory. This is a departure for charging networks, in California, for direct ownership by the utility company, however PG&E says they will only own the infrastructure and will contract out the billing…
Is the primary hurdle to buying electric cars the purchase price, or the lack of public charging infrastructure? A couple weeks ago I referred to research saying it’s the purchase price, that prospective electric car buyers don’t want to pay a price premium for electric cars. New research by a…
The Kansas City metropolitan area is one of America’s Big Cities, but for some reason it’s electric car charging network has been limited in number, with very few fast charging stations. All that’s about to change thanks to a new joint announcement from ChargePoint and Kansas City Power And Light.…
The other day, President Obama gave the 2015 State of the Union speech before Congress, the newly Republican Controlled Congress. Where Obama focused on the value of middle class economics, that is focusing on the needs of the middle class and strengthening the middle class, did he talk the things…
Who wants to ride 1000 miles in 24 hours on an electric motorcycle? Okay, you, your name’s Terry, right? You look crazy enough to try this, go ahead. (ahem) Terry Hershner, a.k.a. Electric Terry, is seeking to become known as IronButtTerry. He set out at 1 PM on Monday from…
Start-up automaker Tesla Motors has won a prestigious award for the company’s first self-designed self-manufactured electric car, the Tesla Model S. One of America’s top automobile magazines, er Automobile Magazine, has awarded it’s top honor, Automobile of the Year 2013, to a brand new electric car, the Tesla Model S.…
The SAE International committee overseeing electric car charging (J1772) has finally released its standard for fast charging electric cars, and the standard promises to simplify the life of future electric car owners by slashing recharging time. One of the long running debates in electric cars is what will be the best method to speed up…
Today A123 Systems announced a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sale of the company’s automotive business assets to Johnson Control. This is the beginning of the end for the company that was formerly the darling of the green technology hype machine. The company has developed some amazing battery technology, but ran…
A series of news pieces the last few days has me wondering whether the obvious crisis underway at Better Place is due to signs that Renault is backing away from commitments to support Better Place. Better Place is not an automaker, but the operator of an electric car recharging and…
Renault’s subcompact electric car, the ZOE, has can recharge in 30 minutes, has an urban driving range of 90 miles, has an affordable price, and was named the Best Green Car of the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The Paris Auto Show has, for a few years, been a major showcase…
The first North American eTaxi Corridor is slated to be built by Better Place in the SF Bay Area, thanks in part to a grant from the California Energy Commission. On Wednesday, the California Energy Commission announced grants for a total of $20 million worth of clean energy transportation projects.…
