Electric Vehicles

As any fan of electric cars will tell you, one of the keys to improving their range is getting their weight down. With that in mind, a team of researchers from Ohio State University are currently developing an EV that they claim weighs half as much as a conventional car. Because it’s so light, handling is definitely an issue – that’s why each of its wheels is independently controlled, and contains its own motor and battery pack.  Read More

Canadian eco-enthusiast Dan Baker is at it again, converting a golf cart into an electric snow-blowing machine. Last year Baker home built the Firefly solar-powered boat from scratch and this winter he’s determined not to be snowed in.  Read More

LEEV Mobility, the Amsterdam-based company responsible for the Mantys electric golf vehicle, has gone from the fairway to the roadway for its second offering. The company's JAC< is an electric scooter that is designed to solve the first and last mile problem faced by urban commuters. A fully functional prototype has been constructed and LEEV has launched a crowdfunding campaign to get the JAC< on the road.  Read More

When Fiat revealed the 500e at the L.A. Auto Show, it estimated that its first U.S. electric car would score a miles per gallon gasoline equivalent fuel economy of 116 mpg-e city, 100 mpg-e highway and 108 mpg-e. The official Environmental Protection Agency rating is in, and it's significantly better than estimated.  Read More

Electrical engineer Gary Krysztopik has been driving his self-built, open-framed, three-wheeled electric "hotrod" on the roads and highways of San Antonio (TX) for over three years now, but folks still can't help staring as he zooms past. While also working on gas-to-electric conversions (including a VW Bug and a Porsche Carrera), he's been busy refining and tweaking the design for his "battery box on wheels" and is now preparing to release the EZ-EV car as open source plans, build-it-yourself kits and complete vehicles.  Read More

Around this time last year, a non-profit after school program for at-risk high school students in the Kansas City area called MINDDRIVE took delivery of a donated 1977 Lotus Esprit. Students from five different schools in the area spent every Saturday for the next five months converting the iconic sportscar into a two-seater electric vehicle. Students and mentors then drove the car coast-to-coast across America, making presentations and giving interviews to local media at every charging stop along the way. The epic journey was captured on camera and the organization is now looking to produce a documentary, turning to crowd-funding platform Indiegogo for help.  Read More

Presently, the Norwegian villages of Lavik and Oppedal are linked by a ferry that burns about a million liters (264,172 US gallons) of diesel a year, emitting 570 tonnes (628 tons) of carbon dioxide and 15 tonnes (16.5 tons) of nitrogen oxides. That’s about to change, however, as it’s slated to be replaced by what is claimed to be the world’s first all-electric car-carrying ferry. Developed by Siemens and Norwegian shipyard Fjellstrand, the vessel can recharge its batteries in just ten minutes.  Read More

Last February, we reported on the Hiriko Fold electric car. The product of MIT's CityCar project, along with Denokinn (the Basque Center for Innovation) and a consortium of Spanish businesses, the tiny vehicle can actually tuck its rear end beneath its chassis – this allows it to fit into even the smallest of parking spaces. Recently, it was announced that a fleet of the cars will be used in a car-sharing program in Berlin.  Read More

It might not win any beauty contests, but this electric vehicle developed by students at Hiroshima University would be my pick if I had the choice of which car I was going to be involved in an accident with. Instead of relying on interior airbags to cushion the driver during a collision, the iSAVE-SC1 is essentially a drivable cushion that should soften the blow for driver and pedestrian alike.  Read More