Electric

Honda is set to release yet another revolutionary personal mobility concept at the Geneva Show next week. Following the company’s revolutionary 10 kilogram U3-X monocycle with its even more revolutionary HOT omni-directional driving wheel system show at Tokyo Motor Show last October, Honda has released the first details of its new 3R-C - a minimalist three-wheel urban electric vehicle for one person. Read More

According to a new study entitled “Electric Two-Wheel Vehicles”, cleantech market intelligence company Pike Research is forecasting that more than 466 million electric bicycles and motorcycles will be sold worldwide during the period from 2010 to 2016. Given that the annual global motorcycle market is currently around 80 million units a year, almost all of them based on the internal combustion engine, this anticipated explosion in electric bike demand could double the size of the two wheeled market, not to mention dampen the demand for electric four-wheelers. Read More

The Ford Motor Company chose the recent Chicago Auto Show to unveil its long awaited Transit Connect Electric van. The all-electric light duty commercial vehicle is the first in Ford’s accelerated electrified vehicle plan that also includes the Focus Electric in 2011, as well as a plug-in hybrid vehicle and next generation hybrid technology due in 2012. Read More

Mercedes-Benz showed a meeting of European ministers of economic affairs a prototype electric Vito earlier this week. The informal EU Competitiveness Council meeting in San Sebastian was told the experimental vehicle with its Lithium-ion battery and load capacity of 900 kg would enter limited production this year. Read More

The problem is clear. Hybrid cars and EVs rely on batteries for power, but batteries are bulky and heavy, causing the car to use up more energy. But what if a car's bodywork was made of a strong, lightweight material that could store and discharge electrical energy just as a conventional battery does? In pursuing this goal, researchers at the Imperial College London are developing a key building block for the hybrid car of the future, and the implications go way beyond automobiles - think wafer thin mobile phones and laptops that don't need a separate battery because they draw power from their casing. Read More

Solar power start-up GreenRay Inc. has developed the SunSine AC “solar appliance” that integrates the complex components of conventional solar power systems into modular, plug-and-play panels for easier installation, reduced cost, and increased safety. GreenRay designed the SunSine AC to produce standard alternating current (AC) electricity that is suitable for use in homes and small businesses, and the company hopes that by simplifying the technology and making it more affordable, it can make solar power more accessible to homeowners. Read More

If you were a hybrid vehicle manufacturer, and you wanted to lower the world’s CO2 emissions, would you first...

• a) Try to replace all the privately-owned gas vehicles, that mostly just drive to and from workplaces, one vehicle at a time, or...
• b) Replace entire corporate fleets of gas delivery vehicles, that typically spend all day, every day, on the road?

Well, you’re supposed to answer “b”. That’s what Indiana-based Bright Automotive wants to do with their plug-in hybrid delivery van, the IDEA. And now that they’re close to signing a pact with an unnamed major automaker, they’re one step closer to realizing that vision. Read More

Trexa has revealed details of a lithium-powered, all-wheel vehicle development platform that will enable engineers and developers to create custom "vehicle apps", doing for builders of electric vehicles what the iPhone did for application developers. Modular and scalable, the standard Trexa platform will feature an aluminum, carbon steel tubing and thermoplastic shell containing open source and user programmable electronics and advanced battery technology. Read More

In a world that largely relies on elevators to ferry people from one floor of a building to the next, it is remarkable how inefficient current systems are in terms of favoring passenger convenience over the increasingly important aspect of reducing energy consumption. Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric looks set to buck the trend with the announcement of its development of multi–elevator smart control technology that can not only reduce energy use by up to ten percent, but do so while adding a mere few seconds to passenger waiting times. Read More