EV Charging

Calculating the fuel costs of a traditional vehicle is quite easy – just look at the price read-out on the gas pump or receipt after you finish filling it up. The cost of filling up an electric vehicle's battery can be a bit more difficult to pin down because you don't get a receipt on the spot and the cost of electricity fluctuates regularly. GM plans to make the process easier for Chevy Volt owners with a new app currently being tested designed to give Volt owners a full cost breakdown.  Read More

Swiss technology specialist BRUSA Elektronik AG is claiming a first for electric vehicle fast charging with the launch of its NLG6 battery charger. Small enough to be fitted on-board an electric car, the unit is capable of operating on a three-phase current with power of up to 22 kW, meaning that it could fully charge a typical electric vehicle in less than one hour. European EV models featuring the NLG6 charger will be available to customers by next month.  Read More

What's claimed to be the world's first fully integrated wind-powered electric vehicle charging station has just been unveiled in Barcelona, Spain. The Sanya Skypump marries a 4 kW turbine developed by New York's Urban Green Energy (UGE) and General Electric's (GE) WattStation charging technology to offer users the chance to juice up an EV using clean, renewable energy.  Read More

People going through the Los Angeles Convention Center between May 6 and 8 will come across a very stylish aluminum modular structure. The installation is a solar-powered charging carport known as isola, developed by Montreal-based renewz sustainable solutions. The carport will be erected to coincide with the EVS26 Electric Vehicle Symposium taking place in the city on those dates.  Read More

A smart system for charging electric vehicles known as ELVIIS may leave the electric car industry all shook up - and for the better. The ELVIIS cross-industry research project would not only enable EVs to be recharged from any available outlet, but also use mobile and smart grid technology to establish the best energy deal for the consumer.  Read More

While it still may be some time before all American EV drivers can expect to find charging stations located close to wherever they’re going, things are at least heading more and more in that direction. Late last week, charging network developer 350Green announced that it will be adding 400 new stations to its existing U.S. network, as part of a plan to bring the total number up to 1,000.  Read More

Ecotricity has unveiled plans to install green-energy-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging points at selected motorway service stations running up the UK's automotive backbone. Aiming to end potential range anxiety and speed up the adoption of EVs in Britain, the national network of charging posts will be rolled out to every Welcome Break service station, as well as other key locations, in the UK by the end of the year. Each charging post will receive its power from the company's wind and solar parks across the country, and one of the first three to go live is directly connected to the resident wind turbine at Reading's Green Park business park - offering electric motorists true zero emission driving.  Read More

As project leaders for the public/private EV Project (which has also received a funding injection from the U.S. Department of Energy), it is the responsibility of clean electric transportation and storage technologies experts ECOtality to oversee the installation of thousands of commercial and residential electric vehicle charging stations in various locations throughout the U.S. EV owners visiting select IKEA stores in the Western United States will soon be able to top up while they shop, thanks to a partnership formed between the home furnishing retailer and ECOtality.  Read More

Earlier this month, the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and Nissan began testing a new roadside service vehicle equipped with a charger, to assist stranded electric vehicles (EVs). Now, the American Automobile Association (AAA) is about to launch a similar pilot project, where mobile charging units will join the roadside assistance fleets in six test regions - a significant marker along the path to mass adoption of the EV in North America.  Read More