ev

The order books open for the electric BMW ActiveE

With only 700 ActiveEs to lease, you'll have to move fast if you want to be one of BMW's electric pioneers.

Months later than expected, BMW officially opened the order books for the all-electric ActiveE field trial today. The manufacturer was supposed to take reservations last year, but delayed it to streamline the delivery process. The first electric sedan has already been delivered to EV veterans Tom and Meredith Moloughney, who lease an electric MiniE from the manufacturer. If you think you're ready to go electric, don't drag your feet--availability will be on a first-come, first-served … Read more

Coda Auto pulls double duty for EVs and grid storage

Electric carmaker Coda Automotive thinks its car batteries are versatile enough to buffer the electric grid.

The company today announced a venture called Coda Energy, a business unit created to build stationary energy storage systems.

The expertise Coda acquired in designing lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles translates directly to the grid energy storage world, the company said. Its battery system includes an active thermal management to keep batteries at a safe temperature and it has a manufacturing partnership with Lishen in China to make products at large scale. It plans to make modular energy storage systems that can be … Read more

Nissan Leaf batteries seek second life as home storage

Perhaps you'd be more willing to buy an electric car if you knew that you could sell those pricey batteries down the road.

Nissan and electric power company ABB yesterday announced a partnership to test the technical and commercial feasibility of repurposing used EV batteries for energy storage on the grid and in homes. ABB will work with a joint venture called 4R Energy (for reuse, refabricate, resell, recycle) created by Nissan North America and industrial conglomerate Suminoto to research secondary uses of EV batteries.

The partnership intends to make a prototype stationary lithium ion battery system with at … Read more

Qualcomm Halo charges your car without cables, or even stopping

Qualcomm is working on the second generation of the Halo inductive charging system for electric cars that it acquired last year from HaloIPT.

Like inductive charging systems being worked on at Mercedes-Benz and Nissan, the Halo uses an inductive emitter installed in, or on, the street, and a receiver on the bottom of the car. The new second version uses a smaller car-mounted charging plate, only 14 by 8.5 inches (and one inch thick).

Unlike the inductive "paddle" chargers in the GM EV-1, the Halo system works over a fairly large air gap, up to two feet. … Read more

Car Tech Live 247: Chevy and Fisker improve battery safety (podcast)

The Chevy Volt makes fewer sales than GM expected, Fisker issues a Karma recall, and we talk about our trips to the Detroit auto show and Consumer Electronics Show next week.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 247 SHOW NOTES

Recycled bottles from CES to end up in Ford Focus Electric

When electric Ford Focuses start rolling off the assembly line in March, some vehicles will incorporate recycled plastic bottles tossed away at CES.

The new EV will use Repreve seating material made by Unifi. Repreve is a blend of post-industrial fiber waste and post-consumer waste such as the plastic water bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Each electric Focus will have the equivalent of 22 plastic bottles in its interior, and the strategy is expected to divert 2 million post-consumer plastic bottles from landfills.

If you're attending either the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas or the 2012 … Read more

AMP to bring Jeep Grand Cherokee EV to Detroit auto show

An all-electric Jeep Grand Cherokee will be shown, and available for a test drive, at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, thanks to AMP Electric Vehicles.

Based in Loveland, Ohio, AMP specializes in the conversion of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) vehicles to electric power. The new Jeep Grand Cherokee EV joins AMP's Mercedes M-Class EV, which has a range of about 100 miles on a single charge.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee EV is powered by a lithium iron phosphate battery with a capacity of 37.6 kWh. The Jeep runs on two rear-mounted Remy AC motors … Read more

Kia Ray EV rolls into Seoul

Kia brings Korea's first production electric vehicle to market.

The front-wheel-drive Kia Ray EV is powered by a 50-kW electric motor and a high-capacity 16.4kWh lithium ion polymer battery pack, and has range of up to 86 miles on a single charge. The Ray EV is also loaded with some innovative new technology.

The Ray EV weighs 412 pounds more than the gasoline model, but is still closely related to the 1-liter gasoline powered Kia Ray CUV. The Ray EV can share a production line with the conventional combustion-engine cars, Kia said in a press release.

The Ray … Read more

Electric vehicles show their range in 2011 (video)

Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may have gotten most of the attention this year but electric motorcycles also turned heads.

The year also brought innovations such as an electric vehicle that you can also use to power your house. SmartPlanet takes a look back at the evolution of EVs in 2011.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Electric vehicles: 2011's hottest headlines."

GE WattStation now available on Amazon.com

Buying a home charging station for your electric vehicle is now as easy as buying the latest James Patterson novel and you can find both at the same place--Amazon.com.

GE Energy today announced the GE WattStation Wall Mount is now available on Amazon.com for $1,099.

The wall-mounted EV charging station delivers a full-cycle charge to a 24 kWh battery in only 4 to 8 hours, compared to standard electrical outlet that would require 12 to 18 hours to charge an EV.

"As demand and interest in the GE WattStation continues to grow, we're excited to … Read more