Lyle Dennis, Editor-in-Chief
Articles
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USA today featured an interview with Peter Trepp, a venture capitalist from California. Peter became the first person in the nation to officially receive his all-electric Mini E. He is one of...
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Zenn Motors Confirms EEStor Technology Milestone
EEStor is a company purportedly on the cusp of commercializing a potentially disruptive technology. EEStor president, former hard drive scientist Dick Weir has been trying to develop something called the EESU or electric energy storage unit. The device is a solid-state battery-like material that...
Lyle Dennis -
Researchers Take Battery Out of Electric Car and Power the Road Instead
Korean researchers have devised a new approach to electric cars. Instead of placing large rechargeable batteries in the cars, electric strips would be placed in the roads that keep cars charged on the fly. In the experimental technique, 8 by 35 inch strips would be built directly into the top of...
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Obama to Announce Plan Requiring Cars Average 35 MPG by 2016
On Tuesday, President Obama will lay out a new proposal that aims to require strict national standards for passenger car emissions. In an effort to make good on his promise to mirror the requirements California wishes to set, he will mandate that passenger cars reduce CO2 emissions an average of...
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Mitsubishi i-MiEV to Launch in England in November 2009 for Between $31,000 and $37,000
The i-MiEV (pronounced Eye-Meev) is Mitsubishi Motor's pure electric car. It is a 4-door 5-seater than can travel 100 miles on a single charge. Mitsubishi has big plans for the car and has also demonstrated a sports version. It was just announced that the cars will become available for purchase in...
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Tesla Motors Surpasses 1000 Reservations for the Model S Electric Car
The Tesla Model S is a stylish futuristic 4-door pure electric sedan slated to go into production in late 2011. The vehicle debuted with a splash in late March receiving acclaim for its sleek and refined design, up to 300 miles of range (with optional pack), and its hopeful price-tag of under...
Lyle Dennis -
It should probably not come as a surprise that the CEO of a major oil company would not be happy about electric cars, even if the rest of the world is excited.
Such is the case of Royal Dutch Shell...
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EnerDel Signs Letter of Intent to Supply Batteries for the Fisker Karma
Also Launches USA's First Mass Production Lithium-ion Battery Assembly Line
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Tesla Model S May Fail to Deliver on its Hype
Most EV enthusiasts are excited about the sleek Tesla Model S electric sedan, but a recent report suggests we might need to temper our enthusiasm. It is after all a concept and sometimes the difference between concept cars and their production counterparts are miles away. Take the design of the...
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Honda Sells 2096 Insights in April
Honda began selling its new second generation 2010 Insight in the US in late March. By the end of April those cars were just barely getting to dealerships. Yet, according to just-released April sales results, the automaker has already sold 2096 of the hybrids. This compares to 3361 Civic Hybrids...
Lyle Dennis -
New Electric Car Smart Charger Unveiled
Engineers at the Northwest National Laboratory in Washington have developed a new charging device for future electric cars. The so-called smart charger wirelessly communicates with utility companies to determine rates and grid demand. Electronically armed with this information, the device can...
Lyle Dennis -
EEStor Provides More Information About its Recent Permittivity Announcement
Last week the secretive Texas-based company EEStor issued a press release indicating that its proprietary modified barium titanate powder achieved a permittvity of 22,500. EEStor has been working for years to develop a new form of energy storage material that has properties of both a battery and...
Lyle Dennis -
Ford Fusion Hybrid Breaks 1000 Miles on a Single Tank of Fuel, One Third of Tank Remains Lyle Dennis
The Ford Fusion Hybrid challenge to see if the car could travel more than 1000 miles on a single tank of fuel was started at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday, April 25 in Virginia and is expected to end on...
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EEStor Reports Huge Milestone Acheived in Their Superbattery Development
EEStor is a company in Texas that has been working for several years to develop a proprietary new device called an electric storage unit (EESU). The devices relies on a special formulation of a powdered form of barium titanate that is alumina-coated and is so-called composition modified barium...
Lyle Dennis -
Chrysler Unveils Pure Electric Minivans for US Post Office
Today on Earth Day Chrysler unveiled 4 all-electric Town and Country minivans that are intended for US Postal Service fleet use. Chrysler also announced it will request a Recovery Act grant to allow it to demonstrate a fleet of such vehicles to be used in mail delivery. The US postal fleet already...
Lyle Dennis -
Electric Car Enthusiast Busted in Sting
Santa Monica resident Paul Pearson is an avid electric car enthusiast. Since it is nearly impossible to buy an electric car today, Mr. Pearson has done what any other talented enthusiast might do, build his own. The go-cart like vehicle he built is called the "Electric Sprint Car" which he built in...
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A123 Systems to Build US Lithium-ion Battery Plant With or Without Government Aid
A123 Systems is the Massachusetts-based lithium ion battery company that has developed high power lithium-ion nanophosphate cathode technology. They were in the running to build the Chevy Volt's battery packs but lost this round to LG Chem. Nonetheless, GM continues to work with A123 as well as...
Lyle Dennis -
Nation's First Networked Solar-Powered Charging Station for Electric Vehicles Unveiled
Carbon Day Automotive is the US midwest distributor of the Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Stations. Today they announced the unveiling of the nation's first solar-powered electric vehilce charging station in the city of Chicago. “Carbon Day and the City of Chicago are...
Lyle Dennis -
Today Chrysler announced that they have chosen Massachusetts-based A123 Systems to build and supply the batteries that will power their future electric cars. Chrysler has previously displayed four...
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Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk Critical of the Chevy Volt
Elon Musk is CEO of Tesla Motors, the company that has jump started the electric car revolution. Tesla already offers a 2-seat superfast Roadster electric car, and has recently unveiled a more moderately priced 4-door Model S sedan. Tesla has never publicly admitted intentions of building an...
Lyle Dennis -
Tesla Takes 520 Reservations for the Model S, Exceeding Expectations
Within one week of unveiling the strikingly designed 4-door pure electric Model S sedan, Tesla Motors has announced they have already taken 520 reservations. The vehicle currently exists only in prototype form and will be produced in late 2011 if the company can get $350 million in goverment loans...
Lyle Dennis -
Charge Your Car From the Sun
Not relying on gasoline and all of its political and environmental baggage is the key advantage of driving an electric car. But one British company called Romag adds another compelling possibility; being able to charge your car directly from the Sun. The plastics and glass manufacturing company...
Lyle Dennis -
Tesla Model S Electric Car Revealed
The Model S is Tesla Motors new mid-sized 7-seat 4-door electric car that was unveiled today in Los Angeles California at the Space-X rocket factory. The vehicle will be priced at $57,400 so that with the US government $7500 tax credit could cost its owners $49,990. It will have a 160 mile all...
Lyle Dennis -
Toyota Confirms it is Building Low Cost Small Hybrid based on Yaris
Toyota's leading Prius is fast approaching new competition from Honda's low-cost next generation Insight, aleady released and selling for less than $20,000 with greater than 40 mpg fuel efficiency. The current Prius sells for $22,000 and the new 2010 model may be considerably more. To counter...
Lyle Dennis