charging

  • Nissan Leaf electric car at EVgo DC fast-charging station

    Over the next three years, numerous long-range electric cars will come to market at prices below $40,000. That will expand the pool of potential buyers to those interested in plug-in vehicles but unwilling to consider one rated at less than 200 miles. Those new owners will learn the DC fast charging along highways to enable longer road trips remains badly signposted, operated by multiple entities ... and often expensive. DON'T MISS: EVgo, Chargepoint annual reports show growth in electric-car charging On Thursday, the nation's largest fast-charging network announced a new, simplified, and...

  • Photovoltaic solar panel installation on house, Fremont, California   [image: Shiva Singh]
    If you own an electric car, what's your at-home charging source? Take our Twitter poll

    Drivers who buy an electric car that plugs into the power grid to recharge the battery often start to consider the source of their energy. A 2012 analysis from California, in the earliest days of modern electric cars, indicated as many as four in 10 electric-car drivers were already using or...

  • Two 2018 Nissan Leafs with EVgo fast charger at NJ Turnpike Joyce Kilmer travel plaza, Feb 2018
    2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: four-day winter road-trip review

    The first generation of mass-priced electric cars with ranges of 60 to 90 miles simply didn't have enough range to be used outside predictable daily commute duties and local errands around town. Sure, four-fifths of vehicles in the U.S. cover less than 40 miles a day—but that other fifth...

  • Tesla destination charging station in Bodie, California    [photo: George Parrott]
    Tesla offers some employers at-work charging stations, for its cars only

    Today, most people charge their electric cars at home, overnight. That's much harder for residents of multiple dwellings or those without dedicated off-street parking, increasing numbers of whom instead recharge during the day while parked at their workplace. Now Tesla plans to make it easier for...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car at EVgo fast-charging station, Newport Centre, Jersey City, NJ
    EVgo, Chargepoint annual reports show growth in electric-car charging

    Seven years and almost 800,000 cars after the first modern electric cars went on sale, there's still a lot wrong with the national charging infrastructure in the U.S. There's little central planning, little standardized signage or public signposting, virtually no awareness among non-EV drivers, and...

  • Tesla Model S at Supercharger site in Ventura, CA, with just one slot open  [photo: David Noland]
    What electric-car charging will satisfy a mass market? Twitter poll results

    One of the obvious challenges of even the latest electric cars is that you can't drive them coast-to-coast as quickly as you can gasoline cars. It's far from impossible to do such a trip—especially if you own a Tesla and can use the company's DC fast-charging Supercharger network—but it...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]

    A recent study from the University of California, Davis suggested that awareness of available plug-in electric cars among potential buyers was no higher in 2017 than it had been in 2014. Worse, only California car owners were surveyed—and that's the state in which roughly half of all the battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the U.S. have been sold. The report should be a wakeup call for electric-car fans, advocates, and drivers. DON'T MISS: What if car buyers aren't ready for electric cars, even in California? It highlights the uncomfortable truth that there remain huge...

  • Blink network  -  charging by the kWh
    Blink charging-station network hits up users to buy shares (updated)

    It's not unheard of for the fans of well-loved brands—e.g. Tesla—to decide to buy shares in the company. It's somewhat less common for companies to reach out to their customers en masse and pitch all of them on buying shares in the company. That's apparently what the Blink charging...

  • 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid charging at office park, Santa Cruz, California, Dec 2017
    US climate action requires electric cars; utilities doing their part already

    The subject of carbon dioxide emissions is hardly a simple one, especially when it comes to electric cars. They may not have tailpipes, but the electricity generated in order to keep them going has to come from somewhere. Electric utilities, it turns out, are doing their bit to reduce carbon...

  • Nissan Leaf in Scotland
    Scotland power boss: Peak charging could cause grid problems

    Vastly greater numbers of electric cars on United Kingdom roads could pose problems for the power supplies used to recharge them—if, that is, they all plug in during the day. Frank Mitchell, head of SP Energy Networks a unit of ScottishPower, said a rush to electric cars in the U.K. could...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]
    GM suggests Congress fund EV charging, Toyota asks for hydrogen fueling support

    It's now abundantly clear that Tesla has created the roadmap on how to build a widespread DC fast-charging network that lets electric-car drivers travel long distances, even across the country. The Tesla Supercharger network can only be used by Tesla cars, however—and it remains entirely...

  • Porsche Mission E Concept  -  2015 Frankfurt Auto Show live photos
    Porsche Mission E electric sedan buyers want, expect fast "Turbo Charging"

    Possibly no German carmaker was more shocked by the emergence of the Tesla Model S in 2012 than Porsche. Each of Porsche's models was a top performer in its segment for power, handling, and features, and sold at highly profitable prices. Then came the Tesla Model S, a five-seat hatchback sedan that...

  • 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid charging at ChargePoint station, Santa Cruz, California, Dec 2017

    Electric vehicles still make up just a tiny slice of the vehicles on the road across the United States. Still, with impending regulations and more longer-range electric vehicles soon to arrive, governments far and wide recognize the need to encourage the installation and growth of public charging stations. Just how many charging stations is enough to support the current and future crop of plug-in electric cars? DON'T MISS: PG&E launches program to install 7,500 electric-car charging stations in California According to a recent report by AutoExpress that considers that question for the...

  • 2015 Nissan Leaf, Denver, Colorado, Mar 2016  [photo: owner Andrew Ganz]
    Colorado moves to put more electric cars onto state roads faster

    A state at the forefront of U.S. electric-vehicle adoption has set an ambitious goal of nearly 1 million plug-in electric cars on its roads by 2030. Colorado, which counted 13,000 electric vehicles on the road at the end of 2017, rolled out an aggressive plan this week to achieve that goal. Its...

  • 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid charging at Crevier BMW, Santa Ana, California, Dec 2017
    PG&E launches program to install 7,500 electric-car charging stations in California

    Finding a charging station will soon get a lot easier—at least in California. America's largest electric-vehicle market will see a significant boost in the number of available charging stations in the state following an investment by its largest electricity producer. Electricity provider...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]
    Mainstream media on electric cars: more thoughtful on their growth

    As with any innovation, coverage of plug-in electric cars by mainstream media has been, shall we say, variable. Seven years after the first Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt were delivered to their buyers in December 2010, misconceptions and misinformation abound. Technology is often not a strong suit...

  • 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric (European spec), 2016 Geneva Motor Show
    South Korea to standardize on CCS fast-charging standard used by US, German makers

    Buyers of electric vehicles in South Korea won't need to consider the pros and cons of charging standards in the near future. The South Korean Agency for Technology and Standards announced in mid-December it would revise the current charging standard in the country to recommend the use of "Combo...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]
    No, electric cars (still) aren't crashing the grid. Again.

    Remember all those brownouts we experienced last week because everyone plugged in their electric cars? No? Oh right, that didn't happen. It still isn't happening. And it's unlikely to ever happen. That's the conclusion of a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), using infrastructure...

  • Allego 175 kw Ultra-E Charging Station in Germany

    Europeans will soon have the opportunity to enjoy quiet, emission-free, long-distance motoring with far shorter charge times when driving electric cars along Germany's autobahns. The charging network Allego has rolled out its first 175-kilowatt ultra-fast charging stations—dubbed "Ultra E"—at its first location in Kleinosthei, along the A3 motorway near Frankfurt. The four fast-charging stations represent the first ultra-fast chargers publicly available in Europe, and Allego plans to upgrade half of them to 350-kilowatt service later this year. DON'T MISS: BMW, Mercedes, Ford, VW...

  • Fisker EMotion
    Before Fisker EMotion luxury electric sedan debut, founder touts future solid-state battery

    As they say, it's what's inside that counts. That's doubly so for Fisker, Inc., the second auto company founded by famed automotive designer Henrik Fisker. The first declared bankruptcy; its new Chinese owners renamed it Karma. In an interview with Car and Driver, Fisker (the man) claims...

  • 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid charging at Paso Robles Inn, Paso Robles, California, Dec 2017
    Electric car charging on the road has to be way, way better than it is today

    A couple of weeks ago, we charged a 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid 15 times within two days. It was part of a contest during a two-day press drive for the car—though we were beaten by the team that charged their Niro a stunning 31 times in little more than 30 hours. But our experience...

  • Renault Fluence ZE charging at Better Place pubic charge spots in Israel [photo: Brian of London]
    How electric-car owners in condos can get their HOAs to OK charging stations

    It's no surprise the majority of electric-car owners today own their own homes. When you own your property, it's much easier to install a changing station in your garage, car port, or even on the wall of your home by the driveway. You only need to get permission from yourself, and possibly your...

  • Greenlots electric-car charging mobile app for use at charging station
    Electrify America contracts with Greenlots for electric-car charging sites, installations

    The $2 billion electric-vehicle infrastructure program funded by Volkswagen as part of its diesel-emission scandal settlement has picked an installer to roll out some of the first phase of its electric-car charging network. Electrify America said on Monday it would contract with the Greenlots...

  • ChargePoint Express Plus modular DC fast-charging system for electric cars, launched at 2017 CES
    Do cities have enough electric-car charging stations; are highways the 'last hurdle'?

    The availability of charging stations for electric cars, or lack of it, is often cited as one of the primary reasons holding back widespread adoption. After all, if you're going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a brand-new automobile, you want to be sure it'll get you where you want to go...

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