charging

When the first few thousand electric cars went on sale in California in the mid- to late 1990s, they used various different charging methods, each with its own dedicated charging stations. Given the high cost of installing different infrastructure for different makes of car, that proved a...

While battery-powered semi trucks remains years away for many prominent makers, the German tech company Siemens is experimenting with a well-known source of electric power delivery to make a different kind of electric semi. Much like electric trams or streetcars used by public transit agencies for...

At first, Fisker had promised its upcoming EMotion electric sedan would launch with revolutionary solid-state batteries. The company then backtracked in June, saying the technology would not be ready. Instead, the EMotion will launch with conventional lithium-ion batteries. Fisker announced on...

Amazon, once a humble bookseller, now dips its toes into numerous technology realms. Its next potential act? Perhaps it will be drones that can charge electric cars on the fly. The online retailer and technology company filed an application to patent a drone specifically built for electric-car...

One way for electric-car charging networks to make the public charging experience more user-friendly is through the use of smartphone apps to replace the RFID cards that identify members and let them initiate charge sessions. Not only do they provide electric-car drivers a host of capabilities, but...

The United States Department of Energy has announced a new funding initiative to accelerate the development of what it calls "Extreme Fast Charging" (XFC) systems. In total, the DoE will award $15 million for the development of electric-car charging systems as well as batteries capable of very fast...

Everyone knows what a gallon of gasoline is, or what they paid the last time they put fuel in their car. But trying asking your friends, relatives, and neighbors how much they paid per kilowatt-hour in their last electric bill. Or even what a kilowatt-hour is. We guarantee you that 19 out of 20 of...

Before production of the Tesla Model 3 began, company CEO Elon Musk promised Tesla would offer owners some sort of free Supercharger use. Specifically, Musk said, "free long-distance charging is [included]," which led many reservation holders to believe they would receive free Supercharger credits...

Activating any given public charging station to recharge an electric car can pose something of a hassle. Yes, plugging it in is simple enough, but public charging infrastructure in the U.S. is run by multiple independent companies—meaning electric-car owners are essentially required to carry...

The Western United States will soon see an electric-car charging network that covers 5,000 miles of roadways. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced on October 4 that he and six other governors in western states have agreed to develop a network of fast-charge stations in the region. Now...

The announcements by BMW and Mercedes-Benz that they would offer wireless charging as an option next year raise a question for electric-car advocates. How important is the ability to recharge a vehicle without plugging in a cord? On the pro side, wireless charging may be easier for owners and...

Even oil companies have begun to realize the future will not be nearly as reliant on fossil fuels, and Royal Dutch Shell is moving to safeguard its future business. The Dutch oil company acquired NewMotion, an electric-car charging station firm, for an undisclosed price. DON'T MISS: Shell fuel...

Ask an electric-car owner how long it takes to charge the car, and you may get an answer you didn't expect. "Oh, five or 10 seconds," is a common response from experienced drivers of plug-in vehicles—meaning the time it takes to plug in. Statistically, that happens most often at night, so the...

While parts of the federal government focus on sustaining fossil-fuel energy, numerous states are enacting new policies and programs to boost electric cars. California tends to steal most headlines about electric vehicles and climate-change policy, but two other U.S. states have started to take...

Electric-car charging network ChargePoint has announced a new feature that allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to begin charging their car using near-field communication (NFC) and their smartphone. This doesn’t mean your phone itself is capable of charging your car, of course, though that...

With the mass-production Model 3 in mind, Tesla has begun to expand its Supercharger fast-charging stations into urban areas. Earlier this month, Tesla opened its first two Supercharger stations in Chicago, Illinois, and Boston, Massachusetts. The Chicago site features 10 charging stalls, while the...

Although electric cars do not emit exhaust, it's widely recognized that the electricity to charge their batteries often still comes from fossil fuels. This has led to the scrutiny of electric cars to determine whether their overall "wells-to-wheels" carbon footprints exceed those of regular...

It's an old cliche used to indicate an unsolvable problem: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Sometimes it's applied to the challenge of electric-car charging stations: which comes first, sales of the cars or installation of public charging to support them? Well, Jeff Allen isn't having any...

It's well-known that electrical outlets in the United States and elsewhere vary, but it also makes for somewhat different charging experiences with the Tesla Model S. In Europe, the standard voltage is higher than the United States, which means more power can be drawn from a standard wall outlet...

The electric car that became the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV reset industry norms overnight when it was unveiled as a concept car at the 2015 Detroit auto show. The most important parts wasn't the car's shape, or its interior space, or hatchback configuration: it was the combination of price (below...