solar
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Cash-strapped startup Sono Motors is hoping to produce its solar car at the former Saab plant in Sweden starting in 2021.
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Lightyear One solar electric car aims to “leapfrog the grid”
A former Tesla executive has joined Lightyear to help create a commercial strategy for the super-efficiency car.
Bengt Halvorson -
Walmart lawsuit takes aim at Tesla solar panels (Updated)
Walmart sued Tesla on Tuesday, alleging that solar panels that Tesla installed on seven Walmart stores caught fire. The lawsuit accuses Tesla of breach of contract, negligence, and failing to live up to industry standards, according to the court filing. Walmart alleges that the fires resulted in...
Eric C. Evarts -
Would solar cells add value to your EV? Twitter poll results
The result of our recent poll suggest that many of our readers and followers do believe that putting solar cells on vehicles is a worthwhile pursuit.
Eric C. Evarts -
Toyota covers Prius Prime with solar panels to test mileage
Toyota is testing the potential of leading-edge solar cells from Sharp, which when placed on the rood, hood, and rear hatch of the Prius Prime might recover meaningful driving range.
Eric C. Evarts -
Lightyear aims to build solar-team expertise into an electric car
A Dutch startup is making some highly optimistic claims about the range it might be able to regain from solar panels on its roof and hood.
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla's share of home solar has been sliding ever since its acquisition of SolarCity. Will the Solar Roof turn the trend around?
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Elon Musk tweets, 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, NYC solar: Today's Car News
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reaches a new settlement with the SEC to avoid contempt charges. We sat down with the chief engineer of the new 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid to learn how it reaches fuel-economy estimates similar to the compact Corolla. Some new infrastructure could help boost wind power in...
Eric C. Evarts -
New York to add solar to transportation hubs
Updated to correct the total power output expected from the MTA rooftop project. Electric cars and public transportation go together in more ways than one. In the latest example, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to add solar panels to the rooftops of its rail yards and bus...
Eric C. Evarts -
Solar-boosted Sono Sion electric car will be made in Sweden at former Saab plant
Quirky electric hatchback that started as a crowdfunding campaign is now ramping up for production.
Bengt Halvorson -
Production Sono Sion solar-assisted car makes appearance
Concept cars are relatively easy to build—particularly concepts of cars that may exist only on paper or as clay and foil design studies. That has given rise to a host of new concepts launched as online crowd-funded endeavors of various levels of seriousness and potential. One is Sono Motors...
Eric C. Evarts -
Solar primer, Tesla Powerpacks, Mercedes diesel lawsuit, GCR turns 10: Today's Car News
A longtime reader and plug-in car owner lays out an effective roadmap for going solar. Tesla and Electrify America reach an agreement to install Tesla stationary battery storage at some EA DC fast-charge stations. Mercedes-Benz joins the ranks of automakers whose diesel engines are involved in a...
Eric C. Evarts -
With the big upturn in electric-car adoption driven by the Tesla Model 3, incoming Kia and Hyundai options, and the highly competitive Chevrolet Bolt, many drivers will be moving to vehicles that will be primarily charged at home. This means that their household electric bills are likely to show a significant increase—a big and obvious increase. Many of these new electric vehicle (EV) adopters, however, have the option of embracing solar (or sometimes even wind) for their household electricity. Back in 2009, as I was putting in my first order for an EV, a Nissan Leaf, I already had a...
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Hyundai and Kia reveal solar roof tech for electric cars—or gasoline ones
As solar cells get more efficient, powerful panels can fit on smaller areas. For those looking to use renewable energy for transportation, that means solar panels can now move from home rooftops used to power car chargers to cars themselves. In Korea on Wednesday, Hyundai and Kia revealed some...
Bengt Halvorson -
Solar investment falls in midst of erupting trade war
Electric cars and solar power fit together like a hand in a glove. Charging with solar power, electric cars can drive using almost no non-renewable energy. Now according to a report in Bloomberg New Energy Finance last week, solar investment has dropped by 19 percent worldwide in the second quarter...
Eric C. Evarts -
Renewables to generate half of worldwide electricity by 2050: report
Falling prices for lithium-ion batteries will enable half the world's electricity to come from renewable solar and wind by 2050. That still won't be enough to meet global climate targets, however. Those are the conclusions of a new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), released today...
Eric C. Evarts -
If you own an electric car, what's your at-home charging from? Twitter poll results
Over the years, we've noted the paucity of solid data on the intersection of home solar energy and driving plug-in electric cars. A California-only study from 2012 still gets quoted occasionally, and we continue to seek more recent and more comprehensive data. Out of a mix of curiosity and...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker -
A majority of the photovoltaic solar panels used in the U.S. are imported from such countries as China, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Now, environmentalists and energy analysts worry that the new 30-percent tariff on solar-panel imports announced last Monday by President Donald Trump may stymie the rapidly growing clean-energy industry. The tariff would apply to imported panels above 2.5 gigawatts and would fall by 5 percent each year for four years. DON'T MISS: Soaring growth of solar power demonstrated in one chart (updated) Observers worry the tariff could have a crippling...
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What maker offers electric cars, plus solar panels and energy storage, beside Tesla?
While Tesla may be the automaker most known for marketing home-solar equipment, it's actually not the only player on the block. Japanese automaker Nissan previously offered home-energy storage solutions in Europe, dubbed Nissan xStorage, that utilized cells recycled from Nissan Leaf batteries...
Mark Stevenson -
All renewable energy types to be cost-competitive by 2020: report
Renewable-energy generation costs are falling like photons onto a solar panel. By 2020, it's expected all types of renewable-energy generation will be able to compete with fossil fuels on cost. That's right: saving our environment will actually save electric utilities some money, too. DON'T MISS...
Mark Stevenson -
U.S. regulator rejects coal, nuclear bailout, says renewable energy may double by 2020
For much of last year, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry pursued a plan that, in essence, would prop up the financially challenged U.S. coal and nuclear industries. His proposal, submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last fall, provided financial subsidies to electric-generation...
John Voelcker -
Why diesel beats solar for disaster recovery in places like Puerto Rico
Call it the Ikea mindset. On populated islands, space is at a premium, just like those stereotypical Swedish kitchens you see when you stroll through your local assemble-it-yourself retailer. That space restriction is a major reason fossil fuels remain a better power-generation option than...
Mark Stevenson -
In Germany, neighborhood solar starts to eat away at utility revenue
Five years ago, an electric-utility think tank issued a dire warning to its members: Your century-old business model is ending. The continually falling costs of renewable energy generation, especially solar panels, would begin to erode utilities' business from its most profitable customers, the...
John Voelcker