Steven Chu
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Electric cars have traditionally been more costly to build and buy than their gasoline counterparts thanks to their limited production numbers and the high cost of battery packs. We already know that the price of electric car battery packs are dropping faster than analysts predicted they would, but how long before electric cars become more affordable? According to U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, affordable electric cars are around a decade away. Speaking at an event in Dearborn last week, Chu said that he expected U.S. automakers and suppliers to be testing electric cars by 2020 that...
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DoE Secretary Chu: Gas Prices Hurt, But Oil Dependency WorseUnless you don’t drive a gasoline-powered car, the chances are you’ve noticed the spike in gasoline prices lately. But according to the U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, the U.S. Department of Energy isn’t about to intervene with a knee-jerk reaction designed to immediately...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Startup Bright Automotive Shuts Down, Slams DoE Loan Process
Startup plug-in vehicle maker Bright Automotive announced today that it is closing down. While General Motors had invested $5 million in the company, Bright had relied on the hope that the U.S. Department of Energy would grant it low-interest loans under the advanced-technology vehicle...
John Voelcker -
Chrysler Abandons Quest For Energy Dept Low-Interest Loans
The U.S. Department of Energy hasn't made any new loans under its Advanced Technology Vehicle Program in well over a year. At its current rate, it may never do so. The latest company to walk away from applications for low-interest loans from the $25 billion DoE program is Chrysler. This afternoon...
John Voelcker -
Could Fisker Karma's Low MPGs Hurt DoE Car-Tech Loan Program?
Fisker Automotive may have sensed that the 20-mpg EPA rating on their 2012 Karma electric sport sedan was not good news. The company simply omitted the statistic from their press release announcing that the EPA had legally certified the Karma--meaning it can now be sold to retail buyers. Fisker...
John Voelcker -
DoE's Chu Hopes Chrysler Can Play With Big Kids, Get Loans At Last
Well, looks like Chrysler is getting closer to playing with the big kids at last. The back-from-bankruptcy third U.S. automaker, now effectively controlled by Italy's Fiat, is putting together a financial package that will allow it to pay off all the money invested in it by the Obama Administration...
John Voelcker -
A new hydrogen refueling station supplied by the Danish company H2 Logic will be installed just outside Oslo, Norway in summer 2011 as part of Norway’s “hydrogen highway“. Together with another planned Oslo hydrogen station in 2011, this means Norway will have one of the world’s densest hydrogen refueling networks. Hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is compressed and stored in the vehicle. Most hydrogen vehicles react hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motors. So effectively a fuel-cell vehicle is a form of...
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2011 Chevrolet Volt Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Goes Into Production
The lithium-ion battery pack for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicles officially went into volume production today. The 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, containing 220 lithium-ion cells made by Korea's LG Chem, will be assembled in a 160,000-square-foot factory in Brownstown...
John Voelcker -
Advanced Auto-Tech Loans Go To Tesla, Ford, and Nissan
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the first three loans to be granted under the government's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The lucky winners, totaling $8 billion worth of low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy: Ford, Nissan, and Tesla. FORD Amount...
John Voelcker
