Category: Electric Vehicles

By U.S. Department of Energy

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Federal Fleet Project Leader Cabell Hodge has a lot to think about these days. With the Biden administration announcing a push to electrify the entire federal fleet, NREL’s work supporting energy-savvy fleet management is more critical and timely than ever. The president’s ambitious new goal requires a considered plan: Which fleets and vehicles should go electric first — and when, and how — among the more-than-614,000-vehicle domestic fleet of federal cars, vans, and trucks, including 225,000 Postal Service vehicles, across the United States?

Continue reading… “How To Electrify Entire US Federal Vehicle Fleet”

By Fred Lambert 

Volkswagen has confirmed that it will switch all of its MEB-based electric vehicles to support bidirectional charging starting next year.

It could give a big boost to vehicle-to-grid technologies.

Continue reading… “VW will switch to mass-producing electric vehicles with bidirectional charging next year”

Micah Toll 

Who said Segways aren’t cool? Not the dude riding a hybrid hydrogen and electric-powered Segway Apex H2 motorcycle, that’s for sure.

Or at least that’s probably what he’d say if this concept motorcycle ever makes it to production.

The Segway Apex H2 appears to be a follow-up to the previously seen Segway Apex, an electric motorcycle first unveiled by the company in late 2019.

Continue reading… “Segway unveils futuristic Apex H2 hybrid hydrogen electric motorcycle”

• GMC on Saturday unveiled its first electric SUV — the 2024 Hummer EV SUV. 
• The “Edition 1” Hummer EV SUV will hit streets in early 2023 and cost roughly $106,000. 
• By 2024, GMC plans to sell an $80,000 version with a 250-mile range and more than 600 horsepower. 

General Motors has teased for months that its upcoming electric pickup truck, the GMC Hummer EV, would gain an SUV stablemate at some point down the line. Now it’s finally here. 

GMC offered the first real glimpse of the 2024 Hummer EV SUV on Saturday in a commercial that aired during the NCAA Final Four. The so-called “supertruck” is available to reserve now, and the first models will hit streets in early 2023, GMC said. 

Like its pickup sibling that debuted in October, the Hummer EV SUV comes packed with features targeted at off-roading. Saturday’s LeBron James-narrated spot highlighted capabilities like “extract mode,” which lifts the vehicle by several inches at the push of a button, and “crab walk,” which turns all four wheels so the SUV can drive diagonally. 

Continue reading… “GMC just unveiled its $100,000 Hummer EV SUV with 830-horsepower that will hit streets in 2023”

Polaris and Optimus Ride are jointly-developing a production autonomous shuttle. 

Will work as a campus shuttle

By Gary Gastelu 

Polaris is getting into the autonomous car business … slowly.

The company is jointly developing a self-drivingshuttle with Optimus Ride, which currently operates pilot loops in Brooklyn, Washington D.C. and several other locations using prototypes built on the Polaris Gem e6 platform.

The vehicles operate on fixed, geofenced loops among pedestrians and traffic at speeds up to 25 mph using an array of cameras and lidar to monitor their surroundings.

They currently have safety backup drivers onboard in case anything goes wrong, but Optimus Ride CEO Sean Harrington said they expect them to be fully autonomous and overseen by a central monitoring system with remote control capability by the time the production vehicles enter service in 2023.

Continue reading… “Autonomous Polaris GEM neighborhood electric vehicle launching in 2023”

BY ADELE PETERS

Rethinking the form factor of urban e-commerce.

In crowded cities, electric cargo bikes have some obvious advantages over typical delivery vans. They’re small enough to squeeze through traffic jams, so deliveries are faster. When they stop for deliveries, they’re less likely to block lanes and add to congestion. And they don’t add to pollution.

Most cargo bikes (technically, trikes) tested by shipping companies look fairly similar, with a rider in front and a box or two filled with deliveries in the back. But over the last couple of months, engineers at Polestar, the Volvo-owned electric car brand, have been experimenting with an even simpler vehicle for urban deliveries. Instead of a bike, it looks like a giant scooter. It’s made from lightweight aluminum and it can fit in a bike lane, but it can hold as much as 600 pounds.

Continue reading… “This electric ‘urban sled’ is a model for a future of emission-free deliveries”

EV charging could be about to get much simpler in America if the Electric Highway Coalition has anything to say about it.

By Kyle Hyatt

Right now, there are a few major brand-agnostic electric vehicle charging networks available to use in the US. They’re all broadly similar, and for the most part, their coverage is pretty good. The problem is that they’re run privately and not a part of an energy company. That means they’re subject to the same kinds of issues with the power grid as anyone else.

Continue reading… “6 electric utilities are teaming up to build a huge EV charging network”

The company responsible for moving so much around the US and the globe laid out a number of massive initiatives to reach its target.

By Sean Szymkowski

This battery-powered commercial van is sure to get couriers and delivery companies all hot and bothered.GM

FedEx said on Wednesday it will do its part to cut emissions from its global business, which is a big deal for a corporation as sprawling as FedEx. The company said it’s committed to become carbon-neutral by 2040 at the latest and laid out a number of projects and initiatives it will enact to meet its goal.

Continue reading… “FedEx pledges to go carbon-neutral by 2040 with EV delivery vans and more”

The electric car features an aerodynamic design with only three wheels and two seats.

By Pitney Bowes

Do you remember the futuristic car that we could set aside with 2,000 Mexican pesos? It looks like we will soon see Aptera Motors start distributing them.

The vehicle manufacturing company has just closed a round of four billion dollars and now its plans to start its distribution at the end of this year 2021 seem more real, as we mentioned in December of last year.

“The Aptera must undergo safety testing before the company can begin distribution, which it hopes to do later this year. Even then, it is not clear that consumers want to buy something that looks like a cross between the Batmobile and a beetle,” wrote The Washington Post .

Continue reading… “The Futuristic Car Looks Like a Small Spaceship and Might Be Distributed by the End of the Year”

THE PROPHECY CONCEPT. SOURCE: HYUNDAI

By JOSHUA S. HILL

South Korean automotive giant Hyundai is to create an electric vehicle (EV) battery leasing business with the aim of reducing the initial cost of buying an EV as well as providing services that enable eco-friendly re-use of the batteries beyond their useful EV lifespan.

Hyundai said this week it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the South Korean Government, as well as LG Energy Solution and KST Mobility to demonstrate an EV battery leasing business, including for the rental of electric taxi batteries.

Under the plan KST Mobility will sell ownership of batteries in newly purchased EVs to Hyundai Glovis, the battery lessor. KST Mobility will then pay a monthly fee for battery usage, which will in turn ensure KST Mobility is able to reduce its initial investment on EV purchases.

Continue reading… “Hyundai proposes electric vehicle battery leasing plan to lower cost of EVs”

By Jonathan Shieber

Shell’s plan to roll out 500,000 electric charging stations in just four years is the latest sign of an EV charging infrastructure boom that has prompted investors to pour cash into the industry and inspired a few companies to become public companies in search of the capital needed to meet demand.

Since the beginning of the year, three companies have been acquired by special purpose acquisition vehicles and are on a path to go public, while a third has raised tens of millions from some of the biggest names in private equity investing for its own path to commercial viability.

Continue reading… “Planning 500,000 charging points for EVs by 2025, Shell becomes the latest company swept up in EV charging boom”

Volta Trucks aims to begin producing its electric truck this year

by Jean-Baptiste Oubrier

Anglo-Swedish startup Volta Trucks will launch its urban electric lorry this year, the group said Wednesday, tapping into keen demand for electrified transport—and increasing bans against high-polluting vehicles.

Volta Trucks has developed what it bills as the world’s first purpose-built fully-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle which is designed to criss-cross cities for short journeys.

The young firm, which was founded in Sweden in 2019, this week sealed a $20-million (16.5-million-euro) investment to help boost production of the Volta Zero which has a driving range of 150-200 kilometres (93-124 miles).

And despite humble plans so far, the truck already has an order book worth $260 million—regardless of ongoing turmoil surrounding Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are a Scandinavian company with a UK operating base and we have presence in France as well,” Volta Trucks chief executive Rob Fowler told AFP.

Continue reading… “Volta Trucks set to launch urban electric lorry”