A new, futuristic-looking car has appeared on London’s streets. It is the Vauxhall Ampera, called the Chevrolet Volt in the U.S.; an electric-powered family saloon, which uses an onboard 1.4 litre petrol engine to recharge its batteries. The result is a usable car – 0-60 in ten seconds and around a 300 mile range – which achieves over a 100
Sometimes Tesla Motors stock looks more like a roller coaster than a car. Investors along for the ride have seen Tesla trade between $45 and $265 during the past year, and I’m wondering if the track is heading down hill. Price trends are one thing, but even CEO Elon Musk conceded that the “stock price that [Tesla has] is more
Lithium-sulfur batteries pack up to four times more energy than lithium-ion batteries – and could allow electric-vehicle drivers to go longer distances without needing to recharge. Standing in the way of this promise, however, is the short lifetime of existing lithium-sulfur batteries. Scientists at the U.S. Dept, of Energy’sPacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have created a new cathode material that
WOODLAND HILLS – The world’s auto industry set off on four new directions in June, each of which will change driver habits, and reduce costs of fuel, up mileage per gallon averages, and permit dealer-installed accessories. First off and the most impressive change came from sales leader Toyota, which called for hydrogen fuel cell adoption in place of liquid gasoline-universally.
One positive aspect of having a small battery is that it recharges quickly. The i3 can charge at up to 7.4 kilowatts, and I’ve observed it charging at my house at a rate of roughly 6.9 kW. Even when fully discharged to the 6-percent level at which the range extender turns on, it will recharge fully in about three and
NEI Corporation is developing a lithium-ion battery where the electrolytes are dissolved in water instead of an organic solvent. The aqueous-based lithium-ion battery has the potential to eliminate the risks associated with state of the art lithium-ion batteries, where the organic solvents are highly flammable. In the event of a battery overcharge or a short circuit, the organic solvents pose
When we meet someone who hasn’t seen an electric bicycle in a while, we pull out our mobile phone – not to make a call, but to make a point. Today’s electric bikes are sleek and stylish, as high-performance as they are environmentally friendly. For commuting or recreation, consumers can get a long-range, long-lasting e-bike at a reasonable price. A
When it comes to flat packed items as well as going green, you cannot get any more larger scale than the folks over at IKEA themselves. For sure it is not one of the most perfect companies out there,but they so happen to be ahead of other large corporations that do not sell just green products as part of their
The long life of lithium ion batteries makes them the rechargeable of choice for everything from implantable medical devices to wearable consumer electronics. But lithium ion batteries rely on liquid chemistries involving lithium salts dissolved in organic solvents, creating flame risks that would be avoided if the cells were completely solid-state. Now a team of researchers at Tohoku University in
Power Integrations, Inc. today announced its LYTSwitch™-2 family of isolated LED drivers. The new IC family, which delivers up to 12W of accurately controlled output power, substantially reduces component count, resulting in simpler, smaller, more reliable LED lighting designs. LYTSwitch-2 LED-driver ICs use primary-side control, resulting in cost-effective, single-sided PCBs with low component counts. In addition, driver isolation allows the