evs

Ashland, Ore.-based electric motorcycle manufacturer Brammo announced on Wednesday that it has raised $28 million from investors to boost development of electric powertrain technology.

Leading the charge was investor Polaris Industries, a powersports giant that makes all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and road-legal electric vehicles.

I recall inviting Polaris CEO Scott Wine to SmartPlanet's New York City headquarters way back in February 2010; at the time, we discussed some of his company innovations under development, including military vehicles that can shrug off small arms fire and his company's entry into sustainability, from supply chain simplification to the company'… Read more

How do you integrate electric vehicles with the building out of the smart grid? One session at the Networked EV conference in San Francisco yesterday tackled that topic.

Speaking as part of the panel, Phil Davis, a senior manager at Schneider Electric, and John LoPorto, president and CEO of Power Tagging, gave their perspective on the subject.

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• Building a power plant under Greenwich Village

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• Making electric vehicles louder: Can you hear them coming?

IBM is testing a cloud-based EV charging application in Switzerland that will let drivers choose between fossil fuel or renewably generated electricity to recharge their electric vehicles. By letting drivers schedule recharging at peak renewable energy production times, the new service could help integrate electric vehicles into the market without straining power grids.

The proliferation of electric cars in the market will require only a few more percent electricity than is already produced, according to Swiss utility EKZ. However, if all EVs plugged into the grid recharged at the same time, it could cause widespread blackouts.

IBM is testing a … Read more

GM's autonomous pod could be coming to a megacity near you. The auto manufacturer announced that it has begun development of the next-generation EN-V, and is exploring pilot programs to test the concept in real-world scenarios.

The electric two-seater pod debuted at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and is designed to provide a safe, congestion reducing, zero-emissions transportation solution for dense urban environments. Estimates predict that 60 percent of the world's population will live in megacities by 2030, according to GM. … Read more

Chevrolet appears to be hedging its bets on the electric car market, announcing that it will produce an all-electric version of the Chevrolet Spark subcompact for the U.S. market in 2013.

The auto manufacturer has been preaching the benefits of its extended range electric power train as the best fit for American drivers who want to dip their toes in electric driving, but it has also been testing all-electric vehicles in Asia and India. Tests of those EVs, which were developed jointly by GM Daewoo, LG Chem, and LG Electronics, have proven successful, and parent company General Motors has decided to bring the all-electric platform to the U.S. in the Chevrolet Spark. … Read more

DETROIT (Bloomberg)--General Electric and Nissan Motor said they signed a two-year research and development agreement to speed infrastructure improvements and spur electric car sales.

GE and Nissan, which has sold more than 7,000 of its Leaf electric vehicles this year, will focus research on how recharging such vehicles affects home and workplace electrical systems and utility power grids.

"Together we'll make a better world possible for the use of electric vehicles," Mark Little, GE's director of global research, said at a press briefing today at Nissan's Farmington Hills, Mich., facility.

The companies agreed … Read more

The approval of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act last year essentially mandated that electric vehicles or hybrids running only on electric power--devoid of the actual engine noise that makes pedestrians (particularly the visually impaired) aware that a vehicle is approaching--must now generate some sort of artificial proximity notification noise. However, although the Act mandated that EVs must make a sound, it didn't specify exactly what sound they should make. This means that every EV and hybrid manufacturer is free to make its cars sound like anything.

Toyota has released a video that explains the vehicle proximity notification sound designed … Read more

NORWOOD, Mass.--Trucks and other fleet vehicles are the unsung heroes in the move to alternative fuels.

Operators of fleet vehicles are important leading-edge users of everything from electric cars to natural gas-fueled trucks, say auto industry analysts. As more auto technologies come to market, fleet operators expect that each will fill a specific role, rather than have one technology fit every need, fleet operators said yesterday at the AltWheels Annual Fleet Day here.

All-electric delivery trucks used for city routes, for example, are more comfortable to drive and are cheaper to fuel compared to convention diesel trucks. Hybrids, meanwhile, … Read more

At this point, Fisker Automotive has been showing off various incarnations of the Karma series hybrid sedan at various auto shows for about four years now. It's practically done at this point. Not wanting to show up at the 2011 International Auto Show in Frankfurt with the same song and dance, the automaker slapped a hatchback onto its mustachioed Karma and dubbed it the Fisker Surf.

This week, the Surf shows off its shooting brake design in a B-roll video released on the Web by Fisker. Check it out below. There's no music, but if you crank your … Read more