Category Archives: Electric Cars

News and reviews of the latest electric cars (full electrics and plug-in hybrids).

Tesla exec explains new sustainable energy vision

April 10, 2017Charging, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, Energy Storage, News, Reviews and Comment, Solar Power, TeslaJo

‘You have solar, battery pack, EV and you control everything on your phone’

Since Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, the company’s mission slightly changed from “accelerating the advent of electric transport” to “accelerating the advent of sustainable energy”. The company wants to offer solutions throughout the entire energy production and consumption process.

At a conference last week, a Tesla executive explained the company’s vision for managing all that energy across all their products.

Kurt Kelty, Tesla’s longtime director of battery technology, was in Florida last week to give a keynote address at the International Battery Seminar.
During his presentation, he explained Tesla’s vision of energy management in future houses (transcript via evannex):

“Where we see the future [is] in houses [and] we want to be your EV provider. Put your EV in your garage and you charge it up with one of our chargers, you have a powerwall… [and] a solar product [solar roof] that we’ll be introducing this summer. You [can] see how this could integrate well in your house. You have solar, battery pack, the EV and you’ve got all the controls on your cell phone and you could control everything. This is the kind of future we see for [your] house.”

That’s similar to the vision shared by CEO Elon Musk when he first suggested Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity in order to have a single company offering electricity generation, through solar products, storage, through Powerwall and Powerpacks, and consumption, through Tesla’s electric vehicles.

Autonomous Vehicles: Time to start thinking about the people inside

April 10, 2017Autonomous Driving, Uncategorizedautonomous, electric car, intimacy, taxiJason

“I hate solitude, but I’m afraid of intimacy.”

—Iris Murdoch

Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Currently, most of the attention on autonomous vehicles is focused on the technology that lets cars drive themselves. However, in the near future, the industry will need to broaden its focus to include what is arguably just as important: the passenger.

A fascinating article considering the human impact of autonomous vehicles for taxi-service. Read More: The Intimacy of Autonomous Vehicles

Renault optimizes the lifecycle of its electric vehicle batteries

April 10, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, RenaultJo

Renault pioneered the development of electric vehicles in Europe, and leads the European electric vehicle market today. The vehicle batteries are rented to customers, and have been since release of Renault’s very first electric vehicle. In this way, Renault keeps full control over the whole battery lifecycle, which is advantageous not only to customers but to the planet as well.

Renault was the first European automaker to believe in the all-electric vehicle. Back in 2009, Carlos Ghosn announced a strategy that was ambitious and unprecedented on the market: Groupe Renault would be offering a full range of affordable all-electric vehicles by 2012. The promise was kept, with release of a line-up of electric vehicles addressing a broad customer spectrum: ZOE, Kangoo ZE and Twizy, plus Master ZE later this year in Europe, and RSM SM3 ZE in Korea.

Circular economy and battery lifecycle

Some 93% of Renault’s electric vehicle customers rent the batteries that power their cars. Because Renault owns the batteries, it can optimize both the usage and the end-of-life phases in the battery lifecycle.

Renault electric vehicle batteries are managed to a three-stage circular-economy approach:

1) Optimum battery life in the car

Renault monitors the battery condition in real-time and can therefore ensure an optimum battery lifespan at the on-the-road phase.

Renault repair centres can also repair defective batteries in the vast majority of instances. And any batteries that do prove irreparable for in-vehicle use continue active service in stationary energy storage applications.

2) Battery reuse off the road

When a battery falls below 75% charge capacity and can no longer meet the demanding requirements of providing vehicle power, it can nevertheless continue to provide valuable energy storage service in less demanding applications. Since renewable energy sources such as solar panels have an inherently intermittent output, local production is optimized by storing the energy in batteries.

Renault is an active member of several national and European green energy projects that use electric vehicle batteries in this kind of stationary energy storage application.

3) Battery recycling

Renault implements a specific recycling process and works on improving its materials recovery practices, with partners such as Veolia.

Recycling starts with removing the battery’s cells (the electrochemical elements that store energy). The other battery materials are either reused or recycled through conventional processes. The cells are processed by specialist Renault partners using a hydro-metallurgical process for recovering metals such as copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium.

Building the UK’s electric vehicle infrastructure with POD Point

April 10, 2017Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, POD PointJo

Ten years ago the notion that electric vehicles (EV) could significantly disrupt the conventional diesel-fuel monopoly of the car market seemed like a pipedream – but that dream is coming close to a reality. Erik Fairbairn, the Founder of UK electric vehicle (EV) charging company POD Point, which recently crowdfunded £9m on Crowd Cube, explains why EVs are about to become the new normal.

It’s Fairbairn’s belief that in the future EV drivers will no longer need to stop somewhere to charge their car, but instead this mundane task will happen when the car isn’t being used, which is 90% of the time.

There are 2,000 public POD Point charge stations around the UK. Image courtesy of POD Point.

Starting a revolution

“My first thought was: how do you put energy into your car? With a petrol pump, so you probably need something similar for an EV,”

Fairbairn explains.

His POD Points look like conventional petrol pumps, but instead of a long, oily nozzle at the end of the handle there is a large plug.

Fairbairn quickly grasped that he couldn’t completely replicate the petrol station experience, as to take a battery from empty to full in two minutes simply doesn’t work.

“I realised I need to put a charge point everywhere your car is parked,”

he explains.

Grid watch

One of the main concerns linked to widespread EV roll-out is the energy demand and strain they will inevitably put on the national grid, which Fairbairn believes can be managed with demand-side response.

“In the future, when we get to a mass roll-out of EVs we can carefully manage how many cars are charging at any one minute,”

he says.

Who’s investing?

POD Point is one of the top ten most crowdfunded business in the UK. It previously raised £5m across three different rounds of crowdfunding and in December raised an additional £9m.

“Crowdfunding is great as there are many EV drivers that want to invest in the company – there is this affinity between the company and the drivers who like being part of the POD Point ecosystem,”

says Fairbairn.

Mass adoption

The immediate plan for POD Point is to scale-up the UK operation, but regardless of the outcomes of Brexit, there is huge potential for the company in neighbouring Europe.

“I think the UK is one of the more advanced places in Europe for EV charging, but the opportunity to export from UK to the rest of Europe and build networks across the whole of the continent is very exciting,”

says Fairbairn.

In the rankings of EV adoption, Norway is first, the Netherlands second at 5%-8%, and the UK third at 2%.

“The biggest barrier for EVs today is that they are more expensive,” Fairbairn says. “My rule of thumb is that mass adoption is going to happen when we get a 200-mile range car for £20,000 and I think that will happen in 2020.”

Rhapsody in Blue, Part 3

April 9, 2017Blog, BMW, Electric Cars, i3Trevor Larkum

Today we had another trip to Birmingham but since our destination was past the city centre (130 miles round trip) and I wanted to go fast on the motorway I made no effort to do it all on one charge.

We were taking our daughter to a gymnastics competition. After it was over we headed back towards Northampton but stopped at Corley Services for dinner. And so we made use of the Corley Ecotricity rapid charger again.

While we had our burgers the i3 filled up with time to spare. I took photos of each step of the process and will write that up soon as a guide to rapid charging.

Cars could charge homes with new EV unit

April 9, 2017Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentJo

The UK’s first domestic vehicle-to-grid (V2G) unit is to be installed at a home in Loughborough.

That’s according to Cenex, the Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, which has announced the move as part of its Ebbs and Flows of Energy Systems (EFES) project.

The innovative new system will power a home through the owner’s electric vehicle (EV).

The company hopes to showcase the interaction of EVs as battery storage within a domestic property and how this feature can be incorporated into the wider energy system.

The £1.8 million project is being completed over three years, starting in December 2017.

Cenex is to use project data to put together a business case for domestic scale V2G in the UK and believes the installation will act as a catalyst for future innovation.

Robert Evans, CEO at Cenex, said:

“Cenex is delighted to be at the forefront of this important new research into the domestic scale use of V2G power systems.“Installation of the UK’s first domestic V2G unit marks a significant landmark for the country’s manufacturing and innovation, not to mention our efforts to move toward a low carbon economy.”

A new research project is offering to install free smart chargers at EV owners’ homes.

Source: Energy Live News

Charge points at work may be key to broader electric vehicle adoption

April 9, 2017Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentJo

There are many ways to support wider electric vehicle adoption. But one of the simplest, and most powerful, may be encouraging employers to install charging at work.

Business Green reports, for example, on the experience of National Grid in the UK, which saw a large increase in the number of staff using electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles after it installed 6 charge points at its headquarters:

“Since the eVolt charging infrastructure was installed, the number of company car PHEVs has risen from 177 to 375, and we have seen an increase in the number of fully electric vehicles,” said Darren Watson, environmental operations advisor for National Grid’s Sustainability and Climate Change team. “The chargers’ take up has been rapid and exponential, and we are forecasting further rises as the business continues to support the adoption of EVs, and our employees continue to select them as a credible alternative to traditional petrol or diesel engines.”

Of course, convenience and the reduction of range anxiety are—most likely—major factors in this increased adoption of plug-in vehicles. After all, many UK drivers may not have off-street parking in which to charge, and the current crop of electric vehicles probably leaves other drivers nervous about a full round-trip commute without an option to charge at work. The reporting doesn’t say whether drivers were expected to pay for a charge, but if use of these charge points is complementary, that adds up to a pretty nice workplace perk too.

Renault Increased EV Sales By 56% In February, Thanks To New ZOE

April 8, 2017Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, RenaultJo

Renault didn’t show any of the seasonal slowdown experience found elsewhere in Europe. In fact the French automaker noted one of its best months ever for EV sales in February.

In total, more than 3,100 electric cars were sold (excluding the Twizy), which was 56% more than year ago.

Compared alongside total Renault car sales, EVs held a 1.6% share during the month.

Despite Renault offering several models in its EV lineup, in reality there is ZOE and a few other asterisks…at least when it comes to sales. Last month ZOE deliveries amounted to roughly 2,850 registrations – up 75% year-over-year, while Kangoo Z.E., in second spot, barely exceeded 250.

With a 3,000+ monthly results, Renault should cross the all-time, 100,000 all-electric car sales mark (full size, excluding Twizy) in March or April. An impressive showing for really a Europe-only brand.

Source: Inside EVs

Right-hand Drive Tesla Model 3 Arriving In UK In Summer 2018

April 8, 2017Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaJo

While plugged-in Americans are getting ready for the Tesla Model 3 to arrive later this year, EV fans in the UK just learned that they’ll have to wait a bit longer to drive their lower-cost electric vehicle. Tesla CEO Elon Musk just Tweeted that, even thought the team is working as fast as they can, the right-hand-drive Model 3 will not be available until the summer of 2018.

The delayed release of past right-hand-drive Tesla vehicles, while understandable, was a point of frustration for Model S and Model X buyers

(one forum poster snarkily said that

“Elon will land on Mars before the RHD X arrives “).

The wait for the Model 3, though, will be much shorter than the two years that buyers had to wait to get their first RHD Model S EVs in the UK. The Model S launched in the summer of 2012 in the US, but the first UK Model S EVs were not delivered until June of 2014. So, if nothing else, a delay of 7-9 months, depending on when the Model 3 is actually released in the US, shows how far Tesla has come with its production process in the last few years.

Musk also said on Twitter that early Model 3 builds – the ones made for the first 6-9 month – will only be rear-wheel-drive, similar to how Tesla made the first Model S EVs. After a half-year or three-quarters of a year, Musk said, Tesla will begin to offer up AWD or dual-motor versions. Just like with the RHD options, Musk said that the AWD Model 3 will arrive

“as soon as we can make it.”

Sounds like the workers will be busy in Fremont.

Source: Inside EV’s

Northern hemisphere sees in early spring due to global warming

April 7, 2017Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentJo

Spring is arriving ever earlier in the northern hemisphere. One sedge species in Greenland is springing to growth 26 days earlier than it did a decade ago. And in the US, spring arrived 22 days early this year in Washington DC.

The evidence comes from those silent witnesses, the natural things that respond to climate signals. The relatively new science of phenology – the calendar record of first bud, first flower, first nesting behaviour and first migrant arrivals – has over the last three decades repeatedly confirmed meteorological fears of global warming as a consequence of the combustion of fossil fuels.

Severe Flooding, Against a Background of Wind Turbines: November 2012, Tyringham, Bucks. (Image: T. Larkum)

Researchers say the evidence from the plant world is consistent with the instrumental record: 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded, and it was the third record-breaking year in succession. Sixteen of the hottest years ever recorded have happened in the 21st century.

The most dramatic changes are observed in the high Arctic, the fastest-warming place on the planet, according to a study in Biology Letters. As the polar sea ice retreats, the growing season gets ever longer and arrives earlier.

The pattern is not consistent: grey willow sticks to its original timetable, and dwarf birch growth has advanced about five days earlier for each decade. But the sedge, almost four weeks ahead of its timetable in a decade, holds the record, according to a study that observed one plot at a field site in west Greenland, 150 miles inland, for 12 years.

“When we started studying this, I never would have imagined we’d be talking about a 26-day per decade rate of advance,”

says Eric Post, a polar ecologist at the University of California, Davis, department of wildlife, fish and conservation biology, who has been studying the Arctic for 27 years.

“That’s almost an entire growing season. That’s an eye-opening rate of change.”