If you read enough articles about electric or hybrid vehicles, sooner or later you see references to ultra capacitors. Ultra capacitors are currently widely used in many energy saving devices and have a bright future, including potentially replacing the standard battery. Maxwell Technologies (stock symbol: MXWL) is one of several companies at the forefront of [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Battery’
Maxwell Technologies: Creating the Replacement for the Battery?
May 14th, 2012 
John Basalla Eco-Marathon Challenges Students to Create Ultra Fuel-Efficient Transport
April 9th, 2012 Eric Wilson When energy efficiency and fuel economy come to mind, big oil is not always the first image that pops up. However, Shell Oil has been supporting the Eco-Marathon, a competition for “high school and college student teams from around the world to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles.” The current record is held by [...]
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Eric Wilson 
Tags: Battery, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Economy, Oil Consumption, Peak Oil, Photovoltaic, Plug-in Hybrid, Solar Energy 
No Comments »Review and Test Drive of the Fisker Karma
March 22nd, 2012 Chris DeArmond The Fisker Karma is unlike any other car on the road. Known as an EVer—Electric Vehicle extended range—Fisker correctly claims the Karma to be “the world’s first high performance electric luxury vehicle with the freedom to plug in or fill up.” This four-door sedan is well-built, practical, and beautifully designed inside and out—all by a [...]
Posted in Business, Featured Posts, Green Products, Transportation Tags: Battery, Cars, Chris DeArmond, EPA, Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrid, Product Review, Test Drive, Washington DC No Comments »MIT Study Details Future of Grid and Renewable Energy
March 12th, 2012 Eric Wilson A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) looked at what it deemed as “One of the most important emerging challenges facing the grid . . . the need to incorporate more renewable generation in response to policy initiatives at both state and federal levels.” At issue is the intermittent nature of many [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, News, Renewable Energy, Smart Grid Tags: Battery, Biomass, Coal, Electric Vehicles, Electricity Generation, Grid, Hydroelectricity, Nuclear, Solar Energy, Wind Power No Comments »Five Friday Facts: Chevy Volt
March 9th, 2012 Eric Wilson With the positive and negative news surrounding the Chevy Volt this week, we wanted to present five facts about the vehicle. These facts come from the Chevy Volt’s website. Every Volt comes standard with a 120V portable charge cord that can plug into most common household outlets and will fully charge a Volt in about [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Five Friday Facts, Transportation Tags: Battery, Chevy Volt, EPA, Plug-in Hybrid No Comments »New Energy Innovation Hub for Batteries and Energy Storage
February 29th, 2012 Eric Wilson Earlier this month Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced “plans to launch a new Energy Innovation Hub for advanced research on batteries and energy storage with an investment of up to $120 million over five years.” The purpose of this newest hub “will be to deliver research leading to revolutionary new technologies.” Applications are due [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Renewable Energy Tags: Battery, Coal, Department of Energy, Electricity Generation, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Solar Energy, Stephen Chu, Wind Power No Comments »Top Fuel Efficient Electric Vehicle on EPA’s List? i-MieEV
February 28th, 2012 Justin Manger The what? Mitsubishi might have chosen a name that is a little easier to remember; that aside, I guess they are hoping the efficiency of the car makes it memorable. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s 2012 Fuel Economy Guide, North American-spec i-MiEV an all-electric vehicle (EV) produced by Mitsubishi Motors North America [...]
Posted in Business, Clean Technology, Energy Efficiency, Green Products, Japan, Justin Manger, News, Transportation Tags: Battery, Cars, Electric Vehicles, Green Technology No Comments »Inside the 2013 Department of Energy Budget
February 21st, 2012 Eric Wilson As part of the massive $3.8 trillion dollar federal budget proposed recently by President Barack Obama, $27.2 billion was geared toward the Department of Energy (DOE). For those interested, here is a PDF of the DOE budget. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu provided details of the budget proposal as it pertains to his office. In [...]
Update on Tesla: Still Losing Money But Ramping Up
February 20th, 2012 Justin Manger Now that the Big Three automakers are back on their feet and turning a profit after imploding during the financial crisis (only Ford didn’t take government bailout money), it has to seem harder than ever for a start-up car company to compete in this brutally cut-throat industry. Tesla Motors, however, is not to be dismissed. In [...]
Secretary Chu Says EV Batteries Will Be 70% Cheaper in 3 Years
January 17th, 2012 Justin Manger At a recent speech in Detroit - a kind of pep rally for the city and its car industry – Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu had some good news about the cost of the batteries that power electric vehicles. In addition to making inroads on new kinds of battery technology, he talked about the likely decreases in [...]
Posted in Business, Clean Technology, Economics, Green Products, Justin Manger, News, Policy, Transportation Tags: Battery, Cars, Electric Vehicles, Stephen Chu, Washington DC No Comments »
