The first electric vans eligible for the new Plug-in Van Grant have been announced by the UK’s government on Monday. Van buyers will be able to receive 20%—up to £8,000 (US$12,600)—off the cost of this first wave of 7 plug-in electric vans. “Cars and vans are absolutely central to people’s lives – it’s how most [...]

2/22/2012 6:28:53 AM

Over the past year, the Japanese Okinawa prefecture has offered a new lure for visitors: Nissan LEAF electric cars. Setting its island-style pace aside, Okinawa touts one of the country’s most aggressive EV infrastructures, with 220 Nissan LEAF rental cars and 27 quick-chargers at 18 locations. Starting this month, Nissan and JTB Travel are jointly [...]

2/21/2012 5:46:35 AM

LEMev STREAM is the name of the electric scooter recently launched on to the Spanish market. LEMev Stream is an electric vehicle equivalent to a 125 cc scooter – valid to ride with a car driving licence – and aimed at users who drive an average of 20-50 km a day. Already on sale in [...]

2/19/2012 10:10:19 PM

Electric car company Tesla Motors revealed during its fourth-quarter earnings announcement that the company was partnering up with Mercedes-Benz on another electric-car project. For the new Mercedes, Tesla will provide the battery packs, motor, gearbox, inverter and all related software. It will start to record sales for the contract starting in the second quarter. Mercedes [...]

2/19/2012 1:39:15 AM

Smith Electric Vehicles Corp., a Kansas City-based maker of all-electric commercial vehicles, has signed a letter of intent with Wanxiang Group, a China-based global leader in automotive parts manufacturing and supply. The deal calls for Wanxiang to make a $25 million equity investment in Smith Electric and invest as much as $75 million in a [...]

2/18/2012 4:56:45 AM

Chrysler Group LLC withdrew its application for U.S. Energy Department loans to fund the development hybrid and electric vehicles after the government tightened its lending standards and the company’s financial standing improved. “The Department of Energy’s proposed terms were very restrictive and compliance would have negatively affected our operational flexibility,” the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company [...]

2/17/2012 4:09:57 AM

The U.S. President Barack Obama intends to boost government subsidies for buyers of the plug-in electric cars from $7,500 to $10,000 per buyer. Under the proposal, the tax credit would apply to vehicles that operate primarily using an alternative to gasoline, as long as that technology is not currently widespread in the U.S. The amount [...]

2/16/2012 1:40:05 AM

The total size of the global market – including revenues from fuel cells and from hydrogen for fuel cells and internal combustion engines (ICEs) – will reach $785 million in 2012, according to a new white paper from Pike Research. As the fuel cell industry makes the transition from the R&D stage to full commercialization, [...]

2/15/2012 11:54:45 AM

Electric cars in China are more hazardous to health when compared to gasoline vehicles, according to a report released Monday by a team from Universities of Tennessee and Minnesota in the US, and Tsinghua University in  China. While electric cars have been seen as environmentally friendly, the researchers determined they are in fact responsible for more overall harmful [...]

2/14/2012 5:08:36 AM

Stanford University researchers have come up with the idea of making an electric car highway in which magnetic fields could wirelessly transmit large electric currents on highways, charging electric cars as they are driven. The new technology has the potential to dramatically increase the driving range of electric cars and eventually transform highway travel, according [...]

2/11/2012 11:15:34 PM