The sale of 800,000 plug-in vehicles during by 2015 will create a slew of challenges for utilities, automakers and consumers. IT companies have a $1.5 billion opportunity to offer equipment and software that could help ease the pain of that influx. Read More »
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Josie Garthwaite
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General Electric and Nissan announced a partnership today to quantify the impact of electric vehicles on the power grid and research “smart charging,” or tech for controlling how electricity flows into vehicle batteries to minimize strain on the grid. Read More »
Automakers from Detroit to China to Silicon Valley have plug-in vehicles slated for commercial launch between 2010 and 2012. A lively ecosystem of technology developers, equipment makers and would-be service providers for these vehicles has started to emerge in preparation for an influx of electric cars. …
Earth2Tech Week in Review
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 24, 2010, 9:00am PT
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Here’s some of the best stories from last week, including a roundup of 25 people who ditched IT for greentech, the latest news on Fisker’s DOE loan, a look at what’s next for Zipcar after buying Streetcar, and the story behind Zensi. Read More »
Nissan says it collected 6,635 reservations for its upcoming LEAF electric sedan in just one day — far more than companies like Tesla, Aptera and Ford have raked in during early reservation periods for some of their models. Read More »
The federal government and Fisker Automotive have just closed a $528.7 million loan agreement meant to help the startup launch its luxury plug-in hybrid, the Fisker Karma, and set up manufacturing in Delaware for a line of lower-cost plug-in hybrids. Read More »
V-Vehicle, the secretive auto startup backed by the venture capitalists at Kleiner Perkins, has pulled back the curtain for the first time on its future fundraising plans, stage of development and design elements of its inaugural model, which includes a plastic shell. Read More »
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Lithium ion battery maker A123Systems collected a $5 million loan commitment this week from its home state of Massachusetts, which offers it a little more government-sponsored fertilizer for the seeds A123 has been planting to grow its grid storage business. Read More »
What does General Motors have to show for the $700 million it expects to invest in eight facilities involved in Chevy Volt production? Most recently, it has these images of a pre-production version of the upcoming plug-in sedan. Work it, Chevy. Read More »
Codexis, a Redwood City, Calif.-based developer of evolved biocatalysts for drug and biofuel production debuted on the Nasdaq this morning at the low end of its proposed price range: just $13 per share for a raise of $78 million. Read More »
Four years after setting up a car sharing service in London, England, Zipcar announced today that it has acquired the UK’s largest car sharing provider, Streetcar. Now Zipcar faces some questions about how to bridge technology gaps between different models. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 21, 2010, 3:33pm PT
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“Siemens Energy, a unit of German industrial giant Siemens AG (SI), said Wednesday that it has signed a $15 million contract with a unit of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HE) to build a “smart grid” system in Honolulu.” — Dow Jones Newswires Read More »
Zipcar has bought London-based car-sharing firm Streetcar in its latest bid to expand across Europe, the companies announced this morning. The acquisition, valued at about $50 million, expands the size of Zipcar’s UK fleet more than fourfold, to 1,770 vehicles. Read More »
Despite the more than $1 million in cash and prizes awarded in this year’s Rice University business plan contest, the stakes will rise in the next phase: turning a cool idea into sustainable company. Here’s seven green ideas pitched in the contest: Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 20, 2010, 2:46pm PT
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Sequoia Capital-backed carbon capture startup C12 Energy now has “several early stage CCS projects,” in the works, according to testimony from founder Kurt House, who pulled back the curtain on what he sees as keys and challenges for deployment of carbon capture tech. Read More »
V-Vehicle, the startup with big name investors and plans to build low-cost gas sippers with funding from Uncle Sam, let its factory lease expire last month after losing a bid for federal loans. But now V-Vehicle has renewed its lease on the facility. Read More »
In its latest move to woo third-party developers and the consumers who buy their apps, Ford today says it has launched a “developer network” for its Sync communication platform, and plans to let drivers control smartphone apps using the Sync interface next year. Read More »
These 10 bike sharing programs offer a glimpse of how a growing number of cities and unconventional transit players are putting wi-fi, solar power and smartphones to work in the service of mobility on demand. Read More »
For those of you keen on the Nissan LEAF electric sedan, you have one more day to wiggle into the first group of buyers. The automaker plans to begin accepting early reservations on Tuesday, while general reservations won’t open until May 15. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 17, 2010, 9:00am PT
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Here’s some of the best stories from last week, including a look at green IPOs on deck for 2010, a powerhouse LED startup, BYD’s big-name beta testers, software in GM’s Chevy Volt and what Bill Ford thinks will shape the green car industry. Read More »
Molycorp, which mines of a group of metals known as rare earth elements used in hybrid vehicle batteries, wind turbines, compact fluorescent light bulbs and other technologies, filed with regulators Friday afternoon to raise up to $350 million in an IPO. Read More »
Duke Energy says cost estimates for an Indiana coal plant (designed to test carbon capture and storage technology and use what’s called integrated gasification combined cycle tech) have ballooned to $2.88 billion, up from original estimate of less than $2 billion. Read More »
The National Institute of Standards and Technology today announced $25 million available for high-risk research projects. The idea is to develop more efficient, lower cost, less wasteful and faster ways of making products “process-based industries.” Read More »
ECOtality’s latest report to shareholders shows a net loss of more than $29.5 million for 2009, up from $8.1 million in 2008 (a change attributed largely to the expense of pursuing stimulus funds), and reveals a company backing away from hydrogen ambitions. Read More »
Ford announced Thursday that the navigation system in vehicles with MyFord Touch (an interface that provides easy access and controls for Ford’s onboard communication system, Sync) will let drivers select a route that prioritizes not only distance or time, but also efficiency. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 15, 2010, 3:00pm PT
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Several sources say Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman will unveil their compromise climate proposal on April 26. The “definitive date shows the senators are coming close to finalizing their package.” — WaPo’s Post Carbon Read More »
Aptera Motors, the developer of three-wheeled hybrid and electric vehicles, says it has raised new funds from NRG Energy and needs to raise a whole lot more from the federal government as well as private markets. Read More »
Zipcar bills its car-sharing service as a money saver. At the tail end of a recession, has Zipcar — which has said it aims to “cross over to profitability” in 2010, and eventually go public — seen users flock to its service? Read More »
Winners of this year’s Millennium Technology Prize include the inventor of “a variety of solar cells that perform artificial photosynthesis using dyes,” meant to be “cheaper and easier to make and use than their silicon-based counterparts.” — Ars Technica Read More »
Ford Motor Chairman Bill Ford weighed in today on efforts to go beyond electric vehicles, as well as Ford’s future as a mobility provider, the challenge from China and why he thinks biofuels still have legs. Read More »
Today, just ahead of releasing its 2010 earnings forecast, Daimler announced it will open its Austin, Texas car sharing network to all city residents next month. Dubbed car2go, it demonstrates a service that could play into a larger Mobility on Demand system. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 14, 2010, 8:24am PT
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ZAP, the low-speed electric vehicle maker with a history of making (and breaking) ambitious promises, is looking to a government lab for “smart charging” tech. The system can vary the rate and time at which a car draws juice from the grid. Read More »
China’s BYD boasts Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and David Sokol as beta testers for its electric vehicles. “They’re definitely coming to the United States,” Sokol said today, but timing will depend in part on how quickly it can ramp up battery production. Read More »
In the few months remaining until GM fires up production of the Chevy Volt, the automaker plans to focus on software and controls — or what Vehicle Chief Engineer Andrew Farah calls the “glue” that “make this whole thing work.” Read More »
Chrysler and NASA plan to share data and research related to battery systems, energy storage, materials engineering, radar, robotics and other technologies over the next three years as part of a new alliance announced this morning. Read More »
Upstart Saba Motors, a finalist in the $10 million Automotive X Prize competition, is looking for cues in Dell’s business model as it sets out to build an electric sports car. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 12, 2010, 4:54pm PT
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“A document accidentally left on a European hotel computer and passed to the Guardian,” indicates U.S. negotiators intend to push the Copenhagen accord “through the UN process as a single ‘take it or leave it’ text.” — UK Guardian via Dot Earth Read More »
This morning the Irish government announced plans to offer electric car buyers grants of 5,000 euros ($6,815), in the country’s latest move to support a goal of having plug-in vehicles make up at least 10 percent of the national fleet by 2020. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 10, 2010, 9:00am PT
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Here’s some of the best stories of last week, including a look at the potential for rising car ownership costs to buoy “mobility on demand,” analysis of how Apple’s iPad could disrupt the home energy market, and news about Bloom Energy’s utility prospects. Read More »
In the weeks since restrictions lifted on insiders holding the bulk of A123′s stock, some executives have started to cash out. The transactions represent just a trickle of cash compared to the wealth created on paper in the first day of trading. Read More »
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has just recruited two more players to its team in the race to dominate the global electric vehicle market. This morning the duo announced plans to collaborate with Italy’s largest electricity producer, Enel, and Spanish utility giant Endesa. Read More »
In the move from gas powered cars to hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, our cars will become more like overgrown consumer electronics than ever before. That trend brings with it potential for a new breed of errors. Read More »
AAA’s latest study on vehicle ownership costs reads like a case for fuel sippers, if not for deserting personal cars altogether in favor of alternatives like car-share networks, which often cover fuel, maintenance and insurance costs, and larger “mobility on demand” systems. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Apr. 8, 2010, 3:30pm PT
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Meet the Energy Geeks: Here’s a glimpse of what seven ARPA-E winners are up to. They’re some of “the nation’s most visionary energy innovators — thrill-seeking, over-achieving uber-geeks from start-up companies and universities across America.” — Grist Read More »
Don’t let the enthusiasm of the early adopters fool you: Electric vehicles have a long way to go before taking hold in the mainstream. That was a warning issued yesterday by Jason Wolf, VP of Business Development for electric vehicle infrastructure startup Better Place. Read More »
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