While all of the attention was on the New York Times’ review of Tesla’s Model S last week, the real business story on Tesla starts this week: Tesla will hold its Q4 and full year 2012 earnings on Wednesday and start to reveal just how close it’s getting to profitability this year. Read more »
Gracenote is hacking the Ford Focus to tap into vehicle performance data, which it then feeds into the car’s infotainment system. The result: a car that plays different songs depending on how you’re driving. Read more »
Once hot thin film solar startup Nanosolar has done a round of layoffs — which could be substantial — following a major down round last year. So goes the trend of the once promising next-gen solar panel maker startups. Read more »
Fisker is the latest electric car maker to reach out to Chinese investors and auto tech giants for investment and acquisition. And it’s also the latest electric car company to struggle and face a discounted value. Read more »
Starting a company is hard, but it’s a lot harder outside the startup-happy tech culture in the Bay Area as I discovered talking to toy inventors at The Toy Fair. Read more »
Despite the hand-wringing over the cleantech investing cliff, it actually could be the best of times for investing in energy tech, resource management and sustainability, for investors that stick with it. Read more »
One thing that Tesla’s’ battle with the New York Times has reinforced is how the balance of power has shifted in media now that everyone — companies included — has the ability to publish their side of a story. Read more at paidContent »
Using a system that costs little over $7,000, researchers at the venerable University of Oxford have developed a modified Leaf that can drive itself — as long as it recognizes its surroundings. Read more »
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang readily admits the lack of an integrated processor-modem is holding the company back in the smartphone market. Why? Integrated chips aren’t just easier to design around, they also consume less power. Read more »
Tesla has released the data logs that tracked a negative review by a New York Times reporter, and I think they reveal five important lessons about electric cars, about Tesla and CEO Elon Musk and about reporting in the data age. Read more »
A battery accelerator program and San Jose State University will start offering classes on battery technology and business starting this Summer. California has emerged as a leader in battery innovation. Read more »
Solar-as-a-service is dominating the market for home solar panel systems and the companies that pioneered these financing models are now seeing the pay back for those early moves. Read more »
Lux Capital has closed on its third fund, of $245 million, and remains committed to investing in energy technology, despite that many VCs have backed out of cleantech investing. Read more »
President Obama made one of his most aggressive declarations to using market-based means to fight climate change since early on in his first term. Read more »
The spectrum automakers plan to use for vehicle-to-vehicle networks sits right up against the airwaves the FCC wants to reallocate for Wi-Fi. The auto industry says that’s the perfect recipe for interference. Read more »
Despite the slower-than-expected roll out of electric cars, young startups are still innovating around how to make electric car charging make economic sense. Berlin-based ubitricity thinks it has a breakthrough idea with its portable charging meters. Read more »
The new radio silicon uses the new Weightless specification to tap into the unused airwaves in between TV broadcasts. Such technology could be used to create a cheap data network for the M2M communications. Read more »
Google is celebrating the risk-taking entrepreneurs that are looking to create moon shots and solve the world’s most pressing problems. Turns out the list is dominated by technologies looking to fight climate change, and solve resource constraint problems. Read more »
Months after the Nexus 4 arrived on sale, the promise of charging the device without connecting a wire is here. For $59, Google is now selling the Nexus 4 Wireless Charging Orb. Read more »
Toshiba has acquired another smart grid startup Consert, who has been building a smart home service. Read more »
While they may be selling the “picks and shovels” associated with the internet of things gold rush, the world of connected devices is a rich opportunity for semiconductor companies. Read more »
Battery innovation isn’t as slow as many people think it is, and the continued pace of battery improvement enables entirely new types of electric car design, according to Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel. Read more »
Verizon is now reviewing iPhone and Android apps, but not based on how fun or useful they are. It’s concerned about the resources they consume, which means Facebook and many popular games get docked. Read more »
SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive says the company’s IPO was so touch and go in the 11th hour that at one point the team had actually booked tickets to fly back to San Francisco from New York. Read more »
UBE is yet another internet of things startups, but one with a compelling message. Use its app to control any IP-connected device in your home for fun and to conserve energy. Read more »
Following the power outage during Sunday’s Super Bowl game, an Amazon Web Services engineer gave his blog readers some tips for avoiding similar events, at data centers or giant stadiums. Read more »
In the same week that Better Place has exited the U.S. and Australia to focus on Israeli and Denmark, Better Place founder and former CEO Shai Agassi says he still believes in the business model of swappable batteries and subscriptions for electrons. Read more »
What are the most important energy trends that the U.S. acting under secretary of energy, David Sandalow, is seeing in 2013? Check out these 7 that are at the top of his mind. Read more »
Famed entrepreneur Tom Siebel finally details just what his big data energy startup C3 has been up to. C3 is four years old, has raised a $100 million, and is now demonstrating real products and customers. Read more »
A new report from IHS says microserver shipments will triple this year. The question is, Who will emerge as the leading microserver providers? Read more »
When you think about a “connected car,” you probably think of fancy car stereos that can play tunes from your smartphone. But the connected car is evolving into something much more complex. Here’s what coming down the road. Read more »
Kiosks are the latest option for you to recycle your perfectly good cell phone that you ditched for a newer model. Startup ecoATM plans to put hundreds of more recycling kiosks into places like malls this year. Read more »
The modern centralized method of energy generation and distribution is inherently inefficient, and that state is embodied by a little known chart. It’s also this chart which could show just how efficient the energy grid could be with distributed energy storage and technology. Read more »
There’s at least three lessons we can learn about the future of grid architecture, and next-gen lighting from the Superbowl blackout. Read more »
One of the most aggressive cleantech investors, VantagePoint Capital Partners, has stopped raising its more recent billion dollar cleantech fund. Why? Lack of interest from limited partners, the investors that put money into VC funds. And that’s been an ongoing trend. Read more »
It works like magic, but it’s really science: Boiling water in the $149 PowerPot can charge any USB-powered device during a power outage or while camping. Tea, anyone? Read more »
A startup called Seeo, backed by Vinod Khosla and Google.org, has created a safer lithium ion battery that’s being trialled with a solar panel system developed by SunEdison. Batteries can provide much needed energy storage systems for solar. Read more »
Apple’s iPhone and other smartphones are full of rare earth minerals China is one of the biggest producers (and consumers) of these rare earth minerals, which are becoming such hot commodities that entrepreneurs and investors are thinking about mining the moon for them. Read more »
Will Coca-Cola be the answer to helping move segway inventor Dean Kamen’s clean water technology into commercialization? Read more »
While 3D printers are coming down in price, the plastic used as “ink” in them can still be pricey. What if you could create your own 3D printing material by recycling home plastics? Read more »
