Ford is finally showing off its biggest push to date into the electric car market: an electric version of its Ford Focus. For GigaOM TV’s Green Overdrive show, we bring you a test drive! Read More »
The Ford Motor Company, which will typically spend up to $100 million on a TV-rich ad campaign when it launches a new car, is creating its own original reality competition series on Yahoo to spark interest in its new Focus Electric model. Read More »
While wind power is one of the cheapest forms of clean power, it’s also one of the most fickle, and to combat that problem, utilities are experimenting with energy storage, and in particular batteries. Read More »
Fisker has been rushing to fix the problem with the hose clamp for the batteries on its Karma electric car. It says that the “majority” of its customers’ and dealers’ cars with problem batteries have either gotten new batteries or have been repaired. Read More »
The federal gas tax is not at its lowest level in history. But it’s really, really close when you adjust for inflation. And that comparable low rate stands as one of the big reasons it should be hiked. Read More »
It’s been over a month since the Solyndra news came out, but it’s still dominating. Because it just won’t go away, here’s my top five list of projects that the DOE also backed with loan guarantees and that are showing some early signs of success. Read More »
The relationship between car sharing companies and automotive manufacturers bears scrutiny, says GigaOM Pro analyst Adam Lesser in his weekly column. Read More »
Smartphones are increasingly becoming the remote controls of our lives. Car owners can use theirs to check on the battery level and driving range and adjust the climate control system. An MIT project explores new ways to use smartphones to help drivers cut fuel costs. … Read More »
The team approach is becoming popular in the electric car development space. General Motors and LG Group announced Thursday a plan to co-develop electric vehicles in order to speed up their deployment. Read More »
Ford and Toyota are working together on standards for the next-generation of networking and Internet-connected services in their vehicles. The move shows just how important connectivity is becoming for car companies, as vehicles are becoming the latest devices to have an always-on wireless connection. Read More »
If you buy an electric car will you be more likely to buy solar panels? That’s SunPower and Ford are hoping, and have launched a new initiative to bundle a deal for a Ford Focus Electric vehicle and a SunPower solar rooftop system. Read More »
Many of the electric cars I’ve test driven are immediately surprising because of one thing: they’re often times completely silent. But now after some concerns that silent electric cars equal deadly electric cars, some auto makers are developing digital noises to add onto these battery-powered rides. Read More »
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The car, and in particular the electric car, is the latest device to get plugged in to the cloud. Coulomb Technologies, which makes networked electric-vehicle charging stations, plans to start selling cloud-based services for managing electric-vehicle charging. Read More »
U.S. startup Nuvve is setting its sights on the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) market with a 30-car project in Denmark that it says will sell plug-in car battery power to help stabilize the grid. Can the model scale? Read More »
Startup Streetline, which uses wireless sensors and cell phones to find parking spots for drivers, announced it has raised $15 million from Fontinalis Partners, the investment fund from former Ford CEO Bill Ford, as well as RockPort Capital Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures. Read More »
Ford is developing a futuristic wireless technology based on a form of WiFi and GPS to enable cars to “talk” to each other and help avoid crashes and potentially reduce fuel consumption. We checked out Ford’s demo in San Francisco on Wednesday and shot this video. Read More »
Ford is working on a technology that enables cars to talk to each other, and could help cars avoid crashes and reduce fuel consumption. The technology won’t be available at least for another 5 years or so and is based on WiFi and GPS. Read More »
The electric car has encountered a number of hurdles in its ongoing path to the mainstream, and they haven’t all been technical. More human challenges, like range anxiety, have served as hindrances in the wide-scale consumer adoption of electric vehicles (EVs.) As big carmakers move … Read More »
Battery startup Xtreme Power just landed its biggest grid energy storage deal yet, a 36-megawatt battery for Duke Energy. Could its secretive, solid-state energy storage technology challenge sodium sulfur and lithium ion for reigning grid champion? Read More »
One of the most basic requirements for adoption of electric vehicles is having a place to plug in. According to Ford, which released its list of top 25 cities for EVs, paving the way for an influx of EVs means going far beyond charge point installations. Read More »
AT&T is starting to look like the network of choice for connecting electric car’s wireless IT systems. This week at the wireless event CTIA, Ford said it has chosen AT&T’s wireless network for connectivity for its upcoming Ford Focus Electric. Read More »
Ford is turning to a new tech to reduce the weight of its cars and improve fuel efficiency: tiny bubbles. Ford says it is trialling a technology out of the labs of MIT, now owned by Trexel, called MuCell, which injects micro bubbles into plastic components. Read More »
The latest wave of electric cars rolling into the market will be cars connected to the power grid and increasingly, to cellular networks. Along with smart meters and the smart grid, electric vehicles and EV charging stations will be areas to watch. Read More »
A pilot project at a Ford factory combines solar PV, a block of energy storage, a dynamic management system and a handful of electric car batteries — think about it as the triple play for clean power. Courtesy of DTE Energy and energy storage startup Xteme … Read More »
Ford’s Ed Pleet gives us a video demo of Ford’s new mobile app, MyFord Mobile, that will help drivers remotely manage energy consumption in the upcoming Ford Focus Electric vehicle. The software allows users to remotely monitor the car’s battery and plan trips around recharging stations. Read More »
It’s that time again, when automakers haul their wares out to Detroit for the North American International Auto Show. The event, which kicks off on Monday, will include an array of concepts for more efficient and less polluting cars, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles. … Read More »
Lithium-ion battery startup ActaCell, which has already raised funds from such high profile groups as Google.org, DFJ Mercury and Applied Ventures (Applied Materials venture arm), is out touting over $3 million in newly acquired financing this morning. Read More »
While Uncle Sam has tapped a select few companies as winners for its green car loan program, it has left a much longer list of loan applicants disappointed or stuck in limbo. Here’s the state of the ATVM awards at the end of 2010: Read More »
Ford and partner Azure Dynamics announced this morning that they have started production and deliveries of the Transit Connect Electric work van — the first of five electric vehicles from Ford — to customers in North America and the U.K. Read More »
Volvo’s all-electric vehicle, the C30, has been hitting the streets of California this week, under going test drives during the LA Auto Show, and being tested in fleets in California starting next week. Read More »
For electric vehicles to become truly mainstream, utilities and auto makers need to partner on a variety of details. Here’s 5 reasons why car companies and utilities should be besties. Read More »
By Sasha Friedman
Aug. 25, 2010, 7:18am PT
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Anticipating the roll-out of their new electrified line of cars and light-duty vans, Ford is partnering with utility Portland General Electric to make sure adequate charging infrastructure and electrical grid capacity are available in their service area. Read More »
General Motors’ long-awaited S-1 filing spotlights work on the Chevy Volt, OnStar communication system and Google partnership as evidence of GM’s commitment to next-generation technologies. Here’s 12 things to know from the S-1 related to greener vehicles and Car 2.0:. Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Jul. 23, 2010, 10:00am PT
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Hybrid technology is really getting its day in court. A former General Motors worker and her husband have been accused of stealing (and trying to sell to a Chinese competitor) $40 million in trade secrets related to hybrid vehicles. Read More »
Paice LLC founder Alex Severinsky has for years waged legal battles against Toyota and Ford claiming they’ve used his patented hybrid technology in their models. In the last few days settlements have emerged in both cases. Read More »
Compact Power, a Michigan subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Chem, is starting to look like the player to beat in the competition to supply lithium-ion cells and battery packs for electric vehicles, having bagged deals with General Motors, Eaton and Ford. Read More »
The Obama administration has kicked off its electric car and battery offensive with a report laying out the facts and figures for its investments in advanced vehicles and batteries so far under the Recovery Act. Here’s the digit-by-digit highlights. Read More »
Bill Gates and Vinod Khosla have just turbo charged diesel engine startup EcoMotors International with a “substantial” amount of second-round financing. EcoMotors announced today that Khosla’s venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and Gates are the “two exclusive investors” in this round. Read More »
When it comes to solutions for greener transportation, one size does not fit all. Here’s the latest rundown on which plug-in models are scheduled to roll out when and where, how much range they’ll deliver and the expected pricing. Read More »
Ford and General Motors plan to let drivers send Google Maps directions to their in-vehicle communication systems, Sync and OnStar. The automakers announced the services separately today, as Internet rivalries spill over into the landscape of connected and electric cars. Read More »
Ford’s exec in charge of connected services, Edward Pleet, told us at our Green:Net event that in terms of its Sync platform, “the sky is the limit.” Expect thousands of applications, providing various services to Ford customers someday, similar to a platform like Apple has. 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 »
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 »
Ford and Microsoft’s move to use Hohm to minimize energy costs for electric vehicle drivers and limit strain on the grid represents a big step toward a “smart charging” ecosystem. But they say tools like Hohm need to go much, much bigger. Read More »
Ford is turning to Microsoft’s home energy management tool Hohm to enable smart charging for its electric vehicles. Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made the announcement this morning. Read More »
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