The future for electric car startup tech is in China
Money from Chinese investors, conglomerates, cities and the government, continues to drive a significant amount of the future of next-generation technology for electric cars. Read more »
China building super highway for clean power
China likes to do things on a grand scale, which allows it serve its vast population spreading out in huge regions and brag about its technical advancements. Here comes another one: the country is now building a transmission line with a whopping 800-kilovolt of capacity that will ferry wind and solar power over 2,210 kilometers (1,373 miles). Read more »
Solar startup Sunpreme raises $50M, heads to China
China has been the epicenter of its own solar manufacturing industry for years but the country has more recently become a destination for U.S. startups setting up their first manufacturing bases in the country as well — like solar maker Sunpreme. Read more »
China: Now the land of cleantech capital
China has long been perceived as the must-tackle market for clean power and cleantech, but it’s also become a spigot of private capital for startups that find the marriage of money and market opportunity particularly appealing. Read more »
Boston-Power lines up $125M to make EV batteries in China
Boston-Power, which once dreamed of building a lithium-ion cell battery factory in the United States, announced Tuesday it has lined up $125 million of investments to shift a big part of its business to China and thin its operation in the U.S. by about 35 percent. Read more »
Boston Power launches electric car battery tech
Boston Power took the wraps off some details about its electric vehicle battery tech, and it says it expects other partners (beyond Saab) to deploy the electric car battery tech later this year and in 2012. Read more »
What’s Next for Next Autoworks (Formerly V-Vehicle)?
The road hasn’t been easy for Next Autoworks (formerly V-Vehicle), which is backed by Google Ventures, T. Boone Pickens, and Kleiner Perkins. But the way forward has grown even rockier as legislators consider a proposal to shuffle around funds set aside for Next Autoworks’ project. Read more »
Lithium Ion Battery Baby Steps: A 3-Year-Warranty Laptop Battery
The next-generation of lithium ion batteries aren’t just here to power the first wave of electric cars, they’ll be providing better energy storage for gadgets and computers, too. Leyden Energy is launching a lithium-ion battery for laptops that won’t degrade for at least three years. Read more »
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Green IT Overview, Q2 2010
In the second quarter of 2010, greentech startups scored record venture capital and increased spending despite a weak economy. Solar power retained its lead in greentech venture financing, while global investment for clean energy asset financing fell. China, meanwhile, underscored its rising might in the greentech industry, raising billions of dollars in green energy financing. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Compact Power's Electric Car Power Plays
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 »
Toshiba Leaps From Laptops to Electric Cars
Toshiba and Mitsubishi Motors have teamed up to work on battery systems for electric cars, the laptop and electronics giant announced on Friday. But if everyone needs multiple sources, then Toshiba is hardly a shoe-in for a contract to supply Mitsubishi with the battery systems. Read more »
How-To: Hold & Mute Calls on the iPhone 4
The new iPhone 4 does away with the ‘hold’ button during a call, but what if you want to put your caller on hold? Don’t worry, you still can. Read more »
Battery Maker Boston-Power Lands $60M
Boston-Power has raised $60 million in fifth-round financing — cash that the startup hopes will fuel a rapid expansion of its capacity to build energy storage devices for plug-in cars and the electric utilities. Read more »
How the Volvo-Geely Deal Plugs Into the Green Car Race
Chinese automaker Geely, which is known for its low-cost compacts, plans to buy the loss-making luxury brand Volvo for $1.8 billion from Ford Motor. How does the deal play into China’s larger role in the nascent electric vehicle market? Read more »
Boston-Power Plowing "Full Steam Ahead" on Saab EV Project
The shaky status of Saab — the loss-making auto brand that General Motors threatened to shut down late last year before finally reaching a deal with specialty car maker Spyker — cast uncertainty around the first publicly announced demonstration of battery maker Boston-Power’s devices in plug-in vehicles. […] Read more »
