More than 100 companies have been jockeying in recent months for billions of dollars in federal grants and state incentive packages designed to help spur the growth of a U.S. battery manufacturing industry for plug-in vehicles. At this point, firms based in China, Japan, South Korea […] Read more »
Less than two months after the Department of Energy gave Tesla Motors the green light for $465 million in low-interest loans, the electric car startup has identified its first project for the funds: setting up a powertrain assembly facility and new headquarters at the Stanford Research […] Read more »
If shipments of transmissions for Tesla Motors’ $109,000 Roadster, had halted for too long this past spring, it could have spelled doom for the electric car startup. “This is life or death for us,” CEO Elon Musk said at the time, according to an extensive profile […] Read more »
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Missteps in GM’s 230 Campaign: General Motors’ buzzy 230 MPG marketing campaign for the Chevy Volt “was flawed because it was ill-timed, targeted a group that is not likely to be the core Volt buyer and — most of all — didn’t offer enough clues to […] Read more »
If Canadian electric vehicle maker Zenn Motor Co. once saw lithium-ion batteries as a possible alternative to devices from its controversial investment in ultracapacitor developer EEStor, the more standard technology is now officially out of the running for its future cars. According to Zenn’s third-quarter results […] Read more »
GM to Invest $43M to Build Battery Plant: General Motors said today it will invest $43 million to build a lithium-ion battery pack assembly plant in Brownstone, Mich. for its extended-range electric Chevy Volt and other plug-in vehicles. — Reuters Cap-and-Trade Inventors Call for Carbon Tax: […] Read more »
GM Seeks Cool Factor for Small Cars: General Motors designers have begun to sharpen their focus on more fuel efficient, smaller (not tiny) cars. “Cool and small is the next big thing,” predicts GM’s vice president of global design Ed Welburn. — CNET’s Green Tech Alpine […] Read more »
The battle of the MPGs kicked into high gear this week with General Motors making the bold claim that its upcoming Chevy Volt, an extended-range electric vehicle, will get 230 MPG for city driving. Nissan countered with an announcement that its 2011 all-electric LEAF sedan will […] Read more »
General Motors still has a lot of open questions about the best way to build out a comprehensive charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles like the Chevy Volt, and it’s working with utilities, policy-makers and other stakeholders and “enablers” to answer them. But at least one thing […] Read more »
Shaq Backs Micro Refinery Maker: NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has invested in GreenHouse, maker of portable refinery systems for making fuel at home from organic waste, and says he’ll now go by “Big Eth” instead of “Diesel.” — Orange County Register via Kicking Tires Charging Infrastructure: […] Read more »
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Less than a year after startup A123Systems lost a battle for what could be one of the biggest plug-in vehicle battery supply deals in the country — General Motors’ Chevy Volt — the Massachusetts-based company has snagged a $249 million grant from the Department of Energy […] Read more »
Cash for Clunkers Winners: People have used cash for clunkers vouchers to buy fuel-sipping cars, led by the Ford Focus and followed by models from Honda and Toyota, a sign that “Americans are convinced more than ever that the era of cheap oil and gasoline is […] Read more »
The Obama administration has just named the first group of winners in one of the hottest cleantech programs in the stimulus package, the $2.4 billion Electric Drive Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative, which includes $1.2 billion for battery cell and pack manufacturing facilities. Among the 48 […] Read more »
Immelt and Doerr on the Other Crisis: In an editorial today, venture capitalist John Doerr and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt argue the U.S. faces not only economic, climate and energy crises, but also a competitiveness crisis, especially when it comes to green technology. — Washington […] Read more »
DOE Wants to Be Your Facebook Friend: “The Obama administration really, really doesn’t want the fight over health care to steal attention from energy and climate legislation. Energy Secretary Steven Chu just launched a Facebook page to keep climate change front and center.” — WSJ’s Environmental […] Read more »
With billions of dollars in government funds coming down the pipeline for advanced batteries courtesy of the stimulus package, and the auto industry gearing up to make its first real go at marketing plug-in vehicles for the masses, the race to build lithium-ion batteries for vehicles […] Read more »
General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson promised earlier this week that the new GM, fresh out of bankruptcy, will have more direct communications with customers, dealers, suppliers and employees. The lingering consumer perception “that GM makes lower-quality cars,” according to the White House auto task force, combined […] Read more »
Detroit and Silicon Valley may end up joining hands over one of the thorniest aspects of the auto bailout: dealer networks. Earlier this year, the White House auto task force described General Motors’ dealer network as “burdened” with an excess of “unprofitable or underperforming dealers” that […] Read more »
The big business news — whether you’re a green geek or not — in the last week has been the auto industry. GM dominated headlines, as it emerged from bankruptcy and brought back the brash Bob Lutz as “vice chairman responsible for all creative elements of ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Bob Lutz is Back, Now What?: In bringing Bob Lutz back into the company (his retirement was announced a few months ago), General Motors seems to be hoping Lutz will “be able to tap the same formidable skills he used to accelerate the development of the […] Read more »
Meet the New GM, a company that’s supposed to be more nimble, innovative, and a heck of a lot more profitable than the old General Motors. The new company launched this morning as much of the automaker’s assets transferred over to a company now controlled by […] Read more »
Updated: Sprint today said it will turn over the day-to-day management of its wireless network to Ericsson, and spend between $4.5 billion and $5 billion over the next seven years for the service. The two companies will host a conference call later in the day to […] Read more »
So there’s a new OS that’s based on the web, relies primarily on a web browser, and whose native apps are web apps. Old news, you say? We already know about Palm’s WebOS. No, I don’t mean that one. This one will primarily target netbooks. Still […] Read more »
Updated with new maps from Akamai: Akamai, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that has built a content delivery network that spans the globe, will soon be releasing the latest edition of its “State of The Internet” report, which looks at some of the key Internet developments, including […] Read more »
Less than three years: that’s the wait time left for a plug-in hybrid from Toyota at commercial scale, according to reports this weekend from Japan’s Nikkei (h/t Reuters). The news that Toyota plans to start churning out at least 20,000 to 30,000 plug-in hybrids in 2012 […] Read more »
We’d like to say thanks to this month’s jkOnTheRun sponsors. Fuze Meeting: HD Meetings – From Fuze Meeting Best in Cell Phones: The Best Cell Phone Deals are Here! Read more »
Until the launch of Honda’s low-cost hybrid Insight earlier this year, Toyota was pretty much the unchallenged king of the hybrid market. It took an early lead with the launch of its Prius, and has hung onto it, acquiring patents along the way — or, as […] Read more »
Uncle Sam vs. Venture Capital Want to get funding from the federal government? Keep in mind that its objectives are different from those of venture capitalists, and explaining how your project meets political goals is just as important as highlighting technological advances and financial security. — […] Read more »
We’d like to say thanks to this month’s jkOnTheRun sponsors. Fuze Meeting: HD Meetings – From Fuze Meeting Best in Cell Phones: The Best Cell Phone Deals are Here! Read more »
Launching a vehicle on the mass market doesn’t come cheap. As legacy players like General Motors work to resolve their own funding issues, startups are racing to finance production of fuel efficient and plug-in vehicles that just might gain a foothold among mainstream consumers before the […] Read more »
Major League Baseball has added live video streams of baseball games to its $9.99 iPhone app, starting today. The games can be viewed over Wi-Fi or via the iPhone’s 3G connection — unlike the Sling video-streaming app, which only works over Wi-Fi because of a clause […] Read more »
Electric and hybrid car enthusiasts who were just beginning to warm up to General Motors for its recent work on the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, and who years after the film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” skewered the automaker for pulling the plug on its electric […] Read more »
GM Opens Up Battery R&D Center: Today General Motors opened its new Global Battery Systems Lab, a facility designed for testing the lithium-ion batteries planned for the Chevy Volt, plus other energy storage systems such as ultracapacitors. — CNET’s Green Tech DOE Needs Dose of Its […] Read more »
Plug-in cars have barely made a dent in the global vehicle fleet, and automakers have yet to launch their first real entries into the race for a mainstream electric car. When carmakers do start selling those models — late next year and beyond — they for […] Read more »
Noble Nixes IPO Plans: Connecticut-based wind developer Noble Environmental Power has withdrawn its registration, filed last year, for a $375 million initial public offering. — Mass High Tech GM Suspends China Import Plans: Under pressure from the United Auto Workers union and members of Congress, General […] Read more »
The electric Coda Automotive sedan, unveiled yesterday as the first highway-capable model from low-speed electric vehicle startup Miles EV’s new spinoff, isn’t just “made in China.” Companies based in China, including Hafei Motor and Lishen, have been working with Santa Monica, Calif.-based Miles throughout the development […] Read more »
It’s been a long time coming: Toyota began working more than three years ago on lithium-ion batteries as an alternative to the NiMH batteries in the Prius, which can be more expensive, but store more energy with less weight. Today the company detailed plans to lease […] Read more »
Earlier this year while General Motors was submitting its restructuring plans and set to hear the first recommendations from President Barack Obama’s auto task force, the company’s much-hyped plug-in car, the Chevy Volt, was bound up in a waiting game that threatened to take down the […] Read more »
Cities have thrown down the gauntlet for electric car charging in recent months, and utilities are increasingly eager to tout infrastructure efforts. Among automakers, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has been out in front working to coordinate governments, utilities and charge station companies to develop regional networks of […] Read more »
Oh Lutz: Reducing fuel consumption by mandating more fuel-efficient cars “is like attacking obesity by ordering everybody to wear size small clothing,” and other gems from former Chevy Volt frontman Bob Lutz on David Letterman last night. — Jalopnik Smart Grid for China: China’s power distribution […] Read more »
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