Nav systems have been optimized for cars on city streets, but what if you're on a moped trying to avoid steep hills, or on foot on a mountain trail? You need a new kind of navigation.…
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Nissan wants self-driving cars on the road by 2020
Nissan wants the self-driving car to make its appearance in 2020, and is testing it all with the emissions-free Leaf.…
Read MorePodcast: Power to the people — and all their connected devices
Want to know what your power company thinks about the internet of things? If you live in Austin, you'll know exactly what it thinks, but for everyone else my podcast with Austin Energy may still provide some valuable insights.…
Read MoreSurvey: Tell us your thoughts on the fate of Fisker
Fisker Automotive seems to be close to bankruptcy and just went through a hearing on Capital Hill. We invite GigaOM Readers to share their thoughts on the electric vehicle maker and how this news will affect the larger cleantech sector.…
Read MoreGetting to gross margin: Tesla’s year ahead
Tesla continues with its goal of getting EVs to the mass market after announcing its fourth-quarter earnings. But the challenges the Model S-maker faces are many, and there are limits on how much the company can scale.…
Read MoreIs Detroit buying Verizon’s LTE-connected-car vision?
Verizon recently has aggressively pursued its LTE-connected-car strategy, buying up Hughes Telematics and on Wednesday launching a new initiative with foreign car manufacturers. But not all automakers are necessarily on board with Verizon's dream of embedding 4G into every car.…
Read MoreBattery breakthrough could bring electric cars to all
A startup called Envia Systems that's been working on lithium ion battery technology says it's developed a key breakthrough that could one day lead to an electric car that has a 300-mile range and could cost around $25,000 to $30,000.…
Read MoreThe weekend review: Tesla X, Honeywell vs Nest, and collaboration in the workplace
GigaOM Pro readers scrutinized the consumer cleantech industry this week, tracking big news from Tesla and digging in to the intricacies of the Honeywell-Nest lawsuit, which threatens to stifle the green startup industry.…
Read MoreWe can thank Moore’s Law for the VC cleantech bust
One of the key misplaced assumptions that Valley VCs made in cleantech boom times is that the rapid progress of Moore's Law could be created for cleantech with a little bit of VC funding and Valley smarts.…
Read MoreThe top 10 trends from the year’s big smart grid show
One of the year's largest smart grid conferences -- DistribuTECH -- closes today in San Antonio, Texas. It's like the CES for utilities, power companies and the vendors that are trying to sell them stuff. Here are the top 10 trends I took away.…
Read MoreBattery maker Ener1 looks to restructure in bankruptcy court
Some good news and bad news for the beleaguered battery maker Ener1. On Thursday, the company announced it's filing for Chapter 11 in New York, but has done so under a pre-arranged restructuring plan that includes commitments for up to $81 million from investors.…
Read MoreSomeday we could all have a home battery
One day it could be common to have a home battery to store energy from a solar panel, and some battery makers and startups showed off their home batteries at DistribuTECH this week.…
Read MoreTendril test-drives its electric car software with BMW
After a variety of strategies and around $100 million in funding, startup Tendril is now largely a software company, and on Tuesday at the DistribuTECH conference in San Antonio, Tendril announced a big partner in its play to provide the software layer for electric vehicles: BMW.…
Read MoreElectric car startup Coda takes aim at the power grid
Despite Coda just going into production of its inaugural electric sedan, the startup will announce on Friday it's launching a division that plans to sell its batteries and battery management system to act as energy storage for the power grid.…
Read More4G with your coffee? Verizon sticks LTE in just about everything
Verizon is putting LTE chips in TouchTunes' new digital karaoke machines, but that's not all. At CES, Verizon seemed determined to embed its latest wireless network technology into anything that could conceivably need an Internet connection, including ATM machines, robots and photo booths.…
Read MoreFisker says its problem Karmas are almost all fixed
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 More10 things I want from cleantech in 2012
Let's face it. For cleantech, at least in the U.S., this year was kindof a bummer. But that's what New Year's resolutions and wishes are for: turning a new page when the year starts over. Here's what I want from cleantech in 2012.…
Read MoreWaiting for the EV market to materialize
It was a tough week for electric cars, with Chevy Volt's sales falling short and Aptera's filing for bankruptcy. The barriers to EV adoption are widely known but center around a few major issues, including range anxiety, charging time and initial cost. Range anxiety and unease about charging time will decline as consumers get more comfortable with the product. That leaves the real long-term issue: initial cost.…
Read MoreCoda cuts price of electric sedan by $5K
Electric vehicle startup Coda Automotive has cut the price tag on its inaugural electric sedan by $5,000 and boosted the warranty on its battery by two years.…
Read MoreFisker won’t ramp up production of Karma until Q2 2012
Electric vehicle startup Fisker Automotive has dramatically scaled back production plans of its first car, the Karma, in the fourth quarter of 2011, and it won't ramp up to full production until the second quarter of 2012.…
Read More5 bets the DOE made that are better than Solyndra
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 MoreZynga, Groupon to the rescue for cleantech bets
The future of clean power and greener transportation is being carried by FarmVille and online coupons -- at least in terms of venture capital portfolios.…
Read MoreWhy lithium-ion batteries die so young
The death of a battery: We’ve all seen it happen. In phones, laptops, cameras and now electric cars, the process is painful and — if you’re lucky — slow. But why does this happen?…
Read MoreHow vehicle-to-grid technology could get past the pilot stage
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?…
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