Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Arizona Rental Home Company Proudly Installs EV Charging Stations

Posted: 11 May 2010 03:38 PM PDT

In many past discussions about EVs, one of the biggest concerns I hear is “What if I live in an apartment or some other rental unit and I want an EV? How do I charge it?”

The only response I’ve been able to come up with so far is that, clearly, this first (actually, second, for you Who Killed the Electric Car? fans) wave of mass-market EVs is not geared towards those who can’t install charging stations on their own property. Companies like Nissan are even trying to screen out potential EV owners on this issue to make sure that early adopters have as good of an experience as possible.

But if you’re persistent enough, and/or your landlord or management company is forward thinking enough, you might not be out of luck after all. Case in point: Tucson Rental Homes, a rental management company working to develop “super energy efficient” rentals, has installed its first electric vehicle charging point in one of their complexes in Arizona even though there really aren’t any mass market EVs available yet.

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Nissan LEAF Said to Cost Between $36K and $37K in Britain, Including Battery

Posted: 11 May 2010 03:13 PM PDT

Autocar UK is reporting that an “industry source” claims the Nissan LEAF will be sold for between £24,000 and £25,000 ($36-37K US) when it goes on sale in Britain next year. That price will include the battery pack. It had been rumored that Nissan would set up a battery lease program in Europe which would significantly offset the up front cost of buying into the technology and it remains to be seen if the battery lease will still be an option.

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Student-Invented, Electricity Generating Shock Absorbers Get Commercialized

Posted: 11 May 2010 02:42 PM PDT

Levant Power, a company out of Cambridge, MA, has commercialized technology that generates electricity from vehicle shock absorbers. Last we heard of these guys, their GenShock devices were in the wee prototype phase, barely a vision in their MIT student eyes. Their design uses the conventional piston shock absorber, but adds small internal parts within the cylinder that spin when they are pushed through the inner lubricant and generate an electric current.

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International Battery’s Water Based Lithium-Ion Batteries Get a $35 Million Boost

Posted: 11 May 2010 09:07 AM PDT

International Battery of Allentown, PA has secured another $35 million in funding for its water based lithium ion batteries

Fresh on the heels of recent contracts with the U.S. Army and NASA for large format lithium-ion batteries, green startup International Battery has announced another $35 million in financing for its manufacturing, development and marketing operations. The move marks another step forward for more green jobs in IB’s home base of Allentown, Pennsylvania — one of the symbolic centers of the rust belt.

Last year IB made the decision to focus on large format Li-ion batteries for smart grid and other up-scaled storage needs, at least in the near term. Basically the company has decided to wait for the electric car market to rev up before committing to the small format Li-ion batteries used in civilian vehicles. That could be sooner rather than later. With its cost-shaving, water-based manufacturing process, IB seems poised for the inevitable shakeout that will occur once those juicers start flooding into showrooms.
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