We've made great strides in moving the electricity sector toward renewable energy. However, transportation remains a major source of air pollution and global warming gases. If we are to make a transition to renewable energy, we will need to electrify as much of the economy as we can, including transportation. Electrified rail is one means, electric vehicles (EVs) are another. Toward that end I've created this category under renewable energy. The focus is mostly on our experience driving an EV.
In a conversation with the campground host about our electric vehicle he mentioned that there was a "charger" at the new Forest Service District Office in Kernville.[more]
Long overlooked by California's electrification effort, the vast area east of Bakersfield will soon be getting its first public DC fast charging (DCFC) stations for electric vehicles (EVs).[more]
The 12 fast chargers are spaced to enable electric vehicle drivers to travel across the province. The sites were selected based on criteria that included proximity to a 100-series highway, and the...
We leased a Chevy Bolt EV (electric vehicle) in November 2017. Since then we've taken the car on several road trips of varying distances. Based on these trips, I've tested the accuracy of three...[more]
The populist government in Italy, Europe’s most sluggish market for electric cars, has a big-bang plan to put 1 million of the vehicles on the nation’s roads. Getting anywhere near that target could...
My friend Gordon Nipp drove to Fresno from Bakersfield in his Bolt. [more]
Recently, BorgWarner opened a new 100,000 square-foot research facility in Noblesville, Indiana. The location will be devoted to the research and development of hybrid and electric vehicles.
For my wife's birthday, I offered Nancy an all-expenses paid trip to Ridgecrest, California, including dinner at a French restaurant. Such a deal, I know. How could she refuse?[more]
The provincial government goal is to have 100,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2020 and it is offering $8,000 in financial incentives to encourage drivers to buy electric. There are currently...
California is the only state that is able to issue stricter emission standards than those set by the federal government. However, the remaining 49 states have the choice of following either the...
Construction is nearly complete on four Level 1 Telefonix electric vehicle (EV) charge stations at the Amtrak station in Bakersfield, California.[more]
I've been chomping at the bit to test our 2017 Chevy Bolt's range and we did so on a 186-mile jaunt to the mountains between Bakersfield and Los Angeles.[more]
The German government has ordered car maker Daimler to recall 238,000 vehicles in Germany after they were found to be fitted with illegal software that masks diesel emissions.
We met Wirth in the square in front of the rathaus or city hall. We were elated to find that he not only would drive us to his parents but he'd rented a Renault Zoe electric car for the trip from car...[more]
Back in 2013, Texas began offering its own incentives for electric vehicles. That program ended in 2015. Last year, we heard that the state would reinstate the incentives. Now, those incentives are...
In the latter part of May 2018 we were in Amsterdam on vacation where I was surprised at the number of electric vehicles (EVs), especially taxis. [more]
While discussing a recent road trip with a Canadian colleague, the question arose of how much we were paying to charge on the road.[more]
Mike Brigham, a Bolt driver in Toronto, Ontario reports on the importance of knowing how to use Chevy's App to remotely unlock the vehicle.[more]
The stations will go out to bid in early September and they have until June 2019 for completion. Consequently, they will miss this travel season and possibly part of the 2019 travel season.[more]
Norway’s adoption of electric vehicles is miles ahead of any other country. As of right now, electric vehicles overtook combustion engines in the market, with 52% of cars sold being EVs. Now, it’s...
A $150,000 federal grant will pay for study of solar-powered charging stations in Minnesota.
We made another run to the coast from Bakersfield in our 2017 Chevy Bolt. This was a business trip. I had a half-day lecture to give at CalPoly in San Luis Obispo. So there was no dawdling to take...[more]
The first all-production electric aircraft to fly in Fresno County took off under sunny skies as part of the Sustainable Aviation Project, an effort of the cities of Reedley and Mendota and CALSTART...
Presentation on Electric Vehicles for the CORE Energy Summit in Winnipeg, Manitoba 12 April 2018.
As part of Volkswagen’s continued effort to seek repentance for the Dieselgate scandal, the German automaker is investing billions into electric cars. That includes a new announcement Wednesday that...
A few weeks ago I had U-haul install a 1.25-inch hitch receiver on our 2017 Chevy Bolt EV to mount a bike rack.[more]
On Monday, March 26, a coalition of about 100 people from state government, the electric vehicle industry including automakers and makers of charging stations, electric utilities and environmental...
Statements from Ford and GM on their climate, electric vehicle and sustainability goals similarly contradict their lobbying actions. Ford's Chairman stated in January 2018 “We’re all in on this and...
With Tesla confirming its first quarter production and delivery results today, the company also confirmed that the Model 3 is now officially the best-selling electric car in the US.
To the question “Do battery electric vehicles (BEV) have structurally better passenger safety than traditional gas cars?” the answer is complex. But, overall, yes.
Automakers play a very long game, and they know this new generation is coming. “As we see more millennials coming into the marketplace, companies are looking to strike a more efficient picture,” says...
It should be obvious that the future of transportation will be electric vehicles (EVs). As countries turn away from internal combustion engine vehicles, the most aggressive outlooks see EVs making up...
The weather forecast for electric vehicle (EV) naysayers is getting worse. Storms have battered the entrenched camps, and after successful waves of pushback and myth busting, yet another study tells...
Gleb Nikiforov, CEO of Autochargers.ca, a national company that supplies equipment for electric vehicles, says the plant aims to manufacture 40,000 charging stations a year, starting in 2019, and to...
Five popular BEVs in both rough and scenic Norwegian winter conditions. This was not at all going to be yet another urban test. Not your ideal conditions for driving battery electric vehicles (BEV),...
17 March a small group caravanned from Bakersfield to the Desert Tortoise Preserve's new parcel adjacent to the Springbok solar power plant near Cantil, California. The plant is located just north of...[more]
12 March I drove our Chevy Bolt to the ChargePoint station at the Palmdale Water District (PWD). I had an interview with the executives there, and, conveniently for me, they had recently installed a...[more]
Bad news for Tesla Model S and Model X buyers in Ontario, Canada. The government quietly modified its generous electric car incentive program – removing access to current Tesla buyers.
We recently heard from CleanTechnica reader Martin Hemdricks, who told us about a scurrilous indictment of electric cars that recently showed up in his email inbox. It charged that electric cars put...
Leasing, rather than buying a car, isn’t for everyone. But it’s the smart choice if you’re thinking about getting an electric car.
German company eCharge has signed an agreement with Jordanian authorities to install 10,000 charging stations for electric vehicles.
New data from the US EPA on power plant greenhouse gas emissions are in, and electric vehicles (EV) in the US are even cleaner than they were before. The climate change emissions created by driving...
Nova Scotia Power is moving ahead with installing electric vehicle fast chargers, even though the province’s energy regulator rejected the utility’s proposal to fund the project through ratepayers.
Telekom, a large European telecommunications company headquartered in Germany, confirmed that they are putting in place a massive plan to more than double the current electric car charging...
In our modern era, we may assume that electric cars are new technology. The Chevy Bolt, Nissan LEAF, and all Tesla vehicles are certainly cutting-edge automobiles, right? But there was a period in...
I've taken our Chevy Bolt, a battery electric vehicle (EV), on three road trips in our three months of ownership.[more]
ChargePoint, Inc., a leading provider of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations, appears to have lost a bid to provide charging stations to Electrify America and promptly sued the winning bidder for...
On 12 February 2018 we drove our Chevy Bolt to Grover Beach from Bakersfield, California, a distance of nearly 150 miles. I'd been anticipating this drive for several months. It was a first for us to...[more]
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has called for a major initiative to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and other electrified transportation and clean energy, calling this a...
Electric car advocates are hoping to get a signal in next week’s federal budget that the government is prepared to support sales across the country even as Ontario overtook Quebec for selling the...
Association president Simon-Pierre Rioux said the pace of deployment has slowed significantly in the last 12 months because of a lack of private financial partners. He suggested that Quebec could use...
Wherein the polymath constructs a formula for estimating the range of the Chevy Bolt EV.
Tesla vehicles are becoming strangely popular with police departments all over the world and while the Model S has so far been the electric car of choice for police use, the Ontario Provincial Police...
In my first extended trip in our 2017 Chevy Bolt EV, I drove down to the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) Marriott for a conference, a one-way distance of 120 miles. Unlike my previous experience driving to...[more]
This is an update for the previous post. After completing that page information became available that the Chevy Bolt EV at constant top speed of 93 mph on the level can travel 160 miles. This does...
That rosy forecast is according to a report released Tuesday by the Silicon Valley-based think tank Next 10 and Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. The joint report, “The Road Ahead for Zero-Emission...
You can generally get a good idea of how serious a region is about electric vehicle adoption through their effort to deploy EV charging infrastructure. Europe is getting fairly serious with now a...
In order to meet its share of the carbon pollution cuts needed to achieve the 2°C Paris international climate target, America’s policies are rated as “critically insufficient” by the Climate Action...
I just passed my 1 year anniversary owning my Bolt EV, and during that first year I put over 15,000 emission-free miles on it. Rarely being affected by range anxiety due to the ample 238 mile range,...
Volkswagen is serious about being a large competitor in the electric car market. We already know that VW considers Tesla to be its biggest competitor, and has been looking to challenge the domestic...
Motoring along at night returning from a meeting and suddenly I hear a thump, thump, thump. Geesh. We only had the car two months and now a flat tire.[more]
It's a common Canadian winter experience. You turn the car's ignition key and the engine makes a sickly "whirr-whirr" sound, but does little else. It make sense that extreme cold is brutal on...
Sorry for the snarky headline and the swipe at internal combustion engines, but I have seen so much misinformation spread about electric cars in cold weather lately that I had to clarify something.
We returned home after a two-week Christmas holiday. We found the Bolt where we left it. Always a good sign here in Bakersfield where cars disappear from the owners' drive way on a regular basis. [more]
First, despite fears that EVs would overwhelm the existing electric grid infrastructure, only a very minor fraction of them—0.19 percent—have actually necessitated distribution system or service line...
Electric mobility in Bulgaria is gaining momentum. Swiss power and automation company ABB recently announced its plan to further extend the charging station network for electric vehicles in Bulgaria,...
Currently there are 54 electric cars registered in Saskatchewan. There were just 17 registered in 2013, when Jones first brought electric vehicles to his dealership.
And the Democratic chairman of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources will be offering up a proposal next year that he says could hasten the transition, by waiving the purchase and use tax on...
At the Indianapolis International Airport, the situation for passengers and the environment has improved with a fleet of electric airport shuttles that officials say will be the nation’s largest — at...
As of late 2016, there were around 2 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) on the roads around the world. China accounted for about half this total. Yet while sales have been strong, the country’s...
Volkswagen, which was at the center of the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal that exposed diesel engines as not being as clean as some automakers led regulators to believe, is now suggesting a phase-out of the...
Because of the increased interest in electric vehicles (EVs) here in Bakersfield--the oil capital of California--I am posting a few photos of our home charge station.[more]
On 9 November 2017 we leased a Chevy Bolt EV for about the cost of a cell-phone plan. We chose the base model, the LT, with fast-charge option, heated front seats, and heated steering wheel. In our...[more]
Producing and registering gas-powered cars would be illegal in California by 2040 if an upcoming bill is passed by the state legislature. Any vehicle powered by fossil fuels would be banned by the...
The good news is that our brand-new Chevy Bolt EV is back from the service department. The bad news is that after only eight days in our possession it had to be towed from our house to the Chevy...[more]
My colleague and early Canadian EV adopter Mike Brigham reported 30 November that he spent an unplanned night in North Bay, Ontario when a DCFC station wouldn't charge his Chevy Bolt EV.[more]
Ontario is envisioning a future in which millions of electric vehicles are on the roads, but analysts predict consumer uptake will remain far off the government target for 2020, despite tens of...
New registrations of electric cars1 hit a new record in 2016, with over 750 thousand sales worldwide. With a 29% market share, Norway has incontestably achieved the most successful deployment of...
The rest of the country could learn from the state's push for plug-in cars, buses, tractors, big rigs and the like.
Cascades today launched a pilot transportation electrification project for its employees. To encourage them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by acquiring an electric vehicle, the company has...
We leased a 2015 Nissan Leaf in late 2014. This was our first electric vehicle (EV). We liked the car, but we returned it to Nissan when the lease expired. We've now leased a Chevy Bolt. Why we did...[more]
This October we passed the one year mark of driving two electric vehicles (EVs). Now is a good time to take stock of how many miles we drove on electricity in 2016-2017.[more]
Today there are over 1,400 electric vehicles on the road in Iceland. This is partly due to a state-financed incentive program, which supports the purchase of electric vehicles. The tender for fast...
So, what is Adopt A Charger? Think of chargers a bit more like drinking fountains than vending machines. We need them where we need them. Kitty saw a lack of chargers where they were needed and...
The company has over 108,000 delivery vehicles deployed on routes around the world. More than 770 of those are powered by electric or hybrid motors, and UPS wants to add to that number without...
The small town of Tatamagouche, N.S., is driving the future forward with its push for electric vehicles. . . "The wind field and electric vehicles go well together. We have renewable energy driving...
Have you been considering making the switch to an electric vehicle? Not sure how much money you could save by using electricity for fuel? The average driver in the U.S. will save over $700 each year...
Starting in January, Oregonians in the market for a new electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle could be offered a significant incentive: a taxpayer-funded rebate of up to $2,500.
With a slew of new electric vehicles (EVs) on the horizon, dealers are trying to move existing electric cars off their lots. One long-range EV, the Chevy Bolt, can be had in California for the price...[more]
We returned from a short holiday to find someone had stolen some minor stuff from our Chevy Volt, including 20-year old cloth shopping bags! But they also walked off with our Jesla mobile charge...[more]
If the mayor of Paris holds sway, gas-powered cars will be gone from her city by 2030. Instead, citizens will get around via public transport, bicycles, and electric cars — and Paris will be on its...
Electric motors are coming whether we want them or not. So let’s not pout, but instead celebrate the ways in which electric vehicles actually outperform their conventional internal combustion...
Today, the new Dutch government presented its detailed plan for the coming years and it includes making all new cars emission-free by 2030 – virtually banning petrol- and diesel-powered cars in favor...
In a time where a surprising number of major automakers are announcing that they believe electric cars are the future of the auto industry, we are still seeing them complaining about, and in some...
Oh — and electric car purchases are now increasing faster in Utah than they are in California.
The plan spans more than 5,000 miles of highway across east-west Interstates 10, 40, 70, 76, 80, 84, 86, 90 and 94, and north-south Interstates 15 and 25. With more than 20,000 electric vehicles...
The levels far exceed those required by California, whose zero-emission vehicle rules have just started to ramp up for 2018 after staying steady for six years.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has cautiously welcomed a recommendation that his government increase existing financial incentives for those who want to purchase a fully electric vehicle.
The first truly long-range and semi-affordable electric car models start arriving on the market. Production is ramping up on the somewhat long-range Renault Zoe (introduced in Europe at the end of...
The summer of love for battery cars prompted newspaper editorials heralding the end of the internal combustion engine. One bank even forecast that all new car sales in Europe would be electric within...
China will set a deadline for carmakers to stop selling cars that run exclusively on gasoline or diesel fuel. The news was announced over the weekend by Xin Guobin, the country’s industry and...
If not the truck itself, Cummins is confident the powertrain will be ready for production by that time; the company promises 100 miles of range.
The French brand has worked with UK-based Connected Energy to install two electric-car DC fast-charging stations powered by second-life batteries.
Recently, Consumer Reports published the results of a test comparing the typical range a consumer might get driving either of two electric cars: the 2016 Tesla Model S 75D and the 2017 Chevrolet...
Just Us! coffee roasters has expressed interest in becoming one of 12 fast charging stations across the province. Nova Scotia Power (NSP) plans to install 12 stations as part of a pilot project.
Without a national charging system, eco vehicles are just fancy toys
After United Auto Workers’ defeat in effort to unionize Mississippi plant, actor and senator turn to government with stake in Nissan-allied Renault
AESC was co-owned by NEC Corporation, which approved the sale and Nissan accepted to purchase their shares before transferring them to GSR through the deal. The company didn’t disclose the value of...
Huron County councilors have approved a motion asking staff to prepare a report on the possible advantages to the county in switching over to electric vehicles.
Mazda and Toyota, arguably the two major automakers least invested in electric vehicles, are working on a new joint-venture to develop electric cars.
To meet current demands for cleaner technology and to stay ahead of the innovation curve, Atlas Copco has created an entire suite of battery-powered vehicles, covering the process from bolting,...
This affordable electric hatchback runs for 250 miles, beating all other models we've tested
Electric utilities in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are moving ahead with plans to install more charging stations along major highways.
BP is in talks with electric vehicle makers on partnering to offer battery recharging docks at its global network of fuel service stations as it seeks to benefit from the move away from diesel and...
Yet a wholesale move to EVs, in order to meet a ban on petrol and diesel cars, would add just 10% to UK electricity demand, new analysis from consultants Cambridge Econometrics shows. This would also...
Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest producers of gas- and diesel-powered cars, is about to start spending $44 million to persuade Sacramentans to embrace electric vehicles.
All sales of new petrol and diesel cars will cease in the UK by 2040, under plans to tackle air pollution.
The commitment, which follows a similar pledge in France, is part of the government’s much-anticipated clean air plan, which has been at the heart of a protracted high court legal battle.
You can eat a hot dog without a bun. However, with a bun, you can add onions, mustard, and pickle relish; it’s easier to carry them around; and most people think they taste better that way.
We’ve chronicled our experience leasing a 2015 Nissan Leaf, a battery electric vehicle (EV), for the past three years. Now we’re nearing the end of the lease and the question is what’s next?[more]
Below is a short summary of the EV Trip Reports I’ve posted to MyNissanLeaf.com. They can also be found on my web site www.wind-works.org under EV Trip Reports. There’s more commentary both on my web...[more]
According to Rwanda Development Board, the car manufacturer has completed a feasibility study to assemble cars with low fuel consumption and gas emissions in Rwanda, including electric cars. It will...
EV advocacy group Forth launches new push for EVs as 2017 Oregon Legislature approves new rebates for buyers
The $17.3-million project would see a private company called Fast Charge install 34 stations along 3,000 km of road spanning Ontario and Manitoba, and is being supported by an $8-million repayable...
Meanwhile, the Bolt is in critically short supply in South Korea, Canada, and Norway, to name a few places. Yet dealers in California are offering up to $5,000 rebates to clear the cars off their...
For EV drivers in Norway, the retailer is rolling out more electric chargers at its locations, and Couche-Tard is close to forming a relationship with a consortium of car manufacturers on a charging...
A bill working its way through the California legislature would create a $3 billion fund designed to encourage EV adoption by providing larger rebates to customers than currently available—and...
If you’re an Oregonian and thinking about an electric car, you may want to wait a bit as a bill is about to be signed into law that will establish a rebate of up to $2,500 for electric vehicles sold...
For example, in February, the Times claimed that the UK would need 20 new nuclear plants to cope with demand from EVs. The article’s claim, repeated by the Mail Online, was later removed with a...
Thousands of electric cars could soon be rolling on Minnesota’s roads, spurring discussions about how to keep them all juiced for long hauls from Austin to Alexandria or Blue Earth to Bemidji.
“I think a lot about electric cars,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously said at a party at the very end of the 80s. “Do you think a lot about electric cars?” The problem with thinking a lot about electric...
CEO Gaetan Thomas says the eCharge Network includes 15 locations along the busiest highways for drivers to charge their vehicles.
"Electric" cars are vehicles that plug into the electric grid to recharge batteries that provide the energy to run them. But "electrified" cars simply have an electric motor somewhere in the...
NB Power and Irving Oil are teaming up to install seven fast-charging stations for electric vehicles throughout the province. The first station was unveiled Thursday morning at the Irving Big Stop in...
Car sharing platforms like Autolib in Paris and Multicity here in Berlin, and electric scooter-sharing company Emmy, combined with dozens of similar initiatives across the US and Europe are...
People will charge their cars at home, where possible, overnight. Otherwise, they will want to charge wherever they park: on the streets in front of their city apartments, in the parking lot at work,...
Rowell saw the bus, recognized its significance, and took a series of photos. He says the electric bus was on its way back to Porterville after a promotional tour of the Los Angeles area.[more]
“While we applaud the commitment to have a zero emission vehicles strategy in Canada, this strategy must include ambitious national sales target for zero-emission vehicles, supported by legislated...
The state, long a champion of electric cars, is considering a bill to provide rebates to EV buyers at the time of purchase, reducing the sale price right as customers drive off the lot by as much as...
Electric-car advocates say the program holds the promise of opening the benefits of the emission-free cars up to the masses. They also say prices on electric cars are coming down as more makers have...
The U.S. vehicle market will undergo a massive technology disruption from electric vehicles in the coming decades. Many analysts see the potential for surging sales of these efficient vehicles to...
The reasons are pretty simple. EVs are better cars, more simply built with fewer systems to fail. They are very cheap or free to fuel, have dynamic acceleration and handling and a range that is fast...
The Trudeau government is considering a law that would force automakers to sell more electric cars, says the federal Transport Department.
On Friday, June 2nd, 2017, over 200 people attended the ground-breaking ceremony in the city of Porterville CA. GreenPower Motor Company broke ground on a new 150,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility...
To prepare for the uptick in the number of electric vehicles, Nevada is expanding charging stations along U.S. Highway 95 and U.S. Highway 93.
Although the US administration continues to huff and puff about reviewing CAFE, there have been no definitive steps taken.
GM Canada and Nissan Canada presidents agree a challenge in convincing consumers to go electric has been addressing range concerns and fears about recharging options,
The Burlington Electric Department is offering to help their customers upgrade to electric vehicles, by contributing $1,200 to the cost of each new car.
If you build it, they will come. It's an age-old adage, and in the context of electric vehicles, it doesn't refer to the cars themselves, but rather the charging stations that pump energy into their...
Effective implementation of these strategies could help accelerate the uptake of EVs and pave the way to a lower carbon future for the GTHA and beyond.
The feisty Canadian province is offering rebates on used electric cars not previously registered in Quebec.
But Norwegians are turning their backs on fossil fuels and embracing electric cars like nowhere else.
A centre where people can learn about electric vehicles and take them for a test drive has opened in Toronto with the help of $1 million from the Ontario government.
Mike Brigham, the force behind Toronto's SolarShare, loves his Chevy Bolt EV. "The range estimates on the car seem to be incredibly accurate," says Brigham. "The last trips between a charge totaled...[more]
Quick chargers would make travel out of Winnipeg or through Manitoba feasible by giving electric vehicles 300-400km of travel during a quick pit-stop.
We’ve leased a 2015 Nissan Leaf since the fall of 2014. In October 2015 we bought a 2013 Chevy Volt off lease, making our household all electric.[more]
For various reasons we haven’t been able to take our Nissan Leaf, a battery electric vehicle (EV), out on the road until this past weekend. I was speaking at the March for Science in Tehachapi 22...[more]
Sometime around midnight 10-11 April the home of Bob Jans was firebombed in Assen, the Netherlands. Both Jans and his wife were home, asleep at the time.[more]
The settlement is expected to spark the electric vehicle market, a key to the state’s push to achieve ambitious climate change goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Plans to build more electric vehicle charging stations in California received a boost Wednesday in the form of a $15 million grant that state officials hope will grow much larger.
In just a few years, Quebec has established itself as Canada’s electric car capital but the provincial government is taking steps to make the vehicles even more common on the province’s roads.
A small corner of Quebec cottage country has quietly become the electric car capital of Canada, driven in part by the unlikely success of a small-town dealership.
Minister LeBlanc today also announced $335,000 in funding to build 10 new fast-charging stations across New Brunswick, led by NB Power Énergie NB. These projects will give electric vehicle drivers...
Ontario transportation officials say only about 40 per cent of the 500 electric vehicle charging stations the government said would be up and running by today are actually ready for use. That's...
Travel within the profoundly rich cultural realms of Italy sounds entrancing, delicious, and worth the time. How much more desirable to travel in an all-electric Renault ZOE not compromising the...
In the past, Lutz compared Tesla to socialism even though GM took $11 billion from taxpayers under his reign and last October, right before Tesla released its earnings, Lutz went on a media blitz...
Push came to shove: our family of seven finally had to buy a second car. The upside is that it's 100 per cent electric, ergo, totally awesome. After the promotions and incentives and taxes and fees,...
Sure, these first models had little of the Tesla “cool factor,” but nevertheless were important to give visibility to plug-ins and create economies of scale (the Nissan LEAF has already surpassed...
We don’t refine any fossil fuels in Manitoba, so all the gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas we burn is imported. As a result, between $2 billion and $3 billion "leak" out of our economy each year....
With more than 100,000 electric cars already on the road, oil and gas-rich Norway aims to phase out fossil fuel cars altogether by 2025. Can it be done?
Through the Electric Vehicle Chargers Ontario (EVCO) grant program, the province is working with 24 public and private sector partners to create a network of electric vehicle stations in cities,...
The U.K. Royal Navy is set to receive a new fleet of all-electric Nissan e-NV200 vans to support transport operations at Portsmouth Naval Base.
The City of Porterville in California has entered into a sales contract with GreenPower Motor Company for the purchase of 10 EV350 40-foot zero-emission, all-electric, transit buses.
At present, there is not a single standard for plugs to recharge electric vehicles. That means that people who drive electric cars can’t rely on refueling at any of a wide range of nearly ubiquitous...
Pope Francis seems to be a man of action — living by your ideals — and so it comes as no surprise that he has apparently gotten a Nissan LEAF.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal were at Lansdowne Place Mall today to announce that the Peterborough Utilities Group has installed seven Level 2 charging...
Last year, the Navy broke ground on a 4 megawatt (MW) solar array at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Mississippi and the Army completed a large 30 MW solar array at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Desperate to cover the latest catastrophic meltdown to hit the nuclear industry as Toshiba sinks under the weight of its failures to construct nuclear power plant through its Westinghouse subsidiary,...
LAX now has a total of 81 level 2 charging stations, with another eight chargers at the LAX FlyAway bus terminal in Van Nuys.
VW says that most of the stations will be DC fast-charging, including some with a power capacity over 150 kW.
The promise from GM for quite some time had been that the Bolt would be available in late 2016. It was now very late 2016, and I wanted to get the story directly from the horse’s mouth.
The companies are announcing today another batch of 174 new DC fast-charging station across 33 states.
It’s a deal almost too good to be true: Get paid to drive an electric car. [more]
As an electric vehicle (EV) owner, you're contributing to a cleaner energy future by fueling your vehicle with electricity. PG&E customers with EVs are eligible to receive a $500 Clean Fuel Rebate...
A Japanese company that manufactures components for electric vehicles is setting up its U.S. headquarters and first U.S. manufacturing facility in West Sacramento.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Fiat Chrysler of installing secret software that allowed more than 100,000 of its diesel vehicles to emit pollutants above legal levels.
A new study is raising further doubts about whether the state will make its goal of 1.5 million electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2025.
According to a new report from the American Lung Association of California, cars are responsible for $37 billion in health and climate costs each year.
Quebec, the first Canadian province to pass such legislation, joins 10 U.S. states including California that have similar laws designed to grow the supply and sales of plug-in electric vehicles at a...
Volkswagen on Tuesday unveiled plans to assemble electric vehicles in North America starting in 2021, potentially putting production of battery-powered cars in Chattanooga.
Volkswagen said it wants to be the world leader in electric cars by 2025 as it unveiled a major shift to clean-energy vehicles in the wake of the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.
John Rowell likes to push boundaries. Rowell, the man behind EVSEadapters.com pushed his Nissan Leaf, a mass-market electric vehicle (EV), to the end of Mineral King National Park and had to coast...[more]
At long last there is another DC Fast Charger (DCFC) in Bakersfield. For many years the only DCFC station in the Bakersfield metropolitan area was at the Nissan Dealer in Gasoline Alley.[more]
Anyone in the market for a new electric vehicle may feel overwhelmed by the multitude of recent automaker announcements unveiling new consumer options. Proponents of electric vehicles are bound to...
On 1 November Thilo Wirth rented a Renault Zoe from Cambio car sharing service for a trip from Cologne to Miehlen, Germany. The Zoe is Renault’s version of the Nissan Leaf, a mass-market electric...[more]
The date of the electric-automobile revolution has been rescheduled, now pencilled in for 2025.
Environmental groups urged the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Monday to use the state’s share of the $14.7 billion Volkswagen emissions-cheating settlement to build out a...
China wants to introduce a modest quota of 8 percent electrical vehicles from 2018. German car makers are not happy about those plans, since they have been slow to develop hybrids and electric...
We recently passed the two-year mark on our 2015 Nissan Leaf, a battery electric vehicle (EV). The event was a good time to take stock of how much the Leaf’s traction battery has degraded during that...[more]
I have revisited my harsh criticism of the Chevy Volt. In the summer of 2011, I was asked to test drive the car for Automobile Magazine as part of a photo shoot among the wind farms in the Tehachapi...[more]
Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) over the Tejon Pass on I-5 that plan to use two new DC Fast Chargers (DCFC) should have contingency plans. Depending upon the vehicle they are driving, they may...[more]
Economists and reporters have been saying that electric cars could actually kill the oil industry for a little while now, but it hasn’t made a lot of real-world impact so far. But now Fitch, an...
Oil companies face a “resoundingly negative” threat from a sharp growth of electric cars, one of the leading credit rating agencies has warned....
It might sound like an obvious thing to most people, electricity is cheaper than gas, but I find that people are not really aware of the electricity rate discrepancy around the US and the world. It’s...
Optional in some markets on higher-end trim models and standard in the U.S. on the Nissan LEAF SL and Nissan LEAF SV trim models, the 30 kWh battery pack has quickly become the standard battery pack...
China is stepping up electric-vehicle charging station installations amid analyst forecasts that EV penetration could hit 60 percent in major cities by 2030.
SPIEGEL reports that the German Bundesrat has called for phasing out gasoline cars after 2030 all over the EU (report in English by Reuters here).
Eureka is set to be one of the next major sites for more electric vehicles, according to Recargo Inc., a California-based energy services firm.
Trump noted in his energy speech that the government had no place picking “winners and losers” in the energy economy, and this incentive would definitely be at risk when it maxes out at 200,000...
Edmonton wants to steer people toward electric cars but councillors are hearing the city may have to build the infrastructure before more people sign on.
There is one thing Tesla can be proud of: Automakers around the world are getting off their duffs. Today, French carmaker Renault announced at the Paris auto show that its fully electric “ZOE will be...
McMahon thinks more motorists would go green if there were more convenient charging stations
With the impending late-2016 arrival of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and the expected late-2017 arrival of the Tesla Model 3, affordable long-range battery electric vehicles are an option for increasing...
On 8 September we drove our 2015 Nissan Leaf from Bakersfield to Grover Beach, California using only DC Fast Charging (DCFC) stations.[more]
Canada's Electrovaya Inc said on Tuesday it signed an agreement to supply lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles to an original equipment maker, its second such deal with a NYSE-listed Fortune...
The trip was in part to visit a friend and in part to test the performance of two new DC Fast Chargers (DCFC) in the Tejon Pass. [more]
A year on from the “Dieselgate” scandal that engulfed Volkswagen, damning new research reveals that all major diesel car brands, including Fiat, Vauxhall and Suzuki, are selling models that emit far...
Toyota's chief engineer says that electric powertrains have developed to the point where it is now cheaper to build low-range electric cars than it is to produced hybrids.
I finished the drive with 240.5 miles on the trip meter, just above the EPA number of 238. But the onboard computer said I could continue driving, perhaps for another 50 miles, bringing my total to...
Electric cars are very much on the city's radar according to Eric MacNaughton, transportation coordinator for the city's Climate Change Project
In the first quarter of 2016, sales were up 75 per cent over the same time period last year, according to statistics compiled by Fleetcarma, a Waterloo-based telematics company that specializes in EV...
Completion of the US Green Vehicle Council and Cleantech Institute’s network of CHAdeMO DC fast charging stations will make north-south travel in the Southern San Joaquin Valley easier for...[more]
Oil imports are only one chapter of the story. The fact is, we spend or lose an insane amount of money, time, productivity, and quality of life from burning oil-based fuels. All of this strikes into...
Recently we took a train trip to San Francisco and on to Corte Madera by ferry. For lack of something better to do, we drove to a number of Electric Vehicle (EV) charge stations in the vicinity.[more]
Nordic power consumption is expected to grow due to the electrification of the transport sector and the phase-out of fossil-fuelled vehicles, but analysts are mixed over how disruptive the impact...
But what do electric car drivers miss about owning and driving gasoline cars? That’s an empty space, a void, a yawning chasm. This article tries to add some words to that side of the scale.
Senate Bill 32 will require the state to not only continue its programs to switch from petroleum to electricity for our cars, trucks, and buses, but to accelerate the transition.
Legislative committee hears from Quebec government about success of electric vehicle incentives.
Electric vehicle charging companies are calling for independent oversight of the $2 billion Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) is required to invest in clean car infrastructure, saying VW should not have the...
Recargo has been awarded more than $1.6 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to help complete key routes of the West Coast Electric Highway (WCEH).
While automakers have agreed on uniform plug standards for slower types of charging used at home and work, they have not done so for what’s known as DC fast charging, which can fill a battery in less...
The first big action is to set aside $4.5 billion in loan guarantees, and invite applications to support the commercial-scale deployment of innovative electric vehicle charging facilities throughout...
The city of Red Lodge installed in late June two Tesla destination chargers and two Clipper Creek universal chargers at its public restroom site at 305 N. Oakes Ave., opening up the region to drivers...
But the strong upward trend is undeniable to most—although not to Richard Muller, a professor of physics at UC Berkeley, who argues that EVs are destined for failure. “I predict that the electric...
The Region of Durham has joined the call started by the City of Oshawa – General Motors should produce electric vehicles in Oshawa.
The recent settlement between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Volkswagen (VW) for its diesel engine fraud could more than triple the number of electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers...[more]
The Electric Circuit is delighted to announce the installation of 11 fast-charge stations in the Gaspésie and Bas-Saint-Laurent regions. The stations will be commissioned this summer, allowing...
The recent settlement between the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Volkswagen (VW) for its diesel engine fraud could transform electric vehicle (EV) charging in the state. As a certain...[more]
EV advocates urge CARB to immediately convene an advisory group for maximizing public input into how the settlement money will be spent in the public interest. [more]
California Electric Auto Association members call on CARB to stress EV charging infrastructure in the state's GHG Scoping Plan. EV charging must be front and center in the policy discussion.
Sweden has now opened what is says is the world’s first electric highway. The focus is on trucks, which connect to the overhead power lines much in the way trams – or, indeed, electric buses in...
Much of the nation’s vehicle fleet could be converted to run on electricity with hardly a ripple felt by the power grid, according to recent findings by the Rocky Mountain Institute.
The Consent Decree also requires Volkswagen to invest $800 million dollars in ZEV infrastructure and access over a 10-year period in California.
The money for California includes . . . $800 million in investments to advance California’s nation-leading zero-emissions vehicle programs.
According to the climate plan, “Ontario will work with Plug’n Drive, a non-profit electric vehicle advocacy organization, to establish and operate a facility to showcase electric vehicles and related...
It seems the world can’t shift quickly enough to electric vehicles. Within the past few months there has been a steady drumbeat of stories about possible bans on combustion vehicles, prompting calls...
Translations of recent statements made by top German officials make it sound like the country is about to do the right thing. Reality is a bit messier.
It’s amusing to watch the blogosphere go wild with certain memes. (We used to call them themes.) The latest is that Germany is going to mandate all cars must be zero emission vehicles by 2030. [more]
So there you have it: Norway is not going to prohibit its citizens from buying new diesel/gasoline cars, but it will implement progressive policies to encourage a transition towards electric...
The Quebec government has introduced a bill that would make it the first province in Canada to require automakers to sell or lease a minimum number of zero-emission vehicles.
An accelerated adoption of electric vehicles would hasten the end of the oil era, and could cause significant geopolitical turbulence as producer countries heavily reliant on oil revenues will...
Researchers say a flat fee on electric vehicles won’t help solve declining road funding revenues, like those faced here in the state.
Fifty-five percent of California drivers “are likely to consider an electric vehicle (EV) in their next vehicle purchase or lease,” according to a new survey conducted by the Union of Concerned...
Assesses the design and effectiveness of fiscal and other incentives for electric vehicles in Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Norway, at both national and, through a set of ten case...
This is the first of—we hope—a series of DC Fast Charging stations to be installed this month under US Green Vehicle Council’s contract with the California Energy Commission.[more]
Electric cars remain a noteworthy sight almost everywhere but Scandinavia, where Norwegians have bucked the trend by buying alternative-fuel vehicles.
The Ontario government is now aiming to grow the new-vehicle market share held by electric vehicles to 5% by the year 2020, and 12% by 2025, according to recent reports.
Given all the squawking over the Ontario government’s climate change action plan, you might think Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray has gone rogue in setting extreme targets for the...
But the solar PV story shows that when tipping points are reached, things can change very quickly. It is not inconceivable that what happened with solar PV will also happen with electric vehicle
This means 14 500-volt fast-charging stations will go up along Highways 401, 416, 417 and 17. The proposal also included the commissioning of eight 240-volt Level-2 charging stations to be built...
We are unsure of when this study was first commissioned, but you can be sure it was well before Volkswagen’s dieselgate scandal was in full bloom.
Mueller used the company's annual news conference to also sketch out a plan to focus more on electric vehicles and services like car-sharing as it seeks to get past its emissions scandal.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca says the government will work with 27 private and public sector partners to create a network of charging stations at over 250 different locations.
So when we tell you that Samsung SDI has just sold its fuel cell division because it is simply unprofitable (and presumably has no long-term chance of making a profit), we think the facts speak for...
The previous version required reading the instructions, watching a video on line, and--if you were smart—a practice session or two before you needed it on a road trip with a line of Nissan Leafs...[more]
The U.S. Department of Energy cites electric cars as making up about a third of all vehicles on the road in 1900. In 1911, the New York Times even called existing electric vehicles “ideal.”
Don’t add Germany to the list of countries officially considering banning sales of cars running on gasoline or diesel just yet. But several prominent people are pushing the government to take steps...
The parking structure, situated near the Santa Clara Convention Center, Levi’s Stadium and the California Great America theme park, features 48 Level 2 chargers and one DC Fast Charger.
The general observation of other Nissan Leaf owners is true that the more you use the Leaf the better the traction battery capacity appears. Whether this is actual improvement in the traction...[more]
The proud makers of the world's top-selling luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Porsche could not fathom how a small-time, loss-making upstart from California could ever compete with the...
Previously, Norway and the Netherlands have also begun discussing whether to limit sales of new gasoline and diesel cars to reduce air pollution.[more]
The point to consider is why would an industry body try to stop the inevitable? It hasn't worked out for the coal industry. It didn't work for Kodak.
The roll-out of electric vehicles must be “greatly accelerated” to the point where, within five years, electric cars must account for 20% of all new cars sold in Ireland.
We have to electrify as much of that energy usage as we can, because most of our renewable sources of energy produce electricity. That's true of solar and wind, geothermal and hydro power. So we need...
When Scott Negri’s restaurant project at The Dunes was approved by the Marina Planning Commission Feb. 11, it meant the addition of an amenity to the area that was barely discussed in several public...
The Dutch parliament has taken the first step in banning petrol and diesel cars from sale in the Netherlands from 2025.
Those early adopters are paving the way for the mainstream buyer, and the automakers are lining up to greet them. Currently there are 12 battery electric vehicles and 14 plug-in hybrids (which use a...
Confirmed multiple times in different interviews with BMW executives, the longer-range BMW i3 was promised to arrive by the end of summer, pushing the BMW i3 over the 100-mile range barrier for the...
As part of its punishment for the emissions scandal, the EPA could also require VW to make electric or hybrid vehicles in Tennessee, according to several recent reports in the German press.
In a symbolic gesture, the federal government also plans to replace their limousines with electric vehicles. Are we going to see Justin Trudeau in a Tesla?
There is no intention to outright ban non-electric vehicles, however they will become very unfavorably taxed, making them a much less interesting alternative than electric cars.
Rumors are swirling in Germany that Volkswagen (VW), under pressure to reach a settlement with US and California regulators by March 24th, is considering the creation of two mitigation funds and...[more]
I asked if he had noticed less interest in plug-in cars due to lower gas prices. He immediately said no, adding that those who were on the fence no longer showed strong interest—but that gas prices...
We took a chance when we bought our Tesla, and it’s paying off because our power comes from the wind. Our residential sized turbine captures wind from Lake Superior in Upper Michigan and fuels our...
Canadian electric-vehicle policy seems to be enjoying its own annus mirabilis, or "wonderful year," during 2016.
Although opposed by homebuilders, the electric vehicle readiness requirement says new single-family homes and duplexes built in the city will need to have the right electrical wiring to support...
We arrived with 55% charge remaining as opposed to last year’s 51%. We returned home with 34% State of Charge, slightly more than the 32% SOC during last year’s trip.[more]
Proterra, the high-tech startup, demonstrated its all-electric bus for Golden Empire Transit (GET) staff today. The company hopes to sell GET, the transit company serving Bakersfield, two electric...[more]
There was no signage and parking was at a premium. If nothing is done, these stations will be next to useless. They will be constantly ICEd and no one will be able to get in and charge.[more]
Because of the pace of incremental change, and because product cycles of cars are slower than they are for cellphones, an innovation revolution in electric cars has always felt distant. And yet we’re...
A new market forecast from Bloomberg New Energy Finance paints a rosy picture for the future of electric vehicles, rising from about 1 percent of global annual vehicle sales today to 35 percent by...
Call it the revenge of the electric car. Electric vehicles that seemed doomed just a few years ago to languish outside the mainstream are poised to reshape the auto industry in the coming decade,...
Die Welt am Sonntag is reporting that federal officials ask automaker to make electric vehicles in in Tennessee following emissions scandal.
A new group that's being cobbled together with fossil fuel backing hopes to spend about $10 million dollars per year to boost petroleum-based transportation fuels and attack government subsidies for...
This grant solicitation was an offer to fund projects that will install Direct Current (DC) fast charging stations on Interstate 5 (I-5), State Route 99 (SR 99), and along United States Highway 101...
How much has the car's battery capacity declined since we leased it and will it recover when warm weather returns?[more]
Ontario has announced extra incentives for people who buy or lease electric vehicles that could boost available help to as much as $14,000.
I started a list of how life has changed since driving an all-electric car — the list grows longer by the day.
We drive 2015 Nissan Leaf, an Electric Vehicle or EV. Both before and after we leased the car, I carefully researched the kinds of EVs available and what would be best for us. I learned a lot from...[more]
Wherein we again learn the importance of avoiding dependence on a GPS, on the value of paper maps, and on driving conservatively.[more]
Although the PUC has already said it will reduce the number of charging stations in the original proposals by SCG&E and PG&E, the plans are still troubling in their scale and their financing.
The creating of a new unit dedicated to “battery-powered vehicles” is a milestone as well — indicating that the auto giant has confidence that battery-powered vehicles are not just a passing fad, a...
The electric car market has been growing exponentially in the past few years. But it is still a small percentage of the new car market in most places, typically representing less than 1% of new car...
Mercedes is still the best-selling manufacturer when you combine their two vehicles in this class. But it’s clear that Tesla is eating into the traditional automakers with its single offering, and...
Britain is to get its first “electric service stations” as part of a £40m government fund to encourage drivers to switch to plug-in cars.
This post addresses the following questions: How does my EV handle winter outings in the mountains? How well does it drive in the snow? This post also relates another example for how rapid DC...
A few times a year, a news story appears about electric vehicles having high carbon emissions, throwing doubt onto electric vehicles' ability to play a major part in any low-carbon transportation...
Electric vehicles (EVs) probably don’t cause cancer, but that doesn’t stop some people from saying that they do. I came across a bizarre version of this meme a few months ago at a social gathering...[more]
They also see a larger mission in pressing the German automaker to make a shift toward more electric vehicles.
Germany is considering providing 2 billion euros to subsidize the purchasing of more electric cars. German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel is behind the idea, which also includes adding more EV...
By the end of 2016, the goal is to have 800 charging stations, including 60 rapid chargers, all of which will be placed along Quebec’s major highways.
Electric cars are taking centre stage at the Montreal International Auto Show, thanks in part to the Quebec government's efforts to get them in the hands of consumers.
The drawbacks are many and severe and worse of all; unadvertised!! I will expose the secrets the electric car manufacturers do not want you to know!
Following closely on the first place position held by the Tesla offering are two of the other top-selling electric vehicles out there — the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and the Nissan LEAF...
Note also that neither of these models requires that the car manufacturer is a party to the deal. If Tesla does not want to sell their cars without batteries, that does not keep a Tesla owner from...
Niels Buus Kristensen, Head of Department at DTU Transport and a member of the Danish government’s climate advisory committee, finds that electric vehicles hold the key to a transport sector...
Electric vehicles appear to be the cars of the future, but in the present they are not very popular in Tulare County.
Of course, if it turns out that this would lose money for the utility under present market conditions, one could think about establishing a feed-in tariff for electricity from car battery storage as...
Is it a sin that electric car owners don’t pay gas taxes? No, not at all, but you’d never know it listening to some people squawk. There are anti-electric car types who think this is a huge deal,...
If we finally are to cleanse our Valley air and make this a more healthy place, we must get belching old cars off the streets and start adding electric cars and plug-in hybrids to our garages.
BMW and Nissan Motors have recently joined forces to develop faster DC charging for electric cars, supplying new stations to 19 states. The hope is to make it easier to charge vehicles like the...
With improved technology and the prices of solar (and wind) energy falling exponentially, along with lithium battery prices falling about 14%-16%, there will be massive disruptions to the...
They pledged, specifically, to create a West Coast electric vehicle highway, keyed to transforming city-owned vehicle fleets to electric vehicles and making electric vehicle chargers available to the...
Who doesn’t want a metaphorical peak under the hood of their Electric Vehicle (EV)? Leaf Spy, a smart phone app, talks to the computer in Nissan’s Leaf and displays the data it finds there—data...[more]
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said Tuesday that her government is investing $20 million toward hundreds of electric-vehicle charging stations to be installed within and between urban centres.
When you drive an Electric Vehicle (EV), most of the time you charge at home. For those times when you don’t, you need to know where you can charge. The pre-eminent choice among drivers is Plugshare,...[more]
It’s unfortunately not uncommon to see skewed and misleading articles about electric vehicles in the popular press. The most recent example, a Washington Post article “Electric cars and the coal...
Every day brings another headline about a bad study making false claims about electric cars, another well-known-enough person sneering at them, or another video of someone rolling coal all over an...
Presentation to the Sierra Club's Buena Vista Group, Bakersfield, California 5 December 2015.
If you plan to take your Electric Vehicle (EV) on a road trip in North America today, you must take along a portable charge cable. Like a spare tire, a portable charge cable is an essential piece of...[more]
In October of 2014 we leased a 2015 Nissan Leaf, a battery-powered Electric Vehicle or EV. After one year of operation we can tally what it has cost us.[more]
Toward the end of October we passed the one-year mark with our 2015 Nissan Leaf, a battery-powered Electric Vehicle (EV). It was time to tally it’s operating cost.[more]
Kent's cross-country trip is now at 17,310.5 miles, and his next stop will be Albuquerque, then the Grand Canyon. In between cities, he charges at KOA campgrounds, using an adaptor that allows him...
Dailykanban received information that in one or two weeks, a number of other automakers will be exposed as diesel cheaters. A Volkswagen problem will turn into an industry-wide systemic problem, and...
This life cycle assessment aims to compare four types of similar-sized passenger vehicles in the New Zealand context, namely conventional petrol and diesel engine vehicles, and two types of PEVs...
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are simply cleaner than driving cars powered by fossil fuels, regardless of whether they use gasoline or diesel fuel.[more]
Electric Vehicles (EVs) use electricity stored in traction batteries to drive the wheels. There is no Internal Combustion Engine that burns gasoline or diesel. There is no tail pipe in an EV and,...[more]
EVs are more efficient in their use of fuel than cars powered by what insiders know as an Internal Combustion Engine or ICE. Because they are more efficient, EVs use fewer natural resources over...[more]
Electric cars tend to produce less carbon pollution than gas-powered ones—but just how much less? Enter your ZIP code below to see how different types of vehicles stack up in your area. Entering a...
We found that battery electric cars generate half the emissions of the average comparable gasoline car, even when pollution from battery manufacturing is accounted for.
In late October we tried a new route from Bakersfield to Grover Beach where we visit a family friend. . . The new route pushed the boundaries of what our 2015 Nissan Leaf is capable of—and our...[more]
The miners want you to know that if you own a Tesla, you are driving a vehicle that is likely powered by Wyoming coal.” Small problem: If you live in California, that’s flat wrong.
We’ve driven the car 7,300 miles without any service whatsoever and when we took it to the dealer there was no charge for it’s annual inspection.[more]
With the Government of Ontario looking to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37% below 1990 levels by 2030, and with transportation being the largest emitting sector in Ontario, it is clear...
The German automaker not only installed the illegal emissions control software in its EA189 engines but then modified it for use in a total of four different engine types, indicating that the ...
The VW emissions scandal isn’t an outlier, but a symptom of the reality that internal combustion cars, whether gas or diesel, have reached the limits of effective compromises that will satisfy...
Volkswagen will cut investment plans at its biggest division by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year and step up development of electric vehicles, it said on Tuesday, as it battles to cope with the...
Volkswagen, confronting a daunting threat to its size and prestige, is making a dramatic pivot to electric vehicles. The move has seemed a likely one since mid-September, when the German company was...
Volkswagen AG says it would cut investment by €1 billion ($1.5 billion Cdn) within the year and step up development of hybrid and electric vehicles.
French Minister of Ecology and Energy Segolene Royal says there are plans to extend the bonus to 10-year-old diesel cars, according to Life in France.
In what amounts to one of the auto industry’s greatest displays of Chutzpah, VW demanded the same subsidies for its diesel engines as was being offered to Electric Vehicles (EVs).[more]
Electric-vehicle owners are unplugging one another’s cars, trading insults, and creating black markets and side deals to trade spots in corporate parking lots.
Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi have joined the growing list of manufacturers whose diesel cars are known to emit significantly more pollution on the road than in regulatory tests,...
But as it turns out, Volkswagen had pushed aggressively from 2009 to 2011 for its so-called "clean diesel" vehicles to receive the same tax credits as those granted to plug-in electric cars.
I've posted two charts of two charging sessions. Both report similar findings. The car charges at its maximum capacity--6 kW to the traction battery--for 2.5 hours before it begins tapering the...[more]
But Volkswagen lobbied hard before the announcement, demanding that its diesel engines receive special fuel economy credits for their environmental friendliness, just as zero-emission electric cars...
Environmentalists should insist that regulators force VW--willingly or unwillingly--to abandon the internal-combustion engine and switch to EVs now for our sake as well as for the future of VW. It’s...[more]
Could communities soon be generating their own renewable energy, charging their cars and controlling home appliances remotely?
EVs are making rapid progress if you don't have to search out charge stations in major cities around the world and instead just come across them in the urban fabric.[more]
While Nancy and I were guided around Nice, France by our colleague and good friend Bernard Chabot last week, we stumbled across this Peugeot Electric Vehicle (EV) charging.[more]
What goes around comes around. Are you dreaming of purchasing a Tesla or some other all-electric automobile? Your great-great-grandfather might approve of your following in his footsteps.
As one analyst wrote: “For Volkswagen (and the auto industry), the dream of inexpensive clean diesel might be dead. Even if carmakers could deliver on VW’s false technological claims, the standard by...
The trashcan of history is filled with machines that once seemed as if they would last forever. Remember the typewriter? The rotary-dial telephone? Cameras that used film?
But, if it is true that we cannot win against thermodynamics, it is also true that we don't need to fight against it. A battle against the combustion engine was lost in the 1970s, but the war can...
A tipping point has been reached in the last two years for electric cars. Almost half of all fully or partially electric vehicles sold in the past decade were sold in 2014. In addition to the...
The California Energy Commission (CEC) issued a document July 27, 2015 that called for proposals to complete California's portion of the West Coast Electric Highway.[more]
Wherein I learn some important lessons: Don’t get overconfident with an EV; Don’t believe LA valets about their knowledge of EVs; The value of quick charging; Plan carefully; and—as always—allow...[more]
I've pulled the statistics out of the article Star-Crossed Trip: Bakersfield to LAX & Return and put them here.[more]
EVs are poised to play an important dual role of both reducing carbon from transportation and enabling higher penetration of renewable energy. The pieces are falling into place for a disruptive...
BlueIndy officials announced Thursday that the stalled electric car-share service will open to the public early next month.
Fourteen years before General Motors (GM) introduced its EV1 and a quarter-century before it recalled and eventually destroyed nearly all of them, a GM division built an electric car only to see it...[more]
Bakersfield's first urban public charge stations are nearing completion. The four stations at Bakersfield Community College's Weill Institute are located in downtown. [more]
In this episode: the electric car gets a 'major service', I drive to Vienna in Austria, I learn that most charging system providers really suck, I almost run out of electricity, and I put on a suit...
We’ve been contacted by EV drivers a few times about charging at our home here in Bakersfield, but none have showed up. That is, until John Rowell from Exeter called.[more]
PlugShare is a powerful mobile application and online tool that allows electric car owners to locate and optimize the use of EV charging stations.
As we’ve become more experienced, we’ve become bolder. On this trip we used our new Jesla EVSE—a portable charge cable—to charge quicker, and we took some shortcuts we avoided on the first trip. We...[more]
We planned another excursion in our 2015 Nisssan Leaf, an Electric Vehicle (EV). This time we planned to join friends for dinner in Visalia to the north of Bakersfield in the heart to the San Joaquin...[more]
We've now made four trips from Bakersfield over the Tejon Pass via the Grapevine and back. This is enough trips to account for variations in the weather and some variations in driving style. As noted...[more]
We've now made several trips from Bakersfield over Tejon Pass and two trips to the coast and back. There's now enough data to summarize how many kWh are needed to drive a Nissan Leaf on these various...[more]
We had a good time and it was great to talk shop with such an experienced crew. Gary, Tom, Jason and his wife, Dori drove up in Gary's new Tesla. They joined Mike Bornstein, his son, Stefanie, and...[more]
Our friends had organized a morning visit to the Ardis Walker house and museum of western history in Kernville. Walker was a prominent and colorful local figure in Kern County from the 1960s until...[more]
We wanted to drive our 2015 Nissan Leaf to Ridgecrest and have dinner with our niece before her assignment at the Naval base was completed.[more]
This tabular estimator is based on Tony Williams Nissan Leaf Range Chart. This simple spreadsheet uses Williams' estimates of how much electricity a Nissan Leaf consumes in level, steady-state...[more]
In order to understand Electric Car Charging and the infrastructure needed, we first have to understand the terminology. [more]
My meeting to discuss Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure in Kern County was canceled, leaving my day free. So I turned to Nancy and suggested we drive our 2015 Nissan Leaf to Tehachapi for lunch....[more]
The City of Tehachapi has completed installation of its Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station. The two, Level 2 EVSEs are located in the parking lot adjacent to City Hall. The station, part of the...[more]
SJVAPCD is now accepting applications for the Charge UP! Electric Vehicle Charger program.
Gary Giddings, creator of an early State of Charge meter for the Nissan Leaf will join the Electric Vehicle Owners of Bakersfield and the Southern San Joaquin Valley at the Golden Corral for brunch...[more]
On Friday 22 May we embarked on our Electric Vehicle (EV) adventure to Los Angeles via the “Grapevine” to take in a concert of the LA Philharmonic and visit friends.[more]
As part of our continuing exploration of the Nissan Leaf’s range, we took a one-day get-a-way and drove up to scenic Kernville deep in the heart of the southern Sierra Nevada.[more]
We had about a dozen cars, so there's a dozen drivers there. Leafs, MiEV, two BMWi3s, a Ford, Rav 4, and a Tesla. There was quite a line up of vehicles--the Tesla attracting the most attention...[more]
The California Energy Commission has updated the locations of DC Fast Chargers in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. [more]
How the traction battery of a plug-in hybrid may have saved a life.[more]
Ollie Danner has organized quite an event at the Beale Library. See the event flyer for details on the raffle prizes. All proceeds go to the Beale Library.[more]
Having heard so much good about petrol cars, we decided to test drive one. They are said to combine cheap price with long range and fast charging. A winning formula on paper – but how are they in...
Meanwhile, there are no DC Fast Chargers in Mojave, or anywhere on the east side of the Sierra for drivers of consumer-oriented EVs, such as the Nissan Leaf. The nearest fast charger to Mojave is in...[more]
Our findings show that defining battery retirement at 70–80% remaining capacity is inaccurate. Battery retirement should instead be governed by when batteries no longer satisfy daily travel needs of...
But while more electric car charging stations is a great thing for encouraging more people behind the wheel of a plug-in car, there’s a global endemic threatening the operation of charging stations...
When Craig installed solar panels on his home, he had no idea how it could benefit his commute. See how he powers his Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid.
The first stations started going in early in 2012 and there was a lot of excitement that many more would be coming soon. But the hype has not lived up to even the most modest of expectations. Fast...
