On November 2, Republicans won elections in Virginia for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and the GOP has likely just squeaked past Democrats to take control of the House of Delegates. Does that mean that the majority of Virginians align with the Republican Party’s disinterest in transitioning to clean energy and electric vehicles?
The post What happens now to EV and clean energy momentum in Virginia? appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
Level 5 means the vehicle requires no intervention from the driver at any point.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
Which car will be favored by the wet track?
Source: Electric Vehicle News
Coach bus and electric powertrain manufacturers Equipmake and Beulas have added a new member to their team to deliver all-electric double decker buses. The companies recently announced that Go-Ahead London, the largest bus operator in the capital, has joined as a partner. Go-Ahead London will begin in-service trials of the Jewel E electric buses on London streets beginning early next year.
The post Equipmake and Beulas partner with London’s largest bus operator to provide double decker electric buses appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
He would like to see Volkswagen ahead of Tesla too, right?
Source: Electric Vehicle News
Electric aviation is in its infancy—as far as we know, no e-planes are yet carrying passengers in commercial service. However, several firms are rapidly developing electric aircraft—Rolls Royce, Bye Aerospace, Heart Aerospace and Eviation are developing battery-electric planes, while ZeroAvia is placing its bet on hydrogen fuel cells.
California-based Wright Electric is taking what appears to be a unique approach—its plan is to convert existing BAe 146 regional aircraft (a 100-seat plane originally manufactured by BAE Systems in 1983) to electric power.
The BAe 146 has four jet engines, and Wright plans to replace these with 2 MW electric engines in four phases—first replacing one engine, then two, then all four. By doing this, the company hopes to circumvent the certification process for new aircraft, which can take years. It hopes to have a converted e-plane ready for passenger service in 2026. Meanwhile, the company is working on a separate new aircraft, which will be designed as a native EV, and hopes to have this one flying by 2030.
Wright Electric plans to build several of the converted planes, which will have a range of about 460 miles—enough to serve many popular short-haul routes in Europe and elsewhere.
Several aspects of the project appear to be still on the drawing board, including the question of what energy storage medium the plane will use. Wright is exploring both hydrogen fuel cells and aluminum fuel cells, and describes the relative advantages and disadvantages of both in a recent white paper.
“Customers are demanding cleaner options and we want to show there is an alternative,” says Jeffrey Engler, CEO of Wright Electric. “A retrofit airplane is always going to suffer from disadvantages but at the same time it’s a certified aircraft.”
Source: CleanTechnica
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
Faced with heavy demand for grants for residential charging stations, the German government has topped up funding for the program by €300 million, bringing the total available to €800 million ($926 million).
Private individuals, housing associations and property developers are eligible for a grant of €900 ($1,042) towards the purchase and installation of a private charging station, including the grid connection and any necessary additional work. To be eligible, the charger must have a charging power of 11 kW, and must be intelligent and connected, in order to enable vehicle-to-grid applications. Furthermore, 100% of the electricity must come from renewable sources.
As of July 2021, more than 620,000 applications for grants had been submitted—an average of 2,500 per day.
“German citizens can once again secure a 900-euro grant from the federal government for their own charging station at home,” said Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer. “Over half a million applications show the enormous demand for this funding. Charging must be possible anywhere and anytime. A nationwide and user-friendly charging infrastructure is a prerequisite for more people to switch to climate-friendly e-cars.”
Source: BMVI via Green Car Congress
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
Perhaps EV adoption will push gasoline prices to all-time lows.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
Indian charging provider EVRE will soon be rolling out charging solutions for retailer FreshWorld’s electric fruit and vegetable vending carts in Bengaluru, India.
FreshWorld is a startup that offers a farm-to-home concept, selling fruits and vegetables in a distinctive street vending format using battery-operated carts. The company owns and operates a large EV fleet for the last-mile delivery of its products.
EVRE follows an EAAS (Energy-as-a-Service) model, offering public charging infrastructure on a pay-per-use basis in nine cities across India. Its smart and connected charging stations feature a patented ComputerVision technology. The company has also introduced solar-powered Intellipoles—solar street lights integrated with charging stations compatible with 2- 3- and 4-wheelers. EVRE plans to establish and maintain 50,000 EV charging stations by 2023.
During the first phase of the companies’ partnership, EVRE will support FreshWorld with 100 charging stations for its fleet of 150 EVs in Bengaluru. EVRE will lease the land, operate and maintain the parking and charging infrastructure, and provide insurance and security for the charging hubs. Over the next few months, as FreshWorld expands to new cities, EVRE will provide infrastructure at new locations. The eventual goal is to support a fleet of 1,000 EVs with 500 charging stations across 12 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, by 2022.
“Each extra charging hub will enable us with an opportunity to go farther into each territory using EVs, and offer eco-friendly options for doorstep delivery of our products,” said FreshWorld founder and CEO Rajiv Rao. “The challenge faced by a unique retailer like us was the support infrastructure to reach out to the wider audience. With this hurdle out of way, we are looking forward to achieving our mission for pan-Indian operations while minimizing our carbon footprint.”
Source: EVRE
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
The Canadian province of Québec seems to be an ideal location for large-scale battery production—it is rich in critical battery metals, and has plenty of cheap and clean hydropower. The provincial government is heavily incentivizing the extraction of key minerals such as lithium, nickel and graphite, and recently announced plans to invest up to 3 billion Canadian dollars (2.4 billion US bucks) in battery production.
Lion Electric is planning to build a 5 GWh battery factory in Québec, and companies including Nemaska Lithium and Nouveau Monde Graphite have launched products to produce and refine graphite and lithium. Now Electrek reports that the Québec government is in talks with Tesla about possibly establishing battery production in the province.
Tesla has already indirectly invested in Québec’s lithium resources through a deal with Piedmont Lithium, which is involved with a lithium project in Quebec’s Abitibi region.
Québec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon “met with Tesla executives during a mission in California last month,” said a spokesperson. “They discussed Québec’s place in Tesla’s supply chain.”
Le Journal de Montreal reported that talks “have been moving forward over the last few months.”
Is Tesla just looking for lithium, or might Québec be the site of the next Gigafactory? No details are on offer at this point.
Source: Le Journal de Montreal via Electrek
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
