The 2018 Super Bowl winners the Philadelphia Eagles have been leaders in sustainability among professional sports teams for years.
And the team’s latest move is to partner with technology company PDC Machines, who will provide Lincoln Financial Field with a SimpleFuel hydrogen refueling unit to power vehicles and material handling equipment.
The post The Philadelphia Eagles are green in more ways than one appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
Lordstown Motors, the startup headed by Workhorse CEO Steve Burns, is building an electric pickup called the Endurance at a former GM factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The Endurance is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2020 at a base price of $52,500.
The new e-pickup will feature in-wheel hub electric motors, according to specs published on the Lordstown’s website. Mounting motors inside the wheel hubs frees up space, and enables different amounts of torque to be delivered to each wheel with precise electronic controls, rather than by using a more traditional hardware solution such as a differential.
Several suppliers, including Elaphe, Protean and Nidec, have developed in-wheel motors. Aptera, a startup that’s building an ultra-efficient EV, says Elaphe’s in-wheel motors offer advantages including enhanced aerodynamics, lower vehicle weight and low energy usage.
Others are skeptical. The classic objection to in-wheel
motors is their additional unsprung mass, which makes it more challenging to
achieve a smooth ride and handling.
Croatian supercar builder Rimac uses a 4-motor design, but
these are not in-wheel hub motors. “In-wheel hub motors add unsprung mass that
results in higher stress to suspension components,” founder Mate
Rimac told Charged in 2016. “Our motors sit low and inboard, close
to the center of the car, which we consider to be better for vehicle dynamics.”
In a
2018 interview, Lucid’s Peter Rawlinson told Charged, “There is that
unsprung mass issue, which degrades ride, but that’s not the key thing: it’s
getting that…suspension geometry, particularly upfront with the steering
geometry, and also getting conventional foundation brake cooling, those are the
real killer issues.”
Mobility futurist James Carter made some particularly scathing comments about in-wheel motors in a LinkedIn post: “For some small efficiency gains (all the advantages mentioned in [a Motor Authority article] also apply to body-mounted 4-motor systems like Rivian), the Lordstown will have the strong possibility of worst-in-class ride and handling due to high unsprung mass. Not only that, powertrain unreliability is highly probable from mounting the motor and electrical components on a constantly moving platform that is exposed to high shocks and forces.”
Source: Lordstown Motors via Motor Authority
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
Energica’s sales appear to be exploding this year, showing record growth for the Italian electric motorcycle company.
The post Energica’s sales are booming, surpassing 2019 sales in first 2 months of 2020 appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
TDK Ventures has dipped into its $50-million corporate venture capital fund to invest in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company AutoFlightX.
With their ability to navigate dangerous or hard-to-reach environments, eVTOL vehicles can help eliminate human risk in mining inspections, or deliver payloads of supplies and medicine in emergency response scenarios. AutoFlightX says it has several customers in the mining and inspection industries for its V40 Whiteshark platform, which can carry up to a 20 kg payload. AutoFlightX team also recently completed the maiden flight of a new platform with a 100 kg payload.
The
company is currently developing a 1,000 kg platform, which it hopes will someday
lead to air taxis, which could carry up to 4 passengers and deliver a range of
300 km.
“We
believe AutoFlightX’s innovations reflect a combination of the best consumer
drone talent from China paired with the aviation engineering rigor of Germany,”
says Nicolas Sauvage, Managing Director of TDK Ventures.
Source: TDK Ventures
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
FirstEnergy intends to purchase a fleet of 250 Lordstown Endurance pickup trucks.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
There was a theory that it was required by some countries, but that is not the case.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
Recent “leaked” images give us a solid look at the Model Y with the rear hatch open and seats folded down.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
JP Morgan, the world’s largest financier of the fossil-fuel industry, announced yesterday that it will end fossil-fuel loans for Arctic oil drilling and phase out loans for coal mining.
The post JP Morgan ends funding for some — but not all — fossil fuels appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
Volkswagen has shown the flexibility of its MEB electric-car platform with various concept vehicles, from a tall station wagon to an electric dune buggy. But a new report indicates VW could stretch the capabilities of MEB even further with an electric sports car. The sports car could arrive in the middle of the decade and share a name with VW’s ID…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews
Worries gas and diesel ban will hurt the European auto industry.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
