Tata Motors Europe

Electric vehicle value chain is changing

Currently the key enabling technologies in electric vehicles are motors, batteries and control systems. For the next ten years, add to that energy harvesting, supercapacitors (ultracapacitors) and range extenders that replace internal combustion engines in hybrids, notably fuel cells and mini turbines.

Electric bicycles and ebikes - the next ten years

IDTechEx has issued another report in its series on the various types of electric vehicle - hybrid and pure electric - and their future entitled Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) Industry Worldwide 2011-2021 (www.IDTecHEx.com/LEV). Electric vehicles by land, water and air will be a market of over $210 billion in ten years from now. The segments of this market are very different in certain respects yet they increasingly share some technical challenges and vehicle and component suppliers. This report concerns electric bicycles, ebikes and other Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) that constitute an important part of the overall EV business. Other reports in the series cover aircraft, marine, buses/taxis, military/police/security and cars.

Boxster E prototypes

The Boxster E, with one electric motor apiece on front and rear axle, runs on purely electric power with four-wheel drive and is equivalent to a Boxster S in terms of driving dynamics. Together with two other Boxster Es, in which an electric motor drives the rear wheels, the prototype is being used to explore the everyday practicality of all-electric vehicles and how they are used, especially in terms of driving and battery charging. What the researchers are after is an understanding of the requirements facing future products, where to go next with Porsche Intelligent Performance and how to integrate electric vehicles into the infrastructure.

BAE Systems exceeds 3500 hybrid bus drive trains

BAE Systems says it has cumulatively delivered more than 3,500 units of its hybrid electric propulsion system called the HybriDrive series, netting it over $350 million and making it one of the most successful suppliers of subsystems in the history of the electric vehicle.

Goodbye 100 mile range electric vehicles

150 miles range is the new benchmark for affordable electric vehicles: the 100 miles range of today's pure electric vehicles will quickly become an embarrassment.

Range extenders for hybrid vehicles - second vs third generation

We are in the decade of the hybrid electric vehicle despite the fact that most off road and underwater vehicles are pure electric.

School bus to use energy harvesting and biofuel

The Georgia Institute of Technology and the Ford Motor Company Fund are partnering on the nation's first conversion of a school bus to a hydraulic hybrid vehicle that runs on recycled biofuel.

Electromobility has a new key enabling technology

Foreign manufacturers of electric cars in China can own only minority shares and they must surrender intellectual property on at least one of what the government considers to be the three key enabling technologies for e-mobility. These are batteries, motors and control electronics. In exchange, foreigners gain access to a market they hope will be large enough to create cash flow that can be repatriated if the dominant partner approves.