Toyota Motor

Further lessons from the European Electric Vehicle Congress, Brussels

Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman IDTechEx reports on the latest EV developments from the European Electric Vehicle Congress held in Brussels recently.

Supercapacitor strategies

This article shares some of the research in the new IDTechEx report, "Supercapacitor/Ultracapacitor Strategies and Emerging Applications 2013-2025" (www.IDTechEx.com/SuperApps). We establish what is needed to create a billion dollar supercapacitor manufacturer: someone will. A prediction is provided of the coming shakeout in the industry including the number of manufacturers involved.

Long wait for fuel cell parity

At the "Utility Vehicles and Buses" session of the eCarTec conference in Munich, Dr Ulrich Piotrowski of Daimler EvoBus revealed more about the high stakes game being played by many of the major automotive companies in introducing fuel cells as range extenders in on-road vehicles.

Hard to Reach the First Million - Lessons from eCarTec Munich, 2012

Leading analysts IDTechEx provide this view of the recent eCarTec event in Munich Germany.

Hard to reach the first million - lessons from eCarTec Munich, 2012

Leading analysts IDTechEx provide this view of the recent eCarTec event in Munich Germany.

Kandi contract for first 5,000 EVs to China Aviation Lithium Battery

Kandi of China has an order for open rental city cars in Hangzhou China that are pure electric. The commitment seems to be for 20,000, the same size as the Bollore order for its pure electric Bluecars for open hire in Paris.

Caterpillar unveils first hybrid excavator

Caterpillar unveiled the first model in its new line of hybrid excavators, the Cat® 336E H, at its Mossville Industrial Design Center last week.

A123 Systems agrees to sell automotive business to Johnson Controls

A123 Systems has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Johnson Controls valued at $125 million.

Car manufacturers sign MoU for fuel cell vehicles in Nordic countries

Car manufacturers Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with organisations from the Nordic Countries on market introduction of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure during the period 2014-2017.

Supercapacitors hailed as potential answer to greener public transport

In China, supercapacitor technology has been embraced so fervently over just the past four years that tens of thousands of supercap buses are now on the roads.

Panasonic to supply lithium-ion batteries for Toyota's eQ EV

Panasonic Corporation said it will supply lithium-ion batteries for Toyota Motor Corporation's eQ electric car.

Big disagreement on where lithium-ion batteries are headed

Lithium-ion is the winning type of rechargeable battery for the decade - there is almost a consensus. You can count about 150 manufacturers of these and IDTechEx has profiled nearly all of them.

The long, winding road to advanced batteries for electric cars

Batteries have come a long way since Alessandro Volta first discovered in 1800 that two unlike metals, when separated by an acidic solution, could produce an electric current. In their evolution, batteries have taken on various forms, ranging from lead-acid, to nickel-metal hydride, to current-day lithium-ion.

A123 goes niche too late?

Following a redundancy, rehiring and large quality recall, struggling lithium-ion traction battery maker A123 Systems is trying some niche marketing now that most of the orders for the world's hybrid and pure electric car batteries over the next three years have been cornered by the big four - LGChem, Panasonic inc Sanyo, AESC and SBLimotive as analysed in detail by the Institute of Information Technology of Japan.

BMW and Toyota agree to further strengthen collaboration

Toyota and BMW signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at long-term strategic collaboration in four fields: joint development of a fuel cell system, joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle, collaboration on powertrain electrification and joint research and development on lightweight technologies.

Energy harvesting wins at Le Mans

This year at the 80th running of the Le Mans sports car endurance race held in France, both Audi and Toyota made use of new technology with kinetic energy recovery systems.

Toyota Motorsport brings electric technology to Pikes Peak

Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) will demonstrate its high-performance electric powertrain technology on one of North America's most demanding motorsport events; the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado on 8 July.

Waste energy scavenging in vehicles

Wattshock recently exhibited their regenerative suspension retrofit shock. This component generates electricity from previously wasted kinetic energy in vehicles.

Electric Vehicles become less poisonous

Most green technologies are not so green on closer examination.

Frito-Lay & Electric Vehicles International Launch EV Pilot

EVI's signature all-electric powertrain is seamlessly integrated into an industry standard Daimler Freightliner M2 business class chassis providing customers with significant fuel and maintenance savings.