Toyota Motor

China to lead the EV era

China is expected to become the first nation to broadly commercialise electric vehicles for regular, personal use, a recent report suggests. With significant governmental support, vast lithium supplies and a rapidly growing economy, China is likely to beat the United States in the EV race.

La Poste receive first electric delivery vans

In 2008 a number of EV manufacturers turned their attention to France where a contract was offered for the production of 500 electric vans for the national postal service La Poste. One of the forerunners competing for the contract was PSA Peugeot Citroen with their pure electric vans based on the Peugeot Partner Origin and Citroën Berlingo First.

Future of marine electric vehicles

Marine electric craft have recently entered a phase of rapid market growth and radical change. A new IDTechEx report "Marine Electric Vehicles 2011-2021" is the world's first comprehensive report on marine electric vehicles with latest ten year forecasts and assessment of important new projects such as submarines that will fly.

Volkswagen reveals its latest Super Efficient Vehicle

Volkswagen recently unveiled its new two-seater diesel-electric hybrid concept car at the Qatar Motor Show in Doha. The XL1 claims to be the world's most efficient car.

Electric vehicle battle moves beyond cars

By a big margin, Toyota is number one in hybrid car sales and indeed in sales of electric vehicles overall thanks to such things as sales of its electric forklifts, where it is in the top three in most countries.

CODA secures a $76m investment towards its first all-electric vehicle

Electric vehicle and advanced lithium-ion battery developer CODA has raised $76m in the initial closing of an investment round led by Harbinger Capital Partners and Riverstone Holdings.

Traction battery winner will be Toyota?

We used to have battery makers and car makers and little connection between the two

New Prius v and Prius c concept make their worldwide debut

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., unveiled the Prius family of vehicles recently. In addition to the current third-generation Prius and Prius Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV), the new Prius v midsize hybrid-electric vehicle and the Prius c Concept vehicle joined the iconic hybrid brand, broadening the appeal of Prius to all ages and lifestyles.

Breaking the rare earth necklock by China

Breaking China's rare earth necklock on supplies is now a major focus of industry outside China.

Russian magnate starts hybrid car company - Yo!

The Russian billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets has introduced a new line of hybrid cars.

New revelations at future of electric vehicles San Jose

The inaugural IDTechEx electric vehicle event in San Diego California was a great success and it will now be repeated annually in three continents.

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure - surprises

This article shares some of the surprises revealed by our research for the new IDTechEx report "Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 2011-2021".

The growing EV market will fail without battery size standards support

The growing EV market will fail without battery size standards supported by OEM's and battery companies

Transparent material for power generating solar windows

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory have fabricated transparent thin films capable of absorbing light and generating electric charge over a relatively large area.

The future of electric buses

At the unique event Future of Electric Vehicles 7-8 December in San Jose California , the market for all electric vehicles in the world and specifically East Asia will be forecasted by type.

The future of electric buses

The major growth in electric buses is in free running versions which cost $50,000 to $500,000 and can usually be deployed without infrastructure along the route. The larger electric buses tend to be hybrid to get the range: smaller ones tend to be pure electric. The IDTechEx report, "Electric Vehicles 2010-2020" estimates that there are about 480,000 buses in the world - mostly small ones - with about 135,000 being bought each year as the fleets grow. Although only 12% of these new buses are electric, penetration is increasing and there is a multibillion dollar market awaiting.

The future market for electric buses and taxis

This is the world's first report forecasting the global market for electric buses and taxis both hybrid and pure electric. It separately forecasts the market in the most important country, China, and it takes a detailed look at technologies present and future with a blunt assessment of reasons for failure and threats for the future, not just the positive aspects.

Zinc air for traction batteries and fuel cells

Many companies are now developing zinc air batteries and fuel cells and some actually have them in production. Most hope to make traction batteries this way sooner or later.

Solar power for electric vehicles

Most of the companies developing photovoltaics have been obsessed with reaching grid parity meaning competitiveness with conventional grid electricity generation which is often highly subsidised. More recently, it has been realised that the market for disposable photovoltaics on consumer goods is at least as large and even the potential on electric vehicles by land, water and air, could be an enticing billion square meters a year, comparable to that for buildings.

Winning EnerDel strategy?

Lithium polymer construction - whatever the cathode chemistry - is also taking market share because it can have lightweight plastic casing and tolerate high pressure and it is highly unlikely to leak.