Electric vehicles

Michigan has become the home of the world's first sole fuel efficient and electric vehicle assembly plant as Ford Motors overhauls the previous SUV production facility at a cost of $550 million.

In-wheel motors were popular in cars over 100 years ago because they did not intrude into passenger space. An example is shown below. However, they were expensive and they adversely affected the ride and steering. One motor seizing could sometimes lock a wheel.

In 2010 the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) dispensed $5.43 million in contractual funding towards advanced battery technology for EVs, hybrids and energy storage.

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.

This advanced battery technology has three times the energy density of current li-ion batteries, costing less than half the price per kilowatt-hour.

Leisure aviation, special missions and the future commercial applications

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.

The most recent financial investments offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aim to advance efficient vehicle-related technologies in order to encourage large-scale acceptance of hybrid and pure electric vehicles in industrial, commercial and public sectors.

Taiyo Yuden in Japan and others have recently announced lithium supercabatteries with improved properties. However, before considering these combinations of supercapacitor and battery technology it is worth tracking improvements in the basic supercapacitor technology.

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.

We have waited 20 years for Automotive Thermoelectric Generators to be deployed in production vehicles but we may not have much longer to wait because they are more useful in hybrid vehicles than in conventional vehicles.

The Flying Fish unmanned aerial vehicle UAV vehicle, takes off and flies over the waves at distances of tens to thousands of meters

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.

Private equity investors Origo Partners PLC have acquired a 49 per cent stake in Shaghai EV-Tech Ltd.

Green Technology Solutions, Inc. have announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Rare Earth Exporters of Mongolia (REE) in order to procure rare-earth mining claims and operations in the developing Asian nation.

London-based company Agility Global unveil their first product; the audacious, sculptural, all-electric Saietta.

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.

Solar-powered boat business moves to CNY to commence assembly production. Acclaimed as best new electric vehicle at international conference.

The testing of two hybrid fuel-cell powered trucks will begin this spring in the Californian ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, running for 18 months. The trucks will be tested to evaluate their suitability for short and medium distance cargo-hauling operations, and other similar applications.

Shenzhen will install battery charging stations across the city and lay the foundations for adoption of a multitude of battery powered vehicles.