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This is the Kodak Moment for the Auto Industry

Plug-In Drivers Not Missin' the Piston Electric vehicles are here to stay. Their market acceptance is currently small but growing...

Monday, October 21, 2013

H2 Energy Outlook: How Many Miracles?

Energy Outlook: How Many Miracles?: "

How Many Miracles?

Over the weekend I was catching up on articles, and one from Technology Review last week caught my attention. It was a brief interview with the new Secretary of Energy, Dr. Chu, covering nuclear power and fuel cells. In the back half, Secretary Chu explained why the DOE has cut funding for hydrogen fuel cell R&D, suggesting that fuel cell cars were always a long shot, because they required "four miracles" to happen. Although I haven't mentioned fuel cells very frequently here in the last few years, I must say it's hard for me to consider the commercialization of something that I've already driven as requiring quite so many miracles as that. At the same time, I don't trivialize the obstacles that explain why fuel cell cars are still not available in large numbers, despite previous expectations--including my own--that they would be by now."

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Why the Electric Car is Here to Stay

Why the Electric Car is Here to Stay: "I hear people suggest to me that the electric car is “doomed to fail.”  Their reasons as as varied as they are inventive.  Here’s a list of some of the more popular reasons I hear in no particular order:

Will Too Many Plugged In EVs Crash The Grid In The Future?
Gasoline and diesel engines keep getting more efficient and cleaner, thus cancelling out any need
We will run out of lithium or other rare-earth metals needed to produce them
The power grid won’t be able to handle it
Fuel cells will be out soon and they will take over from electric cars
Electric vehicles just don’t work and consumers will never embrace them
The only people that buy them are environmentalists and eventually they’ll realize they’re being scammed because EVs are dirtier than gasoline cars
They are too expensive and thus not profitable to the manufacturers
People only buy them because they are subsidized, once the tax credits go away, so will the cars."

Monday, October 7, 2013

Alternating current was invented 20 Years before Tesla was Born

Alternating current - Wikipedia: "The first alternator to produce alternating current was a dynamo electric generator based on Michael Faraday's principles constructed by the French instrument maker Hippolyte Pixii in 1832."

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Vendors/Manufacturers

Plugin...Recharge!: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Vendors/Manufacturers: "
ABB
AeroVironment
Aker Wade  (Level 3)
Alpha Energy (Solar Charging Stations For Electric Vehicles)
Andromeda Power (Level 3)
Avcon
Better Place
Blink Network (from ECOtality North America)
ChargeIQ (Aussie)
ChargeMaster (UK)
ChargePoint (Netherlands)
Control Module Industries (EVSE LLC)
Coulomb  (Product Review)
Clipper Creek
DBT USA
Eaton Corporation
ECOtality North America (f.k.a. eTec)
Elektromotive (UK)
Erg-Go
Etrel (Slovenia)
E-Totem (Swiss)
EV Box (Netherlands)
EVCharge America
EVergreen Time to Charge (Danish)
Evoasis
EVoCharge
EVSEUpgrade (Modify Nissan Leaf Portable Chargers to be Level 1 & Level 2)
EyeOnPower  (acquired by ABB)
General Electric 
GRIDbot
Green Charge Networks  (Mobile Level 3)
Green Garage Associates - Juice Bar
GoSmart - ChargeSpot
HaloIPT (Wireless Chargers - NZ - Now owned by Qualcomm)
Lear (OEM for General Motors)
Legrand
Leviton
Liberty PlugIns
Optimization Technologies (OpConnect)
Plugless Power (Evatran Wireless Chargers)
Park and Power (UK)
Parkpod
Pep Stations
Plug Smart (Intelligence for GE Charging Stations)
RWE
Schneider Electric 
SemaConnect
Siemens
Shorepower
SPX Service Solutions
WiTricity (Wireless Chargers)"