Your guide to all the electric cars, motorcycles, and bicycles. Find out about the models available, the coming models, and laws and tax incentives. Read about vehicle tests, factory tours, dealer visits, and more.
The Lawless Electric Rocket Bike just broke the record for fastest electric motorcycle with a top speed of 201.37 miles per hour, finishing the quarter mile in 6.94 seconds! This not only breaks the motorcycle speed record, but the EV speed record overall.
Frito-Lay owns the seventh largest fleet in the U.S. with a total of over 20,000 trucks and have nearly 200 all-electric trucks in the fleet, with plans to buy 100 more this year. The all-electric trucks are used for deliveries on urban routes with fewer daily miles.
Replacing their older, gas-powered three-wheel parking enforcement vehicles, the Oklahoma City police department is saving money, even including the cost of the charging infrastructure. They have purchased four Wheegos.
The e-bicycle market is currently in a state of strong growth in the Asia Pacific and European regions, while North America has underperformed expectations in the last few years. The result is that the market for e-bicycles is growing increasingly crowded, with a number of competitors in each region. The 15 manufacturers chosen for this Pike Pulse either have the largest market share or are growing very quickly. Even so, several large new competitors are expected to emerge in 2012 as market consolidation continues.
Hertz and IBM are working together to make Hertz on Demand car sharing available for IBM's employees runs to and from the Stuttgart airport. The fleet will be all EV and use IBM smart charging technology.
Hertz on Demand now has electric vehicles in New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, and Shenzhen.
In recognition of the importance of urban areas in the introduction and scale-up of electric vehicles, the EV City Casebook presents informative case studies on city and regional EV deployment efforts around the world. These case studies are illustrative examples of how pioneering cities are preparing the ground for mass market EV deployment. They offer both qualitative and quantitative information on cities’ EV goals, progress, policies, incentives, and lessons learned to date.
Using an electric motor and batteries with a back up ICE for charging, Volta Volaré has created the world's first commercially available electric aircraft and is available now for orders! It is designed to accomodate more batteries if the engine is removed, which would presumably be done as battery technology improves. The range from batteries alone is 300 miles, but extends to 1000 miles when the onboard ICE is used to charge the batteries.
The removable batteries, built by Chicago-based AllCell Technologies, hold 1.125 kWh of energy and can be recharged up to 1,800 times. The swapping station can use either 110- or 220-volt electric outlets and uses a contactless card reader to accept payment and open and lock the charge bay doors. According to press materials distributed at EVS26, the Bat'lib system could come to scooters in Europe (Matra brand) and Asia (E-Ton and Tajima) later in 2012, but Matra MS president said in a statement that, "The Light Electric Vehicle Market today is leading the global EV market.
I categorized this as a bicycle, but with a 2.3kW motor, it'll require tags and a licence in most countries, making it unlikely that a production model will ever be made with these specs. Is anyone else getting tired of e-bikes that have fantastic performance, but are made with so much carbon fiber that only the very wealthy can buy them? We need less carbon fiber and more bikes in the price range of what a business commuter can afford! Let's say you can afford the five digit price tag something like this would surely require, where would you ride a thing that can go 50mph but has no fenders?
Supposedly planned for production, the sexy renderings and show bike look a lot more like a concept than something you'd expect to be able to buy soon. I'm not believing much of what I see. A 90 mile range at 25 mph? From what batteries? That svelte frame surely can't hold enough power for that kind of range, can it?
Specialized launched a new bike today - but it won't be available in the US, and perhaps the UK due to its power being high enough to require a license and insurance.
Specialized may be the last big brand to arrive at the e-bike scene, but they sure know how to make heads turn on the red carpet.
A Fiskar Karma died during testing by Consumer Reports. Fox News reported that a Chevy Volt they were testing died in the middle of the Holland Tunnel. Niether one was far into its charge. (Of course, take any "news" from Fox with a large dose of skepticism.) No one can predict when problems happen, but no amount of PR can reverse the reputation hits of these cars and of EVs in general. Only time can heal these wounds.
While the big guns bring out more and more prototypes that we drool over but can't buy, AMP simply gets the vehicle from the reluctant manufacturers and puts together electric vehicles you can buy today. If you're looking to buy American, to get a non-internal combustion fleet outfitted today, Amp can be an excellent option. Otherwise, purpose built vehicles will often be more efficient in their design. Amp already offers an all electric Mercedes ML 350 SUV, both of which qualify for a $7500 tax break in the USA. The Grand Cherokee will cost around $49,000 after the tax break.
Cycle America interviews the guys at the Stealth booth at Interbike about their three models and shows them off on the track. All three models from this Australian company are now available in the US.
