Pick up a prescription, charge your plug-in A new business model for EV charging Walgreens is partnering with 350Green to add 800 plug-in charging stations to its stores by the end of 2011, but they won’t be free. While many retail locations are adding free plug-in chargers for customers, Walgreens is taking a different approach. Instead of free charging, consumers will either pay per charge, or they …

Just don't use the AC Is China really ready to lead the battery revolution? A few years ago, particularly just after Warren Buffett bought a huge stake in BYD, I believed that China was on the verge of battery-powered domination. Since China already mined lithium and rare earths, built lithium-ion battery packs, and had access to hordes of…

No fast charging for RAV4 EV No fast charging for Toyota plug-ins for now Last week a number of rumors emerged claiming that the Toyota RAV4 plug-in electric SUV would not be available for general sales, but only for fleets. According to the AutoObserver , Toyota has confirmed that the RAV4 EV…

The most cost-effective, consumer-friendly plug-in? Is it electric range or efficiency that most matters? In The right mix? 66 percent of Chevy Volt energy is electric we left open the question, does the Chevy Volt use the right mix of energies? Today, the answer to that question is not fully clear, but now that…

Plug-in charging requires some smarts The grid is not ready to embrace plug-in cars What happens if you start charging 1 million electric cars in a large urban area like Washington, DC? Wholesale energy costs increase by $750 million according to a new Better Place/PJM study . However, if managed charging via a Central Network…

All about the battery pack. Can electrical storage increase the value of electric cars? Like most automakers developing plug-in cars, Nissan is exploring new ways of both powering electric vehicles as well as extending the life of lithium-ion battery packs in electric cars. Hence, Nissan is working with 4R Energy Corporation to develop solar-charging capabilities that use Nissan Leaf battery packs to…

The C30 plug-in will be converted into two different plug-in hybrids Volvo testing 3 different types of plug-in hybrids Starting in 2012 Volvo will begin testing three different types of electric vehicles with various types of three-cylinder gasoline/flex fuel powered range extenders. One will be a series hybrid, and the others will be …

The Chinese BYD F3E plug-in Not according to early actions or consumer studies According to most major studies on the subject, China is primed to become the leader in both electric vehicle sales and production. However, so far, despite government incentives, Chinese hybrid and electric car sales have been extremely sluggish. For now, much of this EV apathy is probably based upon limited supplies. Nevertheless, according to a recent Chinese study, Chinese consumers…

i electric offers better MPGe's than the Leaf, but less overall range But the Leaf offers 11 miles more range What’s the best plug-in electric car? Obviously, that depends on numerous factors, but will overall efficiency be one of them? According to the EPA’s Miles Per Gallon of Gasoline Equivalent , or MPGe, the 2012 Mitsubishi i offers 126 MPGe in city driving and 99 MPGe on the highway. For…

The Chevy Cruze will outsell the Prius and the Volt through 2020. ICE engines improving much faster than expected By 2020 battery prices for plug-in vehicles will decline by 64 percent compared to 2009 levels, however, that will still leave the cost of a 20 kWh battery pack at $10,000 – still far too expensive to woe mainstream consumers according to a new BCG Study. On the other hand, ICE …

Electric cars are coming, but not as many as policy makers want Automakers on pace to manufacture only 1.4 million plug-ins worldwide per year by 2020 Every year the world’s automakers produce tens of millions of autos every year, and that number is expected to grow dramatically in the next few decades. At the current pace, billions of automobiles will be …

You just can't regulate an out-of-the-box future. 2025 CAFE regulations are a poor distraction from reality I’m not a big fan of CAFE regulations. Yes, CAFE can be part of comprehensive energy policy, but using CAFE to drive energy policy seems a very poor idea, especially based upon the history of CAFE itself. Besides, oil prices alone could easily make 2025 …