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Greenlots and Hawaiian Electric demonstrate fast charger with storage and vehicle-grid integration

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Greenlots and Hawaiian Electric Company have collaborated to demonstrate a fast charger that incorporates Greenlots’ SKY vehicle-grid integration (VGI) platform, as well as stationary storage.

The Greenlots SKY Smart Charging platform, which uses OpenADR and the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), can respond to demand response load modification requests and allow Hawaiian Electric to remotely control grid loads through demand response actions.

The new charging station, located at an Oahu shopping mall, has a battery storage system that stores electricity when generation is abundant, such as at midday when rooftop solar panels are active, then releases it during evening peak use times.

Hawaiian Electric plans to install a similar fast charging system at its Ward Avenue facility next month.
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STORM Pulse: Around the world in 80 days on an electric motorcycle

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Electric vehicles weren’t considered to be ‘cool’ by the general public until recently, thanks to Tesla and other carmakers and innovators that are going a long way to change perceptions of electric cars. As a group of students from Eindhoven University of Technology, we really wanted to broaden the appeal of e-mobility even further. The result: STORM Pulse, the world’s first electric touring motorcycle.

We chose a motorcycle because we want to demonstrate the possibilities of e-mobility to an audience that’s always going to be hard to please – real petrol heads. Compared to other mobility industries, the motorcycle industry has always been very conservative, favouring tradition over innovation. With STORM Pulse, we want to show what’s possible with e-mobility and help it gain widespread acceptance. Overcoming these barriers is essential if we are to create greener, more sustainable means of transport.
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Zero’s electric motorcycles replace range anxiety with fun

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When quiet and speed collide.

It’s quiet. In fact, it’s completely silent. The motorcycle is on and ready to whisk me away. But before I twist the throttle, I sit and listen to the birds, traffic and a neighbor yelling at a barking dog. Everything but the Zero DSR electric bike is filling my ears. I finally roll on the accelerator, and I’m off. The weird but distinct whine of an electric engine coupled with a surprising explosion of power is equal parts perplexing and invigorating. This is the future of bikes, and it’s spectacular.

The 2016 Zero Motorcycles DSR and FXS are the new bikes from the small Northern California-based company. While its competitors (Mission Motors and Brammo which had its bikes absorbed by Polaris) have disappeared, it has flourished. It’s done so by focusing on consumer bikes (instead of super bikes like Mission Motors) and churning out two-wheeled — and quiet — transportation that gets better every year.
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A technology day in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of car innovation

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New car manufacturers are emerging, and many start-ups are bringing bold ideas into the global automotive industry with the same objective in mind: enable the secure, connected self-driving car. Every major car manufacturer has an office in Silicon Valley now – Forbes magazine recently discussed how Silicon Valley will reinvent the car industry. And it was evident earlier this month when NXP invited 300 automotive influencers to “NXP connects Silicon Valley event,” with a day-long agenda focused on self-driving cars, security and hacking, secure connectivity and mobility. Held at the Club Auto Sport, it was the perfect setting for great discussions – chic modern innovation mixed with just a scent of hot brakes and burning rubber.
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A Case for Open Standards – Brett Hauser

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For many EV proponents, the back-to-back bankruptcies of Ecotality and Better Place have been sobering, but not surprising.

Though both were early pioneers in the EV charging space, many believe their fatal flaw was the closed network model adopted by both. Rather than making all chargers available to all drivers and providing site hosts the flexibility to mix and match different types of chargers to specific needs, Ecotality and Better Place ended up frustrating drivers by enforcing “member-only” policies and have now left more than 12K stranded chargers for site hosts to deal with.

To date, the initial rollout of publicly funded networked charge stations for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in California has been administered by proprietary network management systems and vendors. Read More

Official launch of Coast to Coast E-Mobility Website: the EV world connects

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Today at the 2013 AltCar Expo in Santa Monica, California, the Coast to Coast E-Mobility website is launched. Historic and unique from different perspectives.

Historic because exactly four years ago the 2009 AltCar Expo was one of the locations in the US where the initial research on the third wave of EV introduction, was performed (see weblog video from September 2009). This research was the basis for the Netherlands School for Public Administration to advise to set up a transatlantic e-mobility program between Dutch and West Coast governments, universities and private organizations (http://www.nsob.nl/EN/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/e-mobility-webversie.pdf). This advice lead to the current Coast to Coast E-Mobility program. Read More

From trickle to superfast: Tales of charging

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This article is may not be what you would expect. This is not an explanation or an in-depth analysis on the various types of charging. Neither is the DC Combo compared against the AC Fast Charger or are differences scrutinized between home charging, public charging and workplace charging. Also, this is not an introduction to the advantages of Type 1, Type 2 or Type 3, or a technical discussion on the efficiency of direct charging, inductive charging or dynamic charging. Nope, none of this all.

This weblog tries to unlock the stories behind charging and why people are making certain choices. But, then again without the great variety of charging options there wouldn’t be any stories or tales to tell. So sit down, buckle up and get ready for some “discourse charging”. Read More

Gallons of lights: Tales of E-mobility introduction

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Somehow the Coast to Coast E-Mobility Connection (C2C) could not have had a better start in 2013. Government, industry and universities all made bold decisions supporting the introduction of e-mobility both in California and The Netherlands.

The question is whether these bold steps will bring the much anticipated “giant leap” for e-mobility. This first weblog tries to explore this leap in (only) 5 steps. Read More