News

On Saturday September 28, 2013 Amsterdam E-Challenge (www.amsterdam-echallenge.nl/english-summary) and National Plug-in Day events in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley (http://www.pluginday.org) will have live connection, supported by the Coast to Coast E-Mobility program.

During the live connection a symbolic “hand-over” will be made by speakers from government, industry and academia in The Netherlands and West Coast of the US. This unique event symbolises the international drive towards more sustainable transportation and further introduction of electic mobility. Amsterdam E-Challenge, National Plug-in Day and Coast to Coast E-Mobility look forward expanding this event into an “International Plug-in Day 2014” inviting additional partners to join.

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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

It’s been one full year since first Tesla S deliveries began. In the luxury car market you can feel that the ground has begun to shift. After numerous awards and accolades, it seems fair to say that the best luxury car is an electric car. Given its range, and the rapidly growing free Supercharger network, the Tesla Model S works well for virtually everyone who can afford one. Without paid advertising, Tesla is selling all they can manufacture. Legislative roadblocks promoted by old-line automaker dealerships boomeranged into an eco-libertarian cri de couer that garnered well over 100,000 petitioners. Tesla’s luck continues to hold, unchallenged as either a luxury or longer-range EV. Automakers continue to only offer sub-100 mile range vehicles. The electric Infiniti has been “postponed,” and BMW is entering the market with a car that doesn’t challenge Tesla.

Although Tesla gets the headlines (and stock price boost), Nissan and Chevrolet make the sales. Plug-in vehicle sales are indeed increasing, with the LEAF and Volt selling 2420 and 3351 units respectively in August 2013. Workplace charging certainly isn’t a concern of Tesla S owners, but it should become the focus for getting middle-class drivers into EVs and PHEVs. With leases in the $200 – 300 range, for commuters the numbers already add up. Simple access to power while at work is a tremendous additional incentive for PEV sales of these lower-range cars. With access to Level 1 (120V) charging at work, a LEAF becomes a 100+ mile range car.

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Our world is in trouble. From global economic hardships, to wars over oil, to the specter of anthropogenic climate change. These are serious problems that affect the entire globe and all its people. Oil clearly plays a significant role in all of these problems. However, transatlantic cooperation between countries that have recognized this problem, and have developed alternatives to oil, will result in mitigation of the worst effects of these problems.

We are approaching 900 million internal combustion vehicles throughout the world. It won’t take much longer to get to one billion. Over 99% of these are internal combustion vehicles powered by oil. The oil industry around the world generates tens of billions in profits every year, but it’s the gross revenue that is the eye popping number. From 2007-2011, just five years, total revenues for the top five oil companies (ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips), tallied $7,766.2 billion.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42364.pdf. Almost eight trillion dollars removed from general circulation and squirreled away into the coffers of those who run the oil industry, both private and state run entities. This money, if spent on local goods and services, would generate millions of jobs throughout the world, creating massive wealth that would be distributed widely instead of concentrated in the hands of some of the more evil people in the world.

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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

During the AltCar Expo in Santa Monica, CA (September 20-21), the Coast to Coast EMobility Connection (C2C) will present a world premiere: the first results of a comprehensive study comparing US and Dutch government policies supporting the introduction of electric vehicles. The study offers advice to US and Dutch governments, universities and industry to further promote the development of e-mobility into the next phase of EV adoption. Read More

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

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

Spijkstaal Elektro is the latest partner of our cluster. The Dutch company develops and manufactures a wide range of e-mobility products, from bikes to city cars and utility vehicles. The company has a long history of pioneering new mobility solutions.