Announced on February 14, the Obama administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) budget recommendation is a big valentine to those working on developing batteries for electric vehicles. As we said last year, the current administration has focused the majority of its vehicle technologies research and development dollars on EVs. This is a significant reversal from the attention given to fuel cell vehicles and biofuels such as ethanol during the second Bush administration. As with last year, the request completely omits funding development for these two technologies, which is a significant blow to the companies developing those alternatives. For fiscal year 2013, the DOE is requesting a total allocation for the Vehicle Technologies program of $420 million, down from the $588 million requested last year, but still a 27-percent jump over the $329 million that Congress actually approved last ...

Stanford University researchers this week announced they have designed a road-based, high-efficiency wireless charging system for electric vehicles. In theory, the system could help create a network of all-electric highways that charge electric cars and trucks while they drive, reduce the need for point-specific charging infrastructure, and eliminate range anxiety. The power transfer system is based on a technology called magnetic resonance coupling. This technology creates a magnetic field between the road and vehicle to transfer electric currents to the vehicle’s battery. Copper coils, placed under the road surface at regular intervals, are tuned to resonate at the same frequency. When an electric current is introduced, it creates a magnetic field between the coils that can then transfer energy to a receiving coil in passing electric vehicles. Can it work? While the theory may sound far-fetched, it was demonstrated ...

U.S. researchers have designed a wireless charging system for electric vehicles they say could ultimately lead to all-electric highways capable of charging cars and trucks as they drive down the road. The system, developed by a team at Stanford University, uses magnetic fields to transmit large electric currents between metal coils embedded a few feet apart under the surface of the road. Based on magnetic resonance coupling technology, the process involves one coil that is connected to an electric current, which generates a magnetic field that causes the second coil to resonate, triggering an invisible transfer of electrical energy. The developers say there is a potential to eventually create a wireless network across highway systems, a step that would drastically increase the range of electric vehicles since they would theoretically never have to plug into a charging ...

Looks like the Chinese like their clean cars pure, they bought about twice as many pure electric vehicles than hybrid vehicles in 2011. But 2012 could see that ration grow even larger (in favor of electric vehicles). Here’s more from sister site Gas2:   In China, EV’s Outsold Hybrids 2-to-1 In 2011 (via Gas 2.0) Related posts: Disaster Zone Dutro — Hino Motors Sends Hybrids North for Rebuilding Toyota to Unveil Concept Hybrids at Tokyo Motor Show China Forgets "China-Only Wind Turbines" Policy, but Why? ...

Here’s yet another fun little car that could be on the roads within a few years. As one commenter here on CleanTechnica aptly noted recently, we could make huge strides in fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions simply by reducing the size and weight of our vehicles. Hope to see cars like this one below becoming more and more common soon.   All Hail Hiriko: MIT EV Concept Slated for Production in 2013 (via Gas 2.0) Related posts: EADS Announces VoltAir Electric Airline Concept Toray’s Green Sports Car Is Invitation For Collaboration Nanomaterial Being Produced By the Ton...

EV battery prices are projected to drop tremendously by 2015. More info from sister site Gas2′s Andrew Meggison:   The Dropping Price Of The EV Battery (via Gas 2.0) Related posts: Ethanol Industry & Food Prices after Coming End to Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit Gas Prices Up, Transit Use Up Gas Prices to Rise Higher in 2012 ...

Catching up on a number of clean transportation stories we haven’t been able to cover, here are quick summaries of 10 recent stories. The first 6 concern EVs and hybrid-electric vehicles. The following 4 concern trains and transit. Electric Vehicles & Hybrids 1. Tesla Model X Electric SUV to be Unveiled on February 9. Gigaom, interviewing Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, found out that Tesla would be unveiling its all-electric SUV, the Model X, in less than one month. 2. Mitsubishi Selling and Servicing Electric Cars at All of Its UK Franchises. Mitsubishi recently announced that it was creating “the UK’s largest dealer network for electric cars,” according to Business Green. “[A]ll of its franchised dealers will become fully functioning Mitsubishi Electric Vehicle Centres from this month and by the end of March each will have two trained EV sales personnel as well as aftersales technicians.” ...

Researcher Examining Li-ion Battery - Argonne National Laboratory

IBM has invented a lithium-air battery technology that makes it possible to drive electric vehicles (EVs) for 500 miles (804 km) per charge. Lithium-air battery technology is not new, but it does have the potential to achieve unusually high energy densities that rival that of all rechargeable batteries in use today. The reason why batteries with higher energy densities enable EVs to drive further is simply because they are lighter (they have a better gravimetric energy density). Lighter batteries weigh down the vehicle less, so it requires less energy to drive a given distance. This translates into more energy being available for driving. Each kWh (kilowatt-hour) of energy takes you further. A greater gravimetric energy density can also mean that fewer batteries can be used to achieve the usual < ...

  Charis touched on the unequal expectations for and criticisms of electric vehicles (EVs) compared to gasoline-powered vehicles in her post on why EVs are awesome the other day. Over on sister site Gas2, Andrew Meggison gets into that topic a lot more in this repost below. Check it out (& share with your friends… we’ve got a lot of unbalanced press to combat):   Different Standards For Gasoline-Powered Cars Vs. EV’s? (via Gas 2.0) Related posts: Electric First, Gasoline Later – Honda’s New Green Sports Car Why Electric Cars Are Awesome Solar-Powered Air Conditioning for Cars ...

  Most of you reading this are already inclined toward green-type technology, whether that’s clean power generation, electric transportation, or more efficient ways to do things. Today, I’m going to give you one more reason to stop supporting – or at least vocally dislike – big gas and big oil. Yes, We’ve All Heard About This There are a number of people who will happily speak at length about dependence on foreign oil and how it leads to American troops being sent over to oil-rich hotspots to make sure we can still get affordable gas at the pump. There was a pun a while back about how Operation: Iraqi Freedom should have been called Operation: Iraqi Liberation (or O.I.L.), for example. I’m not really one of those people, but I listen when they talk. Oil is not cheap; from the ...