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Volkswagen will produce its own car batteries and mobile EV chargers
Volkswagen's been trying to claw back its credibility with an ambitious commitment to EVs ever since its $18.2 billion dollar emissions scandal. Its lofty production goals aside, the German manufacturer's latest green move could see it kickstart Europe's car battery industry. In back-to-back announcements, VW said today that it will start building car batteries -- as well as recycling old cells -- and mobile EV charging stations (which are heading to the streets of its hometown of Wolfsburg in the first half of this year). VW is promising to pump $870 million (£754 million) into the venture by 2020.
Wattpark is Airbnb for electric vehicle charging stations
The folks behind Wattpark see an opportunity to bring the gig economy to electric vehicles. They envision a future where people purchase reasonably affordable EV charging ports and install them at home, a business or anywhere they have access to a legal power source, really. Then, the fun begins -- whoever owns the charging station can add it to a network called Book and Plug, and then make it available for other people to use, pricing it however they'd like.
Chevy’s upcoming Bolt app will show real-time charging station status
EVs like the Bolt are surging in popularity, but the US charging grid is still kind of a mess. GM has announced that it's doing something about it, collaborating with charging networks EVgo, ChargePoint and Greenlots. It'll gather data from the companies to use in a new version of its myChevrolet app, with the aim of showing Bolt drivers real-time info on more than 31,000 charging stations.
Next-gen EV charger adds 62 miles of range in three minutes
Reducing charge times is a key factor for widespread EV adoption, and BMW and Mercedes just took a new step in that direction. A Porsche EV prototype charged at a record 400 kW rate, gaining 100 km of range in just three minutes, while BMW brought its research i3 vehicle from a 10 to 80 percent charge in 15 minutes. Both companies were testing out a new 450 kW charger recently inaugurated in Jettingen-Scheppach, Bavaria as part of part of their "FastCharge" consortium.
Electrify America installs California's first 350kW EV chargers
Californians now have access to some of the fastest electric vehicle chargers on the planet... even if people can't really use those chargers yet. VW's Electrify America has installed California's first publicly available 350kW EV chargers at Simon's San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore Valley, 40 miles from San Francisco proper. The shopping location now has two of the extra-fast stations in addition to eight new chargers that muster 'only' 150kW. If you plug in a compatible car, the 350kW units should deliver 200 miles of range in about 10 minutes -- enough to be sure you get home.
Porsche unveils fast, low-cost 'pit stop' EV charging stations
Fast charging stations promise to end the long wait to top up electric cars, but the technology is expensive, bulky and a little intimidating. Thankfully, Porsche might have solved all three problems in one go. It just unveiled an "electric pit stop" whose design promises to make the company's 800V charging more accessible. Rather than load everything a charging station needs into a single cabinet, Porsche splits things into modular "FlexBoxes" that can offload some of the work and stay far from the customer -- you might only see the charging pole itself.
Honda's new EV charger can draw some of its power directly from the sun
While your new EV or plug-in hybrid is surely green, plugging it into the coal-fired grid may not feel so much like winning. Solar energy is a much better story, though, and Honda has just announced a new exterior, wall-mounted plug-in charger that can work directly with such systems. The charger will switch between standard AC and solar according to the amount of power produced by the sun, and even work during a power outage. It'll also allow smart-card metering for commercial installations, tamper-proof locking and smartphone monitoring via WiFi. There's no timeline or pricing for it yet, but for the chance to stick it to big energy? We can't wait.
