Tag: electric cars

Toyota Makes Breakthrough in Biofuel Technology

photo from flickr.com/photos/drswan/

Toyota continues to be committed to the green revolution, developing next-generation environment-friendly vehicles and pouring money into renewable energy research. Toyota may be one step closer to its goal to commercializing cellulosic ethanol by 2020 with its development of a new super-yeast used to produce cellulosic ethanol. Yeast is used to ferment plant sugars in the biofuel production process, but …

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Deutsche Post DHL Fleet Goes Electric

photo courtesy of Deutsche Post DHL

Deutsche Post DHL, the world’s leading logistics group, has commissioned German based StreetScooter to develop a new electric vehicle for its delivery fleet. The new delivery vehicle will be based on the modular StreetScooter electric car platform, which was shown at the Frankfurt IAA 2011 auto show in September (watch the video). It’s part of Deutsche Post DHL’s global GoGreen initiative aimed at …

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Chancellor Angela Merkel Visits International Auto Show

streetsccoter

At the StreetScooter booth, Mrs. Merkel was welcomed by Arndt Kirchhoff, CEO of KIRCHHOFF Automotive, one of the major partner companies of the StreetScooter network. “As shareholders, we are proud to present a roadworthy vehicle after only 15 months of development time,” Kirchhoff said. Professor Achim Kampker of RWTH Aachen University and CEO of StreetScooter GmbH, provided a firsthand explanation of the …

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Test Drive for New Electric Car

On Friday, September 2nd, after a total assembly time of eight weeks, the first StreetScooter prototype was completed, generating a great deal of excitement in the auto industry. Although StreetScooter is not the only electric car being developed in Germany, it is keenly followed by media and industry because of its radically forward-looking and innovative approach to technology and manufacturing. Assembly of the prototype began …

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Driving Down the Cost of Electric Cars

streetscooter_window

Forbes recently published an interesting article on the comeback of electric cars. Author Althea Chang predicts that “electric cars will become fairly commonplace in the not-too-distant future,” but only if the industry manages to overcome two major obstacles – cost and the availability of electric car charging stations nationwide. While the latter turns out to be quite easy to overcome—as …

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New Electric Car Offers a Sustainable Future

streetscooter-unveiling

In May 2011, the StreetScooter Consortium—headed by RWTH Aachen University in Germany—presented its forward-looking electric car concept to the public for the first time. The StreetScooter project—which aims to demonstrate that electrical vehicles can be produced at a competitive price in small batches by a network of supply chain partners without the need for sustained government funding—was launched in December …

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IBM’s Design Philosophy Spawns Next-Generation Electric Car

Photo from Easterbilby at flickr.com/photos/37796451@N00/

What does a 1980s IBM PC have to do with the future of the automotive industry? Well, it plays a key role in the thinking behind StreetScooter, an e-car design that is currently being developed in Germany by a consortium of 30 companies under the leadership of StreetScooter GmbH, a company founded by RWTH Aachen University. The StreetScooter team incorporates …

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Why it’s Time to Invest in the Electric Car

The StreetScooter

The electric car has been around for quite some time, but somehow it’s never quite caught on. The reasons for this are many—sticker shock at the dealership, concerns over handling and safety, and an irrational fear of running out of juice 50 miles from the nearest outlet. Or could it simply be that it’s way cooler to drive a gas-guzzling …

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