The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Industry News

The “best-of articles” is a selection of the most popular articles published on cars21.com since its launch in March 2009. Find out what moved the electrified vehicle world in terms of important industry events, major battery innovations as well as new market trends and political decisions in 2009.

EVENTS

Several international events brought together industry experts, policy makers and research specialists to discuss technology options and market potential for electric and plug-in electric vehicles. cars21.com reported live from conferences around the globe to keep you up to date on the latest developments in battery and vehicle technology, as well as new on key messages from the financing and policy side.

The following top-ten list gives an overview of the most popular events cars21.com reported from:

• EVs take centre stage at LA Auto Show
• 1st German EV Congress: The Exhibition
• Tokyo Motor Show: Mitsubishi PHEV Supplies Electricity to Home, Toyota, Nissan
• IAA - EV Review: VW, Fisker, Tesla, Brabus
• BATTERIES 2009: PHEVs and EVs market trends, safety issues and more
• cars21.com discovers Takaoka 30 minute EV charger at TEPCO show
• EVS 24 Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles workshop
• Geneva auto show: Electric cars - Part I
• Financing the EV infrastructure, discussed in London
• Positive results from Life Cycle Assessment of EVs vs. ICEs
  

BATTERY TECHNOLOGY

All new developments in the battery sector for electric transportation have sparked special interest to the cars21.com community. Since the current battery technology offers still huge potential for improvement many companies and governments spent a lot of money on research to find the “holy grail” of battery chemistries. Researchers claim that they can develop safer materials, with a higher energy density at lower costs. Hence, they are continuously looking into improving safety, performance and costs of lithium-ion batteries or experimenting with new material combinations.

The following top ten list introduces the most promising developments including their assets and drawbacks:

• New Lithium-Ion Battery with double range ready by 2015
• First Nickel Lithium Battery: 3 times better and safer than Li-ion
• Zinc air battery technology to revolutionise the EV market?
• Metal-Air Battery breakthrough: Up to 11 times of Li-ion energy density
• MIT researchers charge Li-ion batteries in 10 seconds
• Next Generation Batteries - Lithium sources and markets
• A123 Systems and Edison to build biggest grid battery ever
• Micro-turbines and super-capacity batteries to power EVs
• The beltway battery : the fastest ever charging battery
• EV batteries to perform ten times better

POLICY, INDUSTRY & MARKET TRENDS

Policy and industry in the EU, the US and Asia are in close competition to win the domination of an electrified transportation systems. With new incentive programmes and infrastructure solutions they try to interact with each other and influence consumers at the same time. However, one big questions remains: will China dominate the market?

The following top-ten list offers a selection of the most popular topics as regards policy, industry and market trends:

• EU utilities pledge standardisation of EV charging infrastructure
• China to ban exports of EV metals
• Calculating fuel-economy numbers on EV window stickers
• Google working on smart charging software for electric vehicles
• Separating battery to vehicle ownership to accelerate EV uptake
• Will China dominate the market? - Market Trends
• China overtaking the US in an electric car?
• McKinsey report suggests environmental approach to EVs
• Obrist Technologies: Thermal Management & Battery Cooling for EVs
• European wide standardised plugs for Electric Vehicles