Electric Vehicles & Cars News - Page 1

Chevrolet has more than 60 years of experience manufacturing vehicles for law enforcement, but last month introduced its first all-electric vehicle for police use. The 2024 Blazer EV Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV), based off the Chevy Blazer EV SS, will include police-grade tires, underbody skid plates, emergency medical supplies, and other features that make it ideal for police use.

The interior is customized to support officers inside the vehicle, including front seats designed to accommodate an officer's duty belts and wearable gear. Final specifications and complete range information will be made available closer to the vehicle's launch for law enforcement.

The civilian Blazer EV features 557 horsepower and has a range of around 250 miles up to 320 miles on a single charge. Pricing starts at $44,995 for the standard version, and the SS has a starting price of $65,995.

Earlier this week, the Alice electric aircraft from Eviation took to the skies to its maiden voyage, hopefully opening the door for zero emission regional flights. Not only will the flights be more environmentally friendly, they'll also greatly reduce noise pollution for people living around airports.

The aircraft reached 3,500 feet maximum altitude and flew for eight minutes before landing back at the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. After the MagniX engines were revved up, they sounded about as loud as electric grass trimmers, and provided a responsive experience to fly.

The passenger plane will hopefully support up to nine passengers and their luggage, and will need to finalize a design to be certified by US regulators.

The US Defense Innovation Unit and jet ski manufacturer T3MP3ST are working together to look for ways to make electric jet skis a suitable tool for elite military units. One day, it's possible the T3MP3ST could be fully autonomous drones that can be used without human operators for specific missions.

Jet skis might be fun to ride but haven't been suitable for military use because they simply aren't very efficient. In addition to producing "200 times the emissions of a single car," according to Nico Sell, CEO of T3MP3ST, in a statement published by Defense One, the gas-guzzling jet skis also create a logistical nightmare: "If you have gas, then you have guards. And you have mechanics. So we can get rid of all of those logistics."

The T3MP3ST Maverick GT Ski can be equipped with radar, sonar, cameras or lidar, along with autonomous functioning using GPS waypoints. The base model of the Maverick GT is $150,000, and the full RIB package is $500,000 - featuring a 350-horsepower 3D-printed electric engine that provides a top speed of more than 70 mph. Its electric range is 50 to 100 miles, and can navigate surf up to 100 feet high, developers claim.

As the auto industry continues its transition away from internal combustion engines towards electric vehicles, there are two major problems that must be addressed as soon as possible: limited battery range and slow recharging once a battery is low on charge.

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin think an electrode can facilitate twice the range with one charge, compared to an EV with a battery that has commercially available electrodes. Researchers used magnets to create a unique alignment in a lithium-ion battery with thicker electrodes.

Early stages of research from UT Austin engineers are specific to a single type of battery electrode but offers a promising look towards the future. Ideally, the methodology may one day be consolidated so different types of electrodes can be made using different materials, so more EV makers and parts providers can adopt the strategy.

In the United States, there is a nationwide effort to ramp up the adoption of electric vehicles, with states creating ambitious plans to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles. To assist in this effort, the Biden Administration announced the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan for all 50 states has been approved.

The effort is designed to install EV chargers across 75,000 miles of highway spread across the US. The bipartisan infrastructure law aims for a charging station every 50 miles, with states able to select where these chargers are located. These chargers must be fast, able to recharge a vehicle's battery in 15 to o45 minutes, based on which car model is being serviced.

US states have access to $1.5 billion of a total $5 billion in funding designed for building EV charges over the next five years. Each charging station must have at least four fast-speed plug-ins and non-proprietary chargers able to connect to any type of EV.

German automaker BMW has shown off its XM plug-in hybrid that also is the first hybrid to be given the proud M badge. The twin-turbo V-8 engine has been designed as a performance Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) with an "extravagant" design and luxury ambience.

The BMW XM has an overall output of 480 kW and 653 HP that is generated by the combination of the combustion and electric drive system. The eight-cylinder engine feeds into an eight-speed M Steptropnic transmission with propulsive power with maximum overall torque of 590 lb-ft.

XM can accelerate 0 to 60mph in 4.3 seconds, with three different operating modes: ELECTRIC provides speeds up over 85 mph with zero local emissions and a maximum distance up to 55 miles.

Rental car giant Hertz has teamed up with oil giant BP to create a new network of electric vehicle charging stations spread across the United States. The stations will be powered by BP pulse, the company's electrification and charging solution, while Hertz continues to aim towards developing its own footprint in the EV market.

Obviously, BP relies heavily on fossil fuels, but has branched out towards electric and renewable products, understanding there is an ongoing market shift away from internal combustion engines. However, the company is stepping up acquisitions in EV technology, along with its own internal research to create new opportunities for itself.

BP Pulse will install the chargers and maintain software and services that Hertz will benefit from, though the general public, taxi and ride-hailing drivers will also have yet another place to recharge.

Autonomous delivery vehicles seem to be all the rage these days, with customers even more likely to one day receive a food or goods delivery from a small, lightweight, electric delivery mechanism. The autonomous vehicles are being developed by a growing number of companies seeking partners before projects are made live on our sidewalks and roads.

Locations where restaurants and tech providers already had running pilots, the Covid-19 pandemic was a major test ground to see what their products could do. However, any locations that didn't have the infrastructure in place undoubtedly missed out, so now must scramble to try to catch up.

Here is what Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Nuro, said in a statement: "We expect to see increased demand for on-road autonomous delivery across all types of industries and businesses and we're working to address that demand with our new vehicles designed to scale to millions of consumers across the US."

South Korea has ambitious plans related to autonomous vehicle development, aiming for up to 50% of domestic vehicles to be fully autonomous by 2035. The country recently released a Mobility Innovation Roadmap which laid out plans to keep up with semi-autonomous testing that is currently underway in the United States, Europe, and Japan already - but has clear benchmarks outlined for the future.

The first hurdle is to develop Level 3 autonomous vehicles that can self-drive under select conditions, but still relies on a human driver to be able to take control of the system when needed. The automated driving system can carry out many driving tasks but give the driver ability to disengage back to regular driving mode.

Korean automaker Hyundai plans to add level 3 autonomous capability to its Genesis G90 EV by the end of this year.

The Elia Group's re.alto and Volkswagen subsidiary Elli recently signed a partnership to integrate electric vehicles into the electricity power grid across Europe.

The companies will focus on price signals and incentives, market design, trusted data within the power system, and safe connectivity with proper data security. Elli has experience with mobility services, charging infrastructure, and serving as a flexible energy provider - and re.alto brings experience related to energy data connections and APIs.

Electricity demand is expected to increase almost 70% by 2050, and operators must work now to ensure they're able to keep up with demand as best as they can moving forward. Hopefully, relying on electric vehicle battery as a mobile power bank helps move forward towards climate neutrality - the renewable energy is stored and used more efficiently, and the power grid can be easily stabilized.