Charged Magazine

As more and more automakers are accelerating their plans for an electric future, sales of existing EV models are also gathering momentum. Monthly US plug-in vehicle sales have now beaten previous-year figures for 20 consecutive months. The trend continued in May, as an estimated 16,568 plug-ins were sold, a gain …read more

EVs are growing in popularity, but where are the electric pickup trucks? Havelaar, which has operations in Canada, the Netherlands and China, is one of the few pioneers of plug-in pickups. The company revealed its new Bison E-Pickup, which it developed in collaboration with the University of Toronto, at the …read more

KS HUAYU AluTech, a member of Rheinmetall Automotive, has booked a major order from a German carmaker for electric motor housings. The €100-million contract will run for seven years.
Production of the aluminum housings is scheduled to begin in mid-2018 at a Rheinmetall subsidiary in China. The components will be used …read more

Wolfspeed, a specialist in silicon carbide (SiC) power products, has released a new power module that’s designed to withstand high-humidity, high-temperature and high-voltage conditions.
The new all-SiC module, rated for 300 A and 1.2 kV blocking, passed a reliability test that subjected it to an environment of 85% relative humidity and …read more

We may not have heard the last of the dirty diesel scandal. Two of the Big Three automakers have recently been served with lawsuits alleging behavior similar to that which may end up costing VW $20 billion.
The US Justice Department has filed a civil complaint on behalf of the EPA, …read more

A new report from the non-profit Acadia Center presents a strategy for seven states in the Northeast to use market-ready technologies to establish a low-carbon energy system by the year 2030.
EnergyVision 2030 describes a path to reducing carbon emissions by 45% (from 1990 levels) by 2030, and by 80% by …read more

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology is seen as a potentially valuable resource for balancing electrical grids and facilitating the use of renewable energy. However, a new study by a team at the University of Hawaii suggests that the additional cycling to discharge vehicle batteries to the grid is detrimental to battery performance.
In …read more

City buses are an ideal application for EVs. The savings on fuel and maintenance are undeniable. In China, cities are ordering them by the thousand. So why are US cities still piddling around with pilots of a few buses?
“The time for pilot programs should be in the rear-view mirror,” writes …read more

Australian EVSE manufacturer Tritium, which recently expanded into the UK and opened an office in the US, has set its sights on another continent, beginning trials of its Veefil-RT 50 kW DC charger in China.
The first Veefil charger has been installed in Jiangsu Province, near the financial center of Shanghai.
“China …read more

In many EVs, regenerative braking is limited by the manufacturer to a modest level, and usually offers little or no ability for the driver to adjust it (aside from the few cases in which regen is made proportional to the initial movement of the brake pedal). Is tepid regen braking …read more