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Companies that run charging stations for electric cars, many of which currently make the service free, are looking at how much they should charge in the future. See it on Scoop.it, via Sustainable Energy via scoop.it

1.7 kWp, 2000kWh per year. How many cars per annum can you charge at, say, 5KWh each? Better stick to bicycles and phones!

South Tyrol gets serious about solar mobility: The "E-Move Charging Station", a pilot project of the Bozen entrepreneur Valentin Runggaldier, is to supply electrically operated bicycles, scooters, cars and even mobile phones with the necessary "fuel" from the sun. The solar charging stations were designed by Michael Scherer from Brixen

There is some concern that millions of plug-in electric vehicles charging at the peak times, such as around 5:30 p.m. when people return from work, could cause power disruptions or require construction of new power plants. To address this, Google has written software with "vehicle dispatch algorithms" that can decide how to best charge cars, Reicher said. In addition to smoothing out the load on the grid, smart charging makes it easier to take advantage of solar and wind power, which are variable sources of electricity.

NRG Energy has opened its first eVgo direct-current electric vehicle charging station in Dallas, Texas, today as part of a privately funded 70-station network

Rubloff and his colleagues have developed an energy storage device that improves on the performance of electrostatic capacitors - a device that stores energy as electric charge. The tiny capacitors consist of a layered structure of metal-insulator-metal thin films. The devices are fabricated in massive arrays using minute holes at a density of 60 billion per square inch.

Hino, Toyota's truck division, is experimenting with wireless charging. In spite of inefficiences that may exist, Hino should be applauded for pushing the envelope. However, unfortunately for the future, it seems logical that only larger sponsors such as Toyota can afford this type of approach.

"The team's research yielded a novel solution that combines the strengths of batteries and supercapacitors while also negating the scalability problem. The "electrochemical flow capacitor" (EFC) consists of an electrochemical cell connected to two external electrolyte reservoirs - a design similar to existing redox flow batteries which are used in electrical vehicles. This technology is unique because it uses small carbon particles suspended in the electrolyte liquid to create a slurry of particles that can carry an electric charge."

Palestinian engineers say it only costs $1.50 per fill-up. Israel is also going electric with hundreds of charging stations to be installed nationwide

After Portugal, it appears that Israel is the second country to develop a network of charging stations.

Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator, based on stretching and releasing zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic with two ends bonded.

REGENERATIVE BRAKING is widely practised, but there have to be other trains around to absorb the surplus power being fed back into the catenary or third rail. Processing the output from trains and pushing it back into the local grid is possible with an AC power supply, but very expensive with DC traction. Too often, power produced by traction motors in braking mode ends up heating resistor banks. The elegant alternative is to store the braking energy on the train. This not only avoids the electrical complications of regenerating through the traction power supply network. It reduces the rated power requirement of that network by lopping demand peaks during acceleration, saves energy by reducing losses in the catenary or conductor rail, and by limiting voltage drop it allows substations to be further apart. NiMH batteries have the necessary energy storage density in terms of kWh/kg, and are slightly more expensive, but their life in terms of charge/discharge cycles in no way matches the LRV requirement for 2million cycles over 10 years. Flywheels have been tried but never caught on for several reasons.

Subaru has released a second generation battery-electric vehicle, the G4e (for "Good 4 earth"). The 5-seater has a maintenance-free 65-kilowatt electric motor, and features high energy-density vanadium enhanced lithium-ion batteries, which give the G4e a 124 mile (200km) range from a charge (more than double the first generation R1e's range, previous post) and using a quick-charger it can be charged to 80% in only 15 minutes