The effects of combined driving and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) usage on the lifetime performance of relevant commercial Li-ion cells were studied. We derived a nominal realistic driving schedule based on aggregating driving survey data and the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule, and used a vehicle physics model to create a daily battery duty cycle. Different degrees of continuous discharge were imposed on the cells to mimic afternoon V2G use to displace grid electricity. The loss of battery capacity was quantified as a function of driving days as well as a function of integrated capacity and energy processed by the cells. The cells tested showed promising capacity fade performance: more than 95% of the original cell capacity remains after thousands of driving days worth of use. Statistical analyses indicate that rapid vehicle motive cycling degraded the cells more than slower, V2G galvanostatic cycling. These data are intended to inform an economic model.

In 2007 the cumulative market share of direct drive turbines was around 14%, a percentage that has varied little (between about 13%-15%) during past few years.

iemens VDO intends to offer its customers all electric drive system components from a single supplier. The company is this also at work on high performance energy accumulators and transmissions to support the hybrid drives. Siemens VDO is already working on a full-electric system that transfers the drive to the wheels without using a conventional transmission.

Per Western Digital, switching to Green Power is the equivalent of removing your car from the roadways 14 days out of the year and save you up to $10 per drive each year in electricity costs.

What do movie actor Edward Norton and low-income, single moms have in common? They're both driving the renewable energy and green building industries.

What do movie actor Edward Norton and low-income, single moms have in common? They're both driving the renewable energy and green building industries.

But there may be another way. A radical intelligent highway design utilizing solar panels, LED lighting, and heating elements has been awarded funding by the Department of Transportation to the tune of $100,000. Will the Solar Highway soon replace asphalt, and how will we all adapt to driving on glass?

The European Commission is pushing for the liberalisation of electricity markets as part of a wider attempt to forge an EU energy policy. EurActiv takes a closer look at the liberalisation drive, including power trading and challenges specific to the electricity sector.

GM's engineers have been flogging the mules -- known formally as "engineering development vehicles" -- pretty hard for a couple of months now and they've got the lithium-ion batteries and electric drivetrain pretty much sorted. Lutz finally got a chance to take one of the range-extended electric vehicles for a spin and notes on his blog, "While the car is still most definitely a work in progress, the thrill of driving electrically -- that instant, silent torque -- is certainly present and accounted for."