IHS Automotive estimates that in 2014, carmakers worldwide will produce more than 217,000 battery electric vehicles, or 0.25 percent of a global production forecast of 87.7 million vehicles, rising to nearly a million electric vehicles, or 0.9 percent of a forecast 104 million vehicles, by 2020.
The first 3D models of the Everest flight will be available in the coming weeks. The researchers are keeping a blog to provide additional details of their adventurous research expedition to the Himalayas.
The Stemme S10-VTX glider, pictured, was mounted with a specialist 3D Modular Airborne Camera System (MACS) built by the German Aerospace Centre. The 3D model will be used to help improve forecasts of landslides and floods resulting from the outbursting of glacial lakes
Across Paris, Autolib operates some 2,500 cars and nearly 900 charging stations. It has several competitors, including Wattmobile, which opened a new charging station in the French capital on Thursday. ($1 = 0.7745 euro) (Additional reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
To cope with the high altitudes and cold temperatures of the Himalayas, pictured, which can drop to below -35°C, engineers put the camera through a series of tests before the flight. This included tests in a vacuum chamber, at moderate altitudes above the Alps and during unusual lighting conditions
The scheme was set up by the Mountain Wave Project (MWP) and researchers from the German Aerospace Centre. Pilot Klaus Ohlmann, left, and co-pilot Jona Keimer, right, took an hour and a half to reach the summit after taking off from the base camp at Pokhara airport in Nepal on 28 January
For storage, Eco2charge will use end-of-life Renault electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries. Renault, which sells electric cars but rents the batteries to their owners, owns and manages some 47,000 batteries from four different models.
The system could likewise be part of a grid-wide demand-response system, and in the future it should also be possible to not only temporarily stop drawing power from the grid, but also to feed back power into it at times of peak demand.
German pilots flew the motorised glider, pictured, over the summit of Mount Everest and filmed the event using a specialist 3D camera. Researchers plan to use this footage to build a 3D model of the Nepalese mountain with a resolution down to 15 centimetres
But imagine a firm or institution where dozens of employees arrive in the morning and all start recharging their cars at the same time. That would put a huge strain on the building’s power network and force it to upgrade its electricity connections.
The project, which has a 13 million euro ($16.8 million) budget, has been trialed in two Bouygues and Renault pilot sites and the group aims to sell it to office buildings, parking lots, campuses and other sites where fleets of electric cars can park.
The Eco2charge group, which also includes car maker Renault , electrical engineering group Alstom and cable maker Nexans, has developed a charging system that assembles old batteries from electric vehicles into a power storage bank that can soak up electricity at night and gradually charge vehicles during the day.
The car maker is also looking at developing utility-scale power storage systems, that would assemble as many as 50 recycled car batteries into one shipping container rv for use with large solar power stations or wind parks.
Utilities across Europe are very eager to boost usage of electric cars as they see it as a way to boost power demand, which has been flat or falling due to the economic crisis and increased energy efficiency.
PARIS, Sept 18 (Reuters) – A consortium of French companies led by construction firm Bouygues has developed an electric car charging system based on old batteries that helps smooth out power demand when dozens of cars simultaneously recharge.