Electric Vehicles – Looking Back, Looking Forward At The Smithsonian

EV1 Electric Car On Display At The Smithsonian

Bet you didn’t know that an electric car was the nation’s best-selling vehicle back in ’04.  1904, that is.  If you think the late 1990′s were the dawn of this technology, think again – electric vehicles have been around for over a century.  A new display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, part of… [Continue Reading]

Google Pulls The Plug With Inductive EV Charging Stations

Plugless Power EV Charging Station

Plugless Power, an innovative EV charging station that uses hands-free, wireless inductive charging, has been installed at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. Developed by Evatran, the charging stations are built into parking spaces to automatically charge the electric vehicle while it’s parked. This is the first public trial of the system. Google utilizes a… [Continue Reading]

New Ford Focus Electric Aims to Blow Nissan Leaf Away

2012 Ford Focus Electric

Since the release of our 2011 electric car review, Ford has unveiled the new 2012 Focus Electric, first at the recent 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, and currently at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Though showing up a little late to the electric vehicle party, Ford is flaunting the new Focus’ ability… [Continue Reading]

Electric Cars Making A Comeback In 2011

Better Place

2011 is being heralded by auto industry insiders as the “year of the electric car”. Though we here at Metaefficient endorse a life free of dependency upon cars, 100% electric vehicles are certainly more fuel efficient than internal combustion vehicles and may be on their way to becoming user-friendly as well. For 2011 consumers interested… [Continue Reading]

Better Place Shows Electric Taxis Working in the Real World

Better Place Shows Electric Taxis Working in the Real World

Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, has a vision — a vision for a world free of oil dependency. Mr. Agassi, who is well on his way to making this vision a reality, has what he believes is the solution for making electric vehicles efficient and affordable. He theorizes that the only way… [Continue Reading]

Shai Agassi’s Plan To Get 100% Electric Cars On The Road

I’m an advocate for car-free cities (on this note, see the newly published Carfree Design Manual by J. H. Crawford). But 100% electric cars are certainly preferable to gasoline-powered cars. Therefore I found this recent presentation by Shai Agassi of Better Place to be of inspiring. He argues that hybrids won’t work, and ethnol isn’t… [Continue Reading]

A Solar Carport: Charge Your Car Or Home

A carport that can generate power from the sun is debuting at the Electric Vehicle Symposium 23 (EVS-23) this week in Anaheim, California. Created by a company called Envision, the Lifeport can generate power for the home, or it can used to recharge electric vehicles directly.