http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Toshiba Corporation today announced that its SCiB battery has been selected by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation to power two new models of electric vehicles (EV), the i-MiEV and MINICAB-MiEV. The SCiB is Toshiba's breakthrough rechargeable lithium-ion battery that combines high levels of safety with a long life, rapid charging and excellent charging and output at very low temperatures, characteristics that make it highly suited to application in EV. http://phys.org/news227442788.html Technology Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:33:26 EST news227442788 I recently went to Finland to drive the all-electric Think City plug-in car (thinkev.com), which is already on European roads and coming to the U.S. later this year. To help it have a soft landing, Think CEO Richard Canny (who spent 25 years at Ford) put together these nine myths about electric vehicles (EV). I've had my own version, but Richard's list is quite different and well worth sharing. He's not an objective party, of course, but he has hands-on experience. http://phys.org/news191596951.html Technology Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:22:57 EST news191596951 Today's world is all about portability when it comes to gadgets and there are plenty of "green" choices for the upcoming Earth Day on April 22. http://phys.org/news190528763.html Electronics Thu, 15 Apr 2010 06:30:01 EST news190528763 Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry has announced a strategy that calls for boosting eco-friendly vehicles' share of domestic new car sales to as high as 50 percent by 2020, from the current 9 percent. http://phys.org/news190490739.html Technology Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:50:02 EST news190490739 A team of researchers at MIT has made significant progress on a technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists. http://phys.org/news189421942.html Physics Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:12:50 EST news189421942 The all-electric Nissan Leaf hatchback will cost $32,780 when it hits showrooms in December, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news189197864.html Technology Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:58:35 EST news189197864 (PhysOrg.com) -- Part of the headache of having to constantly recharge batteries is not just how often they need to be charged, but also the time it takes to charge them. In a new study, researchers have proposed a charging method that could greatly reduce the charging time of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in everything from electronic devices to electric vehicles. The new method uses an additional oscillating electric field (besides the charging field) that should be capable of charging a lithium-ion battery in a fraction of the time compared with traditional methods. http://phys.org/news187554124.html Physics Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:22:58 EST news187554124 (PhysOrg.com) -- A common problem with notebook computers is that the battery delivers power for far too short a time, which only gets shorter as it gets older. If you don’t take great care with your rechargeable battery at all times, its life drains away quite fast. Improved batteries that deliver significantly more energy, last longer, and are safer are thus the subject of current research. Bruno Scrosati and Jusef Hassoun at the University of Rome have now developed a highly promising approach to a new variety of lithium-ion battery, which, as the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, may fulfill these criteria. http://phys.org/news187526269.html Chemistry Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:39:12 EST news187526269 An Indian mobile phone company has launched a low-cost handset that uses commonly available AAA-sized batteries aimed at the hundreds of millions who live in areas where power supplies are erratic. http://phys.org/news186991577.html Electronics Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:30:01 EST news186991577 A tiny scaffold-like titanium structure of Nanonets coated with silicon particles could pave the way for faster, lighter and longer-lasting Lithium-ion batteries, according to a team of Boston College chemists who developed the new anode material using nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news185542476.html Nanotechnology Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:35:05 EST news185542476 A nanoscale material developed in Britain could one day yield wafer-thin cellphones and light-weight, long-range electric cars powered by the roof, boot and doors, researchers have reported. http://phys.org/news185436439.html Technology Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:08:24 EST news185436439 Nobody worried about cold-weather performance of electric vehicle battery packs when it was warm outside, but now that Old Man Winter has descended, the problem is beginning to surface. When cars have a range of no more than 100 miles, the loss of 20 to 30 percent of that is a very big issue indeed. http://phys.org/news184274463.html Technology Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:00:01 EST news184274463 (PhysOrg.com) -- By itself, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a very poor electrode. Electrons move very slowly through the material - so slowly, in fact, that it can take years to fill a millimeter-thick piece of TiO2. However, things change when the TiO2 is extremely thin: a 10-nm-thick piece of TiO2 can be filled with electrons in milliseconds. Inspired by this ability, scientists have recently investigated whether TiO2 could be useful for fabricating high-capacity batteries. http://phys.org/news183930467.html Nanotechnology Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:48:29 EST news183930467 With a jump-start from a new quick charging system, Norwegian electric carmaker THINK is taking aim at the US market with a new assembly facility set to begin operations later this year. http://phys.org/news183819661.html Technology Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:30:06 EST news183819661 The Department of Energy announced today that 24 million hours of supercomputing time out of a total of 1.6 billion available hours at Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories have been awarded to investigate materials for developing lithium air batteries, capable of powering a car for 500 miles on a single charge. http://phys.org/news183814636.html Technology Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:00:04 EST news183814636 Daizi Zheng, a Chinese developer who is currently based in London, has modified a Nokia cell phone to run on Coca-Cola or any other sugary solution. http://phys.org/news182632665.html Technology Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:18:03 EST news182632665 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists theorize that quantum phenomena could provide a major boost to batteries, with the potential to increase energy density up to 10 times that of lithium ion batteries. According to a new proposal, billions of nanoscale capacitors could take advantage of quantum effects to overcome electric arcing, an electrical breakdown phenomenon which limits the amount of charge that conventional capacitors can store. http://phys.org/news180704455.html Physics Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:42:13 EST news180704455 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electric vehicles are far from new, but we are still a long way from electric cars being the norm. Now two new electric cars may bring that goal a step closer. http://phys.org/news180171314.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:40:01 EST news180171314 (AP) -- Over the next two years, 2,500 charging stations for electric vehicles will be built in the Seattle area as part of a partnership between Nissan North America and the Electric Transportation Engineering Corp., or eTec. http://phys.org/news180123190.html Technology Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:36:17 EST news180123190 On Tokyo Bay, at the edge of the largest urban sprawl on Earth, sits what may be an environmentalist's dream home. http://phys.org/news179995608.html Technology Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:10:02 EST news179995608 Toyota Motor said Monday that it plans to begin commercial sales of its first plug-in hybrid vehicle in about two years, aiming to meet growing demand for fuel-efficient cars. http://phys.org/news179994170.html Technology Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:23:41 EST news179994170 American drivers fond of their gas guzzlers will have to quickly learn to love greener cars, which are expected to get a big boost from upcoming international climate talks in Copenhagen. http://phys.org/news179042865.html Technology Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:10:03 EST news179042865 Electric cars could help China and other countries reduce their dependency on oil but the government must provide incentive to make the shift, Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said Thursday. http://phys.org/news177257227.html Technology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:30:01 EST news177257227 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new breed of rechargeable zinc-air batteries is soon to be available, and may replace lithium-ion batteries in cell phones, laptops and other consumer items. Lithium-ion batteries store only a third of the energy and cost around twice as much as the new batteries. http://phys.org/news176034001.html Technology Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:21:57 EST news176034001 Budding US hybrid car maker Fisker Automotive will reopen a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware to build fuel-efficient, plug-in cars, the White House announced Tuesday. http://phys.org/news175884098.html Technology Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:03 EST news175884098 (PhysOrg.com) -- A fleet of 17 buses near Shanghai has been running on ultracapacitors for the past three years, and today that technology is coming to the Washington, DC, for a one-day demonstration. Chinese company Shanghai Aowei Technology Development Company, along with its US partner Sinautec Automobile Technologies, predict that this approach will provide an inexpensive and energy efficient way to power city buses in the near future. http://phys.org/news175355628.html Technology Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:00:01 EST news175355628 Toyota unveiled Tuesday a new lightweight, sporty concept car inspired by an iconic coupe from the 1980s, saying its vision of the future was both mean and green. http://phys.org/news174050888.html Technology Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:28:52 EST news174050888 (PhysOrg.com) -- Audi has unveiled its new electric car concept, the Audi e-tron at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany. http://phys.org/news173683325.html Technology Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:30:01 EST news173683325 Panasonic Corp. has developed a 1.5 kWh battery module from 18650-type (18 mm in diameter x 65 mm in length) lithium-ion battery cells, which are widely used in laptop computers, to provide energy storage solutions for a wide range of environmentally friendly energy technologies. For example, multiple units can be connected in series and/or parallel to store energy generated by home-use photovoltaic (PV) systems and fuel cells, and power electric vehicles (EV). http://phys.org/news173635366.html Technology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:50:02 EST news173635366 The European Union's consumer czar warned on Monday that iPhones would be taken off the market if national authorities find manufacturing faults lie behind mystery screen explosions. http://phys.org/news173356948.html Electronics Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:43:35 EST news173356948