Smart Energy News

Stuttgart, Germany – Hertz, the international car rental company, and IBM announced they are partnering on a pilot program in Germany to advance electric vehicle (EV) mobility and user adoption through “intelligent” recharging stations.

Under the program, Hertz will supply electric vehicles to the car-share fleet used by IBM employees to drive between Stuttgart Airport and the company’s campus in Ehningen, about 30 kilometers away.

The electric cars provided by Hertz will be charged using decentralized generation of electricity on the IBM campus, and the charging stations will be operated with IBM software that optimizes the usage of generated power by renewable energies. The software also balances demand and availability of electricity power to prevent load peaks.

Hertz is the first car-rental company to deploy electric vehicles on three continents — in the U.S. (New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco), the U.K. (London), and China (Shenzhen).

Hertz announced it plans to increase its global EV presence by deploying vehicles in other countries in the coming months. The company will continue to use its rental and car sharing locations as bases for vehicles and charging stations, and use its fleet management tools and “consumer-facing” GPS systems to help form an EV grid, the company said.

Ehningen IBM Innovation Center website

Fremont, Calif. — Delta Products, a Delta Group company headquartered in Fremont, has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), for the development and demonstration of a residential electric vehicle charging system with smart grid communication capabilities.

Under the grant, over the next three years the Delta research project will develop smart-grid enabled residential electric vehicle chargers that will allow the quick deployment of charging infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles.

The smart-charging system will allow utilities to reduce infrastructure costs and manage load during peak hours, according to Delta, and will benefit consumers by taking advantage of off-peak electricity rates for electric vehicle charging.

Delta’s system price is targeted to be 50% lower than today’s competing technologies, the company said.

As part of the DOE project, Delta will work in conjunction with their partners The Detroit Edison Co., Mercedes Benz R&D North America, and kVA to develop a working demonstration system.

Image credit: Delta Products

Delta Products website

Campbell, Calif. — Coulomb Technologies, a provider of electric vehicle charging stations, announced it has raised $47.5 million in its fourth round of venture capital, which was co-led by two firms, Braemar Energy Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Also investing in the deal are Toyota Tsusho Corp., Rho Ventures, Voyager Capital, Siemens Venture Capital GmbH, Harbor Pacific Capital Partners and Hartford Ventures.

Coulomb works with automobile manufacturers including Nissan, BMW, Ford, GM, and Fisker Automotive, to help their customers find, reserve and pay for EV charging services.

In connection with the new financing, the company said it has recently seen significant market adoption of its networked hardware and cloud-based service plans. Coulomb is currently operating in 14 countries.

Coulomb Technologies website

San Francisco – NRG Energy, the Princeton, N.J.-based electric utility, has agreed in a legal settlement to invest about $100 million over the next four years to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations across California.

The agreement stems from litigation related to a long-term electricity contract entered into over a decade ago by a subsidiary of Dynegy, which at the time was a co-owner with NRG of electric power plants in California. NRG assumed responsibility for resolving this dispute when it acquired Dynegy’s 50% interest in the assets in 2006.

The fee-based charging network will consist of at least 200 publicly available fast-charging stations, to be installed in the San Francisco Bay area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Los Angeles Basin and San Diego County. The planned charging stations can add 50 miles of range to a vehicle in less than 15 minutes of charging, NRG said.

The system also will include wiring for at least 10,000 individual charging stations located at homes, offices, multifamily communities, schools and hospitals located across the state, according to the company.

The charging services will increase the speed and power of DC fast charging and will allow electric vehicle owners to support electrical grid reliability through vehicle-to-grid energy storage technology, according to NRG.

Photo credit: NRG Energy

NRG Energy website

Costa Mesa, Calif. — T3 Motion, a producer of energy-efficient electric vehicles, announced on Wednesday it has shipped the first container of sixteen, T3 Electric Stand-up Vehicles (ESV) under an order from a Nigerian distributor. The shipment is the first of a 126-unit order to be sent to the distributor.

The T3 ESV is a law enforcement patrol vehicle that is designed to decrease operating costs and increase patrol capabilities. More than 3,000 of the company’s T3 Series vehicles have been deployed in over 30 countries worldwide.

The zero-gas-emission vehicle, which is operated by a driver in the standing position, gets the equivalent of over 500 miles a gallon, according to T3. It uses about 1.5 kilowatt of electricity to fully recharge in less than four hours.

Based on California energy rates, the T3 Series costs ten cents a day to recharge, the company says, and the electrical recharge costs for a distance of 10,000 miles is less than $60 total.

T3 Series vehicles are built using a lead-free assembly process. The body is comprised of fully-recyclable ABS polycarbonate blend plastics. The Lithium-polymer batteries have a three- to five-year life span, after which T3 Motion offers its customers a battery recycling program.

Image credit: T3 Motion

http://www.t3motion.com