All last week there were numerous frantic New Yorkers looking desperately for places to plug-in. Without electricity this ultra connected island was stranded by the storm both physically and electronically. People stood in groups throughout the darkened city listening to battery-powered boom boxes for news. In polling places on Long Island generators still stood
The Japanese automaker, Nissan, has developed a charging system that generates electricity from solar power and stores it in the lithium-ion batteries used in its Leaf electric car.
On the roof of its global headquarters in Yokohama, the company has installed 488 solar panels, which
Ford Motor Company has developed an intelligent charging system that previews how its production vehicles will interact with the grid. The unnamed system enables all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners to restrict charging to when electricity prices fall below a certain threshold, or even “when the grid is using only renewable energy such as wind or solar power,” according to Ford.
Being able to drive “emissions free” could be a huge selling point for the upscale and eco-minded early adopters who will be buying EVs and plug-in hybrids during the next few years. There’s a natural synergy for customers to put solar on their homes and buy hybrids/EVs, who can then drive free of fossil fuel guilt.