Better Place has one of the more unique ways of dealing with exhausted electric car batteries.  While it does offer charging stations which take quite a while to charge your battery, it also offers the option of simply switching it out.  A 100 car fleet of electric vehicles will now begin testing the infrastructure which stretches across Israel.

Graphene is turning out to be a miracle substance for electronics and electric vehicles.  The latest use for graphene is in a new energy storage system that will enable charging electric vehicles (EVs) and plugin electric vehicles (PEVs) in less than a minute rather than hours as it does today.

Most people are familiar with roadside assistance either because of a flat tire, dead battery, or car accident.  Although AAA is able to take care of just about any problem that arises for a gasoline or diesel engine car, electric vehicles (EVs) will pose a problem.  Nissan is working on roadside assistance vehicles that will be able to recharge LEAF batteries.

Umeå, Sweden just got a brand new hybrid bus and fast charging infrastructure.  The bus is a combination electric/diesel hybrid. It is currently being tested in a collaboration between the companies Hybricon AB, Opbrid SL, e-Traction BV, Umeå Energi AB and the Umeå City Corporation.

Well, it’s cutting into Prius leases where the Volt is available.  According to LeaseTrader.com, Prius owners are calling in to find out how to get out of their leases so they can switch to a Chevrolet Volt.  In an interview with Noel Adams, John Sternal, Vice President of LeaseTrader.com talks about this phenomenon.

Honda has decided to test everything necessary for our electric transportation future in Torrence, California and Saitama Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshū.  Honda will be testing not only electric cars but plug-in hybrid vehicles, electric scooters, electric carts and solar power stations.

Nissan delivered its first electric vehicle (EV) , the LEAF, on Friday to Olivier Chalouhi, a San Francisco Bay Area resident.  Although the LEAF isn’t the first electric vehicle to hit the US market, think Tesla, it is the first affordable EV to hit the market. 

Horizon’s hydrogen fuel cell pack system for mini unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could mean saved lives.  Because the AEROPAK as the system is called, is capable of increasing the time and distance of UAV flights, they will be able to do more reconnaissance without returning to base.  In military situations, that could mean saved lives.

Gerhard Welsch, professor of materials science and engineering at Case Western, has improved the dielectric – “the thin barrier that separates the capacitor’s positive and negative charges”.  That improvement could increase the energy stored by as much 1,000 fold over ceramic capacitors.  Meanwhile, Bor Jang of US-based Nanotek Instruments has developed a graphene supercapacitor with the power of a nickel metal hydride battery.

Asheville, NC has a $500,000 grant that will allow 25 charging stations to be installed in the city and the surround area.  The charging stations will be manufactured by Eaton Corporation in its Arden, NC plant.  This means that electric vehicles won’t be confined to the West Coast or big cities.  Asheville has an estimated population of 76,636 which puts it in the small town range.