Archive for the ‘battery pack’ Category

Shai Agassi, the founder and CEO of Better Place, is by all accounts a supremely charismatic entrepreneur. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to wire Israel with electric-car recharging stations and battery quick-swap facilities, and will offer to sell his customers as many miles as they care to drive in Better Place cars at a fixed rate, just like a cell-phone service plan.

But like Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, who also occasionally says things that aren't quite true,  Agassi could use a bit of basic fact-checking. He claims that electric cars offered through Better Place will cost $4,500 to $7,500 less than equivalent gasoline or ...

Shai Agassi, the founder and CEO of Better Place, is by all accounts a supremely charismatic entrepreneur. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to wire Israel with electric-car recharging stations and battery quick-swap facilities, and will offer to sell his customers as many miles as they care to drive in Better Place cars at a fixed rate, just like a cell-phone service plan. But like Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, who also occasionally says things that aren't quite true,  Agassi could use a bit of basic fact-checking. He claims that electric cars offered through Better Place will cost $4,500 to $7,500 less than equivalent gasoline or ... Read More

What is it?: Mild hybrid version of the big Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan The basics: Teutonic solidity, impeccable equipment, better fuel economy On sale: This fall Price: $87,950

Exactly one year ago, our editor Marty Padgett wrote about the European launch of the 2009 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid, the world's first production hybrid car to use lithium-ion cells in its battery.

Our sister site, GreenCarReports.com, is road-testing the new 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid this weekend, one of the first media outlets to do so. Meanwhile, here are the basics.

Lithium-ion chemistries are capable of storing about twice as much energy per pound as the...

What is it?: Mild hybrid version of the big Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan The basics: Teutonic solidity, impeccable equipment, better fuel economy On sale: This fall Price: $87,950 Exactly one year ago, our editor Marty Padgett wrote about the European launch of the 2009 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid, the world's first production hybrid car to use lithium-ion cells in its battery. Our sister site, GreenCarReports.com, is road-testing the new 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid this weekend, one of the first media outlets to do so. Meanwhile, here are the basics. Lithium-ion chemistries are capable of storing about twice as much energy per pound as the... Read More

Audi of America's President Johan de Nysschen may have put his foot in his mouth by calling buyers of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt "idiots," but Audi headquarters seems to like electric cars.

Enough, at any rate, to trumpet the complete specs of its all-wheel-drive, all-electric e-Tron concept car, revealed this morning at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Or perhaps we should say concept supercar, since the e-Tron's performance figures clearly put it in that category.

For starters, the e-Tron has four electric motors, two at the front, two at the rear. The car's control electronics allocate torque among the wheels as required, making the concept a...

Audi of America's President Johan de Nysschen may have put his foot in his mouth by calling buyers of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt "idiots," but Audi headquarters seems to like electric cars. Enough, at any rate, to trumpet the complete specs of its all-wheel-drive, all-electric e-Tron concept car, revealed this morning at the Frankfurt Auto Show. Or perhaps we should say concept supercar, since the e-Tron's performance figures clearly put it in that category. For starters, the e-Tron has four electric motors, two at the front, two at the rear. The car's control electronics allocate torque among the wheels as required, making the concept a... Read More