Hasta La Gadget!

BMW kicked off its DriveNow car sharing service in its home country last year to see if urban EV rentals would catch on. Something must have clicked in Germany, as the automaker is exporting the concept to the San Francisco Bay Area as of September. DriveNow’s initial fleet of 70 ActiveE vehicles will rely on a different business model after getting its American visa: the service drops the strictly by-the-minute model of the German operation in favor of a $12 base fee for a half-hour’s trip, with a 32 cents per minute rate kicking in only during longer drives. Travelers will have to drop off the cars at specified stations, too. There’s a consolation for the trouble through a ParkNow reservation service, which locks in a parking space at a guaranteed rate and navigates there through an iPhone app or the web. Just be aware that those spaces will be limited — only eight DriveNow stations and 14 ParkNow lots are active, which doesn’t afford a lot of free roaming even after discounting the lack of immediate plans for other US cities. We’re nonetheless glad that Bay Area locals without their own ride will have an easier time staying green for their cross-city jaunts.

Continue reading BMW DriveNow EV car sharing comes to San Francisco Bay Area, ParkNow follows suit

Filed under: Transportation

BMW DriveNow EV car sharing comes to San Francisco Bay Area, ParkNow follows suit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Recall Fisker’s latest fiery episode last week that left the front left quarter panel of a Karma hybrid EV burnt to a crisp in a Woodside, California parking lot? As promised, the company has completed its investigation with Pacific Rim Investigative Services Group into the scene, reporting that it’s “located the ignition source to the left front of the Karma, forward of the wheel, where the low temperature cooling fan is located.” As such, Fisker has decided to issue a full-on recall of the unit, although it’s currently unclear if this and it affects all Karmas on the road. That said, Fisker is also stressing “that the incident was not caused by the Lithium-ion battery pack, new technology components, engine component packaging or unique exhaust routing of the Fisker Karma” — naturally, the usual suspects for these types of accidents that keep plaguing the fledgling automaker. At least its new CEO Tony Posawatz is extremely qualified to handle the task at hand — after all, a few weeks ago he was Volt-maker, GM’s, Vehicle Line Director. Hit up the press release after the break for details about the investigation and its findings.

Update: When asked about whether the recall affects all Karma models currently on the road, a representative simply (and promptly) replied to us stating, “yes” — well then.

Continue reading Fisker completes investigation of latest Karma hybrid EV fire, issues vehicle-wide cooling fan recall

Filed under: Transportation

Fisker completes investigation of latest Karma hybrid EV fire, issues vehicle-wide cooling fan recall originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone who’s had to recharge an EV — or, for that matter, any mobile device with a very big battery — knows the pain of waiting for hours while a lithium-ion pack tops up. South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has developed a conduction technique that could cut that charging time down to less than a minute. By dousing the nanoparticle materials of the battery in a graphite solution that’s then carbonized, the researchers make a web of conductors that all start charging at once; current batteries have to charge towards the center slowly, like a not-very-edible Tootsie Pop. The immediate goal is to develop a secondary battery for an EV that could provide extra mileage in a matter of seconds. Here’s hoping that the Ulsan team’s fast-charging battery is more viable than others and spreads to just about everything — we’d love to have EVs and laptops alike that power up in as much time as it takes to fill a traditional car at the pump.

[Image credit: iFixit]

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Korean carbon-coated lithium-ion battery could cut recharge times down to minutes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’ve been a surprising number of EVs that caught fire recently. The last high-profile fire in an electric vehicle was over the past weekend when a Fisker Karma caught fire in a grocery store parking lot. The exact cause of that fire is still under investigation. It’s not only street legal EVs that have caught fire in recent days. A racing electric vehicle caught fire during the annual Pikes Peak Hill climb race in Colorado over the weekend.

Reigning hill climb champion Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima conducted three days of successful practice runs up Pikes Peak in his new all electric E-Runner Pikes Peak Special race car. Monster was able to qualify first in the electric class with significant distance between him and the second-place qualifier. Some even thought that Monster and his electric vehicle might take the overall win.

However, after several successful practice runs, things went awry during the first official run up the mountain for Monster and his EV. Only about a mile into the race, the electric motor began to overheat and caught on fire. Monster said he saw smoke coming from the motor and had to stop the car so the fire wouldn’t get any worse.

The overall win for the event went to Rhys Millen driving a race-tuned Hyundai Genesis coupe. Millen had an overall time of 9:46.164, beating the course record of 9:51.278. One massive asterisk on that record-setting time is that this is the first year the Pikes Peak course has been fully paved. In previous years, some of the top sections of the course were dirt. You can check out the video to see one of Monster’s practice runs that went well. You can also look at the second video of a massive accident during this year’s event that both the driver and navigator walked away from.

[via Wired]

Pikes Peak racing EV catches fire is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Fisker’s inability to catch a break is matched only by its vehicles’ worrying reliability record. The company has issued another statement after a parked, thankfully empty Karma EV opted for some self-immolation in a Californian parking lot last Friday. It currently doesn’t believe the cause was its (previously recalled) Lithium-ion battery, exhaust routing or electrical components, having learned that the ignition zone was outside the engine compartment, in front of the driver’s side front tire. We’ve got the full text after the break, meanwhile we’re considering doing a lot more walking.

Continue reading Fisker issues second statement about self-combusting Karma

Filed under: Transportation

Fisker issues second statement about self-combusting Karma originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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