Hasta La Gadget!

What’s being hailed as North America’s first public-use quick-charge station for electric vehicles has just been unveiled in Portland. The station, built by NEC subsidiary Takasago, is installed in a PGE headquarters parking garage and will charge electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries to 80% in about 20 to 30 minutes. So yeah, it’s public, as long as you’ve got a PGE badge apparently. Anyway, the grand opening was led by Governor Ted Kulongoski, pictured above carefully maintaining a safe distance while charging a Nissan Leaf. Guess you can never be too careful when pumping 50kW into a pre-production vehicle. Click through to see a video demonstration of the future, if we’re lucky.

Update: We’re being told that the quick charge station is installed in a public parking garage that is part of the World Trade Center building in downtown Portland (where PGE’s headquarters are). It costs $3 to park, but charging is on the house. Thanks, Chris!

Continue reading North America’s first public-use quick-charge station opens in Portland: 3-handed politician not included

North America’s first public-use quick-charge station opens in Portland: 3-handed politician not included originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On Friday, during a visit from President Obama to its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, GM announced some good news for all the Volt fans out there. Production from 2011 to 2012 for the electric vehicle — originally slated at around 30,000 units — has been boosted to a projected 45,000 units, a 50 percent increase. The Volt, which has a range of 340 miles (on gas — it goes approximately 40 miles on battery alone) is being produced at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which received $336 million in investments to prepare for the production. The full press release is after the break.

Continue reading General Motors upping Chevy Volt production by 50 percent in 2011

General Motors upping Chevy Volt production by 50 percent in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might not have expected the future to look like your granddad’s groovy camper van, but take a closer look here and you’ll find that this is indeed nothing like your forefather’s people carrier. The VisLab team from the University of Parma have taken a fleet of Piaggio Porter Electric vehicles, strapped them with an array of cameras, lasers and other sensors, and topped them off with solar panels to keep the electronics powered. Oh, and lest we forgot to mention: the vans are (mostly) autonomous. VIAC (or VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge) is the grand name given to their big demonstration: an 8,000-mile, 3-month tour that will ultimately find them arriving in Shanghai, China, having set off from Milan this Tuesday. You can follow the day-by-day development on the blog below, though we’re still being told that practical driverless road cars are a measure of decades, not years, away.

Continue reading Driverless vans set off on intercontinental trek from Italy to China (video)

Driverless vans set off on intercontinental trek from Italy to China (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seems like reports of the Roadster’s demise were indeed exaggerated. Tesla has announced it’s bringing its iconic electric automobile to five new nations. Canada and Japan are accompanied by Hong Kong, Poland and Turkey in being able to now take deliveries of freshly charged Roadsters. Of course, sufficiently motivated buyers could have imported theirs by now, but it’s always good to have local support on an official basis and this does seem to signal a more ambitious outlook on the part of Tesla. Also included in the press release — yours to peruse after the break — is word that the company has shifted 1,200 Roadsters since inception. That might not be a lot but you have to start somewhere, let’s hope the next 1,200 don’t take nearly as long to hit the road.

Continue reading Tesla Roadster goes continent-hopping, expands markets to include Canada and Japan

Tesla Roadster goes continent-hopping, expands markets to include Canada and Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since their third-place finish in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, TORC Technology’s had quite a climb — the company founded by Virginia Tech graduates has since provided IED-scouting Humvee kits to the US Military, and a vehicle for the blind uses the drive-by-wire platform that they designed. Now, the Marines are testing a TORC kit called the Ground Unmanned Support Surrogate (GUSS), which autonomously navigate off-road terrain. Designed to accompany ground troops, the four prototypes only move at 5 MPH, but carry up to 1800 pounds, and can automatically follow troops (or other GUSS) at a distance while shouldering their loads. A one pound transmitter — the WaySight — can show the GUSS where to go, or optionally enable direct control for soldiers who prefer things the old-fashioned way. Personally, we love the smell of autonomy in the morning, don’t you? See it in action after the break.

Continue reading Marines field autonomous support vehicles based on winning robot design (video)

Marines field autonomous support vehicles based on winning robot design (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Jul 2010 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DVICE  |  Virginia Tech, TORC Technology  | Email this | Comments