At some point in every engineer's academic career, they probably got to try their hand at creating an electric motor with parts that included a nail, a few feet of copper wire, and a magnet. If your own school days somehow missed this formative event, or if those times of yore are feeling a little distant, pop in after the jump to see a couple of motors that have been pared down to the absolute minimum. This
Can you build a better car for $175 million? The U.S. Department of Energy hopes so, and Secretary Steven Chu has announced that the DOE will award more than that amount over the next three to five years to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced vehicle technologies. The funds will be distributed to 40 projects in 15 states with the overall goal is to improve the fuel efficiency of next-generation vehicles.
Oxford YASA Motors has announced it's expanding and will move from Abingdon in Oxfordshire county in the South East region of England to a facility located in the nearby business district of Milton Park. The phased relocation process will be complete by the first quarter of 2012.
During the Plug-in 2011 Conference, Nissan announced it will invest $67.9 million into its powertrain assembly plant in Decherd, TN. The money will be used to add the Nissan Leaf's electric motor into the facility's production mix.
Plug-in hybrid conversion specialist ALTe Powertrain Technologies says that it has inked a three-year deal with Remy Electric Motors. Terms of the agreement call for Remy's HVH 250 electric motor (sure seems like this powerhouse of a motor is used in a fair amount of vehicles) to provide motive power and act as an on-board generator for AL
Earlier this month, General Motors broke ground on what will soon become the first electric motor production facility operated by a major U.S. automaker. The factory, located near Baltimore, MD, will be dedicated to making critical components for vehicle electrification.
Remy's HVH 250 electric motor – the one Steve Burns, president of Advanced Mechanical Products, Inc. (AMP), once called "simply the best [electric motor] on the market today" – will find a home between the fenders of Eric Loveday
German automaker Daimler AG and parts supplier Robert Bosch GmbH have announced plans to establish a 50:50 joint venture (JV) focused on electric motors for advanced technology vehicles. Terms of the JV should be finalized by mid-2011, with joint production of electric motors scheduled to commence in 2012. Daimler's press release reads:
Last Friday, auto parts maker Remy International Inc. filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering valued at up to $100 million. The Indiana-based company is perhaps best known for its electric motors that provide propulsion for vehicles such as the Aperta 2e and AMP's converted Eric Loveday
Dysprosium is a chemical element with the symbol Dy and atomic number 66. It's also a rare-earth metal, found mainly in the clay ores of southern China. Dy has one of the highest magnetic strengths of any element, making it ideal for electric motors used in battery-powered vehicles, but access to this rare-earth metal can be often limited by export restrictions enforced by the Chine
Say you're in the market for an electric motorcycle but you don't like the modern styling of a Zero S or a Brammo Enertia. Or maybe you do, but some jerk who works in your office already has one. Well, now you can get a modern electric bike that looks like anything but. Check out custom bike designer James
Outside of SCCA or a weekend racing school, us working stiffs never get the chance to get on the track and let it all hang out for guts and glory. Well, John Wild and Sean Ewing aren't satisfied with amateur track days. They're entering the TTXGP electric motorcycle grand prix.
Yamaha Gen-Ryu concept bike
General Motors' two-mode hybrid system hasn't exactly been a commercial success. GM has had a hard time finding customers willing to part ways with $10,000 or more for a fully capable SUV with sedan-like city fuel economy, but that reportedly isn't stopping the Detroit, MI-based automaker from improving its hybrid formu
General Motors' two-mode hybrid system hasn't exactly been a commercial success. GM has had a hard time finding customers willing to part ways with $10,000 or more for a fully capable SUV with sedan-like city fuel economy, but that reportedly isn't stopping the Detroit, MI-based automaker from improving its hybrid formula for its next generation of vehicles. GM is s
A day after announcing that it would invest $246 million to start building electric motors in-house, General Motors made a second announcement about the issue: Baltimore would be home to that production. The Baltimore transmission plant, which is actually located in nearby White Marsh, MD, has been building the two-mode hybrid transmi
Ask just about anyone who follows the green automotive industry what's holding back electric cars and you'll likely get the same answer: It's the batteries. Though today's lithium ion packs are orders of magnitude better than the lead acid units of a few decades ago, these advanced power packs still can't hold a candle to the available energy of a full tank of gasoline.
If you've done any reading about racing electric cars or converting vehicles to run on batteries, it's likely you've heard of the Zilla controller. This monster takes the current from the battery pack and dishes it out to the motor and the Zilla controller is known for handling higher amperage than most; its top model is rated for 2000 amps. In case you're wondering, that's a lot. The only problem with the Zilla seems to have been its availability, as their production volume has been as low as t
Tesla Roadster with AC drive unit - Click above for high-res image gallery
