plug-ins

It's a common question when projecting the impact of electric vehicles: can today's creaky power grid handle millions of juice-hungry car batteries?

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on Thursday said it has developed a smart charger controller designed specifically for charging cars at off-peak times to get the lowest price and ease strain on the grid.

A raft of plug-in electric cars are scheduled to come out in 2011, which should deliver a jump in fuel efficiency. But if millions of drivers charged their electric cars during peak times, say, at 6 at night, utilities could strain to … Read more

What's more environmentally responsible than an electric vehicle? An EV that's recharged by the sun.

The city of Chicago recently installed the Solar Plug-in Station, a tree-shaped structure topped by solar panels that can recharge up to two electric vehicles at a time. The "solar tree" is manufactured by Chicago-based Carbon Day Automotive and operates as part of the ChargePoint Network. ChargePoint Network is a smart EV-recharging infrastructure operated by Coulumb Technologies.

The treelike structure provides an emissions-free source of electricity to power the already zero-tailpipe-emissions vehicles, offering an answer to the argument that EVs aren't environmentally responsible because the electricity to power the vehicles is generated by "dirty" electrical plants.

The stations also can act as storm water management. Captured runoff water from the roof can be recycled through the structure's gray water filtration systems and be used for irrigation or other purposes.

Without any tax incentives, grants, or subsidies, Carbon Day Automotive's solar plug-in station costs between $40,000-50,000. But enough incentives and grants exist out there to bring the cost down to approximately $15,000-20,000, the company says. … Read more

Start-up Bright Automotive unveiled a light-use vehicle on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that gets 100 mpg for its first 50 miles.

The Idea, as the plug-in hybrid utility vehicle is called, uses battery power almost exclusively for the first 30 miles when starting with a fully charged battery. It then moves to the electric with gas supplement system found on any typical hybrid vehicle.

Because of this 30-mile electric start, Bright Automotive estimates that in a 50-mile drive the Idea consumes half a gallon of gas, getting it roughly the equivalent of 100 mpg. On a total drive of 70 … Read more

Raser Technologies will unveil a plug-in hybrid Hummer H3 that gets more than 100 mpg at the SAE World Congress in Detroit on April 20. The project was developed in cooperation with GM and is the "have your SUV and drive it too" answer to automotive industry critics and increasingly environmentally-conscience drivers.

By swapping the Hummer's conventional power plant--typically a V-8 engine--for an electric motor powered by a lithium ion battery, the SUV is transformed from a gas-guzzler to a green machine. The plug-in vehicle can travel up to 40 miles in all-electric mode. After the energy is depleted from the battery, the four-cylinder engine kicks in. However, the four-cylinder engine isn't connected to drivetrain and never turns the wheels of the car--its sole purpose is to recharge the lithium ion battery. … Read more

This one-hit wonder of a Firefox extensions nevertheless provides a useful feature for those who do a lot of cutting and pasting from Web pages into text fields or documents. AutoCopy copies any text you highlight to the clipboard--it's that simple.

It does do a bit more than that, though. The extension's Options menu lets users configure highlight behavior, post-copy pasting behavior, keyboard shortcuts, toggling a Status Bar button, and a menu that pops up after copying. From that pop-up menu, you can automatically paste the selected text into the location bar, the search bar, a new tab, … Read more

Is there such a thing as too many Firefox extensions? Not as long as developers keep creating handy, gorgeous, or ingenious time-savers like the nine add-ons featured in our gallery. We leaned away from the usual, though always excellent, fare of McAfee Site Advisor, Google Preview, and these top five Firefox add-ons to bring you a new crop of favorites. Feel free to chime in with your own gems, too.

Bright Automotive announced an earlier-than-anticipated reveal date for its plug-in hybrid vehicle, IDEA.

The Indiana-based automotive company will unveil the prototype light-duty vehicle, which includes pickup trucks, SUVs, and sedans, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 21 instead of at the Norway's Electric Vehicle Symposium in May.

No explanation for this change was given, but the press release states, "Members of Congress and companies involved with Bright Automotive will take part in a briefing on the IDEA and a public event."

Little is known about the IDEA, but the start-up's CEO, John Waters, hinted that the first production PHEV vehicle from Bright Automotive may not be a passenger sedan. … Read more

Chrysler announced that it selected lithium ion battery manufacturer A123Systems to produce the energy storage systems for Chrysler's first-generation ENVI extended-range electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles.

Chrysler's plans to produce Dodge Circuit EV, Jeep Wrangler EV, Jeep Patriot EV, Chrysler Town & Country EV, and the Chrysler 200C EV concept showcased at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The company's first production electric vehicle is expected to hit the market in 2010, but the company won't say which one.

"Government and society are calling for the introduction of a variety of advanced … Read more

Formerly a dark horse, Mitsubishi appears to be taking the lead in the race to electrify. The Japanese automaker is starting sales this July of the all-electric iMiev in Japan, and signed this week a Memorandum of Understanding with the Principality of Monaco to receive a fleet of iMiev by the end of the year.

The Memorandum signified the Principalities intention to become a testing ground for the electric vehicle, and will be used by community services and businesses. Mitsubishi is gaining traction with other countries that are eager to jump on the (electric) bandwagon, and is testing the car … Read more