Alternative Energy

Alternative energy news, and information about renewable energy technologies.

Feb 17

Toshiba and Volkswagen to Develop Electric Cars

Posted in Battery Technology | Electric Cars | Transportation

European auto maker Volkswagen and the Japanese Toshiba Corporation recently announced their plans to begin working together to develop electric drive units for vehicles. The cars will be part of VW’s new family of small cars. Volkswagen chairman, Dr. Martin Winterkorn, said the company’s goal is to be the first auto manufacturer to mass-produce affordable emissions-free vehicles. He also stated that there is still “a considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle.” They hope to have at least one model on the market by 2012.

The new volkswagen’s will include technologies from Toshiba’s lithium-ion batteries. The SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) technology is resistant to short circuits and can be charged to 90 percent of its capacity in a few minutes. Toshiba is also hoping to see this new battery technology used for other transportation alternatives such as electric bicycles, mopeds and industrial vehicles.

Steve

You might have noticed that the oil companies have had the best year ever recorded for profits. And though I really don’t condone such actions by any monopoly it has had an effect on the consumer and that effect will be noticed by them in the future when more and more people will decide to use alternative fuels and resources. This is just the beginning.
http://www.vwsale.co.uk/volkswagen-lupo/ volkswagen lupo driver

EVERY one of these car co’s are moving to electric… the guy that invents a better solution than batteries is gonna be rich!
Motoring

I agree that advantages in price should be given to cars that pollute less but i would like to ask what is a low polluting car? Hybrids and electric all have negative affect on the environment. And this year after a grant of $2.4 billion was invested in hybrid cars in 2006 the green car of the year for 2010 is a diesel. My question is why are we not simply improving what we have instead of wasting money producing eco friendly ways of transport that are not meeting the needs of there purpose.
Giovanni G. Maineri

Hello, I’m asking myself what are we going to do with the batteries when they don’t work anymore, what is the mean life of such a battery?