Feb 24, 2014 - 09:29 am

Rawlemon, Drive System Design, Yamaha, Zytek, Local Motors.

Moonlight charging: Rawlemon from Barcelona, Spain, has designed a round, compact concentrator for sun and even moon rays. While the ‘Beta.ey’ is currently a small scale phone charger, it could soon be used to charge EVs. The crowdfunding campaign only ends in a week but has already collected more than the initial 124,000 dollars.
indiegogo.com (Campaign), periscopepost.com

New testing centre: Drive System Design (DSD) has opened a new testing facility for transmissions and drivetrains in Southam, UK. The new centre comes with workshops and equipment to test mechanical parts but also features two environmental chambers.
theengineer.co.uk

— Ad —
Every workday, “electrive.com today” delivers the latest electric-mobility news from around the world right to your inbox – short, to the point and free of charge. Made in Germany! We cover global stories but also keep a focus on relevant news from the German electric car industry! Anyone, that would like to receive a free subscription, just needs to email us at subscribe@electrive.com or visit www.electrive.com

Details about Motiv.e: At the Tokyo Motor Show 2013, Yamaha presented an electric city car concept. Its motor is a design by Zytek, a subsidiary of Continental, and weighs only 13 kilos while providing up to 25 kW. The lightweight Motiv.e is said to have a range of up to 100 kilometres.
greencarcongress.com

Print an electric car: This September, Local Motors will present the first 3-D printed production EV at IMTS in Chicago. Its first customer is the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and the electric car will be “manufactured” at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
hybridcars.com

Feb 21, 2014 - 09:50 am

Denso, Nissan, Drive System Design, Equal.

Denso tests wireless charging: The corporation will start a ten-month field test of its wireless charging system next week in Toyota City, Japan. Denso uses a Yamato delivery truck that has been equipped with a power receiver for the trial. The wirelessly charged battery is then used to power the vans refrigeration system.
greencarcongress.com, automotive-business-review.com

Nissan hybrid system updated: Details of the next version of Nissan’s hybrid drivetrain, which can be found in the Infiniti Q50, Q70, Qx60 and the Pathfinder, have just been presented at the recent SAE 2014 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium. Numerous improvements were applied, such as a 6% reduction of friction or an increased engine starting time by 20%.
greencarcongress.com

E-drive made in Britain: Drive System Design is developing a powertrain based on an axial flux motor from Yasa and a multi-speed transmission. The MSYS engine weighs only 55 kilos and could expand EV range by 10-15%, according to the company.
greencarcongress.com, thegreencarwebsite.co.uk

Missing 500,000 dollars are what keeps the Kenguru company from jumpstarting production of the ‘Equal’ EV. The little low-speed EV was designed with easy access for wheelchair users in mind but financial as well as technical difficulties have delayed the project so far.
green.autoblog.com