For vehicles with battery-electric drive, the use of a range extender appears to be a suitable solution to ensure a range approaching that of a conventional vehicle. The Stuttgart specialist MAHLE Powertrain has developed their own range extender, with flexible mounting position, in just 10 months without the support of an OEM.

Solar powered aircraft are old news. From Solar Impulse supporting one person day and night with nothing but photovoltaics on the wings to the high altitude unmanned aircraft being developed by Boeing to stay aloft in the upper atmosphere for five years on nothing but sunshine, it is all very exciting. However, if we benchmark what is happening with other electric vehicles such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUV, then multiple energy harvestin...

A fully electric Cessna 172 has successfully flown multiple times powered by Panacis' advanced lithium batteries. The aircraft, designed by Colorado-based Beyond Aviation has been undergoing ground testing and short hop flights for almost a year with increasing range and altitude testing culminating in the recent completion of the entire test plan.

By Cathleen Thiele, Technology Analyst, IDTechEx The latest devolopments in the OLED lighting space will be one of the major topics at the forthcoming Printed Electronics USA 2012 conference & exhibition). The event, being held on December 5-6 in the heart of silicon valley at Santa Clara, CA, USA, focuses on the commercialization of the technology, covering broadly organic, inorganic, thin film and flexible nanotechnologies.

The automotive industry is at a time of total change with every component and subsystem subject to radical and rapid change. Consider urban buses. Only a five years ago, almost all of these were powered by very old internal combustion engine technology. Then came the hybrids, with 600 being introduced in London at the present. These used nickel metal hydride batteries then some used lithium-ion batteries to provide a plug-in option. However, thes...

Imagine a bus that uses electrical storage that costs much less than traditional batteries, can fully charge each time the bus stops, and has enough power to easily get to the next stop. The supercapacitor, once used to power robots and as a backup power source for computer memory, is now being hailed as such an energy source that could be the key to greener public transportation.

UQM Technologies has signed a memorandum of understanding with a major Chinese company for the development and marketing of their electric propulsion systems for New Energy Vehicles in China.

UK vehicle charging company POD Point has collaborated with ABB to provide networked rapid chargers throughout Europe. This integration is intended to fast-track a network of public charging infrastructure that will rival the most advanced geographic areas in the United States, where provision is currently dominated by players such as Coulomb Technologies with their ChargePoint America Project.

Ultracapacitors, otherwise known as supercapacitors, have recently become an essential part of the toolkit of designers of aircraft, trains, road vehicles, renewable energy, office equipment and the host of small electronic devices where it all began.

Graphene promises to offer excellent material properties in almost all applications. Its extraordinary performance has led many to call it the 'superlative' or 'wonder' material. However, the reality is different. A new report by IDTechEx provides detailed analysis and discussion of the material, technologies, markets and players. The article below summarises the rise of graphene and whether this so-called 'wonder material' truly deserves the nam...

IDTechEx's Printed Electronics Asia conference and exhibition returns to Tokyo, Japan next week. The event runs from 2-3 October and is part of the IDTechEx global series of events on the topic. Attendees from around the world will gather to hear latest technology breakthroughs and global trends and forecasts.

Ricardo and Intelligent Energy are to work together in applying their respective expertise in advanced low carbon vehicle engineering and fuel cell power technology platforms. The new partnership will provide customers with a fully integrated design, engineering and implementation capability for fuel cell electric vehicles.

Intelligent lighting: realising responsive, smart illumination By Dr. Harry Zervos, Technology Analyst The concept of intelligent lighting has drastically changed in recent years, moving away from applications relating to stage lighting and non-stationary illumination in order to encompass sustainability in energy consumption, through the ability to wirelessly control on/off and dimming/brightening functions according to sensory input from th...

By Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx Manufacturers of vehicle batteries were in a slow moving industry based on lead-acid batteries. However, they are now in an era of very rapid change. Product re-positioning and new technology can make the difference between high sustainable profits and oblivion.

The new electronics and electrics span from nano-sized to very large devices. No one term covers all this, though organic electronics, beyond the silicon chip, wide area electrics and flexible electronics and electrics cover large parts of it. For example, one of the key enabling technologies - printed electronics - gives us viable electronic billboard sheets and huge areas of photovoltaics (solar cells) printed reel to reel.

Graphene is one of the most exciting new materials currently being developed. It brings superlative performance to supercapacitors, batteries, touch screens, logic, sensors, displays, composites and much more thanks to its electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. There are multiple manufacturing techniques that are being used to make graphene - each with its own strengths and weaknesses including different scaling, different cost structure ...

As more and more flexible devices are becoming available, the need for better performing barriers and encapsulation materials at lower cost points intensifies. The stringent requirements make this a difficult task for some applications, although others, with less intensive demands are already appearing in the market. Examples include flexible electrophoretic displays (e-paper) currently being commercialized as e-book readers, smart labels, etc.

Genève tram operator TPG is testing a prototype supercapacitor energy storage unit which allows braking energy to be recovered, and enables a tram to run for short distances without an external power supply.

The OLED lighting industry is still in its infancy. The price points are several orders of magnitude above those projected by industry roadmaps and even more off cost targets that are required for widespread market uptake. There is still no set of standards or consensus in the industry on optimal device architecture (stack, double layer, etc), manufacturing technique (evaporation, solution processing or hybrid) or manufacturing toolkit. It is not...

Green Automotive Company has purchased UK-based Liberty Electric Cars, for an undisclosed amount.