Nissan, Sumitomo open electric-car battery recycling plant in Japan

Nissan electric-car batteryThe town of Namie, in eastern Japan, was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, and has struggled to recover from the devastation of that day. Almost seven years later, the first new plant in town is set to open, one contributing to clean energy and zero-emission vehicles to boot. Carmaker Nissan and an arm of the giant trading company...

UPS adds battery energy storage for 118 electric vans in UK

Prototype plug-in electric delivery van with fuel-cell range extender to be tested by UPS in 2017Electric vehicles are not only zero-emission and quieter and more pleasant to drive, they also clearly lower emissions of the carbon dioxide linked to climate change under most circumstances. For fleet operators who recharge large fleets of electric vehicles overnight, however, the load on electric grids and consequent demand charges pose a...

Tesla’s solar and battery project in Hawaii: we do the math

Tesla Kauai solar-energy generation and storage project  [photo: Tesla]Tesla’s summer announcement of the world’s biggest battery-storage system in South Australia characteristically kept key details confidential. Fortunately, while mystery and mystique still shroud that project, more can be unearthed or inferred for Tesla's solar panel and battery energy-storage deployment in Kauai, Hawaii, which came...

Mercedes launches home energy-storage battery, echoing Tesla

Mercedes-Benz Energy BatteryAs Tesla regularly points out, the lithium-ion battery cells used in electric cars can also serve in home energy-storage units. Now, a Daimler company will go up against Tesla in that field under the branding of its most famous luxury-car make. Mercedes-Benz Energy announced yesterday that it is working with Vivint Solar to develop home...

Tesla offers South Australia battery storage within 100 days

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk at Tesla Store opening in Westfield Mall, London, Oct 2013If only we could all be as optimistic, and energetic, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Even as Tesla gears up for mass production of the Model 3 electric car and a hoped-for annual production rate of 500,000 total cars by next year, Musk has found time to place a high-profile bet on the renewable energy part of Tesla's businesses. In this case, it has to...

Tesla’s battery farm on Kauai opens, large-scale solar energy for Hawaii

Solar Panels by Flickr user Chandra MarsonoEven before Elon Musk engineered Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity, the two companies were collaborating. SolarCity was already controlled by Musk, who believes its solar-energy business can be reinforced and complemented by Tesla's energy-storage business. Last year, Tesla announced a joint project with SolarCity to install a large battery farm...

3 California battery storage sites come online, one from Tesla

Tesla and SolarCity energy storage array on Ta'u, American SamoaLong a leader in the push to reduce vehicle emissions and switch to renewable energy, California marks another milestone this week. The last of three battery energy-storage sites will come online in Southern California, providing storage and buffering for unpredictable renewable energy. Together, the three sites add up to capacity equal to fully...