Tesla sues saboteur who claims he is a whistleblower

Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada [CREDIT - YouTube user California Phantom]On Thursday, Tesla sued former employee Martin Tripp for stealing trade secrets and transferring several gigabytes of data to third parties, including pictures of the company's battery assembly line at the Gigafactory in Nevada, where he worked. The details of the suit point to a testy, high-pressure work environment, where workers put in long...

GM recalls 2013 Chevrolet Volts for battery software (Updated)

2013 Chevrolet Volt, Catskill Mountains, Oct 2012GM said Friday that it will recall 3,233 2013 model year Chevrolet Volts to remedy a problem with battery cell balancing that could cause the car to shut down in traffic. The recall mirrors two service campaigns for the 2017 and 2018 Chevrolet Bolt EVs for similar behavior. Some 2017 Bolt EVs got new battery packs after some defective cells could...

Tesla layoffs hit 20 percent of Solar City installation locations

Tesla Solar RoofLast week, Tesla announced it would lay off 9 percent of its workforce in an effort to keep its doors open as it tries to ramp up production of its critical Model 3 electric car. Now internal emails obtained by Reuters show that 13 or 14 of Solar City's installation centers will be shuttered as part of the layoffs. About 60 centers will stay open...

Conservative poll says Americans resent electric-car tax credits

Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]Results of a study released Tuesday by the American Energy Alliance found that most voters object to tax credits for electric cars. Tellingly, the poll also shows that the public generally supports electric cars themselves. Two-thirds said they are better for the environment than than gasoline powered cars, and 50 percent (a plurality) named that...

EPA loses 10 percent of enforcement staff under Trump

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt  [photo from 2014]If the EPA wants to reduce federal involvement in environmental protection, it may not need to roll back emissions requirements or cancel California's environmental waiver. It could just quit enforcing the law. That is already happening to a degree, according to new data from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, as reported in The...

Slovenian company makes drop-in in-wheel electric motors

Elaphe in-wheel electric powertrainSlovenian company Elaphe has created in-wheel electric motors that have been tested in the worst conditions winter could throw at them. One of the main reasons we don't see production electric cars with motors in the wheels has been that wheels take a lot of abuse, bumping over broken pavement, driveways, sometimes even curbs, and slamming into...

British Columbia opens first hydrogen filling station in Canada

First hydrogen filling station opens in Canada, in Vancouver, British ColumbiaCanada’s first retail hydrogen fueling station opened on Friday June 15 in Vancouver, part of a network of eight hydrogen stations expected in British Columbia in the next two years. By 2020, the program will add hydrogen dispensers at five retail stations in Metro Vancouver and one station in the provincial capital of Victoria. A seventh...