article thumbnail

Hardly A Vehicle, MIT's Electric Cheetah Is Still Impressive

Green Car Reports

While plug-in cars remain a small niche, electric power is displacing internal combustion in a completely different type of "vehicle." Meet MIT''s battery-powered robotic cheetah. Normally, these types of robots are powered by gasoline engines, but this one uses.'

MIT 159
article thumbnail

MIT Year End Energy Review touts PHEVs

Plugs and Cars

The MIT Technology Review reports plug-in hybrids a big 2006 energy story: "The plug-in hybrid-vehicle era begins. For years, hobbyists and a few companies have been adding bigger battery packs to hybrid vehicles, which have both battery power and an internal combustion engine, and plugging them into electrical outlets.

MIT 100
article thumbnail

UC Davis Researchers Suggest the Battery Problem Seen to Be Slowing Electric Drive Commercialization Is Perceptual as Well as Technological

Green Car Congress

Distribution of battery requirements for consumer-selected PHEV designs (shaded circles) compared to USABC, MIT and EPRI performance requirements. The USABC specifies two PHEV designs to guide its battery requirements: an AE-10 crossover and AE-40 mid-sized car. Units USABC MIT EPRI. Electricity use. CD operation.

Davis 210
article thumbnail

False Starts: The Story of Vehicle-to-Grid Power

Cars That Think

They wanted to see whether an electric vehicle could feed electricity back to the grid. The concept behind V2G had gained traction in the late 1990s after California’s landmark zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV) mandate went into effect and compelled automakers to commercialize electric cars. AC Propulsion’s experiment was timely.

Grid 137
article thumbnail

MIT team calls initial performance results of magnesium-antimony liquid metal battery “promising”

Green Car Congress

Sectioned Mg||Sb liquid metal battery operated at 700 °C showing the three stratified liquid phases upon cooling to room temperature. Large-scale energy storage is poised to play a critical role in enhancing the stability, security, and reliability of tomorrow’s electrical power grid, including the support of intermittent renewable resources.

MIT 301
article thumbnail

Technology Review: First Plug-in Hybrid to Be Sold in the United States

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

Powered by Share » Digg this Add to del.icio.us Add to Mixx Add to Newsvine Add to Connotea Add to CiteUlike Add to Furl Googlize this Add to Rojo Add to MyWeb Favorite Print E-mail The price of green: The Fisker Karma, on display at the New York Auto Show, is a plug-in hybrid that can run on batteries alone for 50 miles.

article thumbnail

Video Friday: Mini Pupper

Cars That Think

MIT ] Among the first electronic mobile robots were the experimental machines of neuroscientist W. Walter studied the brain's electrical activity at the Burden Neurological Institute (BNI) near Bristol, England. The smart hand is soft and elastic, weighs about half a pound, and costs a fraction of comparable prosthetics. [ Grey Walter.

Boston 106