Neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) aren't just for the golf course. When you think of neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), visions of golf courses probably cross your mind. After all, it was on America’s golf ranges that electric carts got their start. But as the economy tightens, concern for the environment grows and more people opt for a quieter, friendlier, back-to-the-basics lifestyle, the neighborhood electric vehicle becomes an increasingly mainstream option. To that end, communities designed for NEV living are popping up nationwide – and they’re not just retirement communities. Take North Carolina’s Bald Head Island, for example. This exclusive community offers 10,000 acres of beach, marsh and maritime forest preserves located on the eastern...

While many countries, including the US, are planning huge rollouts of charging stations for electric vehicles, and arguing about where and how to deploy them, a New Zealand company has launched the first wireless electric car charging system. So, can electric cars be charged wirelessly? The Voxy website announced on October 29, 2010 that HaloIPT has created a new, IPT (Inductive Power Transfer) charging system, capable of charging vehicles whether they are parked or moving. The wireless electric car charger system can be configured to power all types of road-based vehicles from cars to delivery trucks and buses. Vehicles are fitted with receiver pads that automatically charge the vehicle whenever they are parked over or drive over transmitter pads located in the ground. ...

Electricity, by its very nature, is difficult to manage and store.  When it is created, it must be moved immediately to the location where it can be used.  When we need it, we expect it to be immediately available.  There is, as yet, no foolproof way to store it for future use. Because of its instability, scientists and engineers have been searching for a long time for a way to “stockpile” electricity against a time when it may be needed.  And even as this research progresses, the need for this type of technology grows.  The applications for reliable electricity storage abound. It all comes down to the need for a better battery.  In the case of electric vehicles, the lack of a “better” battery simply limits their range....

As if electric-powered vehicles aren’t futuristic enough, now comes word from GOOD, in a web article dated October 30, 2010, that two electric vans have just completed an 8,000 mile trip from Italy to China – without drivers! Using a system called the Generic Obstacle and Lane Detector (GOLD), the two vans pretty much drove themselves across two continents.  A system of laser scanners and video cameras worked together to make sure that the vehicles didn’t cause accidents, but in heavy traffic or at tollbooths, researchers had to step in for safety reasons. Will this technology be available to the general public soon?  Not likely.  Each vehicle had to be charged for 8 hours when it ran out of power, and they averaged just 38 miles per hour, taking...