by David Heyerman on February 4, 2009
by David Heyerman on January 11, 2009
- With CES last week, and the Detroit Auto Show to come, the tech scene, especially the cleantech scene has been bubbling with news, whether it be positive or negative. There’s been a lot of talk about energy infrastructure investment to come in 2009, and one sector sure to benefit from this investment is cleantech automotive. The economy should benefit tremendously as near 280,000 jobs could be created with the deployment of a smart grid in 2009.
- Toyota – Because of a snag in the battery pack, Toyota will be pulling their plug-in Prius from the Detroit Auto Show next week. DIY’s need not worry, there are plenty of kits out there. With production slowing down seriously, the company has also begun lowering salaries of its Japanese employees.
- Aptera – Like previously mentioned, Aptera’s promised end-of-2008 delivery date didn’t happen but turns out it’s way worse than expected. We’re not talking a couple months delay here, an official letter from the Google.org backed company explains that volume production won’t come until October 2009. Great job, as Fambro and Musk high-five!
- Mazda – This might be the most impressive green car development yet in 2009. Currently catalytic converters are very expensive due to the amount of precious metals (platinum, rhodium) used in their production, however are incredibly important because of their emission reductions. The company just developed a new manufacturing process for catalytic converters that will cut the amount of precious metals by 70% in their 2010 Mazda3. Hats off Mazda, maybe you won’t live the rest of your life in Japanese car manufacturer mediocrity.
- Nissan – Straight off an electric network partnership with Switzerland, Nissan’s back at again, this time with a battery announcement. Nissan and NEC plan to invest $1.1 Billion into a the production of 200,000 high-capacity electric vehicle batteries. Only problem, the investment will be made by 2011 or later.
- Dodge – Pictured above is the new Dodge EV to be name the Circuit. The electric car is to be unveiled next week at the Detroit Auto Show.
- Ener1 – Lithium-ion vehicle battery producer Ener1 is looking for some government cash as they apply for $480 million in low-interest loans from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVMIP). Tesla is asking for $400 million from the same program.
- Stay tuned for updates as the announcements roll in from Detroit. Already we’ve seen leaks from Chrysler with their new 200C extended-range EV, Toyota with their full electric FT-EV, and Ford promising a pure electric by 2011.
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by David Heyerman on January 7, 2009
- So we all know a good amount of the green moves big companies make are just to shush the public’s concerns and to appease stockholders, however, it appears that Apple, with their new macbook pro release, is actually making a legitimate effort with this one.
- Apple’s new 17″ unibody MacBook Pro boasts a non-removable battery, similar to the design of the iPhone, iPod, and the MacBook Air.
- The 13″ and 15″ models both have removable battery and are significantly thicker, as you can see in the above picture.
- But here’s the big different; the lithium-ion batteries included in the 13″ and the 15″ are said to retain at least 80% of their capacity for a total of 300 charges. The new, thinner lithium-polymer cell kicks that number up big time to 80% retention for 1,000 charges with up to 8 hours of battery life off a single charge. That’s nearly three times the length of the other notebooks….impressive. Sounds like the company producing these cells is in for a bright future, but does anyone know who that company is?
- Why this move is green comes down to future production. Not only will the laptops last longer, less replacement batteries will have to be produced in the future. Not to mention, you have gaps and spaces internally to make up for the size of the removeable, thicker lithium-ion cells. With the polymer cell being thinner and non-removable, less materials all together are used to produce the new laptop.
- All and all, I’ll tip my hat off to Apple for this effort; it’s a good move over the long run. Only problem I can possibly forsee is that people who will buy the 17″ MacBook Pro (especially during a recession) might be the same ones that are prone to trash it once the next generation model drops. Your thoughts….
by Jason Wilk on January 6, 2009
- A very mild keynote to years past. Below we have confirmed or denied all of the Apple predictions and included a breakdown.
1. Unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro. Consider this a lock for being announced tomorrow. The Unibody design which is currently being used on the 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro will finally make its way to the 17-inch MacBook Pro production line. Speculation is that it will be much thinner due to a ultra-slim non-removable battery. Status: Confirmed
- Longest battery life for a Mac notebook ever. Lasts 3 more hours and is the same size.
- Graphics and colors get a major upgrade from new NVIDIA GeForce Card
- 320 GB hardrive.
2. iWork Updates. Look for Apple’s famed application line to be getting updates. We have reasons to believe this will be the year that Apple makes the jump allowing documents to be saved and edited in the cloud. Status: Confirmed.
- Documents being written on Pages can now be saved to iWork.com, where they can be viewed, downloaded or commented on. No online editing yet.
- Technology updates to iPhoto such as auto face recognition, geo-tagging of photos.
- Download music lessons on GarageBand 09′ from artists like Norah Jones.
- Slideshows made with Keynote 09′ can use a synced iPhone to flip through presentations on a projector.
- iMovie gets some Hollywood updates. Scene stitching of multiple camera angles, easier to use, etc.
- Price: $79 for single user, $99 for the family pack, and $49 with a new Mac
3. Steve Jobs Appearance. Watch out for Steve Jobs to make a surprise appearance. As we have pointed out, the man has been out eating at his favorite Yogurt shop in Palo Alto. No one has heard from him in a month and it is perfect timing to come back around for a new product release. Status: Confirmed
- After all, he did show up on paper.
4. New iTunes. Updated iTunes with DRM Free music. Status: Confirmed.
- iTunes has sold 6 billion songs
- 10 million songs are available
- 75 million accounts have credit cards.
- The music store on the iPhone is now available over 3G
- Pricing for some songs will be lowered to $0.69
4. iPhone Update. First, we will see an upgraded applications store to help developers get more exposure to their creations. Second, if and when iWork gets announced going into the cloud, watch out for the update to include document editing and storage straight to the iPhone. What’s likely to not be included in the update: Flash (sorry Adobe) and Copy/Paste. Status: False
5. New iPhones. Apple will first release a new upgraded storage version of the iPhone, offering at least a 30 gig option. Second, its not likely but there is some hard evidence that shows the iPhone Nano could debut tomorrow. An iPhone Pro is not likely. Status: False
6. 60+ GB iPod touch. This seems to have been getting delayed all year. Tomorrow is the day it will see light. Status: False
7. Low Cost Offerings. We will potentially see an upgraded version of Mac’s most affordable computing member, the Mini. Look out for new specs and a large promotion around this if it launches. Apple needs something new to offer consumers with smaller pockets, protecting the margins on their current offerings. Status: False
8. New iPod shuffle. It will be the first shuffle to easily fit in your wallett. It’s the size of a credit card. Status: False
by David Heyerman on December 26, 2008
- Sanyo and Panasonic have been in talks for a while now, but recently they’ve come to a decision regarding their potential partnership.
- Panasonic has agreed to buy Sanyo for $9 Billion (800 Billion Yen) by means of a public tender offer.
- The deal will finalize in February with Sanyo joining the Panasonic Group. Organizational restructuring will, of course, follow.
- What’s really important about this team-up is the potential solar/battery giant it will create. Sanyo has a huge solar-panel business going and is already a main-stay in the rechargable battery front.
- Panasonic is looking to boost their sales in an extreme way by expanding into the development of highly efficient HIT (crystalline silicon) solar photovoltaic cells. On the battery side, the two companies will exchange production secrets with hopes to produce batteries for Hybrids and EVs.
- Panasonic is confident a link into the automotive industry like this will build their business at a rapid rate, considering the already efficient practice of both companies mixed with an increasing demand for alt-energy vehicles.
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