BEIJING—China is planning to invest $16 billion to build more charging facilities for electric vehicles. The country is trying to stem air pollution by boosting the use of electric vehicles.
SANTA CRUZ, CA—NTS Works has created a small and powerful battery for electric vehicles that can be rebuilt and upgraded for half the cost of a new replacement battery.
JACKSON, MI—More than 2,000 bats could have a new home at Consumers Energy hydro power plants thanks to collaboration between the utility, General Motors and a Boy Scout from Clarkston, MI. Using scrap Chevrolet Volt battery covers donated by GM, 16-year-old Matthew Netherland and some helpers built 30 bat boxes in a few months.
MILWAUKEE—Harley-Davidson has introduced its first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, this month. The company is taking several dozen riders on a 30-city tour to test drive the bikes and provide feedback.
YORKTOWN, IN—Mursix Corp. will invest $7.1 million to expand its headquarters here, creating up to 108 new jobs by 2017. The company produces components for alternative energy applications, such as converters and inverters used in hybrid trucks and vehicles.
LANCASTER, CA—The first electric buses have rolled out of BYD Motors’ assembly plant here. The factory, which has about 60 employees, hopes to increase its workforce and have the capacity to produce 1,000 buses a year within two decades.
MILWAUKEE—Johnson Controls and German research institute Fraunhofer Gesellschaft are working together to develop next-generation cooling systems for vehicle batteries.
FREMONT, CA—Panasonic, along with some Japanese materials suppliers, is reportedly planning to invest some $977 million in a U.S. factory to make lithium-ion car batteries.
Within the next decade, a large portion of the U.S. Army’s huge fleet of vehicles could run on battery power. In fact, the Pentagon plans to acquire more than 92,000 electric vehicles by 2020.