Lifeboat Foundation

Long a hub of geothermal power production, a forgotten backwater of Southern California known as the Salton Sea, is a bountiful reservoir of lithium, is being dubbed “Lithium Valley.” The silvery-white metal is now in huge demand as it is used in electric vehicle batteries. Ben Tracy reports.

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Continue reading “California’s ‘Lithium Valley’ on the rise” »

Tesla appears to have finally agreed to walk back one feature of its controversial yoke steering wheel, as it will now provide a regular horn.

When Tesla unveiled the new Model S with the “yoke” butterfly steering wheel, it was controversial. Some were worried about the actual shape of the wheel being problematic, while others were concerned about the lack of drive stalk to choose the drive mode.

As for the former, we thought that the automaker wouldn’t risk bringing the controversial yoke steering wheel to market without a nonlinear steering curve enabled by a steer-by-wire system – especially knowing that Tesla has been developing a steer-by-wire system.

“Penske Truck Leasing and National Grid are among the first companies adding preproduction E-Transit vans to their fleets for a variety of uses, including testing the BlueOval™ Charge Network, America’s largest public charging network, plus depot fleet charging tools that monitor and help manage energy usage,” Ford explained.

Maybe The US Postal Service Will Electrify After All

That brings us to the US Postal Service, owner of a fleet of 231,541 vehicles of various types. USPS expects to roll up to 165,000 new vehicles into the fleet under a 10-year contract signed last spring with the firm Oshkosh Defense, a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation.

Solar Electric Vehicle (SEV) startup Aptera Motors, recently shared test footage of the beta version of its upcoming SEV. The SEV prototype was seen on a test track alongside the three alpha versions already unveiled by Aptera. The beta version represents Aptera’s last phase before pre-production and deliveries later this year.

Aptera Motors is a mobility startup based in San Diego, California, that specializes in solar electric vehicles (SEVs). Since this is the second iteration of the company intending to bring its flagship SEV to market, it has been a story we at Electrek have been following for quite some time.

After unveiling its new SEV in late 2020 with the same monicker as the company, Aptera Motors has been quite prudent in keeping the public and its growing list of reservation holders in the know about its progress.

In an attempt to clear the winter roads (and make deicing easier on the environment, vehicles, and infrastructure), cities across the U.S. are exploring rock salt alternatives — and beet juice is one of the most promising.

Ice breaker: Adding salt to water can drop its freezing point below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

That little quirk of chemistry has proven incredibly useful for driving in winter weather — by dumping rock salt on roads when it snows, we can prevent water on them from freezing (or melt ice that’s formed) until temperatures sink below 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

After a few pictures leaked this weekend, we now have a full video walkaround of Tesla’s latest Cybertruck prototype.

As we previously reported, some pictures of the latest Tesla Cybertruck have leaked this weekend. It appears to be from Gigafactory Texas, where the automaker plans to build the electric pickup truck late this year. The pictures gave us a better look at the lack of door handles as well as the new wheels without any aero cover on.

Continue reading “Tesla Cybertruck prototype shown in detail in new leaked walkaround video” »

There are few environments as unforgiving as the ocean. Its unpredictable weather patterns and limitations in terms of communications have left large swaths of the ocean unexplored and shrouded in mystery.

“The ocean is a fascinating environment with a number of current challenges like microplastics, algae blooms, coral bleaching, and rising temperatures,” says Wim van Rees, the ABS Career Development Professor at MIT. “At the same time, the ocean holds countless opportunities — from aquaculture to energy harvesting and exploring the many ocean creatures we haven’t discovered yet.”

Ocean engineers and mechanical engineers, like van Rees, are using advances in scientific computing to address the ocean’s many challenges, and seize its opportunities. These researchers are developing technologies to better understand our oceans, and how both organisms and human-made vehicles can move within them, from the micro scale to the macro scale.

Japanese aerospace company SkyDrive unveiled the latest version of its flying car at CES 2022! The company hopes to unveil a commercial version in 2025.