Sono Motors discusses using solar panels for the entire vehicle, not just the roof. A California utility studies using electric cars to stabilize the grid. And the Hyundai Kona Electric might be catching on in Europe as a police car. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.
Another utility in California is launching a study into vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, technology. With this one sounding more hands-on and hardware-oriented than previous studies (and a surge of interest earlier this week from the mere possibility of Tesla adding bidirectional capability), momentum is finally building around the idea—although a business model still needs to be established that might make staying plugged in lucrative for EV owners and grid providers.
Sono Motors doesn’t in any way fit the mold of other countless EV startups. Its novel approach to a solar-supplemented electric car puts solar-cell-embedded plastic panels on the outside of the whole car, not just the roof. But as the company recently outlined, that’s created some new electrical integration challenges.
The Hyundai Kona Electric is catching on as a police patrol vehicle in Europe—and as departments have already found out, it makes a great surveillance car (assuming officers can temporarily deactivate the pedestrian warning sounds).
And over at our partner site Motor Authority, Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) unit makes in-hour performance versions of best-selling models like the Jaguar F-Pace and Land Rover Range Rover Sport. Those have roaring supercharged V-8s, but starting after the I-Pace, SVO is now looking to make higher-performance versions of the company’s electric cars.
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