Hit-and-runs are more common than many drivers realize. These types of crashes can leave victims confused, injured or worse. On the other hand, drivers face heavy legal consequences. Understanding what a hit-and-run is and how to respond can help you stay prepared and protected. This article breaks down everything you need to know.
What Counts as a Hit-and-Run?
Nearly one out of every four pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in 2022 was hit by a hit-and-run driver. That is about 24% of pedestrian fatalities. A hit-and-run happens when a driver leaves the scene of an accident without stopping to share their information or help the victim. It can involve:
Hitting another car and driving away
Damaging property such as mailboxes, fences or parked cars
Striking a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist
Legal Penalties for Hit-and-Runs
Not every hit-and-run accident is the same. The consequences depend on the severity of the crash:
Property damage only: Misdemeanor charges, fines, points on your license, and possible license suspension
Injury or death: Felony charges, large fines, prison sentences, and permanent license revocation.
Why Drivers Flee the Scene
People often wonder why a driver would flee instead of stopping after an accident. The reasons can differ, but some of the most common include:
Being the victim of a hit-and-run is overwhelming and confusing. In such situations, staying calm makes a big difference. Your first step is to move to a safe location and call 911. Reporting the accident right away ensures that emergency help arrives quickly if you or anyone else is injured. While waiting, try to gather as many details as you can about the vehicle that fled, including the:
Make
Model
Color
Nearby camera or CCTV footage
License plate number, if possible.
Witnesses can be a valuable source of information, so speak with bystanders and collect their contact details. Document the scene by taking photos of your injuries, the damage to your car and the surrounding area. Some states require filing a police report, even for small crashes, so that’s something to keep in mind as well.
Next, notify your insurance company. Many policies include uninsured motorist coverage that can apply in these cases. Once that’s done, your next step is to seek hit-and-run legal representation to build your case. Acting fast and carefully increases your chances of finding the driver and receiving the compensation you deserve.
Preventing Hit-and-Runs
Drivers can’t control other people’s actions, but you can reduce your own risk:
Park in well-lit, busy areas to deter vandals or careless drivers
Install a dashcam to record evidence in case of an incident
Stay alert on theroad, especially near intersections and crosswalks
Always carry a valid insurance and license
Endnote
Hit-and-runs leave behind more than damaged vehicles and broken laws. They cause lasting harm to victims and create serious legal problems for drivers who fail to take responsibility. However, not every hit-and-run happens due to malicious or selfish intentions. Most drivers aren’t even aware that they’ve become part of such a crash.
Knowing what counts as a hit-and-run, the penalties involved and the steps to take can make a real difference in how you handle such a stressful situation. By staying alert, following the rules of the road and being prepared to act responsibly, drivers and pedestrians alike can help reduce the toll these incidents take on communities.
The post The Driver’s Guide to Understanding Hit-and-Runs first appeared on Clean Fleet Report.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary evaluation of reports that Rivian’s Electric Delivery Van (EDV) seatbelts can malfunction and threaten the driver’s safety.
The Electric Delivery Van has long been a part of Rivian’s plans and was key in the American automaker’s early success as a BEV startup. The EDV was teased as far back as 2019, when Amazon committed to purchasing 100,000 vehicles from Rivian as part of a $700 million investment.
Those initial EDV-700 builds made their way to Amazon in late 2021 and can now be seen making zero-emissions deliveries in cities around the US. Early on, Amazon had exclusivity in the EV technology and driver safety that the Rivian vans provided. In 2023, however, Rivian opened up the availability of its commercial EVs to other customers, who followed suit.
Since then, tens of thousands of Rivian commercial vans have been delivered. However, a recent filing from the NHSTA states that the durability and safety of the seatbelt in certain Rivian EDVs may be an issue, and the administration is investigating accordingly.
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Rivian is cooperating with NHTSA to ensure driver safety
According to a September 22, 2025, filing from the NHTSA, the administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has opened a preliminary evaluation of accusations of safety concerns surrounding driver seatbelts. Here’s the safety issue description:
Potential failures of the driver’s front outboard seat belt anchorage system. The seat belt anchorage system comprising steel braided cable that frays, breaks and/or unravels, leaving the occupants unrestrained in the event of a collision.
Per the report, the ODI has received Vehicle Owner Questionnaires reporting potential failures of the driver’s seatbelt anchorage system in the front outboard of a Rivian van. There have been zero accidents or injuries reported in relation to this potential issue.
The NHTSA stated that the ODI’s investigation concerns the seatbelt safety of about 17,198 Rivian EDVs produced between 2022 and 2023. In an email statement to Bloomberg, Rivian reiterated that its vehicles meet or exceed all applicable safety requirements, adding that it will “look forward to cooperating with NHTSA on its investigation.”
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Source link by Electrek
Author Scooter Doll
#NHTSA #investigating #seatbelt #safety #issue #Rivian #delivery #vans
Since 2021, the Sierra Club has been grading U.S. utilities on their commitment to a clean-energy transition. While most utilities have not earned high marks on the group’s annual scorecards, as a whole they had been showing some progress.
That’s over now. The latest edition of the Sierra Club’s “The Dirty Truth” report finds that the country’s biggest electric utilities are collectively doing worse on climate goals than when the organization started tracking their progress five years ago. This year they earned an aggregate grade of “F” for the first time.
With only a handful of rare exceptions, U.S. utilities have shed the gains they made during the Biden administration. Almost none are on track to switch from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy at the speed and scale needed to combat the worst harms of climate change.
“It’s very disappointing to find we’re at a lower score than in the first year,” said Cara Fogler, managing senior analyst at the Sierra Club, who coauthored the report. But it’s not entirely unexpected.
Utilities had already begun slipping on their carbon commitments last year, in the face of soaring demand for electricity, according to the 2024 “Dirty Truth” report, largely in response to the boom in data centers being used to power tech giants’ AI goals. But the anti-renewables, pro–fossil fuels agenda of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress has pushed that reversal into overdrive.
“We have a new federal administration that’s doing everything in their power to send utilities in a direction away from cleaner power,” Fogler said. “They’re doing away with everything in the Inflation Reduction Act that supported clean energy. They’re straight-up challenging clean energy, as we’ve seen with Revolution Wind,” the New England offshore wind farm that’s now under a stop-work order. “And they’re doing everything in their power to keep fossil fuels online” — for example, through Department of Energy actions that force coal, oil, and gas plants to keep running even after their owners and regulators had agreed on retirement dates.
But utilities also bear responsibility for not doing more to embrace technologies that offer both cleaner and cheaper power, Fogler said. “From a cost perspective, from a health perspective, from a pollution perspective, there are so many reasons to build more clean energy and fewer fossil fuels. Unfortunately, we’re seeing that utilities are much less concerned about doing the right thing for the climate and their customers.”
What’s the score?
For its new “The Dirty Truth” report, the Sierra Club analyzed 75 of the nation’s largest utilities, which together own more than half the country’s coal and fossil-gas generation capacity. The report measures utilities’ plans against three benchmarks: whether they intend to close all remaining coal-fired power plants by 2030, whether they intend to build new gas plants, and how much clean-energy capacity they intend to build by 2035.
As of mid-2025, the utilities had plans to build only enough solar and wind capacity to cover 32% of what’s forecast to be needed by 2035 to replace fossil-fuel generation and satisfy new demand. While 65% of the utilities have increased their clean-energy deployment plans since 2021, 31% have reduced them.
Meanwhile, commitments to reduce reliance on fossil fuels have taken a big step backward as utilities have turned to keeping old coal plants running and are planning to build more gas plants to meet growing demand. As of mid-2025, the utilities had plans to close only 29% of coal generation capacity by 2030, down from 30% last year and 35% in 2023.
And the amount of gas-fired generation capacity the utilities plan to build by 2035 spiked to 118 gigawatts as of mid-2025. That’s up from 93 gigawatts in 2024, and more than twice the 51 gigawatts planned in 2021.
Japanese battery maker and Tesla supplier Panasonic is working on a breakthrough electric vehicle battery chemistry.
The company is working on anode-free lithium metal batteries, which can boost energy density and reduce pack weight.
With these new cells, Teslas could potentially get substantially more driving range.
The Tesla Model Y got a much-needed upgrade this year with its “Juniper” refresh. The automaker’s best-selling vehicle worldwide looks sleeker, is more efficient and benefits from serious chassis and suspension improvements. But its most significant upgrade might still be on the horizon. In about two years, the Model Y could see a massive range boost thanks to cutting-edge battery cells.
Panasonic Energy, Tesla’s primary high voltage battery supplier, said on Thursday that it’s developing a new type of cell that significantly increases energy density, Reuters first reported. The Japanese battery giant is betting on anode-free batteries, which it says could deliver “world-leading” capacity by the end of 2027.
When a battery charges, the anode acts as the storage side of the cell. Traditionally, it’s been made from graphite, a material dominated by Chinese supply chains that adds cost and manufacturing complexity. Panasonic’s idea is to ditch the graphite entirely. By doing so, the company claims it can free up space for more active cathode materials like nickel, manganese and cobalt. That could directly boost the pack’s energy capacity. It might also result in potentially lighter, smaller and cheaper batteries.
Panasonic will manufacture cylindrical cells at its newly inaugurated battery plant in Kansas.
Photo by: Panasonic Energy
If Panasonic delivers, the payoff could be big. The rear-wheel-drive Model Y currently delivers about 357 miles of EPA range. With anode-free cells, that number could climb by nearly 90 miles, Panasonic claims, putting it just shy of 450 miles on a single charge. That would give Tesla’s crossover a driving range that’s comparable to the Lucid Gravity or the General Motors electric trucks such as the GMC Sierra EV, which have hulking 200+ kilowatt-hour battery packs. The Model Y could deliver similar range while being substantially cheaper and with a much smaller battery pack.
All of this is still theoretical, and we haven’t seen anode-free batteries on the road in the U.S. yet. However, Panasonic isn’t the only company working on this chemistry. California-based battery start-up QuantumScape has been developing anode-free batteries in partnership with the Volkswagen Group. Michigan-based Our Next Energy has also experimented with dual-chemistry packs that once promised 600 miles of range in a BMW iX prototype.
Meanwhile, Panasonic has hinted it could use the tech not just for a higher range, but also to make smaller, cheaper batteries that keep today’s range while cutting cost and weight. The company also plans to reduce its reliance on nickel, another raw material whose supply chains are highly dominated by China. Some automakers are also thinking along similar lines. General Motors, for instance, is developing lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) batteries for its trucks and SUVs starting in 2028, aiming to reduce its reliance on costly nickel.
What Tesla will do with Panasonic’s breakthrough remains to be seen. But the timing couldn’t be more important. The automaker’s competitors are on the verge of introducing high-quality next-generation EVs in the U.S. The new Nissan Leaf is right around the corner. The next-gen Chevy Bolt is due for launch early next year. And Rivian’s Model Y competitor, the R2, is also a highly anticipated launch in 2026.
Tesla may be busy pitching itself as an AI and robotics company, but cars are still its lifeline. Giving its most popular vehicle an extra 90 miles of range could be the simplest, and possibly the most effective way to remind EV buyers why the company still matters.
Have a tip? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
Source link by Battery Tech – News and Trends | InsideEVs
Honda has officially unveiled the new WN7, its latest electric motorcycle and the first in a planned lineup of larger EV two-wheelers. Designed as a commuter-friendly electric motorcycle for the European market, the WN7 is part of Honda’s push toward carbon neutrality.
The launch shines more light on a reveal we’ve long been waiting for. But with a price tag of £12,999 (nearly US $18k), the real question is whether this modest commuter bike has a fighting chance in an increasingly competitive segment.
While Honda hasn’t released the full technical specs for the WN7 just yet, the company has revealed several key features that give us a glimpse of what to expect. The bike will be powered by a permanent magnet synchronous motor paired with a chain drive, offering a familiar mechanical setup for riders used to older combustion-engine motorcycles. Up front, riders will get a 5-inch color TFT display, and the bike will debut a newly developed Honda RoadSync app, which enables smartphone connectivity for navigation and communication. For added practicality, the WN7 includes a generous 20-liter underseat storage compartment, which should be a nice bonus for commuters looking to stash a helmet or daily essentials.
Honda estimates the WN7 will offer a range of over 130 km (83 miles) on a single charge, making it suited for daily commuting and city riding. It features a fixed lithium-ion battery and supports both home and rapid charging. Using a standard household outlet, riders can expect a full charge in under three hours, while a CCS2 rapid charger can top the battery up from 20% to 80% in just 30 minutes, adding flexibility for quick turnarounds during a busy day.
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The WN7 is being marketed as a practical, everyday-use electric motorcycle targeting primarily younger riders in urban environments. Honda is also promising quiet operation, easy handling, and a new sound-emitting system to enhance pedestrian awareness, taking cues from current EV regulations in both automotive and two-wheeled segments.
Production is set to begin later this year at Honda’s Atessa plant in Italy, and the bike will be eligible for government EV subsidies in various European markets.
However, Honda hasn’t yet shared key specs like top speed, motor power, or battery capacity, all of which are vital to truly assessing how this electric bike stacks up in real-world use. But with the announced price of £12,999, it’s already clear that the bike won’t be price competitive against other commuter electric motorcycles in the market.
Electrek’s Take
Look, I’m excited to see Honda finally putting an actual electric motorcycle into production. This isn’t a concept or a lab experiment – it’s a real bike you’ll be able to buy. But with a price of £12,999 (approximately US $17,700) for what appears to be a commuter-level electric motorcycle, this thing might be dead on arrival.
Unless Honda is hiding some truly game-changing specs under the panels, this pricing just doesn’t make sense. Riders in the commuter category already have plenty of options ranging from electric scooters to motorcycles, with many models from smaller manufacturers offering comparable (or even better) range and speed for half the price.
Honda may be banking on brand loyalty, reliability, and build quality to justify the price, and maybe that will work for some buyers. But unless the WN7 delivers dramatically better specs than what’s currently been shown, most would-be EV riders are likely to look elsewhere.
This might be a huge milestone for Honda’s electrification roadmap, but it’s hard to call it a win for riders at this price point.
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Source link by Electrek
Author Micah Toll
#Honda #unveils #WN7 #electric #motorcycle #huge #dealbreaker
This week, Charged is hosting a virtual conference on EV engineering that’s free to attend. The conference includes live webinar sessions with interactive Q&As and on-demand webinars.
All of the live sessions will be recorded and available to view after the broadcasts. The recorded videos can be accessed on each session’s registration page.
Monday, September 15th Webinar Topics:
9:30 am EDT Upgrading ICE Testbeds For Hybrids And EVs Join Us
10:15 am EDT Tackling The Toughest Cleanroom And Dryroom Conveyance Challenges In Battery Production: From Dew Point To Downtime Join Us
11:00 am EDT How Henkel Performs Modeling, Simulation, And Validation Of Battery Systems Join Us
12:30 pm EDT Inside The EU’s Battery Requirements: Future-Proofing EVs Join Us
1:15 apm EDT Impact Of Cable Design On Vehicle Performance: How Cable Selection Influences Efficiency, Weight, And Powertrain Performance Join Us
Source link by Charged EVs
Author Charged EVs
#weeks #Virtual #Conference #Engineering #schedule
Hyundai’s huge EV manufacturing facility in Georgia became the latest target of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown last week, with federal agents detaining 475 workers, most of them from South Korea.
The raid has delayed the opening of the complex’s battery factory, which the automaker is building with LG Energy Solution in the Southeast’s growing “battery belt.” And experts, including South Korea’s president, have warned the move could have a much broader chilling effect on foreign investment in U.S. factories — much of which has flowed to clean energy projects in recent years.
Hyundai broke ground on its Georgia complex three years ago after securing $2.1 billion in subsidies from the state and nearby counties, with strong support from Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. But that investment came with conditions, namely that Hyundai and its suppliers would hire at least 8,500 long-term workers by 2031.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleges those arrested were working illegally. But an attorney for several detained South Koreans says they have valid visas and were only working for a short time to get the facility’s battery operations up and running. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung defended the workers in a Thursday statement.
“When you build a factory or install equipment at a factory, you need technicians. But the United States doesn’t have that workforce, and yet they won’t issue visas to let our people stay and do the work,” he said. “If that’s not possible, then establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies. They will wonder whether they should even do it.”
That could be an especially big problem for Georgia, which is home to about 100 Korean-owned facilities employing 17,000 people. That includes an SK Battery America EV battery factory, Hanwha Qcells’ solar panel plant, and a Kia EV manufacturing facility.
Last week’s raid is already having tangible ripple effects on U.S. manufacturing. Reuters reports that South Korean workers at other LG Energy Solution production sites and an LG/General Motors plant are preparing to depart due to visa worries — or already have.
More big energy stories
Revolution Wind decision is imminent, Burgum says
Three weeks after the Trump administration halted work on a nearly complete offshore wind farm near Rhode Island, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum suggested that his department will soon decide whether Revolution Wind can restart construction. The administration is “in discussions” with state governors and the project’s developers, and is finishing its required reviews, he told CNBC on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) later told the Rhode Island Current that the governor hadn’t secured a meeting with President Donald Trump as of Wednesday, but McKee and Burgum have been texting. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) has meanwhile said that he is open to discussing power projects involving natural gas if the administration lets Revolution Wind construction resume.
CATL unveiled a new LFP battery called Shenxing Pro.
It comes in two versions, tuned for long range and fast charging, respectively.
CATL has not shared which cars the packs will make their way into, but we do know they’re developed for the European market.
CATL, the world’s dominant battery maker, just unveiled a new battery technology for the European market that it’s calling Shenxing Pro. We don’t know which vehicles it’ll end up in yet, but CATL says the tech should allow for super long range and wickedly fast charging, all from a battery that won’t degrade much over time.
We’ll have to see this battery in action before we can say whether these claims are all they’re cracked up to be. Either way, CATL’s big announcement on Sunday at IAA Munich, Europe’s biggest auto expo, shows yet again that Chinese manufacturers are very, very serious about breaking into Europe’s car market.
The country’s fast-moving EV companies are rapidly stealing market share from the likes of Volkswagen and Porsche in both China and Europe. As part of that assault, CATL went so far as to develop two lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery packs aimed at alleviating European buyers’ biggest concerns around going electric.
“Super long life & long range & super-fast charging, solving your key EV concerns. Meet the ultimate solution for EV batteries in Europe,” the firm said in a social media post.
Let’s break down what CATL is claiming here. It announced two Shenxing Pro battery packs tuned for different purposes. On paper, both the “Super Long Life & Long Range Battery” and the “Super-Fast Charging Battery” are impressive, but in different ways. (The branding doesn’t exactly leave much to the imagination.)
The “Super Long Life & Long Range Battery,” CATL says, can deliver a healthy 470 miles of range under the European WLTP testing procedure from a large 122 kilowatt-hour pack. Of course the ultimate range of that pack will depend heavily on what car it’s installed in, so it’s tough to square that claim. LFP batteries are known for their durability over high-nickel cells, but they’re also heavier and less energy-dense, which could deal a blow to range.
It’s easier to make sense of this battery’s fast-charging specs. CATL says it’ll crush a 10%-80% charge in just 15 minutes, faster than just about anything this side of the Atlantic. We can do some simple math to understand what that means in the real world.
In a 122-kWh battery pack (a big ol’ boy), a 10%-80% charge gets you 85 kWh of energy, which is a lot. That’s about the entire battery pack of your typical midsized electric crossover. In a really inefficient EV, that 85 kWh might deliver something like 170 miles of driving range. In a sleeker car that sips electrons instead of gulping them, it could be 250 miles or more. That’s very good for a 15 minute stop.
CATL also says that pack should demonstrate just 9% degradation over 200,000 km (124,000 miles), which would be very good, and retain 70% of its capacity over 1 million kilometers (621,000 miles) and 10,000 charge/discharge cycles.
Now, onto the “Super-Fast Charging Battery,” which juices up even faster than its long-range cousin. CATL says the 110-kWh battery can register a 10%-80% charge in just 10 minutes. Similar back-of-the-napkin math as above indicates that a 10-minute charge could realistically add anywhere from 150 to 250 miles of range, depending on a vehicle’s efficiency.
CATL, for its part, says that a 10-minute charging session should add 478 km (297 miles) of WLTP range, which would be about 230 miles of EPA range here in the States. (The European testing process is a bit more generous.) That would be extraordinary, compared to most cars in the U.S.
CATL says the Shenxing Pro batteries’ shape and how the “Wave” cells fit together allows it to pack lots of active battery material into a given area. Rather than building cells into modules that then make up the pack, the cells go straight into the pack like Lego blocks. In batteries—especially heavy LFP ones—figuring out how to increase energy density (range, effectively) without compromising other aspects of performance is the name of the game. However, CATL didn’t share any density figures for these Shenxing Pro cells or packs.
What CATL did share is that it intends to seriously beef up its presence in Europe. It says it has invested $12.9 billion in the region—including in battery manufacturing facilities in Hungary, Germany and Spain—and that it aims to establish a wider “ecosystem that spans from material production, battery making, remanufacturing and recycling.”
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
Source link by Battery Tech – News and Trends | InsideEVs
My travels in my non-Tesla electric vehicle (EV) had been fraught over the last few summers. There were too many times where sporadic or Level 2 charging, which provides about 25 miles of range per hour, had made my longer distance travel quite time-consuming. In 2025, though, in addition to a significant buildout of charging stations, the North American Charging Standard (NACS), developed by Tesla, became available.
NACS needs an adapter for all but 2000 non-Teslas, and only newer generation Superchargers can accommodate the NACS. I learned that lesson earlier in the summer: non-Tesla EVs can only charge at the V3 250kW or V4 chargers.
Would the NACS make a difference in charger availability and faster charging while my guy and I were on the road? It was time to find out.
The NACS Experiment
During the summer my family and I garage our Model Y and move from Florida to Connecticut. We explore the region from our park model home with our 2017 Chevy Bolt. It has an upgraded battery and anticipated range of about 265 miles. These summer digs have just 30 amp electrical service, so adding a 40 amp, 240 volt circuit has been out of the question. Hubby installed a weather resistant outlet to the exterior of our shed, and we’ve been plugging into that household outlet for the majority of times we’ve spent in our summer bungalow by the brook and state forest. Like many EV drivers, our pattern is to plug in when we get home and wake up to a fully charged battery.
That scenario disintegrates into dust, however, if we’re going to be taking a road trip. Last month it was to Cape Cod. This month it was 11 days in northern New England, with the first leg starting off in north-central Connecticut and moving through Massachusetts and New Hampshire and into Maine. There we’d spend three nights with friends, enjoying their north country summer spaces before heading to a week in Vermont.
Tesla’s fabulous Supercharger system used to be available only to Teslas, but with our newly purchased NACS adapter tucked cozily into its own corner of the hatchback, we were ready to hit the road, head to the northern country, and test our luck. Would our slow tripping be more efficient this summer season? I created a spreadsheet of fast charging options, just to increase our odds of success.
Seabrook, New Hampshire: A Bit of a Spectacle
We pulled into Seabrook, New Hampshire and The Brook casino compound. After wandering around just a bit, we found the Tesla Superchargers bank. It’s open to Tesla and NACS-enabled vehicles with CCS compatibility. Getting the charger to recognize our existing Tesla account was, admittedly, a bit of an ordeal. The screen variously wanted us to enter in a serial number on the side of the charger or to scan a QR code. We had to move the Bolt twice to a new space because previous failed attempts indicated to the Tesla reader that the spot was occupied. But number three was golden — voila! It recognized my scan of the QR code and the final click in place of the balky connector with attached NACS adapter.
While the Bolt charged, we entered the casino through swooping electric doors and into a vast room full of slot machines. At noon, several bars were open. The patrons were pasty, wearing ill-fitting clothes, and squinting in the dim light. After a quick restroom stop we ventured back outside and sat in the comfort of our Bolt.
In 21 minutes we gained 10 kWh of energy for $5.22. At 80%, it would be enough to get us to our Kennebunkport, Maine destination.
Photo by Carolyn Fortuna/CleanTechnica
Charging next to the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge
The Goose Rocks area of Kennebunkport runs parallel to the Gulf of Maine and its striking tidal rise and fall of up to 15 feet. Our host was a friend from Florida who invited us to her home. Her large family greeted us warmly, and we spent the evening telling stories and breaking bread.
The Bolt happily sucked up electrons from an outlet in the barn. The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge was out back — grasses swaying in the current, seagulls squawking, light glinting off the stream. We added 60 anticipated miles overnight.
Photo by Carolyn Fortuna/CleanTechnica
From there we headed north to Augusta, Maine and another Tesla Supercharger equipped to accept our NACS adapter. This time the screen identified me immediately — no need to register through a QR code. As we were setting up to charge, a Tesla technician approached us. He was repairing one of the 16 Superchargers and let us know that this site did not require our NACS adapter — it had an internal adapter. It was a Magic Dock. This connector was slim and elegant — a world away from the usual clunky NACS fit and much easier to plug in.
Image of Magic Dock courtesy of Tesla
We ate a bland snack at a 99 Restaurant in the same parking lot. Over 51 minutes we added 26.6 kWh at $.53/kWh, for a total of $14.12. We hopped in the car, with only 30 minutes until our next destination.
Charging from Lake to Mountains
In the Sheepscot Lake region of Palermo, Maine, we were delighted to plug into an exterior outlet at our friend’s rustic rental cottage, which had upgraded electrical. We sat on the dock and watched diving ducks. Looking out a wall of windows to a lake cove, we feasted on pasta primavera one night and stir fry the next. We toured around the arts-oriented seaport of Belfast, savoring a vegetarian lunch and a walk along the waterfront. The Bolt purred away as it inhaled electrons.
Photo of Sheepscot Lake at sunrise by Carolyn Fortuna/CleanTechnica
Before we knew it we were waving goodbye and off to North Conway, New Hampshire, where we would meet a CleanTechnica reader for lunch. A bank of 8 Tesla Superchargers awaited us. We noted the stall number, pressed that icon on the Tesla app, and plugged in. While the NACS adapter continued to be balky, it did click in with a little extra ooommmpphh. We ate at a nearby “Mexican” restaurant (too Americanized for my tastes), chatted with our new friend, and accumulated 23.09 kWh in 1 hour and 7 minutes — up to 92% charge!
I took a turn removing the connector and separating the NACS adapter from it; it wasn’t a graceful sight, with me bracing the connector between my legs and pulling the adapter off with all my might. But I did it, which gave me the confidence to know that I could use the NACS successfully by myself if my guy were not with me.
My brother’s Waitsfield, Vermont home, set on the side of a mountain and looking out over the valley to the Mad River Ski area, was our final destination of the trip. It took nearly another three hours of travel to reach this northern New England oasis, where we immediately plugged into an exterior plug. Here we relaxed with friends and spent a week savoring the vistas, breathing in the 802 fun.
Photo by Carolyn Fortuna/CleanTechnica
Our charging for the rest of the trip was at non-Supercharger sites, but having the NACS fast charging capability across the previous miles made all the difference in our peace of mind. Yes, we relied on the kindness of friends and their exterior household plugs, sure. But we were able to successfully traverse the region on lots of highways from ocean to lake to mountains and valleys, with about one hour stops each time to charge.
It was slow tripping without range anxiety — a much-improved, elevated EV road trip experience. I would do it again!
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Author Carolyn Fortuna
#Learned #Stop #Worrying #Love #NACS #Adapter
Sennebogen’s new 824 G Electro Battery material handler is being put through its paces at a recycling site in Munich’s Aubing district. And, thanks to its innovative grid-connected/battery system, it never has to stop to recharge!
With its emphasis on the recycling of stainless steel, ferroalloys, and superalloys, CRONIMET Alpha’s recycling operations are loud, and adding the ceaseless drone of diesel engines straining against the mass of all that metal as it’s sorted and fed into bailing presses. That’s why the company was so excited to test out Sennebogen’s new, all-electric 824 G Electro Battery material handler during an extensive trial at its Munich site.
So far, CRONIMET’s operators have been impressed with the new Sennebogen. “The battery-powered machine drives just like a diesel-powered one,” explains equipment operator Zoran Alexsic. “You don’t notice any difference in power – only that everything runs much more smoothly and quietly … you don’t have to take breaks to escape the noise.”
Quiet, but powerful
824 G Electro Battery; via Sennebogen.
The Sennebogen 824 G comes standard with a 98 kWh battery, but operators can install up to four modular packs for a total of 392 kWh and roughly eight hours of runtime. Even with a single pack—good for 1.5 to 3 hours—the machine can keep CRONIMET’s operations running almost nonstop, thanks to its built-in dual power mode.
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Sennebogen’s dual power mode enables the 824 G to run on battery while drawing power from the grid at the same time. When connected to grid power, the machine can recharge its batteries as it works, eliminating the downtime other BEVs need for charging and giving operators the freedom to reposition the machine on battery power, then plug back in when convenient.
Beyond flexibility, the electric handler is also cleaner, quieter, and more cost-effective than the diesel models it’s designed to replace. By seamlessly cycling between battery and grid power, it reduces both noise on the job site and energy costs during peak hours.
Electrek’s Take
Drop the beat; via Sennebogen.
We’ve seen grid-connected equipment assets like this before, and with good reason. Simply put, it takes many more kilowatts of energy to dig up tons and tons of dirt and rocks than it does to send an aerodynamically smoothed sedan down a road. That’s why you still see a push towards hydrogen and other energy-dense fuels in construction – but permanently grid connected assets, whether wired or inductive, could solve for some of the limitations of batteries on job sites that can support them.
If the 824 G Electro Battery is a commercial success, expect Sennebogen to roll out more grid-connected options in the years to come.
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Author Jo Borrás
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