Pike Research

According to a new tracker report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, the past twelve months have seen an explosion of interest in the smart city concept. Cities around the world have announced new smart city strategies and innovative projects, and many existing programs have been rebranded as smart city initiatives. More than fifty per cent of smart city projects are focused on innovations in transportation and urban mobility. The tracker identifies and details 130 smart city proje

A Chinese electric vehicle consortium led by the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) has signed agreements to help develop an electric bus network in Poland. Other members of the consortium are BIT subsidiary BIT Huachuang Electric Vehicle Technology, CITIC Guoan Mengguli Power Science and Technology and Shanghai Dianba New Energy Technology. According to the agreements signed with Warsaw University of Technology and Polish power company Tauron Polska Energia, the Chinese group and Tauron will establish

According to new research from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, until recently, wireless charging equipment for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) has had all the characteristics of a promising technology in search of a market. In the last six to twelve months, however, this has begun to change. Nearly all of the major PEV manufacturers have announced partnerships to develop wireless charging systems, and there are signs that such systems, installed at the factory or added at the dealershi

According to a report from Pike Research, annual sales of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are forecast to reach 400,073 in the United States and 107,146 in Canada by 2020, but the real story of these sales is in the cities and utility service territories where the vehicles will be located. Pike Research has analysed PEV sales by state and across cities with more than 500,000 residents in the United States, plus forecasts for Canadian provinces and the seven largest cities in Canada. These forecasts were c

Boston-Power, a provider of next-generation lithium-ion battery cells, modules and systems, has announced a multi-year agreement to provide battery systems to Beijing Electric Vehicle Company (BJEV), the electric vehicle delivery arm of Beijing Automotive Industry Company (BAIC). Under terms of the agreement, Boston-Power’s battery systems are expected to support multiple BJEV models and brands. Availability of pre-ordered vehicles begins in fourth calendar quarter 2012 with the C70 sedan, which is based on

According to a new report from Pike Research, ITS will see increased investment in coming years even as government budgets are tightening, because smart transport is seen as a way to maximise existing transportation systems without making major new capital investments. The company forecasts that global investment in smart transportation systems will total US$13.1 billion between 2011 and 2017. “Most of this investment will be in intelligent traffic management systems, as this is the sector with the broadest

The ITS sector is now going through an evolution driven by the maturation of communications technologies and their increasing adoption in major cities worldwide. The widespread availability of high-speed networks, both fixed and wireless, along with the ability to embed intelligence in physical objects throughout the urban environment and the diffusion of mobile devices that can send and receive real-time vehicle or infrastructure information, is driving the adoption of smart transportation systems in citie

Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) have been available to varying degrees since the 1970s, and earlier in some parts of the world. Despite this long history, adoption varies significantly from region to region, with NGVs used mainly for commercial vehicles in North America and parts of Western Europe and for consumer markets in parts of Asia and the Middle East. The primary growth drivers in these countries are the favorable economics of natural gas, the reduction of oil imports, the environmental benefits of lowe