A Tesla Model S was filmed burning in the road recently, allegedly having struck a metal object.

Supercapacitors are increasing the range of electric vehicles in several ways and by doing so they are hugely increasing the addressable market for those vehicles. Typically, they last for the life of the vehicle regardless of how many cycles are endured.

The Japanese are working very hard on thermoelectric energy harvesting from tiny forms for use on hot running electronics components the 1.5 kW versions for use on furnace flues etc.

For the next decade, the largest electric vehicle sector will be industrial and commercial electric vehicles on land. In great contrast to the hybrid and pure electric cars that come next in market size, industrial and commercial electric vehicles are almost never bought by private individuals. That means that they are almost never bought on up-front price, the criteria being cost-over-life, reliability and performance with any extra life over conventional versions much appreciated.

This article shares some of the research in the new IDTechEx report, "Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2013-2023" which covers all such vehicles, on land, on/under water and airborne.

Life is good for supercapacitors manufacturers and developers.

In this article we will briefly look at implementations in the rail transit sector, and the kind of technologies that are making their way onto trains, railways and waysides in order to reduce power consumption, maintenance costs and reliability of train services.

The market for electric taxis will be a huge 345,000 vehicles in 2017, surpassing $10 billion in business as early as 2019 as forecasted by new IDTechEx research in its recently published report, Hybrid and Electric Buses and Taxis 2013-2023: Forecasts, Opportunities, Players.

IDTechEx projects that 119,000 electric taxis will be sold giving a $1.8 billion global market. Most of the commercial electric vehicles, including the taxis, are and will be pure electric. That will even be true of large commercial vehicles, notably e-buses, set to exceed a $20 billion market as early as 2018 and dominated by demand in China.

IDTechEx find that pure electric car sales in 2013 will be 70,000 vehicles rising to 2 million in 2023, versus 2 million hybrid vehicles this year rising to 7.6 million in 2023.

Questions arise as to how much supercapacitors can improve if organisations more like NASA took over. After all, if supercapacitors can replace many batteries when, as today, they store one tenth of their energy, what will happen in the marketplace if they approach the theoretical ten times the lithium-ion battery figure while acting as a near-perfect "battery"?

All electric vehicles have at least one traction motor, so the market for electric vehicle traction motors is one of the largest markets for electric vehicle parts and a primary determinant of the performance and affordability of a given vehicle. Indeed, IDTechEx Research finds that in 2013 44.6 million electric motors will be needed for vehicles, rising to 147.7 million in 2023.

The new report from IDTechEx Hybrid & Pure Electric Vehicles for Land, Water & Air 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players finds that the total market for hybrid and pure electric vehicles will grow from 38.8 million vehicles (of all types) in 2013 to 116 million vehicles in 2023 - a $294 billion market.

Virtually all autonomous underwater vehicles are electric for practical reasons - the internal combustion engine ICE is not a realistic option. Not so on the surface, where the ICE is the favoured means of propulsion. However, even here, there is now a strong move to hybrid and pure-electric drivetrains for many powerful reasons, so it is timely to look at marine electric vehicles in general.

How is it that some analysts put pure-electric car sales at hundreds of thousands in 2012 whereas others report a mere 60-65,000? At analysts IDTechEx, we feel that a lack of rigor is largely to blame because there are cars homologated as such and car-like vehicles that are not homologated as cars.

IDTechEx has recently launched an online browser-based Market Intelligence Portal , bringing you in-depth market intelligence and independent analysis throughout the year.

The day is coming when electric vehicles (EVs) land, water and airborne are as much as 80% electronics and electrics if we include the power components.

The new report from IDTechEx titled Printed, Organic & Flexible Electronics: Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2013-2023 finds that the total market for these technologies will grow from $16.04 billion in 2013 to $76.79 billion in 2023.

IDTechEx, the leading Research and Events company covering emerging technologies, has launched new subscription offerings across its range of topics.

Most electric vehicle sectors are profitable and growing. Toyota has nearly half of the $63 billion global market for electric vehicles land, water and air, according to an IDTechEx analysis in the new report, Hybrid and Pure Electric Vehicles for Land, Water and Air 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players.