Archinect - News

Detroit to host first public wireless charging road for electric vehicles in the U.S.

2022-02-18T18:43:00-05:00

Electrical Vehicle wireless charging technology company Electreon has announced that it is set to establish its first public wireless EV charging road system in the U.S.

The Michigan Department of Transportation along with the State Department of Future Transportation and Electrification awarded the company a tender to create a wireless charging demonstration project that will include a one-mile wireless charging road and static charging stations. Dubbed the “Michigan Project,” the initiative is expected to launch in 2023 in Detroit.

The Michigan Project is expected to be a significant part of Michigan’s aim to strengthen the economy, electrify vehicle fleets, and reduce carbon emissions by 2050. The State Department of Michigan will provide $1.9 million in funding towards the project.

Previously on Archinect: New research reveals the possibility for wireless vehicle charging while driving

“Michigan’s automotive industry roots built a foundation for mobility innovation, and we’re t...

The growth of electric vehicles continues to surge

2022-02-09T13:57:00-05:00

Sales of cars powered solely by batteries surged in the United States, Europe and China last year, while deliveries of fossil fuel vehicles were stagnant. Demand for electric cars is so strong that manufacturers are requiring buyers to put down deposits months in advance. And some models are effectively sold out for the next two years.

As noted by The New York Times, the rise of electric vehicles represents the largest shift in the auto industry since the introduction of Henry Ford’s Model T. Their sales account for nearly 9 percent of new cars sold last year, which is up from 2.5 percent in 2019, according to the International Energy Agency. This is just the start, with the auto industry set to invest half a trillion dollars over the next five years to make the transition to electric vehicles.

The move away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles is a step forward in combating climate change and creating a more sustainable automotive industry. However, the jobs of the millions of Americans that produce, sell, and service cars and auto parts are at risk. There are also the issues of rising prices for battery ingredients, such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt, along with current limitations of EV infrastructure, namely the lack of public charging stations.

Pininfarina, an iconic leader in Italian car design, offers this exciting career opportunity for architects

2021-08-13T12:36:00-04:00

For Italian automobile and design company Pininfarina, the boundless application of design manifests across architecture, transport, jewelry, and product design. For designers wishing to immerse themselves in this environment of variable outcomes, the company is now recruiting for an architect to join their team in Miami, Florida.

Pininfarina’s specialty can vary depending on who you ask. Some know the company for their collaborations with famous car brands such as Ferrari and Alpha Romeo. Others know them for their yachts, their accessories, and even for their architecture. While Pininfarina’s brand is grounded in ideas of timelessness and interpreting modern trends, the company also exhibits an interest in pushing future boundaries. This week, for instance, we published the results of Pininfarina’s global design contest “New Dreams for a New World,” which provoked a range of intriguing futuristic ideas from students, including autonomous vehicles, artificial photosynthesis, an...

Cobe to create new automotive design center in Sweden

2020-05-21T18:38:00-04:00

Copenhagen-based architecture firm Cobe will create the new 14,000-square-meter design center for global automaker Geely in Gothenburg, Sweden. Set for completion in 2022, the new center will house Geely Design, the design and development arm for the Chinese automotive company. The building will function as a site for the development of the new electric car brand Lynk & Co.

The design center will be named Un3 by Geely and be a multi-purpose structure rising four-stories high. The ground-level contains a showroom that can be accessed through a large public square. The middle levels contain a small eating area, meeting rooms, and offices. And finally, the top floor contains the "Chamber of Secrets," a completely sealed off space where designers are free to work on the latest innovations and ideas without fear of the prying eyes of the public.

The top level contains a sunken yard that also acts as the glass ceiling for the atrium of the lower levels. The yard creates a space for design...

Aston Martin will design its customers' perfect "automotive lair"

2019-08-27T19:15:00-04:00

Marek Reichman, Aston Martin's chief creative officer has been leading a team of designers who have "already produced exquisite interior design work for the 66-storey Aston Martin Residences in Miami." In addition to this, the team has also designed the interiors of many Aston Martin dealerships and "collaborated on the design of Aston Martin's first global brand centre, the House of Aston Martin Aoyama, in Tokyo," according to the Aston Martin website.

Courtesy Aston Martin

Now, the group will help customers create the garage of their dreams. "Imagine a home or luxury retreat built around your car," Reichmen said in an Aston Martin press release. "Picture creating the ultimate space to showcase your own automotive works of art. This is now achievable with this new offering," he continued.

Courtesy Aston Martin

Aston Martin has emphasized its decades of experience and expertise in staging cars "in order to present them at their absolute best." They add that they also understand the v...

Charging in Style: Danish firm COBE is rethinking fueling stations

2018-01-22T13:40:00-05:00

Shortly, electricity will replace petrol and diesel as the fuel for our cars, and such a change could radically shift our urban landscape as the formal aspects of gas stations is then open to reimagining. Danish Architecture firm COBE is looking to do just that. Understanding that under current technological trends the average charging time for an electric vehicle is upwards of 45 minutes, COBE is looking to use such a newly established time frame as a possible opportunity for rethinking the traditional gas station as a place and less of a transient space.

Ultrafast Charging Station: Small. Image: COBE

Ultrafast Charging Station: Medium. Image: COBE

Ultrafast Charging Station: Large. Image: COBE

“Electric vehicles are the future. In our design, we want to offer drivers a much-needed and meaningful break in a green oasis. The energy and the technology are green, and we want the architecture, the materials and the concept to be green as well. Therefore, we’ve designed a sculptural charg...

AECOM halts work on Faraday Future's $1-Billion Nevada factory

2016-11-22T15:05:00-05:00

Faraday Future’s future is looking bleaker. After the electric car start-up failed to pay millions of dollars in bills, its contractor Monday halted work on Faraday’s $1-billion North Las Vegas, Nev., car factory. [...] The contractor is Aecom, the Los Angeles-based engineering giant. [...] Faraday failed to pay $21 million due to Aecom in September and owed $25 million in October and $12 million in November, according to Aecom.

Faraday Future previously in the Archinect news:

Faraday Future holds groundbreaking ceremony for $1B Nevada factory

2016-04-14T12:27:00-04:00

Electric car company Faraday Future held a groundbreaking ceremony for its $1 billion manufacturing facility outside Las Vegas this afternoon, attended by Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, North Las Vegas mayor John Lee, and a host of other officials. There wasn't any actual "ground" broken, though, really — Faraday still needs to grade the land, which it says it will do "soon."

[...]

"Faraday's VP of Global Manufacturing Dag Reckhorn says that they are "moving extremely quickly for a project of this size" — a 3 million square-foot factory on 900 acres that the company claims will bring 4,300 jobs to the region over a decade — with plans to build in just two years instead of the normal four."

Watch the cached livestream here (video starts at 32:59):

Listen to our recent One-to-One conversation with Richard Kim of Faraday Future:

For more on the future of self-driving automobiles, check out these links:

Money, gas and death: the insanity of America's car worship

2016-04-13T20:24:00-04:00

Cars conquered the daily culture of American life back when top hats and child labor were in vogue, and well ahead of such other innovations as radio, plastic, refrigerators, the electrical grid, and women’s suffrage. A big part of why they’ve stuck around is that they are the epitome of convenience...Convenience (some might call it freedom) is not a selling point to be easily dismissed [...] In almost every way imaginable, the car, as it is deployed and used today, is insane.

Related on Archinect:

Apple and Google are poised to shake up the auto industry

2015-09-17T14:14:00-04:00

This year, “connectivity” has supplanted “horsepower” or “torque” as the prevailing buzzword in Frankfurt. The talk is of self-driving cars, battery-powered cars, and information technology designed to link cars with data networks to make driving safer and more efficient. Even though neither Apple nor Google is close to mass-producing a vehicle, nervousness about their intentions — which remain cloaked in mystery — is understandable.