Getting a Charge out of Charged Magazine

How do you know that your favorite technology is here to stay?

One great clue evidences itself when there are magazines devoted to the topic.

I'm not entirely sure how I signed up for this magazine. It could have happened when I joined the Electric Vehicle Association. Maybe I signed up on chargedevs.com. But the fact that my work address and title are on the table tells me that I was the lucky winner of the let's-send-the-engineering-dean-free-magazines lottery. This lottery also accounts for the reason I receive free subscriptions to Architectural Digest and Wired magazine. 

It's all good.

In any case, I recently received this and read it cover to cover. The magazine is divided into three sections: The Tech, The Vehicles, and The Infrastructure. Self explanatory really. Each section includes both short (half-page) snippets and feature articles. To give you a feel for the types of stories, I'll list the titles for all three sections for this one issues. All stories are short unless otherwise stated.

The Tech

BorgWarner to buy Remy International for $950 million in cash 

24M introduces semisolid lithium-ion cell 

Lux Research: China's energy storage market to quadruple by 2025 

DOE report examines opportunities for US battery manufactures 

Chinese and US agencies work together on standards 

French chemical giant and utility join to create energy storage R&D lab 

BRUSA's new DTSP1 motor/gearbox combo

Skeleton Technologies' new ultra capacitors target heavy transportation market 

DOE offers funding for medium- and heavy-duty powertrain electrification projects

MobileBattery can boost EV range and provide home back-up power 

Continental develops integrated powertrain for the Chinese market

New device dynamically reduces offset error in DC measurement

Voltabox inaugurates battery pack assembly line in Austin, Texas

A Closer Look at Torque Ripple (feature)

Tesla Tweaks its Battery Chemistry: A Closer Look at Silicon Anode Development (feature)

The Vehicles

Tesla trims projected production

New independent EV builder makes the scene (this is about Faraday Future)

Chevy Bolt EV on its way to the masses - not the elite

Two more California cities order Proterra electric buses

Volkswagen brings new plug-in Passat to Europe

BYD sells 50 e6 EVs to San Diego ride-sharing fleet

Kandi makes $89-million deal as Chinese auto market moves online 

New report from Germany assesses over 500 EV models

California Air Resources Board chief: Automakers need to end production of ICEs around 2030

Survey: Automotive engineers don't expect CAFE standards to be lowered

Tesla to raise about $650 million with new stock offering

New report: Marine hybrid propulsion market to reach $4.46 billion by 2022

2016 Chevrolet Volt (feature)

An Upgraded Operating System (feature about Motiv Power Systems)

Chinese auto parts giant invests $1.6 million in wireless charging pioneer Evatran

Tesla reveals prototype of snakelike automatic charger (kind of old news)

The Infrastructure

California DOT orders 11 portable solar EV charging stations from Envision Solar

Electric Highway links Western Australia with fast charging stations

ClipperCreek launches HCS-50 EV charging station

BRUSA licenses Qualcomm Halo wireless charging tech

EV charging and distributed energy sources meet in the cloud

South Korean plan turns ordinary 220V outlets into charging stations

France moves to unify charging networks

Oregon state employees must pay for workplace charging

Volkswagen working on automated DC charging

BMW pilot pays drivers to delay charging, helping to stabilize the grid

Manhattan parking garages installing Tesla chargers

Workplace Charging with Smart Grid Response (feature)

Connecting to the Best Rates (feature about Seimens VersiCharge SG)

In addition to all this EV reading goodness, the ads themselves are eye candy. Frankly, I'm sick of newspapers and magazines devoted to gas guzzling 8 cylinder monsters. It's quite refreshing to see something like this taking up space on the bottom half of the page:

I truly look forward to the day I see ads like this in Car & Driver and in general, any magazine.

Some key observations about this issue of Charged Electric Vehicle Magazine:

• As you can see from the article titles, there really is something for everyone. This is a comprehensive publication.
• Some of the articles are extremely technical. There is not a whole lot of fluff, although some oft he articles in the vehicles and infrastructure sections are a little more accessible. You practically have to be an electrical engineer to understand half of the stuff in the tech section. Fortunately, I am one.
• If you appreciate magazines with an international flavor, this is a great publication for you. I really enjoyed learning about what was going on in other countries with EVvehicles and infrastructure. I know quite a bit about what goes on in areas where the Volt is sold due to my social media Volt owner connections, but there are many countries in which the Volt is not available, so it was cool to learn what the state of EV affairs was in, say, South Korea.
• This is a high quality magazine. Very nice, glossy photos. I want to frame the entire Volt article. It's gorgeous and great reading with lots of technical details for the true Volt fan.
• If there is a cover price for this magazine, I can't find it. But I know I want to keep on receiving it.
• The magazine comes out every two months. This was the July/August issue. It's number 20, so the mag has been around for almost two years. 
• I cannot overstate my love for the magazine's motto on the spine: EVs are Here, Try to Keep Up. So much love for that.

The verdict: run, don't walk, to the newstand (do those still exist? maybe you should try Barnes and Noble) and get yourself a copy.