Vehicles

In a briefing last week General Motors reaffirmed their commitment to the launch of the Chevy Volt by late 2010. The primary purpose of this briefing was to discuss the benefits of lithium battery technology as well as the reasons for their choice of LG Chem to produce the first generation of batteries for the Volt. Several points are worth noting: GM is completing what will be the largest automotive battery lab in the U.S., and they intend to maintain in-house manufacturing capacity to integrate the battery cells into modules and complete battery systems. This gives GM more flexibility to choose cell suppliers for their 2nd and 3rd generation extended range electric vehicles, and lets...

Whether or not electric cars are going to hit the roads in volume anytime soon is more uncertain than ever, with the market for new vehicle purchases off nearly 50% compared to just one year ago, and the price of a barrel of oil back under US $40. But while the near term prospects for the automotive industry are daunting, the future is brighter than ever, and the many credible contenders to deliver EVs continue to grow. The latest EV we've found is here as a spinoff from Electrovaya, a Canadian based maker of lithium ion batteries for laptops and medical devices. About one year ago, Electrovaya announced the Maya-300, an all-electric vehicle with a top speed of 35 MPH and a range of 120 miles...

While regulating CO2 emissions occupies an ever increasing share of policymaker and environmentalist priorities, which translates into countless new businesses and technologies to address this new challenge, there are still all those other air pollution emissions that we used to worry about exclusively, and almost, but not quite eliminated. While impressive results in air pollution have been logged ever since the introduction of the catalytic converter and unleaded gasoline, microscopic particulates are still not being captured by conventional systems. The problem with these microscopic particles is that even though they are invisible, they actually pose greater potential health...

Last month one of the leaders in providing enabling technology for the smart grid, GridPoint, Inc., conducted a public demonstration of their "smart charging" software. This took place at an EV conference sponsored by the Electric Drive Transportation Association. As we reported in an earlier feature "Smart Grid Enablers - GridPoint," the move to a more electricity centric automotive fleet depends on transformative innovation and massive investment occurring not only in the automotive industry, but in the utility sector. Moreover, these developments have to occur in a closely coordinated manner, in order to yield a new paradigm where a smart grid interacts virtually continuously with smart cars. David Kaplan, VP of Electric Vehicle Management at GridPoint, described...

A recent comment on our report entitled "Ford Delivers Electric Vehicles" (written in April 2001 when USPS tried out a fleet of 400 EVs) has called our attention once again to EEStor (site under construction), the stuff of legends, the company developing an ultracapacitor to supply partners such as ZENN Motor Company, among others. According to Wikipedia's entry on EEStor, EEStor's capacitor may achieve an energy density as high as 700 watt-hours per kilogram. By comparison, the lithium ion battery only attains an energy density as high as 150 watt-hours per kilogram. This is making up a lot of ground. For example, a lead acid battery has an energy density of about 40 watt-hours per kilogram, but a good off-the-shelf conventional capacitor only has an energy...

The attention some of the electric automobile designs have attracted over the past few years has tended to take the focus away from bikes and motorcycles. But for every Volt or Tesla making a splash in the news, dozens of models of electricity powered two-wheelers have been selling by the thousands for years. In aggregate, millions of electricity powered bikes are already in use around the world. Should anyone doubt the electric scooter industry is alive and well, if not already gone through several cycles of maturity, go to Alibaba.com and search under "Electric Scooters." You will get links to an astonishing 6,903 products, ranging from Suzhou Rununion Motivity Co., Ltd., to Wuxi Beiyi Electric Bicycle Co., Ltd., to Taizhou Wangpai Automobile Industry Co., to Jiangsu Taler Science and Technology of Motor Vehicle Co., to Jiangsu Xinling Motorcycle Manufacturing Co. , and on, and on, and on, and...

The fate of GM, Chrysler and Ford hang in the balance, with widely varying sentiments regarding what can be done, if anything. Both a bailout or a bankruptcy present a set of opportunities as well as negative consequences. If a bailout were structured to include in its terms some of the restructuring benefits that otherwise could only be realized through bankruptcy, however, it would be the preferred option. Indeed, a federal bailout that facilitated fundamental cost cuts for the automakers might set a useful precedent for restructuring other large U.S. institutions that have overpaid workforces and inefficient operations, such as most of our state and local governments. Using General...

With renewable energy sources like wind and solar constantly on hand, it is no wonder that everyone wants to harness this energy with constantly evolving technology. Cars and buildings are going solar, why not boats and massive cruise ships? Solar Sailor, an Australian company that owns the patented 'solarsail' technology, has developed devices comparable to 'wings' that attach to ocean-going vessels to harness the ever-popular wind and solar energy. Both sources of energy are especially abundant when floating on the ocean. This hybrid marine power (HMP) technology comes in the from of a 'solar wing', which typically rests on top of the ship like a solid metal sail (to take advantage of wind) and...

Mid-level ethanol blends such as E12, E15, E20 and even as high as E40 have garnered a lot of attention lately. Mainly because ethanol producers want a quick and easy way to soak up a surplus of ethanol that will soon reach the saturation point for the current supply in the marketplace. Under current federal law, conventional fuel cannot contain more than 10 percent ethanol, known as E10, but proponents for higher mid-level blends would like to replace the current gasoline mixture with higher levels of ethanol, which would change the fuel used in vehicles and small engines. GM's concerns with higher ethanol blends include the capability of our engines and fuel systems to handle them...

Are the Studies We Rely On Reliable? We discovered "The Antiplanner," Randall O'Toole, a few months ago, and ever since we have been publishing selected works by this prolific author and researcher. His findings, carefully documented, contradict important pillars of the conventional wisdom that informs modern urban planning - transportation options in particular. O'Toole's work deserves as large an audience as possible because his conclusions, if correct, or even partially correct, have profound implications when determining how best to allocate taxpayer funds. If light rail, for example, is not nearly as cost-effective or even fuel efficient as cars and busses, for example, why are we...

San Diego is an urban paradise. Temperatures are always comfortable, the sun shines most days of the year, and locals can spend any day enjoying their time at beaches, museums, zoos, stadiums or any number of shows that occur there. The San Diego Convention center is always booked with events ranging from tech conferences to bridal bazaars and the world renowned International Comic Convention. Traffic can get out of hand in such a popular place, and paradise isn't so pretty when seen from the inside of your car in 90 degree weather. The answer to this dilemna lies with smaller electric vehicles that allow drivers to safely speed by traffic with the use of the carpool lane. Just north...

Most of us have heard about the "Hydrogen Highway," that mythical roadway which, along with bullet trains and bridges to nowhere, may actually get built someday at a staggering expense to the taxpayer (to be fair - we're as hopeful as anyone the formidable technological barriers to using hydrogen as a transportation fuel are eventually overcome).  But meanwhile, as of last week, the first ethanol highway in the United States is open for business - I65, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.  Corn ethanol is a viable transportation fuel today, not someday, and implementation of this ethanol highway, the first of many, is an exercise in practicality, not pipe dreams. For...