Posts Tagged by EV
From Guest Blogger Jim Stack: Electricity Used to Make Gas
| December 1, 2011 | Posted by jstack6 under Uncategorized |
Did you know that is takes electricity and water to make oil into gasoline ? This is part of the refining process. The following facts are from a great article that Peder Norby did on oil refining. He walks the talk driving his MINI-E electric everyday and making the electric for it on his Solar system.
He shows how it takes more electricity to make a gallon of gas that you can drive in an EV! Read More
EVWorld’s Bill Moore Speaks on the Future of Mobility
| October 16, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Here’s a wonderful presentation that everyone should see, EVWorld editor Bill Moore’s 30-minute talk called The Future of Mobility. What happens when we double the number of cars on the roads — from one billion, which we just hit, to two billion by 2030? Not too long ago, Beijing had a traffic jam that involved 75,000 cars and took five days to clear. Is this just going to get worse? And where is all the oil going to come from?
Automakers sure must be licking their chops at that growth curve. But are they doing some “out of the box” thinking here?
Here are Bill’s observations on everything from new drive trains to alternate fuels to rethinking the concept of owning a car. You won’t be disappointed.
[The Vector] Seoul Installing More than 100 EV Chargers
| September 19, 2010 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Electric Vehicles |
Courtesy Albert Molon
The Seoul Metropolitan Government reports that it plans to install more than 100 EV chargers by the end of 2010. The government recognizes that lack of EV charging facilities slows down promotion of green vehicles, and so took the step of signing agreements on May 28th with three Seoul-based retailers to install the needed chargers. The agreement would allow visitors to these retailers to charge their vehicles free until the end of this year – and it may be extended. A number Read More
[The Vector] Electric and Hybrid Cars – Is Their Time Finally Coming?
| July 26, 2010 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Electric Vehicles |
The Vector believes that a paradigm shift is coming, and coming quickly, in the way the U.S. consumers views their cars.
Here is why: Read More
[The Vector] Vehicles and Energy 101
| July 25, 2010 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Electric Vehicles |
- Courtesy WTRG Economics
As transportation takes the lion’s share of our oil consumption, illustrated in the chart here (compliments of WTRG Economics), it is worthwhile clarifying some of the various terms defining innovations and types of vehicles you may see, which we will write about in Vector.
- Alternative-fuel vehicles do not burn gasoline – they are powered by other sources such as electricity, propane, ethanol, etc.
- Fuel-flex vehicles run on gasoline and another source, such as ethanol.
- Hybrids combine two propulsion systems, typically electric with a gasoline or diesel engine that acts as a generator when the battery runs low. Often these cars are referred to as Plug-in Hybrids due to the electrical system that is charged by plugging in to the electrical grid.
- EV or Electric Vehicle refers to pure electrical vehicles.
A short summary of fuel types: Read More
GE’s Electric Vehicle Charging Station
| July 20, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
There’s a lot to like about GE’s design (announced just the other day) for their electric vehicle charging station. It looks cools, offers “Level 2″ (240 Volt) charging, and provides its customers with “future-proofing,” easily swapping in new technology when it becomes available.
But the most important feature GE’s product is that it exists at all. As I reported in my piece Tough Realities for Renewable Energy Businesses, I urge people to look at the actions of Fortune 25 companies as indications of the underlying truth in the world – and this is a fabulous example. A company with revenues of $157 billion is extremely unlikely to make a commitment to a product space whose revenues will come from a small minority of tree-huggers. This announcement is further evidence that the public and private sectors and moving very quickly – in lock-step with one another – to move electric transportation ahead.
The Electric Vehicle Adoption Curve
| March 24, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon in a television studio in Ventura, interviewing Plug-In America vice president and co-founder Paul Scott. Paul had generously committed the time, and drove his Toyota RAV-4 EV up from Santa Monica for the occasion. I hope to have the interview chopped up into 3 – 4 minute segments and up on YouTube shortly. A still shot from the studio is below.
I walked away from the process far more hopeful and optimistic than I was when I first sat down. Here’s why:
Read More
Thoughts on the EV Adoption Curve
| March 16, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Every so often, I like to write a short article that gets us thinking about the rate at which electric vehicles will be assilimated into our culture and brought onto our roads, replacing internal combustion engines. Here are a few ideas to consider.
1) What does Big Auto think (or, at least, claim that they think) about EV production rates? Considering there are 230 million cars on the road in the US alone, the needle will not be moving in the short-term:
Nissan: Has pre-orders for 56,000 LEAF all-electric cars.
GM: Last year, had 50,000 expressions of interest in the Chevy Volt, though presumably that figure is somewhat larger now.
Mitsubishi: Bumped up its 2011 production schedule of the i-MiEV from 8,500 units to 9,000.
Better Place: Placed an order with Renault for 100,000 electric vehicles based on the Fluence ZE for its deal with Israel.
2) But is there any reason to believe anything coming out of Detroit?
Today, the population of Detroit is about half of what it was in 1950. The city has 33,500 empty homes and 91,000 vacant lots. A recent AP article asserts that vacant property totals 40 square miles. But Big Auto is not at all apologetic for the meltdown, and points out they couldn’t have foreseen the dynamics of oil prices that created sharp inflection points in the demand for fuel-efficient vehicles in favor of the Hummer and other gas-guzzlers. If this is false, they’re disingenuous; if it’s true, they’re incredibly obtuse. Either way, it’s hard to trust what they’re saying.
One thing for sure: there is nothing good in EVs for the big OEMs. They are happy to drag this transition out for decades, selling gas- and diesel-based cars and trucks as long as possible.
3) The Department of Energy apparently is not bullish on pure (battery) EVs.
Check out this report on the future of the automobile. Although the author sees lots of hybrids in our future, he really doesn’t see any pure EVs. Remarkable. I have to think this is simply a mistake.
4) Industry analysts are hedging their bets.
As reported in EV World, Accenture recently performed a survey that showed that six out of 10 consumers are more likely to buy a hybrid or electric vehicle “only when it is superior to gasoline-only models in every way.”
I understand that merely “being green” isn’t good enough for the vast majority of car buyers. But this report strikes me as the usual MBA malarky — a consultant who reads your watch and then tells you what time it is. What about the other 40%? Isn’t that a substantial market? And what exactly does “superior in every way” mean, exactly? How will the typical consumer react to a value proposition that includes dramatically lower fuel cost and huge reductions of other pieces of his total cost of ownership?
My belief: Give me a freeway-speed battery EV with comparable fit and finish to a garden-variety 5-passenger sedan, a 75-mile range, and price tag under $25,000 after rebate, and you won’t be able to manufacture enough of them.
To Build Electric Vehicles or Internal Combustion Engines?
| August 5, 2009 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
An electronics engineer engaged in the manufacturing of automobile parts in India writes:
A few years back I designed and manufactured the smallest gasoline powered two wheeler in India and sold around 100 of them. But as you know the two stroke engine was a major environment threat, so we discontinued it. Your email came to me at such a time that we had just finished the testing of the same vehicle with an electric motor, and after reading the first brass tack I have become more determined to go ahead with the conversion of my old design to electric one, keeping the school kids in mind and other short-distance commuters. We are also working on the e-rickshaw. I think we all have to do our bit to save the environment.
In my mind, this underscored a great number of really cool things I see going on the renewable energy space:
It’s happening all over the world.
In many cases, it’s a selfless, pay-it-forward thing, happening on behalf of future generations.
We all have the power to inspire one another. I told my wife and kids about this reader’s decision to pursue her EV design, and it brought tears to my wife’s eyes.
Thank you.
Bill Moore – Electric Vehicle Evangelist
| July 29, 2009 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I can’t imagine anyone who has earned the respect of more electric vehicle enthusiasts than J. William “Bill” Moore. Born in Germany, educated in England, Bill is the founder and publisher of EV World.Com, an online ‘zine dedicated to tracking the development and deployment of sustainable vehicle technology. The site was launched on January 1, 1998, and has become regarded as one of the most respected sources of information about EVs online today. Over the last decade, Bill has written millions of words, conducted thousands of interviews (including congressmen, presidential candidates, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Time magazine’s “Heroes of the Planet”, as well as respected academicans and up-and-coming entrepreneurs), and attended hundreds of conferences and expositions.
Perhaps more importantly, he’s made countless friends all over the world – and I’m proud to count myself among them.
His articles have been published in Discover, Popular Science, Air & Space/Smithsonian and Mother Earth News. His first book publishing effort, Electrifying Rides, is in the works now. “I’m just about wrapping up Chapter Three,” he told me cheerfully when we spoke just now.
As the name implies, ELECTRIFING RIDES: The Electric Vehicles of the Past Decade… and the Next takes its reader both into the past and into the future.
Moore writes,
(The book takes the reader) from the steel gray waters of the English Channel to the chalk gray surface of the Moon to explain how the revival of the electric car came about and where it’s taking us.
Though it seems counter-intuitive, the modern era of the EV (electric vehicle) began in the air and not on the ground with the flight of a fragile, human-powered aircraft made of aluminum and mylar plastic. When Bryan Allen, struggling with leg cramps, dehydration and fatigue, triumphantly set down the Gossamer Albatross on the sands of Cap Gris-Nez, on the French side of the English Channel on June 12, 1979, he unwittingly set in motion the resurrection of a technology long-consigned to the footnotes of history.
Two years earlier, Allen and his mentor, Dr. Paul MacCready had won their first Kremer Prize for sustained human-powered flight over a mile-long, figure-eight course in the Albatross’ predecessor, the Gossamer Condor. That flight, as daunting as it was, took just over seven minutes and covered 1.35 miles. The flight across the Channel would be 35.8 km (22.2 mi) — 26-times further than the flight at Minter Field back in California — and take nearly three hours, all of it over water.
Six years earlier, the last of three, multi-million dollar electric vehicles completed its own mission along the waterless — and airless — Sea of Serenity. When Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt switched off their LVR (lunar roving vehicle), it had carried them, during three exploratory missions over as many day across the Moon’s rugged Taurus-Littrow region, almost exactly the same distance as the Albatross had carried Allen: 35.9 km (22.3 mi).
As far apart in space and time as these two incongruous events might seem, a common thread — beyond the uncanny similarity in distance — not only binds them but also constitutes a double helix of sorts that is the common DNA of virtually all contemporary — and future — electric cars. These entwining, interlocking strands are themselves comprised of a surprising small subset of individuals, a sort of human ATGC, that binds and breaks and binds again into new, but always familiar organisms, each with its own unique story, only a fraction of which can be told in Electrifying Rides. We trust those we’ve chosen will convey to you the reader, a sense of the urgency and excitement that has propelled a long dormant technology from the night of irrelevance into the brilliant daylight of necessity.
I know we’re all looking forward to the opportunity to sitting down with this one.
