Sanyo, VW Team Up To Produce Li-Ion Batteries
May 13, 2008
Sanyo Electric and Volkswagen will jointly develop a lithium-ion battery for use in hybrid and electric cars, with the goal of having a product ready for market by 2012. The joint venture is part of Volkswagen’s plan to regain ground it has lost in the development of lower-emission vehicles. Other automakers have teamed with electronics companies to produce batteries for their cars including Toyota and Matsushita Electric Industrial, and Nissan and NEC.
Sanyo currently supplies nickel-hydrogen batteries to Honda and Ford. Audi will use Sanyo’s nickel-hydrogen battery in its first hybrid model, expected in the showrooms in 2009 or 2010.
Bentley Introduces All-Electric One-Seater
May 9, 2008
Bentley has developed a prototype one-seater, the Greenpower, which was designed, engineered and built by a group of apprentices at the company’s factory. The vehicle prototype, officially known as the Bentley Continental DC Electric Concept Car, offers a top speed of 40 mph and uses two 12-volt batteries to power a 24-volt motor. The vehicle, which weighs just 265 pounds, makes heavy use of carbon-fiber in the suspension and wheels. The vehicle will compete on the Formula 24+ circuit this year. The vehicles in those competitions must use 24 volt electric motors powered by two 12-v batteries.
With regard to its production vehicles, Bentley has committed to reduce its CO2 emissions by 15% by 2012; introduce a new power train that delivers 40% better fuel economy than its existing design; and make its entire vehicle line compatible with biofuels by 2012. The company also promises to maintain its reputation for high-performance luxury in the process.
The company cites the rising price and growing scarcity of oil, and the impact of climate change as the primary drivers for the switch. The company concludes that they can better reach its goal by pursuing alternative drivetrain technologies than by increasing the efficiency of its gasoline engines.
The company has not ruled out offering diesel engines, but cites the low adoption rate of diesels in North America – its primary market – as a reason it is not pursuing diesel drive technology at this time.
Th!nk City Will Debut In US In 2009
May 7, 2008
The Th!nk City will make its debut on the US auto market in 2009. The Th!nk City is being offered by Norwegian automaker Th!nk Global, which is using a design originally developed by the Ford Motor Company.
Ford owned the company from 1999 to 2003 but sold it. The firm declared bankruptcy shortly after the sale, but was resurrected last year by a Norwegian investment group. The drive to hit the North American auto market is being supported by a pair of venture capital firms.
The Th!nk is a two-passenger car that can go 110 miles on a single charge, and also offers a top speed of 65 mph. Th!nk City is currently being sold in Norway and will hit the rest of Scandinavia and Europe later in 2008.
The vehicle uses nickel-chloride batteries, which are owned by the company and leased to the drivers. Pricing for the North American version of the vehicle hasn’t been worked out, but a battery-lease model is being planned for the US.
Lutz Hints That An All-Battery Volt Might Be Possible
May 5, 2008
According to an article that appeared on PetroZero, GM initially considered – and is still considering – the production of an all-battery powered Volt variant in order to meet California’s most stringent emission requirements. Before the Volt concept was released in 2006, GM had conceptualized different power configurations for the Volt, including one that had no engine, and an increased battery pack.
The purpose of the multiple power configurations was to demonstrate the flexibility of the Volt design. The all-battery concept would only be possible if battery technology evolved to the point of being large enough and cost effective enough to make it commercially viable.
The article also indicated that GM is nearly ready to put the first Volt prototype on the road with none other than Bob Lutz behind the wheel. In reality, Lutz will be driving one of the Malibu-based test mules that GM has doctored up to evaluate the contenders for the Volt’s lithium-ion battery packs.
GM had announced that these test vehicles would be hitting the road soon, with the goal of naming a battery supplier by mid-summer 2008. According to GM, actual Volt prototypes won’t be ready for any road trips for several months. The company says it’s still on target for a 2010 launch.
Company president Rick Warran said last week at a gathering in San Francisco that the Volt may still come in at $20,000. This directly contradicts Bob Lutz’ earlier statements that indicated that the Volt would likely be in the $30,000 range, and did not exclude the possibility that it may even creep above the $40K mark.
Source: PetroZero
Photo Credit: General Motors
Californians Turn To Hybrids To Combat Rising Gas Prices
April 30, 2008
The rising cost of gasoline is forcing some Californians to rethink their driving strategies. The state has the unenviable title of having the highest average gas price in the country, in part because the Golden State requires different gasoline formulations to reduce air pollution generated by tailpipe emissions. Last week, the average price of regular gasoline climbed over $4 per gallon for the first time, with no end to the price increases in sight.
That is prompting many drivers, who had previously driven larger cars and SUVs, to turn in those vehicles for more efficient hybrids. Others are taking public transportation, and those with no other options are scaling back on personal expenditures to cover the rising cost of fuel.
Car dealerships are also reporting that they’re selling fewer trucks, SUVs and vans since the price of gasoline began to rise. More drivers are turning to more fuel-efficient six-cylinder sedans and small cars in an effort to control their operating costs.
According to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, respondents reported being most stressed out by the rising cost of fuel, and nearly half are having difficulty paying the increased costs. The price of gasoline beat out employment, health care costs, home foreclosures, credit card payments and other personal debt, rising food costs, and stock market losses as American consumers’ top concern.
The cost of fuel is of such concern that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has proposed a Federal tax holiday on gasoline from Memorial Day to Labor Day to help relieve the burden. The Federal gasoline tax is currently 18.4 cents per gallon for unleaded gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. Analysts warn that reducing Federal fuel taxes may encourage consumption, which is counterproductive to finding a long-term solution to the rising cost of fuel.
Source: PhysOrg, via AFP
Source: AFP
Photo Credit: Kelly K.
MIRA Introduces Plugless Plug-in Hybrid Conversion
April 28, 2008
MIRA has announced a retrofit hybrid conversion kit that provides removable battery packs that plug into a wall outlet for charging. According to the company, the kit can reduce fuel costs by 61% and can reduce tailpipe CO2 emissions by nearly 40 percent, while making a minimal impact on vehicle design. The vehicle’s battery packs also charge while the car is running on its gasoline- or diesel-powered engine.
The company created a proof-of-concept demonstration vehicle, known as the H4V, and was supported as a research project by the Energy Savings Trust’s Low Carbon Research and Development program, and funded by the UK’s Department of Transportation.
The rationale for the removable batteries is cost: it’s cheaper to get electricity from the power company than it is to run a combustion engine, but retrofitting a car with a plug-in kit that requires the entire vehicle to be plugged in is both expensive and impractical. By making the battery packs removable, the range of the car can be extended effectively, provided that the driver has access to electricity at his intermediate destination.
Each lithium-ion phosphate battery stores about 30 kW and is contained in a “cassette” that is about the size of a briefcase. The kit requires three batteries and tests have shown that it delivers better economy than a standard hybrid system does. In addition, the mods feature a regenerative braking system to capture inertia. This, in turn, charges the batteries while the car is in motion. According to the company, regeneration technologies have just become mature enough to provide enough of a cost advantage to make their addition compelling.
The system is not currently in production but MIRA intends to bring it to market soon. The overall cost of the kit is about £2,000, or about USD$4,000.
Photo Credit: MIRA
USDOT Proposes 36-mpg Fuel Economy Standard For 2015
April 24, 2008
In conjunction with Earth Day celebrations, US Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters introduced proposed regulations that would require automakers to achieve an average fuel economy of 35.7 mpg for passenger cars, and 28.6 mpg for light trucks by 2015, five years ahead of the Congressional CAFE standard of 35 mpg by 2020.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the new regulations would save 55 billion gallons of fuel, reduce carbon emissions by 521 million metric tons and save drivers an estimated $100 billion in fuel costs.
The proposed USDOT regulations also establish a system of credits that automakers would earn for exceeding the proposed regulations. Such credits could then be used to offset sanctions imposed on vehicle lines that do not meet the CAFE regulations. Credits could be stored by the automaker or sold to other automakers.
Auto analysts have already said that automakers can only meet the CAFE standards by introducing hybrid vehicle technologies. The major automakers in the US are already under regulations that require the production of reduced-emission vehicles by 2012. In addition, several US states have initiated their own emissions policies, although California has recently reduced its emissions requirements for automakers who sell cars in that state.
GM and Daimler have both said that they are prepared to meet the standards regardless of the cost of doing so.
Source: NHTSA
Photo Credit: Matthew Maaskant
Development Costs Won’t Stop Daimler Diesel-Electric Hybrid
April 22, 2008
According to Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, the company will market an advanced diesel hybrid, regardless of the development costs. Daimler joins a growing number of companies willing to take the pledge. Zetsche points out that legislation will soon require higher fuel economy standards that can only be met by the development of hybrid technologies. In contrast, other automakers insist that hybrid technologies will be brought to market only at the rate at which consumers are willing to pay for them.
Adding to the debate was Margo Oge’s statements at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit last week. Oge, who is the director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality department, said that she believes that automakers may be need to offer 75-mpg vehicles by the 2030’s, in order to achieve the 2050 greenhouse emissions reductions goals of 50%-80%.
In practice, however, the State of California recently blinked for the second time in five years on its zero-emission vehicle standards, reducing the number of ZEVs required to be on the road, increasing the number of acceptable non-ZEV technologies and lengthening the time in which automakers have to comply with the state’s mandate. Additionally, states with ZEV standards patterned after California’s are expected to lower their ZEV requirements accordingly.
Meanwhile, demand for oil is expected to increase from its current levels of 85 million barrels per day to 120 million barrels per day by 2030, largely due to increased demand for vehicles in China an India. According to GM, the size of the world’s auto fleet could also increase to more than one billion in the same time.
Some experts expect biofuels to take up the slack, but recent interest in the formulations has not produced a clear-cut solution. Corn, a popular biofuel component, is a staple in the diet of many. Rising demand for corn for biofuel production has reduced the amount of corn available for food. Mexico has seen the price of corn jump more than 400 percent in the past year, which has spurred protests from people who cannot afford to pay the increased cost of flour, tortillas and other corn-based products.
Biofuel technology may also be lacking. Congressional mandates also call for an increase in the use of biofuels, and all gasoline sold in the US by 2013 must be a 10% ethanol formulation. Congress has also ordered the production of cellulosic ethanol, a technology that’s still under development, and may not be ready for widespread use in time to comply with the legislation.
Volvo Testing Hybrid Trash Trucks In Sweden
April 18, 2008
Two Swedish waste hauling firms are testing Volvo’s new hybrid garbage trucks in advance of the company’s planned market release in 2009. The trucks offer a 20 percent savings in fuel over Volvo’s non-hybrid model.
The hybrid trash truck features a 7.0L diesel-electric powertrain and regenerative braking. The diesel-electric hybrid concept vehicle was first presented in 2006. According to Volvo, the hybrid model is powerful enough to pull a heavy load and is more cost-effective than other alternatives.
The truck uses its electric motor on start-up and for acceleration to 20 kph. The vehicle automatically switches from diesel to electric when the truck stops, providing quiet curbside collection. Regenerative braking, which is ideal for stops and starts, charges a battery pack that runs the truck’s compactor unit. This secondary system is also recharged when the truck is parked overnight. The interoperation of the diesel and electric motors could cut CO2 emissions by as much as 30 percent.
The trash truck represents the first of several hybrid heavy vehicles Volvo has planned.
Extreme Hybrid Goes Cross-Country For Earth Day
April 17, 2008
The 150 MPG Extreme Hybrid SUV, a product of the AFS Trinity Power Corporation, is currently making a cross-country trip, and will be on display at the Capitol Mall on Earth Day, April 20, 2008. The vehicle stopped last week in Austin, TX for a demonstration sponsored by Austin Energy and the Plug-n Partners, an Austin-based consortium that supports the development of PHEVs.
In recent tests, the vehicle was able to power a 200-hp motor at speeds of up to 86 mph and charges on normal house current (110V). According to AFS Trinity CEO Edward Furia, most American drivers would use no gasoline at all and would not draw significantly more power from the grid than they do now, if their vehicles were powered by the technologies that drive the XH-150. Further, Furia estimates that owners could recoup the vehicle’s cost in 2-3 years, based primarily on fuel savings.
The vehicle offers a dual mode operation: all-electric for the first 40 miles - which would suit most American commuters, or hybrid gas-electric operation, which would increase the maximum output to 370-hp, and run both the gasoline engine and the electric motor. This mode is better suited for towing or emergency vehicles.
The company expects to license its hybrid powertrain to auto manufacturers for production within two to three years. AFS Trinity has created a number of novel power generation and storage technologies for automobiles, spacecraft and stationary power sources. The company also produces flywheel-based propulsion systems for Formula 1 race cars.
