McCain Proposes EV Battery, ZEV Competition

Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain is calling for a $300 million prize for the development of an innovative battery that will help the US decrease its reliance on foreign oil. The senator is expected to describe his proposal while campaigning on the campus of Fresno State University. The winning battery should have “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.” The winning device should also deliver at 30% of the current cost of HEV and EV batteries

In addition, McCain is calling for a Clean Car Challenge, hoping to spur US automakers into developing zero-emission vehicles. That plan includes offering a $5,000 tax credit to ZEV buyers.

McCain’s rival, Senator Barack Obama pledged to close a loophole in trading regulations that exempts most over-the-counter energy trades from oversight and is believed to be fueling increased prices for the per-barrel cost of oil. Closing the loophole would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission full oversight of the oil futures market. The Obama campaign estimated on Sunday that speculation could be adding between $20 and $50 per barrel to the cost of oil. Oil closed on Friday at $135 per barrel.

Photo Credit: Craig Jewell

Hot Wheels: Prius PHEV Goes Up In Flames

The Cooperative Research Network is reporting that a Toyota Prius that was retrofitted with a plug-in hybrid vehicle kit made by Hybrids-Plus exploded earlier this month. The vehicle was part of a test fleet being evaluated by the Central Electric Power Cooperative. The vehicle had been in service since 2007, as part of UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies’ Plug-In Hybrid Center program, which put 100 retrofitted Priuses on the road in northern California.

Researchers had reported charger-related malfunctions on the vehicle but continued to operate it as part of the test vehicle fleet. The vehicle caught on fire while it was being driven. The driver pulled to the side of the road, exited the vehicle and shortly thereafter, the car exploded.

CRN reports that the A123 Li-ion battery pack, which was all but ruled out as the source of the fire, performed well during the event and showed little damage. The researchers may have difficulty determining the exact failure mode, since the vehicle had no data logger at the time of the accident.

Source: Daily Tech

Photo Credit: Ossian Engmark

Ford Exec Promotes Government R&D Help, Tax Breaks For PHEVs

Mark Fields, President of the Americas at the Ford Motor Company, suggested that Washington, DC should subsidize the accelerated development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Fields also expressed the need for a domestic battery supply for electric vehicles and PHEVs manufactured in the US.

Fields suggested that the government should provide tax breaks and other incentives for consumers who wish to purchase these vehicles, to help offset their higher sticker price. He also indicated that the infrastructure to support electric vehicles would need to be modified to support widespread use. In a speech delivered at a PHEV conference sponsored by the Brookings Institute and Google, Fields said that PHEVs can only succeed in the open market through a “shared commitment to innovation and collaboration” among automakers, electric utilities and legislators.

Ford is currently developing a PHEV and is testing the vehicle in a cooperative partnership with Southern California Edison. Ford has not indicated when it plans to bring the PHEV into production, but will introduce two additional hybrid models - the Mercury Milan Hybrid and the Ford Fusion Hybrid, bringing Ford’s hybrid line to five. Additionally, Ford will offer EcoBoost, a turbo-charged, direct-injection engine that promises to deliver a fuel economy increase of up to 20% and a 15% reduction in carbon emissions.

Earlier this year, Chrysler President and Vice Chairman Jim Press touched off a firestorm of controversy by suggesting that the Japanese government had subsidized the development cost of Toyota’s Prius hybrid model. Press, who worked in Toyota’s upper echelon for thirty years, later issued a clarification of his statement, indicating that the Japanese automaker “worked closely” with the Japanese government, and that the US auto industry would benefit from such cooperation.

UK Company To Produce All-Electric Luxury, SUV Conversions

Liberty Electric Cars, Ltd in the UK will spend £30 million to re-engineer large sport utility vehicles and luxury cars with the goal of creating emission-free high-performance vehicles. The company will develop an all-electric drive train platform that can be used in a number of vehicles. One of the company’s first targets is an all-electric drive Range Rover. Liberty Electric Cars is predicting that annual conversion volume will be in the tens of thousands of vehicles.

The company promises that its conversions will deliver quiet, emission-free vehicles that have less impact than a small subcompact, while preserving the luxury design of larger vehicles. The conversions will provide better performance and acceleration, offer a longer driving range between charges and a shorter recharge time than most current all-electric vehicles.

Consumers can expect to see an 80% drop in operation costs for the converted SUVs and luxury vehicles, largely due to the high efficiency of the vehicles’ electric motor. The company has not yet determined where its production facility will be, but is considering a number of location options. Locating a site that will help the company limit its environmental impact is important. Once a site is located, the company expects to create about 250 jobs.

European Union Announces Fuel Cell Joint Technology Initiative

The European Parliament has approved the creation of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Initiative, European Union’s fifth such joint technology initiative. The goal of this initiative is to accelerate the development and introduction of cost-effective fuel cell and hydrogen technologies for a wide variety of applications, including automotive, stationary and portable power systems.

The FCH joint technology initiative will extend the work of the Hydrogen and and Fuel Cell Technology platform, an industry initiative. That plan calls upon industries to provide commercialization of fuel cell technologies for small applications, like handheld mobile phones and other devices by 2010; larger stationary applications should be ready for market by 2015 and automotive applications should be widely available by 2020.

The venture will have a 10-year budget of €1 billion. The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen initiative will be formally launched in October at a conference in Brussels. This JTI represents the first public-private JTI partnership for the EU. Other JTIs are focused on the development of embedded computing systems, nanotechnologies, aeronautics and air transport, and new medicines.

Photo Credit: Svilen Milev

GM Reaches Operational Milestone With Volt Prototype

According to General Motors, its Volt prototype can travel 40 miles on all-electric power. The vehicle, which entered testing just last month, has reached its target battery-powered driving range. For operational testing, the company is working with modified Chevy Malibus. GM also recently announced that it had finalized the body design of the Volt and expects to put the vehicle into production in 2010. The final design reportedly does not feature the same styling as the concept and looks more like an ordinary sedan.

In an interview with Edumuds, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz indicated that the Volt prototypes were operating on electric power and meeting the company’s range goals despite obvious mismatches in calibration, drive train components and body design.

The final design for the Volt will offer a gas-electric, diesel-electric or alternative-fuel configurations, depending upon the market in which it is being sold. The vehicle will run on Li-ion batteries, however, GM has yet to name a supplier. Products from Continental and LG Chem/CPI are being evaluated right now, and Lutz has previously said that he expects to name a battery supplier by July 2008. In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, Continental CEO Manfred Wennemer said that the company would build a US-based production plant if the contract goes to Continental.

Lutz Hints That An All-Battery Volt Might Be Possible

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

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.

USDOT Proposes 36-mpg Fuel Economy Standard For 2015

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

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.

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