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News Archive
Monday, August 30, 2004
Norway may get used Ford electric cars
News from DetNews.com - Detroit, MI, USA:
OSLO — Ford Motor Co. may avoid having to crush about 350 Think City electric cars that can’t be reused in the United States when leases end if Norway accepts them. Ford, which sold the Think unit’s assets to Kamkorp Ltd. in 2002, doesn’t want to be held liable for the vehicles. The cars don’t meet U.S. safety standards and got a waiver for only the lease period. Ford leased the cars in New York and California for as long as three years before selling Think. Ford has an offer from Norwegian company Elbil Norge to buy the cars.
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Monday, August 30, 2004
Going from electric to hydrogen
News from Fairfield Daily Republic - Fairfield,CA,USA:
Ed Huestis is among 13 local residents who have taken their last drives in their pioneering General Motors electric cars. Yesterday's wave of the future is history. General Motors is pulling the plug on the cars it leased to customers and wants them back. "I don't even want to think about it," said Huestis, city transportation systems manager, who spearheaded Vacaville's electric vehicle incentives program.
[...]
Tony Barker is another Vacaville resident having to give up his EV1. "I think it was the neatest car I ever had," Barker said. "It was lots of fun to drive. It got me away from the gas pumps. It got me in the car pool lane solo. I saved me tons of time. It was real sporty."
Barker just bought a Chevrolet S-10 electric pickup truck that had been used by a Georgia utility. He paid under $10,000, bidding on it sight unseen. It was delivered last week. "I'm getting to work as cheap and clean as possible," he said. [...]
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Thursday, August 26, 2004
LG Chem Win $4.6m Contract to Develop Li-Ion Batteries for Vehicles
News from Azom.com - USA:
LG Chem, Ltd., the largest chemical company in Korea, announced today that it has been granted a USD 4.6 million contract by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to develop advanced Lithium-ion Polymer Battery cells for Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs).
The USABC was formed in 1991 by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the BIG Three Automakers (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler) with the objective of pursuing research and development of advanced energy storage systems. Under the contract, LG Chem and Compact Power Inc. (CPI, LG Chem's U.S. battery system research institute,) will jointly carry out the project.
The project is the first step of a two-phase project for the development of high-tech battery pack systems for HEVs. During the course of the first phase, which will last until August 2005, LG Chem will develop a highly advanced lithium-ion polymer battery cells, while CPI will take charge of the development of the battery management system electronics and software.
"We received the highest scores in all categories that USABC put out to evaluate the candidates for the Li-Ion Polymer Battery Development Project. Our advanced technology in rechargeable batteries and battery systems has enabled us to become the first Asian company to sign a development contract with USABC," said Jong-Kee Yeo, the CTO and president of LG Chem.
LG Chem's highly advanced technology in Li-Ion Polymer batteries has received recognition for being the first to be applied in prototype HEVs. It was also the crucial factor in LG Chem winning the U.S. Pikes Peak International Hill Climb rally in 2002 and 2003 with its self-developed Li-Ion Polymer electric vehicle. Moreover, NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) is currently evaluating LG Chem's technology for the Mars Explorer mission scheduled for 2007.
[...]
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Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Sheffield tests commercial electric vans
News from ITV YorkShire - Leeds, England, UK:
14 Jun, 2004
Sheffield is to be the test bed for the world's first purpose-built electric commercial vehicles, which made their first appearance in the city today. The electric vans can travel at up to 50 miles an hour and go a 100 miles before they need refuelling. [...]
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Thursday, August 19, 2004
ZERO-EMISSION car showcased
News from Green Consumer Guide, 11 June 2004 (UK):
A fully electric, zero-emission car that can be charged through a conventional three-point socket proved to be a surprise hit at this year’s Motor Show Live in Birmingham. The Reva G-Wiz AEV (Automatic Electric Vehicle), available from GoinGreen, was showcased at the event by renewable energy supplier npower Juice, providing visitors with an insight into truly sustainable transport. The car was displayed alongside an eye-catching npower Juice wind turbine, signifying the green link.
The G-Wiz was one of several eco-friendly cars appearing at the show this year, with hybrid offerings from Honda and Toyota and improved fuel economy versions of popular models from Ford, Volkswagen and Citroen. The amount of green-minded cars on show highlighted the growing trend for manufacturers to consider environmental issues more seriously, and the increasing popularity with buyers.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Swiss Roll cuts hybrid car costs
News from John Webb, London Press Service:
[...] The research team was given the task of finding a solution to the problem that conventional lead-acid batteries cannot cope with the high power demands of hybrid cars, and very expensive nickel metal hydride batteries have to be used instead.
The result is a lead-acid battery that is totally different from those in use but promises to significantly cut the price of hybrid cars by eliminating their need to use nickel metal hydride units.
Although it uses acid, there is no free liquid in the Rholab battery. Instead, the acid is absorbed within a glass fibre separator and the individual cells are round, not square, and spirally wound as a Swiss roll.
Each two-volt cell is fully sealed and while technically each of the Rholab battery's four 36-volt modules need only 18 cells, the researchers have cleverly built in a 19th cell that is part of the battery's secret formulation.
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Sunday, August 15, 2004
New Tech Allows Electric Bus to Run on Commercially Available Zinc
Press Release from Arotech Corporation:
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 2004--Arotech Corporation (NasdaqNM:ARTX) announced today that its Electric Vehicle unit has developed technology that will allow its zinc-air batteries to use commercially available zinc, eliminating the need for the special dendritic zinc used to date. Arotech's technological breakthrough for utilizing readily available zinc will boost commercialization plans for the zinc-air hybrid bus, which until now required heavy investments in zinc producing infrastructure.
Eliminating costly infrastructure will allow transit bus operators to achieve reasonable economies even when deploying small or medium fleets. Furthermore, the new technology will enable small scale tests, which otherwise would have required a significant investment in zinc regeneration infrastructure. Zinc supplier and recycler will be able to supply zinc fuel using existing commercial production technology and capacity -- removing a major market entry barrier.
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Thursday, August 12, 2004
Council bosses unveil green machine
News from Bedford Today (UK):
14 May 2004
Luton Council has taken delivery of its first all-electric van - to be used by the pest control service.
The Citroën Berlingo looks just like its diesel counterpart, but without a fuel tank. Instead, council workers just have to plug it in each evening to a convenient power point.
With no toxic emissions and costing just 50p to recharge, the van is clean, green and economical.
Top speed is 60mph and when fully charged the vehicle can travel up to 50 miles - more than enough for the rounds it will cover.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2004
A Bejing Olymics would need EVs
Essay from China Economic Net (Published 2004-05-11)
In the application for the Olympic Games and presentations made prior to the voting, Beijing and the Chinese Government made the commitment on environment and transportation, two issues that are sensitive in holding Olympics and of concern to the world: The number of days when air quality is good would exceed two-thirds of the total; vehicle exhaust index would meet Euro III standard; more than 90 per cent of buses used in urban transport would consume clean fuel or meet clean vehicle exhaust standard; the city would work on rail transit and rapid transit to dramatically raise the average speed of transit vehicle, alleviate traffic jams and pollution caused by car emissions.
[...]
To coordinate the relationship between vehicles, energy and environment, people are working on clean vehicle fuels and exploring ideal sources of power. Among other things, electric vehicle, which offers energy-saving and environmental protection features, may become the most important means of transportation in this century. In the past more than a decade, car giants around the world invested heavily in the R&D of battery-powered electric vehicle. And technology of hybrid electric vehicle is reaching maturity; they are offered for sale or rental in the United States, Japan and Germany. Battery-powered electric vehicle is perceived as one of the main development trends of the automobile industry with immense development potential.
China lags behind the world's pacesetters in the field of vehicles driven by internal combustion engines for about twenty years, but in the field of electric vehicle, the gap spans only 4-5 years. It is possible for China to obtain an advantageous position by leveraging the demand of the 2008 Olympics to achieve frog-leaping development in the new round of competition in the world automobile industry. The Ministry of Science and Technology and Beijing Municipal Government set up a special fund for "Science & Technology Olympics" to support intelligent transportation and electric vehicle projects. The UNDP/GEF demonstration project of battery-powered buses was launched. Fueled by the immense demand of the Olympics, R&D of environmentally-friendly vehicle has become a new hotspot area in China's automobile industry.
[...]
To tackle the existing major issues, experts recommend the following countermeasures. First of all, a specialized agency should be set up to study the implementation of Euro III standard. Being made up of environmental protection bureaus, fuel oil companies, public transportation corporations, automobile industry association and some carmakers, the agency needs to work out specific implementation planning on the basis of study of the standard, testing, usage and fuel oil. Secondly, it is necessary to take on trial hybrid electric vehicle technology in buses, with R&D agencies and manufactures being selected through bidding. Thirdly, it is essential to press ahead with the planning, technical standard setting and progress of parking lot construction.
Read the full essay...
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
ELECTRIC vehicle, Eco-Rick
News from Goodnewsindia.com - Chennai,India:
[...]That is why an exciting electric vehicle initiative in India is good news for friends of this planet. Bajaj Auto is set to launch the Eco-Rick, an all electric auto-rickshaw, in September this year. It can travel 130 km between charges; each full charge takes 7 hours. A few demo pieces have been running around the Taj Mahal, Agra where gasoline vehicles are banned. During the 3 year trials, the vehicle design has acquitted itself. Bajaj will produce about 60 Eco-Ricks per month initially, each vehicle costing Rs.1.5 Lakhs.
The electric drive that powers the Eco-Rick, began life as a darling of solar car enthusiasts who race their concept cars over hundreds of kilometres in the USA and Australia. A novel design by Dean Patterson of Northern Territory University [NTU] of Australia is very popular among university teams that build solar cars. It is worth understanding it. [...]
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