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News Archive
Saturday, October 30, 2004
New York Company Launches Electric Vehicle Venture
News from EV World:
A virtual department store of electric vehicles will launch today from a new company dedicated to marketing EVs and ultimately supplying them with power from the wind and sun.
Electric Transportation Solutions, LLC today begins selling 17 different models of high-quality electric scooters, bikes and golf cars on its new site, www.electrictransport.net. The vehicles range from a $90 electric skateboard called the Chariot, to the luxurious Crucero™ Z-6 cart that can transport 6 people around the golf course or gated community in high style. ETS also sells a full line of electric-powered bicycles and city scooters that borrow styling cues from today’s popular European models but produce no tailpipe emissions.
“Electric vehicles are the cleanest form of transportation on the planet today,” ETS President and Managing Member Seth Leitman said. “ETS is committed to providing electric vehicles – and only electric vehicles. We built our company on the belief that all vehicles should be emission and pollution free.”
As an example, Leitman pointed to the popularity of motorized vehicles. “Even young children today are attuned to environmental issues while being fascinated by the technology and fun of powered bikes and scooters. ETS products offer them the best of both worlds: battery power and uncompromised fun.”
Most of the new company’s products are sold exclusively through ETS on the web. The exception is the highly regarded EVT America line of city scooters.
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Monday, October 25, 2004
ARMY Provides Electric 'Chariots' To Park Rangers
News from American International Automobile Dealers Association - Alexandria,VA,USA
Park rangers of the Huron-Clinton Park Authority at Kensington Metropark, in Milford, Mich., have received two American Chariot personal transport vehicles from the Army’s National Automotive Center, in Warren, Mich.
The electric-powered vehicles are part of the soldier mobility program that "tests vehicles in military and commercial scenarios before providing them to soldiers in the field," said an official.
The three-wheeled transports have a top speed of 20 miles per hour and a range of 15 miles. They can carry up to 350 pounds.
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Thursday, October 21, 2004
E-Ride steers electric cars toward myriad markets
News from St. Cloud Times - St. Cloud, MN, USA:
By Sue Halena
E-Ride grew out of a reorganization of Classic Golf Cars, a custom golf car business that started 14 years ago in Princeton. The "e" in E-Ride stands for environmental, electric and economics, said Lietha, 26.
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In the late 1990s, Classic Golf Cars owner John Herou noticed that 90 percent of his vehicles were being used off the golf course. In 1998, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued rules that clarified the requirements for low-speed electric vehicles.
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Sartell engineer Lee Hart has been driving electric vehicles for 30 years. He worked with a Seattle company to help design a full-speed electric vehicle called the Tango, which is in its fourth prototype.
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"There were electric cars before there were gasoline cars," Hart said. But U.S. automakers chose the less-expensive gasoline engine, and Hart believes they're having a hard time letting go of it.
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A California mandate prompted large automakers to offer zero-emissions vehicles as well as heavy trucks.
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They're designing the vehicles to use as many automotive parts as possible, including regular car tires. They've simplified the water-refill system for batteries. They're focusing sales in concentrated areas after watching similar companies fail to manage service in scattered markets. They're focusing on fleet owners more than individuals. They took a vehicle to a New York trade show where 1,200 government purchasing agents looked at fleet-related services.
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Sunday, October 17, 2004
VW Changes Its Mind and Announces Hybrid Vehicles are In Its Future
News from 123Auto.com:
by: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press
After stating it wouldn't be looking at hybrids as an interim answer to reducing fuel consumption and cleaning up emissions, Volkswagen AG seems to be changing its mind on the issue. It recently showed a diesel-electric hybrid prototype that many analysts are saying hints at what may be on the horizon for Europe's number one automaker. The Golf ECO.Power was demonstrated at the Challenge Bibendum in Shanghai (a program started by Michelin), earlier this week, and features an 85-kilowatt (114-hp), 1.4-liter 3-cylinder diesel joined to a 15 kilowatt (20-hp) electric motor.
The diesel-HEV could potentially deliver up to 10 to 15 percent better fuel economy than a comparable gasoline-electric powertrain, stated Matthias Rabe, director of research for the VW Group. And what about performance? Zero to 100 km/h (0-62.5 mph) needs a mere 11.0 seconds while a top speed of approximately 196 km/h (122 mph) is attainable. The Golf ECO.Power is equipped with a stop-start function, similar to all current production hybrids, and achieves a thrifty 3.8 liter per 100 km fuel economy average.
VW was coy about production plans, with Rabe only stating that the technology could have great potential in some markets, highlighting North America due to fuel economy concerns, and China to reduce pollution.
As previously mentioned the Europeans have downplayed the viability of HEV technology in the market, with Volkswagen AG Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder questioning its real value even last year.
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Sunday, October 17, 2004
Electric car hit for BYD
News from The Standard (China):
by:Pamela Pun in Shenzhen
BYD, the world's second-largest manufacturer of phone batteries, had a problem facing many companies - once you've come to dominate or at least join the top tier of producers in any one industry, where do you turn for growth?
The Shenzhen-based firm thought it had found the answer last year when it purchased 77 per cent of a small, state-owned carmaker in northwestern Shaanxi for 269 million yuan (HK$253.32 million). Not only was China's car market booming, but BYD reckoned it could use its battery-making expertise to get a jump on rivals in the production of electric cars.
The first fruits of the effort - a fleet of electric taxis - were to hit the streets at this year's Shenzhen High-Tech Fair, now under way.
But when the fair opened, the taxis were nowhere to be found - a victim, the firm says, of the absence of national standards for electric vehicle design and manufacturing. Worse yet, there's not even a timetable for when the rules will be put in place.
BYD sales manager Wang Jianjun said the company believes it has mastered the technology needed to manufacture electric cars, but cannot proceed until national rules are set.
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Thursday, October 14, 2004
New-generation EV to be launched at 2005 Geneva Motor Show
News from Auto Industry - UK:
[...] The urban vehicle prototype code-named VBE1 is expected to claim a range of 200-300km thanks to a battery technology said to give a range four times that of lead-acid batteries and 1.5 times that of nickel metal hydride batteries, and is expected to reach speeds of up to 80 mph. It will be compact but able to seat more than one passenger, and its developers promise it will be cheaper in terms of both purchase price and running costs (at about £1,300 per annum) than an equivalent petrol or diesel car. Running costs in terms of energy alone are expected to be no more than &eruo;1/£0.66 per 62 miles.
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Monday, October 11, 2004
Electric vehicle expected to aid police department
News from Colts Neck News Transcript - Colts Neck,NJ,USA :
by:Larry Ramer
"The GEM can be used quietly for investigations and [to patrol] concerts, Marlboro Day and the aquatic center," Van Note told the council during its meeting Sept. 9. "It can be used for quiet investigations and it can be driven on the road at 35 mph or slower. It's an all-purpose vehicle."
On Sept. 23 the council voted 4-0 to approve the $12,400 purchase. Council members Barry Denkensohn, Joe Per-nice, Grover Burrows and Patti Morelli voted in favor of the purchase. Council-man James Mione was not present for the vote.
"We are purchasing this vehicle for a very reasonable amount," said Denken-sohn, who called the GEM a "funky" vehicle.
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Michael Stipe demands ringtones for electric cars
News from The Register (UK):
The idea came to Stipe when he nearly got totalled by a battery-powered vehicle in Los Angeles. He then experienced a blinding moment of clarity in which "I suddenly thought to myself: 'This is going to be a big, big problem. People will be run over by electric cars all the time. They make no noise. No sound. They're silent!"
Stipe quickly rejected the idea that electric jalopies should mimic the sound of a petrol-driven engine on the grounds that it would be "stupid". "And then it struck me - ringtones," he says. "People will program their car, as part of the insurance policy that states: 'Don't run people over with your silent car', with ringtones."
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Saturday, October 02, 2004
Pricy Oil Could Be a Boon for 'Air Car'
News from Associated Press:
Record high oil prices might seem like bad news for pretty much anyone in the auto industry, but one European car maker is hoping 50-dollar crude wasn't just a one-time spike.
Luxembourg-based Moteur Developpement International is gearing up for the launch of its Air Car line: cars that run on compressed air.
"It's safe, doesn't pollute, doesn't explode, it's not poisonous and it's not expensive," said MDI representative Sebastien Braud on Wednesday.
The company says the cars will initially go on sale in France, where the first assembly line is due to start production in the middle of next year.
The MiniCATS three-seater compact, a commercial version of a prototype showcased at the 2002 Paris Motor Show, will be priced at euro8,000 (US$9,850). The CitiCATS six-seater sedan will retail for euro13,000 (US$16,000).
In both cars, an electric pump compresses air into the tank at a pressure of 300 bars. The pump plugs straight into an ordinary household socket and takes four hours to complete the recharge.
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