Hybrid News

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Etc., Green Daily

The tumbling economy has certainly taken its toll on automakers, ethanol producers and everyone else, pretty much. Why should T. Boone Pickens escape the downfall? He hasn’t. The huge west Texas wind farm that is part of T. Boone Pickens’s new energy Plan has been delayed and now probaly won’t be ready by 2011. According to CNET the delay is because the farm is “having trouble getting financing because of the credit crunch.” Sheesh, if a billionaire can’t get a loan, then we′re all screwed. The good news, if you’re in favor of the Plan, is that Pickens called this a temporary setback. While Pickens made the announcement at the Forbes Energy Conference this past week, when he also made completely positive appearance on the Daily Show. Watch it after the jump.

[Source: Sustainable Business, CNET]

Continue reading Economic woes slow down the Pickens Plan West Texas wind farm

Economic woes slow down the Pickens Plan West Texas wind farm originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Daily

Better Place′s Shai Agassi is all over the map, and I don’t mean because his company is talking about unleashing electric cars in Australia, Israel, Denmark and other places. Back in October, he claimed that the Chevy Volt would be a “niche product.” Whatever accuracy that statement has, it certainly doesn’t seem to jive with the message he gave to the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco recently, where he once again proposed giving people free electric cars if they signed up for Better Place’s electric car plan (when it becomes a reality). BP would then make money off of the usage fees. He calls it the cell phone model, but I don’t see how handing someone a big car with expensive batteries that costs way more than a RAZR to make and then taking their $50 a month will result in a profit. Especially if he thinks that EVs will be niche-y. Of course, his dissatisfaction with the Volt was that’d it be too expensive, but isn’t making the cars free going too far in the other direction?

[Source: WIRED]

Thinking about Better Place’s free car strategy originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Renault, USA

A123 Systems may (repeat, may) have lost out on being the initial supplier of Chevy Volt batteries but that doesn’t mean they are down and out. In fact, it appears that their lithium-iron-phosphate batteries will have energy storage duties for the electric cars of Better Place. Or at least some of the cars. A123 recently received an undisclosed amount of investment from Ofer Holdings Group which controls Better Place backer, Israel Corp. Idan Ofer, who is chairman of both Israel Corp. and Better Place made the announcement in Australia during a press conference for the launch of Better Place operations there. Got all that? Good, because it doesn’t get much less complicated.

Better Place is reportedly about to import 10 family-type cars from the U.S. to be used as sales demonstration vehicles and conduct various sorts of testing and training with. Although Ofer Holdings has a joint venture with China’s Chery Automobiles Co. that will supply cars for the Israeli market, there is a possibility these particular cars might come from Chrysler or Chevrolet. At least according to “industry sources” cited in a Globes article. There is also a possibility that cars could come to the U.S. from Renault in Europe and have electric drivetrains installed before being sent off to Israel. Renault is a partner with Better Place as well. It seems that the only thing known for sure is what Better Place is quoted as saying. “The cars slated for tests in Israel are being assembled in the US and will arrive in Israel soon.” We’ll let you know what they’re assembling as soon as we find out ourselves.

[Source: Globes / BusinessWeek]

Better Place to test A123 batteries in American car? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Green Daily, Austin Alt Car Expo

If you want to get an answer to the question of whether or not consumers will flock to plug-in vehicles, Southern California Edison′s Ed Kjaer and Better Place’s Sven Thesen would be great people to get to put up some answers. That’s exactly what happened at the Austin Alt Car expo last weekend, where they presented an optimistic yet realistic assessment of what PHEVs might bring to the auto industry. The real question, Kjaer said, isn′t “Will Consumers Buy In?” but will the OEMs build PHEVs in volume? And that is not a given, not by a long shot. Kjaer didn′t dodge the original question, just posited that the answer is a pretty obvious “yes.” Whether or not we get the chance is the issue. Follow us after the jump for all the details.

Continue reading Austin Alt Car: Will Consumers Buy In? Duh.

Austin Alt Car: Will Consumers Buy In? Duh. originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Starting right about now (1 pm Pacific time), the folks from Better Place will hop onto the Seesmis video conversation channel and talk about what’s new with the Australia announcement. I’ll be listening in and updating this post with any news, but if you want to join in yourself, set up and account quickly and watch here (No, I don′t get how a Seesmic video conversation works, either).

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Pacific Region

We′ll, that didn’t take long. The announcement from Better Place about the next country planned for the electric vehicle expansion is here and we’re off to Australia. Better Place announced the deal with AGL Energy and Macquarie Capital Group today, and there is more information coming in a conference call tomorrow. The information thus far is that Better Place will deploy an electric vehicle network, powered by renewable energy, that apparently has the potential to power all of Australia’s 15 million cars. As an email from Better Place put it: “As the world’s sixth largest country, Australia was selected to show that the Better Place model works in any country, regardless of size. If Australia can do it, so can others”. Read more here and stay tuned tomorrow for more.

[Source: Better Place]

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in

Last week, Better Place CEO Shai Agassi gave a speech in San Francisco trying to sell his EV ideas. The Bay Area is one place that Agassi’s battery-swapping electric vehicle company wants to make, well, better. So far, Israel and Denmark have officially signed up for the program, but SF can join the list of other areas where Better Place might set up shop (i.e., Japan). Should California install the Better Place system, Agassi said last week, the infrastructure would cost $1.5 billion. To do the entire U.S. would be $100 billion. This may seem like a lot, but compare this to how much the U.S. spends on importing oil: about $1.5 billion every two weeks, according to Agassi. The numbers look good for Israel and Denmark, and Agassi also dropped word that another “large” country has signed on to be a part of Better Place; he’ll announce that country sometime this week. H/t to Arnold S. for the tip!

[Source: Earth2Tech]

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Hybrid, BMW

BMW’s upcoming 7 Series ActiveHybrid (where do they come up with these names, anyway?) will use a 120 volt lithium ion battery pack that will be supplied by Johnson Controls-Saft. That battery will be assembled at the Johnson Controls-Saft production facility in Nersac, France. BMW will place the lithium ion battery in the trunk, while a BMW standard-fare 12 volt Absorbent Glass Mat battery will reside under its hood. This is the same heavy duty battery already used in BMWs with brake energy regeneration. While BMW’s 7 Series shares hybrid technology with the new Mercedes-Benz 𔗈 BlueHybrid, that uber-sedan will use a 120 volt battery supplied by Continental that will be placed under the hood where the normal lead-acid battery would go. Mercedes has opted to use a single battery configuration with a step down to supply the usual 12V accesories. These two big machines will go up against each other for hybrid luxury car supremacy sometime next year.

[Source: Johnson Controls]

Continue reading BMW 7 Series ActiveHybrid to use batteries from Johnson Controls-Saft

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid

Electric. Hybrid. Plug-in Hybrid, clean diesel and hydrogen fuel cells. With so many differing types of green technology fighting for the chance to lure the green from your pocketbook, you may wonder which of these fuel-saving technologies will end up the winner. Well, that depends on who you ask. Clean diesel holds some promise, and there is a good chance that diesel will make a big push in the next few years. Still, in America, it’s the hybrid that’s making the biggest splash at the moment, and PHEVs and electric cars seem to be next. Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls′ Power Solutions business (makers of lithium ion batteries), sees things staying as they are. Because there are only so many development dollars to spend, major automakers will need to pick a technology and stick with it, he argues, and that dominant technology will be hybrid cars and, eventually, fully electric cars. What’s your take?

[Source: Reuters]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Green Daily

Well, today was day zero of the third annual Santa Monica AltCar Expo. The public is invited to check out all of the green rides at the Santa Monica Civic Center starting tomorrow, but anyone who was walking by the center’s parking lot this morning could get an early taste of what will be on display this weekend. We were roaming the area with our camera and thought you might want to see what we saw.

It was impossible to miss the predominance of electric vehicles at the parking lot preview today. From the Skeuter to three examples from Wild Electric Custom Cars, from the new Zerobike (it’s the black bike in the gallery below) to the old standbys from Miles EV and Hybrid Technologies, there were lots of electron-powered rides on display. There are always some surprises to be had here at AltCar, and so far the MIIN-AER car (above) seems to be the most unusual. This is a 1999 Porsche Boxter that’s had its ICE guts ripped out and replaced by a compressed-air system. The designer says that it’ll go 50 miles at 65 mph and takes just ten minutes to recharge the tanks. Even though the press release pasted after the jump says media could take the car for a spin, that didn’t happen. We’ll see what the weekend brings.

One other vehicle that caught everyone’s eye was the Triobike, a sweet pedal-powered bike that has a baby stroller attached to the front. Basically, you load up your kids in the stroller, ride to your destination, then detach the stroller from the bike and then push the kids through the park or mall or whatever. The Triobike can also carry a front tire around and convert to a normal two-wheeled when needed. A friend of mine said that the one improvement she’d like to see would be to have the kids pedal the adult around. They’ve always go so much energy, right?

Take a look at all these rides in the galleries below.

Continue reading Santa Monica AltCar Expo 2008 preview rocks a parking lot

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Solar, USA

Although one of the oft-cited criticisms of solar power is that the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day, the fact of the matter is that the sun never actually stops shining. Armed with this knowledge and a strong desire to solve the planet’s energy supply problems, the former manager of NASA’s Exploration Systems Research and Technology Program and co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Managed Energy Technologies LLC, John C. Mankins, has conducted an experiment in wireless power transmission over a 148-kilometer (92-mile) distance. Not having access to suitable spacecraft at the moment, the experiment was conducted between a couple Hawaiian islands and the energy was transmitted via microwaves. Of course, the Japanese are pondering how to do the same thing with lasers. If you want to learn more about how space-based solar could supply the energy to power our cities and transportation systems you can tune in to the Discovery Channel at 10 tonight for an hour-long special on the concept and experiment. The National Space Society also has a great web-based fount of information on space solar power if you want to learn even more. Press release after the break.

[Source: National Space Society]

Continue reading Space-based solar transmission test successful

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, On Two Wheels

Click above to enlarge

We recently got on the phone with Dan Squiller from PowerGenix, a company which hopes to “revolutionize the battery industry″ with its new nickel-zinc batteries. The firm’s batteries will soon make an appearance in power tools and in lawn and garden machinery, with ebikes, scooters and consumer AA-sized units shipping shortly thereafter. Of course, the company also sees huge room for expansion in hybrid cars and has plans to sell its technology to a major manufacturing company in the near-term future.

What makes the company think its product is so good? Read on past the break for the story.

Continue reading ABG speaks with PowerGenix about NiZn batteries

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Etc., Green Daily, USA

Photo: splorp - Licensed under CC 2.0

Higher gas prices equal fewer miles driven. Fewer miles driven equals fewer traffic fatalities. At least, that’s the assumption, ‘cause it’s really impossible to know for sure what is driving the current death rate decline on American roadways. Still, that above equation sure makes sense, so we′re gonna go ahead and conclude for ourselves that it’s true. Add that to the fact that many drivers who can’t get off the roads have slowed down to counter the high fuel surcharges which accompany a lead foot, and total motor vehicle fatalities are down 9-percent this year.

There have only been two other times in American history where traffic death statistics dropped so drastically in such short order, one of which was when the country endured its last gas price spike during 1973 and 1974. Coincidence? Hardly. One more good effect from higher gas prices is that fewer drunk drivers are on the roads, as more drinkers choose to consume their alcohol at home instead of driving to the bar. See? High gas prices do have their advantages. Thanks for the tip, Alex!

[Source: AP via AT&T]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Original post by tecis

This is an article on MSN from this week comparing the best and worst used cars:http://editorial.autos.msn.com/artic…umentid=435706 Ratings are used to show which vehicles to avoid and which ones to look for. Toyota has by far the most vehicles on the "best" list (15), including the Camry(not the V6). More proof of Toyota quality.

Original post by CJO2007CamryHyb