EV Digest 4255
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) More possible interesting gliders from the Arcane and other lists. High
interest there.
by "Lawrence Rhodes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) Re: Arcane autos and connector for 1221Curtis Regen model.
by "Lawrence Rhodes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) Dual pack configuration
by Dave Cover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Re: Unconventional Liquid Motor Cooling Ideas?
by Lee Hart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) Re: BLAM!
by Eric Poulsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
6) RE: Unconventional Liquid Motor Cooling Ideas?
by "Myles Twete" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
7) Re: BLAM!
by Evan Tuer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
8) RE: Unconventional Liquid Motor Cooling Ideas?
by "Myles Twete" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
9) TdS Report #4: Sneak Preview: 18 Teams Compete in the TdS Championship;
Maybe More!
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
10) Meter or Charge?
by Richard Marcus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
11) RE: Unconventional Liquid Motor Cooling Ideas?
by "Andre' Blanchard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
12) webasto heater
by Evan Tuer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
13) Re: Transfer case as transmission
by "Peter VanDerWal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
14) Re: AC/DC motor questions
by Ryan Stotts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
15) Re: NEDRA Wicked Watts Special Guest
by Ryan Stotts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
16) Re: VW beetle questions
by Ryan Stotts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
17) Re: S-10 conversion for sale, "needs batteries"
by Ryan Stotts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
18) Sell my S-10 EV or part it out?
by "Mason Convey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
19) Re: article: The Vanadium Battery: The Ultimate Energy Storage Solution
by Reverend Gadget <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
20) RE: VW beetle questions
by "Roger Stockton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
21) EVLN(Voltageville's 45kW of PV runs 6 EV charging stations)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
22) EVLN(Aspire EV, China to be 1st alt-fuel superpower)-long
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--- Begin Message ---
[EMAIL PROTECTED] These guys love EV's already two guy from the
Arcane club want to do light EV's.
"Thanks to that guy who posted about EVs and his
electric bike regarding yesterday's Annual Meeting,
I have spent the past 2 hours not doing my 04 taxes as
planned, but instead, wandering around the internet
due to the initial link in his post here.
Darn it!"
From the NSU list:
http://www.microcarmuseum.com/forsale/nsuprinz.html
$500
Roof is dented, windshield cracked, was rolled in Germany many many
years ago and stored in a Museum collection there. It purchased with
a Museum collection several years ago and brought to the US and was
scheduled for restoration, but the Museum has aquired restored NSU
Prinz III, so this one must go.
comes with Georgia Registration (no title, Georgia does not issue
titles for pre 1964 or so cars....)
located in Madison, Georgia
Lawrence Rhodes
Bassoon/Contrabassoon
Reedmaker
Book 4/5 doubler
Electric Vehicle & Solar Power Advocate
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
415-821-3519
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
10 pin version. LR.......
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paulcompton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 7:34 AM
Subject: Re: Arcane autos and connector for 1221Curtis Regen model.
On Apr 2, 2005 11:47 PM, Lawrence Rhodes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I promised I'd help Lou find a connector for a Curtis 1221 Regen model.
> It
> has a special Molex(r) 10 pin connector.
Regen model? Are you sure? My Curtis 1221B-7401 had this connector,
it was for the reversing control board.
Regards
Evan
As I recall, the reversing contactor control board uses a 7 pin molex
(0.156" or 0.2" pitch I think) and the Regen model uses a 10 pin version.
Paul Compton
www.sciroccoev.co.uk
www.compton.vispa.com/morini
___________________________________________
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I have some basic questions about how you set up two parallel packs.
Scenario: 2 240 volt packs paralleled to keep total voltage lower and double
the Ah.
(versus 1 480volt pack with half the Ah.) Same number of cells in both cases,
just playing with
the way they are hooked up.
1. Do I just connect the leads (+,-) from the 2 packs to the same point on the
controller? Both
posiitves on one side and both negatives on the other side.
2. Do I charge both packs together as if they were one pack? (one charger)
3. Could I use a Link 20 EMeter to monitor both packs individually?
Thanks
Dave Cover
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Lightning Ryan wrote:
> Again, with the E-Tek in mind....
> I guess what I'm looking for is something a little more
> "exotic" than simple forced air, or no cooling at all..
The Etek is kind of a fragile motor. It isn't built for high peak power.
If you want to make one that *can* survive very high power for short
periods of time, I'm sure it can be done. However, it will take a lot of
custom modification, and trial-and-error testing.
Since the Etek is derived from the Lynch motor, and Cedric Lynch built
them by hand with normal tools, I suspect your best bet is to use the
Etek as an example, and build your own motor from scratch. For example,
I build everything with much heavier copper. Or use a hollow shaft, and
pipe coolant thru it to cool the rotor windings and commutator. Or,
encapsulating the rotor so it is absolutely smooth, and filling the case
with a low-viscosity liquid -- perhaps even building it to be an oil
pump, and taking the power output hydraulically.
--
If you would not be forgotten
When your body's dead and rotten
Then write of great deeds worth the reading
Or do the great deeds worth repeating
-- Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
--
Lee A. Hart 814 8th Ave N Sartell MN 56377 leeahart_at_earthlink.net
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I'd guess that since the electrolyte is water based, that simple
electrolysis (splitting of water into H and O2) was occurring, creating
an explosive mixture.
Bob Rice wrote:
Hi EVerybody;
I got a surprise that I would like to share with ya'all. I was charging
a Ni cad block of 5 cells@ 6 volts, no, not the nice 600's from the Humphrey
Haul, but a larger set of cells that I got from Tony Acrizzi, Alcads. I had
let them charge awile and, took the lead off, from the charger. Hit one of
the posts, got a spark, and BLAM!!! DAMN it was LOUD, WORSE than blowing up
a led acid! With those the only one cell blows, but THIS one the whole damn
pack blew! ALL THE GODAMN cells! Don't try this at home! I had NO idea that
the nicads were that explosive! They must gas, too? Better than Hydrogen,
for sure! I was lucky! I cought a jacket, it was cold that day, of battery
schrapnel, in the midships. Had it been in the face it sure woulda been a
trip to the ER! Sprayed with Potassium? WhatEVer they use as juice, it
wasn't as bad as Lead acid jizz. A shower took care of that, and the clothes
wern't eaten up, like a Lead Acid spill.
OK. battery garues? Are these more of a sparking shorting hazard than
Lead Acids? WHAT part of "Safety First" did I miss? Yeah, never spark around
juicy batteries?Is, I would think is a hazard that we should be warning and
thinking about. What with all those cute 600's out there, they COULD be a
BOMB in the belly of an EV!! Like if they ALL join in the fun and blow!
Could be embarrassing in traffic! Or at show an' tell.
One thought, with the o topsy, the plates filled only about half of the
battery boxes! You, or they coulda made the plates taller for more power in
the same footprint? Probably how T 145's are made from T 105's by a taller
box and higher plates? Maybe the room in there was needed for more
electrolyte? Or more explosive gas<G>!
One blast's worth
Bob
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Ryan-
> I guess what I'm looking for is something a little more
> "exotic" than simple forced air, or no cooling at all..
> With simple cooling I'll be limiting current to arround 100A.
> I'll have to be carefull not to overheat my motor(s) and
> so will bump up the current in small steps, kinna spooked.
The ETEK's heat is generated in the armature.
The ETEK's case is slotted AS IS its armature windings, effectively.
Literally, you can look right through the case and the armature while it's
spinning and see right through the motor.
This lends itself DIRECTLY to the best and simplest way to get the heat out:
FORCED AIR cooling.
I don't know why you want to resist this simple approach for something
exotic.
I wouldn't.
I've been forced air cooling my ETEK now for nearly a year and a half, with
sustained armature currents of 150amps for several minutes and now problems.
I use a 7" Pabst 48v muffin fan, mounted to a home-made conical aluminum fan
shroud, directly slip-mounted over the ETEK's brush end with aluminum tape
sealing all the gaps. ALL air from the fan is forced thru the ETEK. MOST
of that air goes right by the individual spinning armature windings,
sweeping its heat away with the breeze before the heat has a chance to
convect to the ETEK case. What better way to get the heat out than this?
It's total KISS and it's ultra-low power.
My ETEK case on my outboard lower unit does get warm when running in the
100-150amp range, but given the warmer temperature of the fan exhaust, I
can't conceive of a better, quieter way to cool this, short of doing what
Lee Hart suggested---encapsulating the armature, smoothing and rebalancing
it, then running it in liquid. With these brush motors, liquid cooling the
case doesn't save the armature, commutator or brushes from getting hot. By
axially FORCING the air thru the ETEK motor, past the commutator and
brushes, all these elements keep their cool.
Finally, given the copper windings' resistance temperature-dependence,
substantial reductions in internal heat loss are achieved by keeping the
windings even a few degrees cooler.
For example, say the ETEK's nominal total electrical resistance is 41mohm at
40degC. If the temperature is even allowed to increase to 50degC, this
resistance will increase something close to 42.6mohm (assuming most of the
resistance is in the copper windings (TC of 3.9x10^-3)). That's a 3.9%
INCREASE in resistance in resistance for only 10degC temp increase! At
100degC, the resistance would increase to 50.5mohm, i.e. a 23% increase in
winding resistance from 40degC.
This increased resistance leads directly to increased power loss, decreased
efficiency, and yet more increased heat...
In summary, you can reduce the heat AND maintain the high efficiency of the
ETEK by directly keeping the windings cool.
You want to be exotic, Ryan?
Run coolant thru a small radiator located before the air inlet to the ETEK
or fan.
Better still (and essential on an enclosed electric outboard like mine) is
to ensure that all exhaust air is kept segregated from the fan intake air.
Best of luck in keeping your ETEK cool.
I strongly suggest air cooling---it doesn't take much really.
Here's a pic of mine: http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/492d.jpg
-Myles Twete
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
You definitely get hydrogen and oxygen from a flooded Nicad cell, even
a "low maintenance" one.
On Apr 4, 2005 8:12 PM, Eric Poulsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'd guess that since the electrolyte is water based, that simple
> electrolysis (splitting of water into H and O2) was occurring, creating
> an explosive mixture.
>
> Bob Rice wrote:
>
> > Hi EVerybody;
> >
> > I got a surprise that I would like to share with ya'all. I was charging
> >a Ni cad block of 5 cells@ 6 volts, no, not the nice 600's from the Humphrey
> >Haul, but a larger set of cells that I got from Tony Acrizzi, Alcads. I had
> >let them charge awile and, took the lead off, from the charger. Hit one of
> >the posts, got a spark, and BLAM!!! DAMN it was LOUD, WORSE than blowing up
> >a led acid! With those the only one cell blows, but THIS one the whole damn
> >pack blew! ALL THE GODAMN cells! Don't try this at home! I had NO idea that
> >the nicads were that explosive! They must gas, too? Better than Hydrogen,
> >for sure! I was lucky! I cought a jacket, it was cold that day, of battery
> >schrapnel, in the midships. Had it been in the face it sure woulda been a
> >trip to the ER! Sprayed with Potassium? WhatEVer they use as juice, it
> >wasn't as bad as Lead acid jizz. A shower took care of that, and the clothes
> >wern't eaten up, like a Lead Acid spill.
> >
> > OK. battery garues? Are these more of a sparking shorting hazard than
> >Lead Acids? WHAT part of "Safety First" did I miss? Yeah, never spark around
> >juicy batteries?Is, I would think is a hazard that we should be warning and
> >thinking about. What with all those cute 600's out there, they COULD be a
> >BOMB in the belly of an EV!! Like if they ALL join in the fun and blow!
> >Could be embarrassing in traffic! Or at show an' tell.
> >
> > One thought, with the o topsy, the plates filled only about half of the
> >battery boxes! You, or they coulda made the plates taller for more power in
> >the same footprint? Probably how T 145's are made from T 105's by a taller
> >box and higher plates? Maybe the room in there was needed for more
> >electrolyte? Or more explosive gas<G>!
> >
> > One blast's worth
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
> I've been forced air cooling my ETEK now for nearly a year and a half,
with
> sustained armature currents of 150amps for several minutes and now
problems.
OOPS----I meant NO problems, not NOW problems.... :^)
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
TdS Report #4: Sneak Preview: 18 Teams Compete in the TdS Championship; Maybe
More!
It ain't official until NESEA says so, but I've seen a preliminary list of
entrants to the 2006 Tour de Sol Championship. Here's what I saw:
Production Category
2 entries
1 returning commercial hybrid team
1 new experimental bio-diesel team
Battery Electric Vehicles Category
8 entries
1 new team
5 returning teams running on lead acid batteries
2 returning teams running advanced batteries
1 lithium ion
1 nickel metal hydride
Maybe 2 additional teams
Hybrid-Electric Vehicles and Alternate Fuel Vehicles Category
3 returning teams
2 bio-diesel hybrids
1 with lead acid batteries
1 with nickel cadmium batteries
1 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)
with nickel metal hybrid batteries
Maybe 1 additional team
Solar Category
3 returning teams
E-Bikes, Scooters and Neighborhood Electric Vehicles
2 entrants
Maybe 2 additional teams
That adds up to 18 teams, plus 5 maybes. I expect the official announcement of
entrants and prizes will be in about a week or so. That press release will be
posted here.
To my mind, the variety of entrants is one of the best features of the Tour de
Sol. It is the place, in the northeast, to see the real-world electric,
hybrid-electric and advanced fuel transportation technology on the hoof (he
said, mixing his metaphors). And the the people in the teams are anxious to
explain just what they did, and why, and how. So make your plans now and come
see the Tour de Sol. Details are at the website
http://www.TourDeSol.org
- - - -
The complete set of Tour de Sol Reports for 2005 can be found at:
http://www.AutoAuditorium.com/TdS_Reports_2005
The complete set of past Tour de Sol Reports can be found at:
http://www.FovealSystems.com/Tour_de_Sol_Reports.html
- - - -
The above is Copyright 2005 by Michael H. Bianchi.
Permission to copy is granted provided the entire article is presented
without modification and this notice remains attached.
For other arrangements, contact me at +1-973-822-2085 .
- - - -
For more on the NESEA Tour de Sol, see the web page at
http://www.TourdeSol.org
- - - -
Official NESEA Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor,
the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at
413 774-6051 , and 50 Miles Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 , and
[EMAIL PROTECTED] . All media enquiries should be addressed to ...
Jack Groh
Tour de Sol Communications Director
P.O. Box 6044
Warwick, RI 02887-6044
401 732-1551
401 732-0547 fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
First, thanks to everyone on the list and of course
those of you that helped me with specific questions.
With your help my little 72v escort is up and running
and there is one more person on the road with an ev
grin. No NEDRA, but it'll get me to work every day.
MY QUESTION: I put in 12 new T-145s. Voltage is good.
Speed is as expected given the car's parameters (it
ultimately reaches 55mph). However, the charge
indicator never exceeds 40% even when the charger
completes and indicates that the batteries are fully
charged. How can I check if it is the charge or the
meter (without just driving until I run out of juice)?
(note: the meter dips and jumps back when I punch the
"gas")
thanks!
Richard
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
One more step in addition to forced air cooling would be a small pump to
put a water mist into the air stream. Would greatly increase the cooling
without the complexity of a full liquid system. I would not use it all the
time, just turn it on when pushing the motor current out to the
limits. Use the forced air alone for normal operations.
____________
Andre' B.
At 02:28 PM 4/4/2005, you wrote:
Ryan-
> I guess what I'm looking for is something a little more
> "exotic" than simple forced air, or no cooling at all..
> With simple cooling I'll be limiting current to arround 100A.
> I'll have to be carefull not to overheat my motor(s) and
> so will bump up the current in small steps, kinna spooked.
The ETEK's heat is generated in the armature.
The ETEK's case is slotted AS IS its armature windings, effectively.
Literally, you can look right through the case and the armature while it's
spinning and see right through the motor.
This lends itself DIRECTLY to the best and simplest way to get the heat out:
FORCED AIR cooling.
I don't know why you want to resist this simple approach for something
exotic.
I wouldn't.
I've been forced air cooling my ETEK now for nearly a year and a half, with
sustained armature currents of 150amps for several minutes and now problems.
I use a 7" Pabst 48v muffin fan, mounted to a home-made conical aluminum fan
shroud, directly slip-mounted over the ETEK's brush end with aluminum tape
sealing all the gaps. ALL air from the fan is forced thru the ETEK. MOST
of that air goes right by the individual spinning armature windings,
sweeping its heat away with the breeze before the heat has a chance to
convect to the ETEK case. What better way to get the heat out than this?
It's total KISS and it's ultra-low power.
My ETEK case on my outboard lower unit does get warm when running in the
100-150amp range, but given the warmer temperature of the fan exhaust, I
can't conceive of a better, quieter way to cool this, short of doing what
Lee Hart suggested---encapsulating the armature, smoothing and rebalancing
it, then running it in liquid. With these brush motors, liquid cooling the
case doesn't save the armature, commutator or brushes from getting hot. By
axially FORCING the air thru the ETEK motor, past the commutator and
brushes, all these elements keep their cool.
Finally, given the copper windings' resistance temperature-dependence,
substantial reductions in internal heat loss are achieved by keeping the
windings even a few degrees cooler.
For example, say the ETEK's nominal total electrical resistance is 41mohm at
40degC. If the temperature is even allowed to increase to 50degC, this
resistance will increase something close to 42.6mohm (assuming most of the
resistance is in the copper windings (TC of 3.9x10^-3)). That's a 3.9%
INCREASE in resistance in resistance for only 10degC temp increase! At
100degC, the resistance would increase to 50.5mohm, i.e. a 23% increase in
winding resistance from 40degC.
This increased resistance leads directly to increased power loss, decreased
efficiency, and yet more increased heat...
In summary, you can reduce the heat AND maintain the high efficiency of the
ETEK by directly keeping the windings cool.
You want to be exotic, Ryan?
Run coolant thru a small radiator located before the air inlet to the ETEK
or fan.
Better still (and essential on an enclosed electric outboard like mine) is
to ensure that all exhaust air is kept segregated from the fan intake air.
Best of luck in keeping your ETEK cool.
I strongly suggest air cooling---it doesn't take much really.
Here's a pic of mine: http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/492d.jpg
-Myles Twete
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
By any chance, is anyone using a Webasto BW50 fuel fired heater?
There is one in my new EV and I can't get it to work. There are 4
wires, two power and two signal..
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
> Does the hi gear / low gear apply to both the front and rear wheel
> outputs. Logically, it seems it would ...
Yes it does. On some units it's possible to separate (requires
modification) them and shift the front and back independantly.
> Also, do you know the high/low mechanism? Is it a planetary gear system
> like an automatic, or is it a constant-mesh dogged gear like a manual?
Yup! Depends on the model.
> Know of any small-ish units that could be used on a bike? I know most
> are physically small, but they're also kinda heavy (75lbs).
One from Suzuki Samauri might work. I think that's the one that has a
divorced transfer case. I believe it's also a gear driven one instead of
chain driven (possibly higher efficiency).
You might be able to lighten it a bit by ditching parts you don't need,
i.e. if you are using the front wheel part, loose the rear wheel flange
and gears.
Once more, these things are not really designed to be shifted from one
gear to the other while moving. You can probably go from low to high, but
often must be either stopped or moving very slowly to go from high to low.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Lee Hart wrote:
> > Will the AC motors take it though?
> Sure! Same iron, same copper, same basic limits on torque and current.
I just thought there might be a limitation since the DC motors use
brushes for a direct connect and the AC motors use magnetic fields..
All these off the shelf air cooled AC motors that are rated at 1800
rpm; are these not what we will be using for EV conversions?
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Chip Gribben wrote:
> Bob Anderson, a Carroll Shelby prot�g�, who has been working on EV
> technology for many years will be racing with us at Wicked Watts. He has
> started buiding an Electric Cobra prototype base on Shelby's original "98"
> car.
Does Bob have a website?
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Brian Baumel wrote:
> please refer to the attached pics.
"LP8.2: HTML/Attachments detected, removed from message"
Can't send attachments to the list. Upload them and post the links:
http://www.imageshack.us/
> what's the difference between a beetle and a super beetle?
http://www.superbeetles.com/faq.htm
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Nick Austin wrote:
> Just for anybody who may not know (me), what is the buck enhancement
> feature?
"The buck enhancement option on the PFC-20 will enhance the output to 30 amps."
http://www.manzanitamicro.com/pfc20and30.htm
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Looking for some general advice on how I can recover the largest amount from
my half-finished EV...
Option 1: Sell it as a half-finished EV
Option 2: Part it out
I imagine it probably depends on just how close to completion it is, so here
are some details. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how I can get the
most from what I have. I just don't have the time or motivation to finish
the truck.
----------------------------------------
1994 Chevy S-10 Pickup, fleet model, longbed, Silver Shield bed cover
Only 5,600 miles on the truck
Originally converted by US Electricar, but the drive was stripped out
Aftermarket wiring harness sitting in a box
9" Advanced DC motor already mated to original Borg Warner T5 manual
transmission
Rear battery box built, but no mounting brackets yet.
Middle battery box (behind cab) is modified US Electricar box. 75% complete.
Front battery box built, but no mounting brackets yet.
Instrument panel complete with brand new speedometer and 4 other EV-related
gauges (voltmeter, etc)
E-Meter with prescaler brand new and still in the box.
Todd DC-DC converter also still in the box.
Those are the major items I can think of. Would you recommend parting out
the truck and EV components, or selling it as a half-finished project?
Any ballpark idea what I could get for it as a whole or the parts
individually?
Thanks.
mason
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Have they made an efficiency jump? last I checked at
the Uninversity of new south wales website they had an
effeciency closer to 75%. That seems to be what they
are getting in the pilot plant that is being used for
peak shaving on the power grid. .
Gadget
--- Paul Wujek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> We've heard about these batteries (maybe they are
> really fuel cells)
> before, but apparently they are nearing commercial
> availability (for EV
> content, note the picture of the golf car).
> According to this article
> they have a 1:1 energy in to energy out ratio.
>
> link:
>
>
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/04/the_vanadium_ba.php
>
> --
> Paul Wujek ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>
>
visit my website at www.reverendgadget.com
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
brian baumel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> started some front end work this weekend on my EV. I
> purchased a strut support bar from JCWhitney and tried
> to mount it this weekend. I encounter a large problem.
> the part of the mounting hardware that is intended to
> mount to the strut tower or the top of the strut
> doesn't seem to fit in any way.
> I
> was also wondering if any one knows what the
> difference between a beetle and a super beetle?
The most fundamental difference is that the Super Beetle uses a
Macpherson strut front suspension while the Beetle uses a torsion 'bar'
front suspension.
When you installed the disk brake conversion kit, if there was a large
coil spring visible after removing the front wheel, then you have a
Super Beetle with the Macpherson struts. If, however, the steering
knuckle/drum brake assembly mounted to a pair of short trailing arms
with only an ordinary-looking shock absorber visible, then you have a
Beetle with the torsion 'bar' front suspension.
The strut support bar is likely intended to bolt between the tops of the
Macpherson struts using the bolts that attach them to the strut towers
under the hood; if you have a standard Beetle, there will be no strut
towers or bolts to attach this bar to.
Cheers,
Roger.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(Voltageville's 45kW of PV runs 6 EV charging stations)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_2622106
Article Launched: 03/25/2005 07:25:51 AM
Lot aimed to cut traffic on Interstate 80 opens
By Tom Hall/Staff Writer
With the subtle roar of a midday Interstate 80 not too far away,
city and county leaders gathered Thursday to unveil a welcome
addition to Vacaville's transportation options.
The Bella Vista Road Park and Ride Lot was dedicated and opened
Thursday, where Bella Vista meets Davis Street in the shadow of
I-80. The $1.7 million project was lauded by Vacaville officials
as a product of hard work and smart planning.
"These things don't just happen," said Mayor Len Augustine.
Dale Pfeiffer, the city's director of public works, said the
expansive lot was designed in-house by city engineers. The
201-space lot was paid for entirely by grants from the federal
government, the state and a regional air quality district.
But one of the most exciting things Pfeiffer pointed at was the
fact that the lot's entire power needs will be met by solar
panels on the site.
A 45-kilowatt photovoltaic system will provide the energy needed
to run the lot's six electric vehicle recharging stations, as
well as all the lighting for the site. As an added bonus, the
solar panels provide shelter for several parking spaces.
Suisun City Mayor Jim Spering, who has long been involved in
regional traffic issues, commended Vacaville on its vision and
commitment to alternative modes of transportation.
"If there's one staff in the county who gets it, it's the city
staff in Vacaville," Spering said.
Daryl Halls, the executive director of the Solano Transportation
Authority, said the new lot will help reduce the 125,000 daily
trips that are made on the Vacaville stretch of I-80. The lot is
within walking distance of Vacaville's major public
transportation hub - the Vacaville Regional Transportation Center
on Davis Street, north of I-80.
Vacaville also has a Park and Ride lot near Leisure Town Road's
I-80 interchange.
Tom Hall can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
TheReporter.Com is � Copyright 2005, The Reporter, Vacaville,
California, 95688
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Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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===== Undo Petroleum Everywhere
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EVLN(Aspire EV, China to be 1st alt-fuel superpower)-long
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/china.html?tw=wn_tophead_5
Issue 13.04 - April 2005 China's Next Cultural Revolution
The People's Republic is on the fast track to become the car
capital of the world. And the first alt-fuel superpower.
By Lisa Margonelli
The Challenge Bibendum is the anti-Nascar, a road rally where
dozens of cars, two-wheelers, and buses vroom the straightaways
like a pack of DustBusters, cough out water vapor instead of
sooty exhaust, and corner at peak speeds of 35 mph. Named for the
morbidly obese mascot of Michelin, which sponsors the event,
Bibendum is the proving ground for alternative-fuel and
low-emissions vehicles.
For the first five years of its existence, the rally was staged
in rich cities with bohemian tendencies - San Francisco,
Heidelberg, Paris. But last fall Michelin brought the Bibendum to
Shanghai. The booming Chinese auto market, which grew by 76
percent in 2003, is an obvious lure. It's a market still under
central control - for the moment, anyway - which means that if
Beijing wants to go green, it can go in a huge way. And so in
Shanghai, Bibendum lost its utopian vibe. The stakes were simply
too big: What will 1.3 billion people drive?
The answer, believes professor Huang Miao Hua, is an electric car
prototype made by her students at the Wuhan University of
Technology. The Aspire (not to be confused with the Ford compact
car) is a giddy marriage of tadpole and pickup truck. The $12,000
target price includes a Linux OS, GPS, and an onboard bicycle. A
bike? If you get stuck in gridlock, Huang explains, you can park
the car and pedal instead. Think of it as a concept car for
traffic jams. She pushes up the Aspire's door (it opens
vertically, for parking in tight spots) and smiles. "Get in," she
says. As it lumbers to a start, engine whining under the strain,
my driver shouts, "It's got a few problems, but it feels good,
doesn't it?"
In the West, clean cars mostly have been the toys of wealthy
worrywarts - too expensive to be economical and too technically
challenged to be cool. China's feeling an urgency that
slower-growing countries don't face. The demand for oil is
skyrocketing, rising even faster than the price. And here's the
eye-opening stat: In the absence of new regulations,
pollution-related illness will suck up as much as 15 percent of
the country's gross domestic product by 2030.
China's central planners are throwing everything at the problems
of fuel and pollution - hybrids, electric cars, propane taxis -
all while building conventional cars and infrastructure at a
furious pace. "There's a controversy about 'Green GDP' and how to
grow," says He Dongquan, a transportation expert at the Energy
Foundation in Beijing. "China's in a transition where everyone's
mind is changing." Amid the hurly-burly, the only thing that's
clear is the future, where hydrogen beckons.
China is already taking bold steps toward an alt-fuel future. In
late 2003, Beijing mandated some of the world's toughest
fuel-efficiency standards. China is even now one of the largest
markets for alternative fuel vehicles, with 200,000 in service.
In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing officials plan to
convert their entire bus fleet of nearly 120,000 vehicles to run
on compressed natural gas (CNG).
All this opens up vast opportunities for automakers. The major
car manufacturers (with the exception of Honda) have come to
Bibendum to show that they're ready to play China's game,
whatever it turns out to be. Toyota will begin producing hybrid
Priuses in Changchun by the end of the year. GM, which made 15
times more profit per sale in Asia than at home in 2003, will
manufacture hybrid buses for Shanghai. "This will be the biggest
market in the world by 2010," says Dongfeng Citroen chief Gilles
Debonnet, standing beside a CNG car his company designed for
Bibendum. "If we don't bring a [low-emissions] solution to the
taxi market, then we can't stay."
Decades behind developed nations when it comes to supporting a
car culture, China may actually benefit from its very
backwardness. All those bicycles mean there isn't a cumbersome -
and entrenched - gasoline infrastructure to stand in the way of
the next big thing. That's why China hopes to eventually bypass
the oil-based auto culture and go right to a hydrogen economy.
"Some theorists believe China has an advantage with fuel cells
because it has no resistance," says General Motors vice president
David Chen as he attends to a Shanghai dignitary at Bibendum.
"It's been cut off from the world for 30 years. It may be in a
unique situation to leapfrog."
Leapfrogs are an intoxicating vision, but can this one really
jump? "We consider China a wild card," says Shell Hydrogen VP
Gabriel de Scheemaker, who installed Iceland's hydrogen
infrastructure and is now at Bibendum trying to get into the
Chinese market. His eyes get dreamy as he imagines Shanghai on H2
- city blocks powered by fuel cells, cars filled from hydrogen
supplies embedded in buildings: "In Deng's day, he experimented
with whole cities!"
Although China's in an experimental mood, innovations are hard to
finance. The Aspire bobbles toward Shanghai's Formula 1 track,
past Toyota's Prius, Volvo's lozenge-shaped 3CC concept car, and
the Mercedes-Benz A-Class F-Cell, which has its magnificent fuel
cell guts jammed into a frumpy hatchback. The team from Wuhan is
taking on the big guys with two goofy Aspires made for a total of
$60,000.
The six-day Bibendum turns out to be a coming-out party for
China's homegrown clean cars. The Aspire wins a special design
prize. And of the 43 Chinese vehicles entered, 19 - including 11
two-wheelers, six buses, and two cars from an array of fuel
sources - score very high on the Bibendum tests of overall
emissions, CO2 emissions, noise, fuel economy, braking, slalom,
and acceleration. A year before, there wasn't even one Chinese
entry. "We wanted to do something good for the country," Huang
says, her students giggling with excitement as they push the
little car out of the garage for the trip back to Wuhan. "My
students gave without expecting any return. That's the spirit!"
Here's the new cultural revolution: Every morning Wang Jian Shuo
and his wife leave their condo in the suburbs of Shanghai, get
into their Fiat sedan, and drive to jobs in the city. Two years
ago, they lived in a cramped, decrepit apartment in the center of
Shanghai, and Wang, an engineer for Microsoft, traveled to work
by bus or train. "I never thought of getting a car," he says.
"Driving was a very serious profession - like medicine." Cars
were for party bureaucrats, or at least the very rich.
But in 2000, Shanghai's per capita GDP (already much higher than
China's overall) rose above $4,000, and the roads started filling
with private cars. Local highways, which were designed by
engineers who'd never driven, clogged. Shanghai's narrow streets
became so congested that commuters abandoned their bicycles for
the subway just to avoid the cars. Smog grew so thick that on
many days you couldn't even see the boisterous skyscrapers
looming above you.
And so, a year ago, Wang moved into a spacious condo in the
suburbs - and bought a car. "The change the car brings my life is
bigger than the house," he says. "My life scope is much larger
now." Today Wang and his wife shop in Western-style supermarkets
instead of haggling with the fishmonger, and they can drive to
visit friends and return home by car long after the subway has
shut down for the night. They grew up in a world bounded by
transit schedules, shabby housing, and nosy neighbors, but now
they live in an airy apartment, surrounded by the brand-new
high-rises that have sprung out of the rice paddies. Some nights,
when they're tired, Wang and his wife get in the car and drive
out to the new airport just to experience speeding down the empty
highway. But even that road is filling up. It makes Wang happy he
bought a car as soon as he did. "When a car becomes something
everyone can afford, forget it," he says. "You won't be able to
drive."
At a Hyundai dealership not far from Wang's condo, families prowl
the showroom, inspecting the stitching on the seats, criticizing
the design of the rear lights, trying to find the biggest car for
their yuan. A TV blares a government program featuring a singer
in a yellow dress crooning in front of a suburban development.
"Nowadays life is getting better, sweeter and sweeter," she
sings. "You can fulfill your dreams. The roads are getting wider
and wider."
Managing dreams is a big problem for the Beijing bureaucrats who
pull the levers of China's economy. Yang Yiyong is low enough in
the party hierarchy that he'll talk with a foreign reporter, high
enough that he insists on meeting in the backroom of a restaurant
famous for its duck with stewed fruit. His official title is
deputy director of the Institute of Economic Research, a
government-sponsored think tank.
Yang wears a serious pin-striped suit and talks big numbers.
China's population, he says, will approach 1.5 billion in 2030.
The only way to forestall economic calamity is to maintain 25
consecutive years of high annual GDP growth. That kind of growth,
in turn, requires massive amounts of energy. Already the world's
second-largest oil importer, China is expected to more than
double imports by 2020. This is a painful subject for Yang, who
fulminates against cars, car culture, traffic, and the prestige
his countrymen are attaching to big cars. "I object to this vague
notion of status," he says.
His concern is ideological, but the problem is practical. After
food, oil is the most important issue for Chinese economic
planners. Without an increasing supply of oil, high GDP growth
will be impossible, creating unemployment and social unrest,
potentially threatening the government's hold on power. That's
not all. Dependency on foreign oil, in Yang's opinion, inevitably
leads to war. Every official I interview makes the same point.
Yang uses a pun to summarize the leadership's view: "If you pump
for oil, you have to fight wars for it." (Pump and fight sound
similar in Mandarin.)
In the face of an oil crisis, the government is embracing fuel
efficiency and alternative energy resources. In every scenario,
oil imports will rise, but the hope is that new technologies and
conservation will minimize the rate of growth. The plan is to
replace 10 percent of China's energy supply with renewable
sources by 2010, 12 percent by 2020. (Today, less than 1 percent
comes from renewables.) "We're not saying we can reduce
consumption," he cautions, "but we can reduce the increase and
win some time."
A chauffeur-driven Audi A6 stops near the Mao statue facing the
gates of Shanghai's Tongji University, and Wan Gang steps lightly
out of the back. He is a compact man in his early fifties who
retains the enthusiasm and pink cheeks of a boy genius. As the
chief scientist of the 863 Program's Key Electric Vehicle Project
(the 863, named for its approval date, March 1986, is China's
national high tech R&D initiative). Wan has to get Chinese
industry mass producing fuel cells by 2020. It's an ambitious
national agenda that started in 2001 with an unambitious budget:
$106 million. That figure must sustain the network of 200
universities and companies that are developing and testing scores
of electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles.
The fuel cell mission is borne partly out of necessity. In 2000,
China's Ministry of Science and Technology contacted Wan, who was
living in Germany for a decade doing research for Audi. The
ministry asked him to come back and create a strategy for the
overall Chinese auto industry. Wan concluded that it would be
futile to try to compete with the West by building a better or
cheaper internal combustion engine. Getting a head start in fuel
cell technology would be the country's best bet. But still a long
bet.
Wan, who is also the president of Tongji University, convenes his
interview with me in a giant Mao-modern formal room. The
tractor-sized chairs inhibit normal conversation so he quickly
moves us to a utilitarian conference room, indistinguishable from
one you might find in an office in Berlin or New York. Wan lays
out a 15-year plan that will lead to fuel cell cars, putting
China at the forefront of the hydrogen economy. He pulls out a
piece of paper. "I'm trying to demonstrate that the picture is
reasonable and practical," he says, sketching a grid.
The grid contains four major fuel types: electric, hybrid, CNG,
and hydrogen. Hydrogen, Wan explains, is a glorified battery, a
way to store energy from various sources - coal, solar, nuclear,
or hydroelectric - until it's needed. He draws a circle lassoing
the hydrogen and electric columns. Today's investments in
electric car R&D, he argues, will still be paying off in a
hydrogen fuel cell-powered future.
Likewise, hybrid technology, Wan explains, is all about fuel
efficiency. For example, advanced hybrids brake by forcing the
electric motor to spin backwards, generating energy that's stored
in the battery. "Engineers in the States say hybrids are
transitional, but I believe the technology will last a long
time," he says, drawing arrows across the grid to show how
regenerative braking technology will make both electric- and
hydrogen-powered cars more efficient.
CNG cars will require a network of gas pipes connecting
refineries to filling stations. But natural gas, he explains, can
be converted easily to hydrogen. And with one final pencil
stroke, the whole chicken-and-egg problem of hydrogen cars versus
hydrogen infrastructure is gone. Wan holds up the grid, covered
in optimistic arrows, and declares, "China has the advantage of
not being burdened by previous investment."
China is waving its big, red wand, but will a hydrogen economy
pop out of this hat? "It's lovely to forecast out 15 years," says
John Wallace, an American fuel cell consultant working with
clients in China, "but nobody remembers." Wallace is fond of Wan
Gang, and admires the 863 Program's "credible" technology and
pluck. But he says no amount of determination can summon the
resources that China needs to make hydrogen vehicles a reality:
startup infrastructure, niche technology companies, and venture
capital firms.
Those resources may be coming. Venture capitalist Mike Brown,
chair of Canadian fuel cell investment firm Chrysalix Energy, is
looking at China. "Wan's plan is eminently doable. If they went
balls to the wall, they could do even more," Brown says. "The big
question is whether the government will have the nerve to scoop
the world."
In the lobby of one of Shanghai's vast Epcot Center-like hotels,
Cai Xiaoqing taps his foot restlessly. He wants to jump-start the
hydrogen economy immediately. With an astronaut's brush cut of
salt-and-pepper hair, Cai looks the part of the former space
program technocrat he is. As director of the Equipment Industry
Department for Shanghai's Municipal Economic Commission, his job
is to make Shanghai the Detroit of China.
Like everyone else here, Cai speaks in billions and of far-off
years, but he's more impatient than most. He can't wait for a
homegrown fuel cell. Cai wants Shanghai to quickly move to
hydrogen. But how do you start a hydrogen economy without a
hydrogen car?
Cai looks abroad and sees foreign auto manufacturers sitting on
piles of expensive fuel cell technology with nowhere to test it.
In California, they've been reduced to clownish stunts like
putting a fuel cell in Arnold's Hummer. Cai can do better than
that.
Bouncing slightly, Cai pitches Shanghai as a test track: 10 fuel
cell cars in circulation by the end of this year, 1,000 by 2010,
and 10,000 by 2015. But making hydrogen cars a reality by 2020
will require government investment in technology and subsidies to
consumers. Cai calls it "a long step." Others say it's
impossible. But consider the payoff: clean cars ready for export
just as the rest of the world starts to choke on pollution and
gasoline supply problems.
To provide the fuel cells, Cai has his eye on General Motors,
which has poured more than a billion dollars into a
hydrogen-powered fleet but has nowhere to drive it. "If China
develops the infrastructure, GM would put those cars to use," Cai
says, "I think they see China's big market, too."
In fact, they do. For more than a year, Tim Vail, GM's director
of business development in charge of commercializing fuel cells,
has been traveling to China and liking what he finds. He looks at
Shanghai's propane taxis, 38,000 in all, and sees an industry
ready to experiment. He looks at Shanghai's $1 billion maglev
train and sees a city that's ready to spend. He looks at a
coal-processing plant in the city and sees a source of industrial
hydrogen that should last for the next 15 years. But most
important, he sees a government that's ready to do the social
engineering needed to speed the adoption of fuel cells. To Vail,
Shanghai's ridiculously crowded city center, where the nouveau
riche compete to conspicuously outconsume each other, is a plus.
"You would see well-heeled people buying fuel cell cars if they
had enhanced rights," he says. "More than anywhere else, Shanghai
could say, 'Only fuel cell vehicles [in the downtown]' without a
lot of debate."
Last October, GM chair Rick Wagoner shook hands with the vice
mayor of Shanghai. They agreed to codevelop a fuel cell
demonstration vehicle and help write the standards and policies
for hydrogen power and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Volkswagen
endowed a chair at Shanghai's Tongji University and agreed to
jointly research fuel cell technology. "It's strategic
positioning at this point," says Chris Raczkowski, a top
Beijing-based alternative energy consultant, "but some companies
may get a captive market for their products, and that's really
the only way to get a market jump-started."
The day after the GM deal is struck, local dignitaries gather at
the Shanghai International Automobile City in Jiading to
celebrate this triumph of focus and vision. Four years ago,
Jiading was a suburban farming village. Out went the farmers; in
came the $300 million F1 racetrack (site of the Challenge
Bibendum), Tongji University's College of Automotive Studies, 6
square miles of automotive-themed industrial park, and a golf
course.
A band plays "Remember the Red River Valley," and Wan Gang takes
the stage to reminisce about the eight years he spent in the
countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Back then his work
crew built an entire town from scratch: the roads, the electrical
grid, farms, even a hospital. Yesterday they built Motor City.
Tomorrow they'll build a hydrogen economy.
Across the hall, the 863 Program unveils its newest prototype,
the Spring Light 3, a fuel cell-electric hybrid with
steer-by-wire technology and regenerative braking. Target price:
about $5,000 - the car for the new masses. While Western
automakers often boast that their enviro-wagons make "no
compromises," the 863 Program makes compromise its guiding
principle. Like the funky Aspire, the Spring Light takes you
where you want to go, without promising more. American cars are
all ego, but the Aspire and Spring Light are friendly, even
neighborly. They're all about getting along, not getting away.
By the end of the afternoon at Jiading, it isn't the Spring Light
or the VIPs that are making the big impression. It's Wan's
preview of Tongji's new dormitories, complete with hot water and
Western-style toilets. The engineering students see the bathrooms
and let out a loud gasp. Their reaction is part awe, part
appreciation, part anticipation of a new world that can only be
better. Does the hydrogen highway start here? Maybe. Maybe your
future and mine is being created by people desperate enough to
imagine it.
Lisa Margonelli ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is the author of the
forthcoming Oil on the Brain: Travels in the World of Petroleum.
�Copyright� 1993-2005 The Cond� Nast Publications Inc. All rights
reserved. � Copyright 2005, Lycos, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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. http://geocities.com/brucedp/
. EV List Editor, RE & AFV newswires
. (originator of the above ASCII art)
===== Undo Petroleum Everywhere
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