EV Digest 4332
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) EVLN(e=motion land-speed record attempt EV powered by ABB motors)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) EVLN(Aiyingsi's 60k 3.7V 200Ah Polymer Li-Ion battery order)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) EVLN(Topsail HS students EV)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) EVLN(EDrive Launches New cutting edge Plug-In Hybrid)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) EVLN(that Zippie little Zenn is turning more than hippie heads)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
6) EVLN(Virginia Tech's E85 hybrid for Challenge X)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
7) EVLN(Ricketts Phase one electric truck runs on TVA power)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
8) Re: Smarts in the US
by Ken Trough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
9) EVLN(plug-in hybrid the latest popular wrinkle with EV cognoscenti)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
10) EVLN(Humboldt Electric Vehicle Association, all of this makes sense)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
11) EVLN(Pretty nifty cars, but you can't have them)
by bruce parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(e=motion land-speed record attempt EV powered by ABB motors)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.manufacturing.net/ctl/article/CA527545?spacedesc=industryUpdates
Electric car FIA land-speed record attempt to be powered by ABB
motors, drive Control Engineering April 28, 2005
e=motion vehicle packs 52 lead-acid batteries in its slender body
that�s just 2-ft high to supply 600 V dc input to an ACS800
drive. Come May 5, 2005, a new official land-speed record may be
in the books for electric cars. In exactly one week, a slender
32-ft-long vehicle, dubbed �ABB e=motion,� intends to erase the
existing official FIA (F�d�ration Internationale d'Automobile)
electric land-speed record of 245 mph (394 kmph) in northeastern
Nevada�and moreover break the official 300-mph (483 kmph) mark
for an electrically powered vehicle. Global engineering company
ABB is the main sponsor of the e=motion car.
e=motion vehicle applies existing electric technology to obtain
acceleration directly without the use of mechanical gears. An ABB
standard regenerative 480-hp ACS800 adjustable-speed drive
controls the vehicle�s two 50-hp induction motors, also from ABB.
Power comes from four packs of 52 lead-acid 12 V car batteries
whose 600 V dc output is converted to ac power by ACS800 drive.
The two motors, driving the car�s rear wheels, produce an output
of more than 500 bhp (brake horsepower, which is power measured
at a vehicle's crankshaft). By comparison, the 2005 Chevrolet
Corvette�s gasoline-fueled 427-cubic inch V8 engine produces just
500 bhp.
Fast acceleration will be key to the record attempt. ABB's Direct
Torque Control (DTC) technology incorporated in the motor/drive
system will play a prominent role here. DTC provides total
control of motor torque, with full motor torque available even at
zero speed, says the company. Control of motor heating also will
be vital in this special application. To prevent overheating,
each motor is fitted with a forced-ventilation system made up of
a series of 24-V dc fans, which hold maximum operating
temperature to 180 �C (356 �F). ABB sensors in the motor windings
supply real-time information about motor temperatures and help
protect the motors.
The current FIA electric car speed record is held by the White
Lightning team from the U.S. Other record attempts have been
made, but not under FIA rules. (Actually, the �Buckeye Bullet,�
an electric vehicle designed and built by a student team from
Ohio State University topped out at 314 mph in October 2004 at a
non-FIA sanctioned event.)
ABB e=motion team remains confident of success in Nevada on May
5. The company sees the event going beyond records setting to
promote �wider adoption of electric cars.�
Look for more coverage of this event shortly after the record
attempt.
Frank J. Bartos, executive editor, Control Engineering,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
� 2005, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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. EV List Editor, RE & AFV newswires
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===== Undo Petroleum Everywhere
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EVLN(Aiyingsi's 60k 3.7V 200Ah Polymer Li-Ion battery order)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050420/nyw076.html?.v=8
Press Release Source: Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc.
Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. Renews Suspended Orders
Wednesday April 20, 9:20 am ET
- Advanced Battery Technologies Renews $21 Million Order with
Aiyingsi Co., Ltd. for 60,000 3.7V 200AH PLI Batteries
NEW YORK, April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advanced Battery
Technologies, Inc., a developer
and manufacturer of rechargeable Polymer-Lithium-Ion (PLI)
batteries, announced today that Aiyingsi Co., Ltd. of Taiwan has
renewed its purchase order for 60,000 3.7V 200Ah Polymer
Lithium-Ion (PLI) batteries with a total contract value of $21
million dollars. The renewed order has a one-year term with
shipments to begin later this year. The contract had been
suspended pending the completion of ABAT's new factory in China,
which resumed operation on April 12, 2005.
Aiyingsi is a private company established in 1990 specializing in
Electric Vehicle development and manufacture. Aiyingsi's R&D team
develops small Electric Vehicles. Its most recent development is
a two-seat small car, slightly larger than a motorcycle, that is
designed to be driven into a freight or passenger elevator in a
commercial or residential building so that the vehicle can be
parked in the basement, on the roof, or in another suitable
location in the building.
"We're very pleased to renew our order with the Aiyingsi Group.
With our newly built factory and expanded production lines, we're
now positioned to serve large volume customers", commented Mr.
Zhiguo Fu, Chairman of ABAT.
About Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc.
Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc., founded in September 2002,
develops, manufactures and distributes rechargeable Polymer
Lithium-Ion (PLI) batteries. The Company's products include
rechargeable PLI batteries for electric automobiles, motorcycles,
mine-use lamps, notebook computers, walkie-talkies and other
personal electronic devices. ABAT's batteries combine high-energy
chemistry with state-of-the-art polymer technology to overcome
many of the shortcomings associated with other types of
rechargeable batteries. The Company has a New York office, with
manufacturing facilities in China.
ABAT has accumulated a roster of pending patents for its battery
technology and is developing unique energy related products. The
Company operates in the highest growth sector of the battery
industry, with PLI batteries projected to account for one fourth
of the market for IT and communications devices by 2005.
For more information about Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc.
(ABAT), please visit: http://www.zqpt.com/zqenglish/index.htm
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995
This news release contains forward-looking statements [...]
Contact: Mr. Ming Liu Director and Secretary Advanced Battery
Technologies, Inc. Tel: 718-359-6866 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Investor Relations: M. Bradford Randolph Randolph & Wang, Inc.
Tel: 212-759-0097 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Source:
Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc.
Copyright � 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(Topsail HS students EV)
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--- {EVangel}
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=3263767&nav=2gQcZ7y9
Whiz Kids Build Cars That Don't Need To Fill Up
April 26, 2005, 06:21 PM
APRIL 26, 2005 -- Saving $30 on a tank of gas sure sounds nice.
So does taking pleasure in driving right past a gas station. Some
Topsail High School students can do just that, in their electric
car.
You can hardly hear it coming. It takes only an outlet to fuel up
or it can stop at the school's solar charging station.
It's one of two electric cars designed and built by Topsail High
School students.
"It used to have a registered Ford factory internal combustion
engine," said Tony Riggs, a Topsail High senior, who helped build
the vehicles. "We just took it right on out and fitted it for an
electric DC motor."
It's part of Topsail's "Electric Vehicle" class, now in its fifth
year. Students learn about electronics, cars and the
environment.
"When I got into this program, it was something totally different
and I've loved it ever since," Riggs said. "How many kids can
actually say they've worked on or built an electric vehicle?"
Just because the cars are electric, doesn't mean they can't get
up and go. One car goes from zero to 60 miles per hour in less
than ten seconds.
The students say they've found their pollution solution.
"This just shows there are alternative ways of transportation
besides fuel," Riggs said. "It only cost 60 cents to charge this,
and we can drive 60 miles easy in the truck. So, we're driving
for like a penny a mile."
Their hard work is paying off. Earlier this month, they brought
home ten trophies in a national competition.
"I see in them the future of transportation," said Steve Garrett,
the Electric Vehicle class instructor. "Hopefully one of these
guys will go into a program to study and research to try to make
a better battery, which would be the main downfall to electric
vehicles."
So, what is the key to their success?
"Just motivation and doing what needs to be done in the shop,"
said Ryan Moore, a Topsail High senior.
What they're doing in the shop is "kicking gas," just as their
license plates boast.
For more information on the program, visit Topsail High's
"electric vehicle" website at www.kickngas.org.
Reported by Sara Straeten
-
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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. EV List Editor, RE & AFV newswires
. (originator of the above ASCII art)
===== Undo Petroleum Everywhere
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EVLN(EDrive Launches New cutting edge Plug-In Hybrid)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/05-02-2005/0003536808&EDATE=
EDrive Systems Launches New Plug-In Hybrid Technology; Technology
Allows Hybrid Owners to Fuel Cars From a Home Electrical Outlet
LOS ANGELES, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- A gas-optional hybrid
technology that enables hybrid vehicles to be plugged in and
charged by a conventional 3-prong, 110-volt home electrical
outlet will be released today by EDrive Systems LLC, a consortium
of advanced vehicle technology companies.
EDrive Systems LLC will present and demonstrate its cutting edge
EDrive technology as applied in a Toyota Prius on Monday, May 2
through Tuesday, May 3 at the Clean Cities Conference being held
at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
By combining gasoline power with electricity from a home
recharge, an EDrive-equipped vehicle can average 100 to 150 mpg
for roughly the first 60 miles of the day, compared to 45-55 mpg
for a conventional Prius. The vehicle also has the capacity to
run in "electric-only" mode at neighborhood speeds, resulting in
zero emissions.
"The EDrive proves that locally produced, potentially renewable
electricity can displace gasoline today. Why should we have to
wait a decade or two for the hydrogen economy?" asks Greg
Hanssen, a partner in EDrive Systems LLC and chief engineer of
the EnergyCS development team that led the technology innovation.
"It really is the ideal fusion of the clean and conveniently home
refueled electric vehicle with the state of the art gasoline
hybrid technology. Renewable power with unlimited range."
And, the timing couldn't be more urgent ...
In his recent energy proposal, President Bush called for vehicle
technologies that reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and
cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, a
historically conservative group of 31 former national security
officials recently wrote a letter to the President characterizing
America's dependence on foreign oil as a "looming national
security crisis." They went so far as to endorse the use of
"plug power," referring to hybrid vehicles that could potentially
be plugged in.
EDrive technology, an after-market installation, uses one-half to
one- third of the gasoline used by a conventional hybrid,
offering a proven solution to this looming crisis.
"The EDrive benefits both our environment and our national
security," said Pete Nortman, EDrive Systems LLC partner and
President of EnergyCS. "It enables environmentally responsible
drivers to operate zero emissions vehicles locally, and every
time the system is charged, it displaces over half a gallon of
gasoline."
Of particular significance for the Los Angeles basin, automobiles
have been cited as the primary contributor to greenhouse gas
emissions. With the public "buy-in" of EDrive, consumers will
gradually be weaned off the pump and enjoy the air quality
benefits offered in the medium-term.
"Regardless of whether they use hydrogen fuel cells or batteries,
the cars of the future will be powered by electric motors,
period," said Seth Seaberg, a partner in EDrive Systems LLC and
CEO of Clean-Tech LLC, distributor of the EDrive system. "The
technology that gets us there while reducing emissions and oil
dependency will effectively change the way people think about
getting from point A to point B."
EDrive, which has worked with a variety of entities around the
United States to bring clean fuel technologies to the
marketplace, has teamed with lithium-ion battery manufacturer
Valence Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VLNC) to bring its safe,
cutting-edge saphion lithium technology to the public.
As the level of investment in EDrive continues to grow, more
products will enter the market at increasingly competitive
prices. In the meantime, interested parties should contact
EDrive directly as product pricing has not yet been established.
EDrive LLC aims to have an affordable retail option available to
consumers by 2006.
More information will soon be available on the EDrive web site at
http://www.edrivesystems.com . The EDrive product is engineered
by EnergyCS and distributed by Clean-Tech LLC, using Valence
Technology, Inc. battery technology.
Energy Control Systems Engineering provides leading edge
consulting, design and prototyping services for system
integration, management and monitoring of electrochemical energy
systems such as batteries and fuel cells. Based in Monrovia, CA,
EnergyCS is focused on and particularly interested in
applications in the areas of EV and HEV transportation and
alternative energy on systems from 24 to 400+ VDC.
http://www.energycs.com
Clean-Tech LLC is a Los Angeles-based automotive systems
integrator, focusing primarily on off-road, light and medium-duty
vehicles. Clean-Tech develops, builds and commercializes
advanced low and zero-emission vehicle powertrain systems,
including hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV), battery-electric (BEV) and
hybrid (HEV) drive systems for installation into auto
manufacturer or purpose-built chassis. Clean-Tech also retrofits
auto manufacturer internal combustion engines with compressed
natural gas fuel systems. In addition to providing installation
and maintenance services for CARB- and EPA- certified,
commercial, off-the-shelf conversions, Clean-Tech sells systems
of its own design under a range of trade names.
http://www.clean-tech.com
Valence Technology is a leader in the development and
commercialization of Saphion(R) technology, the only safe,
large-format Lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology.
Valence holds an extensive, worldwide portfolio of issued and
pending patents relating to its Saphion technology and
Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. http://www.valence.com
Media Contact: Katie Romans (916) 240-8077 SOURCE EDrive Systems
LLC Web Site: http://www.edrivesystems.com
http://www.energycs.com http://www.clean-tech.com
http://www.valence.com Copyright � 1996-2005 PR Newswire
Association LLC. 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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--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(that Zippie little Zenn is turning more than hippie heads)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050430/ZENN30/TPNational/Toronto
Who needs a Hummer?
TRALEE PEARCE test-drives the prototype of a local eco-friendly
electric car and discovers that the zippie little Zenn is turning
more than hippie heads
By TRALEE PEARCE Saturday, April 30, 2005 Page M3
In the parking lot of the Loblaws at Dupont and Christie, I have
to wait in line to talk to Ian Clifford, the president of Feel
Good Cars.
The couple ahead of me is asking when the zippy little red
electric car Mr. Clifford is leaning against will be for sale. A
smirking grey-haired man yells out, "Hey, your son wants his toy
back," then loops back for a closer look. Another older gent asks
for a business card.
Then Loblaws cashier Dolores bends Mr. Clifford's ear for another
10 minutes. She knows everything about the European Smart car and
is peppering him with questions about his Zenn (an acronym for
zero emissions, no noise).
How much? About $11,000 (U.S.) for a basic model. How fast? Up to
40 kilometres an hour. Airbags? Yes, one on the driver's side.
The tires? Thirteen-inch, the same as the Geo Metro. No filter?
Right. And no tune-ups. Just a new $400 battery every two years.
And a six-hour recharging time.
Can a fully loaded CD player fit? Yup. How far can it go before
it needs to be plugged in? About 60 clicks.
"I'll be your first shopper!" she says, as she heads off to
work.
Finally. My turn. This car, a one-of-a-kind model that he hopes
to soon roll out across North America, is the rock star; Mr.
Clifford is its agent. At least we have a lot of the facts out of
the way. Now it's about the ride.
But not before we load up my groceries. Mr. Clifford, 42, has
agreed to take me grocery shopping using the Zenn car. It's the
kind of urban errand-running he sees the car primarily being used
for when it hits the streets this fall, from a production line
based in Toronto. He pictures fleets for gated communities,
condos and Autoshare, and for busy urbanites who don't mean to
pollute but who like to drive short distances.
So while the science is cool, the Zenn car is more of a social
experiment than a technological tour de force.
"It's a new way of moving around a city," Mr. Clifford says. "A
paradigm shift in the way people think."
Mr. Clifford, who looks more like a management consultant than an
earnest hippie in his leather jacket and khaki pants, got
involved in the electric-car business after trying for years to
buy one from the major car companies. They were being built for
California, due to its strict emissions-control laws, but were
not available in Canada. So he developed a prototype for himself,
and eventually hatched plans to begin manufacturing it here.
A resident of the Annex, Mr. Clifford has become somewhat of a
neighbourhood celebrity booting around in his Zenn. (Although it
is not yet licensed by the provincial government for use on city
streets, he has special dispensation to do so.) And, to take the
marketing scheme up a notch, he will have new, sexier prototypes
of the Zenn car in a couple of weeks. Soon after, he plans to
start assembling the made-in-France exteriors.
But even the Zenn's most ardent fans won't be able to get their
hands on one just yet: Because most Canadian jurisdictions don't
allow low-speed electric vehicles on streets, fall deliveries
will be U.S.-only, Mr. Clifford says.
He doesn't blink when I pull up my shopping cart to the back of
the shrimpy (just over 2.5 metres long, and 1.4 metres wide)
vehicle.
I've gone for maximum volume. For what I think is a fairly
typical $100 grocery bill, I've bought such things as a nice
dinner for two, some soft bread (I'm guessing it's going to be
squished), a bag of oranges, a giant sack of cheesies, two
enormous jugs of mineral water and a package of 32 rolls of
toilet paper. No, I would never buy this many rolls at once, but
hey, downtown environmentalists are just as likely to have big
families as SUV-loving suburbanites, right?
I also bought a mop, which I'm pretty sure will annoy Mr.
Clifford. He starts loading the trunk. It's not as tiny as I
suspected, possibly because the car has no back seat.
"My brother-in-law borrows this and fits all of his hockey gear
back here," says Mr. Clifford as he stacks the oranges on top of
the toilet paper. "See? It's easy."
I lift the tiny plastic handle on the passenger door to get in.
"Wanna drive?" he says. Of course I do. There's more space and
headroom in here than you'd guess -- Mr. Clifford says a
6-foot-5, 300-pound guy can fit in it.
There are three gears: forward, backward and neutral. The sponge
end of the mop pops through the seats. It doesn't actually
interfere, but it's there, taunting.
As I gingerly press on the accelerator, two things strike me. It
just goes -- there's no sense of chugging into gear. And, more
importantly, this is the quietest car I've ever been in. I can
hear a faint crinkling of the bag of cheesies next to my hip,
every time I move.
We tool around the lot. The car feels a little light, and it
takes a few minutes to feel safe.
"Okay, now go over to the far lane. I want you to go faster," he
says. I hit the straightaway and can only get it up to 28
kilometres an hour before I chicken out.
The brakes feel a little stiff -- they need a good pounce. This
will change, Mr. Clifford says, when "regenerative braking,"
which grabs energy from the act of braking and in turn makes it
smoother, is engineered into the Zenn.
I pull into an available parking spot, which happens to be wedged
between two silver Minis. The new Zenn models will be about 30
centimetres longer than his prototype, and will be close to the
size of the Mini, he says.
"The interior space will be virtually the same as the Mini --
without its longer hood needed to fit its gas-guzzling engine,"
he says, just after we've nodded politely to the two Mini drivers
who inexplicably show up at the same time to leave.
Later, we hit Dupont Street for a proper spin, with Mr. Clifford
at the wheel. He's obviously more comfortable than I am driving
the Zenn and reaches top speed easily.
"There's a Purolator truck behind us," he says. "See? No one
wants to pass us."
But that doesn't mean he's always up to the speed of the traffic
flow.
"If I'm, say, on Bloor Street, and I feel the traffic is getting
a little fast, I'll just pull over to the right for a minute. But
I think the average speed in cities is about 22 or 24 kilometres
an hour."
A big beefy yellow Hummer passes us in oncoming traffic.
"Ah, my arch nemesis," he jokes.
We return to the parking lot and Mr. Clifford deposits me and my
groceries (the bread did not get squished) beside my grubby old
car.
As he tears away in the next parking aisle over, waving to me as
he zips out of sight, I get into my aged Saturn. I may as well be
piling into an Oldsmobile. I start it and it sounds like a
growling bear.
After a short, somewhat guilty trip home with my groceries, I
can't help but misjudge the parking spot in front of my house. I
try to squeeze in to no avail. I have to abort the mission and
park illegally across the street.
� Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
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Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
' ____
~/__|o\__
'@----- @'---(=
. http://geocities.com/brucedp/
. EV List Editor, RE & AFV newswires
. (originator of the above ASCII art)
===== Undo Petroleum Everywhere
__________________________________________________
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EVLN(Virginia Tech's E85 hybrid for Challenge X)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/index.php?ID=5852
Make us proud! Tech students experiment with alternate fuel
posted: April 28, 2005 Ashley Hess Staff Writer
Gas prices are going through the roof these days, but one group
of engineering students at Virginia Tech is working toward a
solution for the future.
Steve Boyd, first-year mechanical engineering graduate student,
and his team members are experimenting with an alternative fuel
that?s been around for some time: ethanol.
The students are known as the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team of
Virginia Tech. Their job is to research, design and build hybrid
electric vehicles. This year, the team entered a three-year
competition called Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable
Mobility.
The idea behind the challenge and the team's goal (the members
call themselves HEVT) is to combine gasoline, ethanol and
electric propulsion to make travel more affordable and
environmentally friendly.
Through using domestic and renewable ethanol (E85) we can achieve
an independence from the burden of imported, non-renewable oil,"
Boyd said.
To make their vision come alive, students go to the Joseph F.
Ware, Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory to work on cars every
day. Banners from past competitions, warning signs, sponsor
stickers and a shiny car hood surround the students as they work
diligently to prepare a better vehicle for the future.
The Challenge X competition provides top engineering schools with
the opportunity to participate in hands-on research and the
development of various automotive systems and technologies.
Seventeen teams are competing in the competition, which is
sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the General Motors
Corporation and other government and industry leaders.
Each team will be given a Chevrolet Equinox, a crossover sport
utility vehicle, to re-engineer in order to reduce energy
consumption, emissions and greenhouse gases. At the same time,
the goal is to maintain or exceed the overall performance and
utility of the vehicle.
HEVT has decided to make its main goal reducing petroleum use by
80 percent compared to the stock vehicle. This is ?the motivation
behind the design,? Boyd said.
In order to do this, the team has chosen to take another look at
ethanol as the fuel for the vehicle.
Each year of the Challenge X competition has its own goal and
focus. During the first year, teams are to focus on modeling and
simulation of their advanced vehicle design. During years two and
three, the team will be working with a donated Chevrolet Equinox
SUV.
This is a very real-world design and development experience for
our HEVT students, with timelines, budget and resource
constraints, design compromises, frustration with suppliers,
dealing with new and unknown hardware and controls,? said Doug
Nelson, the team?s faculty advisor.
The first year of Challenge X includes a competition in which
students will be judged and evaluated on many levels, including
an oral presentation and a live simulation. This competition will
be held June 5-9 at General Motors University in Detroit and at
the General Motors proving grounds in Milford, Mich.
As part of the competition, teams provide community outreach in
order to educate people of the importance of alternative fuels
and hybrid technology. This semester HEVT arranged to present
last year?s competition vehicle at Blacksburg and Radford high
schools.
I think HEVT impacts the overall goal of sustainable mobility
through educating and demonstrating to the public that personal
transportation can be improved without sacrificing the utility of
a conventional vehicle,? Boyd said.
HEVT is composed mostly of undergraduate engineering students who
may earn class credit by working on HEVT projects.
One of the greatest experiences I have had while working with
HEVT is seeing the senior engineering students use the knowledge
they have accrued over the past three or four years,? said
Lawrence Dirks, HEVT member and junior mechanical engineering
major.
Since the team?s formation in 1994, HEVT has competed in several
similar competitions, one each year. For the 2002-04 FutureTruck
competition, the team created Magellan, a Ford Explorer that
was converted into an orange-painted, hydrogen-powered sport
utility vehicle.
Students interested in building hybrid vehicles are welcome to
get involved in HEVT. The team meets Mondays at 7 p.m. in room
120 of Randolph Hall. �2004 by the Collegiate Times.
-
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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EVLN(Ricketts Phase one electric truck runs on TVA power)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.mtsusidelines.com/news/2005/04/25/News/Bucket.Drums-935670.shtml
Bucket Drums
Earth Day celebration focuses on environmental education
By Sandi Van Orden Published: Monday, April 25, 2005
[...] Media Credit: Rachelle Morvant
[...]
It has run on hydrogen, electricity and even Draino, but don't
try filling it with gas.
The 1990 Nissan pickup truck was made to be the ultimate vehicle
- it doesn't pollute, and its fuel is cheaper than gas.
It's been a pet project for agricultural education professor
Samuel Rickets for nearly 25 years, and it was on display at the
Murfreesboro Earth Day festival at Civic Plaza Saturday.
"We've been working on alternative fuel for about 25 years,"
Ricketts said.
Ricketts said he began using ethanol and the methane but decided
to try using water.
"On Oct. 14, 1987, we ran our first engine off hydrogen from
water," Ricketts said. "We took a demo torch and converted it and
used distilled water and potassium hydroxide, which is Draino,
and we ran it for eight seconds and the next day for two
minutes."
"We found out that we had created a hydrogen bomb in the
process," Ricketts said. "We had to go back to the drawing board
and do more research."
"We built the vehicle you see here, which is a 1990 Nissan pickup
truck that's got a Lamborghini kit on it," Ricketts said.
"I asked myself, 'Has the ultimate vehicle really been
invented?'" Ricketts said. "I said, 'No, wouldn't it be great to
build a vehicle that could run off anything?'"
"Phase one - it's just an electric truck," Ricketts said. "Nissan
gave us a truck. It didn't have an engine, but that's OK. We
didn't need an engine. We put in an electric motor. It has 20
batteries."
"It's actually running cheaper than gas now," Ricketts said. "It
takes about one kilowatt per mile. One kilowatt of electricity
from TVA costs seven cents."
"You could buy a nice used vehicle that had a blown engine. You
don't need it anyway," Ricketts said. "These kits are about
$6,500. The batteries are about $2,000."
Ricketts estimates that anyone could have an electric vehicle for
around $10,000.
In phase two the truck runs off solar power, and in phase three
it runs off sun and water, according to Ricketts.
-
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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Personally I think ZAP is not the best company to be doing this, and
it is all smoke and mirrors.
When I last visited Zap (about 8 months ago), they had no engineering
staff, two broken EV minicars, and a small warehouse full of mostly 3 or
more year old literally dusty scooter inventory in a big clump, most
with dead batteries.
Their "product line" at that time consisted of 6 or 7 small EVs they'd
bought (or traded for), mostly out of Asia that they'd slapped a "zap"
sticker on.
Zap is barely a company at this point imo, not suited to much more than
making phone calls and hyping press releases. I don't expect ANY real
products out of Zap in the future as they appear to have no monetary or
talent assets left. I believe they are finished as a company.
All that's left for Zap is to see who they can sucker trade for their
worthless stock.
-Ken Trough
Admin - V is for Voltage Magazine
http://visforvoltage.com
AIM - ktrough
FAX/voice message - 206-339-VOLT (8658)
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--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(plug-in hybrid the latest popular wrinkle with EV cognoscenti)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/24/MNGDTCEA8H1.DTL
Electric car aficionados favor a hybrid that you plug in
overnight Michael Taylor, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 24, 2005
It seems like the best of both worlds, assuming one world is pure
electric and the other is hybrid.
It is called "plug-in hybrid," and it's the latest popular
wrinkle among the alternative fuel cognoscenti. They're the folks
who believe that ideally we should all be driving pure electric
cars, but short of that, we should capitalize on the electric
portion of a hybrid as much as possible.
In simple terms, what they have in mind is plugging in your
hybrid to your home's electric power supply at night. The next
morning, the first 10, 20 or even 60 miles would be driven solely
on electricity, rather than the combination of electric motor and
gas-powered engine that propels hybrids now on the market.
Car companies, with the exception of DaimlerChrysler, have been,
if not cool, at least neutral on the subject of plug-ins. They're
still concentrating on developing a fuller product line of the
hybrids.
Professor Andrew Frank, director of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Center at UC Davis and a man who has been experimenting with
hybrids and plug-ins for 25 years, says plug-ins are clearly the
way to go.
"The bigger the electric motor and the smaller the gas engine,
the more efficient the overall vehicle is," Frank said.
Three years ago, he and his students converted a standard Mercury
Sable to plug-in hybrid using a small four-cylinder gas engine
and a 100-horsepower electric motor. After an overnight charge,
the car could go 60 miles on its electric motor.
The average U.S. driver goes about 38 miles a day, the federal
government says. Frank thinks most of that could be done only on
the electric part of the hybrid equation.
"We'd go to a gas station about five times a year, as opposed to
35 times a year with a conventional car," Frank said.
Two years ago, DaimlerChrysler joined with Palo Alto's Electric
Power Research Institute, a nonprofit funded by the nation's
utilities, to build a handful of plug-in hybrid-powered delivery
vans. One van is already running on German streets; Bob Graham,
the institute's program manager for sustainable technologies,
says four more will come to the United States in June for
testing.
"We hope there's a strong enough case to justify this becoming a
full- time product," Graham said, "and then (we can) migrate it
into the mass customer market."
E-mail Michael Taylor at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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EVLN(Humboldt Electric Vehicle Association, all of this makes
sense)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0%2C1413%2C127~2896~2833855%2C00.html
Electric cars generate a buzz Mike Morrow The Times-Standard
ARCATA -- Often, Kevin Johnson will wave as he drives past one of
those $2.89 per gallon gas stations that pepper the landscape.
But even Johnson knows he's going to have to stop every once in
awhile.
"Yeah," he says, "maybe to put air in my tires."
His 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit -- no, make that, Voltswagen Rabbit --
has become somewhat of an attraction throughout Arcata, a
community known for and proud of its uniqueness.
And during Saturday's Sustainable Living, Arts and Music Festival
at Humboldt State, the car and several others on display drew a
constant gathering of interested individuals.
"I just paid $35 to fill up ... where do I get one of these?"
asked one woman.
Johnson is among more than a dozen members of the Humboldt
Electric Vehicle Association, individuals whose mission includes,
among other things, educating and promoting sustainable
transportation.
Transportation, they say, is just one focus of their lifestyle,
but it's a big piece of the day-to-day puzzle.
"Ninety percent of all cars in the United States travel less than
30 miles a day, so an electric car is a perfect fit for most
transportation needs," Johnson said. "It's particularly relevant
to the needs of people in Humboldt County."
What's needed, they'll say, is a commitment to a philosophy and a
lifestyle most people support but few are willing to enter into.
It's all about solar heating, growing vegetables and avoiding the
easy way out.
It was a philosophy much in evidence Saturday, with exhibitors
including On Our Way to Zero Waste, the city of Arcata's
Environmental Services, a group called the Humboldt Juggling
Society and "an insurrection blue grass" group from Fort Collins,
Colo.
"Think about it," Johnson said, "all of this makes sense."
Also on display was a bio-diesel vehicle run on a sort of
restaurant vegetable oil, along with several other vehicles.
Johnson's car, which he said "was a piece of junk" when he
purchased it several years ago, operates on 16 golf-cart
batteries (eight located in the front, eight located in the
back), gets between 40 and 50 miles between charges and has been
rebuilt with off-the-shelf items.
The vehicles operate on lead acid golf cart batteries which have
a life of between three to seven years. Nickel metal hydride
batteries, soon to be readily available, can get more than
100,000 miles on them, said Johnson.
"I'm an example that this can be done," he said, noting that most
medium-range conversion costs (from fuel to electric) average
from $3,000 to $6,000.
Actually, said Johnson, "when this country gave up the
horse-and-buggy at the turn of the century, some of the first
cars produced by Henry Ford were electric."
Today's electric cars are the original plug-and-play.
"You know," said John Schaefer, another electric vehicle
proponent, "it probably costs 15 to 25 cents per mile to run cars
today. An electric car costs 5 cents per mile."
Schaefer purchased his vehicle, a 1994 Chevy Prism, as a
ready-to-run car last summer.
It was, he said, a glider car, that is, a car without an engine
that General Motors and U.S. Electric Car had intended to
develop.
"All the organized components were right there," he said. "All I
had to do was replace the batteries. It runs really sweet right
now."
Admitting his "runs" are no more than back-and-forth trips to
Eureka, Schaefer said, "something like this really would serve
people here."
"We have been seduced by the ease of using fossil fuels,"
Schaefer said. "We do not have to do that. We can burn vegetable
oil (to run vehicles). That would change how we distribute our
agriculture, but there's no reason why we wouldn't change.
"Hey, it's time that we all review how we lead our lives. Maybe
we need to have horses again. That wouldn't be so bad."
Brian Willson, another supporter of the "sustainable" lifestyle,
said he's got 24 solar panels installed on his home in Arcata and
that he has moved toward a totally independent way of living his
life.
"Right now, this country is on a suicide path," said Willson.
"The way we live our lives, the way we exploit our resources as
if they were limitless, the way we pollute the air. I'm a
philosophical Buddhist, I've never had a credit card, and I'm
very conscious of what I do, the footprint I want to leave on
this planet."
Willson, somewhat of a folk hero within the anti-war movement in
the area, has a specially made truck he uses to help him at home.
He also commutes with a specially made bicycle.
Willson lost both feet when he was hit by a train during a
protest in 1987, but says he has not lost faith in the direction
his life has taken him.
"I believe we have to go in this direction," he said, looking at
one of the electric cars.
Today, he uses his truck, a Chevy S-10, to help him move manure,
compost, mulch, brush and other materials as part of his
permaculture gardening.
-
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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EVLN(Pretty nifty cars, but you can't have them)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/24/MNGDTCEA9B1.DTL
Owners charged up over electric cars, but manufacturers have
pulled the plug Michael Taylor Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 24, 2005
It can make you dizzy, watching those numbers on the pump whiz by
in such a blur that by the time you've pumped a measly 15 gallons
of gasoline into your pickup truck, you've spent nearly $45.
But wait. What if you left your house in the morning, drove your
20 miles to work and 20 miles back -- by then, you'd have burned
up $7 worth of gas - - and the whole trip cost a mere 50 cents?
That would be about the price of the electricity it costs to
recharge your Ford Ranger electric-powered truck overnight.
That's the truck that will go about 80 miles between charges, the
one that looks the same as a gas- powered Ranger.
And there are other vehicles in this electric-powered class: the
most original is General Motors' EV1, built from the ground up as
a fast, economical two-seater, along with the Honda EV-Plus, the
Ford TH!NK, Toyota RAV4 EV, Nissan Altra, Chevrolet S10 Electric
and Chrysler Epic.
Pretty nifty cars, if you want to get out from under the thumb of
the oil companies. There's only one problem: For the most part,
you can't have them.
GM and other manufacturers have recalled most of their cars,
leaving some in public agency fleets and others in museums or
universities. In fact, GM has been hauling its EV1s out to the
Arizona desert and crushing them.
For all intents and purposes, the hugely expensive electric car
program - - created in the 1990s by the California Air Resources
Board's mandate that the major automakers build a certain number
of pollution-free cars -- is just about dead. The law requiring
manufacturers to offer those cars for sale has long since been
modified -- hybrids, compressed natural gas and "SULEV" cars
(super ultra-low-emission vehicles) have taken up the
environmental slack.
The automakers, saying all-electric vehicles occupy a tiny and
economically worthless niche, simply stopped making, leasing or
selling the cars.
And the people who leased the cars and wound up adoring them,
only to see them called back in at the end of the lease period,
are livid. Many wanted to buy the autos, but all but one
manufacturer said no.
Over the past few months, the electric car enthusiasts have
conducted noisy protests and held round-the-clock vigils against
Ford and GM in front of auto dealerships or storage yards, most
of it to no avail.
David Raboy, however, was one of the lucky few -- when Ford told
him he had to turn in his beloved truck because the lease was up,
he conducted a well- publicized vigil in front of Senator Ford in
Sacramento. Ford finally relented and sold him and other lessees
their Rangers for $1 each.
Raboy and his wife, Heather Bernikoff, both 34, plug the Ranger
into a charging device on their ranch in Mariposa County. It
costs them pennies to recharge it each day.
And the truck is hardly a slouch. With half a ton's worth of
batteries slung under the pickup bed, lowering the truck's center
of gravity, it handles more like a Mustang than the workhorse it
was designed to be, taking corners marked for 30 mph at more than
65. Raboy said that in the past four years, the truck "has cost
me nothing to run. No maintenance, no oil changes, no gas."
That, of course, is the point of the electric vehicle aficionados
in California, a group of several hundred people who are, without
exaggeration, fervent evangelists for their cars. Many of them
look at the auto industry as a tribe of idiots who will never
break their reliance on the dwindling supply of fossil fuels,
despite experimental forays into fuel cell technology.
"Electric vehicles are loved by the people who drove them, almost
universally," said Marc Geller, a San Francisco photographer who
had a Ford TH! NK until Ford took it back, then spent $38,000 to
buy a used Toyota RAV4 EV. Geller concedes that the car needs to
be plugged in each night, but says that once people get used to
an electric car, they love it.
The electric RAV4s, small SUVs that have their batteries under
the floor, are still being sold, but only as used cars by
individuals. Toyota discontinued its electric RAV4 program.
Some electric cars can still be found in public utility and city
government fleets. Vacaville, for example, turned the niche craze
for zero- emission, no-gas cars into public policy, largely
through the efforts of the city's transportation systems manager,
Ed Huestis.
Huestis bought a GM EV1 in 1998 and brought it to "ride and
drive" events. He found that if he walked away for an hour, its
window would be "covered with fingerprints, where people were
looking inside to see what it's like."
Vacaville became "the first city in the nation to take federal
air- quality money, normally for bike paths and things like that,
and apply it to alternative fuel vehicles," Huestis said. He
coordinated a program of getting 100 electric vehicles leased to
Vacaville residents -- "it was the most number of electric
vehicles per capita of any city in the nation," he says -- and 20
more for the city's use. Those who managed to buy one of the
elusive cars got a $6,000 rebate from the city.
The city has a waiting list of about 100 people who want electric
cars, and this affinity has become so well known that Vacaville
is sometimes referred to as Voltageville. Cars become available
when, for example, a lessee who has a Toyota RAV4 electric
decides not to buy it and uses the purchase option to sell it to
someone who does want it.
For himself, Huestis finally bought a Toyota RAV4 EV for $42,000,
after the leases for his three GM EV1s expired and GM took the
cars back. At more than twice the price of a gasoline-powered
version of the same car, that price for the RAV4 may seem a bit
stiff -- until Huestis points out that he got a $9,000 rebate
from the state air board and a $4,000 federal tax credit, as well
as the $6,000 city credit.
The state rebate expired at the end of 2003, but the $4,000 tax
credit and $6,000 city credit are still in force, Huestis said.
Honda's EV Plus, which was leased by the big Japanese automaker
in the late 1990s, was so popular that one woman who had one
still mourns the day she had to turn it in, four years ago.
"Those long scratches down the side of the car were from my
fingernails, from trying to drag the car back into my garage,"
Sacramento attorney Martha Schwartzmann said the other day.
"It was a great car," she said. "It was a pleasure to drive, it
was efficient, it was perfect for the short-term driving you do
around town. There were plenty of places to plug it into. It was
big enough to carry people and belongings. It was stylish. And I
felt safe.
"I had to get used to going to gas stations again," Schwartzmann
said. "It was all very sad."
Maybe so, but the automakers, while politely thanking those who
took a flier on their brief journey into the world of watts and
volts, insist that the future of personal transportation lies
elsewhere -- hybrid gasoline and electric, and, further down the
line, fuel cells.
GM stopped EV1 production, spokesman Dave Barthmuss said, because
"after spending over $1 billion over a four-year time frame, we
were only able to lease 800 EV1s. That does not a business make.
As great as the vehicle is and as much passion, enthusiasm and
loyalty as there is, there simply wasn't enough at any given time
to make a viable long-term business proposition for General
Motors.
"If we're really going to make a difference in environmental auto
issues, we have to be able to see vehicles in the hundreds of
thousands of units, instead of hundreds," Barthmuss said.
Asked why GM didn't just sell the cars to the clamoring
motorists, as Ford finally did with the Rangers, Barthmuss said
that "parts are no longer available." Even though buyers might
waive the right to sue GM over any design or production defects,
he said, "in today's litigious society, there is no such thing as
no liability." This aspect of electric vehicle ownership did not
seem to be high on the concern list of the people who love these
cars. Besides, there are numerous helpful Web sites catering to
the electric vehicle community.
At Ford, spokesman Niel Golightly took a different tack. The
company essentially gave the Ranger trucks to the faithful, he
said, because "we recognized there was a strong feeling around
this vehicle. People were very, very keen to keep them.
"We made a conscious decision we would risk liability and parts
concerns (for the sake of) customer satisfaction," he said. Ford,
like GM and other automakers, is making hybrids and has given up
on pure electrics.
One industry veteran has his own ideas about why the
manufacturers have dumped electric cars by the wayside.
Tom Gage, who was a manager in Chrysler Corp.'s regulatory
strategy office for eight years, said automakers were
unenthusiastic about making electric cars because it was the
first time a government agency -- in this case, the state air
resources board -- had told them specifically what to do.
"The air board made them build a small percentage of cars for
zero emissions," Gage said. The only car with no tailpipe
emissions, he noted, was powered by electricity.
"The automakers saw this as a precedent they didn't want,
something where regulators could tell them what to make," Gage
said. "(They) fought it very hard, and one way to kill the
mandate is to say it's a bad product, nobody wants to buy it,
it's too expensive and its range is too short."
Gage is now president of AC Propulsion, a Los Angeles County firm
that makes electric cars. For a while it made the T-Zero, a
superfast electric sports car. One of the three models the
company built ended up in Berkeley with David Wilner, a
51-year-old former software engineer who says the T-Zero
satisfies his twin passions of environmentalism and driving fast.
He paid more than $100,000 for it.
"I like it better than any car I've had," he said after a
blindingly quick drive through the Berkeley hills. Riding with
Wilner is like being thrown forward in a rocket sled, a few
inches off the ground, pinned to the seat by a four-point racing
harness.
After toting up his daily electricity usage, Wilner says the cost
is about equivalent to a gas-powered car that gets 100 miles per
gallon.
AC canceled production of the T-Zero, however, because, Gage
said, "it was too costly to go through the federal government
safety certification." More accessible, the firm says, is its
upcoming conversion of Toyota's Scion xB and xA cars from gas
engines to electric motors. The cars will cost about $45,000 to
$65,000 each, depending on their accessories and battery power.
But there won't be many of these electric Scions. Each year, the
big automakers sell a bit more than 16 million cars a year in the
United States, nearly all of them with gas-powered engines. Gage
figures he'll produce about 250 electric Scions a year. But if
demand warrants, he can ramp up production to 500.
E-mail Michael Taylor at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter
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