There’s been an avalanche of news items lately about GM and Toyota and their planned use of lithium-ion batteries in PHEV (plug-in electric hybrid) cars. The bottom line is that GM seems to have stolen the tempo from Toyota (to borrow a piece of chess terminology), at least in the PR battle. (See links to some of the articles at the end of this post.)
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Planet2025 News Network - ntext - 0 views
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This helps explain why the Prius so outsells the rival Honda Civic Hybrid. Both have similar base prices, about $22,000, and fuel economy (Prius, 60 miles per gallon city/51 highway; Civic, 49 mpg city/51 highway).
Technology Review: High-Efficiency Generators for Hybrid Vehicles - 0 views
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An unconventional engine design is attracting attention as a potential alternative to hydrogen fuel cells or conventional engines in some hybrid vehicles. Called the free-piston engine, it could be used to generate electricity as efficiently as fuel cells yet cost less.
First Hybrid Car To Use Lithium-Ion Battery : MetaEfficient - 0 views
Global sustainability and key needs in future automotive design - 0 views
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Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Dec 1;37(23):5414-6. Global sustainability and key needs in future automotive design. McAuley JW. Basell USA Inc., 912 Appleton Road, Elkton, Maryland 21921, USA. john.mcauley@basell.com Abstract The number of light vehicle registrations is forecast to increase worldwide by a factor of 3-5 over the next 50 years. This will dramatically increase environmental impacts worldwide of automobiles and light trucks. If light vehicles are to be environmentally sustainable globally, the automotive industry must implement fundamental changes in future automotive design. Important factors in assessing automobile design needs include fuel economy and reduced emissions. Many design parameters can impact vehicle air emissions and energy consumption including alternative fuel or engine technologies, rolling resistance, aerodynamics, drive train design, friction, and vehicle weight. Of these, vehicle weight is key and will translate into reduced energy demand across all energy distribution elements. A new class of vehicles is needed that combines ultra-light design with a likely hybrid or fuel cell engine technology. This could increase efficiency by a factor of 3-5 and reduce air emissions as well. Advanced lightweight materials, such as plastics or composites, will need to overtake the present metal-based infrastructure. Incorporating design features to facilitate end-of-life recycling and recovery is also important. The trend will be towards fewer materials and parts in vehicle design, combined with ease of disassembly. Mono-material construction can create vehicle design with improved recyclability as well as reduced numbers of parts and weight.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | New Energy for America - 0 views
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The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will: Watch the Video Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America. Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Green Motors - The History of the Electric Car - TIME - 0 views
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It's been some time since anyone accused GM of making a good move. The company surrendered its title as the world's top-selling carmaker to Toyota this year, in part because GM underestimated drivers' appetite for leaner, greener cars — a desire filled spectacularly by Toyota's Prius.
Obama Should Kill the Combustion Engine - MemeBox's Garry Golden on The Takeaway - 0 views
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Appearing on PRI’s The Takeaway with John Hockenberry, Golden was asked how he would advise Congress and the upcoming Obama administration on the proposed U.S. multi-billion dollar auto industry bailout. He responded by unequivocally advocating the avoidance of “any further investments into the old combustion engine model” arguing that the country needs to quickly move past hybrids by leap-frogging “to an all-electric platform.”
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Thank God for Obama. We may survive yet.
Environmental Capital - WSJ.com : Cheap Carbon Credits: To Japan, From Russia With Love? - 0 views
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Japan, famous for its hybrid cars and solar panels, may become an environmental pioneer in another sense: buying cheap carbon offsets abroad to minimize the burden on its domestic industry to clean up its act at home.
Miles per dollar - 0 views
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I agree with that logic, though from my perspective "mp$" could be even more useful as we enter a world in which the gallons we're using aren't directly comparable, and as electricity enters the transportation mainstream, resisting easy conversion to gallons without heroic assumptions and creating potentially over-optimistic assessments of the overall efficiency of plug-in hybrid cars.
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Miles per dollar has much to recommend it, particularly for its simplicity and alignment with the priority consumers put on value. However, it also has two key disadvantages. Unlike mpg, it changes every time fuel prices do, so any comparisons based on mp$ are only snapshots at a point in time. Nor does it address the emissions associated with that dollar's worth of energy, though mpg doesn't do that, either.
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We can always create more money (not by printing though). And energy is abundant. So if climate change is what we're concern about, miles per kg CO2, or kg CO2 per mile should be the measure. Either can work. We have sports where either low or high scores are good, so it should not confuse too many.
Electric Bus Charges Wirelessly?! | EcoGeek - 0 views
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oyota's heavy duty division, Hino, is testing a new kind of plug-in hybrd...one without a plug. The batteries on the hybrid assist and even sometimes take over for the diesel engine. But the energy in the batteries doesn't come from a plug, it comes from a wireless charging system built into the road.
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Hino, Toyota's truck division, is experimenting with wireless charging. In spite of inefficiences that may exist, Hino should be applauded for pushing the envelope. However, unfortunately for the future, it seems logical that only larger sponsors such as Toyota can afford this type of approach.
New Energy Sources on Horizon | Newsweek Project Green | Newsweek.com - 0 views
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Chances are you've heard of hybrids and biofuels, but what about oil-producing yeast and turbinelike buoys that transform ocean waves into electricity? Those are just a couple of the alternative-energy sources that may power the future according to Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund and coauthor, with Miriam Horn, of the new book "Earth: The Sequel"
ENN: Rising Sun for Electric Cars - 0 views
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At Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), as a complement to our work on renewable energy hedges, we are working to transform energy use on campus. One project underway is a system of grid-tied electric vehicles (Vehicle to Grid or V2G) combined with a solar photovoltaic charging system and smart computer control.
Plug-in Electric Trucks Coming To U.S. : MetaEfficient - 0 views
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The air quality of urban areas would greatly improved if we could replace the thousands of diesel delivery trucks currently in use with zero-emission vehicles. In this vein, a company called Smith Electric Vehicles will be introducing their electric trucks to the U.S. Their Newton truck (pictured above) can be recharged via an regular electric socket. They have some pretty impressive features, including a range of up to 150 miles when fully charged. The battery system is rated at 120 kilowatts, and trucks have a maximum speed of 50 mph. The trucks also use regenerative braking to recover energy from the braking process.
Clean Break :: Lead-acid versus EEStor - 0 views
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Here are a couple of pieces that appeared recently in Technology Review: one relates to EEStor's recent announcement with Lockheed Martin and what it means for the company, while the other is a look at a new type of hybrid lead-acid battery with an integrated supercapacitor that claims to last four times longer than conventional lead-acid systems and to perform just as well as nickel-metal hydride systems -- but at a fraction of the cost.
A123Systems Has a New Prismatic Cell - 0 views
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Previous A123 cells have all been cylindrical but this new unit follows the packaging path used by other GM hybrid battery packs. The prismatic design should allow a higher density of cells within a given pack volume but may cause issues with thermal management. While A123 has their own monitoring software and electronics available, GM currently plans use in-house developed code to determine the state of charge of the battery pack.
The Oil Drum | Can hybrids make a difference in the near future? - 0 views
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Over the past decade there has been little improvement in the efficiency of the UK car fleet.
Smarter Energy Storage For Solar And Wind Power - 0 views
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Development of the first hybrid battery suitable for storing electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind is now a step closer.
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