AutoblogGreen

WOW, things are moving along quickly. We need only very small and powerful Bio-diesel APUs (turbine anyone) and with Altair Nano or other suitable batteries and/or capacitors and we're good to go. Economy of scale should take care of the rest. This is definitely the right direction. Why can’t the big guys do this? http://www.ev1.org/gmoil.htm

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Looks like the next best ting to a Tesla. Not as sleek, but I'd be happy with one. With the limited production that companies like this can do, it's pretty amazing that they can still keep fairly competitive prices with their gasoline counterparts. If they could generate demand, and boost production, there would be no reason, in my mind, to go for anything else.

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"If they could generate demand, and boost production, there would be no reason, in my mind, to go for anything else."

Here’s a reason: a gasoline or Diesel powered car can be refueled in minutes. This car requires hours to recharge, making it impractical to drive over any distance greater than its range on one charge.

Here’s another reason: pretty much every gasoline powered roadster that costs anywhere near $70K can outperform this car without even trying.

Here’s another reason: what about a dealer network? Does one exist? What does an owner do when he or she needs spare parts or service?

Do you need more reasons?

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It's best to look at this as a step in the right direction in changing the view of what an EV is. The speed on this car can be beaten by a gas-powered sports car at half the cost. But it is cheaper than the Tesla, and quick.

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Guys, I feel you are missing several key points here. Having first hand experience of launching the 3-year Think@boutEdinburgh sustainable EV project, which ended last year,[ see http://www.guptapartnership.com/up_frame.html] where 20 top Scottish companies from Banks to small couriers trialed the Think all electric City Car, it's not about top speed. It's about average city speed driving. Here almost any current production EV, including the NICE Mega City, a French built EV on sale in London this week can easily meet average city speeds. I test drove one for our EV site www.mygreenwheels.com last week, (NICE means no internal combustion engine!) Even the Think City 1, still plying the city streets of Norway, can keep up with city traffic no trouble at all. I used to outdrag a Golf GTI at the lights in my Think City 1 because we had direct traction, no gears and a composite body.

The other key point here is that right now, it's easy to build a good looking piece of EV exotica with a high sticker price for the West Coast "Arnies" of this world to drive. They are doing a great PR job, but the trick is to get piece cost and weight down and create a really good looking City car that's as iconic for its time as an iPod or Stratocaster.

That goal is around the corner since battery design, weight and range is improving, but the real step up is outwith the ken of all the big auto men in the world. They think in terms of gears, transmissions, all the heavy components that eat power and have to be carried around. Think of the next generation of EVs as computers with chips that do what diffs do, what gearboxes do, etc and now you have more range, less weight and for the designer a brand new palette of aesthetics to create the lovable eye candy that the likes of Mazda created with the MX5 (Miata in your space) but a shape that also works in terms of automotive safety, slippery forms for wind resistance and a beast that uses all the telemetrics that F1 uses. Add 'all wheel, in wheel' drive to this recipe and you get all terrain, all weather operation. Nothing that I have written here does not exist right now. We just need new 'people engines' to take the business from concept to production for the marketplace. This is happening as I write, so watch this space!

But here's a call to action. If any one reading this was part of the IT First Tuesday thing, they experienced something new to me then but essential now. Inclusiveness! The normal US way is to keep all cards real close to the chest in case some guy steals your idea. To create the car I described here, we need several players to do what the aero space folk or DVD manufacturers do. Agree to work together and share these vital ideas. If we don't, each team gets a few pieces right, but the market does not get what it needs. I know where all the pieces are. I just can't get the people to share the ideas at a commercial price. This is my mission.

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Ash- I can see the day when you will be required to park your non-electric car at the city limits and take public transit, ride your bike or rent one, walk, or rent an electric town car. Many cities and towns are closing down their centers to cars already aren’t they? Any thoughts?

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Tim, you are correct and Ken Livingston, Mayor of London has a consultation paper out with the industry and people of London at this moment whereby what he is proposing is another step in that direction. There are to be expensive road price or access penalties for what are known as "Chelsea Tractors" over here, 4X4 SUV's to you guys. By default this will drive buyers to choose more carbon neutral models. EV's and Ev-Hybrids come into their own. A smart thing to do is to have an all EV car where the hybrid bit just charges the battery. Regen Breaking+Solar+small hydrogen or bio-diesel motor can fix the range issue then you get silence +range+performance + carbon neutral all rolled into one. Bad news for EV fans is the new UK Government policy that this will be a fuel neutral one so efficient ICE's get the same benefits as Ev's and hybrids. I guess, for now that makes sense. So for us to harness the power of the market, a really tasty to behold EV, say as Viao ia to laptop, dream EV will be to say some of today's daft EV ducklings, then market forces will do for it what ipod did for Walkman.

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Ash- Series PHEV-60s with small multi-fuel (B100, E100 etc) APUs are definitely the answer. We seem to be rapidly marching in that direction. The best scenario would be 100% removal of all fossil fuels with only locally produced & distributed renewable fuels used. Distributed energy carries a more efficient cycle plus it increases competition, enhances quality, reduces prices, stimulates innovation and is more secure against terror. Monopolies like the current energy cartels are bad for humanity. Wouldn’t it be great to know that 90% of your driving is powered by the PV collectors on the roof of you house and the balance is purchased from local farmer’s coops?

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