There's nothing like a real-life introduction to get the love sparks flying. Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand happened to be in Japan the other day when she was invited to take a ride in the all-electric i MiEV from Mitsubishi. She found the ride through the Tokyo streets "smooth" and thought it was the perfect automotive solution for her own island country. "If they can get it into mass production and get the price down this would be an incredibly popular urban car," she said. She compared it to a modern "Mini" and stated her desire for "Japan to see New Zealand as a place that is very willing and ready to pick up these kinds of cars and because we've got so much renewable energy it makes sense for us to go the electric car way." With sales planned for Japan and the UK next year and with North America to follow in 2010, New Zealand is keen to have Mitsubishi offer it up to their populace as well, though no promises of Kiwi distribution have been made.
The Mitsubishi wasn't the only enviro-friendly vehicle Clark got to ride in during her visit. She also got to tour Tokyo's financial district in one of the four hybrid buses by Designline, a redevelopment project has imported from her own native land.
The electric truck industry in the UK appears to be going into overdrive! Modec continues to land new accounts with their uniquely-engineered vehicle while over at Smith EV, they are celebrating a purchase order from their client, TNT, for 100 of their 7.5 ton Newton lorry (pictured above). The sale marks a significant continuation of their corporate relationship as the express delivery giant had already placed an order for 50 vehicles last year. This additional complement to their EV fleet will replace an equal number of diesel vehicles and is expected to reduce the company's emissions by 1.3 million kg of CO2, not to mention the elimination of all the other nasties that come out of a diesel truck's tailpipe. Though these "clean lorries" only make up a small part of TNT's total fleet of 45,000 vehicles, it is a strong start in a positive direction.
The Newtons on order are powered by four large sodium nickel chloride batteries that can be charged from empty to full in eight hours, can reach speeds of 50 mph and have a range of 100 miles. That is more than adequate for the urban areas in which they will operate. The cost per mile for the electricity is expected to run around 7 pence. One other environmental feature of note are the recyclable, ultralight body panels manufactured by Omnia. These reduce the body weight as well as increase the payload capacity to 2,000kg . Hit the "read" link below to go to the detail replete announcement by TNT.
We've told you all about Shai Agassi's (above left) ambitious Project Better Place and how PBP has plans to create a charging and battery-swapping infrastructure to support fleets of electric cars in Israel, Denmark and possibly Japan. We've also noted not only PBP's deals with Renault to be the first major auto supplier for the scheme but Renault's repeated announcements of its intention to bring electriccars to America in couple of years from now. Now all of this seems to be coming together and it appears, much to our jaw-dropping surprise, that a city in California may very well lead the way into this brand new age of electric-car driving.
According to the San Francisco Sentinel, the mayor of that fair city, Gavin Newsom (above on right), is in talks with PBP about setting up shop in his town of steep rolling hills. In Israel last week to encourage exchanges between business peoples of that country with those in the San Francisco area, the mayor met with several different executives from Agassi's company. Over lunch with CEO Moshe Kaplinsky, Newsom offered to work with the company if they would consider using his city as a testing ground. Watch the video from a Israeli news interview after the break to hear the mayor discuss the goings-on in his own words.
The wait for an all-electric highway commuter just got a whole lot shorter. If you wanted to buy a Tesla and had the cash, you would still have to wait until the 600 (and counting) folks in line in front of you received theirs before you could stop buying gas and start turning heads. That could take a while. Then there's the Aptera. They only begin building their birds this Fall and there are 2,400 (and counting) folks with paid reservations in that line-up which ends, or at least pauses for effect, at the magic number of 3,000. But now, if you act fast, you may be able to jump into the beginning of a brand new queue. AutoblogGreen has just received word that Green Vehicles is accepting reservations (with a 10 percent fully refundable reservation fee) for July delivery of their new Triac (pictured above). That's only 60 days away!
You want to try before you buy? The three wheeler will be available for test drives around the middle of July and, according to Green Vehicles president Ehab Youssef, they anticipate leasing as well as selling the vehicle. They can ship cars throughout the U.S. (though Ohio could pose a licensing problem) and Canada, not to mention most other countries as well. The missive sent out by the company also gives reassurances about the quality and safety of their product. What kind of reassurances? Join us on the other side of the break to find out.
While Electro Energy is keeping its Gainesville factory busy making the standard 18650 type rechargeable lithium ion batteries, the company has continued to forge ahead in its better-battery oriented research. To that end, they have just announced a "contract award of $750,000 sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to continue development of ultra-high energy density, rechargeable, lithium battery chemistry for Air Force applications."
According to a press release, the battery being developed involves a composite cathode of metal fluoride and should be more powerful and compact yet give the packaged batteries specific energies of 400-500 Wh/kg, which is about double that of modern lithium ion polymer cells. The potential impact for hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as for military applications such as UAVs and directed energy weapons, could eventually be enormous. That would turn the 200+ mile range of a Tesla Roadster to (engaging mythical mathematical prowess powers) over 400 miles or a 120 mile Aptera into, well, 240 miles. Now if they could also somehow halve the cost, your grandchildren may one day ask you what gasoline was.
If you're a wiz with image altering software and crazy about cars then chances are you know all about the world of photochopping. Maybe you even have a folder stored on your computer filled with your attempts to improve on the exterior designs of top auto designers. If you think you got skillz and can improve on the design of the Aptera Typ-1 (pictured above) then you should click your bad self on over to Carchops.com and pit your revisionary talent against some of the best car photochoppers teh internets has to offer. That's right, the Aptera has been selected as the subject matter for the Carchops Official Chop Off for May 2008. One entry per customer and you have to post on their forum before the 25th to let them know you're going to unleash.
If you're teh suxors with software and need pointers from your nephew on how to chop Jay Leno's head into a Tesla don't be sad. You can join me in checking out the entries when they appear in the forum on May 31, between 12:00 AM and 12:00 PM. If you want to give some suggestions (please don't add mirrors, for example), join the forum for free and let them know how you would do it if you weren't so lame busy. Top prize is respect.
Whilst some of us were hobnobbing about L.A. and driving a Tesla Roadster, others of us at ABG had to content ourselves with watching the Mitsubishi i MiEV drive around of New York city via a free download from iTunes. The fact that it was available in high definition (HD), as well as standard definition (SD), helped soothe the soul slightly. Of course it's not the same as actually driving the car in NYC, which we've also done, but the having the camera in a chase car helps give this film more of that 3rd person point of view. If you're one of the tens of millions of folks who has iTunes on your computer, click here. If you're not, click here and download it so you can watch. Thanks to Yanqetino for the tip!
The 2004 decision by the city of Elk Grove to purchase refurbished buses with gasoline/electric hybrid drivetrains from ISE and Complete Coach Works sure hasn't panned out as well as had been hoped. With the noble intention of being the first U.S. city with an all-hybrid bus fleet, Elk Grove officials purchased 21 of the buses for around $10 million. According to a spokesperson for the city's contract maintenance company, MV Transportation of Fairfield, "Those buses immediately began having problems." After experiencing leaking in the rain, loss of air conditioning, and some buses that completely stopped working, the fire that happened in September of 2007 was the last straw. It was then that the buses (pictured above) were pulled from service and parked behind a grassy knoll.
Although hotly contested by the manufacturers, the city claims there were actually four fires and 25-30 "thermal incidents." Vice President Justin Spragg of ISE Corp contends that there were only three fires and that they were not all related to the ultra-capacitor used in the hybrid design. According to the article in the Sacramento Bee, he also stated that there were far fewer than the 25 "thermal incidents" claimed by the city. President Macy Neshati of Complete Coach Works is quoted as saying, "I think we're aware of a couple of instances that would be properly described as a thermal incident but 'fire' is like flames and evacuation and buses burning to the ground. We certainly haven't had that." The manufacturers place the blame at the feet of the maintenance company while the city appears to have plans to try to recoup their initial $10 million investment from all parties through legal action. For all the details on this refurbished hybrid bus hullabaloo click "read".
We have heard some interesting claims about upcoming electric vehicles before but 175 mph for the Volta G/T (pictured above) definitely raises some eyebrows. While being interviewed by CBS4 at his offices in Boulder, CO, we heard Electric Vehicle Company (EVC) president Bill Kent state that, "Performance wise, this bike will do zero to 50 in about 4.5 seconds". Ok, that's pretty quick and, for all we know, it's entirely possible. He then went on to say, "In the series you have top ends that range from about 120 to 175 miles per hour." Whoa! Now that's fast! But is it true?
According to the specs listed (PDF) on the EVC website, the fastest bike in their 3 deep line-up is the EVC-21. The top speed listed for this lithium ion battery powered machine is 110 mph which is still pretty fast considering the Vectrix is "only" capable of a humble 62 mph. It could be that the information at the website is outdated or that possibly Mr. Kent misspoke. CBS reporter Dave Aguilera did take the bike for a ride but as he was not on a track (or wearing a helmet), we don't think he had the chance to wind it out. According to the report, six bike models will be available this summer with prices starting at $8,000. We look forward to news of the official launch and more details.
It's not often that a Hummer is pictured here on AutoblogGreen but this particular brute, owned by hydraulic hose and belt supplier Gates, is being converted to a hydraulic hybrid using a system developed by Hybra-Drive. We introduced them to you in '07 and now that they're making some news, we wanted to bring them back. Their set-up, you'll remember, uses a conventional engine to pressurize a hydraulic system to send power to the wheels which is said by the company to reduce fuel consumption by more than half and reduce emissions as much as 90 percent.
It seems this small Deerfield, MI business has been chosen over some of the more established firms like Eaton to "negotiate with the Parcel Delivery Working Group of the Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) in Pasadena, Calif. for validation and testing of hybrid hydraulic power on parcel delivery vehicles," according to the Great Lakes IT report on WWJ Newsradio 950. HTUF is a branch of Calstart that, through forums and working groups, works to help commercialize hybrid designs for trucks. So maybe we'll be seeing hydraulic hybrid systems used in vehicles besides the Peterbilt garbage truck at some point in the future.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince is a guy with a dilemma we here at AutoblogGreen can empathize with. He's very environmentally aware yet he really likes fast cars. His solution? Build an electric sports car. Luckily, he's got wads of cash (and previous connections with Lotus) to make this sort of dream come true and, according to a post on his zerocarbonista blog, construction is already under way.
An Exige, judging by the rendition on his blog (picture above), is probably the donor chassis for this project and is currently lying in pieces in Norfolk, presumably at the Lotus shop there. No word on whether the new hybrid and electric car group within Lotus Engineering is involved with the undertaking but it seems rather likely. Of course we are familiar with another existing electric sports car with some Lotus DNA that Vince could have put his name on a list for but the required waiting time is probably too long for a guy so committed to green he only drove about 3,000 miles last year. Of course, if those miles were traveled in the Mercedes which appears with him in his explanatory video (after the jump) than that would be like 100,000 Prius miles.
One of the things you'll hear critics of renewable energy often say is that the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. But of course we know that isn't the case. If you go high enough from the earth's surface, the sun never stops shining and though no one has seen it, the wind is always blowing. We've talked about beaming the solar energy to earth before and we have even shown you this particular wind-powered energy producer before. At the time, some commented it would never fly but the maker of the Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS) has survived long enough to see it happen.
The blimp, technically called an aerostat, recently underwent its initial inflation trials at the facilities of premiere airship builder, TCOM, and was then taken to Virginia to be demonstrated for the CIA a customer. Magenn believes their balloon will be perfect for remote electricity generation at a competitive price and have plans to sail their device at four different locations in the next year.
Altairnano has had the spot light thrown on it recently as a result of an agreement between Electrovaya and Altairnano partner, Phoenix Motorcars. It is in this environment of speculation that they released their 2008 1st quarter earnings report. In a continuance of recent performance, they reported a slightly reduced revenue of $1.07 million and moderately increased expenditures. Net loss for the quarter was $8.29 million. So that's not so good, right?
While it definitely wasn't an outstanding financial performance, interim president Terry Copeland sounded relatively upbeat during the conference call with investors that broke the numbers to them. Now stored on their website, the call began with talk of one of Altairnano's brighter prospects, their deal with AES and the near completion of, so far, very successful testing. He stated the 2 megawatt battery system could move power around at a 4C rate or about 250kwh in 15 minutes. That certainly sounds impressive. In fact, throughout the talk, which also touched on the Phoenix Motorcars relationship, Copeland stressed the superior ability of their battery's power density as well as their extreme temperature tolerance. In an attempt to calm fears on the financial front he discussed their near-term goal of reducing the cash burn rate.
So what of the future? Perhaps not too bad if the AES relationship begins to bear some significant sales fruit. Their Navy contract also holds good earning potential. Mentioned briefly during questioning from investors was news of possible HEV applications, including a bus. You can listen to the conference call by clicking here and read the complete Q1 report for yourself after the jump.
If $120+ per barrel of black gooey stuff of puts you in a bad mood, you might not want to read this. According to energy strategist Argun Murti of Goldman Sachs, "Surging demand was increasingly likely to create a 'super-spike' past $200 in six months to two years' time." Yikes! Ethel, get in the ark! No, first help me with this pair of aardvarks!
While a high price for oil might bode well for the environment if it translates into less of the stuff being burned just to move us around, that large a gain in as little as 6 months could really put an economic hurtin' on people the world over. I probably don't need to remind everyone that the cost of, well, everything is pretty much tied in some way to the price of fuel. Of course, we did bring up the possibility before a couple months ago and even OPEC has mentioned it but with the time frame potentially being so incredibly compressed, it's a little worrisome. The rise is being blamed on a slow speed of growth of supply coupled with increased usage in countries like China and India. Maybe it's time to dust off that bicycle. Thanks to Aviv for the tip.
Recently we broke a story about a new electric "highway capable" three-wheeled car being prepared for the American market called the Triac. We promised to keep you posted and now that some interesting new details have emerged, behold the posting.
Apparently, many of you out there contacted Green Vehicles to seek out more information about the Triac for yourselves. It seems they might have been a little overwhelmed and it took a few days before a response was sent out en masse. The missive contained lots of interesting information which I will now share with you.
First of all, there were a couple of items from the video that were corrected. In the clip it states that the top speed of the vehicle is 70 mph. This is wrong. Green Vehicles is claiming that it can actually reach 80 mph. That's a speed that can come in handy when you're passing on the highway. The other metric to undergo revision was the range. This was lowered from 120 to 100 miles with the further explanation that the original figure was achieved at a relatively slow speed and that the new result was returned from a speed of 45 mph. Other Triac facts we learned were about the drivetrain. It will have a 5-speed transmission (we're guessing manual) matched to a 20kW AC motor with "one of the world's most sophisticated battery maintenance systems" to help you get the most out of your lithium ion battery pack. It's onboard charger will allow you to plug it in to either a 120V or 240V outlet. Now, what was that about a truck? Hit the jump for more news.
One of the things you'll hear critics of renewable energy often say is that the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. But of course we know that isn't the case. If you go high enough from the earth's surface, the sun never stops shining and though 
If $120+ per barrel of black gooey stuff of puts you in a bad mood, you might not want to read this. According to energy strategist Argun Murti of Goldman Sachs, "Surging demand was increasingly likely to create a 'super-spike' past $200 in six months to two years' time." Yikes! Ethel, get in the ark! No, first help me with this pair of aardvarks! 
