When it comes to scooter rumors, The Scooter Scoop's premonitions seem to always come true. So, we're pretty excited to see that our good friend Steve is reporting that the Yamaha T-Max is slated for a 2009 introduction into the United States market. For those unaware, the T-Max falls into the maxi-scooter category, boasting a displacement of 500ccs. Currently, the market is dominated by Suzuki with its Burgman scooter in both 400cc and 650cc sizes. Honda's offering is the Silver Wing, which is available with a 600cc twin-cylinder engine. Yamaha's largest scooter currently offered in the states is the Majesty, which struggles to compete with "only" 400ccs of displacement. For what it's worth, Kawasaki has so far chosen to stay out of the scooter game. Though the T-Max only has an extra hundred ccs, the European motoring press has been singing the top-level Yamaha's praises ever since it was first introduced a few years back. We look forward to finding out ourselves if they're right, and seeing what Yamaha rates its fuel mileage at.
Simon Property Group, a company that provides security solutions to corporations all over the U.S., has announced that it is rolling out Segway i2s to its entire fleet of shopping mall security guards. The latest purchase will make Simon's fleet of 225 Segways the largest in the world. Apparently, the mounted security guards have been a hit with pedestrians, which provides "social interaction" that would otherwise be impossible and allows the security guards to do a better job of keeping the peace. Say what you want about the Segway, but you must admit that they are noticeable, which is definitely a good thing when it comes to security. If you frequent malls in major cities like San Diego, Las Vegas, Houston, Miami or Boston, expect to become even more familiar with security guards mounted atop their trusty steeds. There's just one more question to ask: just how green will they really be?
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.
Photo by Joe Shlabotnik. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Each week, the EPA asks a question on its blog, Greenversations, to see how people around the country feel about a particular question and opens up the comments section to generate answers. Pretty standard Web 2.0 stuff, but this time the government tells you they're watching.
Although the EPA's short press release announcing this week's question (after the jump) doesn't mention the League of American Bicyclists' Bike-to-Work Week that is going on now, the agency's latest Blog Question of the Week fits perfectly with the event. The question is: Why Are You or Aren't You Biking to Work? Specifically:
Biking is healthy, it prevents air pollution, and it can even save you money (filled your tank recently?). So why aren't you biking to work? Need more bike paths? Different policies from your employer? Government sponsorship or policies? Or are you just a couch potato? If you ARE biking, tell us about your route and experiences!
As a guy who rides a bike for a lot of regular errands (post office, groceries, etc.), I make due without new and better bike paths. More would certainly be nice, but I find that cruising the residential streets is a good way around the issue. You?
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.
As we've just recently wrote, Toyota has been ordered to pay the very hefty sum of $4.3 million to Paice LLC for patent infringement related to its Hybrid Synergy Drive. At that time, we mentioned that Solomon Technologies had also sued Toyota regarding its hybrid vehicle technology and was appealing a previous ruling that Toyota did not infringe on one of its patents. There is good news this time for Toyota, as Solomon's appeal was denied by a three-judge panel. Solomon still believes that its patent was indeed infringed upon and claims that they "remain as determined as ever to defend our intellectual property fully and completely," according to Peter W. DeVecchis, President of Solomon Technologies. Solomon had asked that Toyota be forced to stop importing vehicles such as the hot-selling Prius, Camry and Highlander Hybrid models. Solomon has yet to determine whether or not it will continue forward with this particular case, as you can see in the press release pasted after the jump.
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.
Toyota finally seems to be out of options now that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed a lower court's ruling to stand which will award Paice LLC roughly $4.3 million in an hybrid technology lawsuit. That amount works out to $25 for every vehicle that Toyota has sold which uses the Hybrid Synergy Drive. According to the lawsuit, Toyota made use of a microprocessor which accepts torque information from the electric motor and internal combustion engine. Fortunately for Toyota, though, the ruling does not preclude the Japanese auto-giant from continuing production and sales of their super-popular hybrid vehicles, which would, of course, include the Prius. There were three patents in question, though only one of Paice's patents was ruled to be infringed upon. For the record, there are two other possible hurdles for Toyota and their hybrid technology, one from Solomon Technologies and the other from a seventy-five year old engineer in Seattle named Conrad Gardner.
We recently reported on the unfortunate demise of the Bajaj 3-wheeler from the American market due to slow sales. Happily, a new brand of funky 3-wheelers is set to make its debut in the U.S. by way of Thailand. Tuk Tuk North America (TTNA) reports that its vehicles are currently undergoing EPA and NHTSA testing for road-use approval, though its line of trikes is reportedly already for sale for off-road use. Available in a number of passenger, cargo and truck body styles, the Tuk Tuk comes equipped with either a 200cc or 650cc version of a newly-designed, liquid-cooled four-stroke powerplant. This replaces the original two-stroker from which the vehicle received its funny-sounding name. TTNA also reports that its vehicles are available with both automatic and manual transmissions. Interestingly, the options page of the TTNA site shows an LPG kit which would convert the engine to run on dual fuels -- both liquefied petroleum and gasoline.
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!
Will American farmers continue get Federal help to grow biodiesel feedstock? Under the current compromise in the Farm Bill that's going through a reauthorization, the answer to that question is yes. But the White House is apparently going to veto the biodiesel provisions that allow farmers who make up to $2.5m a year still qualify for crop subsidies. Rumor is that an official verdict might be coming out today sometime.
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB), for its part, likes the compromise and said so in a press release that came out late last week. The issue revolves around the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Bioenergy program, which the NBB says is "a key element in America's energy solution." Unfortunately for farmers, feedstock costs are jumping up in price (what isn't, these days? Houses, I guess). The CCC Bioenergy program is worth $300 million.
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".
Photo by Marcn. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Following the economist revolt against John McCain's "gas tax holiday" idea, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is going to try and change the current dialogue about his stance on climate change. He will do this by getting into specifics today, according to chief McCain surrogate and economic adviser Carly Fiorina. As WIRED puts it, Fiorina is working hard to distance McCain's environmental stances from those of President Bush, and it's likely that emphasizing this difference will be a big part of the new message. We don't know if McCain will offer any new ideas for cleaning up transportation, but there is that McCain-Lieberman carbon emissions bill that's been floating around for five years. We'll see what, if any, new details emerge before we take a stand on the latest proposal from McCain. Daily Kos, though, is ready with their take on McCain's environmental record.
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.
