Recent Comments:
Riding the bus {Autoblog Green}
Jun 3rd 2008 12:39PM I live in Granada, Spain and ride the bus or my bike - no car. Overall I like the bus, it helps that one comes along every 10 minutes, and it is about a 15 minute ride to the center of the city. Parking is impossible in the center of Granada, so it is much easier to use the bus. Sometimes we rent a car, but only to go on trips. Even if we have a car it is easier to go downtown on the bus! It's kind of noisy (the Spanish talk a lot), but generally not bad. Or, I take my bike, which is often faster than the bus. Here is my idea on how to electrify buses:
www.nanobus.org
A raft of microturbine hybrid buses to be built in North Carolina {Autoblog Green}
May 16th 2008 11:30AM Or, how about this: A Micro Turbine (one moving part), the generator (one moving part), and then using two big wheel motors like E-Traction (two moving parts, one per "The Wheel"). A total of 4 moving parts for the traction system! Sounds like some people are going to be out of a job. I wonder how many moving parts are in a diesel motor + transmission + transaxle?
Of course, you add in the AC compressor, the Power stearing compressor, and the air compressor, plus the usual assortment of suspension parts, passenger doors, AC fans, but these are expected.
As always, shameless plug: www.nanobus.org
Complicating matters? Ten hydrogen buses coming to London {Autoblog Green}
Mar 26th 2008 7:23AM Hydrogen as an energy carrier (like petrol or diesel) is very inefficient overall. See:
http://planetforlife.com/h2/h2swiss.html
if you don't believe me.
It is only attractive because it seems so lovely - the only by-product is water. However, here is another scheme, not so sexy, but a whole lot more practical -
www.nanobus.org
using rapid charging NanoSafe or A123 battery packs on diesel-electric hybrids, and opportunity charging at the ends of the bus route whenever possible. In this scheme, you can get anywhere from 10-90% full electric running, depending on how much you charge, but still can switch on the generator into hybrid mode if you are stuck in traffic, or need to turn on the A/C.
Note: I wrote this website, so I am sort of biased...
AutoblogGreen Q&A: AltairNano CEO Alan Gotcher {Autoblog Green}
May 28th 2007 3:44PM Well, 25,000 cycles certainly changes the economics of Vehicle To Grid (V2G)! Here is a blog all about V2G:
http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/990
Basically, V2G is using an Electric Vehicle's battery to help sink "excess" electricity, like nighttime wind for example. Buy power cheap at night, and use it during the day. V2G is the idea that, if you don't use all of your electricity during the day for driving, sell some of it back to the grid at high daytime prices - the old "buy low, sell high" trick – but, will it pay for that Tesla Roadster?
Here is my blog on it:
http://solarplusev.blogspot.com/
