EVs

Electric MINIs Headed for California

khallgeisler — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

BMW, which owns the Mini brand, is slated to bring 500 electric-powered Mini Coopers to California sometime in the near future. You will know them by their distinctive paint job, silver with a yellow roof. You'll also be able to recognize them by their quiet operation and smug, smiling drivers. Oh, how I wish I could be one of those.

The company is building 500 empty cars -- no engines, no fuel tanks, no gearboxes -- at the Mini factory in England. The shells will be shipped to Germany to be fitted with electric motors, batteries, and chargers, as well as presumably a new type of transmission. The completed Mini EVs will be brought to the States.

Well, one state, anyway. Like all these new-technology vehicles, BMW will lease the Minis to customers in California, not sell them outright. Of the 500 total, 490 will be available to the public, while 10 will be kept as show cars.

Folks outside California (and impatient Californians) can still get an electric Cooper, for a price. Hybrid Technologies converted a Mini to lithium-ion battery power and brought it to Popular Mechanics HQ last year. You can buy one from the company today that goes 75 mph and has a 100-mile range -- for about $50,000, or twice the price of a standard Mini.

Image courtesy of Mini.

Forget Gas Prices: Consider a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

khallgeisler — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Many automakers are promising that electric, highway-speed, family sedans are on their way, maybe even as early as next year. If you'd like to lose the gasoline habit sooner rather than later, though, there are options available right now: NEVs, or neighborhood electric vehicles.

These are the zippy little cars made by the likes of Zap, Zenn, and Gem. Some have three wheels, some have four, and they generally carry one or two passengers. But would one of these cars work for you? Maybe, and maybe not.

Pluses

No gas, ever. All the power is supplied by batteries, usually of the common, less-expensive lead-acid variety. These can be fully charged overnight in a standard socket for a couple cents a mile.

Up the green ante with renewable power. If your utility company offers clean electricity from wind farms or the like, then your NEV's carbon footprint dwindles to almost nothing.

Price. NEVs can be cheaper than even gas-sippers like the Honda Fit or Nissan Versa. Bare-bones models start at about $7,000 and go up to about $16,000 for your fancier models.

Zero emissions. None.

Quiet. The only noise is the tires rolling on the road, so you'll no longer be contributing to noise pollution. But do the polite thing and make sure kids and the blind know you're around, since they can't hear you.

Minuses

Top speed of about 40 mph. For those who live in an urban area, though, this hardly matters. Speed limits in towns are rarely higher than a Zap can zip.

Maximum range of 25-50 miles, depending on batteries. Again, this isn't a major minus, as 78% of Americans have a round-trip commute of 40 miles or fewer. If you can top off the batteries at work, you can double your daily miles.

Number of passengers is limited. You can take your kid to Little Leage practice, but no one else can ride along. Unless they are very tiny, or an invisible friend.

Hills are the enemy. But the flip side is that flat streets are your friend. If you live in a hilly area, an NEV might not have the power to get you up and over. But again, flat, urban commutes are ideal for these cars.

Taryn Sokolow, of the EnVironmental Motors EV dealership in Glendale, Calif., said in an interview earlier this year, "Some people it really doesn't work for, and some people think they can't, but they can."

When Sokolow is working with a customer to find the right NEV, she finds herself asking them, "How far is it from your work to your home? I need to know miles." Know your commute and your needs, and you might find that two cents a mile works just great for you.

Photo courtesy of Zenn.

New Fuel-Efficient Car: You Better Th!nk!

khallgeisler — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In April 2008, upstart car company Think (also spelled Th!nk) made its first move toward invading North American shores with its compact, fuel-effiecient, city-friendly cars. It partnered with several U.S. companies, including General Electric and lithium-ion battery producer A123, as part of its strategy for world domination.

Maybe not world domination exactly, but at least world market share. Think already produces and sells the City, a little zero-emissions, all-electric number, in Europe; it plans to bring the car to the U.S. next year. A full charge gets you 200 km, with a top speed of 100 km/h (that's 124 miles and 62 mph for us Americans).

Many of the City's parts are recyclable, including the dashboard and body panels.The car is made in Norway at a carbon-neutral facility, and the company will buy carbon offsets to compensate for the emissions produced in the process of generating the electricty that charges your batteries. These guys are really commited.

The Think Ox is already in the works for 2011. This basic auto platform can be configured by the company into everything from a sports car to a taxi. The first iteration to hit the market will be a crossover 5-seater the size of the current Toyota Prius. The most important function of the Ox may be to take the EV from cute oddity to "real car" status, with it simple, roomy, Scandanavian design. If Ikea built a family car, this would probably be it.

Interview with GM Chairman: Bob Lutz Talks Hummers, Volts, and Hydrogen

khallgeisler — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Recently, a dozen of us automotive journalist types in the Pacific Northwest had lunch with Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman of product development and chairman of GM North America. He's on a tour of sorts to get the word out about GM's commitment to quality and alternative fuels, which I will now dutifully pass on to RiverWired readers.

First, the car of the hour, the Chevy Volt. This car has been all over the blogosphere as it has moved from concept car to production status. Lutz pointed out that the typical American 40-mile (or shorter) commute can be completed using the Volt's electric motor only, before the engine, which can run on gasoline, E85, ethanol, or hydrogen, kicks in. The car that hits the streets in limited numbers next summer will look decidedly different from the concept pictured here; Lutz admitted that the prototype looked great, but its aerodynamics have turned out to be terrible in the real world.

Batteries in the Volt will last 10 years or 150,000 miles. The source of these batteries has kept Volt mavens on pins and needles, as GM has yet to announce the supplier it will use. Here is our not-so-illuminating conversation on the topic at lunch:

Me: Have you decided on a battery supplier?

Lutz: Yes. (Sips lemonade)

Lutz spoke briefly about his Vectrix electric scooter, which he called "the equivalent of the Chevy Volt in motorcycles." He also said that electric vehicles were the only viable solution to the need for family- and highway-ready transportation in a post-oil America. If the last 100 years were about gasoline, according to Lutz, the next 100 are about electric.

But GM isn't putting all its eggs in one propulsion basket. There's Project Driveway, which is putting hydrogen-fueled Chevy Equinoxes in the hands of real people -- who happen to live near the few hydrogen fueling stations in the country (L.A., D.C., and NYC). It's also building small, efficient gasoline-powered cars like the Spark.

GM is also looking at any and all options regarding its Hummer division -- including selling it off. There's one more behemoth already coming down the pipeline, the H3T, a pickup-truck version. It seems likely that this will be the last model in the line of pseudo-military SUVs produced by the company. But if you're in a country with low emissions and economy standards and you have a little extra pocket change, give GM a ring.

Lest you think the man who called global warming a "crock of sh1t" is growing dreadlocks and joining a drum circle, he spoke with the most passion and interest when discussing the latest Cadillac CTS-V and Corvette ZR1 models. Both are supposed to be incredibly fast, but neither is anywhere near eco-friendly -- they're both powered by V8 combustion engines.

"High-performance can be electrified," Lutz said, "but it will be different." He seemed resigned to, rather than excited about, that fact.

You Have More Choices for Green Cars that Save Fuel and Money

khallgeisler — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

First came the clever little Smart ForTwo. Then came the outrageous gas prices. Now, drivers are looking for ways to get out of the SUV and into a car they can afford to drive. Below, the past, present, and future of affordable cars that go easy on the wallet and the environment.

First, the present. The Triac EV picks up where so many others have left off: it's an electric vehicle that can hit the highway and not break the bank. Green Vehicles, a company based in San Jose, Calif., builds the three-wheeled car, and claims the Triac can do 80 mph. A six-hour charge gets you 60-100 miles from the lithium-ion battery pack, depending on terrain and speed. Rumor has it that the Triac will run about $20,000, or one-fifth the price of a Tesla EV supercar.

Meanwhile, the futurisitc folks at Fiat worked with several design agencies to produce the Phylla, an asymmetrical solar-powerred car. The consortium that created this cutie was charged with designing a car that was recyclable, used alternative energy, worked with car-sharing programs, and was inexpensive to operate. A day's worth of sun should propel the Phylla 11 miles; not far, but completely free.

Lastly, it looks like people should have hung on to those underpowered, three-cylinder Geo Metros from the early 1990s. Turns out those little guys get great gas mileage, somewhere in the 30s around town and in the 40s on the freeway. Looks like my friend John shouldn't have gotten rid of his off-green Metro, "the General Bean," after college.

Girl Bikes 1500 Miles for Electric Vehicles

khallgeisler — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Liza Stoner, a 14-year-old environmentalist, plans to bike from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. this summer to raise awareness about electric vehicles. When she gets to the capital, she'll deliver a petition to lawmakers requesting tax credits and incentives -- an ambitious project for someone who doesn't yet drive or file taxes. Sign her petition here.

Liza was inspired to take on the Ride for Renewal after seeing "Who Killed the Electric Car," the 2006 documentary about GM's ill-fated EV1 project. Unlike GM, which crushed every EV1 it built and stacked the carcasses one on top of another, Liza sees electric cars as the way of the future. They can be fueled by renewable power like solar and wind, they require less maintenance, and they don't require new infrastructure.

The ride is sponsored by the Fellowship for Renewal, an organization that supports young environmental and social justice activists. When Liza hits the road for real on June 16 (right now she's training for the 1,585-mile ride), she'll be posting diary entries on her site.

Liza's home page says that she is "hoping to be a very active environmentalist." After this ride, with her petition triumphantly smacked down on some politico's desk, she can probably check that one off her list.

For more information, check out:

15 Tips For Better Mileage -- Want to Get 70 MPG in Your Toyota Prius?

The Hype About Hypermiling

Two Wheels Are Greener Than Four

Honda Civic GX Tops List of Greenest Cars

Driving Green = Fewer Greenbacks

Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars: Save Gas, Save Money

Record Month For Selling Gas -- Saving Cars Getting Better Than 30 MPG

All-Hybrid Taxi Fleet on Its Way in NYC

khallgeisler — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In May 2007, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that all NYC taxis would be hybrid by 2012. The city is on its way toward that goal a year later, though a bit off the pace, with 1020 hybrid hacks in the city, or about 8% of the 13,150 cabs on the streets.

Almost all (845) of the hybrid taxis are Ford Escapes. The next model on the list is the Toyota Highlander, another SUV, with a mere 92 ferrying people around town. The rest of the hybrid vehicles currently in use by cabbies, including the otherwise popular Prius, have only a few engines idling silently at airports.

According to an article in the New York Times, the switch has made more than an ecological impact for the early adopters. The cabbie who talked to the reporter says his Escape saves him $25 a week in gas over the Crown Victoria he proviously drove.

New York is no stranger to avant-garde taxi technology: in 1896, the city had an all-electric-powered fleet. And appropriately enough, the first-ever speeding ticket was issued to a New York cabbie in 1899. Jacob German of the Electric Vehicle Company was stopped for tearing ass around the city at 12 mph. Retrospectively, he was doing all right, since the current average speed in cross-town Manhattan traffic is 6 mph or so.

Photo credit: Edward Reed

Electric Cars: Are these Eco-Friendly Autos Really Silent Killers?

khallgeisler — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Under cover of silence, they creep up on unwary pedestrians, inching ever forward on soundless, black tires, no internal-combustion engine to give them away. They are the latest urgent threat to prod Congress into lightning-quick action: hybrids cars and electric vehicles. Da-da-DAAAAH!

On Wednesday last week, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives requiring the Trasportation Department to determine whether a minimum sound level for cars and trucks is needed. If they find we do need it, the Transportation Department will then set it. If it passes, automakers would have two years to comply with the minimum noise level. A similar bill was passed by the Maryland state senate and house last month.

The bill addresses the concern, as expressed by the National Federation of the Blind, that blind pedestrians in particular will not be aware of approaching electric-only motors. The bill's target seems off, though, since a better solution might be to improve crosswalks for everyone's use, including children, the elderly, and people with their iPods cranked to maximum who like to dance across the street.

EV and hybrid-car owners do share the NFB's concerns. Revisit this RiverWired.com post to read quotes from early EV adopters. Suggested sounds range from horse hooves to squealing tires. Others already use some kind of aural alert, like shouting "Hey! Hey! Hey!" with the window down or relying on the sound of a heat pump or whirring fan to alert people to their ninja-like presence.

Ninja image by Shawnimals.

AAA Great Battery Round-Up

khallgeisler — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Remember that car that had so many battery problems you finally donated it to charity rather than fix the junker? Of course you do. There's a stack of batteries in the corner of the garage serving as a testament to that crappy car. Rid yourself of the physical and mental anguish caused by cobwebbed, old batteries crouching in the dark by recycling them, with help from AAA.

The AAA Great Battery Round-Up happens each year near Earth Day, which falls on April 22. The auto club estimates that over five million used lead-acid car, truck, boat, and motorcycle batteries are wasting away in workshops across America rather than being taken in to be recycled, despite the fact that many states have laws requiring batteries to be recycled. Some states even ask that you bring in the old battery or pay a deposit when you buy a new one.

AAA warns that those long-ignored batteries could be leaking acid, which is harmful to pets, children, and the environment in general. And for the love of Al Gore, don't throw those things in the dumpster -- not even the one at the apartment complex down the street. There's 21 pounds of lead in there, along with a gallon of sulfuric acid. Yikes. Not to worry: a surprising (to me) 97% of the lead in these batteries can be used in new batteries; the acid can be recycled, neutralized, or converted into a product useful in fertilizers and dyes.

In most places, the Battery Round-Up will take place over several days, maybe even a couple weeks. For exact dates in your area, check with your local AAA or CAA (that's the Canadian version; they're down with it, too).

Scooter Commuters, Unite!

khallgeisler — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

As winter gives way to spring and the weather warms up, more people are hauling scooters out of garages for 80 mpg+ commutes. I myself have been a scooter commuter, even in the rainy Pacific Northwest, for five years, and it looks like people tired of paying $3.30 and up for a gallon of regular are ready to join me on the road.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, via EVWorld, sales of two-wheeled wonders increased over 55% between 2000 and 2007. Meanwhile, over at MSNBC, a longtime scooter rider examines the pluses and minuses of scooter commuting. Parking? Big plus. SUV drivers not seeing you? Big minus.

If three-dollar fill-ups don't go far enough in your crusade to save money and the planet, there are scooters powered by electricity from companies like Zap and Bravo for about the same price as a gas-powered scooter from Honda or Vespa.

The rest of the world is taking the EV scooter by the handlebars, too. Indian company TVS introduced the Scooty Teenz Electric, which is aimed at teenage girls who travel short distances. It has a range of 25 miles, goes about 25 mph, carries a surprising 250-plus pounds, and has a ridiculous name.

Back in the U.K., traffic congestion in cities like London and Glasgow has prompted the Automotbile Association to deploy officers on electric scooters to deal with breakdowns. The plan is on trial in Central London for three months, and will hit Glasgow soon.

Last stop on our international tour of scooter lovers: Cuba. Raul Castro has loosened controls on consumer goods, leading to a national buying spree. One of the most coveted items is a Chinese-made electric scooter. These had been banned from general sale for fear of putting a strain on the weak Cuban electrical grid; I guess we're about to find out if that's true.

Photo courtesy Bravo Electric Vehicles.