Fresh off its official unveiling at the Chicago Auto Show a couple weeks ago, Azure Dynamics, Ford and AT&T have just announced that AT&T will be the first company to own some Ford Transit Connect Electric commercial fleet vans. With an order of just 2, it certainly is a small start, but the list will surely grow from here.
KB Home, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., has announced that they will be providing the option to homebuyers to pre-wire their new construction homes so that they are ready for the high voltage, high amperage electrical lines required to charge electric cars quickly and properly.
The company views this new option as an extension of their already existing “My Home. My Earth.” campaign to make their homes more energy efficient and load them with features and equipment that both save money and have a lowered environmental impact.
One of the biggest barriers to the adoption of electric cars, plug-in hybrids and extended range electric vehicles is cost. The biggest part of that added cost is the battery. In the past, estimates of roughly $1000 per kWh of battery capacity have been thrown around as a way to gauge how much of a premium consumers can expect to pay. Given that it takes roughly 25 kWh to go 100 miles, you can see how this would quickly add up.
Recently, however, the cost of lithium-ion batteries has been dropping more steeply than expected; indicating that the potential in the market to reduce the premium of owning a battery-powered car has been greatly underestimated.
In a recent interview with Business Week, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was cited as saying that Nissan has collected 56,000 orders for the LEAF already. What this actually means, I’m not sure… especially considering that just last month Nissan said they had more than 50,000 people signed up on their Nissan LEAF interest list (which requires no deposit) and that actual pre-orders requiring a small refundable deposit of $100 will begin in April.
“Range anxiety” — the worry that your EV will run out juice before you get to where you’re going — is a term that has been bandied about a lot recently… almost annoyingly so. From a common sense standpoint, it seems only logical that range anxiety is a real phenomenon. But since we have so few EVs on the roads right now, the fact of the matter is that range anxiety is, at this point, a made up concept based on what we can logically expect.
And it’s this expectation that is spurring a huge amount of both private and public investment in nationwide charging networks for EVs — the assumption being that the only way EVs will ever become mass-accepted is to eliminate range anxiety.
But will those public charging stations that we’re dumping money into go unused because we have an expectation for a phenomenon that turns out to not really be an issue?
Audi is continuing its aggressive push into the electric car marketspace by bringing its “e-tron” moniker to yet another model: the A2. What’s that you say, there’s an Audi A2? Well, yes, when it was originally produced in the early 2000’s the A2 (pictured above) was essentially a European market flop.
It was an oddly styled, underperforming mini-minivan that made extensive use of aluminum to save weight. But it was also a very fuel efficient vehicle: the 3-liter diesel version got nearly 80 miles per gallon (US) on the European cycle — making it the first vehicle to break the 3 liters per 100 kilometer mark.
And now Audi seems to think that the A2 was a flop because it was ahead of its time and they’re planning on bringing it back for the 2014 model year. Given the success of vehicles like the Mazda5 and the onslaught of what are essentially mini-minivans, perhaps Audi is right. Let’s just hope they make it look better this time around.
In the world of alternative fuels, Brazilians are lucky. They have some of the best land and climate in the world with which to grow sugarcane–which they have proven is an excellent feedstock for first generation ethanol production.
Not only is it incredibly easy to convert the cane sugar into ethanol through fermentation, they can power much of their ethanol production by burning the material leftover after harvesting and crushing the sugarcane to extract the sweet liquid.
Years ago the Brazilian government realized the potential in this system and started encouraging a major shift to a transportation sector capable of running mostly on ethanol. And now the fruits of their labor are being borne out: The 10 millionth ethanol flex-fuel capable vehicle has been delivered in Brazil.
Speaking at a conference in Santa Barbara, CA, Shell CEO Peter Voser said that by 2050 he fully expects 40% of all vehicles in the world to be some kind of electric car. Shell has calculated that by 2050 there will be 2 billion cars in the world, up from today’s 1 billion.
Well folks, it’s official, Lexus will be selling the CT 200h luxury compact hybrid wagon in the US. After a well-received launch at the Geneva Auto Show, Lexus officials were still non-committal about what a “global launch” of the car at the end of the year actually meant. But now Lexus has taken the mystery out of that phrase–and apparently the US is still considered part of the globe.
The CT 200h will be Lexus’ 2nd dedicated hybrid (next to the HS 250h) to be sold in the US once it hits showrooms later this year or early next. To get the US market ready for the car, it will be making its US debut early next month at the New York International Auto Show.
A Ph.D. student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a new method for storing large amounts of hydrogen at room temperature using a version of the super-material graphene. Reportedly his material is inexpensive, easy to produce, and can store almost twice the amount of hydrogen than the U.S. Department of Energy’s ultimate target of 7.5% by weight at room temperature.
Corn ethanol is a tricky subject, but what if you could teach corn to produce its own fertilizer from the air around it? If you could, you would vastly reduce the amount of petroleum-based fertilizer needed to grow it and therefore make it much more environmentally sound.
Eighty-four US House Republicans yesterday introduced a bill to nullify the EPA finding late last year that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide represent a threat to human health and therefore should be regulated as pollutants under the clean air act—also known as the “endangerment” finding.
Although this brings the focus back on Republicans as the party that is anti-climate change regulation, there has been a flurry of recent activity to nullify the EPA’s findings from both sides of the aisle, including bills introduced by Democrats and Republicans alike to accomplish essentially the same goal.
If successful, the bill could also derail the amazing consensus recently reached between automakers and the government to raise fuel economy standards and lower vehicle emissions dramatically over the next several years. The auto industry is counting on these new regulations to provide certainty as they plan for the next generation of vehicles.
Plug In Solutions, one of the largest plug-in hybrid kit manufacturers in California, says that it has come up with a fix for the “unintended acceleration” issue for all of Toyota’s cars—not just the hybrid ones. The fix comes in the form of a switch that allows drivers to “turn off” their engine in the case of an emergency. Interestingly enough, this is the same type of fix that regulators are currently debating a future requirement for on all vehicles.
What is Porsche doing to me? I had just gotten over my teenage-like, eco-speed-lust with the 918 Spyder hybrid from yesterday’s announcement, and now Porsche has to go and release a video showing it actually driving? It’s not right. A man can only take so much.
As if just seeing pictures of a car that can get 78 mpg yet get from 0-60 mph in 3 seconds wasn’t enough.
Last week I brought you word of the impending release of an all new dedicated Lexus hybrid at the end of this year, the CT 200h. Although Lexus has previously said the car will get a “global launch,” it has been unclear whether that “global” will include the US.
Our friends over at AutoblogGreen are reporting that their “men on the scene” in Geneva have adamant and convincing words from Lexus executives that “the United States and Japan will receive the CT 200h, even if it was developed as a euro-centric model.”
At the Geneva Auto Show, Toyota is full steam ahead on the launch of its upcoming Auris Hybrid–a for-European-eyes-only hatchback based on the Corolla platform. In addition to the hybrid, the new Auris is available in straight up gasoline and diesel versions. The car represents the company’s first attempt at a compact hybrid, and it’s a rather impressive one at that.
[Update 3/2/2010: Porsche has also released a video of the 918 Spyder in action]
Remember that old myth that went something along the lines of “if you sneeze, fart and burp at the same time, you’ll explode”? Well, Porsche’s new 918 Spyder hyper-eco-super-sports-plug-in-hybrid concept has accomplished all three while simultaneously rubbing its head and patting its belly. And I can’t believe it doesn’t explode simply from being looked at.
Talk about jaw-dropping brain candy for car enthusiast greenies with a need for speed.
Pushing forward with its newly minted e-tron platform, Audi is planning on introducing a slew of new hybrids and electric vehicles over the next several years. This development is especially interesting in light of the fact that last year, Audi’s US chief, Johan DeNysschen, called electric cars playthings for the elite and said that anyone who buys a Volt is an “idiot.”
Mercedes has announced that they plan on building an E300 Bluetec Hybrid starting later this year—representing the company’s first foray into the world of diesel-electric hybrids. The car will reach European dealerships by early 2011. No word on whether or not Merc has any plans to release the vehicle in the States yet… so if you want it here, start making your voices heard now.
California’s “Cool Cars” law has been controversial ever since its adoption by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) last summer… but now things have been kicked up a notch with CARB seemingly sticking to their guns in a shoot out with the police… almost literally.
In a nutshell, the law will require all new cars sold in California starting in 2012 to have a microscopic reflective layer embedded in the windows that will keep the cars from getting so hot in the sun, thereby reducing air conditioner usage and increasing fuel economy while lowering emissions.
The problem: The reflective layer has been shown to interrupt cell phone, GPS, and RFID transmissions, which, in turn, could disrupt the ability of police to track GPS-braceleted criminals, block 911 calls, and stop automated toll booths from tracking toll payers… not to mention screwing up any number of the ever-connected devices that drivers use on a daily basis.
