Earlier this week electric vehicle infrastructure startup Better Place raised one of the largest rounds of financing in the cleantech sector ever, to help build out networks in regions like Israel and Denmark. On the day of the announcement I wondered (out loud) whether Better Place was still moving forward on its plans for California’s […]
Think, the Norwegian electric car maker that aims to start selling its Think City model in the U.S. next year, has been doing its homework: slicing and dicing the massive U.S. auto market into an index of cities where its mid-range two-seater is most likely to take off early on.“Ideally,” Think CEO Richard Canny says […]
The past year proved to be a legislative whirlwind in Washington, with a new administration, and expanded Democratic majorities in Congress, tackling an ambitious legislative agenda against the backdrop of two wars and an economic meltdown.
Twelve months later, the story is much the same. The economy is still on everyone’s minds, and the Democrats’ agenda remains ambitious: health care, climate change, financial regulatory reform and more. They hope to use their nearly 80-seat majority in the House and 18-seat majority in the Senate to achieve these ends.
But Republican Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts’ special election last week shattered Senate Democrats’ ability to overcome GOP filibuster threats on their own. And it’s making other Democrats anxious about facing angry voters in November.
Nevertheless, President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress hope to resolve the health care debate as soon as possible and allow other issues to take center stage. More measures to stimulate job growth, aid the economic recovery and reign in Wall Street abuses will likely feature prominently — and Obama has already signaled a desire for a “surgical” freeze in federal spending.
Obama and Democratic leaders also seem ready to push for new campaign finance reforms in light of the Supreme Court’s dramatic decision last week to allow unlimited corporate independent expenditures in elections. Additionally, other issues of particular importance to the Democratic base could also see play — such as immigration reform, labor-favored legislation that would make it easier for employees to unionize and measures supportive of gay and lesbian equality.
The Economy and Jobs
The economy continues to weigh heavily on the minds of voters, with unemployment still hovering around 10 percent. Bringing that number down will be a huge priority for congressional Democrats, especially going into midterm elections. The House passed a $174 billion jobs bill in December that focused heavily on job training, infrastructure and transportation projects. The bill didn’t receive a single Republican vote, and some Republicans jokingly dubbed it “Son of Stimulus.”
As with Obama’s original stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, business groups — including the ever-influential Chamber of Commerce and steel producers — support the infrastructure provisions. Other provisions in the bill that provide states extra funds to pay municipal employees and teachers, and to hire more police officers, have also received major support for public sector unions that regularly contribute overwhelmingly to Democrats.
Senate aides have said that a Senate version of the bill, due early in the spring, will focus more on small businesses, renewable energy and “green jobs” in addition to limited infrastructure spending. The “green jobs” initiative will certainly resonate with the alternative energy industry — a relatively small, but mostly Democratic industry.
Obama, for his part, has also pushed for increased funding for high-speed rail projects, measures to encourage personal retirement savings, an expansion of the child-care tax credit, limiting student loan payments, providing additional assistance for elderly care, tax breaks for small businesses and tax incentives to help make homes more energy efficient — which could also be seen as a down-payment on a component of comprehensive energy or climate legislation.
Energy and Climate Change
Democrats are pushing major proposals centered on the idea of curbing the emissions of greenhouse gases — in addition to tax breaks to help make homes more energy efficient, major investments in the alternative energy industry and “green jobs” measures. Last summer, the House passed its major climate change legislation, but the Senate has not yet acted on that proposal or passed its own plan.
The debate has centered on the proposed “cap-and-trade” policy — an economy-wide system with the purpose of decreasing pollution, in which the polluting companies may buy and sell carbon allowances. The Chamber of Commerce, oil and gas companies, electric utilities, construction companies, coal mining companies and some automakers have said that this legislation could hurt their bottom line and force jobs overseas. Environmentalists, on the other hand, wanted to see more stringent regulations.
In the Senate, John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) hope to craft a proposal that garners bipartisan support. As they attempt to find consensus for a plan to lower U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, they could also look to incentives for additional nuclear power plants, offshore drilling and so-called “clean coal” technology.
Additionally in the Senate, Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) are pushing a bipartisan plan to “cap-and-dividend” instead of “cap-and-trade.” Their measure would establish a mechanism for selling “carbon shares” to fuel producers and then dole out most of the resulting revenues to Americans in the form of rebate checks.
As the debate continues, the powerful industry interests and their lobbying armies on K Street will want to have a say in the matter too. Between 2008 and 2009, big players such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP all reported an increase in lobbying spending. This year could be another bumper year for the energy sector.
Financial Reform
After the financial crisis and bank failures made headlines in 2008, the public turned to the government for leadership. From the day he moved into the White House, Obama’s agenda has included financial regulatory reform.
This year may turn out to be the year of regulation reform legislation, but crossing Wall Street is never easy.
Since 1998, the finance, insurance and real estate sector has spent more money on federal lobbying than any other sector. In 2008 alone, these companies spent a whopping $459 million. Additionally, the sector, through its employees and political action committees, contributed $39.6 million to Obama’s own $750 million war chest in the 2008 election cycle.
Regulation and oversight may seem like a bipartisan mission, but Democrats anticipate that compromises will have to be made in order to secure the passage of the legislation, a version of which passed the House in December without a single Republican vote.
Many in the industry are pushing to scrap Obama’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a body that would oversee the financial industry and have new watchdog powers. However, some Democrats, including Obama, believe that an agency with such reform responsibilities should not be so quickly abandoned.
Obama and his allies have also proposed measures to prevent financial institutions from being “too big to fail,” including requiring firms to establish plans should they need to dissolve or dismantle. They are also calling for new regulation and oversight of derivatives and other trading products through which financial industry workers made risky bets that helped fuel the economic crisis. And the White House’s announcement of a potential “bank tax” to recover bailout money, as well as plans to prohibit banks from owning or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds, will likely mobilize industry lobbying efforts further.
Campaign Finance Reform
In the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations to now spend unlimited amounts on political messaging in the run-up to elections, lawmakers are looking into a wide range of legislation to limit the effects of the court’s decision. Since the court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the White House has met with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer D-N.Y.) to discuss a package of campaign finance reform bills.
Their proposals are expected to include requirements that shareholders vote to approve money spent for corporate-funded independent expenditures and that companies clearly identify themselves in such advertisements. The legislation might also seek to ban government contractors from running such ads.
Additionally, there have already been a number of Citizens United-related bills introduced by congressional members.
Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) introduced a measure to ban advertising by companies under any level of foreign control. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) introduced a number of pieces of protest legislation, including bills with names such as the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act and the Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act. And Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) has introduced a constitutional amendment to bar direct corporate and union spending on election messages.
Obama and Democratic leadership have spoken forcefully against the ruling and may hope to see campaign finance changes enacted before the 2010 midterm elections. But many Republicans, led by powerful leaders such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have called the Citizens United decision a victory for free speech and the First Amendment. They’ll likely resist efforts to dial back the effect of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Labor Issues
Labor unions are a bedrock component of the Democratic constituency, and they contribute overwhelming to Democratic candidates. Labor unions contributed nearly $75 million in 2008, with 92 percent going to Democrats. Among their top priorities: a piece of legislation known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which they say would make it easier for workers to unionize.
EFCA passed the House in 2007, but failed in the Senate, where it continues to face hurdles. Neither chamber has yet voted upon the measure this session, although both supporters and opponents have been actively lobbying for their sides.
The bill has two main controversial provisions. The first provision would allow a union to be established after a simple majority of employees sign union cards — the so-called “card check” provision. Today, an employer can call for an election after a majority of cards have been signed and unions claim that employers then take coercive actions to affect the outcome of the election. The second establishes new mediation and arbitration procedures that opponents of the bill say would tilt the scales unfairly toward unions at the expense of employers.
However, both of these measures are strongly opposed by business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and the National Federation of Independent Business. Compared to the unions, the Chamber of Commerce contributed a paltry $250,000 in 2008, mostly to Republicans. But on the lobbying front, however, the Chamber’s power is unmatched. The Chamber and its subsidiaries spent $144.5 million on lobbying in 2009, making it by far the top spender.
Most Republicans are steadfast in their opposition, yet some moderate Democrats have expressed a willingness to support a compromise version of EFCA that drops the controversial “card check” provisions in exchange for securing the arbitration reform components. Expect this to be one of the most highly charged legislative fights of 2010, as labor looks to impose its clout and rally its base ahead of the 2010 midterm elections.
Immigration Reform
Latino voters strongly backed Obama and other Democrats in 2008 and are eager to see them fulfill their campaign promises to deliver immigration reform. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee, for months has been maneuvering behind the scenes. He hopes to bring a bipartisan immigration reform bill to the floor this spring with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as the co-sponsor.
Their plan would include increased border security and an employer verification system to stem illegal immigration. It would also create a path for citizenship for illegal immigrants already living in the United States.
Numerous pro-immigration human rights organizations are pushing for immigration reform — including the National Council of La Raza, the National Immigration Forum and Immigration Works USA, a pro-immigration business group that endorses many of Schumer’s principles.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) — an organization that advocates for dramatic reductions in all immigration, legal and illegal, and strongly opposes any kind of amnesty program — has also intensified its lobbying effort. NumbersUSA, a self-described “pro-enforcement, no amnesty” group that advocates reduced immigration, has also spent more on lobbying in recent years.
Yet the surge of activism by Tea Party conservatives, many of whom oppose proposals they view as granting amnesty, could keep many Republicans and conservative Democrats away from Schumer’s plan. Complicating things further for immigration reform supporters: There are reports that House Democrats, who are frustrated by taking tough votes only to be forced to compromise with the Senate later, could refuse to pass a bill until the more conservative Senate does first.
Gay Rights
Advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals are hoping Obama fulfills his campaign pledges regarding equality for them under the law. In his first year in office, Obama repealed a travel and immigration ban on HIV-positive individuals and signed hate crimes protection legislation. But many gay rights supporters who backed his 2008 presidential campaign are frustrated that Obama hasn’t done more.
In his State of the Union address, Obama is expected to speak about the contentious Clinton-era policy known as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. On the campaign trail, Obama pledged to seek the policy’s repeal. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which also seeks to repeal the policy, has spent more than $160,000 in lobbying over the past two years, and they, along with other organizations, expect Obama to include the change is his next defense budget. If he does, it will likely face stiff opposition from many Republicans and conservative Democrats.
Additionally, gay rights supporters led by the Human Rights Campaign have invested extensive resources trying to advance other legislative initiatives as well. Among them: the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, an effort to end workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation; the Domestic Partnership Benefits Act, which would grant same-sex partners of federal workers the same health and pension benefits as spouses of heterosexual government employees; and the Respect for Marriage Act, which would make same-sex couples and their families eligible for federal benefits such as family and medical leave and Social Security spousal and survivors’ benefits.
CRP Money-in-politics Reporter Michael Beckel contributed to this report.
R&B crooner Ryan Leslie figured he’d be the star of an upcoming commercial for Lexus, since he and the marketer made an multi-layered endorsement and promotional deal that spans TV and digital media. He got schooled, though, when he showed up on set. As he says in this making-of video, the redesigned Lexus GX SUV is the real spotlight hog. He’s simply "the co-star." That’s probably OK, since the new ad, launching Feb. 1 during the BET Honors, could put the Universal Motown artist in front of lots of potential new fans. And Leslie, in turn, will evangelize for the brand through his very active online social network. (His music videos are heavy draws on YouTube, and he’s a relentless Tweeter). The partnership with Lexus will include downloads, original content and sweepstakes. Leslie is performing during the BET Honors, which will kick off Black History Month, and at Lexus Listening Lounges around the country. The spot, dubbed "The Rushers," is a cliffhanger with a noir overlay. See a preview here. But where’s his music? Maybe it’ll show up in future installments.
—Posted by T.L. Stanley
The world of electric motor-making for hybrid and electric vehicles, currently dominated by a small group of suppliers, is about to get a big new addition to its ranks: General Motors. Announcing today that it plans to invest $246 million setting up a facility for building electric motors — what it says will be the […]
Things just got a little cozier between Norwegian electric car company Think and one of its U.S. investors, Ener1. EnerDel, the battery-making subsidiary of Ener1, already had a major contract with Think to supply batteries for the company’s electric City model, as well as “supplier of choice” status. Now, in a press conference at the […]
Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:
The good folks at Dow Jones VentureSource provided us with a list of the 10 biggest private-equity deals in Southern California in 2009, but it might have been just as easy if Dow Jones had focused solely on San Diego. Seven of the region’s 10 biggest deals of 2009 were in the San Diego area, with six deals representing substantial venture investments in life sciences companies. Bear in mind, of course, that the vast majority of California’s venture deals occur in the Bay Area.
Irvine-CA based Fisker Automotive broke the tape in Southern California with total funding of $85 million in 2009, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Fisker piled on with additional funding earlier this month, announcing it had raised $115.3 million in new private equity funding as well as a partnership with battery supplier A123Systems of Watertown, MA. (And as Xconomy Boston’s Ryan McBride reports, A123 not only raised almost $100 million in 2009, but went public last year in a $380 million IPO.)The other two big deals that were beyond San Diego’s hallowed borders were Pasadena, CA-based eSolar, which got $40 million last March, and Irvine-based Visiogen, which also got $40 million last April.
San Diego-based Zogenix, a specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $71 million in a later-stage round to support the January 13 introduction of its medical device, which enables patients to self-administer a 6-milligram dose of sumatriptan, a fast-acting pain-killer for migraine headaches.
In putting together a list of San Diego’s “Top 10 Deals of 2009″ with just seven deals, I decided to add my best guess of three more contenders, drawn from reports right here at Xconomy San Diego, to round out our top 10 list. One curiosity about the data from Dow Jones VentureSource is that it did not count the sizable $50 million funding round that Helicon Therapeutics disclosed in a Form D filing in June. The company’s website says it moved to San Diego in 2008 from Farmingdale, NY.
You’ll notice that three companies raised $50 million rounds, meaning they’re tied for the No. 4 spot. You can learn more about all the companies by following the links.
The list:
1. Zogenix, San Diego, CA—$71 million (Series C)
2. V-Vehicle, San Diego, CA—$62.26 million (Series A)
3. Tandem Diabetes Care, San Diego, CA—$52.3 million (Series B)
4. Sangart, San Diego, CA—$50 million (Series F)
4. PhotoThera, Carlsbad, CA—$50 million (Series E)
4. Helicon Therapeutics, San Diego, CA—$50 million (Series F)
5. Victory Pharma, San Diego, CA—$45 million (Series A)
6. Fate Therapeutics, San Diego, CA—$30.49 million (Series B)
7. Fallbrook Technologies, San Diego, CA—$29.4 million (Series A, two tranches)
8. MPex Pharma, San Diego, CA—$27.5 million (Series D)
Last week there were (at least) two articles that pointed out some important issues in the increasingly big business of electric vehicles. Neither was front-page news.
Sexy Tesla Roadster — and you own part of it theoretically
One was the announcement that a small but widely heralded company, privately held, San Carlos CA-based Tesla Motors (http://www.teslamotors.com) , has gotten the signature of DOE’s Steve Chu and will harvest a bounty of $465 million in federal loans to throw its EV business plan into high gear: http://green.autoblog.com/2010/01/23/done-deal-tesla-doe-complete-loan-paperwork/. As AutoBlogGreen’s Sebastian Blanco laconically points out, if you’re a citizen of the United States, “you’re officially an investor in Tesla Motors.” Of course rumors of a Tesla IPO have floated around for quite a while, so you may be able to invest directly one of these days instead of funneling your cash through DOE.
Bolivia's lithium resources are vast — and look like another world
And in the same week, a distinctly different type of news was purveyed by The Associated Press: Bolivia, which just re-elected Evo Morales as its leader, is unquestionably the Saudi Arabia of lithium, the prize mineral that Tesla and so many others are staking their futures on. http://autos.aol.com/article/lithium-resource. Out of the frying pan of oil and into the fire of scarce lithium deposits under dried-up lakes in the Andes? Notice the sub-headline on the article: “Toyota secures lithium supply in Argentina.” Argentina may not be a paragon of stability, but compared to Bolivia, it’s Gibraltar (remember that President Morales’s political party is called MAS: Movement for Socialism). For a slide show of Bolivia’s lithium resources, go to http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/02/03/world/0203-LITHIUM_index.html (the photo above is from this slide show).
It was not long ago that Toyota’s ice-breaking Prius was a solo act, and most Americans thought of electric vehicles as glorified golf carts. Now there is a dizzying array of EVs, HEVs, BEVs, PEVs, etc — and they come with the brand names of virtually every carmaker in the world. To some extent Prius is still the act to beat, though: http://www.dailytech.com/Honda+Goes+Back+to+the+Drawing+Board+to+Beat+Toyotas+Prius/article17501.htm
And if you think Tesla is pulling in a big fish, have a look at its archrival, Irvine CA-based Fisker Automotive, which secured $115 million in private equity funding this week, in order to allow it to harvest $528 million from DOE. Basically that means the federal government is committing $1 billion to two very small companies with very pretty cars and very short track records. And you, as a US citizen, are part of that bounty.
Sexy Fisker Coupe: Feds Have Put $1 billion into loans for Fisker & Tesla
In addition to your taxpayer-funded pending investment in Fisker, though, there is a way to put some Fisker equity into your portfolio, even though it is, like Tesla, privately held. Irvine CA-based Quantum Fuel Technologies (Nasdaq: QTWW, http://www.qtww.com) owns a stake in Fisker that was said to be 21.9% in a financing document QTWW filed with the SEC about a year ago. QTWW shares are trading at $0.89, down about half from its year-high of $1.77, and one assumes that the QTWW stake in Fisker has been further diluted in the meantime, because the Fisker financing mentioned in the previous paragraph was also released as QTWW news last week: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Quantums-Affiliate-Fisker-prnews-2355193003.html?x=0&.v=1. Smaller slice, but a much bigger pie.
But the distinctly uncomfortable feeling that comes with lithium’s presence in a series of US-unfriendly locations does not seem to be slowing anyone down. The government of Taiwan makes it clear why this bandwagon continues to roll: according to their forecasts, sales of EVs will grow to 7.29 million units by 2018, of which 86% (or 6.26 million units) will be powered by lithium-ion batteries. The line of thought leads directly to an increase in Taiwan’s support for Li-ion technology: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/01/moea-20100124.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29. What would a li-ion-powered EV sell for? What if it were $30,000 per unit? That would create a worldwide sales projection of nearly $188 billion for that 2018 theoretical demand. Hefty, hefty, hefty.
Please keep in mind that we do not recommend stocks; we simply write about companies that we find interesting. Do your own diligence.
There are various flavors of lithium batteries, including the somewhat under-wraps “Ferrous battery” that China’s BYD introduced at the Detroit Auto Show. From what we can tell, a Ferrous battery is a lithium iron phosphate battery, so President Morales can rest easy on that one.
There are many ways to invest in the EV movement, or in the lithium sweepstakes. Most obviously there are the shares of the 3 leading lithium-ion battery makers in the US. First to consider is Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE: JCI; http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/), but they are way too big for us to look at, and besides, they are very diversified. In terms of pure plays in Li-ion, the two best-known (and bigtime federal funds recipients) are NYC-based Ener1 Inc (Nasdaq: HEV: http://www.ener1.com/), which has recently been screaming ahead, not only announcing car deals, but working with Japan’s ITOCHU on a series of futuristic li-ion applications involving buses and an advanced smart grid. HEV shares are trading Monday at $4.76, vs a year-high of $7.90, so there are doubts out there in spite of the federal money fountain spewing dollars at them. HEV has good volume of nearly 1 million shares per day, and a market cap that flirts with $600 million.
The second name that comes to mind is Watertown MA-based A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE; http://www.a123systems.com/), which started out making batteries for power tools and has graduated up and up to transport applications. Since its IPO last year, the stock has always traded above its initial sale, and is trading today at $17.83, with a market cap of $1.8 billion and daily volume of about 2.5 million shares. Smokin!
Less well known, but just as interesting is Reno-based Altair Nanotechnologies (Nasdaq: ALTI; http://www.altairnano.com/), which may well have more interesting IP than either of its larger peers, but, like the NY Jets, got knocked out of the SuperBowl, at least for this year. Thomas Weisel initiated on Altairnano in December with an “overweight” rating, but the stock is sagging at half its year-high price of $1.55, trading today at $0.81, and in some danger of being delisted by Nasdaq as a result. Market cap is about $85 million, and the shares trade pretty well at 400,000+ per day. Worth a look.
If you want to place your bets outside of Bolivia, however, your options with regard to transportation are fairly limited. You could start, however, by looking at a company that has, surprisingly, been marginalized among investors because its heritage is in old-fashioned lead-acid batteries. That is New Castle PA-based Axion Power Inc* (OTCBB: AXPW; http://www.axionpower.com/. AXPW owns patents on nanocarbon ultracapacitors used in lead-acid batteries in various ways, and is in partnership with one of the world’s largest batterymakers, Milton GA-based Exide Technologies (Nasdaq: XIDE; http://www.exide.com/). There is good reason to believe that the AXPW-XIDE team may be a contender in the early hybrid-vehicle business, especially in European markets, where carbon-emission regulations come into play in a matter of months, as opposed to the US, where the timeline is longer (but the pair was named for a federal grant of about $35 million last year, and AXPW has received various other federal and state grants as well). The name of the battery here is PbC, comprised of the chemical symbols for lead and carbon — and whatever the outcome, these batteries will be the low-cost choice for consumers and carmakers, costing a fraction of the more exotic lithium batteries. AXPW is trading at $1.34 today, vs a year-high of $2.75, so it is off at a rate similar to many of its battery peers. Market cap is about $80 million after taking into account its December financing, and the shares trade about 32,000 per day. AXPW will be presenting at the Piper Jaffray conference the last week of February in NYC.
XIDE is trading at $8.30 on volume of 650,000 shares per day for a market cap of about $630 million. Year-high on XIDE was $8.87.
Equally interesting in the non-lithium part of the world is San Diego-based Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL: http://www.maxwell.com/) . MXWL delivered it 1-millionth largecell ultracapacitor this month (http://maxwell.investorroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=107), which gives it more operating muscle than most of its peers, and is on track to do about $100 million in revenue for 2009. MXWL will also be presenting at the Piper Jaffray conference in NYC the week of Feb 22. MXWL shares are trading at $16.63 at the moment, vs a 52-week high of $21.81. Average daily volume is about 220,000 shares, and the market cap is $440 million.
Clearly there are LOTS of players in this arena — we couldn’t possibly survey them completely. If you use a news aggregator, you will be amazed at the quantity of news on lithium-ion batteries in particular, and on EV batteries in general.
*Client of Allen & Caron, publisher of this blog
SOMETHING NEW on WHEELS
THERE’S more than one way of getting there, in fact, almost every day brings us something new in the way of transportation. Here we have a child’s two-passenger electric lighted foot power car, the storage battery under the hood supply the juice.
The Pedaluxe, which recently made its appearance in Europe, is a three-wheeled foot power affair with a detachable side car.
Double-decked auto transport trailers that can carry six automobiles are now being made by a Detroit company. Cars occupying the upper tier are loaded first and raised to a riding position one at a time on an elevated track powered by the motor truck. Although the truck and trailer is sixty feet in length, it is able to negotiate even short turns without interfering with traffic.
New Uses for Old Fords Contest!
MODERN MECHANICS will pay $10 for acceptable photos of every odd use to which old model T Fords have been put. The queer machines shown below are made from old “Tin Lizzies.”
UP IN Minnesota where the water is sky blue many sportsmen sojourn during the summer. These same sportsmen use motorboats and demand clear, weedless lakes from their hotel and resort keepers. Further, so as to vex these resort operators, weeds have a habit of growing very thickly in certain lakes. One hotel keeper solved the problem with a weed cutter made from an old Ford. The machine is in daily use during the summertime near Melrose. Minn.
The drawing gives a very clear idea of how pontoons are made from old oil barrels, fastened together with carriage bolts to a long substantial plank, and how the old Ford roadster body is mounted on the “chassis.”
The steering arrangement is particularly novel. The wheels which drive the boat are paddle wheels made from the rolling members of an old cultivator to which oak paddles are fastened by means of a series of strap iron angles. When the pilot of this queer cornfield schooner wishes to swing his craft to port or starboard he brakes the opposite wheel. This speeds up the other through the differential, and the craft laboriously makes its change of course.
EVEN an old Ford engine is plenty good enough for use as a rat exterminator. Maybe the motor has a bad piston slap, loose connecting rod, and badly worn bearings, but these little imperfections won’t effect its efficiency a bit when it comes to poisoning prairie dogs, gophers, or other pests which annually cost the farmers of the country millions of dollars through their depredations.
Every automobile owner knows that carbon monoxide is one of the products of combustion in a gasoline engine, and he knows that it is a deadly poison. Carbon monoxide has taken the lives of many unwary motorists who ran their engines in an unventilated garage. An Iowa farmer, con- Below, and driven from an eccentric welded to the propeller shaft is an extended cutter taken from an old mowing machine. This is supposed to wrestle the bulrushes into submission and clear a channel.
Cosidering these facts, wondered why he couldn’t use his old Ford to exterminate a large family of field rats which was making severe inroads into his crops.
He secured a length of rubber tubing, threw a shovel into the back seat of his car, and drove out to his field. It was easy enough discovering the entrance to the animals’ burrows, and a simple task to attach one end of the tubing to the exhaust pipe of his car. The other end he inserted in the tunnel leading to the animal’s under ground home. A shovelful of earth packed the tube into the opening so that it was air tight. Then he started his engine, let it run for a minute or two, and the deed was done.
ON THE banks of the Mississippi at Wabasha, Minn., George McGinty has constructed an odd craft in which he cruises the length of the Mississippi River. The three elements which he used in building the odd craft, which is a most ingenious shallow draft twin screw boat, are: one Ford automobile intact, one old sailboat hull, and one summer cottage. Mounted like the pilot house of an old river stern wheeler, is the cab of a Ford light delivery truck. Behind this is the house which covers the living quarters of the eccentric McGinty, who whiles away his time puttering up and down the river with a self built radio control which he is fitting to his novel houseboat home.
The drawing shows the mechanical ingenuity of the use to which the old Ford power plant was put. The cab of the truck forms the pilot house of this odd craft. By simply stripping off the axle and the front wheels and the rear wheels and by mounting the chassis with the differential left on to drive twin screws, as shown in the drawing, the power plant of the boat was complete. The house was installed over the power plant, the deck covered in around this, and with the addition of bunks the queer craft was ready for the deep.
There is a rudder in the center between the two propellers, which are driven off the end of the Ford rear axle from bevel gears installed in place of the regular Ford wheels.
McGinty’s whole boat cost but $173.40. The old Ford was picked up in the second hand man’s yard, and like many another faithful old Ford car when a little useful work had been done on it, was ready for another million miles. The sailboat hull had lain in a boatbuilder’s yard at the foot of Lake Pepin for many years, and with a coat of well tempered tar was made waterproof.
If you’ve been following the moves of electric vehicle infrastructure maker Better Place over the years then you’re well aware that its world ambitions will need a lot of capital. On Monday morning the company announced that it is raising a whopping $350 million in a series B round to help it build out its […]
Department of Energy Secretary Chu announces a construction loan for Tesla Motors, enabling the company to build its assembly and power-train manufacturing facilities in California. The Energy Secretary sees this investment as establishing the nascent US electric vehicle industry. …
… “This is an investment in our clean energy future that will create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, said Secretary Chu. It will help build a customer base and begin laying the foundation for American leadership in the growing electric vehicles industry. This is part of a sustained effort to develop and commercialize technologies that will be broadly deployed throughout the American auto industry. Tesla’s planned Model S will consume no gasoline and will not produce any tailpipe emissions. ” …
Via Dept of Energy: 465 Million Dollar Loan to Tesla Motors
The Department of Energy was appropriated $7.5 billion by Congress to support up to $25 billion in loans to companies making cars and components in US factories that increase fuel economy at least 25 percent above 2005 fuel economy levels.
Keep your eye on the D-500 . . . IT’S A REAL BOMB!
These days, more and more of you guys who know and love cars are “talking up” the fabulous Dodge D-500. And no wonder! This D-500 is a real bomb!In official NASCAR acceleration tests at Daytona Beach, the Dodge D-500 licked all cars—regardless of size, price or horsepower.
This D-500 gets out of the chute like a jackrabbit. Hugs the road like a dirt track special. Hits the turns without any squeal. Handles like a gem.
Though it performs like an expensive custom job, this D-500 is actually the slickest-looking production car to come up Main Street. Under the hood is a 260 hp. mill rarin’ to go (with big 12-inch center-plane brakes to stop it)!
You can buy a D-500 at any Dodge dealership in the country in any body style you like. (Costs only slightly more than $100.00 over standard models.) And it needs only regular Dodge service to keep it in razor-sharp condition.
So get behind the wheel and drive a D-500 today. See your Dodge dealer.
Dodge D-500
AMERICA’S ACCELERATION CHAMPION
Prizes for Home-Built Baby Autos!
IT’S a safe bet to say that at one time or another practically every man in America has built himself a home-made vehicle embodying his own ideas in automotive construction. Maybe it was only a pushmobile made to imitate his favorite car; maybe, as he grew older, he turned out a race car job, or put a racing body on a chassis powered by a motorcycle engine. The longing for a means of mechanical transportation is universal. That’s why Modern Mechanics and Inventions is announcing a big new prize contest in which cash awards of $200 will be distributed among the builders of the most pleasing home-made autos. If you’ve already built a home-made car, all you have to do is take a snapshot of it and send it in, under the rules of the contest. If you haven’t built your car yet, start in at once— you have until August first to complete the job and submit your entry, and the suggested plans appearing on these pages will help you get started.
Prizes as announced in the box on this page will be awarded on a basis of originality of design and workmanship. Cars must be powered with gasoline motors of not more than four cylinders. Autos should not be too elaborate—they should make use of cheap or scrap materials so that other mechanics who might wish to duplicate the design can do so without great cost. When your car is built, send in a snapshot, together with a description of its construction, an estimate of cost and of the speed it develops, to the Auto Contest Editor, Modern Mechanics and Inventions, Minneapolis, Minn.
Now to give you a few pointers on how to build an ingenious, low cost baby car. The drawing on page 104, and on the cover of this magazine, illustrates an aero racer which makes use of the principles employed on some of the fastest airplanes. The body of the car is streamlined, the twin cylinder motorcycle engine mounted at the rear, turning the left rear wheel by a chain drive. Air wheels of the type employed on planes are used; these have the advantage of coming with brakes in the hub. They are practical for small cars, too—on another page of this magazine is an exclusive story announcing successful trials of this type of tires for use on trucks and buses. Soon they will be commonplace on passenger cars. The front axle is streamlined with a fairing and fixed to pivot in its center. Other suggested details of construction are given in the drawing. No dimensions are included, since it is intended to serve simply as an idea which you can modify or adapt in any way you see fit.
The drawing on page 105 shows another small car with a one-lung motorcycle engine, employing a different type of drive, a belt being used. This enables you to make use of an old style motorcycle engine in which the belt drive was popular. The wheels are motorcycle type, the front ones with brakes in hub. The left rear wheel requires the addition of a flanged pulley to accommodate the drive belt.
Steering gear consists of a wheel, a drum or bobbin, and a few feet of stranded steel cable. Four pulleys guide the cable from the drum to the front axle, as shown, so that the wheel winds and unwinds the cable around the drum and thus rotates the front axle on its central pivot.
Springing of the car is simple, an ordinary motorcycle spring being used for the front axle, and the rear one making use of airplane shock cord. The body frame follows airplane practice; it is really a fuselage. It can be covered with fabric, doped, or a plywood finish can be used.
Most motorcycle motors are equipped with kick starters, and with a little ingenuity you can arrange the starter so that it operates from a pedal in the cockpit.
These suggestions will no doubt bring a score of others to your mind—so get busy and send in your entry! Remember, it has until August first to reach us. There’s no reason why that $100 prize, or one of the smaller ones, shouldn’t go to you. In judging the winners, the car which shows the best results from the minimum of expense will rake in the prize money. Get going!
Not too long ago, EnerDel seemed mighty close to winning the contract to supply batteries for Fisker Automotive’s upcoming plug-in hybrid Karma. After several months of talks between the companies, EnerDel told us it had entered the in-vehicle testing phase, or what it described as “just another step to getting electric vehicles on the road […]
Battery maker A123Systems and plug-in car startup Fisker Automotive, which announced a new partnership on Thursday, seem like natural dance partners. Each exists as an outsider in an entrenched industry, they’re both gearing up for a ramp up in 2011 and they share one mega backer — the U.S. government.
But as Jason Forcier, VP of Automotive […]
CANDY TRUCK IS BUNGALOW ON WHEELS
A PERFECT reproduction of a bungalow, complete with porch, window boxes, tile roof and gables, has been mounted on a truck body by a Chicago candy manufacturer to serve the double purpose of delivery and advertising. Both truck and bungalow are finished in white enamel with the tiles of the roof in red, presenting a striking appearance as the novel machine drives through the city streets. The bungalow windows are fitted with glass and they open and close precisely as they do in a real house. Green potted plants on either end of the running boards lend an added touch of color to the bungalow truck.
Hitachi and Hitachi Vehicle Energy Ltd. is expected to ship the samples of their newly developed lithium-ion battery to automobile manufacturers in Japan and overseas in the spring of 2010. This new product has more energy and output density as compared to others of its genre. Up to now, batteries manufactured from the same manufacturer were less efficient in output. Now, with the development of this new battery the capacity has been increased up to 25 Ah, which is 4-5 times more than the earlier ones. It boasts Energy density of 120 Wh/kg and power density of 2,400 W/kg. To prevent the internal short circuit, a heat-resistant has been incorporated. It provides safety, especially when these batteries are being used in automotive applications.
The first day of the North American International Auto Show brought us the first glimpse of Toyota’s concept for a Prius family of hybrids, news of Ford’s plans for a major investment in electric vehicles and other goodies (highlighted for you with plenty of pics here). Today the annual event, taking place in Detroit, brings us […]
Achates Power has raised $19.2 million in a second round of financing and brought in a new investor, Triangle Peak Partners, the company announced in recent days. The San Diego, Calif.-based startup, whose investors include Sequoia Capital, Rockport Capital Partners and other venture firms, is working on two-stroke diesel engine tech that it says will […]
