A dumptruck-load of iron for a wind turbine will provide energy for more than 100 years: now Caterpillar will dig it up with a giant EV
While it's not the pleasantest prospect for a treehugger like me to dwell on, there is stuff we need to dig out of the earth, even to build the clean power economy.
I am not thinking here of tar-sands, oil or coal, because we can substitute clean power for these environmental disasters.
But to put solar panels on more roofs, we need to mine silicon. To build the batteries to run an electric vehicle nation we will need to mine lithium. To build more wind turbines we need...you get the picture.
Initially at least, to build turbines and solar panels, the raw materials like steel and silicon needed to make clean energy are dug out of the earth, just like the dirty energy supplies of fossil fuels like oil and coal.
The huge difference is that a dumptruck-load of steel for a wind turbine will provide energy for more than 100 years, but a dumptruck-load of tar-sand, coal or oil will just goes up in smoke in a few hours.
Making mining eco-friendlier is going to be part of a carbon-neutral world. In response to this need, this week at the Nevada mining truck expo, Caterpillar is unveiling a 345 ton all-electric-power mining truck, the worlds largest EV to date.
It will go into production in 2010. They will also display another one at a mere 250 tons, presumably for moving smaller vast piles of dirt, that one will be available in either electric or combustion engine options. 80 year old Caterpillar has a corner on this market: no other manufacturer is attempting to build mining trucks over 200 tons with an electric motor rather than using the 100 year old internal combustion engine. That may have something to do with Caterpillar joining the carbon-responsible industry group USCAP.
In the late 1960s Caterpillar was one of the first manufacturers to try electric-drive trucks but abandoned that line of vehicles with the end of the Age Of Aquarius, but now that we are counting our carbon emissions, Caterpillar has opted for a building a climate friendlier mining industry.
Frequently wind's greatest potential is out where people don't live (they don't live there because it's too windy) but there is still mining to be done there. Solar is best where the solar radiation is so intense that there's now evaporated seas-full of lithium that will need to be mined there to run all our EVs. Think of the salt deposits of Nevada.
But what if an industrial scale solar or wind farm in those areas supplied the charging power for electric mining trucks. I wonder how much this would reduce at least the carbon costs of mining?
Cradle-to-cradle featherweight Dutch EV van gets 90 miles per charge and goes to 75 MPH
Here's another European EV we should be watching, now that GM's chairman has tipped us off on the inside dope (I'm hoping) on government plans to tear down the NHTSA wall that prevents us from having access to all the carbon neutral driving options popping up under ECE rules.
The QUICC! DiVa (which started life as the much easier to remember InnoVan) makes its debut at the Paris show in October.
This featherweight utility van EV meets cradle-to-cradle sustainability requirements, and being made of lightweight recycled plastic, weighs in at under 1,900 pounds, including its batteries. It has a range of 90 miles on a charge and is able to reach 75 mph. It can carry 1,300 lbs in addition to two passengers.
So its no wonder that the sustainable InnoVan (sorry: the Quicc! DiVa) just won the "Most Promising Technology" award with millions of euros in investment capital from Econcern. There are already customers lined up for the limited edition next Spring, and it has attracted the attention of Johann Tomforde, the designer who made the Smart so clever, who will help sharpen up the design a bit before it goes into mass production in 2010. I'm hoping he'll take care of those dorky looking lights.
DuraCar's Guido Boosten says that they want to test even lighterweight cradle-to-cradle plastic options and different batteries in this test run including the safer and more durable LiFePO4, saying that the most important thing right now was to get the vehicles on the road and experience what happens in real life, rather than just do lab testing.
LiFePo4 batteries provide full power until they are completely discharged. The batteries recharge in less time and the chemistry is also more environmentally friendly. In electric vehicles and plug-in electric cars, they will typically last for 6 to 7 years, will not catch fire or explode with overcharging, and can safely be fully recharged in 15 minutes.
A123 Systems has teamed up with GM to develop these batteries for the Chevy Volt, and Lithium Technology Corporation has been working with GM, Toyota and U. C. Davis to develop them for all-electric and hybrid vehicles.
The friendly skies of yesteryear are just not so friendly anymore. Worldwide, airlines are in serious trouble due to fuel costs.
Jet fuel now accounts for 36 percent of the industry's costs, up from 13 percent just six years ago, and could account for 40 percent of the airlines' costs next year. No one is suggesting that the industry is about to go bust - yet - but there is a feeling that things could get much worse before they get better.
While European airlines project seven-fold profit declines to just $300 million, they get off relatively easily, since the Euro is strong and they have a strong presence in emerging markets like China and India. US airlines however, are projecting $5 billion in losses, and the IATA predicts the industry will lose more than $4 billion next year. "The negative impact of the industry crisis is universal," says Giovanni Bisignani, head of the IATA, representing 94 percent of the world's airlines.
But Boeing CEO Jim McNerney believes that the occasional bout of bloodletting accelerates the introduction of new technology: "There are two cross-currents," he says.
"There are the economic difficulties presented by high fuel prices. But the current cutting the other way is: you really do need new technology to lower your fuel consumption by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent."
Funny that he should mention that figure... 20 percent. I seem to remember that Boeing's new low carbon 787 Dreamliner was designed to cut fuel use by just that amount. Image from Plan59 From Wired Autopia
I never used to follow the European green car news about all those choices Europeans have in fuel efficient vehicles, because that just made me mad: they have so many choices and we have so few.
But last week, startlingly, Big Auto itself revealed that it shared my fury, despite having created those blocks against imports in the first place, for protection: GM's Lutz last week demanded that we "Tear down this wall!". Well, not exactly. He said "Lets bring home our fuel efficient cars for our American consumers!"
Actually... I suspect a deal has been struck between GM and Washington to standardize NHTSA and ECE rules. Lutz just leaked it.
The desperation of an auto industry in its last throes coincides with the desperation of a Democratic congress unable to get clean energy bills past a Republican wall.
Think laterally. What would you do?
Simply change the NHTSA regulations so automakers can bring home the low carbon goodies they build elsewhere. Getting our huge smudgy carbon footprints 80% below 1990 by 2050 is easy once we drive like Europeans. This would be win, win, win.
So I think what Lutz said last week is a the inside dope. We will finally be opening up the American market to fuel efficient cars. And now as I hunt about for good news for wannabe low carbon drivers, I do click on the news from Europe, like Ford's Ka which comes in diesel and gasoline, both at under 120 g/km CO2.
Understandably, the original Ka is popular over there even used - after all, it got 46 mpg, and the new model cuts fuel consumption 20%, and the diesel version gets 56 mpg. When was the last time you got 56 mpg? There's even talk of a hybrid version at 60 mpg.
Both Ford and GM are among the best at building low carbon cars for Europe. The new Ka will be shown at the Paris show, and although no mention is made of American sales yet, I really can't see why not.
A pneumatic entrant for the XPrize is made from the polymer that cushioned NASA's rovers in soft Mars landing
Not only is this thing safe flying over cliffs, but it will also be able to float through all our flooded cities. And I do see more floods in our future, don't you?
Once the XPCar succeeds in winning the X-Prize this year - and it's certainly got my vote - it will be easier for this outside-the-box startup to get the millions of dollars in funding it needs to turn out what will be a very affordable and practical car. Once in production, because of the novel construction (think blowup) it will probably achieve its target of under $10,000.
This is essentially a giant airbag around you, of course cushioned way down in there is the metal chassis and all those parts needed to keep everything moving along that you would want to be made in metal. But all those parts that don't have to be metal, the're not.
And that makes it super safe for those of us who don't drive as well as we might. Even the steering column is not some hard metal thing that will poke you in the chest like they do now in the event of a crash, because the steering wheel is center mounted on the console and swings out of the way in a crash.
Most of us know that its actually all that metal in cars that is mainly responsible for killing and huting you in crashes. The shrapnel, body compression immobility, lung compression, dismemberment and other serious results of a crash are most often caused by the inflexibility of metal and the permanent deformation of the body of the metal car around or into your body. None of that with this car.
XP Car says it should take two average adults with a high school education, under two hours to inflate and unpack the vehicle. Should you and your friend lack this educational milestone, XP also envisions distribution centers and maybe even stores like Sears or Costco would pick up lots of these flat and assemble them for you, and be responsible for declaring these legal. Come to think of it, perhaps that's a better idea anyway. Your Masters degree is not going to change those closed minds at the DMV when you try and register this thing you put together two hours ago.
These will be electric cars, powered by batteries, fuel cell and combinations of both, capable of speeds up to 120 mph. Of course they will take all your gear, and include your cupholder, your iPod mount and so on, everything you come to expect in a car. Oh, you don't have iPod mounts in your car? Well lets hope the XPrize judges see what I see in the car from Mars.
In the largest fieldtest to date, the German electric utility RWE is teaming up with Daimler to test EV charging aparatus with 100 Smart electric test vehicles driving around Berlin today. RWE will be installing 500 such charging station around Berlin, at workplaces and in public parking areas, but also, in an unusual development, at customers homes.
To pay the utility for electrons there will be an automated exchange of data between a special in-car communication system and the intelligent electricity charging points providing effective, customer friendly and convenient everyday operation.
Automatic fastcharge stations like these being developed by RWE or those developed by Coulomb Technologies here in the US will be an important part of EV deployment. Many EVs are coming by 2010, as we end the age of oil. Increasingly, charging station infrastructure is under development worldwide. Utilities are finding that EVs can contribute to grid stability.
Like PG&E in California last year with its testing of a Prius plug-in hybrid, the German utility RWE is interested in vehicle-to-grid integration: having the on-board lithium-ion packs able to store surplus electricity when demand is low and able to feed it back in the network when demand is high.
V2G is an excellent way to ensure base load storage for solar and wind power, and both Germany and California are adding more renewables into their energy mix.
Daimler's electric vehicles will be powered by lithium-ion batteries developed by Tesla Motors, the California startup that bought the EV back from the dead with this years Roadster, widely credited with galvanizing GMs development of the Volt.
Bugs won't be piloting the plane, obviously, because bugs can't get pilot licenses. I hope I didn't give you that impression. But they will be fueling it. Microbes will be fueling aircraft, says Boeing and algae will be the dominant aircraft fuel by 2023.
Before you say that this is just green-washing, let me tell you that Europe won't even let our planes land after 2012 if they can't meet the kind of emissions standards that can be devised by lobbyist-free government, such as they are blessed with in all those other countries.
Oh, wait, I see that that harsh rule has been modified recently, after airline industry howls of protest. Now they must just pay a little more to pollute, but they can at least land. Thank goodness for lobbies. But meeting these low CO2 requirements as hardly hurt Boeing sales, and their fuel efficent Dreamliner has even caused runups in worldwide carbonfiber prices.
New Zealand has set a similar standard to the EU requirement: new regulations increasing biofuel use by 2012. The prime minister there has committed to getting New Zealand 90% renewably powered by 2020 - she has made it to seventy percent so far - and that means planes will have to meet those standards too, when they refuel in those nations. So as you can imagine, the New Zealand startup Aquaflow supplying the bugs fueling Boeing's test flight, announced in March that they are gearing up for major production.
Even tiny Island nations like New Zealand could supply behemoths like Boeing all the algae they need to get us to Europe. That's because, with the exponential doubling growth rate of microbes, algae does not need a lot of space to manufacture enough algae to power our planes.
If we keep siphoning it off, of course. Which, no doubt we will.
Detroit comes up with an easy solution:"We should suspend U.S crash-testing requirements in order to allow Detroit to speed our fuel-efficient European models to the U.S. market"
A virtual "iron curtain" of NHTSA regulations prevent GM from being allowed to selling GM's high-mileage European cars in America. GM chairman Bob Lutz says:
“In Europe, the crash-test procedures are different than in the U.S., so the tests are different. If our government says cars that meet crash tests in other countries are good enough to be sold here, we would have more high-mileage, small-car flexibility.”
True. But why are US crash-test procedures different here than in Europe?
Because, after the oil shocks of the 70's, GM, Chrysler and Ford lobbied for a NHTSA import "wall" to prevent those gas sipping Japanese and European cars from interfering with the American consumers' unfettered patriotic right to buy gas-guzzlers.
You might say that Americans have been kept behind a wall, an iron curtain that keeps our vehicle choices very limited.
NHTSA regulations were deliberately created to differ from ECE regulations that govern cars in the rest of the world in order to protect the fortunes of GM, Chrysler and Ford.
Meanwhile, in Europe, under Kyoto, Ford and GM had to learn how to produce low carbon driving options that met Kyoto standards. (Typically low carbon vehicles will also use less fuel.)
As a result, European Ford and GM now make some of the finest gas sippers there are over there, and there are lots. As detailed in Number of Gas-Sipping Cars Unavailable in US Rises To Well Over 100, by 2007 Europeans had a choice of over 100 cars that get over 45 mpg, while we were stuck with fewer and fewer models capable of 35 mpg or more till Smarts and Minicoopers hurdled the wall this Spring.
“We also would like a 3-year moratorium on certain U.S. front- and side-impact crash test regulations,” Lutz says, but don't be alarmed by that. Europe has a lower deathrate than the US, under the EU rules, and these will be safer than what you are driving now.
How ironic that now Big Auto is realizing that the climate-virtuous vehicles they make over there are only prevented from being sold here by their own once lobbied-for legislation. I hope he has a good strong lobby for this new and much better idea to standardize their production worldwide, to a better standard.
200 EV charging stations will be installed in Tokyo in 2009 at a cost of $36,500 each, including construction expenses. Tokyo Electric Power Co. has developed a quick-charging system that allows an electric car to run 25 miles on a five-minute charge and 37 miles on a 10-minute charge. They will begin with 200 and ramp up to 1,000 by 2012. With both Mitsubishi's iMiEV and Subaru's R1e due out in 2009 in Japan, not a moment too soon.
An important element of charging stations is utility grid management – Coulomb also has that in the bag with their management technology, making the start-up company a sort of one-stop shop for EV charging infrastructure. San Jose, a city that loves its technology, will be able to take advantage of Coulomb’s wireless communication capabilities for charging stations, management of mesh networks to authenticate users, and management of energy flow and metering. The folks involved in using and working with the stations could access GPS-lined data online for super easy info linkage.
By the end of this summer, Portland General Electric plans to install 12 charging stations in Portland and Salem. Portland has the highest per capita ownership of hybrid cars in the country.
London is adding to their current EV charging stations.This map shows where Londoners can now catch a fast recharge on the go around town. Of course they can always charge at home, but there's nothing like the security of being able to top-up if needed.
So says Andrew Grove, who oversaw growth at Intel. After seeing Who Killed the Electric Car?Grove had a conversion experience, as many of us did. Unlike us, he managed to test-drive the EV1. As part of his teaching at Stanford University he researched electric vehicles, and, shocked at the slow pace of auto manufacturers, isprodding venture capitalists to fund electric vehicle technologies with a lecture he's delivered to Khosla Ventures titled "There Could Be Blood."
His bold vision calls for converting 80 million trucks and SUVs on the road today into plug-in hybrids within the next 4 years.
Grove's plan calls for experts to draw up blueprints for putting 10 million plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles on the road by 2012, more than current work on the part of automakers will produce by this time. GM's Volt is likely to start in the low millions in 2010, Mitsubishi's iMiEV will be beginning here in 2009, but starting in the thousands.
Grove has reached out to electric vehicle conversion experts such as Prof. Andrew Frank, of CalDavis to learn about their research and what they need to grow. $10 million, apparently. Frank is trying to fund a company to convert pickups to run on electricity for the first 40 miles before switching to gasoline. His start-up, Efficient Drivetrains Inc., wouldtrain mechanics to perform conversions costing customers about $10,000. Professor Frank compares the process to an earlier do-it-yourself era, saying: "I grew up in the days of hot-rodding, and fundamentally what we did was take conventional cars and added widgets to it to improve its performance."
EV conversions are already taught in summer classes offered by Mike Parker and at select institutions of higher learning such as MIT, and people already buy and sell conversions on eBay and drive converted vehicles. Grove believes that EV Conversion would be the fastest option to speedily reduce carbon emissions and of course, eliminate gas payments. Since the shell has already been crashtested, there is none of the time and expense of developing a new vehicle. Like "hot-rodding" in the past, converted vehicles are legal and can be registered and insured, ready to drive as soon as they are complete, in a similarly murky legal area.
Grove is also working with CalCars, which promotes converting hybrids to plug-in hybrids. Installing a second pack of batteries, reprogramming the software and installing a recharging plug more than doubles the cars' fuel economy to +100 miles per gallon.
Two studies at the DOE's Argonne National Lab have found plug-in hybrids would result in large carbon reductions, not just in California, but even on the national 50% coal-powered grid. They estimate hybrids reduce carbon emissions by 22%, and plug-in hybrids by 36%, and if recharged at night would reduce carbon emissions up to 61 percent (PDF)
We will continue to redesign both our lifestyles and our expectations, because we just are an inventive species. There is always that relaxed charm of simply accepting a simpler way of life... time to smell the roses...
We as individuals will continue to create great solutions, from the sublime to the simply ridiculous like this picnic table bicycle invention
or this kiddie EV. Here is a brilliant and laboriously complex recreation of life's own preferred method of transportation: walking
Here is homegrown pedalpower even I would feel safe riding. With a 3 year old uninsured $30,000 broken ankle, I am wary of balancing tricks.
This is a great design for third world water transportation Clearly people are willing to try anything to cut gas use... Reminds me: somebody wanted to see an Electric ATV EV: this company showed these well made ones at the Anaheim EV Show:
And to all the terrific Democratic policy wonks on the California legislature who demanded with the Zero Emissions Vehicles Mandate that auto companies produce at least some (nor as many as we would like) cars with zero emissions - which got all the car manufacturers jumping through this hoop into the future, our planet says thank you.
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Tesla Roadster $100,000 220 miles per charge 135 mph top speed Seats 2 All hail the Rolls Royce of EV's, grown from scratch in California, and the first one out of the gate - available now! Many kudos to Tesla for this huge achievement! There's even a Tesla store, where you can get service like a regular car company, and where they sold 3 in the first 3 days. Tell your rich friends to pick up a few Roadsters because that will fund the next price down, the WhiteStar sedan and in ten years the $15,000 model that will change the world.
If goofiness is no object:
NMG (No More Gas) $29,000 40 - 70 miles per charge (40 in snow, 70 summer) 116 mph top speed Seats 1 This car from Myers Motors which they bought from Corbin has real fans. It apparently feels like driving in a racecar with the car being like a helmet. It is fine in the snows of Ohio, and rebounds fine in crashes. I have concerns with its silly looks, but thats just me and many owners like this fellow SFEVA member really love this car. I feel it is so important to get people into carbon neutral cars, and this one could be perfect (116 mph top speed!) if it looked less like it just escaped from the circus. This Spark-EV Comet designed by Gianpaolo Alvino turned out to be vaporware from Spark-EV and Michael Papp was just arrested for fraud, and so this designer was not paid but his is a more dignified design for a 3 wheeler. Maybe a good designer like this will be hired by Myers... I know the CEO was looking for a second design after the Sparrow (they bought from Corbin that was renamed the NMG), and I know from my conversations with them that they have their hearts in the right place at Myers.
If time is no object: NEVs.
ZENN $13,000 30 miles per charge 25 mph top speed Seats 4 I test drove this ZENN last year in Santa Cruz. It is a perky and responsive normal-feeling car - if somewhat bare bones: about like my daughters 1985 Civic. It gets up to speed fast and brakes fast. It really is just like a 1980's lightweight car, but a model we didn't have: it is roomy inside. I would recommend this and recommend talking to ZENN about unlocking the speed control a bit. It can go faster with its EESTOR battery, and the enforced 25 mph just feels like it slows you too soon.
Miles $18,000 60 miles per charge 25 mph top speed Seats 2 Miles is now rolling 200 a month of these sturdy truck NEVs off the assemblyline. They also make an SUV like the ZENN, per their site. These are regular 4 wheeled NEVs, unlike the ZAP truck.
GEM $7,500 50 miles per charge 25 mph top speed Seats 2
GEM makes the quintessential golf carty NEVs. I didn't include one in my first diary because I thought it was too flimsy and ridiculous looking on their site. But that was before someone who shops the same farmers market as me leftthis model parked there every Saturday, and I kept seeing a mini bus version at Kaiser. In real life GEMs have more solidity and dignity than you would expect and can look pretty hip and Green. The pictures on their site seem strangely determined to kill sales by making it look like a feeble old ladies cart, but this famous environmentalist Simran Sethi of treehugger.com shows how it can look cool and as sturdy as it really is in real life.
ZAP $12,000 25 miles per charge 40 mph top speed Seats 2 (car version seats 4) I test drove a ZAP (the car, similar to the truck, but shorter) in Alameda, and it had a wobbly mirror. It was too slow to brake which felt unsafe. If someone suddenly ran out in front of me: too bad. The brakes are slow. They make it 3 wheeled like a motorbike so it does not need to meet crash test ratings of 4 wheeled vehicles - thats why this can go go 40 mph, is not speed slowed like the other NEVs. But I see them driving here in town now and if you are as careful as you are on a mototrbike, this is certainly an option. One thing to watch with ZAP is their eye is bigger than their stomach as my mom used to say: lots of vaporware at their site. But that can be a good thing too. If ZAP hadn't tried (though failed) to import the SMART car, Mercedes-Benz would never have realized there was a market here, and we would not have the SMART.
1. Mitsubishi iMiEVPetition $25,000 80 miles per charge + 80% Fast Recharge* in 30 mins 80 mph top speed Seats 4 I know you were distracted when Mitsubishi brought the iMiEV to show you this Spring: it was the primaries! They think you don't care: the sales rep in this video sounds flat, like only if there was a demand from us, would they cater to this little old backwater of gasguzzling flatearthers when Europe and other markets beckon. There is a lot of practical info in this video from Mitsubishi such as that since this most of this vehicle is already on the assemblyline as a gas guzzler, it is not that much of a stretch to make this an EV.
For performance watch this video of the iMiEV easily master the astonishingly long ascent of these Japanese Alps. The iMiEv doesn't have to be this garish red and white colorway: here is the more sedate shade it delivers mail in for the Japanese postal service. It has the same wheelbase size as a VW Rabbit, but far more of the air above is encaptured for its interior, so it is roomy, while small.
2. Subaru R1ePetition (bottom of page) EST $20,000-$40,000 50 miles per charge + 15 min 80% Fast Recharge* option 65 mph top speed Seats 2 Following their successful tests in the civilized world, two of the Subaru R1e EVs will join the New York Power Authority (NYPA) fleet for testing here. When I signed the petition at the bottom of the Subaru page to ask for this EV in the US, I let them know we are being held captive for ransom in this benighted nation - our government can not be counted on to help... In Japan the government really gets involved in paradigm-shifting disruptive tech - no whining about not picking winners or losers from them! The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology worked with Nagasaki University and Fuji Heavy Industries (the parent company of Subaru) in creating a battery with twenty times higher energy capacity using manganese instead of cobalt. Just like the Japanese government essentially gave us the Prius by generously subsidising early adopters.
3. Mercedes-Benz SmartForTwo EDPetition EST $20,000-$40,000 72 miles per charge 60 mph top speed Seats 2 The already shipped gasoline SmartForTwo is tiny! I saw one of the first deliveries in April parked among the weeds in an industrial factory area of SF next to normal cars. It looked as cute and clunky and solid as a toddlers sneaker in a closetfull of old boots in that context. The Electric Drive option is as well made as the original gas version. They have now finished testing the Electric Drive in the UK and are starting their test in LA with lithium batteries. Mercedes-Benzsaysthat in 7 years they will stop making gasoline vehiclesaltogether! They will make hydrogen and diesel and electric cars, using diesel for the hybrids instead of gasoline.
GM Volt $40,000 40 miles per charge (+ 600 mile onboard Range Extender*) 120 mph top speed Seats 4 Less ugly than in still photos, in street driving the Volt looks surprisingly elegant, somehow suggesting a ballet slipper to me. CEO Lutz is clueless about Climate Change so this is not what motivates GM, unlike many of the startups like Tesla and ZENN. Which makes trusting fruition of this more more iffy, driven forth merely by perceived peak oil - which will fluctuate even in descent, as the world will embark on last ditch ventures to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Take the zero emission pledge to nudge them along. $10,000 more expensive than initially thought. Subsidies like Clinton's excellent $10,000 EV subsidy will be needed to get the EV switch done. Lets work on the Senate majority that we must have to pass the eco legislation next year that we couldn't do so far. GM is the other big US company that sold out on us by (Who Killed The Electric Car?) killing the EV1, but that is no reason to punish their Detroit workers creating the followup. There might be a pure EV only option for purists, but currently the Volt will have its own onboard Range Extender powered by a little gas engine, making it a Series Hybrid.
TH!NK $25,000 125 - 250 miles per charge includes 45 minute Fast Charge* 100 mph top speed Seats 2 (+ 2 kids or groceries) Ford originally murdered its TH!NK in 2002 heres some historical footage of unhappy customers: But now that EV just won't stay dead! The 17 year old Norwegian company begun by Jan Otto Ringdal, that made these for Ford to meet the California Mandate, would not give up on the THINK and is now bringing it back to bite Ford in the -ass- I mean US - with actual production facilities to build it here in the USA. GE's Ecoimagination has invested $24 million in the technology. The now Norwegian TH!NK will also produce a van for America's soccer moms: TH!NK 0x $30,000 125 - 250 miles per charge includes 45 minute Fast Charge* 65 - 80 mph top speed Seats 5 After the California Mandate was outwitted by the autocompanies'lawyers, Ford also killed their Ford Ranger truck EV, but now a determined union UAW worker in the Midwest is attempting to revive the Ford Ranger EV and another company will convert Ford Rangers into EVs for you. The Ranger was an ideal EV truck, so sad that Ford gave up on a great idea. Take the zero emission pledge to nudge them along to reintroduce it.
Pininfarina Nido EST $25,000 155 miles per charge + 5 minute Fast Recharge* 80 mph top speed Seats 2 Originally designed in 2004 by the design company Pininfarina the NIDO won the "L'Automobile più Bella del Mondo" concept car award in 2005, a production model will be shown at Geneva in October 2008 and coming to the US for 2010.
Toyota (Plug In)Prius est $35,000-$45,000 250 miles per charge + 100 mpg Seats 5 Toyota has no motive for adding a PHEV Prius since it will likely do fine as a regular hybrid as gas prices rise, so this is hardly a definite, but Toyota is now talking the talk finally, on building the long begged-for plug in version of the Prius, that increases its mpg to +100. This is still a hybrid, but one you can plug in at night to get the + 100 mpg we demanded at our Step It Up rally. What Toyota also could do to easily meet the CA Mandate is simply bring back its fabulous RAV4 EV that was so popular. I rode last year in one of the last RAV4 EVs, and they feel just like regular RAV4s: and I was at an eco fest in Marin with one of the last ones behind me for SFEVA, and every eco Marin mom toting sandy footed kids past our booth wanted that EV to take the kids and the dog to the beach. One of the few that didn't get crushed just sold on eBay for what this EV is worth to us Americans, Toyota! Just bring it back.
Nissan Denki Cube $,000 miles per charge mph top speed Seats (no details yet) Now also even Nissan says they will have an EV in the US by 2010.
cityZENN $19,000 250 miles per charge with 5 minute Fast Charge* 80 mph Seats 4 The Canadian startup ZENN Cars already sells a speed limited ZENN that I test drove last year (see below) and wished could be a freeway speed EV. This EVpodcast interview with the CEO of ZENN is a good detail source for this news that ZENN has a freeway speed option in the works. Given ZENNs EESTOR battery development and the competent engineering of their NEV, it looks likely.
Smith Electric Vehicles Newton $,000 150 miles per charge 50 mph top speed Seats TNT in the UK just ordered another 100 of these delivery vans and Smith Electric Vehicles showed here at the EVs-23 show in January. They plan to start production of10,000 trucks in 2010 in a US factory. They have been making a 2 ton to 12 tonrange of EV trucks and vansfor 80 years, and so not surprisingly their parent company (Tanfield) stock jumped like sevenfold in the last few years...
such as this Smith - Ford EV van: the Ampere... so I suspect there might be a Smith/Ford merger or aquisition to come. Certainly Smith - with its EV expertize - and Ford with its Detroit factories (and a CEO who has seen the light), would be a great combination to reinvigorate Detroit with truly green vehicle development.
Modec $,000 100 miles per charge 50 mph top speed Seats 2 Another British commercial vehicle company Modec also showed at the EV show in January as I diaried here. There is a sample at a winery in Napa. They have sold their EV vans to Tesco in the UK for deliveries. Their FAQ page has good answers to my questions.
Phoenix SUV $45,000 110 miles per charge + 10 minute Fast Charge* 95 mph top speed Seats 5 The California startup Phoenix initially focused on fleet buyers for its two models, the SUV and the SUT. The production model of the truck version (SUT) which gets 130 miles per charge was test driven in 2007. PG&E has been testing the first 4 SUV models since 2007: initially these will be for fleet buyers like PG&E only, but in a few years for everyone. Phoenix is also considering an onboard battery Range Extender making both models series hybrids like the Volt (the new CA ZEV mandate favors hybrids).
Fisker Karma est $80,000 50 miles per charge + gas Range Extender* 125 mph top speed Seats 4 Spurned Tesla WhiteStar designer Henrik Fisker unveiled the body design for the Karma at the Detroit auto show this Spring. Lawsuits are flying with his previous company Tesla, obviously this is similar to the WhiteStar design... Fisker plans to stay in Detroit and utilize the rusting factories there to revive an auto industry newly geared to building eco cars, with Quantum Technologies doing the grunt work under the hood. Fiskers Karma will have Range Extenders like on the Volt. Since Fisker had been designing the whiteStar for Tesla, this aesthetic suggests what Tesla's secret next model the WhiteStar $50,000 sedan might look like. The Karma 500 orders already from the Detroit show this Spring. Like Tesla, Fisker plans a cheaper car next. They will use a solar roof to cool the car while parked. The AC is the most energy-expensive aspect of EVs, and a lot of that is to dispell the heat accumulated while parked. Update: will be assembled in Finland/to deliver 2009.
UEV Spyder $80,000 150 - 250 miles per charge 110 mph Seats 2 This quintessentially Californian EV startup company has still posted no new news since my last diary, but it plans to enter the x-prize. Or maybe making one perfect One Off is like the Haute Couture of the car business and that is ok too...check in with them at Spyder to see whats happening, maybe they just need some help getting going on this...
VW Golf PHEV $,000 31 miles per charge + diesel till recharge 70 mpg 75 mph Seats 4 VW also just unveiled this PHEV Golf, that they call atwin drive which will operate about like the Prius a short range on electric: switching to gas after that, but it is not really a parallel hybrid like the Prius, or a serial hybrid like the Volt... A plug-in hybrid with a very robust electric drivetrain that's forced to drag around an internal combustion engine in case it gets too far away from home, but yielding 70 miles per gallon. Maybe you can figure out how twin drive works from their diagram. 2010 in Germany, but noticed their model has a left hand drive...
Miles XS500 $39,000 120 miles per charge 80 mph Seats 4 Another EV startup in CA, Miles, still says they will have their sedate sedan by 2010, but they have not met earlier delivery promises yet. They seem to be building it in China. Mayor Bloomberg tried one there last year and declared it good. They, like ZENN, do currently make excellent Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles - their sturdy truck NEV is now available (see below: Section 3)
Venturi Eclectic $30,000 50 miles per charge + or solar roof recharging 31 mph top speed Seats 3 The French design firm Venturi's Eclectic initially looked like a toy to me, although beautiful, (and an effortless climber, as you can see in this amazing video) But then, after the Bali conference in which the US was reproached by the entire world for being such a carbon pig, my view altered and I saw us as just as greedy and excessive as the (ultimately beheaded) Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis. Now it simply looks right for here in the dry West where we're going to have a hundred year drought - so no chance of ruining those nice shoes. This price is for the first run, but they passed their homologations to sell here and plan to produce more at a lower price if the first run does well.
Aptera $30,000 120 miles per charge 90 mph top speed Seats 2 (+1/2) This will have two options, straight EV in which a UK site says the Aptera will have a range of 120 miles but autoblog green says in a series hybrid option like the Volt, a 1000 mile range.
Loremo $,000 93 - 124 miles per charge 105 mph top speed Seats 2 The German firm Loremo plans this EV for 2010. I have generally ignored all the foreign EVs that have not specified that they will sell here but I have a feeling this might. Just a possibility. But now, on to what is!...
oh, wait: also, -on the drawing board-: the Mini Cooper EV.Updated July: yes, the Mini EV will beavailable in 2009 at least in California.
Last Christmas Sams Club sold an EV conversion of a Mini Cooper with lithium ion batteries conversion by Hybrid Technologies. I think conversions will lead to production, but are not quite there yet, and so I have not included other conversion companies for that reason. But the fact that conversion companies have selected this as an electric conversion body, means it will probably become as an EV, but I didn't add it to the update, which I am trying to keep to production, not conversions, even fun and entertaining ones like the tzero by A C Propulsion's Tom Gage that I interviewed last year. Hybrid Technologies began mini cooper conversions last year. Conversions are always more expensive than building the technology in to begin with in: Hybrid's conversion makes the Mini a $60,000 EV. However, the Plug-In Prius was a conversion option for years before Toyota said they would make us a Plug-In option available. So. I bet it will be in my next years update.
While it's not the pleasantest prospect for a treehugger like me to dwell on, there is stuff we need to dig out of the earth, even to build the clean power economy.
Here's another European EV we should be watching, now that GM's chairman has tipped us off on the inside dope (I'm hoping) on government plans to 
I never used to follow the European green car news about all those choices Europeans have in fuel efficient vehicles, because that just made me mad: they have so many choices and we have so few.
This is essentially a giant airbag around you, of course cushioned way down in there is the metal chassis and all those parts needed to keep everything moving along that you would want to be made in metal. But all those parts that don't have to be metal, the're not.
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