http://www.yourwebsite.com/ Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:08:21 GMT India has a lot of people, a lot of them driving around in crowded places. The problem is that these people are driving around in and on a variety of heavy polluters. The air in places like New Delhi is well documented as about the worst on the planet. These conditions are however perfect for electric vehicles. The Government of India has recognized this fact and last August proposed a plan (NEMMP 2020) to encourage EV growth in the country. The reasons for the program and goals of the program are spelled out in some detail. Almost one year later and the reality is that the $4.1 billion program is moving, but about the speed of a 12 volt kids electric scooter. Recently The Indian Government announced a joint venture with German EV experts to help move the program. Exactly how is fuzzy, but the name sounds good: The Indo-German Joint Working Group (JWG). The root of the slow EV growth in the country appears typical of other countries. Consumers are slow to pony up the extra rupees required to gain EV transport. One bright spot might be that Toyota has plans to make and sell a line of hybrids in India. Hybrids made in India lowers the cost of the cars considerably. Additionally the Government (under the plan) will offer subsidies to hybrid buyers of cars like the Toyota Etios Hybrid. It should be interesting going forward, since the Indian Government states goals of 19% EV and Hybrid EV transport by 2020. With German cooperation and Japanese technology, who knows? Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:27:09 GMT You may wonder what Go Navy is doing on an EV blog? As Navy veterans we are happy to report that the USN is installing solar EV charge stations. The new charging station is one of many more to follow as the US armed forces turn more and more to electric power. The US military is the largest single user of oil in the world and looking to reduce its oil use. All brances of the service now employ EVs in their fleets. As for the Navy, at its Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mid-South command, 17 electric cars are now in use. To support the cars, NSA opened its first solar powered charge station. As for other branches of service, the Los Angeles Air Force Base plans to replace its entire local car fleet with electric cars. The aquisition is part of a Defense Dapartment $20 million EV-To-Grid Initiative to place some 500 electric vehicles at 6 facilities in the USA. In addition, the military has a wide range of electric vehicles from Hybrid Tactical Trucks to submersibles and aircraft Sat, 01 Jun 2013 08:22:40 GMT In a surprise move, the battery switching pioneer Better Place is calling it quits. Battery switching is not popular enough to keep the company profitable.. The idea promoted heavily by the company was that since it takes so long to recharge an EV battery pack drivers could just pull their EV up to a battery swapping station. It makes sense on the surface but did not pencil out too well. Better Place has stations in Australia, China, Denmark, Hawaii, Japan, and the Netherlands. However, the main testing ground for battery switching has been Israel. The country is just about 250 miles long and 75 miles wide. A few battery swaps could get you from one end to the other. Aditionally, gas in Israel is expensive and the Government supports EV growth. It seemed to make sense. One thing not considered was the $32,000 cost of the Renault electric cars plus the $9,200 4 year battery lease cost. Consumers did not actually own the battery packs. The total monthly payment for the $41,000 Renault Fluence electric car was around $900 per month over a 4 year term. For comparison a $75,000 Tesla Model S would have payments of about $1,600 per month over 4 years. While battery electric cars like the Tesla make some progress, most consumers tend to prefer hybrid electric to battery electric vehicles. Though battery switching is a great concept the costs are apparently too high for the average car buyer. Whatever the reason, the bottom line was that in the Better Place market, not enough subscriptions were sold to keep the billion dollar company afloat. The company ordered 100,000 cars but was only able to sell 2,500 units. Too bad, another idea ahead of its time. Sun, 26 May 2013 23:27:36 GMT Cigarette and car pollution are in the news. We have gotten the question which is worse? The short answer is cigarette smoke is worse in closed spaces where car (diesel) pollution is worse in the great outdoors. According to work by a team (2004 and recently reprinted) at the Tobacco Control Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy, cigarettes emit 10 times more particulate pollution than a diesel car. The team left three cigarettes burning in a closed room for 30 minutes, then left a 2.0 liter turbo diesel car idling for the same length of time. The 3 cigarettes left 88 micrograms per cubic meter (29 mg per smoke) of tiny particles suspended in the air where the car surprisingly left 830 micrograms per cubic meter. Assuming this single test was valid, how do the results play out in the bigger picture? According to older data at longwood.edu and the USDA, about 360 billion cigs are smoked per year in the USA in 2007. At 29 micrograms per smoke that adds up to about 10.5 tons of particulates per year. Due to smoking regulations, many of the cancer sticks were probably smoked outside. Diesel engines in the USA now burn around 60 billion gallons of diesel fuel per year. We assume that a diesel car at idle burns around 1 liter per hour and 1/2 liter of diesel in 30 minutes and all of that diesel is burned by idling 2.0 liter cars which is not true, but works as an example. That adds up to 439.2 tons per year of particulates. So while cigarette smoke may put out 10 times more particulates than diesel during indoor testing, diesel cars in similar conditions would put at least 40 times more nasty particulates in the air we breathe. Since not many people leave their diesel cars at idle indoors, their particulates may be entering your lungs while you are outdoors. Sun, 19 May 2013 20:22:45 GMT One of the more promising uses of the electric vehicle is for taxi and transit service. Battery electric taxi cabs are beginning to show up in cities all over the planet. One of the best features of the battery and hybrid electric car is they have no gas motors running at stop lights. This eliminates tailpipe emissions streaming out. You can notice this on a hot summer day at just about any big city intersection. It looks sort of like a mirage. In California, some 28% of the taxi fleet is now hybrid electric. San Francisco has cut its taxi fleet emissions in half through the use of hybrid hacks. Another EV cutting city emissions in a big way is the battery electric bus. The EV bus is also starting to spring up in cities over the globe. BYD will be setting up a plant in southern California to manufacture units that will be driven there. It appears to us that more smog choked cities could follow the example of those already providing EV Taxi and Bus service. Thu, 09 May 2013 20:07:46 GMT One of the main benefits of the electric vehicle is zero emissions. For true zero emissions (after manufacture) you need clean power generation. Clean power on a large scale takes large investment. Global alternative energy investment in 2012 was about $270 billion. Compare this to oil and gas development at $670 billion in 2012. Despite the rhetoric, most of the clean energy investment was private funding, while the oil and gas money was heavily subsidized by public funds. In 2012, oil and gas developers were subsidized to the tune of $400 billion with alternative energy providers getting about $66 billion in public backing. So 2012 oil and gas investment was $270 billion private dollars. Alternative energy investment was $200 billion after subsidies. Private investment by oil and gas and alternative energy sectors are not that far apart. The questions are what do you get for the money, and where does the EV benefit? The benefits of oil and gas development are continued stability to existing infrastructure in the short run. The problem is that much new development focuses on technologies that may be productive to begin with, but tend to taper off quickly over a few years time. The benefits of alternative energy development include instant cleaner air and infrastructure that may last for dozens of years, much longer than most fracked oil and gas reservoirs for instance. For alternative energy investment we have 2 distinct advantages over oil and gas development. The EV sector benefits from clean energy development. Our air in turn benefits from EV growth. Sun, 05 May 2013 20:56:00 GMT It has been said that image is everything. Image is sure important to new and used car buyers. Take booming Beijing China. Beijing is home to some 22 million people. More and more Beijing residents now drive gas or diesel burning cars. The result is air that stings the eyes, chokes the throat, and makes daytime look like dusk. The connection between increased auto travel and increased air pollution has been made clear. Despite this, city residents prefer gas burners to meet obligations and make ends meet. Driving has become a way of life for many. Officials have tried to stem the tide of car pollution by instituting lottery driving days, incredibly high car registration fees and hefty EV incentives. People are still not buying electric cars in large numbers. One of the interesting facets of car addiction is car image. Advertisers and producers have long known this. Think of the car ads in the National Geographic and Life magazine back in the 1950s when fins and V8 symbols were in vogue. The fins are long gone but the V8 remains. Out of the 19.3 million units sold last year in China, just 11,375 were plugin electric. 52,835 plugin EVs were sold in the USA. One arguement against the China plugin EV has been dirty power plants. True, but the Hybrid EV can help out a lot here as we have presented in the past weeks. Also, coal power plants emit point source pollution that can be scrubbed, where millions of autos simply spew pollution all over town. No matter, Chinese consumers at present prefer western luxury cars and SUVs over electric vehicles. China SUV sales are forecast to double to 4 million units in the next few years. Jeep manufacturers are making plans. The image of owning a western gas burner is important to Chinese consumers. What to do? We think China planners might try to raise the image of the EV. One car that has done incredibly well in the west is the Hybrid EV. Planners could take a clue from this success. It would be a huge help for gray skies. Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:37:37 GMT Over the past couple of months we have looked at what the EV is doing to cut CO2 emissions. We noticed that the HEV, hybrid electric vehicle is far leading the way in sales over both the PHEV and (battery EV) BEV. This lead also makes the HEV the leader in pollution reduction. There have been some 6.3 million HEVs sold in the past decade. Toyota announced it has sold over 5 million hybrids, 4 million of those Prius family cars alone. Approximatley 200,000 or so PHEV and BEV cars and trucks have been sold in the same time frame. While the BEV is a zero emissions vehicle, and the PHEV is a very low emissions vehicle, like it or not, at this time the HEV is the sales and green leader. So if the HEV is the green leader, where are the rebates? Gone, that's where. According to fueleconomy.gov: "Vehicles purchased after December 31, 2010 are not eligible for this (HEV) credit." It occurs to us that the cars providing the most benefit should also get a rebate. This is not to knock BEV and PHEV tax credits, but to show that a small rebate could make a good thing even better. We think that new BEV, PHEV and HEV purchases should come with Tax Credits. Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:22:51 GMT The people at Kelly Blue Book have released their top 10 green car list for 2013. The list is not based just on sales. Six of the cars are hybrids, with four battery electric cars. Two of the six hybrid cars are however plugin models. It is a welcome surprise to have these cars rated on how clean they are. The Nissan Leaf is number one on the list, followed by by the battery electric Tesla Model S, and Ford Focus electric car. Since the top green cars are not necessairly the best selling green cars, they unfortunately are not the cars contributing the most to cleaner air at this time. This may change over time. The other battery EV on the list is the Honda Fit EV. This car is still in early production with just 1,000 units made and about 150 units sold in the USA so far. The Chevy Volt makes sense as some 2/3 of Volt miles driven are on battery power alone. The Prius and C-Max Energi are both plug-in models as well. Note again that the list does not include the best selling hybrid models like the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion, though the MKZ is based on the Fusion platform. The Jetta Hybrid appears to make the list to quality of build since driving reviews including mpg are not that great. Finally there are a couple of luxury hybrids on the list in the Avalon and MKZ models. The Avalon is based on the Lexus ES, while the MKZ is much like the Ford Fusion Energi Hybrid. The list: 1. Nissan LEAF 2. Tesla Model S 3. Ford Focus Electric 4. Chevrolet Volt 5. Toyota Prius Plug-in 6. Ford C-Max Energi 7. Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid 8. Honda Fit EV 9. Toyota Avalon Hybrid 10. Lincoln MKZ Hybrid Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:58:58 GMT Ev Sales in the good old USA are rising. This is one reason CO2 output in the country has been falling. Plugin EV sales (BEV plus PHEV) reached about 3,800 units from Jan-Mar 2012. In the first three months of 2013, plugin sales had topped 7,800 units, over twice as many as the same time period in 2012. Hybrid sales for the first three months of 2012 were about 106,000 units as compared to 121,000 units for the first three months of 2013. That is a 12% increase in sales from 1012 to 2013. One line of hybrids selling very well in the Ford brand. This includes the Fusion Hybrid, Fusion Energi, C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi models. Ford hybrid sales for the first three months of 2012 reached about 5,000 units. In the first three months of 2013 that number had risen to nearly 21,500 units. Although the C-Max Energi was not on sale last year, you striil have over four times as many Ford EV cars sold the first three months of this year as in the first three months of 2012. Go Ford and Go Cleaner Air! Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:45:02 GMT A few weeks ago we estimated CO2 reduction as a result of electric vehicle sales. That 3/17/2013 estimate showed how hybrids could be saving 2,500,000 tons per year of CO2 from entering US airspace. Since then we have taken a closer look at how much CO2 might be prevented from entering the air thanks to electric vehicles. Our new more detailed estimate shows that some 3,734,936 tons of CO2 were saved from entering the atmosphere by people driving electric vehicles. This estimate shows an average of about 1.8 tons per year per vehicle saved on average as compared to the 2 tons per year used in our 3/17 estimate. In recent years the US EPA shows that transport CO2 levels have actually been falling due to improved vehicle efficiency, people driving less, and electric vehicles. How much is 7,165,024 tons in the year from 2010 to 2011, the latest years reported. This is twice that saved by the amount in the electric vehicle reduction estimate above. It appears that electric vehicles are responsible for about half of recent transport related CO2 reductions in the USA. The other half is due to people using alternate transport and driving more efficient cars and trucks. As we like to say, walk, drive an EV, bike, eBike, or take transit. It will improve our air. Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:47:40 GMT When it comes to car pollution, all drivers have equal rights to pollute. However, some pollute more than others. The air would benefit the most if more people from high pollution groups drove electric vehicles. Who would drive the most and so be part of a high pollution group in the US? First it depends on where you live. For instance, in the US Wyoming drivers log the most miles at nearly 22,000 miles per year, while those in Alaska log just 10,000 miles a year. The average annual miles driven according to the US FHWA is 13,500 miles per year. Men aged 35-64 drive the most while women over 65 drive the least. New car drivers pile on more miles than those driving older cars. If those racking up the most miles were to drive electric cars, the savings to the air would be the greatest. EV manufacturers and governments would make the most progress if their programs were to target those groups and provide suitable vehicles and incentives to those drivers. As a beginning, it appears that the Toyota Prius is driven by more guys than gals. If EV producers and policy makers could find a way to get more EVs to those driving the most, pollution would be further reduced and the air cleaner. Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:58:08 GMT In their recent report “The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040,” Exxon-Mobil Corporation says they expect EV sales to steadily increase with full hybrids making up 40% of worldwide new car and light truck sales by 2040. The Plug in EV is forecast to make up 5% of sales at that time. The remaining 55% is split between conventional, diesel, and natural gas vehicles. For comparison, in 2012 some 487,000 EVs were sold out of a total of about 14.5 million total car and truck sales. That is about 3.36 percent EV sales for the US last year. The EV did not sell so well in other countries however. Looking at the overall picture, Exxon-Mobil thinks that the world car and truck fleet will grow from around 800 million now to 1.6 billion by 2040. Lets look at the possible resulting CO2 reduction in the atmosphere. Based on data in the report we calculated that HEV and PHEV units could total 730 million by 2040. If each unit saved an average of 1 ton of CO2 per year, the savings would be 730 million tons per year. If each EV saved 2 tons, then the CO2 savings would double to nearly 1.5 billion tons per year. What does that mean? Total CO2 emissions this year will likely be around 38 billion tons. Future CO2 estimates vary and depend on many factors like economic growth and efficiency gains. We use 40 billion tons per year as a working estimate. 1.5 billion tons is 3.75% of 40 billion tons. That is one possible amount of CO2 reduction by the 2040 EV fleet. Some Governments like the EU and Japan have targeted 25% CO2 reductions. It appears that the EV has the possibility of providing 3.75% percent of that reduction. There are many variables, and this is a rough estimate, but the EV is one sure way to help clean the air. Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:29:50 GMT We have been writing about hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) sales. One of the main benefits of the HEV is to reduce CO2 from our air. We have estimated how much. This first estimate is an average. As time goes on we will refine the numbers. Also, the calcs are based on US sales numbers. According to Wiki, there have been about 2,500,000 HEVs sold in the US since 1999. The corporate average fuel economy in the US is about 24 mpg. We then took the average of the average (city/hwy) mpg on the hybrid list. It is 30.2 mpg. HEVs on average then get about about 20 percent better fuel economy than the average gas burning fleet. Since the average US gas car emits around 5 tons per year, the average hybrid gets emits 20% less, or 4 tons per year. 2,500,000 gas cars emit 12,500,000 tons of CO2 while 2,500,000 hybrids emit 10,000,000 tons of CO2. The difference is 2,500,000 tons or one ton per car. This is on average how much CO2 hybrids save from going into the air each year. These estimates are basic and somewhat ballpark, but do show that some real carbon savings are possible by HEVs. We did not include the extra CO2 it takes to manufacture a hybrid car over a gas burner. We also assume that all 2,500,000 hybrids are still running. Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:19:15 GMT Hybrid Electric Vehicles, or HEVs comprise the largest segment of the EV market. The Toyota Prius family of cars rules it. The Prius has been the HEV sales leader for over 10 years. The Prius may have 1/10 the battery storage of most plug in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), but it has 10 times as many sales. In Feb 2013, the Prius family of cars sold 17,812 units to 1,629 Chevy Volt units in the USA. Looking at the trend, 2013 Prius sales are mixed for the first 2 months of 2013. Januray sales were up 27% or so while Feb sales were down about 16% from a year ago. Total Jan-Feb sales are up about 5% from 2012. 2013 Chevy Volt units sold are a fraction of the Prius sales figures, but are actually up an average (first 2 months) of around 40% from 2012. The Volt also beats out the Prius PHEV, which sold just 693 units in Feb 2013. The Prius offers only about 1/3 (13 miles or so) of the Volt electric (about 38 miles) only range. However, Toyota has just posted that you can get up to $6,500 on a remaining 2012 plug in Prius, or some $4,500 on a 2013 model. It will be interesting to see if the price cut helps the plug in Prius close the sales gap between it and the Volt. Turning to Ford, C-Max Hybrids sold 6,628 units in Jan and Feb of 2013. Some 672 of these were the plug in hybrid C-Max Energi units. Ford has also moved 239 Focus BEV units since the start of 2013. As for other battery EVs on the market, Tesla is doing quite well, selling some 2,600 Model S units in Jan and Feb of 2013. The Model S made car of the year in 2012 and beat out the Leaf which moved half as many (1,303) the first two months of 2013. In conclusion, the HEV segment remains strong while PHEV models gain ground. In the BEV market, a small segment of consumers are willing to risk funds on battery power, while some will even pay a premium for higher range and quality of build. We view all EV sales as positive, and next week we take a look at what the sales figures mean for our air. Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:24:46 GMT In mid-Jan of 2013, Nissan dropped the base price of the Model S electric car to around $28,800. This brought the base price in some states down to $18,800! You might think this would give sales a boost. But not yet. The Leaf price drop failed to move Feb sales much higher than Jan sales, though they were higher than those last February. The Chevy Volt in comparison shows steadily increasing sales month to month and year to year. Nearly three times as many Volt units as Leaf units (1,629 to 603) were sold last month alone. According to usnews.rankingsandreviews.com, the average price that 31 Leaf buyers paid for their cars was $38,961. The 16kWh battery pack in the Volt qualifies the car for battery electric car tax credits. This brings the purchase price of the Leaf down to around the $28,800 starting price of the Leaf. So some buyers are willing to pay an additional $10,000 for the Volt over the Leaf. In this case, price is clearly is not the main consideration. Hold on a moment though. GM has lease options for the Chevy Volt that are helping to move the cars. A typical lesee can get a Volt for around $2,000-2,500 down, $325 per month on a 12,000 mile term. Nissan has no lease program for the Leaf. Next we notice that the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has simply taken off in early sales. This is interesting in that for all of 2012 The battery electric Mitsubishi iMiev sold just 588 units in the USA and 196 units in Canada. As we noted (10/2/2012) you could then get a new iMiev at a large discount price of around $21K after incentives. The Outlander PHEV sold 506 units in its first week (Jan 24th to Jan 31st) on the Japanese market! This PHEV carries a 10 kWh battery pack and retails for from about $39,000 - $50,000 before incentives. Continuing the sales trend set in 2012, the PHEV is taking the lead over the battery EV. The hybrid EV is still way out in front of all EV sales, but those desiring more battery power than the hybrid EV offers will be likely to choose a PHEV these days. It appears that the culture of gas powered vehicles remains a strong pull even for EV consumers. Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:37:30 GMT One trend in EV development is the integration of energy storage capacitors into vehicles. This has been sucessful in ultracapacitor powered busses for instance. One recent development is the Mazda SKYACTIV system. We are not sure if the SKY part refers to cleaner air. It sounds good at any rate. The new system consists of engine improvements, light weight body components, and transmission refinements. The EV component is called the iEloop system. The iEloop acts like regenerative braking found in all modern hybrid EVs and Battery Evs. The energy recovered from slowing down the car gets stored in a capacitor. The energy can bre recovered in short time to run various car electrical systems like lights and sound systems. The stored energy is not used to move the car. This is why we refer to the new Mazda SKYACTIV units as Micro Hybrids. The total amount of energy the system recovers is a micro amount compared to the energy used to move the car and that wasted as excess heat. This might seem simplistic, so we compared the fuel economy results of 2 cars with the SKYACTIV system to 2 without. What we found was interesting. The Mazda 6 and CX-5 both get slightly worse fuel economy and cost more than both the Chevy Cruze, and Ford Focus, neither of which claims SKYACTIV components. In particular, the SKYACTIV cars got no better City mpg. This is where the Hybrid EV shines, great city fuel economy. So, If you want good city fuel economy get a full size hybrid. If you want a hig mpg gas burner, get a Cruze or Focus. They are the same or better than micro hybrids in the city. Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:54:32 GMT Back in the day the only carbon people knew much about was the carbon building up on the inside of their engines. You may remember taking your car or truck out on the highway to “blow out the carbon.” The carbon getting blown (burned) out was actually a mixture of carbon and other grimy engine deposits. This still happens today, and there are ways to clean it out from water to chemical cleaners. Today we know that carbon also builds up in the air. This carbon is in the form of CO2 or carbon dioxide gas, the kind in your soda and the kind that is slowly but surely causing climate change and related weather events that are mostly unpleasant. Gas and diesel powered cars and trucks create and emit CO2 gas from their engines every time they start and run. This CO2 is way in excess of natural amounts that plants and the oceans for example can remove. There is no easy way to just blow it out or clean it up. How much? Every gallon of gas burned in driving makes about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide…a little less with ethanol cut gas and a little more from diesel fuel. The bottom line is that every gallon of fuel you burn in your vehicle makes and puts into the air about 20 pounds of CO2. In the USA it adds up to some 1,500 million (metric) tons of CO2 per year injected into the atmosphere. 1,500 million metric tons is 3.3 trillion pounds. That is the weight of over 835,000,000 or 835 million 2-ton cars! So the next time you crank up the gas burner or hybrid know that you are adding 20 pounds of carbon to the air for every gallon of gas your rig consumes. Most of us are contributing to the rather huge amount of carbon injected to the air every year. It's gonna be pretty tough to blow it out or clean it up. Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:47:24 GMT In the news, apparently the air in Beijing is so bad that people have been sending their kids to school wearing $60 gas masks. At home people are installing indoor air cleaners at $1,000 a pop. Also in the news, The Journal Environmental of Health Perspectives publishes a paper telling us that babies in car polluted areas the world over are being born measurably smaller than past averages. This means those kids as they grow will suffer more health problems than other kids. We find this interesting as compared to the economics of air pollution. One of the main arguments against electric cars is their extra expense. One of the main reasons given for diluting or dismissing air pollution legislation is that it is a burden on business. Environmentally aimed legislation is too expensive so the song goes. We do not dispute the extra expense of the electric car or some air quality regs. We do want to advise however that simply pumping pollutants into the air is without cost. Far from it. In the case of Chinese citizens, some of them are already paying directly to mitigate their own car and other air pollution. As kids born too tiny grow with health problems, they will very likely require expensive medical care. Somebody will have to pay those bills unless medical people start to work for free. These are just a few examples. Considering climate change and other pollution effects, the costs are gauranteed to go up. Who pays? We all do. Governments and individuals will be forced to pay for the effects of air pollution as time goes on. This amounts to an air tax. We hear a lot of rhetoric from certain political parties concerning no new taxes. When it comes to the effects of air pollution however, we will pay and in some cases die from the effects of crappy air. What to do? Try to accept the fact that air pollution is here and it is not a good thing. If air pollution continues business as usual, taxes will apply. As with the IRS, you can pay now or pay later. Walk, ride a bike, eBike, EV, or take transit. Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:43:07 GMT This article concerns driver-consumers in the USA interested in lowering their transport induced emissions. One of the more popular, and somewhat practical ways to lower CO2 emissions is to own and drive a hybrid electric vehicle or HEV. One of the largest markets for the HEV is the USA. Hybrids sold are closing in on one half million units per year in the states. Alomst half of total of over 4.6 million of hybrid sales to date have been in the US. Looking at who maufactures the HEVs we notice that they are mostly Imports. Some 4 million of total worldwide hybrid sales have been by the Toyota Motor Company alone with about 2.6 million of these being Prius hybrids. We want to take the chance to recommend that US consumers consider US made hybrids. There are some first rate brands on the market these days from the Chevy Volt to the Lincoln MKZ and Chevy Hybrid Trucks. The Chevy Volt for instance offers increased EV range in 2013 and about 2/3 miles of Volt miles travelled are in EV mode. This technology is being adopted by other manufacturers. For instance, the new Audi A3 PHEV claims a 17.4 kWh battery pack. The upcoming BMW i8 PHEV will have a 7.2 kWh battery pack, and the new Accord PHEV has a 6.7 kWh battery pack. The Lincoln MKZ hybrid gets great reviews for the luxury segment while providing top value and efficiency. Cadillac will be offering the Volt based ELR as another luxury sedan that makes real green sense. The Ford Fusion hybrid offers emissions numbers that rival the Prius V at approximately the same price, and the Fusion hits 60 mph a full 2 seconds quicker. If you want to go green in the US with your transport choice, we urge you to buy red white and blue! Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:05:01 GMT Last week we mentioned that battery electric vehicle sales totals for the USA in 2012 were about 14,200 battery electric cars sold. This excludes the Chevy Volt which though it has a large battery pack is a plug in hybrid electric car, or range extended electric car as GM calls it. Let's put battery EV sales numbers in perspective and see what they mean for EV travel. From our Battery EV List, somewhere around 68,000 battery electric cars have been sold world wide in the past few years. The BEV sales leader has been the Mitsubishi iMiev selling 26,000 or so units depending on your sources. Mitsubishi had hoped to market 100,000 iMiev units, but it looks like that will not happen soon if at all. One interesting EV has been the Renault Twizy quadricycle with some 9,000 units sold. Technically the Twizy is an NEV, but we have included it since it has a 45 mph top speed. The Twizy hits the sweet spot for urban commuters with a $10,000 price tag and motorcycle like handling, about a third or less than most highway capable electric cars. Still, battery electric sales were a fraction of hybrid electric vehicle sales. Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) sales in 2012 alone were over 1,000,000 world wide. However, there is a trend towards the plug in hybrid or PHEV rapidly moving ahead in sales. The PHEV is a relatively new concept, and consumers seen to like the idea of electric motoring with a small gas engine as a range extending option. The Chevy Volt is a shining example having sold over 38,000 units in the few years it has been on the market. Pike Research tells us that some 400,000 PHEVs will be on the roads by the end of 2013. This makes the PHEV the fastest growing EV segment. We notice that Chevy Volt drivers report that two thirds of their miles driven are on battery pack power alone. The 2013 Volt has an increased battery pack range to around 38 miles. Electric only range on other PHEV models varies from 12 to 50 miles. As PHEV sales grow then, so will battery power miles driven increase as well. Despite a decrease in BEV sales, it appears that battery electric miles driven will actually be increasing at a respectable rate. Sun, 20 Jan 2013 08:03:13 GMT As we noted last week, battery electric cars sold about 14,200 units in the USA in 2012 including about 10,000 Nissan Leaf and 100 Miles Coda electric cars. While this was an improvement over 2011, it it about one third of plun-in (38,300 PHEV) sales, and just over 3% of hybrid (435,000 HEV) electric sales last year. As we view the situation there are two main concerns causing the vast difference in sales figures for the three different tpyes of EV. First is price. Battery costs are high, still at around $600 or so per kWh. The Nissan Leaf sports a 24 kWh battery pack. You can do the math, but the battery pack is approaching half the cost of the car. Ouch. Second is range concern or range anxiety. The Leaf goes about 70-80 miles before maximum needing a charge, and the Miles Coda claims 125 miles before stopping in its tracks for lack of battery charge. Nissan and Coda have just announced cost cuts that should remove much of the first concern. The Leaf Model S has dropped to just $28,800 as a start price. That is down from $35,200 in 2012, an 18% discount in 2013. For Silicon Valley buyers, the 2013 Coda retail price has fallen from a 2012 MSRP of $38,145 to $24,995 before incentives. That is a $14,000 or 34% discount. These two price reductions place the price of the Leaf and the Coda in the range of the Mitsubishi iMiev at $29,125. The iMiev sold about 600 units in North America in 2012. Will Leaf sales increase in line with an 18% price drop? Will Coda sales increase as well? Probably so. The real question is how much? We will keep tabs. Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:14:17 GMT The EV market is showing direction. 2012 sales stats are in and the HEV, hybrid electric vehicle has never done better in the USA. Hybrids sold some 435,000 units in 2012. The exact numbers depend on your sources, but all agree to over 400,000 sold. The next best seller was the plug in hybrid or PHEV. There were only a handfull of different models on the market in 2012, but they sold about 38,500 units. Finally we have the BEV or battery electric vehicle. BEV sales hit about 14,200 units. The market is clearly in favor of the hybrid electric vehicle. This is somewhat regretable, but entirely understandable that concerned consumers also want the most value they can find. Range concerns and high BEV costs tip the market towards the HEV. The HEV offers a reduced pollution profile at a minimum price premium. For instance, the two models of Buick eAssist hybrids sold about the same number (14,547) of units as all BEV models in the US sold at 14,251 units. Considering price, the eAssist went for around $30,000 USD. Comparable non-hybrid models went for about $2,000 less. According to our hybrid break even calculator at $3.50 per gallon it would take about 78,000 miles to break even on gas savings alone. At $4.00 per gallon, miles driven to break even drops to about 65,000 miles, and 52,000 miles at $5.00 per gallon. The larger benefit is to clean air. We are glad to see the good old USA becoming a hybrid haven. PHEV models will follow closely in coming years and as time goes on more and more BEV cars will likely take to the road. Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:00:57 GMT One of the main benefits of electric vehicles is reduction in deadly air poulltion. 2012 was a banner year for air pollution in many places. India and China stand out. It is ironic indeed that some of the most polluted places in China at least also produce some of the most eBikes and eBike parts including battery packs that can be employed to reduce air pollution. Apparently they are not being used by everyone. In Beijing, China some 2,500 persons will check out early in the coming year according to the South China Morning Post. The culprit is given as PM 2.5, a nearly invisible particle floating around. Car and diesel truck exhaust are main sources of the tiny lung zappers. So, most people do not see it coming so to say. We suspect that if 2,500 people in the city were suddenly killed by gunfire or bombs that the news result would be all over the planet in a flash. We see on movies, TV, papers, and hear on radio a nearly constant barrage of news regarding various murder and mayhem. The air pollution effect is the same...people killed, but the outcry is minimal to practically not existant. The fact is that millions (3.2 million according to some) of people the world over in the coming year will be leveled by breathing crappy air. Again it is entirely predictible. However, nobody seems to take much notice. Very interesting we say. In New Delhi, India some 1,400 vehicles every day join a fleet of millions already existing gas burners. The result is a spiking PM 2.5 count. The health results are again predictible. The Government however appears unable to stop the air epedimic if you will, and people are not protesting. Another Irony: Success brought on by people hustling about in gas burners attracts more people that hustle more, burn more fuel and increase air pollution even more. We think a movie called Invasion of the Particle Zombies might raise attention. Ha Ha. Alternatively, try an EV, walk, ride a bike, eBike, or take transit sometime. The life you help might be your own someday. Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:05:52 GMT Hybrid EVs (HEVs) are here, and here to stay. 2012 sales are up over 70 percent from last year. Some 440,000 hybrids and other EVs were sold in 2012, most of the sales being HEV units. 2013 sales are estimated by some to be nearly 550,000 units. New models like the 2013 Ford fusion Hybrid and Toyota Prius are powered by Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) battery packs. As Li-Ion packs take over, we are coming to the end of the first era of hybrid battery packs. That would be nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery packs. NiMH packs have been very reliable from their use in the 1997 GM EV1 to the first three generations of Toyota Prius to the 2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Although NiMH packs are nearly bulletproof most of the time, similar Li-Ion packs store 3 times as much energy at 1/3 the weight. You can see why they are becoming the battery pack of choice. However, there are still a lot of NiMH packs on the market. This is where the consumer can still get a good deal. Since hybrids have been around in significant numbers for the past decade, replacement battery packs have become common, and lots of well priced salvage packs are on the market. We cover some of the more common hybrid battery pack prices here. So if you are in the market for a hybrid, remember that pre 2012 models still offer a good value in terms of their battery packs. Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:57:57 GMT Peak oil is in the news. The term has been extended by some to other resources including water. We have the new term peak water. As population grows and the effects of climate change reduce water supply in places, peak water will likely see more print. The global water services industry is expected to double to One Trillion USD by 2020. This according to Merril Lynch - Bank of America. According to the sources, water will become tighter than oil by the year 2030 as demend outstrips supply by some 40 percent. You can imagine the possible impacts. So what has peak water got to do with electric cars? The manufacturing - mining process. The Journal of Manufacturing Ecology recently completed a summary of various life cycle analyses of the electric car. The results show that electric cars contribute far less pollution to the air and water while on the road as compared to ICE (internal combustion engine) cars. However, the production of certain metals and in some cases coal for power is quite polluting. How so? Water pollution, but the term is HTP or Human toxicity potential. 75% of the HTP from electric car manufacture comes from the mining process. The modern electric car utilizes lots of copper and other metals for motors, circuitry plus graphite and lithium for batteries. The mining of these metals produces tailings and other waste. Runoff and groundwater infiltration tends to pollute local waterways. We live in an area near several historic and presently active gold and silver and copper mining districts and can attest to huge tailings piles laced with all kinds of random metals and acids. Its not always pretty, and water not always fit to drink. In areas of the eastern USA the present practice of mountain top removal produces plenty of wasteland and poison water. Ouch. We hate to rat out the EV, but there always seems to be a down side to progress. What to do? In the case of mining, there are Civil Engineering methods that can be employed to seriously mitigate water pollution. But there is no short term profit in land restoration and it is often a last priority. Mountain top removal is just a bad idea, a poster rock if you will for the worst water resource practices. Alternatively we notice that the new Nissan Leaf is actually reducing the amount of rare earth metals, and some researchers are bio-engineering the plant based compound purpurin for use as battery cathodes. As electric vehicles come into the mainstream, and the planet reaches peak water, it will be more and more important to manage water resources used in their production. Research appears to be getting a head start. EVsRock! or perhaps EVs From Rock we should say. Sun, 09 Dec 2012 13:33:57 GMT We have several interesting sales goals and actual sales to look at. GM plans to make some 500,000 cars with some form of electrification by 2017, and China claims it will produce for its own market 500,000 electric cars by 2015. Which one is most likely to happen? You might have read that General Motors plans to produce 500,000 EVs by the year 2017. This would include any car with some form of electrification from the Chevy Volt range extended EV, to the new prototype Chevy Spark battery only car, to those with the minimal GM E-Assist package. To date, GM has sold well over 20,000 Volt Units in the US alone and about 35,000 (including the Ampera) worldwide. Nissan is closing in on 50,000 Leaf electric cars sold. The new Ford C-Max Energi has sold over 1,200 units. The Tesla Model S is selling well at some 1,150 units in November. China presents a huge opportunity for the EV, but sales have been quite slow to date. Only 235 EVs were sold in the first half of 2012! Despite stagnant sales, the stated goal is China producing 500,000 PHEVs by 2015. The Chinese eBike market is huge with some 30 million plus units sold this year. GM does not make eBikes. GM is however entering into the China EV market. The new Sail Springo EV is a joint GM/SAIC venture. The Sail Springo is a Chevey Spark look alike, so it will be interesting to see how well the Spark and Springo sell in the US and in China respectively. So which of the 500,000 goals is most likely to be met? We think GM will meet its goal, while the Chinese Government though well intentioned will be hampered by technical restrictions and consumer desire for more traditional gas burners, despite some hefty incentive programs. The research outfit Pike Research seems to think that Chinese electric car units will reach just 45,000 sales in 2015 and increasing to 152,000 by 2017, though they are probably not counting E-Assist units like GM. We also need to consider that GM will get credit for sales will come from the China produced Sail Springo, Volt and other GM units. Bottom line: It appears that the west will outpace China in EV sales for the next few years at least, while western companies like GM will in fact make up some of Chinese EV sales. Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:05:46 GMT Are your natural gas prices any lower this winter? Ours are. Its great for a change. Are natural gas cars gonna multiply like (VW) Rabbits? We do not think so. First of all, the infrastructure for natural gas fueling is not in place. Second, though you can get a CNG tank retrofitted to your car, it is not that cheap. Finally and perhaps most important, it appears that we may be experiencing lower gas prices as part of a gas glut, a bubble if you will. This may sound rash in the face of the hot print from sources like the US EIA stating that the US may soon become the next Saudia Arabia of oil and gas production. In reality, it appears that higher gas prices from about 2005 to 2008 stimulated much drilling and secondary treatment of old fields...hydraulic fracturing (fracking) as the most common example. Techniques like steam flooding have also been used in the past to temporarily flush more oil out of old reservoirs. You drill a new hole, perhaps horizontally, pressurize the wellbore, and presto more oil and gas flow to the new cracks formed by the high pressure fluids. The only problem is that sooner or later, usually within a few years, the wellbore again stabilizes and production slows down. We cover some of the details here. The bottom line is that what goes up (production) usually comes down. In addition to the natural process of production slowdown we have real estate manipulation. It seems that some rather large companies are making fortunes buying up large leases and flipping them for huge profit as fracking candidates. It is entirely possible then that the real estate bubble break of 2008 may be followed by a gas bubble burst. When is another topic. Finally, in Bank of America/Merrill Lynch's 2013 Energy Outlook, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude is forecast to take a dive to $50 per barrel. The reasons are similar to those we outlined for the gas bubble, with the addition that the crude is as they say landlocked. It is not able to make it to export markets due to pipeline restrictions...no pipe to carry the crude to markets. WTI has been a benchmark crude, but is being overtaken by Brent crude as a benchmark by the rest of the world, and Brent is becoming more expensive and more reflective of true world market forces. While natural gas rigs make sense for fleet vehicles...and landlocked WTI might take a dive, we stand behind the EV in the long run. Sat, 24 Nov 2012 13:29:31 GMT The Fiat 500e is likely to be produced...begrudgingly. The company makes the statement that it will loose up to $10K USD per car sold. 500e pricing and performance is to be similar to the Leaf. We wonder if the Leaf loses $10K per car. The 500e has been in the works for several years along with other past Mopar electric vehicles. The 2009 Dodge Circuit for instance matched the Tesla Roadster in apperance, and could do a 13 second 1/4 mile topping out at over 120 mph. It was one cool car. Shortly after Fiat took over Chrysler, all electric vehicle programs were however axed. Now the company is back with a jelly bean looking EV called the 500e. The 500e is a nod to California clean air regs. The state mandates that companies wishing to sell more than 20,000 units per year must sell zero emissions cars as well. As it happens manufacturers will get EV credits for selling electric cars in the golden state. Ten other states have passes similar regulations. Electric cars will be sold in minimum numbers at least. These regulations may seem like bad government, but breathing will get easier and healthier. Improving our health seems like good government to us. If Fiat/Chrysler is going to lose money on car sales, how about at least losing it on the Circuit? They would get a lot of free press and acclaim that way. Consumers would get cool cars and we would get cleaner air. Sun, 18 Nov 2012 22:38:21 GMT Not only are battery electric cars keeping the air cleaner, but they are becoming known as well built machines. The Tesla Model S has just won 2013 Car of the Year from Motor Trend Magazine. The range extended hybrid Chevy Volt won in 2011, and the Toyota Prius won in 2004. Corvettes, Mustangs, and Road Runners have made the list in previous years. The Tesla S performance EV is fast and clean. The car weighs over 4,600 pounds, but it's all aluminum body can move. The Model S powered by 416 HP electric motors hits 60 mph from a stop in 4.4 seconds, and tops out at 130 mph. The optional 85 kWh battery pack provides up to 300 miles between charges. Test drivers mostly write about the car in glowing terms. The price for performance is a premium at from $50,000 - $100,000. The Model S further proves that you do not need to sacrifice clean air for performance. Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:03:43 GMT Clean air works. How so? In the late 1960s and early 1970s muscle cars ruled the roads. They were very fast. The clean air act of 1972 changed that. New cars were required to have engines that reduced nitrates, hydrocarbons, and other pollutants to EPA determined limits. Manufacturers detuned engines and installed systems to reroute gases and burn off excess pollutants. Think smog pumps. It worked, but the result was loss of power and hoses snaking everywhere under the hood. We called these cars like our 1975 Corvette hosemobiles. Smog stations sprang up everywhere. It was the beginning of the dark days for automotive performance in the USA. However, the sun is shining once again on the North American auto sector. Due to advanced engineering, manufacturing, and computer technologies, new cars are faster than ever. They are also cleaner than ever. Below are a few speed times just for comparison, your checking may yield some different figures. The 2013 SS 1LE Chevrolet Camaro produces 426 HP and finishes the 1/4 mile in 12.7 seconds at 111.8 mph. The 1969 Camaro SS396 put out 375 hp and finished the 1/4 mile in 14.77 seconds @ 98.72 mph. The 2013 Ford Mustang GT makes 420 hp and completes the 1/4 mile in 12.8 seconds going 111 mph. The 1969 Ford Mustang Shelby 500 GT made 355 hp and finished the 1/4 mile in 14.0 seconds @ 102 mph. For comparison, the all electric 2010 Tesla Roadster is able to cross the 1/4 mile mark in about 12.6 seconds going around 103 mph, and there are several reports of Roadsters crossing the 1/4 line as soon as 10.4 seconds. The street legal modified 1972 White Zombie electric car can finish the 1/4 mile in 10.4 seconds going 117 mph. The bottom line is that you can have cleaner air and fast cars too. With applied science and engineering, clean air works. Sun, 04 Nov 2012 13:49:34 GMT We diverge a bit from the EV trail just a bit to discuss the air we all breathe. No matter what your politics you depend on air to survive. Without air you for instance you would maybe finish this article and then pass out. Generally the cleaner the air the better. You feel and function better when there is better air. The term "like a fresh breath of air" is just what it sounds like. Other terms like "fresh mountain air" also mean good air is a good thing. There has always been a trade off between clean air and profit. The industrial revolution shows that in coal fired England back in the day, the air was pretty bad. In modern day cities, pollution from cars, trucks and industry can and does make many, many people sick or worse. See our Air Pollution Facts for more information. So, here we are in the year 2012. The negative health effects of air pollution have been very well documented from minor illness to cancer to death. Despite the well known and published effects of lousy air, a few unconcerned people continue to want to pollute the air to the point of health hazard. The latest effort is by a small group to overturn health hazard parts of the Clean Air Act. The bill, H.R. 4480 has passed the House and walking over towards the Senate. If it passes, it will be choking a lot more while walking anywhere. You would think the fact that the Clean Air Act will likely prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in the USA would be enough information. It seems that supporters of the bill are unconcerned by this number. Since most things in the world today come down to dollars and cents (not sense apparently) you think that the fact that the Clean Air Act as is saves some $2 Trillion USD by 2020 would ba a common sense business point. Not So. We hear a lot about the "Right to Life" these days. We say how about the Right to Breathe Clean Air! Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:59:52 GMT One of the most common negative comments about the electric vehicle is that it is wimpy, a sort of sissy mobile if you will. We found one Hybrid EV far from that description: a Navy destroyer. The US Navy is developing a series of 600 foot long electric powered Zumwalt class destroyers. The new ships are driven by two 35 megawatt dual induction electric motors. Power to the motors is delivered courtesy of two 2 Rolls-Royce MT30 Gas Turbines. Wow, talk about drive power! 35 megawatts is the equivalent of about 125 Nissan Leaf motors at peak power of 280 kW each. We show some other large electric vehicles in our Other EV section the next time you hear some gas motor guru refer to EVs as weak. Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:40:31 GMT We digress a bit this time to review EV Government funds and costs. In the news is the Chapter 11 filing of A123, the battery manufacturer. It seems the company was put out by a few setbacks like Think! Electric cars calling it quits and so no longer needing A123 battery packs. The Government had provided millions in TARP grants to the battery company. The loss has been hailed by some as an example of current administration fiscal failures. First of all, EVs represent a fraction of automotive related Government support. A little checking shows that the Government has provided nearly $63 billion in Auto Industry bailouts. At least half of that is a writeoff, with more on the way. The administration has invested some $5 billion in the EV sector. This compares closely with $4 billion invested in the 2009 deployment of high speed internet access. This seems OK with most people, considering that the Web is now mature and already developed beyond the EV sector. One of the functions of good Government is to invest and provide facilities and new useful technologies to citizens. The EVestment is an investment is just that. The rate of return is apparently slower than some would like. Gas burner automotive bailout funds will not return, and transport improvements will be none. At the end of the day EVestments will provide improvements for society. When you consider that you get from around one to two percent return in the CD market these days, a slow rate of return seems just about on track anyway. Just as bailout money has kept companies like GM going strong, private and Government EV investments will help electric vehicles humming in the future. Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:27:50 GMT One of the best uses of the EV is for delivery service. You can't beat a E-Truck or E-Van on regular route travel. This is nothing new, electric trucks were making regular deliveries a hundred years ago. Several large companies have been taking advantage of Government subsidies and modern EV trucks like the Smith electric truck. Sounds good, so what? The Smith truck company in Kansas City, MO makes great trucks, but is working hard to stay afloat. Smith made near 80 E-Trucks the first half of 2012, and planned to go public, then cut short the IPO. What happened? Smith CEO Bryan Hansel states that the offering would likely not have be enough for Smith and stakeholders to realize its operating goals and will seek private financing instead. The company still states a goal to build a total of some 380 trucks in 2012, stating plenty of demand for the rigs, and a desire to increase operating efficiency. At the same time, Smith is finishing a new manufacturing facility in the Bronx, NY to produce medium duty trucks. Profit escaped the company in 2011, as it reported a net loss of $52.5 million on $49.9 million in revenue. So, will the market hold in 2013? Is the company spread a bit thin? Will they be able to produce enough private funds to continue? On the cost side, Smith E-Trucks are reported to cost from around $100,000 - $150,000 per truck. Is this too much for the corporate consumer to shoulder in the short term, despite long term savings? It will be an interesting year in the USA EV Truck segment. Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:20:25 GMT The Mitsubishi iMiev profiled here has a challenger already. No sooner had we written (EVsRoll Blog 10/02/12) that the Mitsubishi appeared to be an early EV winner than Daimler Benz goes and drops the price on the Electric Smart Car. U.S. Buyers can now get their drivers gloves on the wheel of a new Smart ED for $25,000 before rebates and incentives. You can deduct $7,500 in Federal rebate value, and an additional $2,000 for California owners. This brings the after incentive price of the Daimler Smart Electric Car to $15,500. The Convertible Cabriolet version costs $3,000 more. So, there you are, German electric engineering at an EV bargain price. This price would we think provide an opening in the EV market wide enough to drive through. Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:54:22 GMT The Mitsubishi iMiev appears to be coming out as an early winner in the battery electric (BEV) segment. The Nissan Leaf, while still a great car is suffering from heat related battery issues while the well built Chevy Volt appears to be moving well thanks in part to heavily discounted sales prices. As we have mentioned, you can own a new iMiev for around $21 large after Federal and local incentives depending on where you register your car. A modified iMiev did very well this year at the Pike's Peak Hill Climb. As it happens you can make similar modifications to your own iMiev. You can also add more battery storage to the stock 16 kWh if desired. The 50 some cubic feet of storage space in the iMiev compares well with the Honda Fit for cargo space. Now owner reviews of the car are quite good giving the car credit for the advertised 62 mile average range. The range can drop some 25-35 percent during cold weather and hill climbing conditions. This is possible in part to the iMiev curb weight of just around 2,600 pounds. Compare this to the 4,300 pounds of the Nissan Leaf, and 4,600 pounds of the Chevy Volt. Adding to that Mitsubishi has produced and delivered nearly 130,000 iMiev electric cars. It looks like the car is a winner in the BEV sevment. Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:12:15 GMT Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide has introduced an after market PHEV kit installed on the venerable Ford F150. As we mentioned in our 8/6/2012 post, the F150 has recently been the most popular selling vehicle in the good old USA. The average price paid for these trucks is around $38,000 each. The kit itself appears quite good and includes a Li-Ion battery pack with 17.1 kWh of useful power. That is impressive and enough to provide an estimated 35 miles on EV power alone. The truck also offers the option to plug in power tools at 110 and 220 volts. This is a great idea for contractors. The bottom line cost is an estimated $79,000 per converted truck, in volume. This pricing is interesting in light of recent comments regarding electric vehicles. For instance it has been stated that the Chevy is losing money for GM and that they cost as much as $89,000 each to produce. GM denies the cost but does state a relative high cost of production. A similar cost argument infected the EV1 program and it later died. The Volt will likely recover in any case. The point is that there appears to be a perception that electric vehicles are way overpriced. Yet we notice that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for the F150 truck, and then (perhaps) to double that price for a chance to go EV. It appears that F150 buyers are loaded. What do we recommend? If you must drive a hybrid EV truck, and as much as we like the F150, we recommend a GM. You can get a GM Hybrid truck for about half the price of the F150 with the PHEV kit. For the onsite plugins, If you want to go green, you can always get a renewable portable battery pack and an inverter. For continuous reliability onsite, you can get a quiet Honda generator...an onsite hybrid setup for a lot less. Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:18:04 GMT One of the big advantages of electric vehicles is that they can be very clean emissions wise. How clean depends on where the power comes from. Power from coal is not too clean unless it is burned in a new generation plant. Power from solar panels is very clean. Large utility companies tend to own or control much of the fuel (fossil fuel that is) that is burned in power plants that generate electric power. Many or most of us use utility generated power. This is true in countries from China to the USA, though some areas in these countries are now migrating to renewable energy sources. This is where the politics comes in. Political policies perhaps as much as anything else these days determines how clean your power is. Some countries, states and areas encourage energy development through policies and programs. One such policy is the Feed In Tariff - FIT. The FIT is designed to encourage investment in renewable energy technologies by prioritizing green power, and providing payment to green energy producers - large and small. Size does not matter here. Individual home owners for instance in Germany are able to cover their roof with solar panels. The power they produce goes right into the grid, it is first in line over coal and gas fired power sources. People that own the panels are actually paid a premium rate for the power. The grid gets greener, people get paid, the industry grows, the air gets cleaner and you can plug your EV into a clean power source. We urge you to keep this concept in mind when you hear statements like "electric cars are not clean". Electric cars can be as clean as people want them to be and policy allows. Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:46:16 GMT For 95% or more of drivers, the most important factor to vehicle choice is price. This seems the case at least. However, notice that the most popular vehicle sold in the USA is the Ford F150 pickup truck. Although the F150 is a great truck, it is hardly efficient by EV standards. In times of increasing gas prices however, people seem to suddenly get interested in transport alternatives. At the same time however, people want protection...from their fellow drivers that is. Bob Lutz, widely recognized as a lead developer of the Chevy Volt states that lightweight electric cars are the future. He also states that the gas powerplant is about as good as it will ever get, while the EV is only getting better over time. There are already small, lightweight Evs on the market such as the Smart ED, iMiev, and Wheego. These cars already make sense in terms of energy efficiency. So, why are they not more widely accepted? Price is one main factor, but these cars all cost less than a new F150. We think that size still matters to consumers. Whether or not people need the large ride, they still want it. How many F150s do you see fully loaded? Not many. Most are just hauling their owners around. True the owners feel secure, but probably do not really need the extra metal to get to and from the store or day job at the office. It will be interesting to see how EV design and consumer choice proceeds. Sun, 02 Sep 2012 12:05:49 GMT If the Ford F150 is the most popular gas burner, what is the most popular EV these days? Not the Nissan Leaf. FYI, Mitsubishi Motors has produced and shipped 100,000 iMiev battery electric vehicles. Where are the cars? Not in the USA. The cars have been purchased by PSA Peugeot Citroen, the French Auto giant as part of a deal signed a couple of years ago. The 100,000 is in addition to some 28,000 iMiev electric cars already delivered to Japanese customers. In addition, The Chevy Volt PHEV or (Range Extended EV), topped 2,500 units sold in the USA in August of 2012. This brings total USA Volt sales to over 13,000 units. The Nissan Leaf, a great EV, trails with closer to 4,000 units sold in the USA in 2012. Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:29:45 GMT For San Francisco, CA residents, the absolute cheapest electric car is the BMW ActiveE. You can't actually own the car since it is on lease from the BMW - DriveNow car-sharing service. However, you can lease an Active E, and rates are actually pretty reasonable for a top of the line electric car. You can rent an ActiveE for as little as $12 for 30 minutes...plus charges. Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:27:15 GMT The sales leader for July 2012 in the USA was the Ford F series pickup truck. The average price paid for the truck was $37,956 according to cars.findthebest.com This is about $7,000 above the average price paid for a new car in the USA, and $14,000 over the price people would be willing to spend on an electric car. These seem like big price differences to us. Here are some possible reasons: 1. People talk green but buy big. 2. People are willing to pay far more for a new truck than a new car. 3. People buying the most popular vehicle are not green and have plenty to spend. 4. People have a lot of stuff to move around and need trucks. 5. Ford is doing a better job of marketing trucks than its EV line. 6. Despite the rhetoric, we do not think all new truck buyers are of one political party. Whatever, in terms of transport, the environment takes a back seat once again. Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:06:52 GMT Word just out on the 2013 Ford C-Max Energi and it is good for price watchers. The PHEV will retail for $33,750. That price is reduced to $30,000 after a $3,750 Federal Tax Credit. Checking our post from 7/13/2012 you can see that the average price motorists are paying for a new car in the U.S. These days is $30,748. So, here is another EV you can get for less than the average price people willing to shell out for a new car. This goes to show that not all EVs are too expensive these days. Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:59:55 GMT Recent reports say that the sweet spot for people to buy a new electric car is $23,750. This is an interesting number. If true, you can already beat it...read on. Truecar.com tells us that the average new car sold in the USA in March of 2012 was $30,748. So, buyers are apparently willing to pay $6,998 more for a gas burner than for an EV. So...what kind of EV can you get for $30,748? Shop around and you might be able to pick up more than you think. Check out our list: http://www.evsroll.com/Electric_Car_Prices.html Or, check this: the new Mitsubishi iMiev can be bought for $29,975. Subtract the $7,500 US Tax Credit and you are at $22,475...$1,275 below the stated magic number. Californians can apply for an additional $2,000. This gives you a price of $20,475...well below the $23,750 sweet spot price. Sun, 01 Jul 2012 08:47:41 GMT According to recent comments by Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson people should focus on engineering fixes to climate change rather than cutting back on fossil fuel use. The engineering fixes were not specified. First, we notice that the CEO recognizes Climate Change as actually happening. This is in our view a step in the right direction. His reluctance to want to cut back on oil and gas use is understandable, though we feel completely irresponsible. Why do we say that? Look back a few decades to the accidental 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. This was one of the biggest environmental disasters of the day. Some one half a million barrels of crude oil were accidentally spilled into pristine Alaska waters. 38,000 litigants later the clean up has so far cost Exxon around One Billion USD. Some 26,000 barrels of fossil goop remains trapped in and around Prince William Sound waters, rocks, and soils. The key word here is accidental. Exxon did not willingly discharge crude oil into the environment. It happened during normal shipping procedures. It was an accident…stuff happens. However, animals and people suffered and suffer the consequences of that accident. Now consider manipulating the air we breathe, the atmosphere, the climate, the weather. To date scientists are not always able to accurately model or many times even predict the weather. This week alone there are two big weather surprises. First a "derecho"--or fast-moving "straight-line" of high winds hammered the Mid-Atlantic region. The storm killed 12 and left millions without power. People needed power to cool down. Several dozen died from extreme heat. Next, some states expected a cool down from a cold front passing through....only problem...the cold front brings more extreme weather. Were these events anticipated and planned for in advance? No way. So, how can any company (or Government) that can’t avoid large scale accidents, or forecast climate calamities claim to know that any engineering solution will work? We say start with forecasting the weather, then move on to bigger things like forecasting the climate. In the meantime, give the planet a break. Walk, ride a bike, eBike, drive an EV or take transit once in awhile. EVsRock! Check out the effects of climate change and Geoengineering here: http://www.evsroll.com/Geoengineering_Options.html Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:24:59 GMT One of the main factors driving interest in Electric Vehicles is gasoline and diesel prices. Although the trend over time is higher prices, people do react to short term changes in the market. Crude oil prides directly affect gasoline prices. At the beginning of 2012, crude oil was north of $100 per barrel for some months. Forecasters were calling for high gas prices the rest of the year. Part of this was due to political instability in the Mid-East region. Then a few funny things happened: Europe continued to wrestle with economic problems (continuing now) and the rate of growth in other parts of the world was in a word anemic. As a result, demand for oil products slipped considerably. Lack of demand and a continued bearish economic outlook pushed West Texas Intermediate Crude to under $80 per barrel a week or so past. Brent Crude fell likewise. The US EIA has in response lowered forecast gasoline prices for the coming summer months. The EIA further presents a rather flat slope of price growth into 2013. How will falling gasoline or stagnant prices affect EV interest? Will gas prices remain flat in the coming months? Some analysts like Goldman and Bloomberg see a pick up in economic activity, and oil prices. As we write this, oil futures appear to be rising, closing at about $85/barrel for WTI just before the US July 4th holiday weekend. We will follow with interest coming price fluctuations. In the meantime, safe travel and happy holidays. Sun, 24 Jun 2012 11:07:40 GMT China has announced assertive EV programs. European giants like VW and Daimler are actively engaged in EV development in China. To date, Chinese consumers are not very interested in their products. It is interesting that yet another EV interest would develop in china. This would seem to indicate that the Chinese Government is serious about promoting the modern EV. On the other hand, China is also interested in promoting their military interests. We find it interesting that SAAB is a defense company as well as a car builder. EVsRock! http://www.evsroll.com/Saab_Electric_Car.html Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:55:56 GMT Trans-America riders Boris and Anna stopped by our town yesterday on the nearly last leg of their destination of San Francisco. They offered up information and rides on their Evelo eBikes. Boris is promoting Evelo eBike products on the tour. The Evelo bikes are powered by a 250 Watt frame mounted motor. The motor is matched to a set of gears in the bottom bracket. The final step in the drivetrain is a hub mounted CVT - continuously Variable Transmission. If it sounds complicated, it is. The power unit is controlled by a pedelec system and handlebar mounted twist throttle. The CVT features it's own twist control in place of a gear selector. This control features an animated display showing a bike rider on a flat line (grade) for high gear, and the line turns into a hill for low gear. All gears inbetween are continuous, there is no first gear, second gear, and so on. The test ride, guys bike. Frame size: the bike frame is probably best for average height people. I'm 6'4" and after maximum seat height adjustment the bike was still too short. The pedelec takes a few seconds to kick in, and your brain takes a few more seconds to notice that you need to put the little rider on the hill for low gear starting off. Underway the bike rides OK. The power promised however was, well, not what it was advertised. The bike seemed somewhat sluggish, though steady in performance. One useful feature of the Evelo is a handlebar mounted power graph that seems to reflect the true charge state of the 10 amp hour battery pack. The battery pack easily unhitches for replacement, charging, security, or storage. Tyhe pack weighed about the same as you would expect fot a 10 AH Li-Ion pack. Boris was not sure of the exact battery chemistry. He said they cary 3 packs on the road and switch them out as needed for extended range. The Evelo eBike does offer some nice features like the quick release battery pack. However, performance is below what you would expect and the controls are over complicated. In contrast our DIY eBikes are more responsive, powerful, intuitive to operate, and half the price. Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:11:43 GMT More on the Air. It has been published that Chinese Officials are unhappy with US Embassy persons publishing by Twitter air quality reports. Apparently air quality is for public distribution only as the Government sees fit. We are not picking on China, it just goes to show that massive air pollution remains the same regardless of who reports it. The air is impersonal to political wishes. Next we have a news item that global climate warming is very likely to provide dry conditions in the usually wet Pacific Northwest Canadian Province of British Columbia. The result of the increasing warm and dry conditions are expected to increase forest fires in the province by 50 percent. Further south in Latin America, the effects of Global Climate Change coukld very possibly cost Latin American economies oved $100 Billion USD by 2050. So, we have supression of air pollution facts and the effects of air pollution happening at the same time. Check out the facts here: http://www.evsroll.com/True_Facts_about_Global_Warming.html Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:43:05 GMT Interest in electric cars is declining along with the price of oil and gasoline. Consumers tend to show a lot more interest in electric vehicles as the price of fossil fuel rises. It is a predictable relation. At the beginning of the year the price of oil and gas were on the rise. EV sales went up as well. They are now dropping along with oil prices. This type of market adoption creates a problem for our air. If consumers only respond to price, the air will only be cleaner when it is cost effective in the short run. At some point economics will hopefully include the full cost of individual actions....but not now. Some for example have suggested a tax on miles driven or carbon emitted. Whatever, the law at present does not provide any reward for the clean air citizen. Indeed, many people feel safer to drive a big more polluting vehicle than a small cleaner one. One thing you can do to be cost effective and clean on a budget is to drive a higher mpg gas burner for hauling and longer drives, and ride an eBike for the short hops. This works especially well in the warm summer weather. This way you can reduce your price at the pump and help keep the air breathable. Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:40:29 GMT We went to an Earth Day presentation on Climate Change. It was not very well attended. The discussion centered around the evidence for climate change, and what you could do about it. What you could do about it was presented as mostly writing your representatives stating your desire for climate change favorable legislation. This approach sounds good. However, it ignores the real causes of climate change. Note that we assume a growth model of economics. The Big Three areas to consider: 1. Consumer demand. People want and need to drive. We present alternatives on this site, but consumers are clearly not flocking to them. This is too bad for the climate, because this is where the problem begins. We all put crap into the air. It is only a matter of how much. 2. Corporate profits. Major (and minor) companies are happy to provide an array of products and services to suppord consumer demand. Corporations are responsible to provide profit as a first objective. Environmental effects like global warming are a secondary or lower concern. 3. Government inaction. Governments get their funds from taxation. Increased growth provides increased tax income. Governments have to choose between the effects of growth and growth itself. Corporate pressure from fossil fuel concerns influences legislation. In order to address and correct Climate Change you must address and do something real about each of the three areas above. This is particularly true within a growth model of economics. The alternatives: Increased climate change and its effects, and experimental Geoengineering. We think the latter is very likely. Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:14:26 GMT Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out that when comparing prices on hybrid verses the closest gas burning model you need to be careful. For instance, some hybrids may offer features not even found on the gas car with closely equal powertrains and names. So, when you are shopping for a hybrid, be sure to check which features come with which model, and what they cost. Then you can start making payback comparisons based on the cost of fuel. Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:04:10 GMT Last week I found another use for my eBike. After a series of events my back "went out" without much warning. It hurt to sit, stand, or lie down. We are talking 6 Naproxen to be able to walk. I kept stretching and taking the Naproxen for the next couple days until the back started go get better. Still, I needed to get around. Sitting in the truck was not comfortable. I hopped on the eBike and to my surprise it worked great! I could pedal a little bit to work the muscles as needed, or use the throttle when it got to be too much. At the end of the ride the back was actually better, not healed, but better. So, there is yet another eBike advantage. Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:00:03 GMT One of the latest topics in the news about high gas prices is how Natural Gas Powered Cars will save the fossil fuel day. The reason given is the present excess of natural gas, a gas bubble if you will. The bubble has lowered natural gas prices, great for winter heating! However, not so great for transport. If you do the math, it turns out that natural gas cars and trucks do fill a very valuable niche. However, it appears very unlikely to us that they will would or should take over the market anytime soon. A half dozen countries in the world do rely on CNG transport, and it is increasing in scope every day. If you look at the numbers however, you see that natural gas though plentiful is just another fossil fuel, not renewable. It is not infinite in supply. Natural gas powered cars cost more, have less power, and though clean in many emissions still pollute. Details given Here. Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:40:43 GMT High gas prices got you down? Who is to blame? What can you do about it anyway? Price per gallon can cut deeply into you budget. Who you blame may depend on your politics. The Democrats may point at the GOP who in all probability will be pointing right back. While there may be some truth to political party posturing around energy costs, there is more to the story. Regarding politics, the political situation in the Middle East does have an effect on upward moving gas prices. Complex relations between huge oil users and suppliers also porvides plenty of market pressure. These influences tend to be temporary. Other forces in the market influence prices over the long run. The other factors inflating gas prices are classic supply and demand. As the economy recovers, more and more oil gets used. Thin margins of surplus evaporate. Prices go up. Next we have technology. The latest horizontal drilling and fracturing techniques offer to extract more oil from existing reservoirs. This oil is marginal at the present in comparison to conventional oil production. While fracking is helpful to increasing recovery, it is not new oil and not likely to significantly affect oil price at the present. Natural gas is another story. If you could run your vehicle on natural gas at present costs, you could drive for something like 20% of current gasoline prices! Refining capacity and local markets. At the present there is a surplus of oil in the US. Companies are sending oil from the interior to the Gulf coast for refining where it will be sent offshore for sale. Shale oil reserves: There are huge reserves of shale oil in the interior USA. However, recovering this oil will not be cheap or clean. As time goes on, this will likely be the trend in oil production: plenty of supply with extraction becoming more and more expensive. So, the cost of gas will very likely continue to rise in the long run. There may be short term dips, but the long haul has gas prices up. What to do? Drive less if at all possible. Get a more fuel efficient vehicle. Convert your vehicle to natural gas. Then, get an EV. One-Third of trips in the US are under 10 miles. Any EV can handle this. Get an eBike, eScooter, eMotorcycle, EV car or truck. Take a walk, run, or hop on transit. You will get in better shape while saving money on gas. Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:00:03 GMT A new MIT study says that air pollution has become very expensive in China. The amount given is $22 billion USD worth of lost productivity in 1975. By 2005, the amount has risen to $112 billion. That is an average increase of $3 billion rise per year. It is a lot of money in lost time due to pollution related illness all right. The increase in pollution comes from increased economic activity and China GDP over the last 30 years. So, how does the lost productivity compare to increase in GDP in the same period? In 1975, China GDP was some $47.6 billion USD. The percent of productivity compared to overall GDP in 1975 then was 46.2 percent....a huge amount. By 2005, China GDP had risen to $2.9 trillion, and loss to pollution had risen to $112 billion. That represents a 3.84 percent loss in porductivity as compared to GDP. In those terms, loss to pollution has dropped dramatically in the past 30 years. In these terms, it appears that pollution pays....in the short term at least.