Latest Updates: electric cars RSS

• A New Concept for Electric Cars
  Srikant Rajan 02:17:22 pm on October 17, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: electric cars, electric vehicles, fedral law, podcars, transportation bill

  A new concept of Personal Rapid Transit (PRTs) or more commonly know as podcars may be the future of transportation , according to Jacob Roberts of Connect Ithaca.The Connect is a group of planning and building professionals, activists and students committed to having a first podcars community in USA at Ithaca.Podacrs are computer guided cars which do away with the need for drivers.They carry 2-10 passengers, giving travelers the freedom and privacy of their own car while reducing the use of fossil fuels, reducing traffic congestion and freeing up space now monopolized by parking.

  With the new transportation bill due by 2010, federal lawmakers would be looking for charting out a new course of transportation future.The concept of podcars though appealing is still some time away as car makers are still struggling to find the golden combination of low cost high value for electric cars.

   

• Mitsubishi To Produce Electric Cars by 2009
  Srikant Rajan 08:07:09 am on October 10, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: detroit big three, electric cars, hybrids, i-miev, mitsubhishi, nissan, plug in, toyota

  Mitsubishi Motors is preparing to launch the worlds first commercial electric car.It anticipates its know how in electric cars to be a “   tremendous advantage     “ and is looking to rival the big  man of electric cars- Toyota,not withstanding its recent troubled finances .Mitsubhishi plans to market its “   I-Miev   ” running entirely on electricity in Japan by 2009.Many Japanese automakers are making some headway into developing hybrid and electric cars.Toyota is already planning to produce a small fleet of plug-in hybrids by 2010 and Nissan is also entering into this domain.

  Detroit “   Big Three   “ never had it so bad,a fumbling economy leading to a drop in car sales, and now the Japanese trying to capitalize on this period to strengthen their own capabilities.

   

• Geothermal For Cheaper Batteries
  Srikant Rajan 03:11:58 pm on August 26, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: batteries, electric cars, ev, geothermal energy, lithium, simbol mining

  Electric cars are touted as green alternatives for satisfying transportation needs as compared to fossil fuel powered vehicles.However in order to promote their faster adoption we need to find cost effective and eco friendly alternatives for manufacturing of electric car components.Batteries, form a critical and also pose challenges in economic manufacturing.This is particularly on account of the expensive lithium used in their production.

  Simbol Mining, is presently researching cheaper and cost effective methods to mine lithium for use in batteries.The process used involves tapping into geothermal waters that have had an extended period of contact with earths crust.This extended contact results in dissolution of minerals and metals within the water.This water is further processed for re-extraction of metals .

   

• Here Comes the Electric Bike !
  Srikant Rajan 05:14:27 am on August 14, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: A2B, electric bikes, electric cars, plug in, texas transportation institute, ultra motor

  Move over electric cars , now comes the sleek electric bike.Ultra Motor has developed and manufactured a state of the art electric bike – A2B , specifically for urban transport across USA.Its makers describe it as a having a heart of a bicycle and the soul of a scooter ! The A2B is a fusion of an electric bicycle and a scooter and is powered by a proprietary motor that produces sufficient torque to ensure comfortable ascent and descent.Additionally energy is also stored in lithium ion batteries which may be charged as easily as recharging a laptop ( huh !!! is it that simple ??  ).The A2B also has features such as full suspension and a large sized seat for comfort.

  According to the Texas Transportation Institute , gridlock’s( traffic jams) cause an estimated loss of 2.9 billion gallons of gasoline , a sizeable quantity relevant particularly in the present era when gasoline is $4/gallon.As compared to currently available alternatives such as the electric cars , the A2B offers a decent value proposition particularly in terms of cost.

   

• LPG Powered Hybrid by Hyundai
  Srikant Rajan 11:31:28 am on July 12, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: battery, elantra, electric cars, Hybrid, hyundai, lithium ion

  Hyundai plans to release a different kind of hybrid vehicle. This hybrid variant will be based on the Elantra model and will be the first hybrid to run on a combination of LPG gas and batteries. This variant will be initially available in South Korea . Hyundai is also investigating the feasibility of launch in other regions. Australia looks to be an attractive alternative on account of its developed LPG procurement and distribution infrastructure.

  The technology employed in this variant is a first of all sorts. Despite the existence of LPG and batteries nobody till now thought of putting these two to be used in conjunction. Additionally the batteries in this variant are lithium ion based polymer battery which are superior to lithium ion batteries specifically on account of their high durability.

   

• Hybrid Cars And Solar Power
  Srikant Rajan 04:25:04 pm on July 7, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: electric cars, Hybrid, prius, solar energy, toyota

  Toyota is planning to add a solar edge to its best selling hybrid car – the Prius. These panels supplied by Kyocera Corp would power part of air-conditioning in some of the high end gasoline versions of Prius.

  This latest move by Toyota comes at a time when it is facing an unprecedented demand for Prius and is unable to leverage its management expertise to jack up its production capability. Solar power is expensive and not a likely candidate for powering a hybrid car which already is significantly expensive than conventional fossil fuel powered vehicle. Additionally solar energy becomes feasible in large scale power generation, when spread over a couple of acres. As Kentaro Endo renewable energy specialist and director at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry says “ Even if you laid solar panels out on the entire roof of a house, you only generate enough energy to run two hair dryers. ” This seems more like a PR exercise to placate disgruntled prius aspirants so that Toyota can buy some time to figure a way out to get more hybrids out and fast.

   

   

• Not Enough Hybrid Cars for All !
  Srikant Rajan 02:38:52 pm on July 7, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: electric cars, Hybrid, prius, toyota

  People just can’t seem to get enough of Toyotas Prius model. Toyota had initially anticipated the spike in crude oil prices . It hence worked to establish a greener and cost competitive alternative(hybrid cars) to conventional cars. This perhaps enabled it to emerge as the virtual leader in the hybrid car segment. The trouble it seems now is that it can’t provide enough Prius as its supply and manufacturing capacity is woefully inadequate to cater to the rapid increase in demand. George Ramirez, sales manager at the Toyota dealership in Salinas, California, says customers are waiting between six weeks and four months for the cars. Adds Ramirez “ The demand is very high ”.

  The devil behind the limited supply capacity of hybrids is the batteries used in hybrid cars, in addition to components such as regulators and transaxles. This despite Toyota’s plans to jack up batteries production by engaging in an association with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Toyota often cited as a management expert itself admits to “ bottlenecks ” in production of batteries.

   

• Zero Emission Range Rover
  Srikant Rajan 01:11:58 pm on June 29, 2008 | 2 | # |
  Tags: electric cars, global warming, Hybrid, range rover, zero emission

  If you are environment conscious ,but do not wish to  give up your favorite Range Rover ,then take a look at UK based startup Liberty Electric Cars.This enterprise plans to invest £30 million in a business that will initially re-engineer conventional vehicles to convert them into all electric cars. Currently Liberty buys new rovers and minis and replace them with an electric engine to get a zero emission vehicle costing a royal £95,000 to £125,000 per vehicle.However plans are afoot to source empty "Rovers" to be fitted with electric engines to bring down the cost.

  This is an interesting approach to produce low emission vehicles.CEO Barry Shrier further says that even if the battery used in these cars is recharged using fossil fuel powered plants, the emissions from such cars would be a third of conventional vehicles.This however is not clear whether we are just trading tail pipe car emissions to more coal/fossil fuels.

   

• Toyota to Boost Production of Electric Car Batteries
  Srikant Rajan 02:45:54 pm on June 12, 2008 | 4 | # |
  Tags: electric cars, honda, lithium ion, metal hydride, mitsubhishi, nissan, prius, toyota

  Toyota , of Pirius fame has set ambitious targets for sale of its new improved variant.Toyota anticipates global annual sales of a million electric cars post 2010.It is presently engaged in a battery venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co for production of nickel metal hydride batteries.Additionally Toyota is also planning to increase production of the lithium ion batteries by 2010. President Katsuaki Watanabe of Toyota says  ” We plan to use both nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries, choosing the appropriate option depending on the vehicle “.

  Companies like Nissan, Mitsubhishi, are also engaged in several partnerships to boost production of lithium-ion batteries.The supply of batteries presents the biggest bottleneck for the production of hybrid cars at present.Alternatives like ultracapacitors and fuel cells have not found much favor with car-makers barring Honda,which has replaced a battery in its FCX clarity by an ultracapacitors.

   

   

• Elon Musk: Tesla Motors to IPO By End of 08
  Tate 10:04:31 pm on June 3, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: electric cars, elon musk, ipo, tesla motors, tiecon

  According to Cnet, Elon Musk, the chairman and major funder of Tesla Motors (and PayPal founder)has indicated at the TieCon conference that Tesla will IPO by the of 2008 and seek to raise 100 million.  Musk wants to raise more financing to bring the company to profitablity and begin production on its luxury sedan, codenames White Star by 2010.

  Musk has made bold predictions for what will happen 30 years from now – a man on mars, solar the #1 source of energy and the majority of cars will be electric.  Perhaps not so bold considering the advancements we’ve seen over the past 30 years.

   
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