CARazed

Plug-In America recently launched a new page on their website that tracks the progress of all upcoming plug-in hybrid cars. This is great because now you can go to one place to track all these future cars in one place.

The postal service is looking into converting 195,000 of its delivery fleet to non-petroleum fueled vehicles. This is 90% of it’s delivery vehicles. The cost of gas is driving them away from fossil fuels. With a fleet of vehicles this large every single penny gas goes up per gallon adds $8 million annually to the company’s expenses. Last year, the Postal Service spent $1.7 billion on fuel and they expect to pay another $600 million this year.

They are no strangers to green cars. The Postal Service has over 43,000 alternative fuel vehicles already including hybrid-electric, compressed natural gas, liquid propane gas, ethanol (E-85), biodiesel and hydrogen fuel cell. Photo credit Wikipedia Commons.

Co-op America is and CalCars are encouraging people to push auto makers to build plug-in hybrids and abandon the strong push for corn based bio-fuels. Most people find it hard to understand this position because it seems so counter intuitive. The same goes for declining support of hydrogen fuel cells which have the potential of water vapor exhaust.

All the technology ideas are good, the problem is time. The most viable technology today is plug-in hybrids. All electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars, bio-fuel cars are years away from wide spread consumer adoption for two simple reasons, infrastructure and technology.

To find a solution today we must accept our current infrastructure and technology options and see where they lead us. We have a gasoline infrastructure and decent but not great batteries. We have plugs in our homes and most of us don’t make long trips. Independent groups all over are proving that plug-in hybrid cars can get around 100 miles per gallon. If we all had a gas powered car that got 100 MPG with ultra low carbon emissions several things would happen:

1. We would need no imported fossil fuel. None. So there would be little need to invade anyone like Iraq for oil or Iran for natural gas.

2. Big oil company profits would drop to record lows because most people would drive on their batteries most of the time. These cars run on electricity for the first 40-ish miles so you’ll only pay for gas on long trips.
3. Even though 50% of our electricity comes from burning coal the carbon emissions end up being lower overall for electric cars than gasoline cars.

4. We’ve built a bridge to all electric cars. As soon as better inexpensive batteries are available we’ll buy newer plug-in hybrids that will run on electricity only for long trips.

I won’t speculate as to the real reasons big oil and auto makers have stayed away from plug-in hybrids.  The good news is that they are on the way. The small independent auto makers, backed by big silicon valley money, seem to have lit a fire. Toyota and GM have both released news that they plan to have plug-in hybrids on the road by 2010. The small start-ups will have cars out in 2008 and 2009.

If you are considering buying a new car in the next two years some say hold off. Wait and see what happens. If this movement to plug-in hybrids continues and 100 miles per gallon cars hit the market in two years the resale value on your current car may start to drop. It might be wise to not be married to a car payment if that happens. Comments?

Israel and the Renault-Nissan alliance signed a deal on Monday (Jan. 21, 2008) to begin development of electric cars for Israel to reduce their dependency on Oil. The range of these electric cars will be about 100 miles. Zero to 60 mph acceleration will be in about 13 seconds with top speed of 70 mph. This may sound to many of us like a weak little car but studies show that 90% of Israelis drive less than 44 miles a day and all in major urban centers, so the limited range and speed seem to fit the bill.

The cars will be made in Europe and will use battery technology developed by Nissan and Japan’s NEC. A prototype is on the road today and production cars will be on the road by 2011, sold by both Nissan and Renault. Renault-Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn recently told reporters, “We expect this car to be successful… We want to make sure we mass market 10,000 to 20,000 cars a year in Israel … We are determined to make it a success.”

To further encourage adoption of electric cars the Israeli government will offer tax incentives and Project Better Place, a California based, venture-backed company will be building 500,000 electric car recharging points throughout Israel powered by renewable sources. The current goal is 200 megawatts, generated by wind and solar power sources.

Currently Israel gets most of it’s fossil fuel from Russia. They expect to be oil free by 2020. They have the government’s complete backing from President Shimon Peres on down. They have the support of large auto makers and the well funded Project Better Place to build out the infrastructure.

For those of us following the alternative automotive industry this is wonderful news. It marks a huge swing toward renewable energy for cars. It should also offer a good example of a government taking the crude by the horns and taking control of a very bad situation. This story needs to be on TV every night.

This is great news. It’s one thing when you of I choose to go with a greener car but when a large highly visible large corporation does it the impact is much larger. Safeway should reduce it’s carbon dioxide emissions by 75 million pounds. But more importantly over 1000 trucks running biodiesel will be out in front of the public eye, showing the public and other larger corporations that this is the right thing to do.Safeway is also continuing to install photovoltaic solar panels at their grocery stores and fuel stations to help generate on-site electricity. Another highly visible way to show off green technology and make a difference at the same time. 

It’s amazing the progress these small independent auto makers are making in the areas of plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars, and now trucks. Phoenix Motorcars has developed an all-electric sport utility truck that can keep up with the gasoline and diesel alternatives.

It’s a five passenger truck with a top speed of 95 MPH, 130 mile range (200 mile range is in the works), a 10 minute recharge with a special stand-alone charger, or trickle-charge overnight when plugged into a 220V outlet. Cost of recharge is a small fraction of the cost of the fossil fuel alternatives.

The magic behind the range and speed is a new kind of battery, similar to the lithium-ion battery but without the thermal runaway problems. The NanoSafe^TM battery is a lithium titanate battery developed by Altairnano a leading battery developer. This new battery can take fast charging and is expected to last about 12 years.

Phoenix Motorcars will sell to fleet buyers and consumers. There is a waiting list so if this little truck sounds like an option for you contact them sooner than later. With all the press from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past week there is bound to be a lot of renewed interest in renewable fuel vehicles like this.

It will be very interesting to see how successful this all-electric truck is. My money is on plug-in hybrids for the best short-term solution simply because it leverages existing infrastructure and technology. New technology like they are putting into this truck seems a little risky but leading edge usually also means taking educated risks. I can also see many small (and large) companies looking into small fleet orders since the operational cost of these vehicles is so low. It may prove to be the perfect solution for many businesses.

Love to see Wired write an article on plug-in hybrid cars. Plug-in hybrids are the answer to our environmental and fossil fuel woes. Articles like this also make it hard for main stream media to ignore plug-in hybrids. It also makes a lot of sense that Wired would jump on this story because many of the plug-in hybrid, all electric, and X Prize contendors are backed by big silicon valley money. Are we wittnessing a battle of billionaires? Oil baryons vs. Tech genius?

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The Oshkosh City Cab Company, in Oshkosh Wisconsin is going green, and beginning to run E85 in some of their newer cabs. Eventually they’ll be running all 24 cabs on E85. This may be a small story to some from the mid-west but great news that business people are beginning to see the business case for going green. The original story was posted by thenorthwestern.com.