Coda 4-Door All-Electric Sedan
Coda is a new American car company with strong manufacturing partners in Asia (Hafei, Lishen) that will be bringing an all-electric car to market in late 2010. The expected range of this 4-door sedan will be 90 to 120 miles on a full charge. I can be recharged overnight by plugging it into a normal household power outlet.
The price will be about $45,000 before the $7,500 federal tax credit plus any state incentives which could bring the actual cost of the car down closer to $35,000. The cost to drive the car every day is estimated at $3 for every 100 miles compared to $17 for a comparable gas powered car.
Where is Murray’s T25?
One of the most promising green car concepts out there actually comes from the designer of the McLaren F1, but it seems to be taking an extremely long time to get this little car baked and out of the oven. For example journalist Nancy Durham recently visited Gordon Murray and wasn’t even permitted to see the car. Instead she got to grope it through the cloth cover. Read about that at CBCNews.ca.
His concept is super simple, literally. Instead of building a complex hybrid or fuel cell monstrosity he’s taking his experience as an ultralight super car designer and creating the simplest tiny car he can. It will use a efficient gasoline engine and will be designed for easy low-impact manufacturing. It is promised to be revolutionary in construction and concept, which is the whole reason he’s being so secretive about every little detail.
Mindset – 100 MPG+ range extended hybrid from Switzerland
This is one innovate little car from Switzerland. It can run in all electric mode for 60 to 120 miles (depending on driving style) and then with the flip of a switch the Range Extender (small gas motor) can be activated and take you 500 more miles without refueling. But that is just the beginning of the innovation.
The tall and narrow wheels are the most noticeable difference between the Mindset and other cars and just one of the tricks used to lower the cars overall drag coefficient. Special attention has also been made to reduce weight while increasing the chassis strength making this cars safe and ultra-lightweight. It also regenerates electricity during breaking like many hybrids. Continue Reading »
Are Today’s Hybrids are a Greenwash?
Let me show you why I think today’s hybrids, like the Honda Insight, might just be a greenwash. Honda has been building super efficient cars for decades. The emissions of the older cars was slightly higher than today’s cars but it seems fuel economy has remained relatively stagnant.
A 1988 Honda CRX HF was rated at 37 MPG City and 47 MPG Highway and it put 4.5 tons of greenhouse gasses per year. [source]
A 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid is rated at 40 MPG City and 45 MPG Highway and pumps out 4.4 tons of greenhouse gasses per year. [source] Continue Reading »
Honda Insight looks good but has the MPG of an old Civic
At a cost of about $20,000 the Honda Insight looks pretty good. They say it gets 40 MPG City and 43 MPG Highway too. I had a 1988 Civic that I bought new and it got about the same.
That’s the strangest part about all these complex Hybrids, they are not that much more efficient than the cars from 20 years ago. I’m sure their emissions must be lower… right? But why in 20 years time don’t we have 80 MPG cars? We’ve had incredible advances in computers, bio-tech, telecommunications, and other technology areas; why have combustion engines lagged so far behind? Continue Reading »
3 reasons why Hydrogen Cars are a bad idea
Just to be upfront, I think electric cars and plug-in hybrids. This post is in response to the folks that think hydrogen cars have a future. To be honest I was shocked to see this post on AutoblogGreen today; I thought they were the good guys.
#1 Commercial hydrogen usually comes from natural gas.
The vast majority of commercial hydrogen comes from processing natural gas. This is because it’s cheaper and easier to extract hydrogen from natural gas than through the electrolysis of water. [source]
But lets say for a minute that we were going to get our hydrogen from water. Why would we use that electricity to extract hydrogen? Why not just use it to charge up the electric car? Oh right… Energy company profits would be at risk.
#2 A new national hydrogen infrastructure would be needed.
To build a national infrastructure of commercial hydrogen filling stations would take decades and would probably rely on the current natural gas pipelines like Honda’s Home Energy Station [Official Site]. Why not stop using fossil fuels and stick solar panels on out homes instead? Oh right… Energy company profits would be at risk.
In Honda’s defense they have also been testing a solar powered system to make hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. Honda seems to be way ahead of the curve and have their irons in many fires. Smart people at Honda.
#3 The largest proven natural gas reserves are in Russia and Persian Gulf.
The largest natural reserves of natural gas in the world are located in Iran and Russia. [source] Why the heck would we want to choose to experience, peak oil, peak coal, and then peak natural gas. Why not start building the world’s largest renewable energy system right here in our own backyard? Oh right… Energy company profits would be at risk.
Conclusion
I’m really happy that Obama has assembled the team of smart people he has. Decisions like the DOE cutting way back on Hydrogen is incredibly smart.
Hydrogen fuel cells are sexy sounding technology for a fossil fuel sourced fuel. Eventually when it’s possible to make vast quantities of hydrogen from the electrolysis of seawater and the electricity used to make it comes from renewable sources (solar, wind, wave, hydroelectric) then the real green promise of Hydrogen might be realized. But this would take decades so it makes a lot more sense to stop throwing tax dollars away on it.
If the energy companies are so hot to see hydrogen happen let them pay for it. Haven’t we let them raid public funds long enough with their pocket presidents and oil wars?
Electric cars, while not super sexy today, are a better long term solution and plug-in hybrid technology is here RIGHT NOW! Plug-in hybrids are the best transition technology because for local trips they never have to fire up their gasoline engines. Who knows maybe someone will figure out a flex-fuel plug-in hybrid too… now that would be cool. Battery and charging technology is also advancing very quickly making quick-charge electric cars a more likely near-term possibility.
I’m not on anyone’s payroll and I write what I think. What you see here are my humble opinions. If you take a little time and do the research yourself you’ll see I’m right. In the end we can make it all happen by simply voting with our dollars. Choose to buy a new car when they deliver a car worth buying. I’m holding out for at least 100MPG.
Read an opposing opinion by the CEO of a hydrogen pipeline and storage technology company.
Fisker Karma – 100 MPG Sedan
The problem with cars like this is the cost. The reality is that cars like this lead the way and help companies and technologies get their roots down. The technology in this car could be put into lower cost cars one levels of production increase.
The Fisker Karma is one of the most promising luxury plug-in hybrids that will hit the market in 2010. Zero to 60 acceleration will be less than 6 seconds and top speed will be 125 MPH. It will be able to drive on batteries alone for about 50 miles at which point a small electric motor kicks in to power the electric motors, which turn the wheels. This will make the Fisker Karma extremely inexpensive to drive to around town everyday because the cost of electricity is far lower than gasoline.
If you want to take a longer trip no worries, just drive it like a normal car, fill it up with gas, and take off. When the batteries run out of juice the gas motor kicks in to charge the batteries and propel the car.
If the Fisker Karma is successful it will demonstrate that Plug-In Hybrids are the right technology choice for today. Hydrogen fuel cells and all electric cars are in our future but the technology is just not ready today. Battery technology is far enough for plug-in hybrids to be viable. Gasoline engines can be very clean. At 100 MPG we could easily eliminate our need for foreign oil while driving much cleaner cars. If the car is fun and fast on top of all that every car maker in the world need to stop fooling with batteries and hydrogen and start building these plug-in green machines. For more information visit Fisker Automotive.
Photo credit Fisker Automotive.
Vote With Your Wallet
Here is a simple idea that could rock the foundation of the auto and oil industry, get us off foreign oil, and save each one of us a ton of money at the pumps… and it’s perfectly legal.Stop buying new cars until auto makers deliver 100 MPG cars. Feel free to buy good used cars, just stay out of the new car showrooms no matter what incentive they throw at us. If enough of us stand up and say enough is enough, they will get with the program, look at all the new innovative ideas that use today’s technology, and start building cars we’ll buy.
We don’t even need to wait for the bozos in Washington DC to get a clue. We don’t have to regulate this is the public simply stands up and makes a simple choice. Car makers could even react quickly and begin adapting cars today with available conversion kits if they don’t want to wait to redevelop their cars. In other words there are lots of options for them to continue to sell cars without interruption.
If you’re an auto executive, product manager, or even an auto worker, please don’t think for a second we don’t ike your work or your products. We’re just sick to death of spending money at the pumps, seeing more money go overseas, seeing the dollar plummet in value, and seeing our soldiers being put in harms way for oil. Please do the right thing. Please make the right choice. Please deliver 100 MPG cars!
