Electric Car

[tuk tuk]

Finally an electric car that might be worth buying:

Lotus Tesla news clip

website: Tesla Motors

Edited December 19, 2006 by tuk tuk

[ucscsades]

Finally an electric car that might be worth buying:

Lotus Tesla news clip

website: Tesla Motors

Yeah, the tesla does seem like a pretty cool car.

I mentioned something about electric cars on another thread a few days ago. You guys should watch the documentary "Who killed the electric car?". I highly recommend it (for what my word is worth!)...it talks about the history of electric cars, how they became popular in the 90's (with the saturn ev1, toyota rav4, etc..), and how they were suddenly killed off.

With gasoline becoming more expensive, and hydrogen still being barely anything more than a pipedream, its quite sad that electric cars were taken off the market (mainly due to corruption). Being a car fan I don't know how enjoyable a car with a constant level of torque at all "rev" levels, an even power band, and not having a traditional transmission would be...but they were still doing some great work with electric cars and I think they should've continued them, and let the consumers choose whether they want to buy gasoline powered or electric cars instead of taking away the choice from them. IMO, the competition would only have made both types of cars better if they had to compete with each other for market share.

[milindu]

The Prado lookalike (FAW) SUV although look identical from the front....side profile looks a crude Sorento or something.

The build quality is also still quite chinese. It came in at 4 mil each for the 2WD version but only sold a few units.

[Devinda_Z]

World's first zero emission Range Rover

http://thelandroverchronicles.com/liberty-...N=1222381968375

Barry Shrier, CEO, Liberty Electric Cars, reveals the advanced technology that underpins the world’s first electric Range Rover, during his presentation to the Advanced Automotive Electronics conference (AAE 2008), the UK automotive industry's premier forum for vehicle electronics.

Liberty Electric Cars is addressing the rapidly expanding demand for zero and low emission cars, through the development of its unique electric vehicle technology platform that will power cars which satisfy the sports, family and luxury sectors, such as the Range Rover. The company engineers electric propulsion into existing vehicles, replacing the internal combustion engine with electrical power. This approach has less environmental impact than creating a new range of vehicles, and allows customers drive the vehicle they want, without the cost to the environment.

The Liberty Electric Range Rover reduces CO2 output by up to six tonnes per year, per vehicle and delivers a driving experience that combines fast acceleration, high top end speed and huge economies – electricity is much cheaper than petrol, so running costs are 80 per cent less than the petrol equivalent.

It runs for 200 miles before needing a charge, and some models will carry on board range extending generators. Costs range between £95,000 and £125,000 depending on model and specification.

Shrier predicts an automotive engineering revolution. He says: "We are witnessing the end of the internal combustion engine and the dawn of the electric car industry".

In response to the need for a rapid and radical ‘environmental technology’ shift across the entire industry, Liberty Electric Cars has also launched the Zero Emission Vehicle Foundation. The Foundation is accelerating the introduction of zero emission technologies by raising awareness, and attracting funds and investment into the sector.

The Foundation’s board, is chaired by Lord Anthony St John of Bletso, and includes other prominent figures from the automotive industry, the sciences, Government and the private sector. It brings component suppliers and vehicle manufacturers together, to create the right connections, through its quarterly meetings.

The company is investing £30 million and will creating 250 new manufacturing technology jobs.

Source: Liberty Electric Cars Limited

http://www.liberty-ecars.com

http://rovering.squarespace.com/journal/20...-rover-rev.html

[Devinda_Z]

Is Tesla a Good Bet for Taxpayer Dollars?

The bold, upstart electric-car maker fits in with the green priorities, but there's reason to doubt the little company can go the distance

By David Welch

Tesla Motors has defied skeptics by delivering an electric sports car many said would never see a showroom. But to develop a sedan with broader appeal and get a battery plant up and running, Tesla says, it needs $450 million in loans from the Obama Administration. That raises a thorny question: Are taxpayer dollars earmarked for green technology best gambled on small startups such as Tesla or big but troubled players including General Motors (GM) and Ford (F)?

Tesla deserves some credit. The Silicon Valley upstart has raised some $195 million in capital—albeit more than a third of it from Chairman and CEO Elon Musk—and has built the first car that runs on cutting-edge lithium ion batteries. Technologically, Tesla's Roadster is a winner. It travels 240 miles on a charge before it needs to plug in—more than twice as far as BMW's soon-to-debut Mini E. After initially losing $40,000 apiece on the sports car, Musk says he's now making money on each Roadster.

Eager to build a sedan, Musk is pinning his hopes on the U.S. Energy Dept. The DOE is offering two kinds of credit lines: one for companies working on alternative energy projects and one for carmakers developing green vehicles. Automakers may apply for both kinds of credit, which they can access as a project hits key milestones.

To qualify for DOE money, Musk needs to prove Tesla is viable. "We'll be profitable in five months," he says. He also needs to raise tens of millions of dollars in matching funds. Given the business environment, that won't be easy. In what some industry watchers deem an act of desperation, Musk aims to ask potential buyers of the new sedan to pay a big chunk of the $50,000 sticker price up front. Yet the car won't be ready until 2011, and that's only if the government gives him credit. Musk acknowledges that customers would be putting "their money at risk."

Can Tesla Motors Scale?

Policymakers will need to decide whether Tesla can survive in a cutthroat marketplace. Being small makes the company nimble but not necessarily scalable. Big parts makers typically won't even look at a car that doesn't sell in the tens of thousands. So Tesla has had trouble getting competitive rates from its suppliers. Mike Donoughe, Tesla's chief of product development, says his expanded supplier base could bring down costs.

Even big automakers struggle to make money on cars that sell 20,000 units a year, and so far Tesla has sold 140 Roadsters. "There's a lot more risk for the government with an unknown quantity," says Michael Robinet, vice-president of auto consulting firm CSM Worldwide. "[Tesla lacks] the global sales of mass-market players."

GM—battered as it is—has an advantage over Tesla. The auto giant plans to make up to 10,000 Chevrolet Volt electric cars. That mass-market volume helps GM push down battery costs. What's more, the Volt is built on the chassis of the Chevy Cruze compact. The Cruze should easily sell half a million units a year around the world, so GM can amortize its development costs. Plus, the Volt's high-tech guts will end up in several cars. "We can get scale much faster," says James E. Queen, GM's global engineering chief.

Tesla got a boost on Jan. 13, when Germany's Daimler (DAI) announced that it would buy Tesla's batteries and recharging system for its niche electric Smart car. That will help. But even if Musk gets federal aid, the rest of the industry could pass him by.

Sources : http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflas...0115_265000.htm : Welch is BusinessWeek's Detroit bureau chief.

[Devinda_Z]

Japan's Eliica Combines Electric Power with Blinding Speed

John Beltz Snyder on Wed, 01/07/2009 - 14:22

http://media.nextautos.com/images/phpLqkG0j

What is green, has eight wheels, two wings, doesn’t fly, and apparently is difficult to make up a joke about? That’s right, the Eliica, an electric car prototype developed by Japan’s Keio University.

http://media.nextautos.com/images/phpoWtEgL

The Eliica’s most notable quality is its eight wheels, each with its own electric motor and energy-regenerative disc brake system, which produce a total of 640 horsepower and a top speed of 230 miles per hour. The front four wheels steer the car, which also has two rear gullwing doors. Instead of a flux capacitor, the Eliica is powered by 80 lithium-ion batteries which can be easily charged from a residential power grid in about ten hours.

http://media.nextautos.com/images/phpNMvBbK

Although the future is unclear for this futuristic car, we hope to see more of this green machine as it attempts to challenge gasoline-powered speed records.

http://media.nextautos.com/images/phpJayzao

Source : http://www.nextautos.com/japans-eliica-com...-blinding-speed

Edited January 23, 2009 by Devinda_Z

[Miyuru Daminda]

Eliica is powered by 80 lithium-ion batteries which can be easily charged from a residential power grid in about ten hours.

Main problem with the electric car is the charging time. In day-to-day life we can't wait for 10 hrs to recharge our rides, even 15 mins. Best option for the power source of a electric car is fuel cell.

Check this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfzbaglUOo

I think Honda FCX clarity is more practical ( if we have hydrogen refueling stations). We just need to pump H2 ( just like gasoline ) and go.

[SeanD]

Top gear tests the Tesla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLqsSRG2Vbc

[Devinda_Z]

Vauxhall Ampera

UK version of Chevrolet Volt 'hybrid'; Here in 2011, could be UK built

By John Simister

28th January 2009

Meet the Opel Ampera, the European-market version of the much-vaunted Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. It's due to go on sale in 2011, a year after the Volt itself, with a Vauxhall-badged, right-hand-drive sibling arriving shortly after the Opel.

The main changes are to the nose design, but the interior will have European levels of finish too. All Amperas will initially be built in the US, but GM Europe is hoping to gain UK funding to build the cars at the Ellesmere Port factory.

At the heart of the Ampera, which is built on a modified next-generation Astra platform (a car itself due for launch this year), is a 1.4-litre petrol engine, a 111bhp electric motor, a generator and a T-shaped battery which sits under the rear seat and along the centre tunnel. The whole system is dubbed Voltec, and as of now we must stop calling it a plug-in hybrid because, says Gherado Corsini who is GM's director of the E-REV project, the Ampera is not a hybrid.

This is a because a hybrid, by GM's definition, uses direct internal combustion engine power at least some of the time, whereas an E-REV, or extended-range electric vehicle, is always propelled by electricity alone. The battery is usually charged overnight, which gives enough range for an average commute, but the range can be extended by firing up the engine which drives a charging generator.

Hans Demant, Opel's MD and its biggest engineering brain, insists that the Ampera will be fun to drive. A petrol engine can be made very efficient by running it at a constant speed, but the unchanging drone can get annoying. So Demant has sacrificed a 'very small' amount of efficiency to allow the engine speed (when the engine is in use) to be modulated according to car speed and accelerator pedal position, so the aural sensation will be more like that of a normal car.

The five-door hatchback's lithium-ion battery pack is never allowed to run right down, but you might expect performance to tail off as charge drops low. After all, if the petrol engine makes less than 111bhp, how can the Ampera maintain its potential pace? Because we have to rethink our notions of how cars work. All the engine does is recharge the battery, and the rate it does this can be altered to ensure 111 electric bhp remains on tap at the front wheels. 'It's not bad at all,' says Demant. 'Actually it feels pretty good.'

GM won't be drawn on pricing yet, but with an expensive battery pack (its components made by Korean company LG) about four or five times the size of those found in today's hybrids, the Ampera won't be cheap to buy. The battery pack, however, is designed to last the life of the car, which will mean at least 10 years, and GM is likely to devise some form of Ampera leasing deal.

Source : http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/233784/v...all-ampera.html

[Gummybr]

Vauxhall Ampera

UK version of Chevrolet Volt 'hybrid'; Here in 2011, could be UK built

By John Simister

28th January 2009

Source : http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/233784/v...all-ampera.html

OT but does any of you guys see parts of the LRX concept on this...?

[Devinda_Z]

OT but does any of you guys see parts of the LRX concept on this...?

now that u mentione it...

the lights!

rear more so

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc...628890_1641.jpg

[Devinda_Z]

Plug-in Toyota Prius coming in 2010, prototype averaging 65 mpg

Posted: February 2nd, 2009

The upcoming Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid has been averaging 65 mpg in combined gasoline and electric-mod testing according to Bill Reinert, Toyota Motor Sales USA’s national alternative-fuel vehicle manager.

“That is real-world driving,” Reinert told Automotive News. “I ask my guys to drive them as you drive your normal Prius.”

The 2010 Toyota Prius, with its parallel hybrid and nickel-metal hydride batteries, averages an estimated 50 mpg. Sales of the plug-in hybrid Prius will begin sometimes after 2010.

At the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, Toyota said it will globally lease 500 Prius PHVs powered by lithium-ion batteries. 150 of the plug-in Prius models will come to the U.S. The lithium-ion battery packs are mated to a 1.8L 4-cylinder engine.

Source : http://www.egmcartech.com/2009/02/02/plug-...eraging-65-mpg/

Edited February 6, 2009 by Devinda_Z

[Devinda_Z]

this might actually be the future of motoring at least in an urban sense - beyond the supermini , in super crowded cities , contraptions suhc as these would likely be the chosen method of transport in the next century...

GM, Segway Roll Out Project P.U.M.A.

The mini electric vehicle prototype sports an electric drive, lithium-ion batteries, vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and is intended for urban transportation.

By Cora Nucci

April 7, 2009 01:35 PM

Bankruptcy for General Motors may be inevitable, but the R&D side of the company is forging ahead with plans for a new electric vehicle.

GM and Segway rolled out an electric two-wheel, two-seat prototype vehicle in New York on Tuesday. Built for use in congested urban environments, Project P.U.M.A. (for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), as the vehicle is called, combines several technologies demonstrated by GM and Segway.

The 300-pound, zero-emissions vehicle is powered by a lithium-ion battery and dual electric wheel motors. It features all-electronic acceleration, steering, and braking; vehicle-to-vehicle communications; digital smart energy management; two-wheel balancing; and a dockable user interface that allows off-board connectivity.

"Imagine small, nimble electric vehicles that know where other moving objects are and avoid running into them. Now, connect these vehicles in an Internet-like web and you can greatly enhance the ability of people to move through cities, find places to park, and connect to their social and business networks," Larry Burns, GM's VP of R&D and strategic planning, said in a statement.

The vehicle is built to carry two (seated) passengers at speeds of up to 35 MPH with a range of up to 35 miles between charges. Energy consumption is estimated to be roughly equivalent to 200 MPG.

Pricing wasn't announced, but Burns said in a statement that it would cost "one-fourth to one-third the cost of what you pay to own and operate today's automobile." GM said it hopes to have the vehicle in production by 2012.

The Segway Personal Transporter debuted with great fanfare in 2001, and has found a niche market, but failed to "be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy," as its inventor, Dean Kamen, predicted

Source : http://www.informationweek.com/news/showAr...cleID=216403202