Planetary Gear

While hybrid and all-electric cars are about five years away from becoming commonplace, 2010 will be a crucial year in determining how an electric car is designed, built, fueled, and used, according to a paper released Thursday by Pike Research.

The auto industry is already headed toward official decisions on technology and standards, and still to come is a natural market evolution determining industry leaders.

(Credit: Pike Research)

The most interesting part of the report is how Pike Research analysts see driver habits and electric cars evolving.

Currently, the report said, many automakers, like General Motors with its Chevy Volt, are following a strategy in which the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) being offered "seeks to satisfy the approximate 80 percent of drivers estimated to commute 33 miles per day or less."

Cost will be a key factor in the evolution of the market. The Pike report says it's debatable whether hybrid and all-electric cars will prove cheaper to drive mile for mile, given fluctuating gas prices and the cost of lithium-ion batteries. A survey cited in the report, meanwhile, found that only 17 percent of drivers would pay a premium for a PHEV over a gas-powered car.

Once the market of environmentally conscious drivers is saturated, automakers will have to come up with a plan B, according to Pike Research.

"If a significant consumer audience fails to embrace the initial class of PHEVs because of the cost, it is likely that automotive OEMs may shift to designing vehicles with shorter all-electric range, and smaller, less costly battery packs," said the report.

The group's paper, "Electric Vehicles: 10 Predictions for 2010," was published in conjunction with HybridCars.com, leaving the reader to question some of its more subjective conclusions on hybrids vs. electric cars or efficient gas-powered vehicles.

But the report also includes many interesting statistical predictions for anyone following the evolution of the green transportation industry:

• By 2015 there will be 5.3 million places around the world to plug in and recharge a car.
• Despite a U.S. push to revive its failed auto manufacturing economy with green technology manufacturing, it will actually be Asia that becomes the "dominant supplier and consumer of electric vehicles and batteries." Pike Research attributed this to the Chinese government's initiative to produce 500,000 electric vehicles per year.
• The U.S. electrical grid upgrade will be sufficient to handle the influx of plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars overall, but neighborhoods with a concentrated volume of EVs could overwhelm a local utility.
• Most people will charge their cars at work or home, and use public charging stations sparingly and mostly when traveling.
• The majority of people will charge their cars after work between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. putting a strain on local utilities, which will then in turn offer incentives for charging after 10 p.m.

The full paper is available for free download from Pike Research.

Artist's rendition of what EV Project charging stations will look like.

(Credit: Johnston Marklee for Ecotality)

Nissan is certainly laying the ground work to provide would-be buyers plenty of places to charge the all-electric Leaf car coming out in 2010.

In conjunction with Ecotality subsidiary eTec, Nissan North America is announcing yet another area in the U.S. where it will try to sell its electric car and offer public charging stations in conjunction with a U.S Department of Energy-sponsored program.

The Leaf is scheduled to be showcased at a press conference in Seattle with Mayor Greg Nickels on Wednesday to kick off the Pacific Northwest effort. On Monday, Nissan announced collaborations in San Francisco, and in November it announced the program in San Diego, Calif.

eTec, which was awarded $100 million from the Energy Department, heads the Energy Department-sponsored EV Project, which plans to offer public charging stations for the cars at both independent stations and existing retail parking lots. When completed, the charging stations should provide coverage for greater metropolitan areas in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.

For the Pacific Northwest project, the company is working with a regional planning manager to implement charging stations that would cover the areas surrounding Vancouver, British Columbia, and Eugene, Ore.

The "Nissan LEAF Zero Emission Tour," Nissan's big marketing push to show off its all-electric car, will cover 22 cities in 11 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and Vancouver.

Mazda, EnerDel, Think Global, and others are partnering on a test project that will pair all-electric cars with stationary storage units as charging stations, EnerDel and Mazda announced this past week.

Mazda plans to convert some of its Mazda2 vehicles (known as the Mazda Demios in Japan) to all-electric cars running a Think drivetrain with EnerDel lithium ion batteries.

The Mazda2 (called the Demios in Japan) is expected to become available in the United States in 2010.

(Credit: Mazda)

The cars will be offered to Japanese customers through a rental car program, called the Tsukuba Environmental Style Test Project, which should be up and running by March 2010 in Tsukuba City, Japan, near Tokyo, according to Mazda.

U.S. battery manufacturer EnerDel has described the test project as the Japanese equivalent to Zipcar in the States, a program in which customers join a car club that offers car rentals on an hourly or daily basis.

Instead of recharging stations tapping directly into a smart grid, those in the Tsukuba test project will use stationary grid storage units also developed by EnerDel. The stationary storage units will enable the rapid charging of the all-electric Mazda2 cars, while avoiding the possibility of having to tap into a smart grid during peak usage hours.

"The unique combination of on-site battery storage with rapid charging allows the use of direct current throughout the system, sharply reducing the amount of time needed to charge a vehicle," according to a statement from EnerDel.

The recharging stations, which will draw from solar panels as well as grid power, will be located at Family Mart convenience stores in the Tsukuba City area.

Itochu, a Japanese conglomerate that has partnered with EnerDel on energy projects since 2003, owns the Family Mart chain. It was through a partnership with Itochu that EnerDel and Think Global converted and tested a fleet of trucks to all-electric vehicles for the Japanese Postal Service.

Nissan will begin taking orders for its LEAF EV in Spring 2010.

(Credit: Nissan)

The EV Project, a pilot program to develop a nationwide public charging system for electric vehicles, is expected to give people an opportunity to inspect the Nissan LEAF EV more closely on Thursday and announce expansion plans that include San Diego.

The unveiling will take place at a press conference in San Diego and include representatives from San Diego Gas & Electric, the City of San Diego, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and Don Kramer, the president of Ecotality's subsidiary eTec.

Electric-charging station manufacturer Ecotality has received $100 million in stimulus funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and is one of the lead partners on the EV Project which will span 11 U.S. cities in five states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.

While the company has been partnering with Nissan to make public charging options a reality in the U.S., Ecotality has repeatedly said its stations are designed to fit Society of Automotive Engineers standards so that they'll be compatible with any electric cars built to that standard.

Ecotality announced Wednesday that its CEO Jonathan Read is currently in China as part of a 40-person delegation accompanying U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. The group is taking part in the China Clean Energy Roundtable as part of President Barack Obama's visit to China.

Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced Wednesday a U.S.-China "Electric Vehicles Initiative" to encourage research and develop joint standards for electric transportation, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

A Humvee made by American General.

(Credit: AM General)

Lithium-ion battery manufacturer EnerDel has signed an 18-month, $1.29 million contract with the U.S. Army to design and test hybrid battery options for the Humvee.

Trying to power the iconic fuel-guzzling High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV aka Humvee) with a battery, may seem like trying to put out a fire with a garden hose. But a lithium-ion battery system can deliver a lot of power from a battery quickly, giving a truck like the Humvee the thrust it requires.

EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, will collaborate with the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) on four possible power systems that could be implemented in the XM1124 version of the Humvee.

The company, which specializes in battery cell chemistry as well as the electronics and battery system designs, said it already has two viable options. EnerDel has developed a lithium-tatinate system in conjunction with Argonne National Laboratory that could accommodate the acceleration and hard braking required for such a powerful vehicle like the Humvee. It also has a lithium-manganese system that would give a vehicle extra-long range and allow electronics to be run off the battery for extended periods of time before needing to be recharged.

As part of the 18-month contract, EnerDel will also be involved in testing the systems under "extreme performance simulations." In addition to putting the test vehicles through the usual Humvee paces of wading through water and mountain climbing, there will also be an endurance test.

That will include seeing how a hybrid Humvee fares as a power plant for a field hospital or temporary military post. The requirement makes perfect sense given the ease with which a Humvee can be transported to hard-to-reach areas. One of its key features has always been that it could be dropped in to virtually any terrain by parachute.

A Humvee being parachuted out of a plane.

(Credit: AM General)

The hybrid Humvee will also be more stealthy. Anyone who's had a close call with a Prius knows how dangerously silent hybrids can be in total battery mode. The hybrid version of the Humvee will have a powered-down "silent watch" mode that will allow it to run with its diesel generator off, reducing not only its noise, but also its thermal signature to avoid detection.

As always with major military project announcements, the company involved was quick to point out the down-the-road commercial application of its technology.

"In keeping with a long tradition, we also expect that innovations perfected here will have important benefits for the commercial markets," EnerDel President Rick Stanley said in a a statement.

There has already been interest in Raser Technologies' H3E, a plug-in hybrid version of a Hummer-branded SUV called the H3. While not truly a Hummer (the civilian version of the Humvee), the "Hummer-light" descendant has garnered the interest of even the most discerning Hummer enthusiasts.

So if EnerDel's batteries might be good enough to power a Hummvee, why haven't commercial automakers been knocking? They have actually. The company has signed research partnerships of varying commitment levels with Think Global, Fisker Automotive, Volvo, and Nissan. Its parent company, Ener1, is also working with U.S. utilities to develop smart grid storage units.

Fuel efficiency is the No. 1 factor in equipment purchases within the trucking industry, a new report from IBM says.

At the same time, brand name has fallen to the bottom of the criteria list and "faces the risk of slow death," according to the report.

The combination of those two factors means that new players in the trucking industry will give established brands a run for their money.

(Credit: IBM)

"The truck ecosystem will thrive because of--rather than in spite of--a chaotic introduction of new players," the report said.

"Truck 2020: Transcending Turbulence," which came out of IBM's Institute for Business Value, was based on interviews of 91 executives from 13 countries and from across the industry, including truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), suppliers, regulators, and industry associations.

The trucking industry has been faced with financial hurdles, higher energy costs, and the image as a polluter in recent years, according to IBM. And the necessary advances for the industry are not restricted to strides in fuel efficiency.

Telematics will also be key, the report said. Evaluating and diagnosing vehicles remotely and in real time will be a useful tool in preventative maintenance. It will cut down on unexpected breakdowns that disrupt service and that cost trucking companies time and money, according to the report. Telematics tools that collect real-time data can also be useful for curbing litigation over accidents, the report noted.

While the growing significance of telematics may be entirely true, it should be noted that IBM has a vested interest in that field.

Big Blue has said it sees automotive computing as the company's next frontier and has been actively developing telematics and infrastructure technology for at least the last six years.

As far back as 2003, IBM began developing XML-based data retrieval architecture that would allow vehicles to receive real-time traffic and speed data from highways. In 2005, it signed a $125 million telematics deal with United Arab Emirates. And in 2006, it began partnering with manufacturer Magna Electronics to develop smart car parts.

The Fisker Karma at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in August.

(Credit: Fisker Automotive)

American start-up Fisker Automotive may be about to unveil the first truly affordable plug-in hybrid for the U.S. market.

Ray Lane, managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, told an audience at the Always On Going Green conference in Sausalito, Calif., on Tuesday that there could be a big announcement within the next week about a $39,000 plug-in hybrid. Though he would not say who, he mentioned that it was a car for the U.S. market and that it was not strictly electric, according to a report from Cleantech Group.

While Kleiner Perkins has investments in several transportation start-ups such as Think Global and EEStor, the likely company from its repertoire to make such an announcement would be Fisker Automotive.

Fisker has already unveiled the Karma, a four-door luxury plug-in car that can go from 0-62 mph in 6 seconds, and has a maximum speed of 125 mph. But Fisker has set the tentative price for the car at $87,900, making it not much cheaper than Tesla's Roadster sports car.

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker also told CNET in an exclusive May 2008 interview that advances in battery and software technology would allow his company to offer a $40,000 plug-in car in about four or five years.

Perhaps that day has come sooner than the founder was willing to let on at the time.

But it may not be as soon as others have speculated. Fisker's European press office sent out an e-mail on Monday informing journalists the company has canceled a press conference originally scheduled for this week at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show.

James May setting the cornerstone for the Lego house at Denbies Wine Estate, a vineyard in Surrey, England.

(Credit: Denbies Wine Estate)

James May, co-host of U.K. car show "Top Gear," has a new gig for entertaining engineers and toy lovers alike.

The show, "James May's Toy Stories," engages the public in extreme building with favorite childhood toys and films the communal construction in progress.

While the show won't air until spring on BBC Two, photos and videos of the projects are already showing up online.

May's show includes the construction of the first house made almost entirely out of Legos. It's located on the Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey, England.

The video below, posted by Bacon Group Architecture, showcases the interior, which will include a Lego toilet, bathtub, and bed. Upon completion, May will live in the house for a weekend.

The construction challenges, which are scattered throughout the U.K., depend on local volunteers--both adults and children.

"James May is a man on a mission: he wants to get kids out of their bedrooms and away from their games consoles, he wants to drag parents off their backsides and get them all playing together again," according to BBC Two.

Many of the projects are also attempts at world records.

For example, the show's crew and volunteers attempted to build the world's longest model train setup, a length of about 10 miles. That ambition was comically foiled by people who stole pieces of track, placed pennies in the track, and ultimately caused the train's battery to burn out, according to the Telegraph.

May has already won an award for a garden of flowers made entirely from Plastacine--molding clay similar to Play-doh--that he entered in England's annual Chelsea Flower Show.

In another project, architecture students helped May construct a bridge of Meccano parts across a 40-foot-wide canal in Liverpool, England.

Meccano kits generally consist of pre-holed metal plates, gears, and wheels with accompanying nuts and bolts for building small mechanical gadgets and vehicles. The town choice was significant as Meccano opened its first factory in Liverpool in 1907. The bridge was designed by Hayden Nuttal, a design director of Atkins Structural Engineering, and the North East Meccano Guild aided the students with construction.

May is also getting back to his auto roots. The show plans to showcase the construction of a large-scale track for Scalextric cars and hold a race through the center of a town.

Raser's Hummer H3E gets 35 mpg, 100 mpg, or 190 mpg in city. It depends on how you calculate mileage.

(Credit: Raser Technologies)

The plug-in hybrid Hummer H3E by Raser Technologies actually gets better mileage than originally estimated.

At the SAE World Congress and again at a Hummer event hosted by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Raser originally said (based on a prototype) its E-REV power train could give the Hummer an initial range of 40 miles on electricity only. After that first 40 miles, the SUV would then get about 33 to 35 mpg earning it the dubious moniker of a Hummer that gets over 100 mpg.

Raser's power train is an electric motor-drive system powered by lithium ion batteries, and a gas-powered generator, aka "range extender," to recharge the batteries.

But further street testing has shown the power train's engineers that the H3E could actually get by on its electric battery alone for the first 50 miles using 60 percent of the battery pack, according to statistics released by Raser.

"This initial test indicates that the vehicle should easily achieve over 100 miles per gallon in typical local daily driving," Jim Spellman, Raser's vice president of business development, said in a statement.

Note Spellman's word choice of "typical local daily driving."