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.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
(Credit: City of Seattle)The City of Seattle has partnered with Nissan North America to promote the development of an electric vehicle charging network in anticipation of Nissan's release of its highway-legal EV, Renault-Nissan Alliance and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced Tuesday.
Nissan's commercially sold EV will have a different look than its EV-02 prototype, but the same functionality. The Nissan EV is expected to have a range of 100 miles on a single charge and be able to be charged within four to eight hours via a 220-volt outlet. The City of Seattle is planning to work with its local utility to come up with a program for installing the outlets--already commonly used in homes for electric laundry dryers--in interested residents' garages. It will also work to develop electric charging stations throughout Seattle.
The announcement is just one in a list of many U.S. communities that have begun to develop electrical charging stations in anticipation of Nissan's commercial EV release in the U.S. in 2010.
Last week Renault-Nissan Alliance announced a program in Tennessee. In March and April, Nissan announced partnerships with local Arizona governments to development a corridor of electric charging stations that would encompass the 116-mile stretch between Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz. as well as their surrounding areas.
That particular project includes a partnership with tech company Ecotality. Its CEO Jonathan Read has told CNET it will be building the Arizona stations to accommodate any EV that adheres to Society of Automotive Engineers standards for electric vehicles, not just Nissan's EV.
Nissan now has projects geared toward establishing electric charging stations in anticipation of its 2010 EV launch in the U.S. in Sonoma County and San Diego, Calif., Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., Oregon, and Tennessee.
But the Seattle announcement is unique because the power source for the electric charging stations will be from http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/light/Seattle City Light, the publically-owned utility who's claim to fame is that it's "net zero" for greenhouse gas emissions.
"From light rail to street cars to electric vehicles, we're reducing the impact of transportation on our climate. Electric-powered transportation is particularly attractive in a city with a carbon-neutral utility, generating clean electricity through hydropower," Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said in a statement.
Ecotality is in talks with leading automakers--not only Nissan--concerning its electric charging stations for highway-legal electric cars, according to CEO Jonathan Read.
"We have been contacted by every major automaker about electric vehicle systems relating to charging and infrastructure. We expect to convert these discussions into firm contracts," Read told investors Wednesday at a shareholders' conference that was open to the press.
The Arizona-based company recently announced a partnership with Nissan and the local governments in the Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., areas to build charging stations for electric cars that would cover the regions and the 116-mile stretch between them to make an electric vehicle corridor.
Ecotality's CEO Jonathan Read
(Credit: Ecotality)Read told CNET News at the time that while Nissan's electric vehicles (or EVs) will be the first ones commercially available in the area, Ecotality's charging stations will be built to Society of Automotive Engineers standards so that they'll be compatible with any electric cars built to that standard.
In addition to the going after Big Auto, Read told investors the company has applied for Department of Energy loan packages to expand its manufacturing and for other loans and grants from the federal government. It has also bid on contracts in both the public and private sectors.
"We're building a strong position to benefit from the new stimulus program. Many companies are planning for the launch of their EVs, and we've responded to proposals. We have applied or are in the process of applying for about $1.5 billion in contracts through private and government programs. Obviously, receipt of any of these contracts would drastically change the dynamic of our company," said Read.
Ecotality and subsidiary eTec have been in the battery-charging business for years for light-use utility trucks like ones used at airports or for commercial fleets. And charging stations for the general consumer are not an entirely new foray for the company either. While Delphi was the manufacturer, eTec installed many of the charging stations for General Motors' EV1s of "who killed the electric car?" fame.
The Idea is a light-use plug-in electric hybrid intended for commercial fleets.
(Credit: Bright Automotive)Start-up Bright Automotive unveiled a light-use vehicle on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that gets 100 mpg for its first 50 miles.
The Idea, as the plug-in hybrid utility vehicle is called, uses battery power almost exclusively for the first 30 miles when starting with a fully charged battery. It then moves to the electric with gas supplement system found on any typical hybrid vehicle.
Because of this 30-mile electric start, Bright Automotive estimates that in a 50-mile drive the Idea consumes half a gallon of gas, getting it roughly the equivalent of 100 mpg. On a total drive of 70 miles, the Idea uses about one gallon of gas, giving the car "a mileage equivalent of 70 mpg."
Bright Automotive openly clarifies that their mileage count includes that 30-mile electric head start. Given the vehicle's target audience, the odd assessment of what would otherwise amount to a 40 mpg plug-in hybrid might be fair.
The Idea uses low-rolling resistance tires and is built from lightweight materials consisting of a high-tech aluminum from Alcoa and advanced composites to contribute to the vehicle's fuel efficiency. It has a one-ton cargo capacity and a passenger seat that can convert into a mobile office.
In other words, the Idea is not a highway car intended for the masses, but a light-use truck for commercial and military utility fleets. Utility trucks don't typically travel long distances and are often returned to a garage where the vehicle could be fully charged.
The Indiana-based company has applied for $450 million in federal loans from the Department of Energy to mass-produce the plug-in vehicle.
The U.S. government itself is not just a potential lender, but also a potential customer. Last January, the Army announced plans to replace up to 28,000 gas-powered vehicles with light-use EVs in the coming years. Global Electric Motorcar, a division of Chrysler, was the first manufacturer to win a contract for the U.S. Army initiative, and would be an obvious competitor for Bright Automotive if it gets up and running.
Granted the federal loan money, Bright Automotive says it could be in production by 2012 and could be mass-producing 50,000 vehicles a year starting in 2013. Including suppliers, the company would create more than 5,000 U.S. jobs, according to CEO John E. Waters.
In addition to the unveiling in Washington, D.C., Waters held a telephone press conference.
While he was asked several times to elaborate, he would not give any hint at how much the Idea costs.
"If I give you a number, consumers will then look at it like a consumer vehicle and that's not the impression we want to give. Our commercial customers will lease them usually on a monthly basis," said Waters.
Waters did hint that Bright Automotive is looking into an adaptation for a highway legal version for consumers.
"We have designed the vehicle platform to be extremely flexible. We are analyzing it for markets that would include a common power train, and a common chassis for both domestic and international markets," he said.
While Bright Automotive's business plan is based on private capital, the requested loan money from the federal government would ramp up production, giving the company a better chance to survive against the automotive legacy companies, according to Waters.
"We are impatient. We know every day we wait is a day less we have the Idea on the roads, cleaning up American skies, and providing people with green transportation as we see the titans of the world advancing in the world of transportation," he said.
While the company may have only started in 2008, it's not exactly an outsider. Its partners, many of whom have said they are also interested in being fleet customers, include Alcoa, Cox Communications, and Frito Lay.
An artist's rendering of what Ecotality fast-charging commercial stations may look like.
(Credit: Ecotality)Nissan has promised to supply its highway-legal electric vehicles to the Phoenix area, as well as the previously announced Tucson area, for public and private fleets by the end of 2010, the Renault-Nissan Alliance plans to announce Thursday.
"This is a deployment well in excess of a couple hundred," said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America.
In anticipation of Nissan's municipal and eventual commercial electric vehicle (EV) launch, the energy technology company Ecotality plans to also announce on Thursday an expansion of its chain of electric charging stations beyond the Tucson Metro area stations it announced in March.
The total plan, which includes partnerships with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) and Pima Association of Governments (PAG), is that Ecotality will create an electric plug-in infrastructure corridor encompassing the greater metropolitan areas of both Phoenix (Maricopa County) and Tucson (Pima County), as well as the 116-mile stretch between them along the Interstate 10 highway.
Using a 480-volt rapid-charge option, Nissan's EV-02 prototype--which has the battery pack and motor that will be used in the final commercial version--can charge up to 80 percent capacity in about 26 minutes, according to Perry.
Ecotality's CEO Jonathan Read said charging up at its SAE Level 3 (440V) fast-charging stations may actually even be a little quicker in practice.
Ecotality's fast-charging commercial stations may look similar to those Ecotality stations used for typical private off-road EV fleets.
(Credit: Ecotality)"Nissan's conservative. We believe that generally the charge time can be 15-20 minutes, given most people are not going to run to zero. I almost dare you to try to get a Starbucks in less than 15 minutes. It's really conducive to a stop for a beverage, a quick shop, a stop at the pharmacy, so we're going to position these where people normally stop for a few minutes anyway," said Read.
In addition to commercial charging stations, there are also plans to work with local utilities to install 220-volt outlets in the garages of would-be EV owners. At those outlets, Nissan's EV would take an average 4 hours to recharge from zero to full capacity, according to Perry.
But you won't have to be a Nissan customer per se to get a charge from an Ecotality-built station in Arizona.
"Our charging stations are going to be agnostic; they'll work on any battery in any vehicle that adheres to the SAE standards. So while Nissan will be the first here, they'll attach to any vehicle that comes along," said Read.
Phoenix and Tucson residents may actually have cooperative community leaders to thank for the EV opportunity, if Nissan is to be believed.
Never underestimate the value of municipalities that get along with each other, their utilities, and the private sector when embarking on projects that require permitting, said Perry.
"Phoenix had all the things we were looking for in a launch market: High consumer interest, but really something you shouldn't underestimate (is) a regional planning authority that has a history of working well together and moving things forward in a coordinated fashion to make Phoenix plug-in ready. Plus, we have support from the utility companies. Plus interest from the private sector, support from Ecotality, and major employers interested in participating. When those factors are there, that's what you want," said Perry.
Perry said he's seen interest from companies who'd like to provide employees with free charging stations in their parking facilities as part of a sustainability plan.
Ecotality, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., had another logical reason.
"We actually have a long and storied history in electric here. We worked on charging stations for the old EV1s before they were crunched by General Motors," said Read, referring to Ecotality's subsidiary eTec.
While the charging equipment was made by Delphi, eTec installed many of the residential charging stations for General Motors' EV1 customers in the Southwest, particularly Arizona, as well as some public charging stations, according to Ecotality.
If produced, the Tesla Model S will be the first mass-produced highway-legal all electric car.
(Credit: Tesla Motors)More than 520 reservations for the Tesla Model S have been made since the all-electric car's debut on March 26, Tesla Motors announced Wednesday.
Since the car isn't slated for production until 2011, and Tesla is still waiting to hear if it'll be getting a $350 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the car's California production plant, the company is not technically taking orders.
Instead, the carmaker says it is taking refundable $5,000 reservations to get in line for the anticipated $50,000 car (the price after receiving a $7,500 federal tax credit).
If it does go into production, the Model S will be the first mass-produced highway-capable car to run entirely on electricity.
The working prototype of the Model S was unveiled last week in Los Angeles. An East Coast premiere took place on Wednesday evening at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Model S, which can go 0 mph to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, has an electronically limited speed of 130 mph and can be recharged from any 120V, 208V, or 240V outlet. The car will be offered with a range of 160, 230, or 300 miles per charge, depending on which battery the buyer chooses, though Tesla has not yet said what the price difference will be for each package.
While the company has faced a mountain of start-up hardship, including a battle over trade secrets, a class action lawsuit, and a major leadership change, it has so far been able to deliver 320 of its Roadster models, its all-electric luxury sports car.
Updated at 8:12 a.m. PDT March 30 with details on the CityZenn and Zennergy prototypes from Zenn Motor.
Zenn Motor is expanding its lineup to include a highway-legal electric car and an all-electric drivetrain for other automakers, the company announced Thursday.
Zenn (for "zero emission no noise") has been working on these particular products for some time.
The ZENN '08 model in blue shadow.
(Credit: Zenn Motor)In 2007, the company offered the public a low-speed Zenn car with a range of 35 miles per charge that was limited to the 25mph legal limit for cars in a certain class. In 2008, it improved its all-electric car by replacing the DC motor with an AC motor that had a range of 40 to 50 miles. The car still wasn't highway-legal, so it was geared toward clients such as universities, military bases, and retirement communities in need of something to shuttle people around the grounds.
Now the Toronto-based company says that the CityZenn all-electric, highway-legal car, which was thought to be in the offing for 2009, should be available for retail in 2010.
More interesting, it's promised to offer an all-electric drivetrain to be used in other cars with co-branding. It's called the Zennergy drivetrain and includes a unique power source from Texas-based company EEStor.
Zenn's partner EEStor has been developing a new type of ultra-capacitor for electricity storage for years. Both companies claim the system can deliver more power and offer a longer range than the typical lithium-ion battery used in electric cars.
People have been skeptical about this "super battery" that EEStor refers to as Electrical Energy Storage Units' (EESUs) and has been promising to Zenn, to GM for its Volt, and to Lockheed Martin.
In April 2007 Zenn spent about $2.5 million for a 3.8 percent share in EEStor, and as an investor has the right to obtain the first units it produces. In 2008, Zenn told CNET it expected prototypes of the EESUs to be sent over to them by the end of the year.
The company's latest statements on the matter indicate that Zenn has its prototypes but is waiting for EEStor to complete a "full-scale production facility" in order to make its product commercially scalable.
Specifically, Zenn has its part of the prototypes for both the CityZenn and Zennergy drivetrain complete, but not the all-important power source component from EEStor, according to Catherine Scrimgeour, public-affairs specialist at Zenn.
"While we do have prototypes of the platform for the CityZenn, we do not yet have the component that is EEStor's Electrical Energy Storage Units--the EESUs. That tech is still in development," said Scrimgeour.
"We do have the Zennergy drivetrain prototype, and the drive train would normally include the power source, but we don't have that component yet. So to be fair, I guess you could say we don't have the whole drivetrain done yet," she said.
In its annual shareholders meeting on March 25, which was broadcast to the public as a podcast, Zenn discussed a stock option plan and shareholders' rights plan. It didn't offer much information on how things are actually going with the EEStor part of the project other than to say it's in talks with a partner that it will announce soon. Rick McGraw, Zenn's chairman, asked investors to trust him that an excellent management team has the situation in hand. Said McGraw:
Many of this (projects') initiatives, while considerably advanced, are not 100 percent complete, and as such, certain details cannot yet be fully disclosed to you and other interested stakeholders without potentially compromising (the project). I know there's a thirst for (an) update, but just recognize that their are limits to what we can say and discuss for a whole bunch of reasons.
Zenn CEO Ian Clifford offered a true-believer-style pep talk:
With the commercialization of EEStor's game-changing electronic-storage technology, Zenn will take the central role in enabling electric (driving) around the world with a business model that can best be described as an Intel Inside energy solution custom-tailored to work with any and all (original equipment manufacturer) platforms.
We'll partner with the automotive industry and governments around the world to ensure that electric vehicles are available to all consumers, both as new, highly capable vehicles and conversions of existing internal combustion vehicles to Zennergy drive.
The Piaggio MP3 500 scooter is a three-wheeler with two wheels at the front.
(Credit: Piaggio)Piaggio Group Americas, a subsidiary of the Italian manufacturer known for the Vespa, has a highway legal plug-in hybrid scooter in the works that could be available in the U.S. for early 2010.
While Paolo Timoni, the president and CEO of Piaggio Group Americas, has made mention of this plan in interviews, the company has made no formal announcement so it's been hard to gauge whether you can hold it to the timeline.
The plug-in hybrid version in the works is a modified version of Piaggio's MP3 500 (the Gilera Fuoco in Europe). The MP3 500 scooter in plug-in hybrid version will get about 140 mpg, have a range of 40 miles per charge when running on electric power alone, and be priced between $8,000 and $9,000, according to Timoni.
For those unfamiliar with the MP3 500, it's a scooter/motorcycle hybrid that attempts to get rid of the girlie, Audrey Hepburn image of the Vespa. It offers a little more speed and heft, but with two front wheels maintains the stability of a scooter. There is even a switch so drivers don't have to balance themselves at stoplights.
Timoni acknowledged in one interview that one obstacle his company has had to overcome is that U.S. cities are not yet scooter-friendly. Rather than offering preferred parking spaces, most U.S. drivers are faced with the same parking options as car drivers.
But the company was encouraged by its 2008 U.S. success, according to Timoni. While sales were down in the last quarter, Piaggio Group Americas saw a 61 percent increase in the sales of scooters and 15 percent increase in motorcycles overall for 2008. The company attributed the good year to the gas price increase, convenience, and the lower cost of scooters generally compared to cars.
If the company makes good on Timoni's promise, as HybridCars points out, this would mean Piaggio is going to beat Chevy and its Volt to market by about six months.
While there are all-electric plug-in scooters, a hybrid would give riders the flexibility of filling up at the pump in an emergency. They wouldn't be stuck without juice, or have to time when they next need to charge up at an outlet.
Whether a scooter is an actual competitor to a rain-proof car is arguable. But you could see a plug-in hybrid scooter as an option for urbanites and commuters who park daily at the train station near their house.
Piaggio did not immediately return a request for comment.
Battery material made by Gerbrand Ceder and Byoungwoo Kang could lead to quicker charging portable devices.
(Credit: Donna Coveney/MIT)Engineers at MIT have made a breakthrough that could translate into smaller, lighter, and faster-charging lithium ion batteries, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced Wednesday.
Gerbrand Ceder, the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT; aided by Byoungwoo Kang, a graduate student in materials science and engineering, have made a small battery that can be fully charged or discharged in 10 to 20 seconds.
A detailed explanation on how they did this has been published in the March 12 issue of Nature, but here is a brief recap of what they essentially accomplished.
While lithium ion batteries have high energy densities, they are also known for their inability to gain and discharge energy quickly. That is why it commonly takes hours to recharge the battery on a plug-in electric vehicle.
Electric vehicle proponents have been struggling with this battery issue, some coming up with clever ways around it. Better Place, for example, came up with the idea of drivers saving time by swapping-out discharged car batteries for fully charged ones at electric vehicle stations.
Ceder and Kang experimented with the way lithium ions move in and around lithium iron phosphate, a material commonly used in lithium ion batteries. They worked with it to develop a new surface structure that gets ions to move more quickly from one place to another. They compare their project to building a beltway that goes around a city to avoid traffic, but has tunnels that let you drop in to exactly where you need to be.
"The ability to charge and discharge batteries in a matter of seconds rather than hours may open up new technological applications and induce lifestyle changes," according to Ceder and Kang's paper in Nature.
In addition to being significantly faster, batteries made with their material degraded much less than usual lithium ion batteries after repeated discharges and recharges during testing. Because of that, they believe their batteries could be made with less material making them lighter and smaller.
Because their invention is not a completely new material, but rather a change to the way it's structured, the researchers said in a statement that their material could be implemented into commercial batteries within 2 to 3 years.
