Electric & Alt Fuel Vehicles, Part 4

[Darell]

[ QUOTE ]
Wolfen said:
Carroll Shelby interviewed in Green Car Journal

Maybe somebody else posted this link? An interesting position from the Guru of Go!

[/ QUOTE ]
That's an awesome article that I hadn't seen yet. This from Mr. Muscle-car. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[Darell]

Ikendu gets the credit for finding this one.

The benefits of PHEVs.

 

[gadget_lover]

Has anyone else downloaded and read the 250 page document referenced in Darell's post? I thought it was interesting that they modeled it in a computer instead of making real world prototypes. Of course, that was back in 2001/2002 and it is a consortium that includes the power companies and US auto makers.

Daniel

 

[Darell]

Daniel - I haven't read the huge doc... by the way you said "anybody else" - does that mean you did? Anything good in there that we should know?

In the meantime, check out Jay Leno's new E-ride

 

[dukeleto]

Oh boy, I loved the "Courrege bulle" shown at the Monaco show,
Darell. Thanks for the link!

Olivier

 

[gadget_lover]

I have to admit that I only read parts of it. I didn't find a lot of meat that I could use. The basic assumtions were kind of interesting, for instance the assertion that if night-time power usage went up only natural gas would be used for generating the needed power.

I may have missed it, but I did not see where they validated the models that they were using. That does not mean their models were wrong. I was just taught that you should test the extrapolations of a model at some point. For a few million dollars I would have thought they'd at least throw a few thousand dollars worth of batteries in the trunk of a Prius.

It was worth reading.

Daniel

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Hot Damn!

They are working on more mainstream E cars!!!

Go Jay Leno!!!

 

[dukeleto]

I came across this article concerning a hybrid prototype; while interesting, I'm almost surprised that their forecast consumption is not lower!
I've saved you the trouble of converting units: 2 liters/100km is about 117mpg, which, although it sounds alot, is not amazingly lower than some total-ice prototypes that being designed here in Europe.
Still, better than the 20 or so mpg that some of those commodores give you /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[gadget_lover]

I was excited at first by the hybrid prototype. Then I noticed a few things that were kind of negative...

1) the "prototype" is a mock-up. It's made of foam. They are hoping to have a working model.

2) The roof comes up to the guy's stomach. That puts it about 3 foot tall. I can't get into 3 foot tall cars. Most folks over 40 don't try to get into cars that low. Well, except the ones with 18 year old girlfriends... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

3) The road clearance is about an inch. That means I can't park it in my driveway, nor would it make it acrosss town without hitting the undercarriage.

4) The writer shamelessly mixed future and past tense. You can't say that a block of foam (no matter how sexy) "was driven by two electric motors, one in each rear wheel, which were powered by a lithium ion battery pack." It's just foam, after all.

5) If the rest of the science is as shaky as their ergonomics and roadability, I don't hold any hope for their project.

Daniel

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I think someone is messing with me...

When I got fuel this morning, having recently changed to new Rotella T oil, and taking quite a bit of toe in out of my front end...

I saw 17.697 mpg. In an #8000+ beast of a truck! It HAS been trending up, with a few 16.5+ fill ups (before the toe change).

It doesn't seem to run all that much better. And the toe change seems to be good! It just must be overall easier miles?

 

[Darell]

OK, so I've been gone for a while... do you guys think it is vacation time for you too!? I think not.

Finally some (sort of) good news on the EV front:

Mitsubishi EV

A mainstream automaker is re-inserting the EV into the dialog of the market at a time when other automakers are crushing (or trying to crush) their older EVs.

It's unfortunate that the release date is five years away, and that Mitsubishi currently has no plans to offer the EVs outside of Japan. But introduction dates can be advanced, and sales plans can expand, based on customer demand.

It will be interesting to see if any of the other automakers pick up the challenge.

 

[ikendu]

This is all good!

Once people got their hands on a modern generation EV, I believe it will really take off (ala the Prius).

 

[IlluminatingBikr]

How come Toyota is advertising for the Prius, when they are all backordered?

 

[gadget_lover]

Well, Aaron, they are not backordered everywhere. If you are willing to look you can find them for immediate delivery.

It's also wise to push the ads to combat the Honda ads, since Toyota boosted the production last year. I don't know if they opened another factory yet. There were rumors last year that they were going to dedicate a factory to just the Prius.

April Prius sales were over 11,000.

 

[Darell]

[ QUOTE ]
ikendu said:
This is all good!

Once people got their hands on a modern generation EV, I believe it will really take off (ala the Prius).

[/ QUOTE ]
Heck, if "people" could get their hands on even the FIRST generation EVs, they'd take off! The key is actually making them available to "the people." Hasn't happened yet!

 

[Darell]

[ QUOTE ]
gadget_lover said:
Well, Aaron, they are not backordered everywhere. If you are willing to look you can find them for immediate delivery.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah... but they were still being advertised when they WERE 100% backordered. I haven't figured that one out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

And the flip side - they didn't advertise the Rav4EV, and then said they put more money into that advertisement campaign than they put into the Prius one. Go figure.

 

[Darell]

coprorate link to same.

 

[gadget_lover]

Darell, we were talking EV's just in another thread. Welcome back.



I'm not wild about Mitsubishi's choice. The press release is probably wrong, but it shows 40 ah at 14 volts. Huh?

I'm not a fan of the motor in wheel concept either. A small car is more impacted by the vibration and handling problems caused by unsprung weight. Adding a 40 pound motor will add a lot of weight that needs to be handled.

The press release does not talk about any type of battery technology beyond the generic term "Li-Ion". It might work well if they use the batteries with the new electrodes that Toshiba is going to produce next year. If they are the current models, I think they will still get only 500 charge cycles. Since the battery will not be discharged fully every day, the life should be usable (several years) but a major road block as far as wide-spread acceptance.

According to the press release, the Colt EV is not the first EV prototyped by Mitsubishi. With luck, there will be more.

Daniel

 

[idleprocess]

A 93-mile range might be great for the Japanese market, but it's nowhere near enough for the US market right now.

In-wheel motors will present one small problem - it might prevent owners from equipping their car with absurd custom rims and those stupid "thin" tires.

 

[Darell]

[ QUOTE ]
idleprocess said:
A 93-mile range might be great for the Japanese market, but it's nowhere near enough for the US market right now.

[/ QUOTE ]
While many folks require more than 100 mile range on a regular basis, there are millions upon millions of US vehicles that never travel that far in a day. But it isn't much to worry about - this car likely won't be sold in the US, so we're safe from that short-range risk once again! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
In-wheel motors will present one small problem - it might prevent owners from equipping their car with absurd custom rims and those stupid "thin" tires.

[/ QUOTE ]
A tragedy that I hadn't yet considered. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif