EVs

Chrysler unveiled three EVs this week, one from each of its divisions. There’s a Jeep SUV EV, a Chrysler minivan EV, and a Dodge sports car EV, all slated to go on sale in the U.S. in 2010 as 2011 models. If the automaker can hit that mark, Chrysler’s EVs will beat the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt to market. I bet that fact didn’t escape Chrysler execs.

Chrysler’s EV development team, ENVI, promises that these vehicles will allow drivers to go about their merry way without making major changes to their driving style. The Jeep, for instance, will be a body-on-frame four-wheel-drive vehicle, while the sporty Dodge will be rear-wheel drive.

The vehicles don’t have names yet, but Chrysler has published specs:

Dodge EV:

• 200 kW = 268 hp
• 0-60 in under 5 seconds
• Top speed 120+ mph
• 150-200 mile range

Jeep EV:

• 200 kW = 268 hp
• 0-60 in 9.0 seconds
• Two- or four-wheel drive
• 400 miles (with help from a small gasoline engine)

Chrysler EV:

• 190 kW = 268 hp
• 0-60 in 8.7 seconds
• Seats seven
• 400 miles (with help from a small gasoline engine)

Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC.

Tesla Motors, the fine folks who brought us the all-electric Roadster sports car, are working on a five-passenger sedan called the S. The company plans on bringing the car to market in 2010, after its California manufacturing plant is complete.

While the Roadster was based on a Lotus platform, the S will be completely developed in-house. It will also be a bit cheaper than the $100k Roadster, since its body will be formed from aluminum rather than carbon fiber. According to Autocar, a U.K. site, there will be three models of the S available: a 160-mile range for $60,000; a 220-mile range for $68,000; and a future 300-mile range version that hasn’t had a price pinned on it yet.

Tesla will use the same lithium-ion battery technology that powers the Roadster in the S series, and it expects to eventually sell 20,000 S cars a year. If the California company can pull off building a four-door EV sedan for $60,000, the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt — which still requires gasoline and will likely retail for more than $40,000 — may have a serious challenger on its alternative-fuel hands.

The image is obviously from Autocar.co.uk.

Darryl Hannah is at it again. Hollywood’s eco-warrior extraordinaire (and actress) plans to convert Elle Driver’s 1980 T-top Trans Am from gasoline to electric power. It’s like my two favorite things melding into one: the Quentin Tarantino two-part modern-day samurai flick “Kill Bill” and alternative-powered automobiles. Maybe they could program the horn to play that song Elle whistles as she walks down the hallway in her nurse’s uniform to kill The Bride.

Hannah recently auctioned off her biodiesel-powered El Camino, so she has some experience with converting ’70s iron to new-millenium power. The trouble with the Trans Am will be its weight. EVs are typically tiny and light, neither of which describe the black American road hog from the film. The batteries will be under a lot of stress to power such heavy car, and Hannah admits in the Denver Post that she doesn’t expect it to have much of a range.

The power she’ll use to charge up the car will be as clean as it gets, though. Hannah says she’ll use her own solar power (as opposed to her more ethereal star power) from her off-the-grid Colorado ranch.

Reva’s teensy electric car, the G-Wiz, is the best-selling EV in the U.K. The car has an owner’s club, with nearly 600 members so far, and you can park it in London for free, which saves Brit commuters nearly $2000 a year. Retailer GoinGreen can get you into a brand-new G-Wiz of your very own for about $18,000.

Granted, the cars are weird-looking. Weirder than a Smart ForTwo, anyway, but maybe not as weird as a Zap Xebra. If they’re going to drive such strange-looking vehicles, Londoners seem to think they might as well go all the way. The cars are often subjected to custom paint jobs and marketing wraps, as if they weren’t getting enough attention from passers-by.

Here, for example, is a car covered in what looks like parking garage locations:

This example is covered in lightning bolts, though it tops out at 50 mph:

GoinGreen has even partnered with a designer to produce a special-edition G-Wiz featuring one of her designs, Sunlight Through Leaves, which was on display at the London auto show this year:

So, my fellow Americans, let the Brits inspire you to fancy up your weird-looking green car, whether it’s an old Honda Insight with the covered rear wheels or a brand-new GEM with its space-age ovoid doors. Why stop at fuzzy dice and seat covers? These cheap neighborhood electric vehicles are crying out for you to put your personal stamp all over them.

Photos by Rain Rabbit, canonsnapper,  and jonanamary.

Last week, the Internets were abuzz with the marketing hype of Fosh Automotive, which promised to unveil an EV with self-regenerating batteries and an unlimited range. I emailed the company and was told to cool my jets — all would be revealed on Monday, August 18, but it had something to do with “solar like” panels and regenerative braking.

Monday came, and the curtains on the Web site stayed closed. It seems that Fosh has had some television interest, so they delayed the unveiling of this perpetual motion machine they’re calling the EVT-3 until next Monday, August 25. And Fosh’s predicted price of $25,000 is out the window, too. Estimated MSRP of the EVT-3 is over $50,000 now.

There are forums on the site, and posters seem none too happy to be shunned for television cameras. Post headings include “Why Not Show the Demo Video Now?” and “Ok good joke now where is the real car”. The FAQ says the on-sale date is November 28, 2008, but we probably shouldn’t hold our breath.

If the EVT-3 works as promised, it could be revolutionary. But Fosh’s false start isn’t inspiring confidence so far.

Mitsubishi announced that it has partnered with Pacific Gas and Electric to test the new all-electric i MiEV in California at the end of 2008. The utility company will test the four-passenger cars in the “real world,” and gauge the impact charging a fleet of EVs will have on the grid.

Similar testing with seven electric utility companies in Japan went so well that the company stepped up its EV program and will offer the i MiEV in Japan next summer. Global sales expectations for the car are so high that Mitsubishi has plans to build a lithium-ion battery factory that will open in April 2009. The plant will produce enough batteries to equip 10,000 vehicles.

The i MiEV is based on the Japanese-market i-series mini car, but its 47-kW motor is said to have better acceleration and performance than the 64-hp engine in the gasoline-powered version. Though a quick conversion shows 47 kW to be equal to 64 hp, electric motors have 100% torque available as soon as you press the throttle, making it seem quicker.

Keep an eye on PG&E and Mitsubishi to see how these cars play with California traffic and how soon they might reach U.S. consumers.

Nissan has commited itself to its Green Program 2010, and it keeps making strides toward meeting its goals. This week, it previewed its EV and hybrid technologies, though not any final designs for the cars these powertrains will power.

The electric vehicle will be based on an array of lithium-ion batteries installed under the floor to allow for maxium passenger and cargo space. Though no one outside the company knows what the EV might look like when it hits the market in 2010, it won’t look like anything Nissan currently offers, according to the company.

The hybrid will carry Nissan’s own, recently developed technology instead of the hybrid tech it’s been leasing from Toyota to power the Altima. The HEV will have regenerative braking and power assist like most hybrids on the road right now. The difference is in its parallel powertrain, which has two clutches to improve fuel efficiency, or so Nissan says.

Lotus Engineering, which I imagine looks like Q’s lab in the James Bond films, has found a solution to the problem of nearly silent electric motors: the Safe & Sound system. The Toyota Prius demonstration car has a speaker attached at the front of the car next to the radiator that emits a “realistic engine sound,” according to the company.

Earlier this year, groups like the National Federation of the Blind pointed out that blind people and their seeing-eye dogs rely on the sound of approaching cars to determine the safety of crossing the street. This spring, a boy on a bike was hit by a Prius, an accident his mother blamed on the silent electric motor (never mind that the car is not equipped with invisibility, like Wonder Woman’s jet). In reaction, people have been searching for a way to make quiet cars safer for pedestrians. One potential solution was the Vibering concept, which would sense hybrid and electric motors and tell the wearer when one is nearby.

Lotus’s system was ironically born from its noise-dampening technologies. Safe & Sound synthesizes the engine sound and varies it depending on speed so people waiting at a crosswalk or walking across a parking lot can hear the approaching vehicle. If it’s a hybrid, and it goes fast enough to engage the gasoline engine, the system automatically shuts off. Also, once the car passes, the sound is no longer heard.

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota — just up the road from this week’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally — one Harley-Davidson dealership has taken a bold step in the future of bikes. J&L Harley-Davidson has added Vectrix electric motorscooters to the mix on its showroom floor.

A recent story in the Argus Leader said Harley riders were open to the idea of an electric bike. The browsers quoted in the story didn’t say they were ready to give up their hardtails and ape-hangers for a 60-mph electric scooter, but they did like that the Vectrix was a zero-emissions vehicle.

Keep in mind, though, that Harleys are no slouch in the mileage department themselves. The 2009 Sportster 883 Low, to pick a model at random, gets 54 mpg in the city and 60 when you get your motor runnin’ and head out on the highway. But what comes out the other end, while hard to pin down with exact numbers, is apparently bad enough to warrant a California emissions fee of a couple hundred bucks.

Toyota’s researchers in Japan are working on using zinc air batteries for powering EVs. That’s right — batteries that create electricity out of thin air.

When oxygen from the air around us is introduced into a battery cell, it reacts with a zinc electrode to create electricity. The materials to build these batteries are cheap, and they have high energy density. So why aren’t these things powering your Mini already? Because not even a Mini is small enough to be powered by zinc air batteries. Right now, the most common use for zinc air is in hearing aids.

Despite the small size, Toyota hopes that the move from lead-acid and even lithium-ion batteries to zinc-air will blow open the doors of the EV market, providing the range and speed consumers want from a daily driver. There is a lot of possibility here — it wasn’t that long ago that li-ion batteries were only found in cell phones and laptops, not 100+ mph supercars like the Tesla Roadster.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama released a plan this week that aims to change U.S. energy policies and usage. Part of that plan is to get 1 million American-built plug-in hybrid cars — “cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon,” according to the senator’s PDF — to market by 2015.

In the 8-page speech, he mentions an emergency energy rebate of $500 per individual and $1000 for a couple to help with the cost of fuel and food. Where will this money come from? Big Oil’s very own pockets. That seems difficult, to say the least. He also wants to increase fuel economy standards by 4% each year, convert all White House vehicles to PHEVs in his first year, and make at least half of the federal government’s auto purchases PHEVs or EVs by 2012.

As part of his desire to increase “green collar” jobs, Obama wants all new vehicles to be flex-fuel capable, and he would work toward creating the next generation of sustainable biofuels. He also says he would work to keep American auto jobs in the country and encourage automakers to focus on fuel-efficient cars.

He also backs smart-grid technology of the kind Boulder, Colorado, is experimenting with. His plan goes much further than just car-related points, including mentions of controversial subjects like safer nuclear power and clean coal. But some of his other points are more common-sense, like assisting in weatherizing a million homes annually.

It’s not the most invigorating reading, that plan, but it’s important to know what ideas these guys have for our future. To see Republican candidate John McCain’s energy speech from June, click here.

Honda and Mitsubishi have both launched microsites on the Internet dedicated to their latest entries into the green-car market. Honda is preparing the world for its line of hybrid vehicles on its microsite, while Mitsubishi is laying the groundwork for its i MiEV concept.

Honda is expected to debut its new hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, a five-door hatchback. The as-yet-unnamed car will be offered only as a hybrid, unlike its Civic and Accord stablemates. Honda also has a hybrid sports car that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show this year, but the CR-Z, as it’s called, has a long way to go to get from car shows to showroom-floor.

Mitsubishi’s microsite introduces the i MiEV, an electric vehicle currently in fleet testing. The car is small, not much bigger than a Smart ForTwo, though Mitsu says it seats four. The car’s lithium-ion batteries are good for 80 mph max and nearly 100 miles, making it a more feasible commuter car than neighborhood EVs like the Zap Xebra or Zenn NEV.

CRAFTY BONUS: Mitsubishi has a page full of paper craft plans and instructions for building models of its cars, including the i MiEV. Seems like an excellent way to recycle that useless meeting agenda someone left on your desk this morning.

Us Portlanders who follow these things knew this was coming, but it’s still exciting when it actually happens. Portland General Electric officially unveiled its first shiny, new curbside charging station, one of several to be installed over the next couple of months in Portland and Salem.

PGE partnered with local company Shorepower Technologies to build the charging stations, which for now offer free fill-ups to EVs and plug-in hybrids, like the Toyota Prius that happened to be in town this week for a green conference at the art museum.

The chargers have a 220-volt plug tucked inside a nozzle like you’d find at a gasoline filling station, earning the designers points for cleverness. Though there are fewer than 300 electric vehicles registered in Oregon, there are nearly 30,000 regular Priuses. PGE and its partners take Portland’s Prius love to mean that we’re likely to see a surge in EVs and PHEVs in the next decade, and they want to be ready with the infrastructure when it happens.

We were, after all, ranked third in a national listing of “greenest” drivers, after Seattle and Burlington, Vermont. Not to rub it in or anything.

It had to happen sometime, but did anyone think it would be so soon? Jet Black Tesla #6 was involved in a fender-bender in San Francisco, with its nose under a Mercedes-Benz and it’s rear snuggled up to a Toyota Camry. The company thinks the car is repairable, according to Darryl Siry, Tesla’s marketing VP.

Read all about it, and see the pics taken at the scene 10 minutes after the accident, on Wired’s blog.

Now that Mini is going electric, everybody wants a piece of the action. Smart has a test EV running around in Europe right now, and while Tata has long had plans to introduce an electric car, they’re going ahead with a diesel this year.

The electric Smart ForTwo, known as the Smart ed, has a 41-hp electric motor and sodium-nickel-chloride batteries. It gets about 70 miles per charge, and has a maximum speed of 70 mph, which makes it a reasonable commuter EV, even if your commute involves highways. Price and market haven’t been announced, but they do expect it to go on sale in 2010. Cross your fingers that it comes your way — and you can afford it.

While we may have to wait a while for the EV version of the Tata Nano, the diesel version will hit the Indian market in October. The hatchback will go a rocking 50 mph from its little 33-hp, 2-cylinder diesel engine, but it gets 52 mpg city, 61 highway. The added efficiency will drive up the regular Nano’s price of $2,500 to about $4,200.