NEVs

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Government in Action: Three-Wheeled EVs and Hydrogen Fuel

October 21, 2009 in Biz News, EVs, Hydrogen, New Tech by kristen | No comments

These are your tax dollars at work, people. (Unless you live outside the U.S. But your tax dollars are doing something equally worthy, I’m sure.)

Let’s start with the electric vehicles: After Energy Secretary Steven Chu eliminated funding for hydrogen fuel from his budget, the Senate has reinstated it for the department’s 2010-2011 budget. Chu prefers straight-up battery electric vehicles for the future of greener transportation, but he says he’ll work with Congress on hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric vehicles.

Speaking of electric vehicles, you may have noticed that many of the EVs on the road today, especially neighborhood electric vehicles, have three wheels instead of four. Thanks to some heavy lobbying by Aptera and its three-wheeled brethren, Congress has extended research and development loans to manufacturers of safe, high-mileage vehicles, even if they are short a wheel.

Requirements for the loan:

  • Vehicles must be fully enclosed
  • Vehicles must meet all the same safety standards as conventional vehicles
  • Vehicles must carry two adults
  • Vehicles must average 75 mpg or equivalent

Row, Row, Row Your Car: The HumanCar

May 5, 2009 in Consumer News, EVs, Future Cars, MPG, New Tech, small cars by kristen | No comments

Oregon-based HumanCar Inc. made some big announcements recently — including the fact that the company plans to build its HumanCar neighborhood electric vehicle and sell it to the public. The open-topped car may not seem too practical in rainy Oregon, but its lead-acid batteries can store energy to be used at home, should you need a little extra juice.

Where, you might ask, does the human come into play in the HumanCar? While the batteries can be charged at any standard 110-volt outlet, they can also be topped off by people power. The car seats up to four humans, and each seat has an oar-like handle. The occupants can “row” the car for a bit to generate energy that can be stored in the cells and used later.

The HumanCar NEV is limited to 35 mph, but the FM-4 is limited only by your good health. It’s powered solely by people.

Peapod Debuts Today

April 22, 2009 in Uncategorized by kristen | No comments

Chrysler gives the U.S. a present for Earth Day: the adorable Peapod debuts today, adding a dose of design to the neighborhood electric vehicle segment.

NEVs, as these little cars are known, aren’t quick, with a top speed of about 25 mph and a range of 40 miles or less. It’s enough for most commuters, with the bonus of zero emissions and potentially low-impact fuel, if the electricity used to charge the batteries comes from clean sources like wind farms.

The Peapod in particular will have four seats (though I’m betting only two of them are usable by humans), be available in seven colors, and be available for purchase in October at $12,500. Again, this puts it right in line with other NEVs on the market, like cars from ZENN and ZAP.

The Peapod Mobility Project comes out of Chrysler’s old GEM electric vehicle group, which is headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota. The smiling Peapod will be manufactured at GEM HQ, making it a made-in-the-USA EV. Happy Earth Day!

The Chrysler/GEM Peapod EV

October 1, 2008 in EVs, Future Cars, small cars by kristen | 1 comment

2009 GEM Peapod

Fuel-efficient small cars like the Smart ForTwo and EVs like the Zap Xebra have a built-in cuteness due to their diminutive size. But the 2009 GEM Peapod acutally made me say, out loud, “Oh! They’re adorable.”

Like the Xebra, the Peapod is a neighborhood-electric vehicle, or NEV, so it can’t do highway speeds or ferry your family to Yellowstone for vacation (unless you live less than 30 miles from Yellowstone and have a very small family). Surprisingly, the Peapod is longer and taller than the Smart ForTwo, and even has rear seats. But the NEV’s top speed is 25 mph, where the gasoline-powered ForTwo can do a highway-capable 90 mph.

The Peapod comes from those eco-innovation lovers over at Chrysler’s ENVI outfit, the same folks who brought us the Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge EV designs in late September. The design of the latest little EV is completely new, unlike, say, the Jeep or the Town and Country minivan EVs, and features a lot of glass and a shape straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I’ve blogged about GEM before, back in the dark ages of EVs (early 2008). With the advent of the Peapod, though, the decade-old, North Dakota-based subsidiary of Chrysler got a new-ish name, GreenEcoMobility. Whatever they call themselves, this is a big improvement over GEM’s glorified golfcarts of old. And by old, I mean six months ago.