Creating the Infrastructure of Innovation
August is hotter than ever for those of us who envision a future where the streets are populated with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles and powered by renewable energies.
The month began with the unveiling of Nissan’s Leaf electric vehicle. On Wednesday, President Obama and the Department of Energy announced $2.4 billion in grants to fuel the development of the electric vehicle industry and reduce our nation’s dependence on oil.
Next week opens with the second annual Plug-In 2009 in Long Beach, Calif.
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Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of drivers across the country are turning in their gas-guzzling SUVs as part of the Cash for Clunkers program with more to follow should the Senate approve additional funding.
Who knows what can or will happen by month’s end?
Excuse the cliché, but it seems a paradigm shift has occurred since last year’s Plug-In event. No longer are we debating whether electric vehicles will come to the market, but how big a splash they will make when they do arrive in showrooms and on our streets.
Among the winners are many of The Great Electric Car Race communities who are competing to be the market leaders for electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure.
That includes Portland and fellow Western cities of Seattle, San Diego and Tucson. They were among the cities that – with Nissan and eTec – received a $100 million grant to bring 5,000 electric vehicles and upwards of 12,750 charging stations to their communities.
Two Oregon companies, EnerG2 and Cascade Sierra Solutions, also received about $44 million to produce materials for ultracapacitors, and for electrifying truck stops. A third company, Entek, will partner with Michigan battery manufacturer Johnson Controls on producing nickel-cobalt-metal battery cells and packs.
Also on Wednesday, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed into law a $1,500 state income tax credit for buyers of plug-in cars.
A lot of people can be, and will be, congratulated for making all this happen. This includes communities such as Portland and the state of Oregon where being green and being sustainable is part of the culture of its residents and businesses. We call it The Oregon Way.
Ours is one such business. Optimization Technologies is a minority- and veteran-owned company that is based in the Portland metro area and has been in business nearly a decade. As our name implies, we seek to optimize technology to create cleaner, greener and more sustainable solutions for our clients, mostly in the aerospace sector.
Our founders designed aerospace software programs that made sure commercial planes flew at speeds and altitudes that conserved fuel and arrived on time. Our employees have helped digitize cockpits thereby eliminating more than 300 pounds of paper in the cockpit and also saving on fuel.
We built our charging stations – the OpConnect Electric Vehicle Charging System – around our innovative technology that is now being used in commercial jets. We believe our intelligent OpConnect stations are more sophisticated and a better value than any other charging station on the market.
Our charging stations meet all industry and safety standards. They also can serve up to four vehicles at a time and support 120v and 240v charging.
The OpConnect charging stations also feature time-of-day charging capabilities so that drivers take advantage of cheaper energy costs and renewable energy sources. Drivers and fleet operators can receive an e-mail or text message when their battery charge is complete or interrupted. They can also manage their accounts from our OpConnect and MyOpConnect websites.
We are excited and proud to have a role in changing the transportation landscape. To paraphrase President Obama’s Wednesday speech in Indiana, we are committed to being a leader in the development and deployment of the next generation of clean-energy vehicles and their supporting infrastructure.
“We’ve got to imagine a future in which new American cars are powered by new American innovation,” the president told Indiana workers. “This is not just an investment to produce vehicles today; this is an investment in our capacity to develop new technologies tomorrow.”
In Oregon, everyone we talk with – from our prospective customers to our dry-cleaners –believes electric vehicles and the infrastructure that supports them can drive our communities, our state and our nation to a sustainable economic future.
We at Optimization Technologies want to provide an affordable, user-friendly solution that addresses the needs of our customers, whether they are local municipalities or utilities, commercial businesses, or private residences. Ultimately, we want to ensure electric vehicle drivers have a recognizable and reliable source for their battery charging needs.
We will be exhibiting our OpConnect charging station at next week’s Plug-In 2009 event. Please stop by, say hello and share with us your thoughts about our solution. We believe you will like what you see.
As we like to say, the OpConnect charging stations are built for today and ready for tomorrow.
Nathan Isaacs is the Business Development Manager at Optimization Technologies.
Now all we need is another couple of thousand of these charging stations.
Theme : Nissan Leaf will save the world, No Need For Heartbreaking Wars !
Some say the Leaf and the i-MiEV have a cruising range of 160 km on one battery charge, that is about one-third of the distance a gas-powered car can cover on a full tank of fuel.
In 21st century, home, workplace, or stores etc also serve as a power station as electricity is everywhere. And cars with a full tank of fuel don’t help MPG, as well.
In this economy, fuel price is hovering around $60 to $75 a barrel, which indicates the actual value might be much the same as the peak price last year, and it will continue to spiral up unquestionably.
All it takes for the entire world to live in peace would be to change our antique notion as technology is already here, energy independence lies in people’s will and attitude. Today, the size and scope of investing in future energy will determine the future and fate of a nation.
1. The range of terrific EVs are sufficient to meet the daily driving needs of 95% of drivers ((The vast majority of people (95%) drive less than 160/km a day)).
2. What’s more, as for long trip needs, all but Americans and many of developed nations have existing automobiles, in this regard, EVs are best suited to their daily use until the infrastructure comes into wide use.
3. The price has not yet been announced, but Nissan says it will be priced similarly to a well-equipped sedan in the vicinity of the high $20,000 and with government tax break.
4. Manufacturing volume, innovative battery technology will drive down cost.
5. Little maintenance fee.
6. MILES PER GALLON : MORE THAN 10 VS 1 (Leaf : 367MPG) compared with general combustion engine cars.
Even excellent hybrid cars are not comparable to EVs in light of fuel economy.
7. EVs will likely be less expensive for people to drive with low-cost nighttime charging.
Sometimes EVs can be charged at workplaces or stores etc.
8. Batteries will become more efficient on the whole and their price will drop, whereas the oil will simply go up and up as it becomes more scarce. As simple as that.
9. EVs are simple and felt smoother and more torquey than the petrol models, and quiet, fun to drive.
10. Better Place is partnering with Nissan to create the charging infrastructure and a system for swapping depleted batteries for fully charged batteries in less than 2 minutes. This can extend the range of the vehicle to hundreds of miles.
11. Nissan has developed an IT system for its EVs, connecting the vehicle’s on-board transmitting unit to a global data centre to support EV driving 24 hours 7 days a week.
The system shows the driving radius on a maximum range display under the current state of charge and calculates if the vehicle is within range of a pre-set destination. The navigation system points out the latest information on available charging stations within the current driving range
12.. It can be recharged off 240-volt mains in eight hours or 80 per cent charged on special quick-charge “pumps” in about 30 minutes.
13. It features a timer function that will start the car’s air-conditioner or battery charging at a specified time to benefit from more favorable electricity rates by a mobile phone or the Internet, as well. An SMS can be sent when the battery is fully charged and the car ready.
14. The 24 kilowatt hours laminated compact lithium-ion battery pack is placed under the vehicle floor for more efficient packaging. The battery layout also allows smooth underfloor air-flow which helps reduce drag.
15. The regenerative brake system employed to recharge the battery during deceleration and braking extends the driving range to more than 160 kilometres (depending on driving style and conditions) under a full charge.
16. Durability is achieved by employing an additional frame for the battery pack to significantly improve the rigidity of the platform.
17. The fully-electric drivetrain features a high-performance motor and a compact lithium-ion battery with high power output and energy capacity.
Once the U.S. switches the ‘unsustainable’ war and military wasting like health care wasting into investing in a smart grid infrastructure, the entire world will live in peace. U.S. spend more on military than the next 25 countries combined.