Gas 2.0

Let the movie stars blow their royalties on fancy, high end electric cars.

I’m fine in with my Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar, and would be equally so in ZAP’s four-door, all-electric, three-wheeled Xebra Sedan, especially if I lived somewhere with only three relatively moderate seasons and not where there are too many hills. ZAP, or Zero Air Pollution, has been a leader in advanced transportation technologies since 1994, at least those vehicles that are both practical and affordable to us non-celebrity types.

While presenting on Ecopreneuring at the Solar Living Institute’s SolFest in Hopland, California, this past August, I had an opportunity to drive Zap’s Xebra. It’s amazing the difference a few decades can make in the driving experience: from CitiCar to Xebra. The Xebra, pronounced “zebra,” is a lot smoother and its breaking system more consistent than my CitiCar (admittedly, a 30-year-old collector vehicle). This Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) has a top speed of 40 mph, but I shouldn’t be driving over that anyway given the posted speed limits in town. Having driven a Geo Metro for years, driving a ZAP Xebra felt almost the same (at low speeds), but without the fumes, fuel and gas station stops.

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This fall, Texas teenager Lucas Laborde will be driving to school in an electric car he built himself. The 17 year old spent last summer converting a conventional gas-powered car to run on batteries. Total cost? Around $10,000.

Luke’s EV is based on a kit car, known as a Bradley GT II, which his father bought on eBay for just $5000 splashing out a further $5700 on electric conversion parts and batteries. The rest was left up to Luke’s ingenuity and technical know-how.

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Editor’s Note: This post is a response to Anthony Cefali’s recent article “Where We’re Going We Won’t Even Need Lithium: A Neurotic Look at Our Energy Future.”

Recently, fellow Gas 2.0 author Anthony Cefali wrote an excellent post questioning the sustainability of lithium-ion batteries into the future due to concerns over the supply of lithium.

In this world, it’s easy to argue that one can never be too neurotic about our future, as our species has repeatedly shown a lack of foresight into the consequences of its actions. However, in this case, I must argue against his views on lithium’s sustainability. Lithium-ion batteries will only be superceded by superior technology, not by lithium shortage.
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Editor’s Note: Gas 2.0 writer Karen Pease has written a response to this post entitled “Lithium Counterpoint: No Shortage For Electric Cars.”

So I stumbled across a time machine the other day and made my way into the future. I noticed something rather bizarre while I was riding my hover-board and wearing a pair of Air McFlys. First I couldn’t pump any more gas into my Delorean, so I asked the good people of the undisclosed future what they used for fuel. They used lithium-powered batteries, and their supply was running out…

For the record, I support all forms of alternative energy.  Anything but oil I say, it’s a relic of the Cold War as far as I’m concerned.  But what will be the future of energy?  Well, my time machine wasn’t completely accurate.  While I sincerely hope that we can establish an electric infrastructure, it appears that the market will decide our energy future (for more on the economics, read my last post).

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German car-maker Audi has confirmed that it plans to launch a small electric city car, most likely based on the VW Up! concept (pictured).

Speaking at last weeks Paris Motor Show, Audi management board member, Peter Schwarzenbauer, said, “we will offer a pure electric car.” He also revealed that the electric Audi “will not be based on the A1,” the firm’s premium supermini.

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The island state’s small size makes for short drives, which are perfect for electric vehicles, and now an innovative network of recharging stations will make the cars even more convenient.

California-based company Better Place will operate the stations on a subscription-based system. Owners could sign-up for a monthly plan or choose to pay as they use. The company will own the batteries, which can run upwards to $11,000, and loan them out to drivers.

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A while back, Toshiba unveiled their first foray into advanced lithium ion batteries — the Super-Charge ion Battery, or SCiB. Over the past few days, new information about their cells has emerged. With a 5-minute, 90% charge time and 5000-6000 charge cycles with minimal loss of capacity, it seems a solid competitor to AltairNano’s much vaunted nano-titanate cells.

Toshiba has already demonstrated a laptop that does just that, charging to 90% capacity in 5 minutes. This compares favorably to lithium iron phosphate technology, which should not be charged faster than 15-20 minutes. A partnership with Schwinn is to ship an electric bicycle (”Tailwind”) early next year using an SCiB pack to give a 30 minute recharge time (assumedly slower to avoid the need for a cooling system on the larger pack).

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SSC, the producers of the world’s fastest production car, the Ultimate Aero, has announced plans for an all-electric version of the record breaking model. The Ultimate Aero EV (Electric Vehicle) is currently in development, with a 500 bhp version slated for release as early as late 2009 and a 1000 bhp 4WD EV also under consideration.

Sounds impressive huh? However, that’s not all… the press release also states “the drive train under development will feature a revolutionary power source allowing for extended time between charging intervals with the possibility of several years between charging.”

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Editors note: this is a guest contribution by Adam Shake

When I was a kid, my buddy Carl’s parents had a golf cart.  It was a small blue one with outdoor carpeting on the floor boards.  Open to the sky with a freshly charged battery and it begged to be driven, and oh boy, did we drive it.  A bit too long as it turns out, and there was Carl’s Dad, waiting on the front steps when we arrived home 2 hours late.

The only thing that could have made that day better would have been if the golf cart had been a Chrysler Pea-Pod.

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Chrysler has announced that it is working on an electric powered version of its Voyager MPV, which could be put into commercial production as early as 2010. The model will most likely be based on the ecoVoyager concept (pictured), first seen at this years Detroit Motor Show. Details are limited at this stage, but it seems that the zero-emission car will have a 300-mile range - pretty impressive for an MPV capable of carrying an entire family and their luggage.

The company has already stated its intentions not to be left behind the competition when it comes to green and fuel efficient vehicle technologies. The electric MPV is the first in a series of three possible production electric cars that will be viewed by dealers later this month, with the one that’s best received going into production first.

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