Recently in Electric Category

Our plan is to retrace the route of the automotive CEOs who went to Washington DC asking for government loans. But instead of looking for aid, we'd like to present President Obama with a homegrown solution to the transportation crisis. And instead of flying in a corporate jet, we're riding Brammo Enertia powercycles. We're just a couple of guys who work for Brammo, but we want to show that there's a better way to get from Point A to Point B. And we want to have a little fun while we're doing it. So join us as we surf from plug to plug in a quest to meet Obama, fueled by nothing more than electricity and the kindness of everyday Americans.

The pair are near Pittsburgh right now. You can follow them at shockingbarack.com or on twitter 'ShockingBarack'

For vehicles that need to stay on the road and don't have time for a charge, a pilot progam in Tokyo for swapping batteries in taxis.

It's an important test for Japan, too. While Japan's 60,000 taxis represent only 2% of all passenger vehicles on the road in the country, they emit 20% of all carbon dioxide due to their extensive travel on any given day.

From: @paulkuehnel Sent: Jul 4, 2009 10:55a

I'm diggin this new LED desk lamp. Its white, its bright, and it takes 3.2 watts http://myvid.me/7y3N

sent via UberTwitter

Every once in awhile gravity takes over and things tumble off my home computer work station. This time my aging Ikea lamp tumbled, did a back flip, missed the cat and met the floor in two pieces.

I took the opportunity to buy a new LED desk lamp that I found at Lowes. The unit puts out a nice white light.
.
The LED array replaces a 35 watt halogen bulb with 3.2 watts of energy consumption. With a 100,000 hours expected life, my lamp could be burning continuously for over 10 years.

About six months ago, I found this interesting clear white LED standard Edison socket bulb for my back porch at Ace Hardware in Manchester. It replaced a 40 watt bulb with a couple watts of consumption.

I recently noticed a wide selection of LED bulbs at Walmart, with specialty bulbs for track lighting.

Most of the currently commercially available LED bulbs will not work on dimmers, but they are out there for a price.

On Monday , the utility put into effect a 8.3 percent increase that tacks on an additional $6.97 per month for the average residential customer who uses 750 kilowatt hours of power, said Scott Surgeoner, a spokesman for FirstEnergy.

The increased rate will cover the transmission charges paid by Met-Ed directly to PJM Interconnection, an organization that coordinates the movement of power from a plant to utility substations. The increase in population across the area contributed to the hike in transmission charges, Surgeoner said. inyork.com/ydr (6/06)

Now if the population is increasing, you would think that the number of connections would result in higher overall transmission fees collected by a greater number of connections. Statistics from the U.S. government seem to indicate that over all electrical use is down as is generation to supply that electricity.

Along with a recession is a reduced demand for power.

US Sales: For February 2009, sales in the residential and commercial sectors decreased by 2.7 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, while sales in the industrial sector decreased by 13.8 percent, as compared to February 2008. For the month, total retail sales were 285.0 billion kWh, a decrease of 34.5 billion kWh from January 2009, and a decrease of 6.3 percent or 19.2 billion kWh from February 2008. Year-to-date 2009, sales were 604.5 billion kWh, a 4.0 percent decrease over the same period for 2008. eia.gov

Generation: Net generation in the United States dropped by 7.3 percent from February 2008 to February 2009. This was the seventh consecutive month that net generation was down compared to the same calendar month in the prior year and it was the second-largest percentage drop this decade. eia.org

Something doesn't add up here. Is PJM/FirstEnergy is scrambling to meet a "increased population" or is less revenue generating a need for profit from a monopoly in the face of conservation and recession?

The webpage with the cool statistics ( Google power meter - Greenmesh 2/09) is plugging into eight utilities and their customers by providing gadgets and info to track home electricity use. Check out the cool graphing.

The Google PowerMeter includes a that graph displays energy use hour by hour, and the users can view consumption totals day to day, across a week or more. The information displays in box that sits on a user's personalized iGoogle homepage.

One of the first principles of physics that I learned in high school is that matter cannot be created not destroyed, only changed from one form to another.

A burning stick is in essence a battery - energy from the sun is stored in plants and released through oxidation (burning). Energy storage will become as important an invention as generation as we run screaming from oil.

General Electric announced this week a $100 million investment to build a new factory in upstate New York that will make sodium based batteries -- a sector with huge potential, according to G.E.'s chairman and chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt. nyt.com

Sodium based batteries are highly efficient in large applications like storing power from wind turbines or in use in heavy demand applications like locomotives.

Ford experimented with sodium-sulfur batteries in the Ford "Ecostar" prototype EV in the early 1990's, but other battery types proved more suitable for smaller applications.

Energy efficiency can be increased when energy is cheap to produce, store, and released at a later time.

• Think of the batteries that work with a gasoline hybrid


• Think of water reservoir storage systems for electrical utilities


• Think of peak demand vs. low demand for a utility

Nissan is set to debut an all electric car in Japan in 2010. The car's drive system is reviewed by usatoday.com/money/autos

A 100 mile range for an electric car would satisfy the daily drive of most commuters. The car can be recharged over night (110 volts) or within minutes (480 volts).

US carmaker General Motors is joining with scooter maker Segway to make a new type of two-seat electric vehicle.

The prototype, which will be debuted in New York, is aimed at urban driving. GM aims to start making them by 2012.

The vehicle, named Puma, can go as far as 35 miles on a single charge. It will use lithium-ion batteries.

As alternative engine technology matures, manufacturers jockey for position and price.

Honda decides to cancel diesels for their larger platforms and evolve their gasoline hybrid offers into the larger cars. The price of the new low cost Honda Insight will not chase Toyota lowering the price of a Prius. automobilemag.com Consumers win with two low cost hybrid offerings.

Volkswagen has revealed its new Golf GTD, a sporty diesel version of the Golf. autoweek.com I recall a friend stuffing a diesel into a sporty 80's vintage VW GTI and thinking that I wanted one. Unlike the 80's a modern diesel has gobs of low end power, runs clean and would be alot of fun. Consider the premium cost of diesel fuel over gasoline before determining the dollars saved.

Chrysler LLC on Monday named U.S. based A123 Systems as the supplier of batteries for its first electric vehicles slated for debut in showrooms 2010. reuters Chrysler's plan like General Motor's Volt Electric car will use an efficient fossil fueled motor to charge batteries that will run an electric motor(s).

The electricTransit Connect (commercial truck) will be Ford's first full-electric vehicle and will be followed in 2011 by a 5-passenger car that will travel up to 120 miles per charge, according to Ford. Further details on that vehicle are unknown, but Ford is has been testing a fleet of Focus compact sedans that use an electric powertrain built by Magna International of Canada. foxnews

It was while filling his Cadillac at a gas station in 2007 that Hendrickson first thought about building an electric car.

"I thought gas stations were ripping us off, so I decided to just go build my own electric car," Hendrickson said.

Using the Internet and more books, John Hendrickson worked daily on his project. The the car uses 12 batteries. Each battery costs about $300 plus tax.

chron.com

Toyota displayed the FT-EV concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show. The electric vehicle shares the same platform of Toyota's new four-seater iQ, a small, fuel-efficient car designed for city driving launched in Japan last year. The car is scheduled for launch here in 2012.

Ford said it will have a small electric car ready for launch in 2011 that would get 100 miles to a charge, as well as a plug-in hybrid by 2012. It also will offer an electric commercial van in 2010.
reuters.com

The star of "Revolutionary Road" recently traded in his Toyota Prius hybrid for a $147,000 Tesla Roadster, the first high-performance electric car. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Leonardo DiCaprio also talked up his passion for eco-causes, and his first sports car. "It's scarily fast and it all happens with the flip of a switch, unlike a piston-driven engine that needs to build up momentum." chicagotribune.com

Greenmesh has been sitting dormant for a few days as my mind shuffles trends of environment, the economy, leadership and world peace - my eyes have glazed over a bit.

Maybe a quick ride in a fast car (motorcycle) would provide some inspiration.

Leo's all electric powered car is all torque from the start. Think of squeezing the trigger of an electric drill.

Gasoline engines build horsepower with their mechanical parts gaining momentum by burning fuel over a given duration. The instant torque of an electric motor must be built over time with a gasoline engine burning fuel until it reaches its potential. There are many factors that effect efficiency when a gasoline engine turns power into fuel.

The gasoline/electric hybrid tries to minimize the loss of energy transformation that occurs in a gasoline engine by trapping energy in the batteries when the gasoline engine is most efficient and when energy would normally be lost through braking.

Leo's Tesla would be very eco-conscious if charged by wind or water... but plugging into a power grid charged by an aging coal fired plant yields the opposite result.

A few gallons less a year controlled by OPEC and speculated on by the free-market is always a good thing for the consumer.

I saw one of these parked along a street. The nearest Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) dealership to York (sold through select Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep dealers) is in New Jersey. GEM is a 100% owned subsidiary of Chrysler.

The fully electric vehicle can travel about 40 miles on a charge and is available in cargo carrying versions as well as a six passenger tiny bus version. The vehicles are engineered to meet federal safety requirements for street-legal operation as a low-speed vehicle (LSV). and limited to a top speed of 25 mph to meet Federal Low-Speed Vehicle requirements.

GEM cars can be driven on most public roads that are posted at 35 mph or less, in states that have approved the use of neighborhood electric vehicles.

Note the New York State limited use license plate.

My neighbor dog Juno has a passion for rides. Any open car door is fair game. Frightened of the scooter at first, he is now ready for a ride.

Chuck parked his full-sized Chevy truck (11 mpg) over the Summer and has commuted to work with a 100+ mpg Honda Elite 80 Scooter.

For most of the past month, Chuck has been using old lawn mower/boat gas to power the Honda. The gas went unused this summer when I started mowing three lawns on my block with an electric lawn mower.

The Chrysler EV combines the electric-drive components of an electric vehicle with an integrated small-displacement engine and generator to produce additional electricity to power the electric-drive system when needed.

The Chrysler EV Range-extended Electric Vehicle can drive 40 miles on all-electric power, and boasts a range of 400 miles on approximately eight gallons of gasoline.

The sports car version is 100% electric 270hp 450 lbs. of torque, 0-60 in less than 5 seconds with a 150 mile range.

The video says the electric equivalent costs about 75 cents a gallon.

chrysler.com press release

Dedicated website with videos
www.chryslerllc.com

And a face...

A lithium-ion battery pack supplemented by a variety of propulsion possibilities will power the Chevrolet Volt, including gas and, in some vehicles, E85 ethanol to recharge the battery while you drive beyond the 40-mile battery range.

How about a clean running diesel? Diesels love to run in constant speed applications like generators.

Fully charged in 3 (220) or 8 hours (110) depending on the power source, the vehicle differs from a hybrid in that it uses its internal combustion engine to charge the batteries that turn the wheels. The ICE never drives the wheels.

Citing a 10-cent per kilowatt electric utility rate, GM estimates Volt owners will spend about 80 cents per day recharging without filling up at a gas station. boston.com

So do you think these will roll out of Chevy dealers?

• Moving freight is five times more efficient using a train rather than a tractor trailer.
• Four miles of new railroad line can be built for the price of one mile of road.
• Electrically powered trains can use domestic fuel sources. A century ago, York had an extensive electric trolley/inter-urban system. York's street railway is a dream of tomorrow. (greenmesh 8/06)

Innovative minds looking for new revenue streams killed the railroads.

Consider all the jobs, wealth and competition that was created by our car centered, personal transport society. Cars, dealerships, parts, the insurance industry. Thousands of truck drivers, shipping companies and owner operators traversing the roads using diesel and services. All of this a major feed for the oil industry.

And it all worked as long as oil was cheap.

The once cheap oil that brought us a uniquely American car centered transportation culture is now strangling our economy and future success competing in a world market.

Pennsylvania is fortunate to have many short-line rail corridors still intact like the one along the Heritage Rail Trail and the Stewartstown Railroad waiting for innovative minds and clean technology to move large volumes of freight and people more efficiently.

Joshua Tomel, Program Director Long Island Electric Auto Association comments to my post,
New dawn for electric Chevy S-10 (June 24, 2008)

Paul,
Yes I know about that. The reporter neglected to mention that my true feelings about even getting this truck came about from seeing the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?". That quote that you put up was in the part about how I thought (about) Jimmy Carter's call to change and how we fundamentally got around went unheard and unloved.

The S-10 is have charging problems since early July. I need to find a decent EE to fix it. Since the article appeared we now have a local Electric Auto Association, lieaa.org. Anyone is welcome to come, and we meet at the Automotive Technology wing of Lupton Hall on the campus of SUNY Farmingdale on the 1st Wednesday of every month.

I supposed the clinical thing to do would be to calculate cost vs. environmental impact and come up with a nice squeaky green conclusion, but recently my conclusions seem to be made more out a belief that our open ("free" doesn't really apply) market for energy needs to be placed in check by the only force that can bring change.

Calculated, individual consumer choices multiplied by millions of people.

My friend Matt has a company car with paid gas for personal use. He said to me today, "I don't care if the gas is free - I just want to use my motorcycle because it doesn't use (uses half) gas." In 2004, he purchased (which he can't sell now) a Chevy Suburban that gets 15 mpg and never considered the price of gas.

My neighbor Chuck's new full-sized pickup is now collecting dirt around the wheels for sometimes two weeks at a time. He drives a 115 mpg scooter to work.

My retired neighbor on a fixed budget told me today, "I am going to hold on to my economic stimulus check so i can pay for fuel oil this Winter" A tax money give-a-way to spark the economy, funneled into the oil machine that is squeezing the economy in the first place.

We are entering the uncharted free market waters. Huge global energy monopolies that use raw materials that are irresistible to investors and tied to everything as a reason to make it more expensive. We can't regulate it, tax it or force it to do anything. The concept of oil just got too big in business and in our hearts.

The only force that can save the world from suicidal greed; the consumer stands alone with a choice to become super hero or victim.

I like the electric lawn mower more than the gas, simply because it does not use gas. It's two gallons of gasoline that went unsold this Summer.

Dragging a cord around isn't really an issue with some planning. The maximum length needs to be the maximum distance from your outlet.

The trick is always working your way away from your power source. I tried mowing forward and backwards, but rotary blades just don't cut very well backwards and feet can get cut off on grades.

Up and back working away from the cord; always turning away from the cord. The electric mower is very quiet with no exhaust or gasoline to breath. I don't add any fluids and has virtually no maintenance.

The Lawn-boy's 2-cycle engine is a mostly marvelously simple, low maintenance machine. You get a power stroke every other stroke instead of one in every every stroke for a four-stroke engine. Dump a small can of 2-cycle oil in the gas and you never have to worry about oil changes. They even put stabilizer in the mix so that winterization is automatic for the forgetful. However, by nature of burning oil in the gas creates more pollution than a 4 stoke engine and the 2-cycle has been phased out of the lawn mower market in the US. Shame on me... but it was free!

My first experience with an electric lawn mower was when I was a kid. A neighbor lady in a house dress had this orange Black & Decker. I stood mesmerized waiting for her to mow over the cord, just waiting for the explosive lawn show. It never happened.

I have debated the benefit of using an electric lawn mower over a gas powered mower for some time. I never spend more than about $10 for a lawn mower, as people usually throw them out and they still work with some cheap repair. My current mower is a free Lawn-boy. A friend put a new piston and rings in it after his brother-in-law ran it with straight gasoline which seized it.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), traditional gas-powered lawn mowers are a public nuisance to say the least. Using one of them for an hour generates as many volatile organic compounds--dangerous airborne pollutants known to exacerbate human respiratory and cardiovascular problems--as driving a typical car for 350 miles. The EPA estimates that, with some 54 million Americans mowing their lawns on a weekly basis, gas lawn mower emissions account for as much as five percent of the nation's total air pollution. Beyond that, homeowners spill some 17 million gallons of gasoline every year just refueling their lawn mowers. scientific american

About a month ago, I bought an electric lawn mower. I have used it for about a month in tandem with my gas powered mower to cut four different lawns. One lawn has no access to electric power. Follow along with this series as I share my observations.

Part II - 2-stokes, wires and batteries.

Volkswagen AG. has started testing a new electricity-powered car engine and expects to launch the first cars fitted with it by 2010, chief executive Martin Winterkorn said.

VW said the technology allows cars to run on purely electricity powered engine for a distance of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles). hemscott.com

"While the e-motor on a typical hybrid model just supplements the combustion engine, the exact opposite is true on Twin Drive," Winterkorn said during the car's unveiling in Berlin. "Here the diesel or gasoline engine supplements the e-motor." Start-stop technology will save power and regenerative braking will help generate it. wired.com

Roughly the size of a Toyota (TM) Prius, the Ox can travel between 125 and 155 miles before needing a recharge, and zips from zero to 60 miles per hour in about 8.5 seconds. Its lithium-ion batteries can be charged to 80% capacity in less than an hour, and slender solar panels integrated into the roof power the onboard electronics. Inside, the hatchback includes a bevy of high-tech gizmos such as GPS navigation, a mobile Internet connection, and a key fob that lets drivers customize the car's all-digital dashboard. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the company's current vehicles cost less than $25,000 businessweek.com

What is also interesting about the car, to be available here in 2009, is the company's ultra-lean manufacturing system that can build cars with a fraction of production costs of large car companies, allowing more regional production facilities that could cut transport costs.

Toyota has developed a new fuel cell hybrid, powered by hydrogen, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said today.

The improved model's maximum cruising range is 516 miles compared with 205 miles. Fuel efficiency in the FCHV-adv was improved 25 percent. The new fuel cell vehicle can also start and run in temperatures as low as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold temperatures are a big technological hurdle for fuel cells.

The vehicle will be available for leasing in Japan later this year. Rival Honda Motor Co.'s revamped fuel cell vehicle for leasing in California is rolling off a Japanese factory floor later this month.
(AP)

GM announced plans Tuesday to roll out a second-generation version of the GM Hybrid system with a more powerful lithium-ion battery. The announcement comes just weeks after GM vice chairman Robert Luft called global warming a "total crock of s***."

The new system, powered by a Hitachi-supplied advanced lithium-ion battery, is expected to be nearly three times more powerful than the system it replaces. Overall fuel economy improvements for cars and trucks using the system are expected to rise up to 20%, depending on engine and vehicle application. informationweek.com

Fuel cell cars seem so future, however, Tucked away in the Smithsonian is a 50 year old

AC fuel cell tractor that used an AC D-12 tractor chassis loaded with 1008 individual fuel cells, fueled by a mixture of gasses, but predominantly propane, which in turn created a current flow.

This was channeled through to an Allis Chalmers 20 hp DC electric motor to propel the tractor. Each fuel cell was about one quarter of an inch thick, 12 inches square, and produced approximately one volt of output. In unison, the 1008 fuel cells made an output of about 15KW. Using the controller at the operator's left, the four banks of fuel cells could be connected in series or in parallel, thus varying the voltage reaching the DC motor, much like a throttle. Reverse was simply a matter of reversing the polarity of the current through the controller with the crank-like handle. AC was excited by their research, noting that their tractor was twice as efficient as others of the period, the power was derived from no moving parts, it produced no emissions, and ran without a whisper. antiquetractorstore.com

The Toyota 1/X concept, named because it takes a percentage of what other cars need, made its North American debut at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show,

The 1/X roof is produced from a bio-plastic made from environmentally-responsible material derived from kenaf and ramie plants. The result is a roof that improves heat insulation, emits less carbon dioxide, increases the amount of light entering the cabin, and reducing noise.

The plug-in hybrid unit with a 0.5-liter flexible-fuel engine is 1/4th of the total weight of the Prius powertrain yet has the same acceleration.
netcomposites.com

The success of Plug-in hybrids hinge on the development of lithium-ion batteries. Some interesting inventions that will make your cell phone battery ready to drive your car. Differences in chemistry and structure will depend on application.

The most promising electrode chemical makeups, then, involve nano-engineered materials like phosphates of iron, lithium-titanate spinel and, most recently, bundles of silicon nanowires. Making an electrode out of these tiny particles increases the available surface area for the ions to bond to and exchange electrons, avoiding a bottleneck that used to result in deformation (and diminished effectiveness) of traditional materials like graphite.

Martin Library will host an environmental panel discussion on February 21 featuring:

I was interviewed, via keybord of course, since I will be one of the moderators. Below is the text of the interview:

5. In your opinion, how does the level of environmental awareness in York County compare to that of other similar-sized communities?

York is a land of plenty. We have enjoyed low population congestion and are blessed with resources. California is tuned into air pollution because congestion and climate patterns demanded action. The desert southwest is tuned into water supply because of the lack of it. Other than the Codorus Creek, a stray landfill and an occasional bad ozone day, York County generally has not been confronted in the face with major environmental issues. High oil prices, wars and global cries that we need to act have brought these concerns home to York.

6. What do you believe the typical Yorker can do to improve the environment?

Use less to do more. Nothing will lower pollution, lower oil prices, and stretch resources more than choosing to use less through product choice and lifestyle. This concept runs contrary to our financial model that, up until now, has promoted and thrived on people using more energy.

7. As editor of Greenmesh.com, what do you see as the most promising alternative to oil-based energy?

Experimenting with many alternatives is the best was to transition away from an oil based economy. It takes time to understand the repercussions of any form of energy production. Solar collection is the lowest impacting source of alternative energy, but in places like Pennsylvania, solar isn’t practical most of the time. We have already experienced the implications of diving head first into corn-based ethanol by higher food and feed prices.

All methods of energy production have environmental implications and placing all our eggs in one basket gives power to a new monopoly and will accentuate any negative effects of pushing a single solution of energy production....