First Oregon city offers electric car charging

Posted on October 6, 2010 by quest

The Oregon city of Hillsboro is the first city in the state to offer electric vehicle charging stations. Hillsboro sees itself as a fiscally conservative, yet progressive and forward thinking. It takes great pride in the supportive, cooperative attitude of the local government toward residents and business. Coulomb Technologies will install Level II ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations for plug-in and electric vehicles. Thirteen Level II charging stations are now installed in downtown Hillsboro at their new “green” intermodal transit facility. Coulomb Technologies is a leader in electric vehicle charging systems with the ChargePoint Network now operating in 14 countries. Coulomb charging stations are all part of the ChargePoint Network, which is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and all manufacturers of plug-in vehicle charging stations.

Nearly one year ago, the City of Hillsboro was one of Coulomb’s largest installations in the United States,” said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “We are proud to continue this relationship with the first ever Level II charging stations in the state. As more and more electric vehicles are introduced in Oregon cities like Hillsboro will be EV ready with the necessary infrastructure to fuel these zero-emission vehicles.”

Additionally, one Level II station has been installed at the Hillsboro Civic Center, with two more to be completed by the end of October, 2010. The charging stations are available for public use and located 15 miles outside of Portland. Coulomb’s Level I and Level II CT2100 family of charging stations are dual output stations designed for public outdoor applications for the North American marketplace. Coulomb’s northwest distributor Charge NorthWest installed and maintains the stations.

Zoom zoom Jaguar’s C-X75 Green Electric Concept Car

Posted on October 2, 2010 by quest

From the 2010 Paris Auto Show “Jaguar’s C-X75 concept was a surprise to everyone. We all expected the company to display a small sedan to slot in beneath the XF, a model the expanding brand desperately needs.

Jaquar had other plans. Instead, the company pulled the sheet off of this lusty two-seat supercar. Like several other concepts like the Porsche 918, the C-X75 employs electric motors for forward thrust. But in the Jag’s case, there’s a 195 hp motor for each of the four wheels. So this concept has 780 hp on tap. Jaguar claims that the C-X75 can travel 68 miles on the battery pack and when it’s depleted, an innovative gas-powered generator kicks on to supply the juice. Rather than use a conventional piston motor, Jaguar installed a pair of small turbine engines just behind the two fixed seats. These engines can supply 188 hp and can either charge the batteries or send juice to the electric motors.” No word on the price tag… Also from the Paris Auto Show:

JAG Concept Vehicle

Top automakers finally have electric cars ready to purr into dealer showrooms. Now the question is whether the charging infrastructure and electricity supply are up to the task. Industry watchers question if power grids can cope with the influx of electric vehicles, even though EVs (Electric Vehicles) are likely to remain, at least at first, a fraction of the new car market. But as CO2 emissions rules tighten, carmakers need to take action. “We need a radical solution,” Renault and Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said at the Paris Auto Show.

Renault, which with alliance partner Nissan is investing 4 billion euros (US$5.5 billion) in electric cars, strengthened on Friday its EV partnership with French utility. At Renault’s stand displaying the Fluence and Kangoo EVs and the electric Dezir concept car, the partners launched pilot projects on battery management and charging infrastructure. Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, had said on Thursday he now thought his forecast that 10 percent of new car sales by 2020 would be EVs was “conservative”, while many manufacturers and analysts see much smaller demand. Ref: Helen Massy-Beresford & Gilles Guillaume Reuters/ Larry Webster Popular Mechanics

Audi e-tron electric vehicle on the ready line

Posted on September 15, 2010 by quest

According to a release issued by Audi, the company plans on building 20 A1 e-tron test cars by next summer, and put them into use within the metropolitan Munich area. The project was spurred in no small part by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, which forked over a sizable $12.7 million grant to the endeavor to fulfill Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer’s dream of having a million EVs on German roads by 2020.  

Although these cars continue to bear the e-tron label, these A1s are not pure electric vehicles. Like the Chevrolet Volt, a small engine fires up to serve as a generator, effectively extending the total range. On electricity alone, the A1 can travel up to 32 miles of travel, thanks in part to a small 12-kWh lithium-ion battery pack mounted underneath the rear seat. After that, a 254-cc Wankel rotary engine (mounted underneath the rear load floor) comes online, providing enough electricity to boost range by 124 miles.  Audi may be charged with building the electrified A1s, but it won’t be responsible for installing the charging network for their use. Instead, two German utility companies are partnering to install roughly 100 recharging stations across the city, mostly within existing parking structures and private garages.

Electric vehicles lighting the way

Posted on September 13, 2010 by quest

French electric vehicle company Lumeneo is to reveal the Neoma at the forthcoming Paris Motor Show. Larger than the existing Smera model, the Neoma is designed as four-seater town and surburban transport. Just 2.5 metres long, the Neoma has an electric motor situated at the front, with a seating arrangement that completely fills the interior space. We’ll learn more about the Neoma EV when the Paris Motor Show kicks off on September 30th.

Frito-Lay Rolls Out All-Electric Delivery Trucks in NYC

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division will deploy five all-electric trucks in New York City this month as part of a green fleet expansion that will place 176 electric delivery vehicles on the road over the next year. The trucks developed by Smith Electric Vehicles can travel 100 miles on a single charge. They produce no tailpipe emissions and emit 75 percent less greenhouse gas than diesel-powered trucks. Read on

Power from trains braking and Grace Jones

Posted on September 5, 2010 by quest

Viridity Energy, a Philadelphia-area smart grid company, today announced that it had received a $900,000 grant for its innovative pilot project with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the nation’s sixth largest public transit organization. As part of the project, Viridity Energy will deploy its software optimization system to allow SEPTA to recycle the energy created from the regenerative braking ability of trains and trolleys at a high-use propulsion substation in Philadelphia, which will in turn improve power quality, produce energy savings and generate revenues.

The State of Pennsylvania awarded the Viridity Energy “SEPTA Recycled Energy and Optimization Project” funding through the 2010 Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) grant program.
“We are pleased to partner with Viridity Energy on this project under the PEDA grant program”The project will pair the latest 21st century technologies and energy optimization practices with one of the country’s oldest transportation systems, dating back to the deployment of electric trolleys in 1892. Mass transit systems across the country are striving to maintain high quality service while facing growing fiscal challenges which are further compounded by rising energy costs. The pilot represents a large and untapped potential for transit systems to help meet these challenges and at the same time improve grid reliability in highly populated urban neighborhoods.

The project calls for Viridity Energy and SEPTA to install a large-scale battery to capture the energy from regenerative braking of trains along a portion of the Market-Frankford Line, the highest ridership line in SEPTA’s system. The Viridity Energy-SEPTA project will result in numerous economic, operational and environmental benefits.

GRACE JONES

Going green going electric

Posted on September 3, 2010 by quest

Electric vehicles are already out there and more are on the way. Tesla and Toyota have made headlines as has
ZAP which has signed fleet agreements in China and with the US Postal Service.

An interesting area for growth in the electric vehicle (EV) field is the business of car conversions and fleet management. AMP Holding Inc. is a company engaged in the emission-free electrification of OEM vehicles, hosted “Making Your Fleet Green.”
Their program offers two viable solutions for fleet operators: 100% electric new vehicles such as the AMP’d GM Equinox, and the upfitting of existing or retired fleet vehicles.
Steve Burns, CEO of AMP (interviewed with the New York Times), said, “Historically speaking, fleets have been early adopters of alternative fuel solutions; it seemed only natural to create a Fleet Vehicle Program that affords real world solutions for these transportation planners.

Aside from the obvious environmental appeal these vehicles garner, various government grants and incentives available to fleet operators make the economics quite compelling. Upfitting just one vehicle previously deemed for retirement could yield savings of up to $15,000 by year five, just on that one vehicle alone. Imagine the implications for a large government agency or municipality that has thousands of vehicles in its fleet, it’s just mindboggling; not to mention the massive reduction in carbon footprint in saving these vehicles from the scrap yard. AMP’s game-changing technology allows us to help these fleets meet and exceed the ever-growing environmental standards being dictated.”