Electric Cars

FPL Group and Duke Energy are the renowned companies known for their commitment to clean and green energy. It is often said, charity begins at home. They are trying to lead by example. They will collaborate with each other and invest $600 million to transition all their company passenger cars and trucks to plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicles. This process will be set into motion by the next year and more than 10,000 vehicles will have the capability of re-energizing from the power grid. 3 Comments

When scientists unveiled the mystery of boiling of fluids in the form of tiny "microchannels" they cracked various formulas and models to keep the high-power electronic gadgets cool. These high power electronics generally are electric and hybrid cars, aircrafts, computers and other devices. Suresh Garimella – the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University – tells us that if we heat a liquid in cooling systems then we can analyze how much heat can be removed, compared to simply heating a liquid to below its boiling point. 2 Comments

Imagine a parking lot that keeps your car cool and charges it while you do whatever you need to do after parking your car. That’s what the new solar forest designed by designer Neville Mars aims to achieve. Electric-powered automobiles are a great way of reducing pollution levels but the main hurdle in the way of them becoming mainstream vehicles is long duration of time they need to recharge. Even to cover small distance you need to recharge your vehicle for hours. One solution is to speed up the recharging process, and another is recharging the cars while they stand unused, like in a parking lot. 9 Comments

We are familiar with the better qualities of electric vehicles. They use alternative energy and leave less carbon footprints on the climate. But they are still not mass produced. They have many drawbacks and one has to find a remedy for such disadvantages. One of the hurdles in making them vehicles of masses is that they can’t be charged easily. They need lots of time to be charged fully. MIT students are trying to produce an alternative to fossil fuel driven cars. They are trying to build up a car that is clean and green but provides good competition to recent automobiles. They claim that their electric cars can be charged fully within ten minutes. Normally an EV vehicle takes overnight to get fully charged. Radu Gogoana is an undergraduate on the Electric Vehicle Team. He claims "Right ... 10 Comments

Aircrafts are notorious for adding carbon content into the atmosphere because more and more people are choosing this mode of travel. We are trying to reduce carbon emissions on the ground. But we are not giving enough thought to reducing carbon content by aircrafts. Environmentalists are concerned that the figures are bound to reach staggering heights in the next couple of decades. Though it is a fact that manufacturing clean and green aircrafts is not an easy feat to achieve and people want faster aircrafts for commuting. 7 Comments

Coulomb Technologies has taken the initiative to install their ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Stations for electric vehicles in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek has got the distinction of becoming the third Bay Area city to deploy charging station. Coulomb’s charging stations were officially inaugurated on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at the Locust Street Garage. The charging stations were installed in three public parking garages in the heart of downtown Walnut Creek. 7 Comments

A normal fossil fuel car (using an internal combustion engine) only needs the battery to start the engine as well as run the air conditioning system and the car stereo. But the scene is quite different with electric cars. Batteries run everything. So when one tries to buy an electric car his/her prime concern is battery. Electric car owners are still grappling with the quality and reliability of the electric car battery. The main concern is how long the battery will last before it needs recharging. Researchers are continuously trying to devise new ways for the battery to last longer and recharge easily. Imagine your phones, mp3 players, computers and laptops running for days without recharging, or for that matter your car running far longer on one charge than it presently can with a tank or two of gas. Using air power, it might be possible in as early as 5 years. 16 Comments

When we think about green energy vehicles we often think about modest designs and low speeds. But 6 final-year engineering students of Kingston University have designed a bike that dispels all myths about green vehicles. This bike has the ability to reach speeds of 102mph, race around a 38 mile mountainous course and is powered by batteries that can be charged from a standard household socket! They will take this bike to the world’s first zero-emissions Grand Prix this summer. The Kingston team will be competing with 24 eco-bikes from America, India, Italy, Germany and Austria at the 2009 Isle of Man TTXGP. Mr. Paul Brandon who is the Course Director for motorsport and motorcycle engineering shared his views, "Being green doesn’t have to mean slow. There are too many skeptics when it comes to electric vehicles but we all need to reduce our CO2 output and this initiative is taking a huge leap in that direction. The ideas we and others put to the test on the racing circuit are the ones most likely to become commonplace on the road." 12 Comments

During a low-key ceremony just over a week ago, the first public high-voltage charging station for electric vehicles was inaugurated at the Gateway Center in East Woodland California. Representatives from Tesla Motors were on hand to help demonstrate with six Tesla Roadsters. The power station is capable of charging an electric car in about one hour and is meant to set an example for future stations being planned in other states. 14 Comments

How about a vehicle that not only draws energy from an electric grid but also gives it back when there is surplus or unused energy in the vehicle? This is exactly the kind of car being developed by Willett Kempton, a renewable-energy professor at the University of Delaware. 5 Comments

European auto maker Volkswagen and the Japanese Toshiba Corporation recently announced their plans to begin working together to develop electric drive units for vehicles. The cars will be part of VW's new family of small cars. Volkswagen chairman, Dr. Martin Winterkorn, said the company's goal is to be the first auto manufacturer to mass-produce affordable emissions-free vehicles. He also stated that there is still "a considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle." They hope to have at least one model on the market by 2012. 2 Comments

Shelby SuperCars recently announced plans to produce an all-electric version of one of their current cars, the Ultimate Aero, also known as the world's fastest production car. The new model will be powered by their revolutionary All-Electric Scalable Powertrain (AESP) will provide 100% torque at 0 RPM and better performance compared to traditional internal combustion engines. With a 1,000 horsepower twin motor and 800 ft-lb of torque the car will be able to acheive 60mph in 2.5 seconds and have a top speed of 208mph. According to the company the battery will charge in 10 minutes and have a 150-200 mile range. 8 Comments

A new power packed performance super car has been designed in California that can run at the speed of 155 mph without conventional fuel. For startup this car will use solar powered battery but later draw its energy from circulating air. An advanced alternating current induction motor will glide the Formula AE. This motor will have a power output of 212 kilowatts. Rory Handel and Maxx Bricklinas from Beverly Hills, California are responsible for the design of the sleek motor of the car, and they are hoping that the prototype would be completed in August. 30 Comments

Till now we have battery operated cars or hybrid cars. Hybrid cars reduce your gas consumption and air pollution. If you are using battery operated cars, you can’t drive on the spur of a moment. You have to PLAN and recharge the batteries. Otherwise your vehicle will carry you for a few miles and then it will stop and you will be stuck somewhere you don’t want to. You also have to compromise on the size, space and speed of the car. And since you are using a storage device in the car, you have to fear and respect that too. 14 Comments

Frontiers for electric vehicles have changed: 10 years ago or even more recently it was almost impossible to consider an electric solution for all-terrain purposes, now on the market we see new products with highly improved performances. Pioneer in this field is the Italian company Alkè (www.alke.com) who invested research and time to develop the new ATX E range of high performance electric vehicles. They have been able to provide electric utility vehicles that face till 40% slopes (with RID version engines), sandy and icy grounds, loading capacity of 500-1000Kg and towing capacity of around 2000-3000Kg. 2 Comments

California based company Green Vehicles recently began selling an affordable $20,000 electric car called the Triac. The small but efficient 3-wheeled car has a range of 120 miles and can travel up to 70mph on the highway. Charging the lithium-ion batteries that power the 20kw electric motor takes about 6 hours, and there is an optional capacity boost battery pack available that extends the range by 20% (why not include it with the car?). The Triac comes in 8 different color combinations and is available from the dealership in San Jose. See the company website for more details. 29 Comments

Canadian Inventor Ben Gulak of BPG-Technologies has developed a wild new green motorcycle that uses gyro technology to stay upright on its two side-by-side wheels. Acceleration is controlled by leaning forward to go faster, and leaning back to slow down. The gyro tells the ECU how much to accelerate and that in turn delivers the proper amount of current to the electric motors, one for each wheel. Weighing in at a mere 129 pounds, the 'bike' has a top speed of 25mph and a battery life of 2 1/2 hours. The bike was recently unveiled for the first time at the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto. 13 Comments

Interview with Martin Eberhard, Engineer and Founder of Tesla Motors. The company was co-founded in 2003 with fellow Engineer Marc Tarpenning. Their plans to develop electric cars were met with skeptical curiosity. The release of the Tesla Roadster has proven a success even though the price tag is still around US $100,000. Some 'green' celebrities like George Clooney have been spotted taking a ride in one. This interview by Plenty asks some questions about their vision for an electric car future and plans to introduce a mainstream electric vehicle in 2009. 10 Comments

Astrolab, the world's first commercial solar car, will be available in January 2008 thanks to automobile designer Sacha Lakic. The car was developed by the French manufacturer, Venturi. The vehicle is powered by energy from the sun - the 16kW electric motor requires very little energy for propulsion. The solar hybrid can travel a minimum distance of 110 kilometres and has a top speed of 120kph. The chassis is molded out of a high-tech lightweight carbon monocoque material in order to maintain an efficient form. 3.6 metres of photo-voltaic cells are integrated into the chassis. 8 Comments

Designers at PML Flightlink have transformed a mini into a hybrid-electric performance vehicle. The car has a great fuel efficiency and performance specifications. It can achieve a top speed of 150mph and accelerates to 60mph in 4.5 seconds. The clever design incorporates four 160bhp electric motors (one on each wheel) which also function as the braking system. Electricity is generated and stored when the brakes are applied. Company executives are excited about this new electric car technology and hope to see it used on a larger scale. They are confident their technology can easily be fitted on most modern cars. 1 Comment