MY own CAR

VW Fights the 2025 CAFE Law

2011-08-07T01:52:00.000-07:00

Of all companies, it’s Volkswagen (home of the Beetle) that’s fighting the recently acclaimed-by-all-hands 54.5 mpg Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard for 2025. Why? VW makes mostly cars and diesels, and the proposal as loopholed favors trucks and disses diesels.

Surely, VW will sell a lot of fuel-efficient Jettas and Passats with this deal, right? Sure, but it also won't get much credit for the green diesels it produces. I’ve got some respect for VW’s stance here, which reminds us that the process isn’t over just because automakers, regulators and Obama held hands and sang “Kumbiya” at the White House. The actual final number won’t be announced until September, and then there’s a comment period.

VW’s U.S. CEO Jonathan Browning told Ward’s that the company has “a dialogue going with the administration in terms of how we think the policy needs to be adjusted.” Something tells me that other automakers, some of whom (looking at you, Ford) fought down to the wire to get the best possible deal, won’t like the idea of backroom negotiations after everyone agreed to the current loopholes and adjustments.

In a statement, Tony Cervone, a VW vice president, was pugnacious, “Volkswagen does not endorse the proposal under discussion,” he said. “It places an unfairly high burden on passenger cars, while allowing special compliance flexibility for heavier light trucks.

"Passenger cars would be required to achieve five percent annual improvements, and light trucks 3.5 percent annual improvements. The largest trucks carry almost no burden for the 2017-2020 timeframe, and are granted numerous ways to mathematically meet targets in the outlying years without significant real-world gains.”

That’s actually totally true, and it’s the price Obama paid to get a deal with the Big Three. VW is coming at this from the left, claiming that it wants the proposals to be greener, encouraging more diesels and closing truck loopholes. It seems to be calling for all vehicles, including trucks, to make a five percent fuel economy improvement. Those tweaks would totally encourage automakers to produce more hybrids and electrics, since they’d find it harder to reach 54.5 any other way with the loopholes closed.

Some VW models in the U.S. market are 80 percent diesel, and a Passat so-equipped gets 43 mpg. But VW complains that the laws as written offer “no consideration” for offering diesels. That shows how U.S.-centric the CAFE rules are, since European governments (especially France, where they’re 70 percent of the motor pool) bend over backwards to encourage diesels.

It wouldn’t surprise me if some kind of diesel incentive comes out of these smoke-filled-room discussions. But the incentives for the trucks and SUVs, those are going to stay in place. It’s a loophole big enough to drive a gas guzzler through, and that’s just what Detroit is going to do.

There are other things that need reforming as part of CAFE, including the fact that the test procedures date, incredibly, to the 1970s, and actually give cars credit for 25 percent more fuel economy than they actually offer. It's confusing, because the window sticker tests are separate, and actually much better than they used to be. For CAFE, they have cars running at a steady 48 mph (on the highway!) with no stopping and no air conditioning or radio. It's simulated in the lab, so the conditions are even better than that indicates.

The Sierra Club is incensed about the testing procedures, though it may have a hard time getting much traction on the issue. Congress would have to approve any reform, and that's the furthest thing from its collective mind at the moment.

Northwest group convertes cars to electric power

2011-03-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

Why should it be any surprise that the nation's biggest club of guys like Al Swackhammer is in the Pacific Northwest?
Visiting his home in Edmonds, with a 220-volt plug hanging from the garage ceiling, he proudly shows off the metal baby that he put together himself.
It's a car that packs 60 lithium-ion batteries that weigh in at 410 pounds total. There are 48 stacked in the back seat and 12 more in the trunk.
It's a gas-to-electricity conversion project that has set him back $23,000.
Sure, these days you can buy yourself the showroom electric $35,270 Nissan Leaf (with a $7,500 tax credit), the $48,700 electric-gas hybrid Chevy Volt or the $100,000-plus Tesla. Not for guys like Swackhammer.
For decades, they personally have put together all kinds of electric moving vehicles — cars, bikes, pickups, tractors.
They've done it by stringing together old-fashioned and heavy lead acid batteries; or by using lighter, but more expensive, lithium-ion ones.
In 2005, they even put electric motors on half a dozen La-Z-Boy recliner chairs and raced them at Pacific Raceways in Kent.
Steve Lough, 67, has seen it all up close for 30 years as president of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association. The club has 140 members, the largest chapter in the country of the group.
On the first Tuesday of every month, at 7 p.m., some 60 to 80 club members meet at the Seattle First Church of the Nazarene. The church parking lot is right behind the Dick's burger joint in Wallingford, an appropriate place for electric-car buffs as they begin gathering at 6:30 or so to show off their cars.
This area does like technology, Lough says, what with Microsoft and Boeing.
"We love things new and unique," he said.
And they're conservation-minded.
"We want to show our neighbors and the world in general how to get around cleanly on one-fifth the amount of energy or money to move around in a gas-powered vehicle," Lough said. "There are white papers out there that show that making those batteries in no way compares to what has happened to our environment with fossil fuels over the last 100 years."
Being at the forefront often means dozens, if not hundreds, of hours tinkering in the garage.
It means ordering and putting in several hundred pounds of stacks of batteries; and often not having a back seat in the vehicle, because, well, all those batteries are occupying that space.
"I've lived, breathed and loathed these things," Swackhammer said of his electric car. "It's a passion."
Hours that he spent on the project?
"I never attempted to count them," said Swackhammer, 60, a hospital maintenance mechanic. "Three full years of working every weekend. My vacation a couple of years."
He finally completed the conversion last year.
Besides the $23,000 that Swackhammer spent on the electrical conversion, he also spent another big chunk — $19,000 — to restore the body of the German-make 1960 Auto Union 1000S that has become his electric car.
He started out as a fan of Audi, the company that absorbed Auto Union, when he lived in Anchorage in the 1980s; he loved how well the cars handled in the elements. He had picked up the skills to restore the body of a car.
But Swackhammer didn't know anything about electric conversion.
"I had to go to the Internet and research it, and find manuals, and blogs from people who had done them," he said.
The finished conversion resulted in a car that, on a full charge of eight hours, could go for 60 miles, reaching speeds of 75 mph on the freeway.
Like just about every electric-car owner, Swackhammer talks about the silence of driving to and from work.
"And I pass by gas stations every night, and I don't have to stop," he said.
Asked again to explain all the time and money he spent, Swackhammer said, "One person at a time. My effort, although it cost me more than it needed to, is going to make a difference. It's a passion knowing that I have made a small contribution to not using fossil fuel. I sleep good at night. I want to leave this world knowing that I tried."
Oh, about the La-Z-Boy recliner chairs that were raced with electric motors.
"You have enough people with disposable income and they do crazy things," Steve Lough said.
He says the electric recliner chairs were doing 60 mph near the finish line. And he says the chairs were safe enough.
"One had roll bars, and they all had seat belts, steering and brakes," Lough said. "I don't think they had directional signals."

Govt set to promote cheaper ‘green’ cars

2011-02-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

The government is working on a policy to promote low-cost environmentally-friendly cars.

The “low-cost and green car” policy will be issued in the form of a government regulation, Coordinating Economic Ministry industry and trade chief Edy Putra Irawady said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“We will continue to deliberate [on the draft regulation] and streamline it with existing programs and policies next week. Hopefully the regulation can be issued in April,” Edy said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Among points to be deliberated, he said, were fiscal and luxury goods sales tax incentives that would likely be provided for the cars to boost their competitiveness in the market.

Reportedly a number of automobile manufacturers had already expressed their interest in the plan.

Annual River Classic Car Show coming to IRSC

2011-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Car enthusiasts will want to put their best polish and shine on their custom or classic ride and get ready for the eighth annual River Classic Custom Car Show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 13 on the IRSC Main Campus in Fort Pierce.
Participants in the competition may register between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Admission and parking for the public is free.
Car enthusiasts can enter cars and trucks for competition in 32 categories including: classic, muscle cars, ladies ride, low riders, trucks and the newest green cars category. The event will also include a Sound Challenge from noon to 3 p.m. Those wanting to display their car or truck in a non-juried competition can participate in the Park-n-Shine display with a $15 entry fee. All proceeds from the event go towards funding IRSC Automotive Technology scholarships.
The rain date for the show is March 20. For information on vehicle registration or for a complete list of juried competition categories, visit www.irsc.edu, call 1-866-792-4772 or e-mail acordary@irsc.edu.
© 2011 TCPalm. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

just help to announce it to the world

Better Infrastructure needed for Green Car

2010-12-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

There may be few electric cars on the roads in Singapore at the moment, but experts said that number is on the rise as demand and infrastructure picks up in the region.

Research house Solidiance has forecast that sales of electric vehicles in China will rise to between 2 million and 3 million in 2020, and to 25 million in 2030.

But in the short term, growth in markets such as Singapore is expected to be more tempered.

"It will be a test-bedding type of growth, where certain (vehicle) models that are ready, will start to come in and they will be test-bedded in Singapore. It's up to the manufacturers when their models will be ready... (whether) they are going to be range extended electric vehicle or hybrid," said David Chou, MD of evHUB.

Supply of electric vehicles in Asia, as well as the battery-recharging infrastructure required to run them, are still challenges for the industry.

Greenlots is one company that homed in on the battery-recharging business opportunity two years ago - and has seen exponential growth.

Oliver Risse, MD of Greenlots said: "We started this business a little more than two and a half years ago. We started as a Singapore based company to create and develop charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, not only for Singapore, but also for international markets. And this is where we are right now - we have one of the most advanced networks for charging electric vehicles.

"We are doing our market entry in Asia, in Europe, and we are already planning for the North American continent (in) Q1or Q2 next year. So the opportunity is there, you just need to tap into it."

At the moment, Greenlots has 10 to 15 charging points available in Singapore. The network is expected to expand to over 60 by the end of 2011 on the back of initiatives by the Singapore government.

According to some estimates, there are about 10,000 charging stations globally. hat number could reach 5 million by 2015.

And there's something in the works for those who want to make their petrol-guzzling cars more environment-friendly.

With increasing demand for alternative energy vehicles, evHUB is looking to bring a new option to consumers here in Singapore next year - which is a service to convert combustion engines in existing vehicles to electric.

Amazing, Ford shows off green car in R.I.

2010-11-08T19:17:00.001-08:00

A first of its kind electric vehicle came to Rhode Island Monday and the Eyewitness News Green Team was fortunate enough to give it a test drive.

It's very quiet and very green. This vehicle is a purely electric version of the Transit Connect van now sold at Ford dealers.

In collaboration with Azure Dynamics Corporation, the transit connect electric is only the beginning of Ford's desire to go greener. There's no gasoline needed. It's powered by a 28 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery. Just plug it in!

This vehicle has an 80 mile range. A maximum speed of 75 miles per hour. It's charged on a 110 or 240v charge station.

This vehicle has an 80 mile range.... a maximum speed of 75 miles per hour. It's charged on a 110 or 240v charge station.

"The van came to New England Tech in Warwick. Steve Kitchin of New England Tech says they're committed to the sustainability portion of their curriculum." he said.

Students will learn about the van's technology on its stop here in Rhode Island. In the coming months, the school will be adding geothermal heat to the automotive school and offer solar technology courses.

The whole goal is for Ford to bring an electrical strategy to the marketplace starting with the ford transit connect, introducing the Ford Focus and other models in the next 3-5 years.

The Transit Connect electric will be available in the Spring of 2011

Undergreduate Students won international British Racing

2010-08-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

Students who have built two Formula 1 style vehicles from scratch won third and fourth place in an international competition last month at the home of British racing.

The team of Imperial College London undergraduates were taking part in the Class 2 design section of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering’s 13th Annual Formula Student competition. Their all-electric single seat Imperial Racing vehicle, which won third place, consists of a light weight steel frame with two electric motors that are powered by batteries, positioned on either side of the driver.

Their IC06 combustion engine vehicle just missed out on a podium place, coming fourth. This vehicle also consists of a light weight frame, like the all-electric car, but it is powered by a 550cc Aprilla motorcycle engine.

The Formula Student competition is Europe’s biggest annual student motorsport event. This year, approximately 2,000 students from 23 countries took part in the contest, which was held in mid-July at Silverstone race track. The competition enables students to design, build and race Formula 1 style cars. They also gain valuable project management, business and presentation skills in the process.

The Imperial Racing Green team at the Formula Student competition

The Imperial undergraduates who took part of the event are part of the Imperial Racing Green (IRG) initiative, which draws on the expertise of more than 100 students from across eight different departments in Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering. The IRG project enables students to manage the design, testing and construction process of small scale Formula 1 style vehicles, giving them valuable experience before they begin their careers.

The class 2 category of the Formula Student competition is a static event that does not involve racing the vehicles around the track. Students gave presentations about their vehicles to a panel of industry experts, talking through their business plan, outlining production costs, and vehicle design specifications, plus an environmental impact statement for the all-electric Imperial Racing Vehicle.

Dr John Sheldrake, Project Manager of the Imperial Racing Green team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, added:

“Apart from being great fun, the Formula Student competition gave our students the chance to swap notes with students from other universities and see what exciting innovations they’re coming up with in vehicle design. It was really great experience for our students to have to give presentations about all the work that they have been doing in front of industry professionals. We are really pleased that the IRG team did so well in the contest. They were up against some stiff international competition and they managed to hold their own – well done to all involved!”

The Imperial Racing Green project is an initiative of the Energy Futures Lab, which is the College’s hub for interdisciplinary energy research.

Taiwan Electric Car Entrants Aim to Build Ties with U.S. Automakers at June Event

2010-06-25T14:39:00.001-07:00

Taiwan companies, which have supplied many of the key components used in the worldâ€™s first electric cars and are emerging as important players in this infant industry, are aiming to build closer ties with U.S. automakers during an event taking place during June 21-25.

“EVs are a new game for everyone”

To help build links between Taiwan and the U.S. in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, Taiwanâ€™s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has organized the Taiwan Automotive International Forum and Exhibition (TAIFE) taking place in the U.S. cities of Detroit, Indianapolis and Los Angeles during June 21-25. The event will provide a unique opportunity for U.S. and Taiwan companies to build alliances.

Taiwan companies such as Chroma, Whetron and Molicel have provided key parts such as batteries, inverters and electronic systems that have been used in electric cars from BMW, Mitsubishi and Tesla. The Taiwan companies aim to combine their expertise in IT and electronics to enter the fledgling EV industry thatâ€™s expected to take off around 2015.

â€œEVs are a new game for everyone,â€??? says William Chang, senior manager of corporate marketing for Chroma. â€œThere are a lot of opportunities for Taiwan companies to support U.S. automakers.â€???

One of the companies joining the TAIFE event, Taiwanâ€™s Yulon Group, is preparing to launch its own electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) within the next 12 months. Most of the components for Yulonâ€™s 100 percent electric Luxgen SUV, including information technology and other electronics systems, are also from Taiwan suppliers.

â€œTaiwan has excellent integration capabilities,â€??? says Chun-Chung Lee, executive vice president of Haitec, the R&D unit of Yulon Group.

Taiwanâ€™s production of auto electronics will be worth NT$100 billion (US$3.2 billion) in 2010 and increase to NT$300 billion by 2015, according to Taiwanâ€™s MOEA. The main products include telematics systems, automobile lights, light-emitting diode (LED) headlights, reverse parking systems and tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). Taiwanese companies also have huge potential in airbags, car alert systems, keyless entry, engine lock chips, navigation systems and infotainment systems.

Taiwan has many companies entering the electric car industry. E-One Moli Energy Corp., supplied the lithium-ion batteries used in BMW`s MiniE electric car. Fukuta Elec. & Mach. Co. supplies electric motors for the Tesla Roadster, BMW`s MiniE and the Luxgen electric car.

Production of electric vehicles is predicted to soar in the next few years. Approximately 1 million EVs are expected on the road in the U.S. by 2015 with five times that many expected by 2020, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, a U.S.-based research group.

Markets in Asia and Europe are expected to grow at a similar pace. Billions of dollars are being invested globally to develop and promote electric vehicle technology, including almost US$3 billion from the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Earlier this year, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), a world leader in product safety testing and certification services, signed a letter of intent with Taiwanâ€™s globally renowned Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to develop testing technology and specifications for power systems in electric vehicles. UL and ITRI also aim to develop safety tests for long-term aging of lithium batteries and solar power generation systems.

IPOs Likely to Slow Ahead of Fourth of July Holiday

2010-06-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

If you blinked last week, then you missed seeing the busiest five-day period that the IPO market will likely experience this month.

A total of five initial public offerings of stock began trading from Tuesday through Friday, and that is about as good as it is going to get for a weekly count in June. With just eight business days left in the month, things are expected to be slower through this week and the first half of next week, with more companies waiting to see what the market looks like after the Fourth of July holiday before launching their deals.

"I would expect that was our busiest week this month," said Bill Buhr, head of research at Morningstar Inc. "There's still a lot of uncertainty in the markets."

Although there isn't much data to go on—just six deals in total for the month so far—IPO performance in June is actually shaping up to be a better month than May.

Only one company, Nobao Renewable Energy Holdings Ltd., pulled its IPO after failing to be priced, compared with a half dozen in May. (Other deals also got shelved in May and June, but they had been sitting around for months and hadn't been scheduled to be priced.)

Three deals out of six traded higher on their debuts in June, compared with four out of 11 in May; two deals ended their first day essentially flat in May, while one did so in June. CBOE Holdings Inc. rose 12% after pricing at the high end of its range last week, the first deal to price that well and then trade higher since PAA Natural Gas Storage LP in April.

Despite the CBOE's success and a gain of 19% from banking company Higher One Holdings Inc. during its debut on Thursday, no one is expecting a rush of new offerings for the rest of the month.

"Favorable performance of IPOs from [last] week may help to improve the tone of the market but will not be enough to impact deals in June," said Scott R. Cutler, head of listings in the Americas for NYSE Euronext. "However, it will help to try and push deals out the door in July," with as many as 10 companies trying to access the market.

Ten deals in a month would have been a pittance in 2007 before the economic downturn, when it wasn't uncommon to see twice that number in a busy month. But it is definitely an improvement over last July, when only one company made it out the door, or even June 2009, when three did.

Looking ahead, there is some positive chatter about electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc.'s debut next week, but not much else. This week, just one deal is expected, from optics-manufacturing specialist Fabrinet, which first filed to go public in July 2007.

German and China invested in manufacture of electric car

2010-06-15T00:17:00.000-07:00

Automakers BYD of China and Germany's Daimler agreed last month to invest a combined 600 million yuan to form a joint venture to manufacture electric cars. It is BYD's second green car joint venture, after partnering with Volkswagen in May 2009. In April of this year BYD debuted an electric car called the E6 that can be recharged at home. Because of its achievements, BusinessWeek magazine ranked the Chinese company at the top of its Tech 100 list of the world’s most promising IT companies.

Last month, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that his company intends to become the world's leading electric car maker. He made the comments at a groundbreaking ceremony in Tennessee for a US$1.7 billion plant that will produce electric cars and batteries. Staring in 2012, the plant will roll out 150,000 Leaf electric cars a year, gaining a major foothold in the U.S. green vehicle market. The Leaf can travel up to 160 km on just one charge and hit speeds of up to 145 km/h. Nissan has already received some 20,000 advance orders in Japan and the U.S. for the car that is planned to hit showrooms at the end of the year.

Competition is intensifying in the global market for electric cars, and Japanese and Chinese carmakers are leading the way. Around 158 Japanese companies, including Fuji Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and the Tokyo Electric Power Company, recently established the CHAdeMO Association, which aims to increase quick-charger installations worldwide and standardize charging formats.

Tokyo and Beijing have rolled up their sleeves to develop their green auto industries. China's Finance Ministry has begun offering a subsidy of 60,000 yuan for each electric car purchase in five cities including Changchun, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The Chinese government has set aside 10 billion yuan to subsidize electric car purchases and plans to set up 6,209 charging stands in 27 cities by the end of this year. Japan is offering 70,000 yen in subsidies to buyers of low-speed electric cars with speed limits of up to 60 km/h, and 1.39 million yen for faster ones. Korea's e-Zone low-speed electric car, which is being exported to Japan, is subject to these programs.

But Hyundai Motor, Korea's largest car maker, is lagging behind in the race. The Korean company will roll out a mere 30 units of its i10 electric car this year and plans to produce only around 300 to 500 next year. That pales in comparison to Nissan, which aims to sell 50,000 Leaf electric cars in the U.S. starting at the end of this year, and Mitsubishi, which is targeting sales of 9,000 i-MiEV electric cars in the U.S. and Europe. The Korean government plans to let high-speed electric cars go through a trial period in August before offering subsidies for buyers. But such subsidies will not be available until after next year. At this rate, experts say, local small and mid-sized electric carmakers will end up going bankrupt, pushed out by rapidly-expanding Chinese and Japanese rivals.

The global market for electric vehicles is expected to rise from 740,000 units last year to 1.29 million by 2020, according to JP Morgan. But if the Korean government and businesses continue their lukewarm approach, their aspirations to claim a 10 percent market share and emerge as one of the world's top four producers by 2015 will fall flat.

Customers prefer price to range

2010-05-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

What’s the most important factor that could influence the uptake of electric cars – well, according to a new survey, most customers rate price as more important than range.

Electric car maker THINK found that 50 per cent of potential buyers would be willing to accept range of 70-80 miles if it meant that the cost of the electric car was reduced by $5,000.

An online survey, conducted by a team of MBA students from University of Michigan Ross School of Business, found that whereas 100mile range had long been considered a customer requirement, buyers were willing to accept less. It also indicated however, that customers could be willing to pay more for extended range with 55 per cent stating that they would pay a $5,000 premium for an electric vehicle with a 150-160mile range. Only nine per cent said they were interested in reducing their range below 50miles for a larger discount.

According to Richard Canny, the company’s CEO, offering different sizes of batteries for different customers could be an intriguing idea.

Currently, the THINK City electric car has a range of 100 miles on a single charge

Nissan has confirmed this morning that the LEAF will go on sale in the UK from next March

2010-04-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

The order book for the Nissan LEAF may open tomorrow for reservations from US customers but here in the UK the LEAF has given its clearest indication yet of just when we can expect to get our greasy mitts on it.

Nissan has confirmed this morning that the LEAF will go on sale in the UK from next March, just three months after the UK begins to give out subsidies worth up to £5,000 to buyers of electric cars.

The Japanese carmaker made the announcement as it broke the news that it is to become the new sponsor for the O2 arena-one of the country’s top entertainment venues.

As part of its new status as the official automotive partner for the arena, the carmaker will also open a new Nissan Brand Centre within the arena, designed especially to promote the carmaker’s new green direction in the launch of the LEAF. Opening in July, the new centre will showcase the carmaker’s vision for an environmentally sustainable future for road transport, featuring an array of interactive programmes and activities designed to engage consumers.
The LEAF, Nissan’s all-electric hatchback dubbed the ‘world’s first affordable electric car’ has yet to have its retail price for the UK confirmed. In the US the model will retail for $32,780 (around £21,500). However the model will be eligible for $7,500 worth of federal tax credit as a greener model, meaning that buyers can drive home the innovative model for as little as $25,280-equivalent to just under £17,00. The first models will be delivered in the US by the end of 2010 while the retail price for the UK is expected to be announced soon.

With a top speed of 90mph and a range of the 100miles, the four seater LEAF is expected to be a practical driving proposition too. Nissan had previously announced it would retail the LEAF in the UK by 2011, but failed to announce when exactly leaving the industry concerned that the model might miss the best part of the first year in which it could qualify for a £5,000 subsidy. The grants were confirmed to start in Jan 2011, back when the Budget was announced last month. Under the scheme, motorists who buy either an electric or plug-in hybrid car can qualify for 25 per cent of the value of the vehicle off capped at £5,000. When the scheme opens in the New Year, it is expected only two models which qualify will be initially available; the LEAF and Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV.

It was an eventful week for General Motors Co. and the Chevrolet Volt

2010-04-03T00:03:00.001-07:00

Early in the week, GM's Hamtramck, Mich., assembly plant rolled out the first pre-production Volt, which is scheduled for its official launch Nov. 11. A few days later, General Motors announced that sales of its four brands were up 43 percent in March, compared with the same month a year earlier.

For the Volt, the pre-production assembly process is used to validate the system that will be called upon to churn out mass-produced cars at rates that could eventually run into the thousands per week. The pre-production cars are not sold at dealerships but are used for testing and other purposes.

"We have a very experienced workforce at this plant, and through all of their preparation and training workers here have been given the privilege to take GM into the future with this car," said Teri Quigley, Hamtramck plant manager, in a news release issued by the company.

The Volt is a plug-in extended-range vehicle. It will offer about 40 miles of driving in electric-only mode, but also has a 1.4-liter gas engine that will start up automatically when the battery pack is depleted. The engine will charge the battery pack – it won't power the wheels – to permit the car to go another 300 miles or so. At that point, it will need either refueling or recharging.

In the days before the start of the New York International Auto Show 2010, which opened Friday, most media members who test-drove the Volt in New York published very favorable comments. The most common refrain was that the car worked very well, with its gas engine starting and operating almost unnoticed when the battery ran down.

The biggest complaint seemed to be that the car's styling is not flashy or distinctive, like that of the easily recognizable Toyota Prius. But General Motors is betting that the Volt buyer will prefer a technologically advanced sedan that looks and drives almost exactly like a conventional car. It is aimed at a demographic that may sometimes forget to plug the car in but will be able to use it anyway.

In the Los Angeles area, the metropolitan region where the greatest number of Volts are likely to be sold or leased, the cars' drivers must be able to commute reliably in heavy daily traffic at low cost using electricity and flawlessly complete occasional 250-mile drives to Las Vegas and 370-mile trips to the San Francisco Bay Area.

GM's Hamtramck plant, in a city that is almost completely encircled by Detroit, is said to have a production capacity of about 200,000 cars a year, far greater than the initial reported plans for Volt production volume. Although Chevrolet also may use the plant to assemble the Malibu sedan, the Volt, if well received, may siphon off some potential buyers of that model.

If the Volt should catch on quickly, GM appears to have considerable assembly capacity in reserve. Pricing has not yet been announced, but the car is expected to command a relatively modest premium over the Nissan Leaf, an all-electric car with a range of about 100 miles. The Leaf's suggested retail price is $32,780 before a $7,500 federal tax credit and any state incentives are applied.

The Volt will have a 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, smaller than the Leaf's 24-kwh battery. It's expected that a Volt will fully recharge from a standard outlet in about eight hours, meaning many buyers will not need to install special higher-voltage charging equipment or rewire their garages.

Cornwall Council will get funding for electric car

2010-02-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

Cornwall Council is confident its plans for a rural epicentre for electric car transport will get funding.

The council's original bid failed to get funding in the first round of the Government's plug-in car grant scheme.

However, Councillor Julian German said that government representatives had "expressed enthusiasm for supporting a project in a rural area like Cornwall".

He added that work had begun to ensure the council met the criteria and were successful in the next round of funds.

'Huge issue'

According to Stephen Cirell, director of the council's Green Cornwall programme, the government is "very excited" at the council's proposal to develop and promote electric transport, including a network of charging points and fleets of electric vehicles.

"The government recognises that transport is a huge issue in rural areas like Cornwall," he said.

"Staff and elected members drive millions of miles each year on council business and this project would see the council switching to using electric vehicles.

"If other public sector organisations such as the NHS and colleges then followed our example, together with the voluntary and private sectors, we could remove over half a million tonnes of Co2 each year."

The council also wants to create a solar energy park in the county to provide the energy to support the proposal.

This promises to be the moment when green goes mainstream

2009-12-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

For the past two years, one phrase has appeared so often on BusinessGreen.com that we really ought to use it as a tag line. The details vary depending on the story, but it always tends to run a little something like this: "the product/project/car will be available from/come online in 2010/11/12".
Regardless of the unsatisfying fudge delivered at Copenhagen and the fact that the negotiations to deliver a binding deal will now dominate next year in the same way that the build up to Copenhagen dominated the past 12 months, 2010 marks the beginning of a critical period in the development of the low-carbon economy. This promises to be the moment when green goes mainstream.

Some will argue that this has already happened and if Copenhagen demonstrated one thing conclusively it is that climate change and the environment are now firmly entrenched as a central feature of the global political narrative. We might not be in agreement on how to tackle it, but we are in agreement that it is an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic challenge, and that it provides unprecedented and potentially gargantuan opportunities for the business community.

But if low-carbon thinking has become a normalised component of political and corporate thinking over the past three or four years, 2010 is the year when it really begins the long journey towards changing both the way businesses operate and people live.

Take electric vehicles as just one example. For the last couple of years, electric cars have been largely synonymous with the G-Wiz and other small quadricycles, which while highly successful will remain unlikely to break into the mainstream. All that will change in 2010 as the first wave of electric vehicles from conventional car manufacturers hit the roads. Nissan will launch the all-electric Leaf next year, while Peugeot, Mitsubishi, BMW, Daimler and others are all set to start selling electric vehicles either next year or in early 2011. Perhaps most significantly, GM looks set to win the race to launch a plug-in hybrid with the first Chevy Volt's slated to roll off the production line in late 2010.

The industry will be watching closely to see how these cars fare, but with early trials promising and generous incentives in place from governments around the world the prospects are good, not least because, electric engine aside, they vary little from conventional cars. Some of these zero emission electric vehicles will boast top speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour and ranges of between 100 and 150 miles between charging. They will work for most people for most journeys. Moreover, GM's plug in hybrid, which will be rapidly followed by rival models from Toyota and others, will allow drivers to travel 40 miles before the conventional engine kicks in, providing staggering fuel efficiency and an overall range of 300 miles.

This phenomenon is being repeated in countless industries. In 2010, mainstream energy companies will continue to accelerate investment in renewable energy and more and more wind farms, solar parks, biomass plants and even marine energy devices will come online. Similarly, we will see more airlines undertaking test flights utilising blends of biofuel, more technology firms debuting devices that use ever lower amounts of power, and more businesses re-engineering supply chains and refurbishing buildings to cut their emissions.

It seems that in a way the car companies were right when they used the excuse that it took them years to develop new low-carbon vehicles in order to avoid more demanding emission standards. Businesses really started to think about the imperative to develop cleaner and more sustainable products back in 2006, and now, precisely on schedule, a wave of increasingly mainstream clean technologies is arriving.

Policy measures will also continue to accelerate the adoption of these technologies, most notably in the UK in the form of the Carbon Reduction Commitment and the Clean Energy Cashback feed-in tariff scheme, both of which come into effect in the spring and both of which should serve to further normalise board-level interest in energy efficiency and the installation of small-scale renewable energy systems.

And there will be further evidence of the mainstreaming of environmental issues in May (or possibly March) when climate change policy promises to play a surprisingly prominent role in the British election.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, it is currently looking just about odds on that President Obama will win his tussle with the Senate and get a US climate bill passed at some point during the first few months of the year.

None of this is to suggest that 2010 will deliver a genuine step change in the global economy's development of low-carbon technologies and business models. The high-profile 10:10 campaign for everyone to cut emissions by 10 per cent in 2010, for example, is a well intentioned pipe dream.

But the next 12 months will fire the starting pistol on a decade which, if the pace of technical development continues to accelerate at its current rate, will ensure that the concept of a green business becomes meaningless. Not because they start to disappear, but because with lower carbon businesses dominating the mainstream virtually all businesses will be striving to be as green as possible.

F3DM start selling its first electric car

2009-12-30T00:07:00.001-08:00

Chinese battery and car maker BYD (1211.HK), backed by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffet, said it has raised its 2010 sales target, as it prepares to roll out its first electric cars.

BYD, 10 percent owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), aims to sell 800,000 vehicles next year, up from a previous target of 700,000 units, said Paul Lin, manager of the company's marketing department.

He attributed the revision to robust demand from Chinese consumers following Beijing's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) economic stimulus plan, which includes several measures specifically aimed at boosting car sales.

"The company already reached its 2009 target of 400,000 vehicles in November, so now we are setting our 2010 target to double that number at 800,000 units," Lin said, adding that this year's final sales should come in at around 440,000 units.

BYD's F3 sedan was the best-selling car in China in the first 11 months of this year, leading other popular domestic and foreign models, such as, Hyundai Motor's (005380.KS) new Elantra and Chery Automobile's QQ, official data showed.

To help meet market demand, BYD's new bus plant in the central Chinese city of Changsha and a car plant in the northwestern city of Xian will start operation next year, adding up to 700,000 units of capacity, Lin said.

Henry Li, general manager of BYD Auto's export arm, told Reuters in July that the firm aims to be a major global player by 2025, with vehicle sales of 8-9 million. [ID:nHKG366761]

BYD, which had sold several hundred of its plug-in hybrid, F3DM, unveiled in December of 2008, plans to start selling its first electric car, the e6, in China in the first quarter of 2010, Lin said.

The e6 had passed government safety inspections in the country and received other necessary permits, he said, adding the firm remained committed to export the model to the United States next year.

BYD's shares, traded in Hong Kong, have surged more than 422 percent since the beginning of this year, leading a roughly 49 percent gain in the broader market .HSI and bolstering its founder, Wang Chuanfu, to the top of Forbes 2009 list of China's wealthiest.

The shares fell 3.78 percent in early afternoon trading on Wednesday, lagging a 0.51 percent fall of the market.

all-electric cars may eventually become affordable and negate their appeal

2009-12-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

With the Prius in high demand, Toyota is making plans to launch an all-new hybrid subcompact vehicle in late 2011. A concept version the all-new hybrid-only model for the budding subcompact segment will be unveiled on Jan. 11, the first day of the North American International Auto Show’s press preview. While the Prius has a starting price of $22,400, the subcompact, which will be built on the Yaris platform, will be sold for about $15,760. The new Toyota will compete with a rumored hybrid version of Honda’s Fit subcompact.

Prius accounts for more than 75 percent of Toyota’s hybrid sales worldwide, so Toyota hopes the new hybrid will help secure its dominant position in the future. Toyota plans to produce around 150,000 annually, and by adding another high-profile hybrid to Toyota’s lineup it will not only boost sales, but also increase the profitability of the automaker’s hybrid car business by reducing the per-vehicle cost of components. Some analysts are concerned Toyota might be committing itself too much to its hybrids, however, as all-electric cars may eventually become affordable and negate their appeal. “Toyota is completely convinced about the potential for hybrids spreading to all segments,” one auto analyst told The Detroit News: “That has yet to be proven. There aren’t many places in the world where hybrids have caught on.” Toyota though seems to be hedging their bet. Its battery venture with Japan’s Panasonic Corp. is not only boosting its production capacity of nickel-metal hydride batteries in its traditional hybrids, but also providing an avenue for a battery-powered pure electric car due out in 2012.

She pointed out that Europcar was making green car hire more accessible to customers

2009-12-23T01:49:00.000-08:00

A new study undertaken by car hire firm Europcar has revealed that Britons are falling behind when it comes to green motoring, however young drivers are leading the push for change.

The annual Europcar Observatory, an independent survey of 5,000 drivers across Europe found that 45 per cent of Brits had changed their manner of driving in some way to help save the environment, compared with 54 per cent in mainland Europe.

But in a sign of a change in thinking when it comes to car ownership, of those who have already changed their driving habits, 79 per cent are already using car hire in some form, with mostly the under 35s age bracket having the biggest impact. In the survey, over 50 per cent of drivers in this age range said they planned to give up their car and 60 per cent would opt for a car share service instead.

But as 45 per cent were happy to drive differently to be green, Britons are not yet ready to make the change to a hybrid or an electric car, compared with 65 per cent of drivers in Europe. The study showed that European drivers had a higher exposure and greater experience with alternative fuelled cars, with 30 percent having driven one compared to only 18 per cent in the UK.

Marketing director of Europcar, Catriona Lougher said it seemed that most households were doing their bit by recycling, using low voltage light bulbs and turning down the thermostat, but when it comes to maintaining the car, keeping the green message at the front of the mind was still a challenge.

She said that a car is still considered a status symbol in the UK and that using a more cost efficient car or changing driving habits by easing off the pedal or using the car less was still not a priority for most British drivers.

She pointed out that Europcar was making green car hire more accessible to customers by offering free delivery and collection to a fleet comprising some of the newest and most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market, including hybrids.

electric car plant at the old NASA site in Downey, has donated 100 remote-control cars to needy children in the area

2009-12-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

Tesla Motors, which is in negotiations to build an electric car plant at the old NASA site in Downey, has donated 100 remote-control cars to needy children in the area.

The city received the toys this week and distributed them to True Lasting Connections Resource Center, or TLC, PTA HELPS, Angel Tree, Downey Police Officers' Association and Downey Firemen's Association. Those organizations will pass the toys along to children in time for the holidays.

"We are extremely thankful and appreciate Tesla's generosity," said Downey Mayor Anne Bayer. "Our local needy children will have one more reason to smile about this holiday season."

Tesla has memorandum of understanding to build an electric car production line on the Downey Studios property off Lakewood Boulevard and Columbia Way. The San Carlos-based company also is considering a site in Long Beach, the former Boeing 717 site, also off Lakewood Boulevard.

Free Electric Cars

2009-12-14T01:25:00.000-08:00

The government wants to get gas-powered cars off the street by giving such a big tax rebate on electric cars, that they are free. Demand is high -- www.FreeElectricCar.com is "selling" around 60 golf carts (or electric vehicles) a day.

The story was featured last week on CNN Anderson Cooper and on Fox Business with John Stossel and ABC News. Customers like the free and green aspect of the cars.

Here are the top 5 benefits to owning an electric car: "Hurry to cash in on one of the best opportunities yet for tax payers. You must purchase a qualified vehicle on or before December 31, 2009 to qualify for the tax rebate to get your free electric vehicle. This is even better than the cash for clunkers or the homebuyer's rebate," said Drive Electric CEO Colin Reilly who started www.freeelectriccar.com

With each electric vehicle purchased, the owner will receive a certified "Proof of Purchase" to document the date of purchase and a copy of the IRS Certification letter. Then they should use the new tax form 8936 to claim the credit. The vehicles can be purchased online and take approximately 4-6 weeks to be delivered. It is a tax credit which means a dollar for dollar reduction in taxes owed to the IRS. It is not an income deduction. For example, a 4 passenger vehicle at www.FreeElectricCar.com is on sale for $6,496. The tax credit is also $6,496 - making the vehicle free.

To meet the requirements are low emission and have seat belts, lights, turn signals and most safety items that are on a car. They travel 25mph and are street legal.

By buying green cars, we safe our future, environment and our children

2009-12-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

In this five-part series, the National Post looks at unexpected ways to help the environment. Read part one here and part two here. Today, in the third instalment, the problem with public transit.

When the Toronto Transit Commission announced in November it would hike fares a 25¢ in the new year — a roughly 10% increase — it blamed the usual suspects: rising costs of fuel and wages.

The system, said TTC chairman Adam Giambrone, faced a $100-million shortfall in next year's operating budget.

When the bad news broke, the Torontoist.com, compared the inflation of the TTC's 21 fare hikes in the past 30 years against the price of gasoline and against the inflation rate.

Read a transcript of the chat with Kevin Libin about the future of transit

Consistently, the analysis found, TTC fares had risen faster than inflation, and far faster than the price of gas. Between 1980 and 2010, the cash fare, adjusted for inflation, soared more than 80% and token prices are up 50%. The price of a litre of unleaded gas? Up about 30%, without inflation. As for wage increases, Statistics Canada reported last year that the median full-time, full- year salary of average Canadians has hardly increased at all since 1980.

Although it is charging more than ever, getting heftier federal, provincial and municipal subsidies than at any time in its history, although fuelling a car is pricier; and though its customer base has never been larger or keener to reduce its carbon footprint, the TTC, the largest system in the country, is struggling as much as ever to stem its losses. If this is the future of public transit, it does not look bright.

As other major systems across the continent strain in similar circumstances, the strategy of public transit system boosters has been to promote the service as an environmental necessity. In the name of Mother Nature, North American transit systems have received billions in subsidies in recent years – even though they were never developed for environmental purposes in the first place.

If the goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, air pollution and gas consumption, and maximize the environmental impact of sustainability spending, we may be better off without publicly funding transit at all.

"Subsidized transit is not sustainable by definition," says Wendell Cox, a transport policy consultant in St. Louis, and former L.A. County Transportation commissioner. "The potential of public transit has been so overblown it's almost scandalous."

It's not that environmentally minded transit promoters are being dishonest when they argue that city buses are more efficient than private cars: It's that they're talking about a fictional world where far more people ride buses. Mass transit vehicles use up roughly the same energy whether they are full or empty, and for much of the time, they're more empty than full.

For the bulk of the day, and on quieter routes, the average city bus usually undoes whatever efficiencies are gained during the few hours a day, on the few routes, where transit is at its peak.

Last year, policy analyst Randal O'Toole ran the numbers for the CATO Institute, where he is a senior fellow, comparing mass transit vehicles to private vehicles, ranking each based on how much energy they consume and how much CO2 they emit. The average motorized city bus, he reports, burns 27% more energy per mile than a private car and emits 31% more pounds of CO2. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics confirms that the average city bus requires 20% more energy per passenger than the average car.

"Unfortunately, right now the state of the art is that you're generally better off with private automobiles when you're talking about energy utilization. About the only way that transit can be competitive for energy or for environmental quality is if the transit lines gets an incredible amount of use, far higher than is now normally the case," says Tom Rubin, a transit policy consultant in California, and former chief financial officer of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But crowded systems are a turn-off for riders, he says, so more passengers means even more buses and rail cars. "It's almost impossible to make transit more attractive without spending a huge amount of money."

The bus may be the most inefficient part of any major city's transit network, but they're the most vital part. Wider use of subways and light rail relies utterly on a feeder system of buses, says Michael Roschlau, president of the Canadian Urban Transit Association. "You can't just run [Calgary's] C-Train by itself and expect everyone to drive to the stations," he says. "Same thing for the subway in Toronto or Skytrain in Vancouver."

Without buses to carry them from their neighbourhood to the train stations, even fewer citizens would ride the trains, making trains, in turn, less efficient per passenger. Already, when trains, subways and streetcars are combined, the average public transit system is still no more efficient that private cars, according to the CATO study. All transit together does emit less CO2 than passenger cars carrying the same number of people the same distance (about 13% less) but even that gap is disappearing — fast.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Data Book shows that while transit's energy efficiency has worsened in recent decades — transit buses today consume 4,315 BTUs per passenger mile, or about 50% more energy than in 1980 — the trend in cars has been the opposite direction: Today's cars are already nearly 20% more efficient than they were 25 years ago, down from 4,348 BTUs per passenger mile in 1980 to 3,514 in 2007.

The environmental case for public transit is falling just as fast, now that hybrid cars are achieving mass market status, with 65 models set to hit North American roads next year, Chevrolet planning to launch its electric Volt by 2011 and manufacturers rolling out super-high efficiency vehicles. In the next few years especially, the average energy consumption of passenger vehicles, and their emission levels, will only improve, with projections by the International Council on Clean Transportation showing the average auto could beat all public transit modes for efficiency and CO2 within the next five years.

"At this point, a Toyota Prius is less greenhouse-intensive than New York City Transit," Mr. Cox says. "Whatever advantage that transit has at the moment is going away very quickly."

Once eco-conscious urbanites realize the bus is worse for the planet than cars, they'll have little reason to keep riding, making transit's comparative per-passenger environmental footprint look even worse. And while transit system operators talk of "greening" their fleet, the fact is they face substantial limits. Whatever green gains transit can make, automobiles can probably do better, Mr. Rubin says.

When the federal government, the B.C. government and BC Transit revealed plans to run 20 hydrogen-powered buses in Whistler, B.C., in February for the Olympics, even the hard-green David Suzuki Foundation balked at the preposterous $2-million-per-bus price tag — four times the price of a standard diesel — arguing that the money would have been better spent on traditional transit initiatives, which "are on life support as far as the financial needs go," Ian Bruce, the group's climate-change campaigner, said.

He's surely right about the pointlessness of what will amount to a four-year, $90-million showpiece of technology not even remotely realistic for actual, financially strapped public transit systems.

And more money for diesel-powered buses may be hardly more worthwhile: The fact is that despite best efforts of transit planners and funding governments, and surveys showing a public keen on environmentalism, most commuters simply will not, or cannot, ride.

Last year's census data confirmed that the vast majority of Canadians have little use for transit. Just 216,000 more people rode at least once than did in 2001, a half-a-percentage increase, but that's actually a decrease relative to the 5.4% population growth over the same period. At the same time, Statistics Canada shows that operating costs for Canadian transit system has ballooned, up 30% from $3.7-billion in 2003 to $4.8-billion in 2007. In the United States, public transit's market share for travel has fallen by a third since 1980, from 1.5% to 1% in 2005. If anything were to get people out of their cars to stand at a bus stop, it would be the severe pain of soaring gas prices. But even as fuel in the United States. approached the unseen price of $4 a gallon in 2008, public transit ridership rose a mere 3.3%.

Transit boosters insist that we must go further, and redesign our cities to support transit systems. "Our cities continue to approve the suburban sorts of development that are very difficult to serve using public transit," Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, told reporters upon release of last year's disappointing ridership data. But the thousands of delivery trucks, taxi drivers, emergency vehicles, service trucks, car-bound workers and buses mean even high-density cities will keep needing highways, ring roads, bridges and flyovers. Meanwhile the massive cost of overhauling cities is just more billions to address an automobile environmental problem that is already on the way to resolving itself — money that might be better, and more effectively deployed toward other earth-friendly measures, such as reducing traffic congestion.

A congestion charge toll implemented in Stockholm in 2007, for instance, reduced CO2 emissions in that city by roughly 16% last year, cut traffic by 18%, and, because it exempts low-emissions vehicles, led to a tripling of purchases of so-called green cars. Best of all, it sustains itself.

More roads, and more efficient roads, still won't address public transit's original, non-environmental purpose: providing mobility for citizens who lack their own. But where public transit is absent, or impractical, solutions for the small minority totally lacking other means have readily sprung up. Ridesharing applications for smart phones — users enter their location and desired destination and a cost-conscious carpooler responds — are already in wide use, Mr. Rubin says. Self-sustaining, small-scale private jitney systems have successfully operated for years in Atlantic City and Puerto Rico (all North America's early public transit systems were privately operated until they were nationalized). And with billions freed up from public transit funds, it appears entirely feasible to simply offer subsidized Prius taxis, or even car subsidies, to the small portion of the public entirely reliant on public mobility. A study last year by HDR Decision Economics, commissioned by the Canadian Urban Transit Association, found that Canada's public systems will need $78-billion more in infrastructure spending and $3.6-billion in annual subsidies to reach optimum capacity. For that kind of money, Canadian governments could, if they wanted, hand out $16,000 car or taxi allowances to every single Canadian who rides transit even casually, and still have $50- billion left over at the end of the decade. That plan wouldn't please the public unions and other transit-reliant lobbies pressing for more green-related transit funding. But it would relieve Canadians from having to perpetually prop up a system that's increasingly unsustainable — financially and environmentally.

The commission said the municipality is still working on other related programs to help buyers offset the higher purchase costs of new energy vehicles

2009-12-11T04:50:00.000-08:00

Shanghai, December 11 (Gasgoo.com) This week Shanghai's economic planning body has denied earlier media reports that the city was trying to boost sales of cleaner energy cars by offering free license plates to go with these vehicles, CCTV.com said.

The Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Commission said the plan is a good idea but would be very difficult to implement. The planner claimed it has studied the possibility of free license plates for new energy cars, but fears the program would cause more problems then it would solve.

At present, auto consumers in Shanghai can only get their vehicles registered through car plate auctions. The average minimum cost for a car plate stands at 30,000 yuan ($4,390).

The commission said the municipality is still working on other related programs to help buyers offset the higher purchase costs of new energy vehicles. Extra subsidies may be offered to buyers of eco-friendly vehicles which consume less energy.

The city will help its public transportation sector offset some battery costs for running electric buses. A battery-electric-bus is priced about 2 million yuan. Shanghai has set up an e-bus battery renting firm, due to serve the 2010 World Expo first.

The Wall Street Journal that he thought the car drove "rough," with "squishy" handling, and that it needed more refinement

2009-12-09T03:44:00.001-08:00

BYD Co., the Chinese auto maker part-owned by one of Warren Buffett's companies, is likely to choose the Los Angeles area as the lead market for the electric car it plans to start selling in the U.S. late next year, a senior executive said.

BYD is also leaning toward choosing the West Coast metropolis as home to its U.S. headquarters for the auto business, Henry Li, a BYD senior director in charge of its auto business outside China, said in an interview Wednesday. Mr. Li said an official decision has not been made, but the Los Angeles area is "at the top of the list" and is likely to be chosen. The Los Angeles area is attractive because electric cars are "most suitable for densely populated areas with lots of air pollution problems," and because the region is one of the largest and wealthiest car markets and is known to be the leader in adopting new technologies, the executive said.

California is shaping up as a central battleground for electric vehicle launches next year. General Motors Co. said earlier this month it will focus on California for the Volt, a heavily electrified, plug-in hybrid car. Coda Automotive, a California-based start-up, is also targeting southern California for the planned launch by late next year of a $40,000-plus all-electric battery compact sedan, to be built in China using Chinese lithium-ion battery technology. Japan's Nissan MotorCo. is also putting the finishing touches on plans for the launch of its all-electric Leaf model in the U.S. and Japan by end-2010, although it hasn't said yet where it will focus initially.

BYD's U.S. launch is being watched in the industry as a test of the global ambitions of China's auto sector to use electric-vehicle technology to close the distance with more established car makers. It has said that it plans to sell the all-electric, battery-powered e6 model for slightly more than $40,000 – competitive with some bigger rivals. The company wants to build a beachhead on the West Coast to tap American consumers' growing appetite for fuel-efficient cars much like Japanese auto makers did decades ago.

Mr. Li said that to pick the lead market for the five-seat e6, BYD has spent the past couple of years talking to different local governments to discern their attitudes toward clean-energy vehicles, and what kinds of incentives or other support they might offer for the industry.

BYD plans initially to make the e6 available only to fleet customers in the U.S., like utilities, and will sell it directly to them instead of using dealerships, "most likely through some type of lease program," Mr. Li said. BYD plans to develop a dealer network later, as it makes more products available in the U.S.

BYD plans to later expand e6 sales north to San Francisco and eventually to further cities like Seattle, Chicago, New York and Boston, Mr. Li said, without specifying a timetable. "Any of those markets is our potential market," he said, adding that BYD also wants to expand its product offerings to include other new-energy cars as well as gasoline-fueled cars.

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said in an interview in August that the company wants to use the e6, one of its most advanced cars, to build its brand name in the U.S. He said the company will target government agencies, utilities and "maybe some celebrities" as potential customers. BYD hopes to enter Europe with a similar strategy in 2011 or later.

The Chinese company's ambitions face challenges. It is still awaiting approval from China's government to begin selling the e6 in its home market. And it remains unseen whether the e6 will satisfy finicky U.S. customers.

The technology chief of one global auto maker who recently drove an e6 told The Wall Street Journal that he thought the car drove "rough," with "squishy" handling, and that it needed more refinement.

Mr. Li said any early evaluation of the e6's performance is meaningless since it would be based on test drives of an early prototype of the car. "Obviously we're improving the car everyday," he said.

he said would start with the construction of a lithium carbonate factory and end with the production of electric cars

2009-12-06T20:42:00.000-08:00

Bolivian President Evo Morales claimed victory in elections yesterday following a pledge to extend his socialist “revolution” and boost payouts to the poor and elderly in the natural gas-rich nation.

Morales, a former farmer and union leader who heads the Movement Toward Socialism party, had 63 percent support, according to exit polls broadcast by television station Red Uno. Former Governor Manfred Reyes Villa had 27 percent. Official results weren’t yet available.

“The people, with their participation, showed once again that it’s possible to change Bolivia,” Morales, 50, told supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace in La Paz last night. “We have the responsibility to deepen and accelerate this process of change.”

As Bolivia’s first leader to win consecutive re-election since 1964, Morales said he will use his five-year term to expand state control over the country’s natural resources and distribute revenue from state-controlled businesses to the poor. He plans to rewrite about 100 laws, including mining and energy codes, as his party appeared headed for its first-ever majority in both houses of Congress.

About 5.2 million voters were eligible to take part in the vote, the national electoral court said.

‘Best Moment Ever’

“Brother Evo Morales is working for the poorest people, for the people that are fighting for their survival,” street vendor Julio Fernandez, 47, said after casting his vote in the city of El Alto, just outside La Paz.

The vote took place almost 11 months after Morales won approval in a nationwide referendum for a new constitution abolishing a ban on consecutive re-election. He said he won’t run again in 2015.

Morales said last night that his party, known as MAS, won a two-thirds majority in Congress. That will allow him to make key appointments without consulting the opposition, said Erasto Almeida, a Latin America analyst at the Eurasia Group in New York.

“This will give Morales more freedom to mold Bolivia’s legal apparatus and institutions according to his nationalist and state-centric views, given that the new Congress will vote on a number of bills necessary to implement Bolivia’s new constitution,” Almeida wrote in a Dec. 4 report.

Gas Reserves

Reyes Villa, 54, said during the campaign that the Morales government didn’t seek out new markets for exports like natural gas and metals, costing the country $2 billion annually in lost revenue. Bolivia has the second-largest natural gas reserves on the continent, after Venezuela.

“It’s been a hard battle against lies, against political persecution,” Reyes Villa said, speaking from the eastern Santa Cruz province. “We’re going to keep fighting for democracy, for the country and for everyone counting on us.”

The number of Bolivians living in poverty rose 0.5 percentage point to 60.1 percent in 2007 from 2005, the year before Morales took office, according to the National Statistics Institute. The government agency hasn’t published data for the past two years.

Bolivia’s projected economic growth of 2.8 percent this year is the most of 32 Western hemisphere nations tracked by the International Monetary Fund in its October World Economic Outlook. The Washington-based lender forecasts contractions of 0.7 percent in Brazil and 7.3 percent in Mexico, Latin America’s two biggest economies.

Morales said he plans to use revenue from new state businesses to increase one of his largest stipend programs, which targets low-income Bolivians over the age of 60. He said he may increase the stipends to 7,764 bolivianos ($1,098) per year from 1,800 bolivianos.

Morales also promised his supporters new petrochemical plants and a plan to process the country’s lithium reserves, which he said would start with the construction of a lithium carbonate factory and end with the production of electric cars.

Bolivia’s salt flats contain about half the world’s known 11 million metric tons of lithium reserves, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report

The early-evening rides sell out first, operators said, and it was nice Saturday, with the lights set against the glow of the sunset and the Boardwal

2009-11-29T01:52:00.000-08:00

holiday light train tickets are selling like hot cakes, operators said Saturday, as they ushered visitors into seven brightly decorated train cars lined up beside the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Saturday was the first trip of the holiday season for the Santa Cruz Holiday Lights Train and Santa's Kingdom, a train ride and arcade partnership between Felton-based Roaring Camp Railroad's Santa Cruz Big Trees & Pacific Railway Co. and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Holiday operation include the second year of a holiday season train ride in Felton featuring decorated trees and hot cider.

The diesel-electric train does a loop from the Main Beach amusement park to Pogonip and back, rumbling along at about five mph and spanning a little more than an hour, said John Bush, manager of the Roaring Camp trains operations. The ride comes with Christmas carols, cider and lots of scenery and cheer.

"The train is absolutely beautiful," said Lyn Henry of Capitola, who was picking up tickets inside the park's Neptune's Kingdom, which has been transformed into "Santa's Kingdom" for a few weeks.

"I wanted to try this because I want to sing Christmas carols," she added, smiling.

Henry was with her good friend John Wendt and his son, Nicholas, age 6, who was wide-eyed with excitement, though maybe a tad more keen for a game of laser tag that came along with the train tickets.

Business is so good that it is the first

year in the train ride's 10-year history that they have offered three trips on the first evening, Business Development Director Paul Nakamoto said. Groups from as far away as Taiwan have bought tickets this year, he said.

Ticket sales are up 40 percent over last year and they needed to add an extra train this year in Felton, for the second year of the Holiday Tree Walk which takes visitors through decorated trees surrounding Roaring Camp.

But it was the Holiday Lights Train which drew Kelly Austin of Aptos and her 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, and her friend, 10-year-old Matthew Koda of La Selva Beach.

"I'm a local and I've never been on it so it's very exciting," Austin said. "It's a Santa Cruz tradition and we're finally doing it."

Several people came up as the train was getting ready to roll, and were told, sorry, the 350 seats were sold out.

The early-evening rides sell out first, operators said, and it was nice Saturday, with the lights set against the glow of the sunset and the Boardwalk rides.

Bush, the train manager, said the first day is always a scramble, but that he hopes that their need to add an extra train for the Christmas walk "bodes well for everyone."