EV Owners in California to Feel the Shock of Higher Electricity Rates

Woe betide the electric car. Outpaced by their petrol-powered cousins in the 1900s, saddled with heavy and potentially dangerous batteries in the 1970s and crushed in the name of the Almighty Dollar in the 1990s, it’s been a rough road from there to here.

And now, on the dawn of a new age where electric cars seem poised to take their rightful place alongside gasoline cars, the electricity companies are about to throw a wrench into the works. If you live in California and intend to buy a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius or Chevrolet Volt or an all-electric Nissan Leaf, you could be in for a...shock.

If the energy giants have their way, the Chevy Cobalt, which would have to rate on my list as one of the least desirable cars built by GM, is more economical to own or operate than any of the above. The reason?

Essentially, The California government has approved its energy providers to impose higher rates on customers who exceed, “typical household levels” of energy use all in the name of conservation. So if, for example, you spend eight hours a night recharging your electric car, you’ll find yourself classed as one of these excess customers.

Wham, bam, the electricity companies charge you more than Mr. Joe Public next door who drives a Toyota Sienna and still has to pay for the good oil. And contrary to what you may of heard, it doesn’t matter if you recharge your car at night when the rates are lower; you’re still gonna take a hit to your hip pocket.

And it’s not like the California legislature is rushing to correct this oversight.

Wally Tyner, the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics, said that to make the Volt more economical than the Prius or the Cobalt, oil prices would have rise to between $171 and $254 per barrel, depending on which electricity pricing system is being used. Californians for example, pay an average of 14.42 cents per kilowatt hour, which is about 35 percent higher than the national average.

"People who view the Volt as green will pay $10,000 more over the lifetime of the car because it's green," Tyner said. "Most consumers will look at the numbers and won't pay that."

So until you’ve taken a pen and paper and worked out the real cost of owning an EV in California, maybe keep that Geo Metro for a while longer.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Purdue University

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Green for Green: The Truth About America’s Car Buying Habits

At the Society of Automotive Analysts' (SAA) 2011 Automotive Outlook Conference in Detroit, J.D. Power released some statistics on U.S. light vehicle sales in 2010. The figures make an interesting reading.

86% of vehicles sold were gasoline-powered, 8.7% were flex-fueled, 2.6% were diesels and 2.4% were hybrids. Their forecast for 2020 is perhaps even more stunning. An estimated 71.5% of vehicles sold will be gasoline-powered, 10% will be flex-fueled, 9.5% will be hybrids and just 1% will be pure electric.

More than seventy percent will be gasoline powered in 2020? Whatever happened to my Hydrogen-7 or Tesla Model S? As Rebecca Lindland, Director of Strategic Review for IHS Automotive explains, nothing.

"We studied the 1970s and we looked back at the last couple of oil crises, and we found that the [American] consumer will buy small, more fuel-efficient cars for literally three to four months. And then three or four months later, we go right back to buying big cars. It's just a pattern."

When gas prices dropped from $4 a gallon back to less than $1.75 a gallon in early 2009 (see EIA's chart below), buyers simply lapsed back into their old buying habits. It’s one of the reasons trucks / pickups outsold cars in 2010. Lindland elaborates:

"It doesn't matter that there's over 30 new hybrid models on the market. [American consumers are] not buying them."

Most of the auto industry’s hopes lie with Generation Green, the first of which will probably be buying their first car in 2012. Lindland explains why Gen Green are so important:

"They're going to be the first generation to always have a hybrid or electric vehicle as one of their buying choices. They won't have to adapt their buying behavior. These are vehicles that they will have grown up with, and they will have never known a market without them."

It’s not all sunny, however. Jeff Schuster, J.D. Power’s Executive Director, said things such as price premiums, range anxiety and a lack of recharging infrastructure are still hurdles that hybrid and electric vehicles are yet to cross.

"You can read all the stories about how we don't typically drive more than 30 miles in one direction anyway, but the reality is that people want that security," said Schuster. "They want to know they can go further with the vehicle."

Regardless of what consumers want, increasing CAFE standards mean more hybrids; EVs and subcompacts are on the way. Lindland is especially fearful of a reprise of the ‘70s where tougher fuel economies drove carmakers to build “vehicles that nobody wanted” Here’s looking at you, AMC Pacer.

Others though are optimistic. Carlos Tavares, Nissan’s Executive VP and Chairman of Management Committee-Americas (we swear we didn’t make that up) recalls the debate of bringing the Versa stateside. The subcompact sedan and hatchback now commands 20% of the market segment.

"I think at the end of the day, the only thing to be said is let the American consumer decide," said Tavares. "We'll bring the products. We will continue to bring compact cars, and we will eventually reinforce our presence in compact cars, because today nobody can bet on the fact that oil is not going to go up."

So it just goes to show: while we all say we’re concerned about the environment, maybe all we really care about is what’s left in our wallets. It’s a tough reality, but maybe one the world will have to face sooner rather than later. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Industryweek

Our Automotive Future: Clever Tech Meets Clever Manufacturing

In a decade where green has become the new buzzword for almost every industry, automakers are facing two big problems: economy and emissions. The simplest way to achieve this is to reduce weight and reduce the size of the engine. With all the government mandated safety equipment and luxury features that today’s customers demand - power everything, air conditioning and the like - achieving the former is very difficult. And fitting a small engine into a heavy body is only going to stunt performance and make fuel economy all the more worse.

Fortunately, there are a few potential solutions. Carbon fibre is one. It’s said to be ten times stronger than steel and five times lighter. Unfortunately, it’s also four times as expensive, making it impractical for use in non-luxury vehicles. Now, engineers are looking to green energy and new manufacturing methods to make carbon fibre cheaper. Still, the results are yet to be seen.

There’s also the burgeoning belief that ultracapacitors are set to replace lithium ion batteries in hybrid and electric vehicles, though this is far from certain. Like carbon fibre, ultracapacitors are very expensive and unlike today’s lithium ion batteries are quite bulky and heavy. Think of the first generation of phone batteries for a worthy comparison. Fortunately, costs are coming down. According to Mike Sund, VP of investor relations at Maxwell Technologies, “[Ultracapacitor] costs have been reduced by two-thirds over the past three years.”

Even in this post-GFC world, the price of oil is also becoming an increasing concern for consumers and big business alike. Products, like Ethanol E10 and E85, are decent stopgap measures though aren’t solving the bigger problem. Now, companies are looking to manufacture synthetic gasoline from biomass such as woodchips and other waste materials. .

The technology still isn’t at the stage where it can compete with the major oil refineries, meeting only 1/8th of their capacity. Another hurdle is the raw biomass itself, which is too heavy to transport long distances. Still, new advances and investment in the industry are sure to produce some interesting results in the near future.

Lastly, the Scuderi Group has developed an experimental split-cycle engine that causes combustion to occur after the piston reaches the top of the cylinder, which it claims is 50% more fuel efficient than contemporary petrol engines. How about a 1L engine that offers the same performance as a 1.8, with better fuel economy than a contemporary 1L? By using some clever trickery that allows the spark to come later, along with a turbocharger and small air-tank, the Scuderi engine could reinvigorate faith in the internal combustion engine – if it ever reaches production.

So, the future of the automobile is looking bright. Now all that’s left is the wait to see if these technologies will reach production status.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: WSJ , Video: Scuderi Group

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NOx, Hydrocarbons and Worse – What’s Else is Coming from your Exhaust Pipe?

As automotive consumers, we think we’re pretty well informed. We read all the blogs and all the magazines, pouring over the all important numbers: 0 to 60 times, miles per gallon and – increasingly – CO2 emissions. That last one is interesting, as it’s only come to the mainstream public’s attention in the last seven years or so. Anyone would think that the only noxious chemical cars put into the atmosphere are CO2, but you’d be wrong.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons, diesel particulates and carbon monoxide are also put out by our daily drivers. Think of the worst parts of cigarette smoke and the fumes from burning plastic and you’ll have a good idea what I mean. Premature births, lung cancer and smog – all attributable to these noxious chemicals.

You may be surprised at the vehicles that are very good on CO2 and very bad on NOx and hydrocarbons. By adding the two together, we get a milligram per kilometre rating. So here are the best and worst from the UK’S Vehicle Certification Agency:

UK's best performers

Skoda Yeti 1.2 105PS 49mg/km

Nissan Qashqai+2 2.0 71mg/km

Honda Insight 1.3 IMA S/SE 73mg/km

Porsche Cayman S 3.4 79mg/km

Honda Insight 1.3IMA ES-T 5dr 82mg/km

UK's worst offenders (mg/km)

Nissan Pathfinder 2.5 dCi 190 1,150mg/km

Seat Ibiza SC 1.2 12v 70PS 1,026mg/km

Citroën C5 1.6i THP 1,010mg/km

Audi A4 3.2 FSi Multitronic 999mg/km

Mercedes B-Class B160 BlueEfficiency 994mg/km

Would you believe that a 2.5L Volvo V70 estate is in some ways better for the environment than a 1.3L Fiat 500 with start-stop engine tech? Try 201mg/km versus 484mg/km. And would you of guessed a Porsche Cayman S would be, in one way at least, better for the environment than a Mercedes-Benz B160 BlueEfficiency?

It just goes to show that the more you know the better off you are. One can only hope that, in time, these details will appear on the same stickers that tell us mpg and CO2 emissions so car buyers can make a fully informed choice.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: VCA via Telegraph

Volvo wants in on the EV Business, Starts Developing C30 DRIVe Electric with Fuel-Cell Range Extender

With even the likes of Porsche going green – not to mention the Chevrolet Volt or the Nissan Leaf, it's no surprise that Volvo wants a piece of the "Look at me, I'm saving the planet!" action.

They partnered up with Powercell Sweden AB (with backing from the Swedish Energy Agency) and hope that the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric will be ready for testing on the road by 2012.

"This is an exciting expansion of our focus on electrification. Battery cost and size means that all-electric cars still have a relatively limited operating range. Fuel cells may be one way of extending the distance these cars can cover before they need to be recharged" Volvo Cars President and CEO Stefan Jacoby said. "What is more, the project gives us increased knowledge about fuel cells and hydrogen gas".

The project is in its early stages, the focus being on the range of the car. And it's no surprise, as no EV can stand a chance these days if it can't go at least 40-60 miles on one charge.

To achieve this, Volvo is cooking up -wait for it- a Range Extender. A reformer, tasked with breaking down liquid fuel and creating hydrogen gas. This gas then goes into the fuel cell and gets converted to electrical energy powering the motor.

The advantage of the process is that it's creating electricity without any emissions of carbon oxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) and particles whatsoever. On other thing is that the reformer can just as easily break down renewable fuels, like ethanol.

Volvo expects the Range Extender to, well, extend the range of the car by up to 250 kilometers (155 miles), in addition to the range provided by the battery pack.

By Csaba Daradics

Credo E-Bone has Funny Name, Bulbous Styling and Hydrogen Power

In the future, we will all ride around in hydrogen fueled plastic caterpillars. Or at least we will if Hungarian industrial design Peter Simon has his way. His vision for a greener public transport future is a hydrogen fuel cell - electric bus called the Credo E-Bone [is it just me, or does "E-Bone" sound like something you'd buy at an adult shop and plug into your USB port?].

The Credo E-Bone is a zero emission vehicle with a bone-like internal structure and lightweight composite plastic body. There is an electric motor driving each wheel which is presumably powered by the lithium batteries in stop-start driving and the hydrogen fuel cells on the highway. The fuel cells / batteries are stored on the roof.

For all my chiding, I do have to give Peter Simon some credit. If you square off the window- and roofline, do away with the curvy rear glass and wheel covers and replace the hydrogen fuel cells with natural gas, you come up with a very practical proposal. Not a very imaginative proposal, granted, but one that I could see on our roads within the next two to three years.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Ecofriend , Via: Green.Autoblog

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Motive Releases First Images of Composite Bodied Kestrel EV

In response to numerous media requests (or so the company claims), small-scale Canadian automaker Motive has released the first official images of its hemp-bodied EV city car, the Kestrel. The car was unveiled at the EV 2010 VÉ Conference and Tradeshow in Vancouver recently.

As previously reported by Carscoop, the Kestrel is a cab-forward design that seats four. It is made of a bio-fibre (hemp) based composite that is said to reduce weight, resist rust and increase impact absorption.

Along with the images, Motive has released further details of the upcoming EV. Weighing in at 1,874 lbs (850 kg), the company optimistically states that the Kestrel will be good for a top speed of 84 mph (135 km/h) and a driving range of 100 miles (160 kilometers) on its lithium-ion battery power.

The Kestrel is said to be just one of the cars in the Project Eve line-up. Project Eve is a consortium of Canadian companies who want to bring electric mobility to Canada, a noble cause. Motive is one of the Project's co-founders.

Nathan Armstrong, Motive's President states, "We believe this is an important step for Canada and are extremely happy to be a part of such an innovative group of companies."

A working prototype of the Kestrel is planned for mid-2011, and with full scale production and commercial sales starting in late-2012.

By Tristan Hankins

New Skoda Fabia Estate Greenline with 83.1mpg and 89g/km of CO2 Priced at £13,740 in the UK

The most environmentally friendly Skoda model to date, the new Fabia Estate Greenline II, goes on sale in the UK in the beginning of July with pricing set at £13,740.

The second generation Greenline models is powered by the VW Group's new three-cylinder turbocharged 1.2-liter common rail turbo diesel engine with 75-horsepower. To help improve fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions, the Greenline model also gets start & stop technology, a kinetic energy system for battery recharging, gear recommendation system, lowered and aerodynamically-covered chassis and low-rolling resistance tires.

The result is an impressive combined fuel economy figure of 83.1 mpg UK [69.2 mpg US or 3.4lt/100km] and exceptionally low CO2 emissions of only 89g/km. Skoda claims that the Fabia Estate Greenline II can cover a distance of 932 miles or 1,499 km on a single tank of fuel.

The Fabia Estate Greenline II will be followed by a five-door hatchback model featuring the same engine and fuel-saving technologies in October 2010.

Hydro Kultur Nios: Fully Functional Hydrogen-Fueled City Car

The Hydro Kultur Nios is a hydrogen-fueled prototype that took part in the 2010 Shell Eco Marathon in the "Urban Concept Cars" category. It was created by a group of students and their professors from three leading German Universities - the University of Art and Design in Halle, the Technical University Chemnitz, and the College of Further Education in Merseburg.

Built around an exposed wooden frame that tips the scales at just 18.5 kg or 40.8 pounds with the car's overall weight pegged at around 400kg or 882 pounds, the Nios can seat two passengers in tandem with the driver sitting up front.

The odd-looking prototype is powered by an electric motor that gets its juice from mixing hydrogen and oxygen in a stack of membranes and separators.

Via: Diseno-Art / Alexa Bart

Top 10 Greenest and Dirtiest Cars of 2010

The headline grabber: Italy's Lamborghini Murcielago has been named and shamed as the most polluting car of the nation by the UK's Environmental Transport Association (ETA), being five times as worse than the greenest automobile of 2010, Japan's 99g/km Toyota iQ.

"With emissions five times worse than the greenest car, the Lamborghini is the bull in an environmental china shop," said Andrew Davis, director of the ETA. "Thankfully, there are very few on the roads and there is an increasing choice of environmentally-sound cars."

The group said it examined over 5,000 cars sold in the UK ranking them for their power, emissions, fuel efficiency and the amount of noise they produce. ETA also said that a poll of 1,500 British drivers found that Scots were most inclined (42%) to buy a smaller car in order to reduce their motoring costs, while drivers living in the north of England were the least inclined (34%).

The untold story: As with most reports of the sort, ETA and Mr. Davis forget to stress the fact that super cars like the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, which top both CO2 and fuel cost lists, are not only extremely rare, but also won't ever be used as near as much as a Toyota iQ or the Honda Insight.

This means that their actual total emissions (we won't even bother with fuel costs) are pretty much inconsequential. A quick search on UK's (since the study was for Britain) eBay can provide proof for this.

Source: Environmental Transport Association

ETA's GREEN CAR AWARDS 2010

Category	Best	Worst
Green Car of the Year 2010	Toyota iQ	Lamborghini Murcielago
Greenest small family car	Honda Insight 1.3	VW Golf 3.2 V6
Greenest large family car	BMW 320d Touring	Vauxhall Insignia VXR V6 Turbo
Greenest Supermini	Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D	Renault Clio Sport 200
Greenest city car	Toyota iQ	Ford Ka 1.6 Sportka
Greenest sports car	Vauxhall Tigra	Lamborghini Murcielago
Greenest MPV	Peugeot Bipper Tepee	Mercedes R63
Greenest small MPV	Renault Modus 1.5dci	Vauxhall Zafira VXR 2.0i Turbo
Greenest off-road car	BMW X1 E84	Mercedes ML63
Greenest luxury car	BMW 740d	Bentley Brooklands

TOP 10 MOST POLLUTING CARS

1. Lamborgini Murcielago
2. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
3. Bentley Motors Brooklands
4. Bentley Motors Arnage
5. bentley Motors Azure
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7. Bentley Motors Continental
8. Aston Martin V12 Vantage
9. Cadillac Escalade
10. Rolls Royce Phantom

TOP 10 LEAST POLLUTING CARS

1. Toyota iQ
2. Honda Insight
3. Volkswagen New Polo
4. Toyota Yaris
5. Toyota Prius
6. Nissan Pixo
7. Suzuki Alto
8. Honda Civic Hybrid
9. Ford Fiesta
10. Mazda 2

TOP 10 CARS WITH HIGHEST FUEL COSTS

1. Lamborghini Murcielago
2. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
3. Bentley Motors Brooklands
4. Bentley Motors Arnage
5. Bentley Motors Azure
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7. Bentley Motors Continental
8. Aston Martin V12 Vantage
9. Cadillac Escalade
10. Ferrari 430 Scuderia

TOP 10 CARS WITH LOWEST FUEL COSTS

1. Smart Fortwo
2. Volkswagen New Polo
3. Ford Fiesta
4. Vaixhall Corsa
5. Seat Ibiza
6. Peugeot 207
7. Volvo C30
8. Volkswagen Polo
9. Citroen New C3
10. Toyota Prius

Average CO2 Emissions of New Cars in Europe Fall 12% in 6 Years

Average European new car CO2 emissions have fallen by around 12% since 2003, according to a new study from auto consultancy JATO Dynamics. The volume-weighted European new car average is now 145.9 g/km, almost 20 g/km less than 2003, when JATO began collating European CO2 emissions data.

In addition, the study finds that half of all new cars sold in the 21 European countries analyzed by JATO had official CO2 emissions of 140g/km or less, compared to only 23% in 2003.

"The pace of improvement is remarkable and shows just how rapidly the industry has reacted to environmental demands," said David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult.

"In 2003, only 24% of the market achieved an average of 130g/km. This was 40% by 2007, 51% in 2008 and 69% last year, already ahead of the 2012 EU target. This achievement is even greater when set in the context of new cars becoming larger, safer and better equipped, as consumer demands reach ever higher," he added.

According to the report, the decline in new car CO2 emissions is due to three key factors:

1) Vehicle Developments - including more efficient petrol and diesel engines, hybrid powertrains, more sophisticated transmissions, low rolling-resistance tires, improved attention to detail, aerodynamics, stop-start technology and regenerative charging systems

2) Taxation – guiding demand towards these models and technologies CO₂-based purchase and/or ownership taxes, in some countries have been introduced in tandem with higher taxes on fuel. Significant rises in fuel prices (due to global oil prices) continue to influence consumers' choice of vehicle.

3) Scrappage schemes – during late 2008 and 2009, scrappage schemes in a number of European countries have benefitted the purchase of smaller, more efficient cars, in some cases with customers directly incentivized towards cars with low CO₂ emissions.

Even non-scrappage sales have seen a marked shift towards smaller cars, with the largest rise in B-segment vehicles, an effect of recessionary pressure on family budgets pushing many customers across Europe to consider fuel efficiency ahead of other factors, for the first time.

Di Girolamo added that the rate of improvement been increasing since 2007, through more low-CO2 technology and specific low-CO2 models on European roads.

"Looking at year-on-year trends, it appears that, if the current momentum can be maintained, 130g/km by 2015, as required by the EU legislation, is achievable," Di Girolamo concluded.

Source: JATO

Skoda Unveils Eco-Friendly Greenline Versions of Facelifted Fabia and Roomster

Following on from the launch of the refreshed Fabia and Roomster models at Geneva Motor Show this past March, Skoda has now released the environmentally-friendly GreenLine versions of the two models.

Leaving aside the subtle aesthetic changes that are the same as on the standard Fabia hatch and Roomster MPV, the most important innovation on both GreenLine II models concerns the introduction of the VW Group's new 1.2-liter three-cylinder supercharged diesel engine that produces 75-horsepower.

The new diesel unit is linked to a five-speed manual gearbox with identical ratios as the one fitted on the ordinary Fabia and Roomster models with the same engine.

Both Fabia and Roomster GreenLine II models feature the usual roster of environmentally friendly touches.

These include stop-start technology, a new energy recuperation system that utilizes the vehicle's kinetic energy for battery recharging, a lowered and aerodynamically-covered chassis, low rolling resistance tires and a gear recommendation light on the dashboard.

These measures result in a combined fuel consumption of just 3.4lt/100km (equal to 69.2 mpg US and 83.1mpg UK) and CO2 emissions of 89 g/km for the Fabia GreenLine II, and 4.2lt/100km (equal to 67.3mpg UK and 55.9 mpg US) and 109 g/km for the Roomster GreenLine II.

Toyota May Release Hydrogen-Powered Sedan by 2015, Priced Around $50,000

Toyota claims it has helped lower the price of building fuel-cell-powered vehicles by up to 90%. With that in mind, the recently-tarnished Japanese manufacturer thinks it will be able to release a hydrogen car in the $50,000 range by 2015 (a time frame other manufacturers are playing by, as well).

According to Bloomberg, Toyota's first attempt at a retail hydrogen vehicle will be a four-door with the range of a conventionally (i.e. gasoline) powered car. However, Toyota isn't there yet.

Even though the brand has brought costs down from close to a million dollars per vehicle, Toyota "would need to cut current costs by about half before starting retail sales" according to Yoshihiko Masuda, Managing Director for Toyota's advanced vehicles.

The primary issue lies with covering costs, something hydrogen technology has failed to do. If Toyota can get the car to market (and offer a more affordable one, as they have suggested), it could be a huge step in getting more people on the hydrogen fuel train (ultimately leading to more investments and lower costs).

Some of the companies already onboard include GM and Honda. GM has 100 fuel-cell powered Equinox SUVs that it "loans to individuals and fleets" and Honda has been leasing its FCX Clarity to a select few customers in California since 2008.

As for expected response to a $50,000 hydrogen Toyota, Masuda says the market would likely be small. But that's always how it starts, isn't it? Baby steps. And no sticky accelerators.

By Phil Alex

*Photos: Toyota FCHV-adv , Via: Bloomberg