Eco Trans Alliance

All Eco-Friendly Vehicles

2009-07-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Copied from Driving without Oil by Pierre Langlois
Despite the fact that the majority of cars will be plug-in hybrids, there remains a niche market for 100% electric cars, in particular for company fleets of vehicles that do not travel more than 150 km (90 miles) a day and return to the company every night, and for community city cars intended to be rented and to stay within a prescribed range in the city. As for personal cars, we must understand that a good plug-in hybrid with a battery allowing a range of 50 km (30 miles) will be less expensive than an all-electric car with a range of 150 km (90 miles). This is due to the high price of Li-ion batteries which is presently between 15 K$ and 25 K$ to provide a midsize car with a range of 100 km (60 miles). And since the plug-in hybrid cars offer a range of 700 km (435 miles) and can fill up everywhere in existing gas stations, the all-electric car will be less attractive if equipped with a large battery, especially knowing that 2 out of 3 car owners drive less than 50 km (30 miles) a day, and 80% less than 65 km (40 miles). Economically viable personal all-electric cars will then probably have a range limited to about 100 km (60 miles), which should restrain the number of potential buyers.

There again, several manufacturers have announced commercial electric car models, available around 2010. The Think City of the new Norwegian manufacturer is already available, in 2008, with a range of 180 km (110 miles). Phoenix Motorcars, another new manufacturer, is coming out at the end of 2008 with its all electric sports utility vehicle which offers a range of 160 km (100 miles) and is rechargeable in 10 minutes thanks to an industrial 500 Amp charger. Aptera Motors, a third new player, has designed a small very futuristic three wheeled two passenger electric car which will be driven on Californian roads in 2009, with a range of 200 km (125 miles) and will use one quarter of the electricity consumed by an intermediate electric car. Mitsubishi will commercialize its electric iMiev in 2010, with a range of 160 km (100 miles), and Subaru its Rle with a range of 80 km (50 miles) in the same year. In China, BYD will market, in 2009, the electric F3e, with a range of approximately 225 km (140 miles) and able to recharge its battery to 70% capacity in ten minutes. All these vehicles are able to reach 130 km/h (80 mph) and more, except for the Think City which is limited to 100 km/h (60 mph). Also, Zenn Motor marketed a small neighborhood electric car in 2007 with a top speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) and a range of 50 km (30 miles) to 80 km (50 miles).

Renault-Nissan is in a class apart and is probably the company that has made the most firm commitment to market a large number of electric cars starting in 2011. It has signed an agreement with Project Better Place (PBP) and the Israeli government to supply 100,000 electric cars per year to Israel, where it will open a plant in 2011. PBP will implement an infrastructure of recharge points and battery exchange stations. At these stations, people will be able to fill up with electricity in 5 minutes. The problem is the necessity of building a new infrastructure and filling up about every 130 km (80 miles) in stations few and far apart, while with plug-in hybrid cars, there is no need for a new infrastructure, services stations are numerous and we can fill up with gas at every 700 km (435 miles). This does not take into consideration that PBP cars will be more expensive than plug-in hybrids cars with a range of 50 km, due to the cost of the battery. Let us not forget that a plug-in hybrid car will be able to travel 80% of its yearly mileage on electricity. While the PBP approach may be applicable in certain areas, the author is not at all convinced that the concept is applicable on a global scale, because, we must add to all the above -mentioned handicaps the vulnerability in the event of a major power outage. Liquid fuels provide an important source of redundant energy.

CONVERTING TRADITIONAL VEHICLES

However, although most manufacturers have announced electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle models, the crucial question remains to know at what pace they will be introduced on the market. Indeed, we must not forget that over 70 million new road vehicles are produced worldwide every year, in 2008, and that a few hundred thousand electric vehicles will not solve the oil related issues. We have seen that big manufacturers stand to loose revenues in virtue of the greater durability and lesser complexity of electric propulsion systems. Our governments will have to be vigilant in enforcing this inevitable transition through all sorts of incentives. On the other hand, if some manufacturers want to drag their feet, the new players will happily take up more and more market share, Chinese companies in particular.

Realistically, we cannot expect electric cars to become an important part of car manufacturer’s production before 2020. What is more, if the decline in global oil production progresses in the coming years, fuel prices will rise steeply and something will have to be done. This is besides the fact that more and more people are concerned with air quality and global warming. These pioneers seek to drive electric in spite of the blatant inertia of the large car manufacturers. Thus, a growing number of individuals, groups of students and companies are already converting traditional vehicles into electric vehicles by removing useless components, such as the combustion engine, the exhaust system and the engine cooling system, as well as the gas tank.

Also, students in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Davis, under the supervision of Professor Andrew Frank, have been converting commercial vehicles into plug-in hybrids since 1996. According to Professor Frank, these vehicles perform better than the original vehicles and can travel 65 to 100 km (40 to 60 miles) in all electric mode. In fuel mode, they consume half the gas the original commercial vehicles consumed. It is astonishing to see how much a handful of well-supervised youths can achieve!

Transportation Pollution:

2009-06-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

The need for powering transportation with renewable energy sources.

Introduction

It is possible that no invention has had as profound an effect on society as the passenger automobile. It did not take long after its introduction in the early part of this century for the auto to quickly become the primary means of transportation in the United States, where there are now 752 motor vehicles for every 1,000 people (World Almanac 211). While no other country can match the excessive automobile use of the U.S, it's not for lack of trying. Even in China, where the use of bicycles by its citizens is legendary, the number of cars has been doubling every five years for the past 30 years (World Resources Institute, hereafter "WRI" 172).

But reliance on cars is not without its problems; the most obvious being air pollution and energy consumption.

Pollution: General

Pollution by cars causes lung cancer, respiratory problems, urban smog, and acid rain (Brown 25). By 1970, after decades without government regulation, air quality had become a serious problem. The first federal Clean Air Act was passed during the Nixon Administration to curtail the ever-increasing amount of pollution caused by automobiles and industry, and Congress passed an updated version in 1990 (WRI 182). However, the Clean Air Act didn't prohibit pollution; it simply defined an "acceptable" amount. Further, the legislation addressed only certain airborne contaminants, while ignoring others. Perhaps most significantly, although bad air was outlawed, it still exists. More than half of the people in the U.S. live in areas that failed to meet federal air quality standards at least several days a year (30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, hereafter "30 Simple Things," 11), and around 80 million Americans live in areas that continually fail to meet these standards (WRI 63). Despite the Clean Air Acts, the reality is that air pollution continues to be a major public health problem.

As bad as the air is in the U.S., in other countries which have waited too long to address the pollution caused by cars, its worse. Mexico City, São Paulo, New Delhi, and Bangkok are grappling with serious air problems. And much of that pollution is caused by private automobiles (Brown 25).

Pollution: Ground-Level Ozone

One way cars create pollution is by contributing to the amount of ground-level ozone (not to be confused with the atmospheric ozone layer). In the atmosphere, the ozone layer shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation rays. But on the ground, ozone is another matter, causing hazy smog and respiratory problems. Most ozone pollution is caused by motor vehicles, which account for 72% of nitrogen oxides and 52% of reactive hydrocarbons (principal components of smog) (30 Simple Things 11). The seriousness of ground-level ozone should not be underestimated. According to the World Resources Institute:

Ozone pollution has become widespread in cities in Europe, North America, and Japan as auto and industrial emissions have increased. ... Breathing ozone concentrations of 0.012 ppm ;levels typical in many cities ;can irritate the respiratory tract and impair lung function, causing coughing, shortness of breath, and chest pain ... Evidence also suggests ozone exposure lowers the body's defenses, increasing susceptibility to respiratory infections (65).

Pollution: Lead

Cars also pollute by emitting lead from leaded gasoline. Although the use of lead in gasoline is banned in the United States, leaded gasoline is common in other countries. In fact, of the countries for which data is available, 43% use nothing but leaded gasoline. Many of the rest use at least some leaded gasoline in their energy mix. This is a definite cause for concern:

One of the oldest metals used by humans, lead is a cumulative neurotoxin that impairs brain development among children and has been connected to elevated blood pressure and resulting hypertension, heart attacks, and premature death in adults. Emissions from vehicles are the largest source of lead exposure in many urban areas (WRI 266-267).

The effects of all this pollution on human health are unsettling. A study of U.S. cities found that mortality rates were 17-26% higher in cities with the dirtiest air compared to those with the cleanest air. Not surprisingly, the study also found correlations between bad air and lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease. The risks translate roughly to a two-year shorter life span for residents of dirty-air cities. On a global basis, estimates of mortality due to outdoor air pollution range from about 0.4-1.1% of total annual deaths (WRI 63-64). In the U.S., 30,000 people die every year from automobile emissions ("Bicycling and Our Environment" 1).

Energy Use

The amount of energy used by automobiles is staggering. Transportation of all types accounts for more than 25% of the world's commercial energy use, and motor vehicles account for nearly 80% of that (WRI 171). In numerical terms, the figures are hard to comprehend. The world used over a trillion liters of motor gas in 1995. And the U.S. accounted for 46% of that total (WRI 266-267). In fact, America's gasoline consumption easily outstrips its production. The U.S. currently imports over half its oil (52%) even more than it did before the oil crises of 1973 and 1979. This dependence on foreign oil has significant economic consequences, and many observers feel that protecting "our" right to oil was the real reason for the U.S./Iraq war of 1991.

Americans use large amounts of gasoline not just because they drive so much, but also because they're extremely wasteful about how they drive. The NRDC notes: "Most cars on the road carry only one person. In fact, we have so much extra room in our 140 million cars that everyone in Western Europe could fit in them with us." If every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person, we'd save eight billion gallons of gas a year. The one-person-per-car scenario also greatly contributes to traffic congestion, which in turn wastes even more energy; about three billion gallons of gas a year (30 Simple Things 52-53).

But changing Americans' habits doesn't seem likely any time soon, as the failure of "High-Occupancy Vehicle" (HOV) lanes makes clear. To encourage commuters to carpool, some communities have designated one lane of traffic on certain roadways as HOV lanes. Commuters can drive in this lane only if there are at least two people in the vehicle. The reasoning is that commuters will want to carpool so they can ride in the uncongested HOV lane rather than being stuck in traffic in the normal lane when riding alone. But as Michael Bluejay points out, these lanes don't always succeed in encouraging carpooling.

A friend and I recently had occasion to drive through Dallas during rush hour, and I had my first opportunity to see how an HOV lane worked. Basically, it didn't. We passed hundreds and hundreds of single-occupant cars in the regular traffic lanes as we zoomed by in the practically-empty HOV lane. It struck me as really crazy: Whenever I try to encourage people to ride bikes more and drive less, they always whine to me about how 'convenient' it is to drive. Well, exactly how 'convenient' is it to sit in your car at a complete standstill, adding 30-60 minutes to your morning commute? That's convenience?! The experience demonstrated to me how far people were willing to go to avoid carpooling. They were willing to sit there like morons, stuck hopelessly in traffic, for the 'luxury' of being the only person in their vehicle. Although I was disappointed that the HOV lanes didn't seem to work, I was at least pleased to realize that all those greedy motorists were being punished with even more traffic congestion, since the HOV lane meant that there was one fewer lane to move all those cars.

Summary

Automobiles are responsible for a tremendous amount of air pollution and wasted energy. These problems impact people all over the world, both motorists and non-motorists alike, by affecting their health, their economies, and their communities. Legislation to address air pollution has been only partially successful, and air quality continues to be a major concern in countries all over the world. As for energy use, one can only hope that world leaders find a better way to address this problem than fighting wars over an increasingly shrinking supply of oil.

Electric Vehicles: Clean Energy Transportation

2009-05-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Electric Vehicle History
Since the 1800’s, electric vehicles (EV’s) of one form or another have been a part of transportation and recreation worldwide, and practical use of commercial electric vehicles has been mostly limited to platform trucks, forklifts, tow tractors and urban delivery vehicles in the UK. The most famous use of them here in the U.S. are the electric rail cars of San Francisco.

Many countries adapted to using electric locomotives due to the lack of available fossil fuels. These locomotives were once used for coal transport as their electric motors did not utilize the precious oxygen in the mines.

In the early 1900’s, electric vehicles held prominence over the powerful internal combustion engine. Many electric automobiles held several land speed and distance records, surpassing even their fossil fuel counterparts.

Then in the 1930’s, the combustible engine automobile manufacturers, along with oil and transit companies, purchased several electric tram networks with the plan to replace them with GM buses. The partnership was convicted of conspiracy to monopolize the sale of equipment to their subsidiaries. They were later acquitted of another conviction of conspiring to monopolize the provision of transportation services. The old electric tramline technologies could be used today to power EV charging stations, providing virtually unrestricted driving distances. Although the technology is well-established, the infrastructure has never been built.

In early 1990, GM introduced its EV concept car called the “Impact”. In September of the same year, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued a mandate to automakers that the sale of EV’s begin in phases in 1998. GM had already started producing them in 1996. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced over 1100 EV 1’s, 800 of which were made available through 3-year leases.
Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan and Toyota all produced limited numbers of EV’s for the California market. Then in 2003, upon the expiration of their EV 1 leases, GM crushed every one of the vehicles. The demolition was attributed to 1) the auto manufacturers’ successful challenge of California’s zero-emission vehicle mandate, 2) a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for the remaining EV 1’s and 3) the success of the anti-electric vehicle campaigns launched by oil and auto manufacturers. Honda, Nissan and Toyota repossessed and crushed most of their EV’s as well. The movie, “Who Killed the Electric Car” explains the roles of the auto and oil manufacturers, the U.S. Government, and consumers in prohibiting the deployment of this valuable technology.

In recent years, due to the rise in fossil fuel costs, interest in EV’s has been resurrected and a race has begun by auto manufacturers for who will again be the first to market. The Tesla Roadster and the Chevy Volt that came out since last summer have reminded a lot of people that there is serious competition for the gasoline engine.

There is another market where electric vehicles have been in use here in the United States since the 1950’s - in the form of electric golf carts. In 1998, at the pinnacle of the electric vehicle evolution, the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) had a final ruling (FMVSS 500) allowing electric golf carts on the roadways as Low Speed Vehicles (LSV’s). Although not a practical replacement for the mainstream automobile, the LSV has become an acceptable, economical and eco-friendly mode of transportation. LSV’s also bear the new acronym NEV for “Neighborhood Electric Vehicle”. NEV’s are now widely used in retirement and other small communities as well as on large campuses and industrial properties as the main mode of transportation.

Eco-Friendly Transportation
Electric vehicles release almost no air pollutants. Another advantage is that electric vehicles typically have less noise pollution than a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine, whether it is at rest or in motion.

Although electric vehicles have few direct emissions, all rely on energy created through electricity generation, emit pollution and generate waste, unless it is generated by renewable source power plants. Since electric vehicles use whatever electricity is delivered by their electrical utility/grid operator, electric vehicles can be made more efficient or less polluting by modify the electrical generating stations. This can be done by an electrical utility under a government energy policy, in a timescale negotiated between utilities and government.

Fossil fuel vehicle efficiency and pollution standards take years to filter through a nation's fleet of vehicles. New efficiency and pollution standards rely on the purchase of new vehicles, often as the current vehicles already on the road reach their end-of-life. Only a few nations set a retirement age for old vehicles, such as Japan or Singapore, forcing periodic upgrading of all vehicles already on the road.

Electric vehicles will take advantage of whatever environmental gains happen when a renewable energy generation station comes online, a fossil fuel station is decommissioned or upgraded. Conversely, if government policy or economic conditions shifts generators back to use more polluting fossil fuels and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), or more inefficient sources, the reverse can happen. Even in such a situation, electrical vehicles are still more efficient than a comparable amount of fossil fuel vehicles. In areas with a deregulated electrical energy market, an electrical vehicle owner can choose whether to run his electrical vehicle off conventional electrical energy sources, or strictly from renewable electrical energy sources (presumably at an additional cost), and switch at any time between the two.

The electric vehicle market and the renewable energy movement are definitely at a crossroads. Solar energy seems to be at the forefront of rising interests in both areas followed by wind and other sources of renewable energy. Solar energy is the pollution solution. It requires two-thirds less water with negligible air and water pollution emissions. This makes it the most environmentally-sound energy source, especially in transportation, which contributes over 34% of the CO2 emissions we must eliminate. The EPA reports that 90 million citizens breathe air below minimum quality standards with 33 areas exceeding federal smog standards.

Solar energy can also be the solution for independent electrical rapid charging stations along roadways as gasoline stations are for ICEVs today. The challenge will be joining the two successfully into a practical and economical solution.