Park, Charge, Go Green! Solar Carport Gives Plug-Ins a Charge

April 1, 2009 at 2:29 pm

(Source: Wired)

Powerpark_sized

One of the great criticisms of electric vehicles is the power they rely on often comes from fossil fuels, leading critics to question how “green” they are. A British firm has a solution for that — a carport topped with photovoltaic cells that can charge an EV.

Specialty glass and plastic manufacturer Romag says the PowerPark is just the thing for parking lots where electric vehicles may one day compete for spots to plug in. The first PowerPark was installed at the company’s headquarters, and Romag says additional installations are planned around the United Kingdom.

So far, the cost of installation and materials varies based on volume and location, but Webster said that the canopies could be purchased singly or in groups. Pricing “should be competitive with other forms of BIPV.” That’s Building Integrated Photovoltaics, for those of you who are really off the grid.

 

Each PowerPark canopy is rated at 1.5 kilowatt peak, a measure of a photovoltaic system’s peak output. Even in misty, foggy Northern England, the company estimates each parking space could generate about 1,100 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. The canopies are linked to the electric grid so energy “can be generated for use in the associated buildings when cars are not being charged,” Webster said. “No electricity is wasted.”

It’s got a distinctive shape that advertises itself and just might end up the most attractive piece of engineering in a Walmart parking lot. It could even help to drive sales, as customers might linger a little longer in the store waiting for their Tesla to charge.

EVcast.com’s Electric Vehicle Podcast – EVcast#208 – Going Global

March 31, 2009 at 2:52 pm
EVcast goes global – Hosts Bo, Ryan, and Kim with special guest hosts Gavin Shoebridge (NZ) and Nikki Bloomfield (UK) as they discuss EVs and the industry in their parts of the world.  Where does the US stand in terms of adoption and acceptance of this technology?

Join your hosts, Bo and Ryan, for a daily dose of the EVcast.  Keep up with top stories and developments as they happen.  Check calendar for scheduled interviews and topics for our special Tuesday editions!

Listen Live! All broadcasts are streamed live for members HERE. Chime in with your opinions and thoughts using our live chat or send your comments ahead of time to podcast at evcast dot com or leave your message on our listener feedback voicemail: 1-888-451-8862

The EVcast is a podcast dedicated to bringing consumers the latest information on electric vehicles in a non-technical, non-political, and entertaining way.  Don’t forget, you can also subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Visit www.evcast.com.

U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Hearing on the Need for Transportation Investment

March 31, 2009 at 10:50 am

(Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works)

On March 25, 2009, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing to examine transportation investment prior to authorizing the next highway, transit, and highway safety legislation that will replace the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users.  Witnesses’ testimonies and video of the hearing are now available online.  Committee hearings in two streaming video formats — RealPlayer and Flash.  Please click on one of the links below to start the live video stream.  Choose Your Format:  RealPlayer or Flash.

NOTE: To view streaming video, you will need to have RealPlayer or Flash installed on your computer. To download the free RealPlayer or Flash applications, click on the buttons below.

Majority Statements

Barbara Boxer

 Minority Statements

James M. Inhofe

Witnesses

 Opening Remarks

 Panel 1

The Honorable Ray LaHood

Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation

 Panel 2

The Honorable Edward G. Rendell

Governor of Pennsylvania

The Honorable Kathleen M. Novak

President, National League of Cities

Mayor of Northglenn, Colorado

Mumbai’s bicycling enthusiasts discuss ways to popularise cycling in the city to check pollution and reduce traffic congestion

March 30, 2009 at 4:38 pm

(Source: Times of India)

Meeting stresses the need for dedicated infrastructure comprising separate facilities for cyclists.

MUMBAI: Why are bicycles, which don’t pollute, take up little space, are cheap and have virtually no maintenance cost, not a popular mode of  travel in Mumbai? According to activists and cycling enthusiasts, the reasons are a mindset that favours motorised vehicles and a lack of infrastructure to promote cycling in the city. 

These were the two chief issues discussed during a public meeting at the Carter Road amphitheatre, Bandra (W), to popularise cycling in the city to check pollution and reduce traffic congestion. The meeting, which generated a buzz in the vicinity, had several passersby joining in. Also among the participants were young professionals working in the IT industry and call centres. 

Biking enthusiasts and activists discussed the need for dedicated infrastructure comprising separate facilities for cyclists. This includes segregated lanes, bicycle parking stands at railway stations, shopping malls and public places, special signage and traffic signals for bicycles. 

Activists said dedicated infrastructure for bicycle riders would allow faster short-distance journeys (between one and six km), which might even be more effective than going by car. Added to this are the health benefits of cycling, they added. 

Activists Fawzan Javed and Colin Christopher, who initiated the move for the meeting, felt that starting a bicycle movement in Bandra would set a precedent for other suburbs to follow. 

Javed is an architect from Mumbai, while Christopher, a student at Columbia University, New York, is currently doing a stint with Pukar, an NGO. “Once the initiative takes off, it will grow and we will have less congestion and pollution on the roads,” said Javed. 

Javed, who has undertaken a project on the bicycle movement across the globe, said it was becoming popular in Asian cities and was already an established mode of transport in European cities. His idea is to have a bicycle lane network in Bandra to enable citizens to ride along freely. 

Click here to read the entire article.

The United States takes key step towards dramatically reducing air pollution from ships with Emission Control Area proposal.

March 30, 2009 at 4:09 pm

(Source: AP)

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency wants to limit emissions along the nation’s coastline and within its seaports, just as the agency does along highways, with tougher pollution standards on large commercial ships.

 EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday that the United States and Canada have applied to the International Maritime Organization to create a 230-mile emissions control area around much of their coastline.

The move is intended to ensure the shipping industry does its part to improve the air quality of major seaport communities. Ships moving through the zone would be subject to the tougher emissions standards.

“This is an important and long overdue step to protect the air and water along our shores,” Jackson said, speaking in front of a row of cranes at a press conference in Port Newark.

Jackson estimated that 40 of the 100 largest U.S. ports are located in metropolitan areas that fail to meet federal air quality standards. One of them is the Port Newark facility, which is part of the Port of New York and New Jersey — the East Coast’s largest port complex.

The EPA estimates that 90 percent of the ships carrying cargo in and out of U.S. coastal ports are based in other countries.

Ships operating in the proposed zone would face stricter limits on the sulfur content of their fuel beginning in 2015, and new ships would be required to incorporate advanced emission-control technologies beginning in 2016, Jackson said. Sulfur content is directly related to the soot, or pollution, emitted after fuel is burned.

Image Courtesy: EPA - OGVs Are a Big Problem: US Ports and Nonattainment Areas

Jackson made the announcement at a news conference with the Coast Guard and other federal and state officials.   EPA estimates the new emission-control technology will cost shipping companies $3.2 billion. Jackson said that translates into an increased cost of about 3 cents for each pair of sneakers shipped into the United States.

Gov. Jon Corzine welcomed the proposal and recalled sending Jackson to Washington, D.C., to lobby for it when she headed New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Click here to read the entire article.  Also, here is the PDF version of EPA’s Frequently Asked Questions document on this Emission Control Area Application Process.

U.S. Raises Auto Fuel-Economy to 27.3 MPG for 2011 Models

March 27, 2009 at 12:48 pm

(Source: Bloomberg)

Cars and light trucks will be required to meet a U.S.fuel-economy average of 27.3 miles per gallon for 2011 models, a 2 mpg increase from the previous year’s level, the Transportation Department said.

The 8 percent gain announced today in Washington carries out a 2007 law intended to curb emissions and fuel use. The change, being put in place asGeneral Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC face possible bankruptcy, isn’t as aggressive as the 27.8 mpg target that President George W. Bush proposed in April 2008.

“This isn’t going to be a stretch for them to meet this,” David Kelly, former acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under Bush, said of automakers. New-car fuel economy already averaged 31.3 mpg by 2007, NHTSA said in today’s rule.

Cars must average 30.2 mpg, up from 27.5 currently, under the rule. Light trucks will average 24.1, up from 23.5 mpg for 2010 models. The December 2007 law called for vehicles to meet a 35 mpg standard by 2020 models, a 40 percent increase from the average in 2008.

“The bad news is that the 27.3 mpg standard means that they’ll have to make up for it in future years,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, a group in Washington that works for environmentally “clean” cars. “The goods news is that they have promised that they will.”

President Barack Obama’s administration had a March 31 deadline for setting the standard, giving the industry about 18 months to prepare its 2011 models to meet the requirement. Bush never issued his proposed standard before he left office.

Click here to read the entire article.

What Can Tata’s Nano Teach Detroit?

March 26, 2009 at 11:56 pm

 (Source: Business Week)

As the commercial model of India’s microcar is unveiled, U.S. carmakers would do well to learn from the innovations that brought it about

Some 14 months later, Tata is set to show off the commercial version of the Nano, on Mar. 23. Today, the U.S. auto industry is struggling to survive, with General Motors (GM), once the world’s biggest carmaker, on the brink of bankruptcy. Look beyond the Nano halo and it’s clear that Tata Motors has problems of its own, from the $2.3 billion in debt it took on to purchase Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor (F) last year to the sums sunk into the Nano assembly plant in West Bengal that had to be abandoned. On top of that, there are the Nano competitors in development.

Still, no one disputes that the Nano is innovative on multiple levels—from its engineering to its marketing to its manufacturing. So it’s hard to avoid the question: What can a humbled Detroit learn from the Tata Nano?

A lot. The lessons start with the vision of Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors’ parent, Tata Group, to create an ultralow-cost car for a new category of Indian consumer: someone who couldn’t afford the $5,000 sticker price of what was then the cheapest car on the market and instead drove his family around on a $1,000 motorcycle. “Just in India there are 50 million to 100 million people caught in that automotive chasm,” says vice-president Vikas Sehgal, a principal at Booz & Co. And yet none of the automakers in India were focused on that segment. In that respect, the Nano is a great example of the so-called blue ocean strategy.

ROADS TO GREATNESS

“Great companies are built on creating new markets, not increasing market share in existing ones,” says Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and chief innovation consultant at General Electric (GE), who quickly runs off 10 lessons for Detroit. Among them: U.S. automakers should focus less on incremental improvements to existing cars or adding a new model to the Cadillac line in order to compete against Lexus, and think more broadly about new market opportunities. Where, in other words, are Detroit’s blue oceans?

Click here to read the entire article.

Daimler’s car2go, carsharing in the smart fortwo, comes to Austin, Texas this fall

March 26, 2009 at 7:49 pm

(Source: Autobloggreen)

 
You know what state needs more smart fortwos? Texas. That must have been Daimler’s thinking before approving an expansion of the car2go carsharing service there. Daimler started car2go in Ulm, Germany last October and it will be coming to Austin, Texas – that little blueberry in the big red cherry pie of a state – this fall. There are now more than 200 fortwo cdi models that anyone in Ulm, visitor or resident, can rent by the minute, hour or day, 24/7. Costs range from 19 euro cents a minute to 9.90 euros an hour to 49 euros a day. Unlike other car-sharing services, registering for the car2go service is free. Daimler didn’t release any information on possible pricing for the U.S. service.
 
The Daimler press release available on Autobloggreen has some additional info. on this, including this nugget:
The capital of Texas with its 750,000 residents is appreciably bigger than Ulm and is distinguished by its open-mindedness and its very involved citizens. “We very much look forward to becoming the first international partner of car2go,” says mayor Will Wynn. “Our city is known for its strong sense of environmental responsibility. car2go fits this wonderfully because we can then offer the residents of Austin an intelligent mobility concept with a high positive environmental factor. The project has our full support.” 

As in the first phase of the German pilot project, car2go will begin in Austin with a defined group of users, for example city employees. It is then planned to make car2go accessible to the public in Austin in a second step.  Other factors predestining Austin to be the first international car2go city are the city’s size and its up-to-date economic structure. Among other things it is the location of the fourth largest university in the USA. Beginning in autumn 2009 a fleet expected to number 200 smart fortwo mhd vehicles with automatic start/stop function will be put into operation there.

Click here to read more and to view an awesome picture gallery showing more Smarts in Austin.

Electrifying, Seductive & Big Bang for the Buck! Tesla unveils the first mass-produced highway-capable electric car

March 26, 2009 at 7:12 pm

(Source: Autoblog; Picture: Autoblog)

 What can $50,000 can get you?

After a lot of hype and delivery of 250 Tesla Roadsters, the company’s Model S was unveiled today in Hawthorne, California.  It is expect that production will be ramped up to 20,000 units annually by the end of the first year of production; after the $7,500 tax break, the Model S will start at just under $50,000 – $49,900 to be exact; and 440-volt charging will be available. That base price is for the 160-mile range pack; a 230-mile range pack and a 300-mile range packwill also be available. The biggest hitch: the car doesn’t go into production until Q3 of 2011.

Transportgooru thinks this is a game changer and here is the “why”:

  • According to Tesla’s numbers, buying a Tesla S will save you $10-$15K vs a comparably priced gas-powered sedan when gas is $4 per gallon. For an equivalent comparison, you’d have to lease a $35,000 gas-powered car. 
  • The car fits seven people and their luggage: five adults and two children in rear-facing seats under the hatch inside, with luggage in the boot up front.
  • If not people, it can fit a mountain bike with its wheels still on, a surfboard and a 50-inch television at the same time.
  • On a 220V outlet, the car can be recharged in 4 hours.
  • The quickness: the standard S will get to 60 in 5.5 to 6.0 seconds. A coming sport version will get to 60 in “well under five seconds,” the company’s folks say.

These facts are what one would come to expect from a conventiona, gasoline powered automobiles that rules the roads today.   As more charging stations pop-up around the country, these vehicles will make transportation seamless.  The few cons  that could be obviously recognized are the re-charging times and the lack of charging stations at public locations (Gas stations, parking lots, etc).  With the conventional gasoline cars, refuelling is quick and doesn’t take more than 5 minutes at the gas stations, which means you can continue travelling without enduring massing delays while traveling longer distances.   It can be expected that unveiling of such cars renders a wonderful opportunity for regional electric companies to enter a niche market to provide “electricity” through charging stations in the service areas along highways, just like a gas station.  Or even better if these charging stations are added to existing gas stations.   If charging times can be shortened with the advent of new technology (See the TransportGooru article about MIT’s breakthrough research on batteries, allowing for lightening quick charging times) 

Click here to read the entire post on Autoblog’s site anddon’t forget to check out the eye popping Tesla Gallery.  Here is Wall Street Journal’s interview with Tesla at the North American Int’l Auto Show (via YouTube):

 

Streetsblog Interviews John Norquist @ Congress for the New Urbanism – How to Fix National Transportation Policy: Part I

March 26, 2009 at 4:59 pm

(Source: Streetsblog)

How can federal policy encourage walkable street networks instead of highways and sprawl? 

connected_network.jpg

The news coming out of Washington last week jacked up expectations for national transportation policy to new heights. Cabinet members Ray LaHood and Shaun Donovan announced a partnership to connect transportation and housing policy, branded as the “Sustainable Communities Initiative.” The second-in-command at DOT, Vice Admiral Thomas Barrett, told a New York audience that “building communities” is a top priority at his agency.At the moment, however, the scene on the ground shows how far we have to go before the reality catches up to the rhetoric: State DOTs flush with federal stimulus cash are plowing ahead with wasteful, sprawl-inducing highway projects. Ultimately, you can’t end car dependence or create livable places without enlisting the people building those roads — the metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state DOTs, and other entities that shape local policy. How can the feds affect their decisions?

john_norquist.jpgThe Congress for the New Urbanism has some intriguing answers. During the stimulus debate, CNU proposed a new type of federal road funding that would help to build connected grids — the kind of streets that livable communities are made of. The proposal didn’t make it into the stimulus package before the bill got rushed out the door, but the upcoming federal transportation bill will provide another chance. CNU President John Norquist — a four-term mayor of Milwaukee who first got into politics as an anti-freeway advocate — was down in DC last Thursday to share his ideas with Congress. Streetsblog spoke to him afterward about what’s broken with national transportation policy and how to fix it. Here’s the first part of our interview.

Ben Fried: During the stimulus debate you sent a letter to James Oberstar, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and among other things you said that discussion of national transportation policy often presents a “false dichotomy” between transit funding and road funding. What did you mean? 

John Norquist: Well, maybe “false” is the wrong word for me to have used, but it’s a dichotomy that’s very limited. If the debate is about transit versus roads — and currently the battle lines are drawn at 20 percent funding for transit, 80 percent for roads — it’s a really limited debate. It leaves out the whole discussion of what kind of roads to build. So if you have a city with boulevards and avenues and no freeways, it’s going to be a lot more valuable. You look at Vancouver, they have no freeways whatsoever, and they have a fabulously intense and valuable real estate and job market. And then you look at the places that have invested all the money in the giant road segments and they tend to be degraded. It’s not roads versus transit — it’s good street networks-plus-transit versus mindless building of out-of-scale roads. I mean they’re basically putting rural roads into urbanized areas and it’s counterproductive, it reduces the value of the economy, it destroys jobs, destroys real estate value. For what, so you can drive fast at two in the morning when you’re drunk?
Click here to read the entire interview.