ElectriClub

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Audi

We've been hearing ruminations of new small cars from Audi for the last few years, and they've only heated up since the introduction of the A1 Sportback concept at the Paris Motor Show a few months back. Current rumors indicate that the small hatches are expected to hit the market sometime before 2014. Of course, by that time, the A1's primary competitor, the MINI, will have already had its electric power for a few years. The A1 will share an engine range with VW's Up! and will likely spawn an electric variant that could be named the E1, breaking from the automaker's standard naming practice.

A slightly larger and more upscale model could go by the A2 moniker and could also get a hybrid powertrain along with Audi's quattro all-wheel drive technology. A bit further down the line, an all-electric powertrain may make its way up to the A2, which we would presume would equal an E2, though one can never be sure of these things so far in advance.

Gallery: Audi A1 Sportback concept

[Source: Auto Bild via German Car Blog]

Audi A1, A2 and E1 to arrive before 2014 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, USA

There may be a lot of people wearing frowns in corporate America today but we are happy to report such is not the case over at lithium ion battery maker, Ener1. Their 3rd quarter conference call seemed to have only two kinds of news; good and gooder more good. Example? They have doubled the revenue and halved the losses of the same period a year ago. More? The Th!nk program is progressing nicely and they expect the first cars with their packs to ship some time in the first quarter. While their aquistion of Enertech has given them a factory full of equipment and ready to go, work on their Indiana factory is progressing on time (picture of coating machine from their website)

The other good gooder great news is that they've made a couple new deals. One will see them supply a couple battery packs to one of the "largest car manufacturers in Europe" for a plug-in electric car program. They should hold about 13 Kwh of energy which could give the vehicle around 40 miles of all-electric range. The other deal involves supplying a pack for an electric car for a top original equipment manufacturer (OEM) which will be demonstrated for that companies customer by the end of this year. To sum it all up, even if they don't hit the $700 million in revenue that CEO Charles Gassenheimer says is possible by 2012, they future looks pretty good for Ener1.

Gallery: EVS23: Enerdel booth

[Source: Seeking Alpha / GreenStocks]

Ener sells batteries to major Euro auto maker and Tier 1 OEM originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Belktronix system instructions call for attaching all the Batmon boards with twisted pairs of wires. I couldn't find a spool of twisted wires at the hardware store, but it dawned on me that most desktop computers use twisted wires to connect the motherboard with the switches/LEDs on the front panel. So, I went over to my friend non-profit computer recycler FreeGeek and picked up a handful of twisted wires out of their wire recycling bin for $1. This is great because I get a huge variety of colors and a few LEDs and small switches included. I even got a ferrite core that could be useful for reducing noise.

In short, if you have a local computer recyling place, there are tons of colorful twisted pair wire sets available.

I have the Control Box 99% done. The only thing left is to label the connections and add a "High Voltage" warning sign.

In this box I have the low voltage system (12 volts) and the main contactors for the high voltage system (96 volts). This box is essentially the hub for the EV electrical system. The barrier strip has connections for the ignition wire, controller power, contactor power and throttle. The PB5 Throttle box is also built onto the box. I want to make the front compartment look as simple as possible, which was the purpose of this control box.

I am still trying to keep my EV deadline of Thanksgiving and my list of things to complete is shrinking. Tomorrow I am going to setup my tarp over the car and finish installing the circuit breaker. Then I will work on securing the batteries and making the front tray that will hold the control box, controller and vacuum brake components.

Also, I ordered two more chargers, one to replace my bad charger, and one as a spare. They should arrive on Monday and hopefully I will have most of the EV completed so I can work on insulating the batteries, venting them and installing the chargers into the trunk.

With all the components under the firewall rack installed, I put the four remaining batteries in the rack and started figuring out the placement of parts on the control board.


Here is the tentative placement of charger and controller. The contactor is off to the far right. I purchased a piece of black "UHMW" plastic (28" long x 8 1/2" wide by 1/2" thick) to mount the components on. My EV cohort Ron used this plastic in his VW Jetta EV at Shorepower Technologies and it seems to work well.

I wanted to put all the high-current, high-voltage cables on the right, so the controller, contactor and motor terminals are all over there. The charger/DC-DC converter is on the left. I'll put the AC power inlet on the passenger side bumper and velcro the system integrator and charger monitor in the remaining space behind the passenger side headlight.

I still have to re-assemble the drive-shafts and suspension underneath the car, but much of the mechanical work is getting close to complete. Based on the detailed instructions in the Belktronix installation manual, I think the wiring will go fairly smoothly.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, MINI, LA Auto Show

Click for a high res gallery of the MINI E

Over at the MINI micro-site (is that redundant?) MINISpace the editors have posted an interview with Dr. Wolfgang Armbrecht, Senior Vice President Brand Management MINI, and Ulrich Kranz, Head of Project i about the company's new electric car. The MINI E will be officially unveiled next Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, although we'll be getting full technical low-down a day earlier. Armbrecht and Kranz don't actually reveal a whole lot about the battery-powered two seater that we didn't already know, but if you haven't been paying attention, it's a good way to catch up. The MINI E is basically a beta test for BMW engineers to learn more about how lithium ion-powered plug-in cars perform in real world conditions. In a relatively unusual move, people in the warm climes of the west coast don't get an exclusive on this one. Customers in the New York/New Jersey area will be able to try out the MINI E in the cold as well. We'll be interested to see how it fares.

Gallery: MINI E

[Source: MINISpace]

MINI executives talk about the MINI E originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants

If you know about the Indian car maker Reva, it's probably becasue of the G-Wiz, that tiny icon of the EV scene (if you're not familiar with the G-Wiz, this is the place to start). In October, Reva's chief technology officer, Chetan Maini, told Business Green that the company hopes to ramp up production capacity to 30,000 vehicles a year. This is a tall order, as the Hindu Businessline says that Reva expects to sell just 750 cars this year. So, what's so bright on Reva's horizon that has the CTO so confident? One new model a year for the next thee or four years (and these will be larger vehicles - how could they be smaller?), the possibility of moving to a battery leasing scheme, and modular concepts that will allow Reva to build the new models without the seven year-long R&D period that the G-Wiz had.

Gallery: Reva G-Wiz

[Source: Business Green via Green Car Congress]

Reva upping battery-powered car production to 30,000 units originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan

OK, as we just posted, we know that Nissan is getting involved in large EV projects in Europe, Israel and Japan. Minoru Shinohara (pictured above with the Pivo 2 concept), senior vice president of the technology development department at Nissan said during the CEATEC Exhibition in Japan that Nissan is exploring wireless recharging. For some people (that'd be me!), the hassle of plugging in their car might be a real challenge or just an easy thing to forget. Seeking Alpha gives hints that Nissan may be looking to ultracapacitors from the APowerCap company in Ukraine. Besides wireless charging, Shinohara said Nissan will one day offer a complete range of EV options. "We are aiming for EV leadership, which means we need to cover the market," he said. "Which means we need to prepare several vehicles."

Gallery: Nissan Pivo 2

[Source: Seeking Alpha]

Nissan's EV forays leading to wireless recharging? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan

Imagine a world where you don't buy cars any more and none of the cars that we do drive emit anything. Unlike the present, where no one buys Nissans Carlos Tavares believes not buying cars at all will eventually happen as a result of moving to car sharing. Such a system might be similar to what we see today with the likes of ZipCar, just on a much larger scale where customers pay for access to cars on an as-needed basis. Long before we get to that point though, Nissan plans to start selling electric cars to the public, beginning in 2010 in markets like Israel and Denmark before moving globally a couple of years later. At the Automotive News Green Car Conference, Tavares told the audience that company's first EV would have a similar price to other current small cars. Considering what lithium ion batteries cost, this might come as a surprise. However, that's because as with the toys you buy your kids at Christmas, batteries are not included in the box. The batteries will be leased separately and Tavares believes that even with this extra expense the total cost of ownership over the life of the car will be lower than a gasoline equivalent. Exactly what that cost will be has not yet been revealed.

Gallery: Nissan Denki Cube Concept

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Nissan's EV to cost same as conventional car... before leasing batteries originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, PSA, Citroen, Peugeot, Green Daily

Citroën and Peugeot have been putting out small, efficient vehicles for many years. At this weekend's H2Roma, the PSA group will talk about the green vehicles it hopes to bring to market in the future. H2Roma is an annual sustainable mobility and the PSA group's press release announcing its participation (pasted in full after the jump) gives us a compact rundown on how the companies will make future cars even cleaner. Check out the list:

• Continued improvement of gasoline and diesel powered internal combustion engines
• Second generation micro-hybrid technology on all cars by 2010
• Full diesel hybrid technology in 2011
• Preparation for the future Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV)

They just get better as you move down the list, don't they? Lots of potential problems to actually achieving these goals, but the diesel hybrid goal is the one I'm most excited about for my new car. Too bad we probably won't see diesel hybrids in the U.S. anytime soon.

Gallery: Peugeot 308

Gallery: New Look Citroen C4

[Source: PSA Peugeot Citroen]

Continue reading H2Roma: PSA lays out green car future strategy

H2Roma: PSA lays out green car future strategy originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I took some time this morning to finish all the vacuum pump connections and installing the wiring harness discussed a few posts back. Before installing the batteries in the firewall rack, I needed to measure the starter block-off hole to make a cover for where the starter motor used to be.


Here's the engine compartment with the engine wiring harness plugged in and tie-wrapped to several locations. It's hard to see, but you can just make it out as a black tube with pieces of red electrical tape on it. I tested out the vacuum pump system by attaching the pressure switch and connecting a small 12V UPS battery. It seems to work fine, but I have a small leak at one of the fittings. I probably need to put some vacuum grease around the fittings where the hose connects to make a tight seal.


Here's a .jpg file of a rubbing for the starter blockoff plate. It's accurate at 100x100dpi. If you click on the picture to enlarge it and save the result, you should be able to print it out (in MS-Paint or something like it) and get a pattern for your own transmission. Don't forget to tell the paint program that the picture is 100x100dpi and print it out a 100% scale.


Since I have the original rubbing, I'm going to simply trace it out on this 1/16" piece of steel I found and cut it out with a sabre saw. The two bolt holes are 10mm in diameter. Others might just do their own rubbing instead of using the template above.


Here's the starter block-off plate installed underneath the firewall rack. The heavy bolt on the upper right is overkill but came from the original car. The lower left bolt holds the transmission to the motor adapter plate.

The last piece of equipment from Belktronix arrived today.


Here's the charging system from Belktronix. The 1200 watt charger is combined with the DC-DC converter on the right. The small black box on the left is the charge controller box which interfaces with all the Batmon units that monitor the voltage on each battery. I'm psyched that I finally have all the critical pieces and nothing left is holding me back.


Last week, I also dropped by my favorite overpriced EV parts store: West Marine. This is a 15 amp charging inlet used for boating. This will fit nicely on the front right bumper to allow me to plug in without opening the hood. Many people use the space behind the gas-tank cover for their charging inlet, but I much prefer it near the front of the car because that's where all the components. Having the inlet on the front also makes it much closer to the ground and closer to the charging station if I'm parked front end in.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Solar

Click above for high-res images of the Twill Wicked

Vehicles with a single track, i.e. two wheels inline with each other like a bicycle as opposed to a Segway, can go places that their four-wheeled brothers and sisters cannot. Plus, having just two contact patches reduces friction and drivetrain losses, making for a more efficient design. All of those attributes have been built into the Twill, a concept vehicle that has been entered into NASA's Create the Future Design Contest. Designer Chris Tacklind envisions the Twill Wicked as being powered by batteries, using electric motors for propulsion. Solar power could be provided by a panel as small as 6 foot by 7 foot and the Twill could reach speeds of up to 85 miles per hour. We're a little unsure of how practical the concept's self-leveling system would be, as it would require a unicycle-like forward and backward rocking motion when the vehicle stops.

Tacklind calls for some unique safety features, including the aforementioned computer-controlled leveling system along with both air bags and bean-bag-like devices that would stiffen upon impact. The vehicle would be able to fold, resulting in a shortest wheelbase of just 4-feet and an extended high-speed wheelbase of ten-feet. It's an interesting concept, but one we don't expect to see right around the corner.

Gallery: Twill electric vehicle

[Source: The Future of Things via EVWorld]

Twill Wicked wouldn't be so mean to the environment originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy

Perhaps one of the biggest fans on the planet of the Chevrolet Volt is Dr. Lyle Dennis, a New York city neuro-surgeon. Immediately after originally seeing the Volt concept in January 2007, Dennis launched GM-Volt.com. Ever since then he and his readers have been cheerleaders for GM's extended-range EV. Dennis set up a waiting list for people to register their interest in the car, and over 45,000 people have signed up. With the financial crisis that's engulfing General Motors right now, the Volt has remained the only upcoming product that hasn't seen its development dollars cut yet. However, even though the engineering teams are still working on the Volt, the car is ultimately dependent on the survival of the company as a whole. Lyle Dennis wants to maker sure that GM, and thus the Volt, survive. To that end he has written a letter targeted at President Bush, Congress and Treasury secretary Henry Paulson urging them to provide financial aid to GM as soon as possible. If you're interested in expressing your support you can print out the letter from the site, sign it and send it to your representatives.

[Source: GM-Volt]

GM-Volt founder pens open letter in support of GM aid package originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Asia

When we last spoke to Ample Motion, they were offering a special deal to visitors at the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo. Namely, a steep discount on the 2010 R300 plug-in truck. Turns out the $29,999 offer is still good thanks to what the company claims was an "overwhelming response."

The November issue of the Ample Motion newsletter has more good news from the team. Their promotional EV ( a painted RAV4 EV, I believe) is making a tour stop in Singapore to promote the company's work. More information is available at the Ample website and the new Ample Motion blog. That blog, you should be warned, is part PHEV updates and part inspirational testimony that references Donald Trump, Pastor Joseph Prince (who wrote a book with the subtitle "The Secret to Effortless Success") and "Rich Dad" Robert Kiyosaki. Just so you know what you're getting into over there.

Gallery: AMPLE Plug-in Hybrids

[Source: Ample Motion]

AMPLE's first highway-speed plug-in hybrid visits Singapore originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Green Daily

Click above for more shots of the Vectrix electric scooter

There's an interesting line in a recent TIME magazine piece about a guy who's enjoying his new Vectrix scooter. Here it is:

Once you start looking, you find plugs everywhere," says [James] Morrison, who charges his two-wheeler at parking garages, outside Starbucks stores and even in gas-station parking lots.

Even though utilities are doing a lot of work on the smart grid, it'll take years, and this presents quite a window for people with plug in vehicles. If you've got the money for an EV today, you can afford the juice to move it, but that line made me think of a few questions for our readers:

Will property owners need to start locking up their plugs to stop EV leeches? Do you think businesses might start advertising "free electricity while you shop" offers to EV drivers? Would you plug your EV into any outlet you could find, just to drive for free or would you talk to the shop owner about paying a few bucks to plug in for an hour or three?

[Source: TIME]

Once you can charge up your ride anywhere, what happens? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Fisker

While Tesla Motors has been scrambling just to stay solvent in recent weeks, arch-rival Fisker Automotive seems to be streaming ahead. Fisker just opened a Michigan engineering facility a few days ago and the startup has now finalized its deal to manufacture the Karma in Finland. Valmet Automotive will be responsible for building the bodies and doing final assembly. A new welding line will be installed at the Valmet factory and about 500 people are expected to be employed in the build process. Fisker is still targeting a production start in late 2009 with cars coming to the U.S. first followed by European deliveries in 2010. The Fisker Karma is expected to debut in production form at the Detroit Auto Show in January. It's possible that Fisker will meet its Job 1 target, but if I had money to spare, I wouldn't place this bet. Thanks to Joni for the tip!

Gallery: Fisker Karma Official Pics

[Source: Valmet]

Fisker and Valmet finalize Finnish production deal originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hydrogen, USA

Forecasting flaps for Tesla, Nissan and Chevy. Highlighting the limited range batteries offer. Wondering how well they would perform under less-than-ideal conditions. Explaining the cost of replacing li-ion batteries.There's a lot of electric vehicle and plug-in criticism going on on Greg Blencoe's self-defined "for hydrogen advocates only" blog post that has gathered up 25 quotes from Toyota and Honda executives. Blencoe also found five additional quotes from sources outside of the Japanese automakers are added at the end (one coming from us) that plainly criticize EVs and plug-ins. Blencoe is the CEO of Hydrogen Discoveries, a hydrogen pipeline start-up company based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and he gets some credit for collecting these in one place, but we're not sure that using quotes from five people talking to different media outlets at different times should really count as 25.

[Source: Hydrogen Discoveries]

Pro-hydrogen blog collects Toyota and Honda executives criticizing plug-in cars originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, LA Auto Show, USA

It seems that some are less affected by the current economic downturn than others. At the 12th hour of the 12th day of the 11th month the upcoming "Super Car" from Hybrid Technologies, packaged with a trip for two to Los Angeles and the chance to drive it on a racetrack, became available for one lucky person to buy at the low low price of $100,000 via Sam's Club. It wasn't available for long, as a day later, the Sam's Club website says it's sold. We can only wonder whether or not the buyer-to-be had the opportunity to see an actual photograph of the car before committing to the purchase. Up till now we have only seen a couple renderings of the exterior (see gallery below). If you are curious how it looks in the metal yourselves, you won't have to wait much longer to find out. According to Sam's Club, "the prototype is expected to premiere" at the LA Auto Show which kicks off next week. We'll be sure to get some shots of it there and we'll also keep an an out for any video of it being driven like it's stolen.

Gallery: Hybrid Technologies X Prize

[Source: Sam's Club]

Sam's Club finds buyer for $100,000 electric Super Car package originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Green Daily

click for more of the Bradley GT

In mid-October, we wrote about San Antonio, Texas high school student Luke Laborde, who converted an old Bradley GT II kit car to run on electric power. I had been meaning to write a follow-up post on Laborde's work because a local TV station just did a report on his DIY project. But now we find that another 100 percent electric 1970 VW Bradley GT kitcar has popped up in Texas, this one in Dickinson, just over 200 miles from San Antonio. At first I thought these might be the same car, but comparing the one in the gallery to the one in the video shows that they're not. How many homebrew Bradley GT EVs are there in Texas? In any case, if you don't want to spent the time and $18,000 (or $12,000, depending on the source) that Laborde said it took him to buy and convert his GT, you can pick up the one on eBay for $12,000. Thanks to Benjamin J. for the tip!

Gallery: 1970 VW Bradley GT kitcar

[Source: eBay]

eBay Find of the Day: 1970 VW Bradley GT electric car originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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