2008

article thumbnail

EV selection worldwide

Electric Cars are for Girls

This is the most comprehensive list of electric cars for sale I've seen yet! It's international, and covers past, present, future, American, European.awesome. Thank you, Jeroen!

For Sale 229
article thumbnail

An Easy EV Conversion Kit For People

Open Source Civic EV Kit

After spending the past year and a half converting a Porsche 914 to an electric vehicle, I decided to expand my horizons by designing an open-source electric vehicle (EV) conversion kit for a commonly used car. The intention is to create detailed designs and directions so that anyone who has a garage and is moderately proficient with hand-tools can convert their car to an EV.

Kits 185
article thumbnail

Join Me For A Visit To Reality

Creative Greenius

Clean Coal is a shameless marketing scam designed to allow coal companies to keep raking in the bucks while they continue to destroy the environment. They know it’s a lie, but they’ll say and do anything to make their profits. I hope they’re saving those dollars to pay the carbon tax they have coming due. Tax what we burn, not what we earn, says the Creative Greenius - and Al Gore.

Al Gore 150
article thumbnail

First week with a Tesla

Revenge of the Electric Car

Even I was surprised. In my rear view mirror I watched a Los Angeles Sheriff’s car pull out of the Chevron and turn on both its blue and red flashing lights to pursue me down Ventura Boulevard. It had only been hours since I eased out of the Tesla dealership in West Los Angeles and already I had a date with the police. This was not the Burbank police who arrested Alexandra and Colette in 2005 for trying to stop EVs from being crushed.

article thumbnail

How serious is Norway about climate change? So much that its streetlights self-dim

emissions global warming Norway climate change carbon dioxide youtube lighting

article thumbnail

Battery Woes

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

Ugh. I think my battery pack is dead after 8600 miles and 1.5 years. Rats. My Zivan charger alarm has gone off for the past week and I finally looked into it. Apparently the alarm is indicating a timeout that the charge cycle is taking too long for the capacity of batteries that I have. If I charge overnight, I wake up in 40 degree weather and the pack is very warm, around 80 degrees with vigorous "boiling.

Batteries 100
article thumbnail

Snow falls, Tango plows in Spokane

Plugs and Cars

It's one thing to read about a Prius powering a home during a blackout. Check out this video showing an unexpected benefit to the torc, power and design of the Tango electric car. Tags: tango electric car.

Tango 100

More Trending

article thumbnail

PIP Declares Victory

Plug In Partners

I t's pretty rare when you get to declare victory and bring the troops home. And those of us at Plug in Partners are grateful to our partners and friends who have made this announcement not just possible, but in a very real sense, a reality. Here's the press release: PLUG-IN PARTNERS DECLARES VICTORY In January 2006, Austin Energy launched the national Plug-In Partners campaign, a grassroots effort to demonstrate to automakers that there is sufficient demand to support the mass production of fle

article thumbnail

Installing the motor

Honda S2000 EV Conversion

After taking a nice vacation to Oregon for some quad riding in the dunes and getting over a nasty cold I was finally able to get back to the project. First I needed to hoist the motor and transmission down into the car so I could start measuring things and figuring out how to build the motor mount. I knew this would be a two man job even with the hoist so I grabbed my neighbor again for some help.

article thumbnail

Electric Powered.Jerry Asher's Spirit of DC travels promote vehicles of the future

Spirit of DC - PHEV3A

Electric Powered Jerry Asher's Spirit of DC travels promote vehicles of the future By Gary Dickson -- Record-Bee Publisher LAKEPORT - Jerry Asher drove into Lakeport on Thursday, November 20. It’s doubtful anyone heard him pull into town, though. His car doesn’t make any noise. It’s electric. He is touring America with the Spirit of DC, a plug-in hybrid electric Toyota Prius.

DC 36
article thumbnail

Paris, you've got my vote!

Electric Cars are for Girls

Since John McCain recently mistook Barack Obama for Paris Hilton (hey, that could happen to anybody, not just the elderly), Paris assures America that she is "totally ready to lead.". Me, I'm totally ready to be your VP, girlfriend. (Call me.) Okay, if you're asking yourself, what's that got to do with electric cars? it's in Candidate Hilton's energy policy; she advocates tax incentives to build hybrids and electrics, among other things.

Obama 227
article thumbnail

Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

article thumbnail

New Karma in Detroit!

Electric Cars are for Girls

Fisker's Karma is a production-ready plug-in hybrid, - meaning TODAY, not 2010 - and it's coming to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 15th.

Karma 229
article thumbnail

The Further Adventures of The Solangelist

Creative Greenius

As we move into the final month of the year 2008 I keep looking up at my rooftop longingly. Even with the extension of the solar tax credit which came as an unexpected bonus along with the $700 billion bailout and the big increase in how much you can claim, I still think dipping into my cash reserve to the tune of $29 grand for the up front cost of my solar system would be loony tunes at the moment - and with the economy putting us into this Not So Great Depression I’m not really intereste

article thumbnail

Here comes the Electric White Zombie!

Revenge of the Electric Car

Oregon Public Broadcasting recently aired a segment on John “ Plasma Boy &# Wayland’s White Zombie - an electric conversion of a 1972 Datsun 1200. Watch the embedded video below to see how quick this DC electric home conversion runs against the gasoline muscle car competition. Enthusiasts like John are showing the performance potential of electric vehicles and proving once again that “filling up&# on electrons is cool.

Oregon 157
article thumbnail

Battery Racks, Continued

Open Source Civic EV Kit

I did some more work on the battery racks over the past few days. The biggest challenge is getting everything to fit properly without hitting any blockages. At this point, I think I have all of the metal pieces cut, but I don't have the bolt holes drilled. Note: the following descriptions are a bit verbose because I'm trying to keep track of all the detailed measurements as I go.

Batteries 150
article thumbnail

ExxonMobil announces 6th oil discovery offshore Guyana with Ranger-1; Guyana may move from non-producer to regional powerhouse

Oil

article thumbnail

Rotating the Brushes on the Warp9 Motor

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Many people don't realize that the Honda crankshaft going into the transmission actually turns clockwise for the forward direction, as opposed to counter-clockwise for the vast majority of cars. As such, most EV motors have advanced timing on the brushes to optimize counter-clockwise rotation. Since we have a Honda Civic, we're going to rotate the brushes on the Netgain Warp9 motor so that they have optimal advanced timing for the clockwise direction.

Motor 145
article thumbnail

Turn My Big RV Into a Plug-In Hybrid?

Electric Cars are for Girls

I've got a 31 Ft RV that gets 8.5 mpg. Would an AC electric motor or 2 in conjunction with the 8.1 liter gas engine increase the gas mileage in an.

Plug-in 164
article thumbnail

Bring Back the EV1 Press Conference

Revenge of the Electric Car

Friday November 14th, 2008 - GM Training Center - Burbank, CA. The Honorable Nate Holden, former California State Senator and L.A. City Council Member, held a press conference demanding General Motors apologize to the American people for destroying the automaker’s EV1 plug-in electric vehicle. Mr. Holden demanded the EV1’s immediate re-introduction before, or in exchange for, any Government bailout of GM.

EV1 140
article thumbnail

Rear Trunk Battery Rack

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Today was busy, so you should see a few posts. This first one is all the work I did installing the rear trunk battery rack base. As I mentioned before some of this will be verbose as I'm trying not to lose all the finer details. A few posts ago, I cut some 1.5"x1.5" square tubing 18" long (1/8" wall) and drilled a 3/8" hole in each end, 5/8" from the end.

Batteries 140
article thumbnail

Filming Tesla - 2

Revenge of the Electric Car

Our co-producer continues her account of shooting behind the scenes at Tesla. As we captured key meetings with department heads, Elon stressed his commitment to ramping Tesla up - and the fact that his role was hands-on. He reminded person after person that no problem or detail was too small. The buck stopped with Elon. Elon Musk (left) inspects a Roadster.

Tesla 124
article thumbnail

Filming Tesla - 1

Revenge of the Electric Car

Tesla Roadsters awaiting final prep and delivery to first owners. Let me just give it away now….the first day we filmed this fall at Tesla, we got to see not one, not two, not three, but, and I counted—over 40 production Roadsters in the Menlo Park buildings. There is something about the sight of more than four million dollars of incredibly sleek, fast (they do look fast - even standing still) car flesh under one roof that really makes you tingle.

Tesla 124
article thumbnail

Guest blogger: Andrew Grin - From Kansas to LA

Revenge of the Electric Car

This week we welcome Andrew Grin, a 16 year old sophomore from Kansas City who spent the day with us filming during the LA Auto Show. Andrew owns a converted pure EV Hyundai. My first sighting of smog-filled Los Angeles brought a sad thought to my mind. A few weeks back, I read a study which found that dirty air in Southern California’s coastal basin and the San Joaquin Valley kills more people than car accidents.

Kansas 124
article thumbnail

We interrupt this blog for a musical number…

Revenge of the Electric Car

Dr. Electric Car’s Sing-a-long Musical Blog. We received this link and our first singalong musical blog posting from Bo Brown and the gang at Hogmolly. Hi folks, Heard you were gearing up for another documentary on the electric car. I saw the first one, it had enough impact on me that I wrote a song on the subject. The song came to me almost complete in a dream, (got up at 4 am to record it) my band Hogmolly recorded it in a live studio performance the day after we learned it.

article thumbnail

Winterize your Electric Car

Electric Cars are for Girls

What does it take to winterize your electric car, and keep it running well (and far) in the cold?

article thumbnail

GM Detroit Shoot (2 of 2)

Revenge of the Electric Car

Early wakeup calls in Detroit continued as our grand tour picked up speed. We shoot at the Tech Center campus where engineers ran tests on Volt battery packs. To our surprise, some of the industrial battery testing equipment came from Aerovironment, the company who had built the SunRaycer and Impact EV prototypes back in the early 1990s. GM Tech Center, Designed by Eero Saairnen 1949.

Detroit 113
article thumbnail

Welcome to Revenge of the Electric Car!

Revenge of the Electric Car

Welcome to our blog and Chris Paine’s new film, “Revenge of the Electric Car.&# (slated for Spring, 2010)! Every week, we’ll be posting production stories, insider information, and late breaking news from the world of plug-in vehicles. We’ll be covering stories from around the world — from the auto giants to the converters to indy startups.

article thumbnail

Mounting the Zolox Sensor

Open Source Civic EV Kit

After futzing around awhile, I was able to get the spacer ring for the Zolox tachometer sensor to line up. Here's the bottom of the mounting ring. The screws that came with the mounting kit stripped out the plastic, so I sunk some depressions in the backside of the ring where the bolt holes were and put in 8-32 x 1" bolts from the backside. Notice that the large holes in the upper left and lower right are somewhat warped.

Kits 100
article thumbnail

Add the Splash Guard

Open Source Civic EV Kit

I'd like to get the car off the jack-stands and back into a position where I can drive it while still adding things like the guages. After installing the speed sensor, the last thing needed under the car is the splash guard to protect water and grit from getting into the Warp9. After playing around a bit, I found that a piece of ABS plastic 15" x 18" and 3/16" thick will probably work.

article thumbnail

Christmas Presents

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Santa was good to me this year. I received a Link-10 battery monitor from my parents. I don't think they understand what it does and why it costs so much, but okay, they got it for me anyway. The items on the right came from Belktronix. The wires on the upper left are the Link-10 voltage prescaler. The module on the upper right is the DC-DC to supply an isolated 12V to the link-10.

DC 100
article thumbnail

Frustrations with Zolox sensor mount

Open Source Civic EV Kit

I tried installing the Zolox sensor mounting ring for the Warp9 motor from EVsource today. It looks like the holes on the mounting ring don't line up properly. The holes for the Warp9 casing don't match, so I had to drill them a bit larger so the bolts would go in. Here I've placed the spinning magnet onto the end of the tailshaft with a short 1/4 bolt to properly center it.

article thumbnail

Clean coal

Plugs and Cars

Just a the coal companies go on the air with ads that could be Obama campaign commercials, down to the Yes We Can (make coal clean,) the real world intrudes. Tags: clean coal.

Coal 100
article thumbnail

U.S. Battery Makers Power Up

Revenge of the Electric Car

I wrote a few months ago about the Japanese and European carmakers teaming up with Asian and Euro battery manufacturers with $200-$400 million deals to build large production facilities that will soon be cranking out high volumes of LiIon batteries for plug-in cars. Since achieving cost parity with internal combustion requires batteries to cost less than $500 per kWh, this is a welcome sign that we’ll be seeing those prices in short order.

Power 100
article thumbnail

Toyota To Show EV Concept Car At Detroit Auto Show

Revenge of the Electric Car

“Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. said today that it will show a small electric concept vehicle at the Detroit auto show next month.&# - Toyota Division Communications. Considering the implication of those two short lines, they were barely whispered to the press. Toyota is going to show a Battery EV at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month, 12 full years after they began leasing the RAV4 EV to fleets in California, and 7 years after 328 private citizens got their h

Detroit 100
article thumbnail

Toyota on concept EV: Just for show

Plugs and Cars

A bit more information today on Toyota's small EV. The message, from spokeswoman Jana Hartline, is don't expect more information. There will be no press conference devoted to the vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show, where it will simply be displayed. “It’s a concept we are bringing to the show basically to confirm our interest in electric vehicles,” Hartline told the Detroit Free Press.

Toyota 100
article thumbnail

Toyota to display a concept EV

Plugs and Cars

The press release couldn't be shorter. TORRANCE, Calif., Dec. 22 -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. will display a battery electric vehicle concept at the 2009 North American International Auto Show. This display marks the world debut of this concept vehicle. It's hard not to be snarky. Toyota will display a concept EV! My six year old Toyota RAV4 EV electric car continues to perform flawlessly and gaslessly.

Toyota 100