Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 3, 2009

The Sandero 1.4 LPG. Click to enlarge. Dacia, a member of the Renault group, is broadening its offerings of fuel-efficient and low-emissions engines. During 2009, Dacia will introduce the Sandero and Logan 1.4 LPG, Logan MCV 1.6 LPG, and the Sandero 1.6 E85 bioethanol. Sandero and Logan will also be available with a new gasoline engine, the 1.2 16V 75 hp, with CO 2 emissions of 139 g/km.

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Creative Greenius

FEBRUARY 2, 2009

All Global Warming Is Local. The South Bay region I live and work in covers an area of 161 square miles and encompasses 15 cities plus portions of the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated portions of the County of Los Angeles. The South Bay is defined by the LAX Airport to the north and the Port of Los Angeles to the south - two of the biggest polluters in Southern California.

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Los Angeles Climate Change Climate Obama 199

Electric Cars are for Girls

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Wondering about that little blue gizmo up there on the right that says "EV Driven featured"? I put it there for you because - as much as I hate to admit it - you just can't get all your online EV news at "Electric Cars Are For Girls". There are some things I don't cover, don't emphasize, aren't interested in, whatever. "EV Driven" is a new online place where you can catch up on the new electric car info, from dozens of different sources (including "Electric Cars Are For Girls", of course; ).

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Electric Cars All-Electric Cars Electric 229

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

Nissan is a first tier OEM building a pure EV in the U.S. - for sale to regular folks. They’re going to hit the market next fall, but will target Tennessee (where they will be made) and Oregon and Sonoma County, initially. ( Carlos Ghosn must like the wine up that way or something.). Regardless, once the $7,500 tax credit is accounted for, and the much lower maintenance costs, these should be about the same as buying a gas car, only the fuel will be less than a dollar a gallon equivalent.

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2010 Nissan Tennessee Tax Credit 150

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Norway

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 3, 2009

Electricaid.org was created when Th!nk looked to be on the ropes late last year. Now it seems only good news is coming in. They are reporting that thousands of charge points will be up and running by summer. And the Swedes are investing in the company and ordering cars, including the Royals, according to a Norwegian story translated by Autobloggreen.

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Think City Norway Electric Cars Batteries 113

Open Source Civic EV Kit

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

After doing another fix to the Charge Detector box on Monday, I enclosed all the BatMon boxes to prevent them from shorting out due to grime and automotive fluids. Here are the plastic boxes I talked about in a prior post. They are held in place with velcro adhesive tape and the box lids are held together with red electrical tape. I don't seem to be having any trouble with overheating (yet.) and the clear plastic lets me see the OVP/LVP lights.

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Charging Porsche Light Miles 100

Creative Greenius

FEBRUARY 18, 2009

If you want to have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening on the South Bay green scene being on Dency Nelson’s Friends for A Green Hermosa Beach e-mail list is a pretty damn good place to start. Dency at the wheel of the all electric Tesla. The green story of Dency Nelson is worth an entire blog onto itself, but he’s far too busy and actively involved to ever have time for that.

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Green Los Angeles Solar Light 170

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

FEBRUARY 8, 2009

I contacted someone who expressed interest in purchasing the 914 a few months ago and that contact came through for me. Here's my parting shot with Dan, the new 914 EV owner. Dan has worked with a Bradley GT EV before, so he knows the ropes. I'm sad to see the car go, but I've got the Civic-EV and it does very well. I'm still active on the 914ev Google Group answering questions, so I'm not completely disconnected.

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2007 Google Conversion Purchase 100

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

Last week Norway’s ElectricAid.org uploaded a very entertaining and artistic video test drive review of the Think City electric car. Watch the video in High Definition by clicking here. If you enjoy Top Gear you’ll enjoy the humor and creative editing in this video short. ElectricAid.org video Test Drive of the Think City Electric Car.

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Think City Norway Electric Cars Cars 150

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

Fisker Automotive is running a TV ad in LA. Deliveries of the luxury plug-in hybrid Karma are set to begin this fall. Thanks Stefano for the heads up. Tags: fisker automotive fisker.

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Fisker Karma Plug-in Plug 100

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Brief

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Electric Cars are for Girls

FEBRUARY 10, 2009

The Aptera is slightly behind schedule. Why? Like a lot of us, at the last minute, she had to change her dress.

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Aptera Electric Cars Cars Electric 102

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

1.5L VCRi engine with two-stage turbocharger. Click to enlarge. At the upcoming 79 th International Motor Show in Geneva, France-based MCE-5 Development will showcase its first vehicle application (a Peugeot 407) of a prototype 1.5-liter MCE-5 VCRi (variable compression ratio) gasoline engine. The four-cylinder 1.5L VCRi, equipped with a two-stage turbocharger, develops 220 hp (164 kW) of power (comparable to that of a 3.0L V6 engine), and 420 Nm (310 lb-ft) of torque at 1,500 rpm (comparable to

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Engine Vehicles Gasoline-Electric MPG 231

Creative Greenius

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

We Must Destroy GM In Order To Save GM. I’m afraid the time has come to pull the plug on GM’s life support so we can plug into a whole new kind of Motors much better than General. I’m talking about electric motors. EVs. And I’m talking about killing GM the way GM killed the electric car. With extreme prejudice. With a bullet to the brain.

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General Motors Motor Motors Motoring 170

Honda S2000 EV Conversion

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Now that the charging is working correctly I was feeling good and decided to finish up the plug. Remember those two circles I cut out for the cooling fans on the controller heat sink ? Turns out they are just want I needed. I marked out the three bolt holes. Then I measured the thinner diameter of the plugged and plasma cut that out of the center. A nice and tight fit.

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Plug-in Plug Charging Cars 40

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Guyana

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

Last night I flipped on the KTLA 5 news around 10:30pm, while grabbing a late dinner, and caught a Fisker Automotive Karma ad…on TV! I was caught completely and pleasantly by surprise seeing this great ad, as I don’t think we’ve yet seen any other EV/PHEV specific ads from any of the smaller start-ups. Justifying the cost of TV ads could be difficult, but has the positive effect of alerting the general population - most of which are not closely following the EV movement —

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Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

To Dr Lyle Dennis, a NY physician, the GM Volt seemed a good idea so he started a website, gm-volt.com. It's become a big deal, although I doubt he's quitting his day job. He has even come to be a citizen-envoy to GM. Tesla Motors seems to have decided he could use a day with a Tesla. They shipped a car to a mid-town Manhattan garage and when Dr Dennis showed up and spoke the secret password, he was given a set of keys and a partially charged Roadster.

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Volt Tesla GM Tesla Motors 100

Electric Cars are for Girls

FEBRUARY 17, 2009

Curious about electric vehicles and wondering what choices are really out there if you want to drive electric?

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Electric Vehicles Vehicles Electric Electrical 89

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 13, 2009

GenShock prototype. Click to enlarge. A team of MIT undergraduate students has invented a shock absorber that harnesses energy from small bumps in the road, generating electricity while it smoothes the ride more effectively than conventional shocks. MIT Senior Shakeel Avadhany and his teammates say they can produce up to a 10% improvement in overall vehicle fuel efficiency by using the regenerative shock absorbers.

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Creative Greenius

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

This just in from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi , via her blog (thanks to Joe Romm of Climate Progress ). Today, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter to the Acting Architect of the Capitol, Stephen T. Ayers, asking that the Capitol Power Plant (CPP) use 100 percent natural gas for its operations. They write, “the switch to natural gas will allow the CPP to dramatically reduce carbon and criteria pollutant emissions, eliminating more than 95 percent o

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Climate Change Climate Clean Alternative Coal 150

Honda S2000 EV Conversion

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

I designed the new computer to monitor the temperature of the motor controller but being in a hurry to drive I didn't make and hookup this sensor until now. After each short drive I keep checking the controller and at least in the winter so far heat is no concern at all. I'm only seeing a few degrees increase in temperature. Either way it'll be nice to see this temperature while driving so I decided to finish that up.

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Motor Motors Motoring Connect 40

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 5, 2009

These were all taken by our production photographer, Todd Westphal, during last month’s Plug-In America Inagural Parade. This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled. Tags: Events Plug In America Obama Parades Photo Galleries.

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Obama Plugin America Plug-in 124

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Harper's Magazine has a profile of an oil fixer, the sort of middleman without whom we don't get our daily dose. It's not a pretty picture, but it's how the oil business works. The profiled fixer, Ely Calil, is a well-connected businessman. While he continues to be an operator in oil, he sees an new opportunity to make money on his connections to potentates and oil executives.

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Oil Cleaner India Connect 100

Electric Cars are for Girls

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Have you heard of SunGo's solar-powered battery charger for golf carts?

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Golf Cart Solar Power Powered 89

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

Best vehicle choice for minimum fuel consumption, cost, or greenhouse gas emissions as a function of distance driven between charges across sensitivity scenarios. Shiau et al. (2009) Click to enlarge. A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has analyzed the impact of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery pack size on fuel consumption, cost and greenhouse gas emissions over a range of charging frequencies (distance traveled between charges).

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PHEV Emissions Fuel Gas-Electric 199

Creative Greenius

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

I am very excited to announce my participation in the launch of. We are an on-line community of people who are passionate about Electric Vehicles and we’re not shy about it. We have come together to find and organize the best content from blogs and other web sites. The goal is to create a place where it’s easy to find current and highly relevant content.

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Mini E DIY Obama Climate Change 150

Honda S2000 EV Conversion

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

I made another long trip 26+ miles but it hasn't been all fun. I'm still working on a good cell balancing solution and now I've realized I have some charging issues. I noticed that when I try to crank up my charging amps (above 6 or 7 amps) the BMS starts freaking out and misreporting cell voltages. Many just go to zero and the BMS triggers for the charger to shutdown.Two things will fix this.

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Charging Plug-in Plug Miles 40

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

We want you to know about a new website and community for people who are passionate about Electric Vehicles. We’re excited to be a part of: EV Driven. EV Driven aggregates the latest content from all these electric car blogs: * Creative Greenius. * DIY Electric Car. * Electric Car Blog. * Electric Cars are for Girls. * Green Car Congress. * Green Gearhead. * My Green Wheels. * Open Source Civic EV Kit. * Plug In Partners. * Plugs and Cars. * Porsche 914 EV Conversion. * Revenge of the Elec

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DIY Congress Kits Porsche 100

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 16, 2009

Nissan is telling Tennesseans that their state will be included in a Fall, 2010 launch of an electric car. The Chatanoogan.com reports on a luncheon at which Mark Perry, director of product planning and strategy for Nissan Americas, discussed the automaker's intentions. His inclusion of fast charging as well as California's existing EV Charging infrastructure, suggest Nissan has learned some lessons from the ZEV mandate days.

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2010 Nissan California Charging 100

Spirit of DC - PHEV3A

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

Cheers PHEV3A'rs, EVADC'rs, and EVnthusiasts, One & All - Saturday morning holds first a get-together of two variety of folks in Albuquerque -- EVnthusiasts, especially from the EAA (Electric Auto Association) and testy New Mexico Mensans. Some may be one and the same! Possibly, ClearChannel Radio in Albuquerque may be calling in as well when everyone meets up at noon, this Saturday, at the Flying Star Cafe on 8th Street and Silver Ave.

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Albuquerque New Mexico PHEV Mexico 36

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 1, 2009

Pneumatic hybrid engine on the test bench. Photo: P. Rüegg / ETH Zurich. Click to enlarge. Researchers at ETH Zürich are developing a pneumatic hybrid engine—an internal combustion engine connected to a compressed air tank instead of a battery system. A member of the ETH research team, which is led by Lino Guzzella, Professor of Thermotronics, will present a paper on their work at the upcoming SAE World Congress 2009 in Detroit in April—one of a number to be presented on the topic there.

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Hybrid Engine Downsizing 2009 199

Creative Greenius

FEBRUARY 16, 2009

Greenius Blog Fires Daily Breeze Editors, Takes Over Environmental Coverage. In a surprise to to all but the most savvy readers of this blog, Joe Galliani, the Creative Greenius, today fired the editors of The Daily Breeze newspaper and took over responsibility for all local environmental news coverage and analysis. “ I’d like to thank Phil Sanfield, Toni Sciacqua and Mike Carroll for the time they spent doing whatever it is they did with the paper - but I really can’t, not bas

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Climate Change Washington Illinois Climate 150

Honda S2000 EV Conversion

FEBRUARY 16, 2009

I went out for another drive and this time with my neighbor so he could film while driving. The drive was 22.1 miles round trip. The fastest I took the car was ~70 mph but there was more available so we'll have to see what top speed is one of these days. I did a lot of driving at 65-70 when possible and 45-55 when traffic was slow. Overall I consumed a bit over 7000 Wh for an average of 316.74 Wh/mile.

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MPH Miles Available Range 40

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 5, 2009

Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West rally - Photo courtesy of Dave Brown. Regular readers of this blog will know all about Plug in America’s triumphant Inaugural Parade in Santa Monica, CA a few weeks back. Now here’s a chance to enjoy some video from the event. . A final count of 77 electric vehicles and over 250 people participated in the rally and subsequent parade.

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Plug-in Plug Jordan America 100

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 13, 2009

Dan Neil has another must read article in today's LA Times. He heaps praise and digs the grave of Honda's fuel cell marvel. I'd really like to hear what the other Dan, CARB Board Member and hydrogen fuel cell stalwart Dan Sperling, thinks upon reading it. It is the most expensive car he's ever driven; he figures about $2 million. It is limo-spacious and drives electric-smooth.

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Honda Hydrogen California Waste 100