Northern Lights Energy and Reva Electric Car Company Sign Agreement to Develop the Electric Vehicle Market in Iceland
12 November 2009
| The REVA NXR. Click to enlarge. |
Northern Lights Energy (NLE), the initiator of the 2012 charging infrastructure project and provider of infrastructure and services for electric vehicles (EV) based in Iceland, has signed an agreement with Reva Electric Car Company to jointly develop the electric vehicle market in Iceland.
NLE will have exclusive distribution rights for the NXR, the new model premiered by Reva at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, and consequent follow-up models, such as the sports coupé NXG, which will be launched in 2011. The sales and marketing of the car will commence in the second half of 2010 and customer deliveries at the end of 2010.
In September, Reva announced a joint venture with General Motors India to provide the electric powertrain and energy management systems for the new Chevrolet Spark and a new 30,000 unit Reva assembly plant is under construction in India. (Earlier post.) Iceland is also being considered by Reva as a possible site for a European assembly plant.
The REVA NXR is a four-seat, three-door hatchback family car suitable for urban driving. Top speed is 104 km/h (65 mph) with a range of 160 km (99 miles) per charge. If using the 90-minute fast charge (normal charging is eight hours), the REVA NXR offers an effective range of 320 km (199 miles) a day. A fast charge for 15 minutes will provide a 40 km (25 mile) range.
NLE is also working on developing a charging infrastructure system for electric vehicles and vehicle exchange service to support the adoption of electric vehicles in Iceland. In addition to importing new EV models to Iceland, NLE is also working on developing systems to convert the current internal combustion engine (ICE) car fleet into electric cars.
We are working with a number of parties in Denmark and Finland to enable the conversion process of the current cars running in Iceland to support a swift development of the electric vehicle market. The mission is to place Iceland in the forefront of countries that uses sustainable energy sources for its personal vehicle fleet, moving away from fossil fuels, saving billions of ISKs for the society and reducing the 680,000 tons of carbon dioxide that is annually being emitted by the personal vehicle fleet in Iceland. This is what the Project 2012 is all about.
—Sighvatur Lárusson, the Chief Operating Officer of NLE
Northern Lights Energy is an Icelandic investment company, targeting environmental friendly projects, leading in the field of environmental and renewable energy solutions. Project 2012 is an initiative of Northern Lights Energy which has committed to build in Iceland, the first nationwide charging infrastructure in the world, before the yearend 2012. Importing and distributing EVs in Iceland is a key factor in reaching the goal.
REVA is the brand of the Reva Electric Car Company, a Bangalore, India-based company formed as a joint venture between Maini Group of India and AEV LLC of California and backed by US investors Global Environment Fund and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Today, REVA is selling, or being test marketed, in 24 countries worldwide and has the largest deployed fleet of electric cars on the market with more than 3,000 EVs on the road and more than 85 million km (53 million miles) of on-road data.
REVA’s business model includes: electric vehicle design, development and manufacture, electric vehicle technology licensing and electric vehicle manufacturing franchising. REVA develops all key technologies including energy management, fast-charge and telematics systems in-house.
European distribution is in the following countries: Norway, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Hungary, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece with other distributors being appointed over the next few months.
China please design a small range extender engine generator that can be built in and run on ethanol or gasoline and weigh only 20 pounds. Then all of this talk about range and better batteries for electric cars can be reduced greatly along with the price of the vehicle. All of Europe and Japan and the US cannot do it. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 12 November 2009 at 06:23 AM
Europe, Japan and USA cannot do it or are NOT INTERESTED or DO NOT WANT to do it for various reasons. It may not fit into their current financial targets or plans.
Some time ago, an Indian firm claimed that they had developed a very compact 24 Kg - 24 Kw diesel genset. What happened to it?
It could have been about the right size for a fair size PHEV with a medium size battery combined with super caps for better braking power recuperation and decent accellerations.
Wonder why the economic recovery funds are not used to develop and mass produce a very light weight, low cost, multi-fuel automotive genset?
Posted by: HarveyD | 12 November 2009 at 09:50 AM
I know, it's ridiculous. The answer is so bl**dy obvious. Engineering-wise, it's so simple. How complicated does it need to be? Look at your gasoline powered ICE car. By comparison, a simpe range extending generator with a lithium ion or NiMH pack and induction motor, with regenerative braking is SO MUCH SIMPLER, and would be CHEAPER once mass produced!! It boggles the mind. They can make a high power computer on a chip the size of a pencil eraser but they can't make a tiny little fixed rpm genset? How come Honda can make them?
One could presume that the "conspiracy" extends to the decision-making levels of governments who do not want to upset the fossil fuel based economies by helping this technology achieve mass production and become competitive. Governments don't want consumers to be energy independent because then they can't be taxed. And industry obviously doesn't want it. And it's industry lobbyists that help governments get elected.
But it also may just be out of lack of understanding of the technical issues (politicians are not scientists or engineers, and they have been shunning them more and more these days). Probably a bit of both.
Posted by: Mark_BC | 12 November 2009 at 12:33 PM
"The answer is so bl**dy obvious. Engineering-wise"
How old are you? When you get old enough, you'll see that the World is not run by engineers.
Posted by: dursun | 12 November 2009 at 02:40 PM
True, but I am realizing that we can make a lot of noise if we scream in the right places.
Posted by: Mark_BC | 12 November 2009 at 09:54 PM
If, as you claim, none of the worlds auto makers do what you think is best - put a tiny gen set in a BEV - that mayby it is not practical?
None in the US, or Englamd or Germany or France or Spain or India.
None in the Netherlands, or Japan, Korea or even Iceland or China or Russia.
Do you think that maybe, just maybe, they collectively know something about auto making - just maybe none of them make this because it will not sell?
How could the evidence be stronger?
Posted by: ToppaTom | 13 November 2009 at 06:33 AM
"Do you think that maybe, just maybe, they collectively know something about auto making"
Which would be what? Do they know some secret law of physics which nullifies the engineering and cost analysis which has been done to death here and shows how successful EV's will soon be?
What the auto industry collectively knows is that when electric cars hit the market then the billions upon billions of dollars they have invested in factories tooled to pump out millions of internal combustion engine cars will quickly become obsolete. They will be faced with a huge liability.
Why would a major car company develop a new technology which makes 95% of its previous capital investment obsolete? Therefore, they are doing everything they can to stall it.
It takes a smaller startup company like Tesla to do it, because they don't have billions of capital investment tied up in soon-to-be-obsolete manufacturing facilities. Tesla has demonstrated that there is indeed a strong market for EV's, that they can be produced profitably EVEN WITHOUT A MASS PRODUCTION FACILITY, and that the performance of EV's exceeds that of ICE powered vehicles.
This has scared the auto industry (well, at least those companies who aren't supported by taxpayers and are concerned about profits). They now realize that the transition is happening and that they must get on board or face bankruptcy. Nissan was the first to make the jump (with its Leaf EV to be released next year).
"just maybe none of them make this because it will not sell?"
Have you heard how Tesla is doing? They can't keep up with demand.
Posted by: Mark_BC | 13 November 2009 at 03:51 PM
Most well established car makers have motorized their obese overweight vehicles with gas guzzling ICE, designed 120+ years ago and slightly improved in the last few years, due to rising price of fuels.
Most old traditional car makers are deeply set in their ways and would prefer to produce V-12 500+ hp, 4 tonnes, ICE vehicles instead of light weight electrified PHEVs and BEVs.
Newcomers in China, India, Brazil and Nissan-Renault (by exception) will challenge the car establishment with affordable PHEVs and BEVs early in the next decade.
Electrified vehicle makers will win the race to the market place but the world ICE Big-10 (or is it 20) will fight them for the next 10 years and then have to try to catch up to survive.
Interesting decade ahead.
May the smarter car makers win.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 November 2009 at 05:57 PM
“Do they know some secret law of physics which nullifies the engineering and cost analysis which has been done to death here and shows how successful EV's will soon be?”
What engineering and cost analysis done here ?
No matter, we ALL believe EV's will soon be successful. Very successful. Soon.
Maybe billions of dollars invested in factories is at risk by the emergence of electric cars; no matter, it will NOT help an auto company to NOT make EVs.
That’s why the major makers ARE producing EVs, they ARE:
The Insight, the Prius, all the Ford and GM hybrids, the Leaf, the BYD F3DM and E6.
Major car company ARE developing this new EV technology; But NOT (yet) with little gen-sets.
Is Tesla including a small range extender engine generator that can be built in and run on ethanol or gasoline and weighs only 20 pounds ? NO
Is Fisker including a small range extender engine generator that can be built in and run on ethanol or gasoline and weighs only 20 pounds ? NO.
Why does no one make an EV with 20 pound IC range extender?
I repeat "just maybe, none of them make this because it will not sell".
Posted by: ToppaTom | 13 November 2009 at 09:34 PM
"What engineering and cost analysis done here ?"
The one I and others have done which shows EV's with superior performance to ICE's could be profitably sold for under $20,000 when mass produced.
"Is Tesla including a small range extender engine generator that can be built in and run on ethanol or gasoline and weighs only 20 pounds ? NO"
Actually, remember a few months ago when Lotus announced it will be making one (not quite 20 lb though)?
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/09/lotus-range-extender.html
I am guessing this will be making its way into future Tesla models.
"Why does no one make an EV with 20 pound IC range extender?
I repeat "just maybe, none of them make this because it will not sell"."
I don't understand why it wouldn't sell. This isn't an ipod. Style doesn't matter. All that matters is the engineering specs. All that matters are: power, fuel consumption, weight, noise, heat. That's pretty much it. If someone can make a simple little cheap genset (which is technically feasible - see the Honda generators that have been around all my life), then it WILL sell, because there is a huge niche for this --- the millions of BEV's to soon hit the market. It will turn a 150 km limited range Leaf BEV into an unlimited range series hybrid, simply by throwing a 50 lb genset on the trailer hitch.
"Major car company ARE developing this new EV technology; But NOT (yet) with little gen-sets."
Yes, and technologically, we could have had it 10 or more years ago but resistance from industry stalled it and forced us to spend money on gasoline and emit CO2 for 10 years longer than necessary.
And, as I pointed out before, the only companies interested in producing such things are the auto companies already making EV's: ie., Tesla (aka Lotus), because this is "disruptive" technology, and will put a lot of existing companies out of business.
Posted by: Mark_BC | 14 November 2009 at 10:27 AM
With regard to why no one makes a 20 pound IC range extender, you say
“ I don't understand why it wouldn't sell.”
Not understanding it does not mean there is an evil conspiracy.
You say “the only companies interested in producing such things are the auto companies already making EV's: ie., Tesla (aka Lotus), because this is "disruptive" technology, and will put a lot of existing companies out of business.”
This makes no sense. If an auto company would gain a significant market by selling EVs with little Gen sets, you CANNOT think none would, just because the rest of the auto world might be disrupted.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 15 November 2009 at 07:13 PM