Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels

OK, Thought about this and realized it would be good to have a thread on what commercials are out there about alternative powered auto's. VOLT Commercial Gotta say i LOVE THIS VOLT commercial. Snakes taste like Brussel Sprouts! So post what commercials you see for alternative Powered auto's.

Fast Facts Some of the terminology and acronyms you will find when researching electric vehicles may seem confusing. Here are some definitions that will help you better understand the literature you will find. EV - Electric Vehicle - A vehicle that is propelled by a motor powered by electrical energy from rechargeable batteries or another source onboard the vehicle HEV - Hybrid Electric Vehicle - An EV that combines an internal combustion engine with an electric propulsion system. The charge on the batteries is maintained through the normal operation of the engine PHEV - Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle - An HEV that incorporates a separate battery sys…

Seems since the start of the auto industry there has always been a push in a certain direction and much of that has been driven by the oil industry with ICE autos. With the start of the electrical vehicle the media narrative has been the world will be awash in dead batteries clogging up landfills and adding an expense to consumers in having to replace a $10,000 or more battery pack. Lately an interesting counter point was made in a story by Forbes magazine in an interview with Nissan executive Nic Thomas who has gone on record that for the last 12 years that Nissan has been selling their electric Leaf auto that almost all of the lithium-ion batteries they have pr…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Washington State starts proposal for Autonomous auto lanes on I-5 Freeway. The idea is to change all existing HOV lanes to Autonomous vehicle lanes in the next 8-10 years. A local think tank has with help from the High Tech Community researched and is going to lay out to the state how to incorporate autonomous auto lanes on I-5 first and then throughout the state on all Federal and State highways. The think tank believes this could be incorporated by 2040. King 5 Story

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com 404 Mile Electric Thunder Fish That Could, Maybe? Frankfurt Motor show was the release point for Thunder Power, a Taiwan company that has made money in many things electric including RC auto's. Now they have moved forward with the first true tesla competitor showing off their Thunder Power auto and race car and plan to start sales first in Europe 2017, then China 2018 and finally the US 2019. The auto will come in two flavors, a 230 kW(308 bhp) or 320 kW (430 bhp) versions. They will use a 125 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The sedan was designed by Zagato, an Italian design house known…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Le Supercar to battle Tesla, Financed by Chinese Billionaire! Seems Frankfurt auto show is on an EV roll out as multiple companies show off their auto's and some especially interesting designs come from the electric auto segment. Thunder Power showed off their near production ready 4 door sedan and EV Racer car a cross between Speed racer and Fanboy racer game crowd. Now we have LeTV Billionaire announcing that he has hired 600 individuals from Tesla, BMW iCar, and GM's Volt groups to create from scratch an all new EV auto that will top what Tesla and others have shown to date. 200 if …

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com States Leading Charge to Ban ICE Auto's. The last 48 HRS has been very interesting as we have a story that is developing. Washington state in it's battle to reduce climate change is considering following other countries by setting goals to phase out ICE auto's. Washington state has stated the following for this: We used a record 2.78 billion gallons of gasoline in Washington State in 2015. Every gallon of gasoline releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. Cars and trucks account for nearly 45 percent of our region’s carbon footprint. Washington spends more t…

UK Sales started on Nissan Energy Solar System Nissan has announced the start of their all encompassing Solar Energy System. This system has the ability to reduce home electric bills by 66%, increased independence from the national grid and electricity providers and the ability to generate, store and manage energy use overnight. Nissan says even on overcast or rainy days the system will still do all this and provide charging to your Nissan EVs. Nissan says the basic home system starts at £3,881 and includes the supply and installation of six solar panel system, home energy management system and VAT at 5%. For those that do not speak UK Pound Sterling, thi…

Increasing numbers of US customers are turning to alternative fuel vehicles, according to the latest research from Mintel, which shows that sales are up 73%, with nearly 440,000 hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electrics sold thus far this year. The rapid sales growth in hybrid and electric vehicles makes the segment the fastest growing in the US for 2012, supplanting the still fast growing, compact car vehicle segment. http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/general/news/us-drivers-turning-to-alternative-fuel-vehicles-says-research/?goback=.gde_2195876_member_197951202 Read the full but short article and sound off, do you agree with what is stated or not and why?

The Commercial Auto industry is usually a slow-moving beast when it comes to change. You can look at how little has changed in CAT tractors, Class 8 Semi Trucks and other companies. Recently change has started as Tesla showed off their own Electric Tesla Class 8 Semi Truck that has forced Paccar, parent owner of Peterbuilt and Kenworth Class 8 and more Diesel trucks to start investing in electric trucks. Caterpillar has rolled out the first of some new Hybrid and Diesel-electric products over the last few years and now has their first fully electric tractor for select use in inner city construction. CAT biggest area of growth has been their Hybrid system w…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Europe NewMotion Charging Network Bought by Shell Corporation NewMotion, Europe's largest charging network announced that Shell, one of the world's largest energy providers have signed an agreement to buy NewMotion Charging network allowing them to accelerate their expansion Europe wide with the latest Xtreme Fast Charging network to support the rapid growth of EV auto's. NewMotion manages over 30,000 charging points in western Europe. NewMotion has estimated that Europe will need between 1-3 million charge points by 2030. Currently NewMotion has 50,000 partner locations on top of the…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com EV Car Owners Allowed To Use Bus Lanes in UK Cities UK DOT has given the top 8 cities funds to install electric chargers, preferred parking spots and advertise in a bid to encourage citizens to turn in their petrol auto and move to EVs. The biggest benefit is EVs are now allowed to use the dedicated Bus Lanes all over even if they are a single driver. According to "the guardian" the UK sees this as their solution to meeting the carbon budget and cut the illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution that chokes British cities. England's government give £5,000 to buyers of Electric autos.…

This isn't exactly an alternative fuel item, but a high mpg vehicle related thread. In the pursuit of highly efficient cars, the focus is on electronics. Motors, actuators, batteries, fuel cells, generators... on and on. What might pay off on a broader scale, however, is simply materials. Materials like carbon fiber, among others, can be made to be strong and rigid, comparable if not better than traditional materials used in structural, body, and trim parts, and at a much lower weight. The downside of course is cost, but many of these materials do not yet benefit from economies of scale. So, how about a car such as the following: +Cobalt-sized car, 4-door, 4-5 p…

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Hyundai i30 CNG Wagon Launches Lucky for us there are alternative ways to find out information even when a corporation chooses to not post information about a great release on their web site. NGV Journal attended the Paris show presentation, Hyundai Senior VP and COO for Hyundai Motor Europe introduced the new i30 CNG wagon for Europe. i30 CNG has the following specifications: New 1.4L T-GDI engine 86kW (115HP), Torque 206Nm (152lb ft) from 1500rpm 7 speed Dual-clutch transmission Powertrain meets the strict Euro6c emissions standard that goes into effect in 2017, 3y…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Smart Car Gas to end 2017, Pure EV only for 2018! USA Today has stated that Mercedes-Benz has notified their Smart Car sellers that 2017 is the end of the Gas powered auto. Smart Car will live on but only in Pure EV mode with a complete lineup. Mercedes is quoted as saying they have decided that the three-cylinder, 70 HP powered auto that averaged 40 mpg just did not make sense any more in today's age of cheap gas and net battery tech. Smart Car only sold 6,211 autos in the US last year, down 17% from 2015 and Car2go has notified SmartCar that they will no longer be using t…

We are in the Golden Age of Auto's with a revolution that will see the gentle passing of ICE Auto's as they are replaced by the EV Auto. With today's small 2% plus market share, the EV auto is having a major impact on auto suppliers. According to the director of product development, filtration and engine peripherals J.D. Kehoe of Mahle Filter Systems of North America, the ICE downsizing, 48V Hybridization and electric traction motors are affecting the development of future powertrains. Mahle's corporate strategy is to keep on top of all trends supporting the wide variety of options and yet that also comes with the added danger that if you make the wrong call, a comp…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Electric NASCAR Dreams by Bill Nye The Science Guy Over at the INQUISITR web site, they posted their story about Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill says that NASCAR is holding back the auto industry by relying on old technology. The races run engines using carburetors, getting about 2-3 MPG and sending a ton of Green House gas into the atmosphere. Bill is quoted as follows: “We could convert all of our race cars to electricity – right now – and show the public exactly what electrons can do. And most significant from my point of view, everyone in the crowd, every race fan, would want an el…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com On Friday November 15th, the Obama administration and the EPA acknowledged that the Bio-Fuel law championed by both parties in 2007 is not meeting expectations and that the US has hit it's limit for now. Against strong lobbing by the Ethanol to resist cuts, the EPA has proposed cutting the amount of fuel in 2014 that must be blended by 14%. Will this drop corn prices? Increase or decrease refined petrol cost at the pump? Reduce maintenance on auto's? Cost jobs in certain sectors? Sounds off on how you feel about the Ethanol blends! Give your positive and negative feedback on how you feel about this…

Lightning systems announced today with it's first 50 unit order the all new Chevrolet 6500XD Class 6 zero emission cab forward cargo truck. This truck is available in 19,501 to 26,000 pound GVWR. The truck has a 110 mile range and Zeem Solutions out of California is the first customer to purchase and put into city deliveries this truck. The Chevrolet 6500XD offers a 295 horsepower motor with 2-speed Eaton automatic transmission providing 1,821 ft-lbs of torque in first gear with a 65 mph top speed, 5 year, 60,000 mile warranty on the powertrain. The trucks come with regenerative braking, liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery system, and a DC fast charging system achievi…

Project Driveway Begins Fuel Cell Equinox deployed

Bosch has announced that they will show at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover Germany that they will have an E-mobility package for semi trailers. This package is expected to save truck drivers $11,574 dollars a year on refrigerated trailers. Bosch calculates this will save up to 238 gallons a year in fuel consumption and with the Boost function can save even more especially in going over mountain passes helping to reduce the CO2 emissions. Additional benefits is regenerative braking which will help with a quieter slowdown of a semi, longer brake life, hill assist starts and ascents. Bosch has also stated that they are looking into using this for auto…

Electrification Future of the US by NREL Electric technology, specifically EV Auto's is a love hate relationship for people in the United States. Some love the simplicity, reduced maintenance and ease of using an EV Auto and others hate them with the attitude being the current internal combustion engine auto has served us fine for 100 plus years, why do we need to change. No matter how one feels on the subject, there is no denying the fact that energy consumption is rising in the United States and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory government group just released their latest study and the end result i…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com FCA & Ford Working with Argonne National Laboratory on Blended CNG-Petrol Auto's Many questions can be asked far more than answers but Argonne National Laboratory has partnered up with FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) & Ford to study the tricky challange of blending CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and Petrol or regular gas in a Direct Injection engine. The goal of this project is to decrease petrol use by 50% and increase over all efficiency and power density by 10 percent. Many are familiar with Bi-Fuel auto's such as GM's Bi-Fuel Impala, Trucks and other converted Bi-Fuel auto's …

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Honda Clarity Kicks Advertising into High Gear! While on YouTube I discovered a whole new crop of videos to help sell the Honda Clarity Hydrogen auto. Interesting that they went again to PES a video man that has a reputation for stop motion commercials. This time they went with kids singing and the heads one has to figure represent the hydrogen molecules in the tank. Honda YouTube Additional commercials also made by PES for Honda's big push of the Clarity Hydrogen auto: As one f…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com HoverSurf, Newest addition to Dubai Police Force The first video has no audio and the second video is what was released by the Dubai police and is in their native language. Yet with that the Russian company that built the Hoversurf bike has stated the following about their bike and what it can do for the Police in Dubai. The bike can carry 300kg of weight or 661pounds. The bike has a top speed of 70kph or 43.5mph. The bike can fly full speed for 25 minutes. The bike flies at a height of 5 meters or 15 feet. The bike can fly by itself remo…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Senior Republican Group led by James A. Baker III calls for Carbon Tax! This just hit the NY times in their Science section. Per their story two former Secretary of State (James A. Baker III & George P. Shultz) and a former secretary of the Treasury ( Henry M. Paulson Jr.) has proposed a free-market principles based carbon tax policy. This new policy is to be delivered to the White House today Feb 15th to VP Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Gary D Cohn and Ivanka Trump. Interesting in that the interview by the NY times states that Mr. Baker says even Ronald Reagan would approv…

2014 Honda Civic CNG Models Honda has for the longest time led the market with their single OEM built Honda Civic CNG car. 2014 brings the release of two models to the CNG family. Honda Civic CNG Sedan 5AT MSRP $26,640 Honda Civic CNG Navi 5AT MSRP $29,290 The 2014 model comes equipped as follows: The standard model features premium cloth seats, upgraded internal trim over the 2013 models. The Premium adds leather seats, heated seats, heated side mirrors and a six speaker audio system. Standard across both models is a new 7-inch Touchscreen display audio head unit that allows users to pinch, swipe and tap just like a smartphone to access audio, phonebook, media, ve…

Battery Density Starting to Surpass Moore's Law Something old is new, the picture above is the first Thomas Edison Storage Battery. This was an Alkaline Battery that he started developing in 1890 and completed in 1903. As the Auto industry started up, Edison felt that electric auto's was a superior way to go versus steam, gas or any other form that was being played with. Edison found the traditional battery to be toxic, heavy and short life with only average energy storage. In 1903 Edison declaring his battery finished showed off his potassium hydroxide battery that would react with the Iron / Nickel electrodes creating a battery that was reliable and rec…

One of the world leading DC High Voltage EV Relays companies out of South Korea showed off their latest products at the battery fair in China last week. But this is just a small piece in comparison to what they have already delivered to the world. The 400 and 600 amp along with the 1000V 100 amp relays will enhance high speed charging of cars and solar panel installations worldwide. Yet so much more is also available. The EVH1000 is focused on the Solar industry where the EVH400A and 600A is focused on rapid charging of the electric auto industry. They also have the EVH1000A that one has to make the assumption Porsche is using for their car as it would support …

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com This the Future of Performance Pony Cars? So much has been discussed and debated about the V8, Turbo 4 and 6 cylinder engines as well as Supercharged 4 and 6 cylinder engines that it makes one think what would a performance Pony car be if it was pure electric? Zombie 222 EV Mustang Blood Shed Motors is building what they believe is the ultimate tire shredding Mustang and they can do it for any of the pony cars. You can purchase what they call the Apocalyse Class package. All eletric twin 11" motors/controllers drive train LiPo Prismatic Pouch High Tech Systems Racing Battery 40…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Kaiyun Motor Co. China Wants to take on Ford with EV Pickup! CEO and founder Wang Chao believes the China market can easily support 200,000 to 300,000 EV pickups and believes his Pickman EV truck is the answer. Since the founding of his company and production at the end of last year, he has built 5000 of his pickman EV trucks and says he has 100,000 more on order. The Pickman EV truck gets 120 Kilometers / 75 miles on a single charge and sells for 23,800 yuan or about $3,500. Investment to date in Kaiyun Motor is about $300 million and he is working on a second roun…

iCar is a VW Mini Van According to story's at other sites, Apple is finally going to hit the road with their own autonomous auto. These auto's are going to be used to ferry employees around their new campus. Apple has partnered up with Volkswagen to use the T6 as their proof of concept in autonomous auto's. These vans will be outfitted at a VW assembly plant in Italy with the electric powertrain, sensors, software and battery packs. According to the NY Times story, Apple wanted to partner with Mercedes-Benz or BMW to develop their all electric self driving auto. This was all rebuffed after Apple wanted control and all data along with the design to be hande…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Toyota converting auto transportation fleet to CNG. Nov 23rd 2015 Toyota Corporation released a media announcement that they would start with their first CNG auto hauler as they moved to be greener in transporting their green fleet of auto's to the dealers. CNG Auto Hauler Toyota worked with Peterbilt and Cottrell to build the first of many to come. This is a Peterbilt 365 day cab tractor with an 11.9L ISX 12 G Engine by Cummins modified for CNG operation. This is a 9 car hauler with 90 gallon capacity of CNG, two type IV carbon fiber 45 gallon tanks, one on each side of the truck…

Many have heard of AI and they think Terminator. Yet AI in the computer industry has allowed us to build computers and accessories faster due to the ability of AI to sift through data faster than humans can. This brings us to how AI is helping the Auto industry transition to EV's and how battery tech will change much faster than in the last two decades. IBM has announced their recent battery project is developing prototypes of new faster charging batteries that are free of Nickel and Cobalt thanks to AI. It has allowed them to quickly evaluate a set of 20,000 potential compounds for use in the Battery electrolytes. This would normally take 5 years via tradition…

Montreal and Laval have warded New Flyer of America a contract for 40 of the forty-foot battery electric Xcelsior buses. This contract is for 10 buses for STL and 30 buses for STM, together making this the largest battery bus procurement to date. This starts the rapid change over that these mass transit agencies have put in place to move to all electric buses only with STL buying only electric starting in 2023 and STM buying only electric starting in 2025 to replace retiring diesel and hybrid buses. STM provides public transportation in Montreal, Quebec and is the third most heavily used public transportation in North America. STL provides public transportation in La…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Henrik Fisker to Debut Emotion in August Henrik Fisker first go at EV's ended up bankrupt and sold to a Chinese company and yet this has not stopped this man from bringing a much more delightful car to the upper wealthy folks in the form of the all new EMotion AWD EV 4 door sedan. Henrik Fisker originally started out from his own .org web site with drawings and info on how he would make a better EV. You can read the story and get plenty of facts at his initial web site here: http://henrikfisker.org/ Hi Timeline and the auto's that have inspired him is worth looking at. Y…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com GM CEO Mary Barra states BOLT will be platform for complete series of EVs! This is exciting to see in this interview that Road/Show posted with GM CEO Mary Barra who was excited to talk about the BOLT and was asked about a Hybrid or EV Camero and she says anything is possible. This was based on the interviewer asking her thoughts about the Hybrid announcement by FORD of the mustang. They also talked about Hybrid trucks in California and Fords announcements of other EV's and Hybrids. Much more on Crossovers / SUVs etc. They also talk about Cadillac subscription service. Pretty good i…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Bollinger Motors, Worlds First EV Off-Road & On-Road Sport Truck! Bollinger Motors, What and who are they? Bollinger Motors just recently turned on their web site, but have been in business since 2014 flying under the radar as they prep their roll out for later this year of their new Sport Truck EV. According to their mission statement: " We are engineering the world’s first all-electric off-road and on-road sport utility truck. By designing the truck from the ground up, we are creating a unique vehicle capable of exceptional off-road performance, combined with never-bef…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com SCiB, 200 miles, 6 minutes, Coming 2019 Toshiba announced today their newest battery cell, a lithium titanium oxide (LTO) battery. Capable of rapid charging with long life, low-temperature performance with high input/output power and large effective capacity. There is a wide range of solutions being put forth from the European 350 kWh charging system to Porsche's 800 kWh charging system and yet the one biggest desire of the switch to EV auto's has been how long it takes to charge. The key Toshiba says is in their new anode material. To quote: "We have developed a proprietary meth…

I'm excited about the Volt and the technology it brings. However, how much will that 40 mile electric range be reduced when it's below 0? It was colder than -40 where I live this week, batteries get very weak. Anyone have hybrids that lives in a cold climate? How to they do?

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com El(ectric) Camino EV Conversion Howdy all, so I have been hanging out looking into what the EV conversion crowd has been doing out at diyelectric car forums. http://www.diyelectriccar.com/ This site has a great assortment all focused on taking any type of auto or kit car and building it as an electric auto. You will find DIY Kits, DIY Plans, DIY Projects, you name it, they pretty much cover it. A very die hard group of people about having the world run on electric motors. For Camino, I thought he would love this project. A guy bought an old ElCamino and is converting it to electricity.…

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com EPA Apps and Tools for Alternative Energy The EPA is working hard to allow people to find Alternative Energy stations via their first smartphone app. Support from the Energy Department, the Alternative Fueling Station Locator app provides information on more than 15,000 stations across the country. This was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The app allows users to select multiple parameters such as if the station is open to the public, what form of payments they take, hours of operation, address, phone numbers, etc. This app allows for the search of the following fue…

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com It seems the dirty laundry of other car companies is coming to light as people dig into the history of the EV movement. GM joined the lawsuit with other automobile manufacturers and oil industry to successfully kill the early laws that California passed to promote electric vehicles. In turn, GM killed its EV1 project. All the bad publicity surrounded the death of the EV1 ignores so many other automobile manufacturers which also worked to kill off the EV movement of the nineties. As GM took the brunt of the heat for shredding all its EV1 autos, Honda also silently killed off its Honda EV Pl…

I was over at a local 24-hour diner and I spotted something on the placemat. An ad for a new local CNG refueling station open to the public. I wish them luck. Their slogan: The Green Gas of Home http://www.cngofnewholland.com

The future is charging and with-it Chevron and Texaco, a subsidiary of Chevron are moving forward with EV Ultra-Fast Charging using FreeWire battery backed chargers. Both company owned and franchised retailer/marketer stations will have FreeWire Charging available. FreeWire's approach is an integrated one that couples battery integration and energy management software with analytics to optimize the ultra-fast charging of ones EV. FreeWire calls these Boost Chargers that will allow a customer to charge 200 miles of range in 15 minutes. Boost Chargers are able to use existing low-voltage utility service and deliver high-power charging that normall…

Donut Lab started with the dream of a light weight fast in-wheel motor and they delivered it in a 17" form factor that packed 150 kW (201 HP) with 1200 Nm (886 lb-ft) of torque in a 21 kg (46 lbs) weight. Welcome to the TS Ultra from the Verge Motor cycles company.  Experience Life on the Verge - Verge Motorcycles Besides delivering on the dream of a possible light cycle from the movie TRON, the performance is amazing when you consider the instant torque with a 0 - 60 mph of 2.5 seconds and a max range of 233 miles. Yet, then we have the company division that has been setup to expand on what this motor potential could be and …

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G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Tom Moloughney 2017 BOLT Review Tom Moloughney is a well respected EV advocate that has been asked to not only review EV's, conversions, etc. but also to fun polls and surveys to find out what people think, want and need. Tom has driven many EV's including his recent BMW i3 that was totaled. GM gave him a 2017 Chevrolet BOLT in Kinetic Blue Metallic for a week to drive around and while no auto is perfect, he did find plenty to praise about Chevrolet and all they did right on the BOLT. I have listed below the full review for you to read, but wanted to quote a few things from Tom's …

New Ring Drive adds AWD to Latest Honda Civic Type R Posted to Youtube a video on a california start up that believes it can build a better mousetrap. What mousetrap would that be? In wheel electric motors. According to the company's web, the average traditional hub motor is approximately 68lbs. The Orbis Ring Drive is 35lbs for a 70hp motor. The company does not state the torque but will give you full details if you sign an NDA. So adding AWD and 140 HP to the Type R basic 306HP FWD car brings you to a blistering 446hp AWD Type R Hybrid. Founder and CEO Marcus Hays with Co-inventor Scott Streeter are the brains behind this Ring Drive motor. Hays was the pr…

An electric car hasn’t reached your garage, but a natural gas-fueled vehicle might By Steve LeVine | Quartz – 1 hour 1 minute ago Over the past dozen years, there’s been a 23% surge per year in the number of natural gas-fueled vehicles on the road, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. That suggests natural gas-fueled vehicles may catch on in a way that fuel cells, hydrogen and batteries have failed. The number of natural gas-propelled vehicles around the world increased to 16.2 million by mid-2012, up from 1.3 million in 2000. India and China’s gas-propelled vehicles totalled 2.7 million vehicles together as of mid-2012, up from 16,000 in 20…

Found this interesting story on a New Taxi that Singapore has created to help reduce green house gas and clean up their cities. Taxi can go 200km or 125 miles on a single charge and recharges 100% in 15 min. Full story here http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/transport/story/made-singapore-electric-taxi-charges-fast-goes-the-distance-20150512

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Faraday Future Reveal at CES Faraday has been emailing me daily the last few days about their big reveal at CES tomorrow Jan 3rd. Here is their latest email about their new auto. I have to say that this back lit image reminds me of the car in Demolition Man. Exciting times for EV's this year!

C.T. was based in Philadelphia and ran from 1907-1928. They had numerous models, primarily electric but also some gas/electric hybrids. Over their existence, they offered 1/2-ton to 6-ton models... but these truck ratings have always been... strangely off. The entry in the Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks mentions "Loaded with 10 tons of paper and traveling at 10 MPH, they silently plied the streets in the early morning hours with nary a puff of exhaust." They commonly used an 85 V, 10-amp system consisting of 4 motors, 1 at each wheel. The Curtis Publishing Co used a fleet of 22 of these for deliveries for 40-some years. As the demand for slow electri…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com BMW iPerformance, Anything New or Just Addressing CAFE? Last year BMW announced their iPerformance line of auto's using the eDrive moniker. This allowed them to have a line of auto's either pure EV or plug-in hybrid sitting between the M and standard petro auto's they make. This July 2016 iPerformance Line of auto's will be available with their eDrive system. The following models are making up the iPerformance line which currently makes the i3 and i8. New Models: 225xe Active Tour 330e X5 xDrive40e 740e xDrive 740Le xDrive 330e Specs: 184 hp four-cylinder petrol engine and …

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Ledcor Converts Fleet to CNG http://www.ledcor.com/news-events/news/2014/october/ledcor-to-own-one-of-canada-s-largest-natural-gas Using FortisBC's incentive program, Ledcor has committed to taking 200 CNG Ford Transits to replace their service fleet. Currently they already own 15 Class 8 LNG trucks giving them 215 alternative fuel vehicles. Scott Lyons, COO Ledcor Technical Services states; "We estimate we'll reduce our annual fuel costs by about 30% and reduce our green-house-gas emissions by approximately 23% or 2,000 tonnes of CO2e per year. Ledcor states the CNG auto'…

Polymer, Replacement for Lithium-ion Batteries? Lithium-ion batteries are known to be flammable and like all batteries require time to charge back up. What if you could change hours into minutes with no flammable issues and do it all at room temperature? This funding comes from a variety of strategic investors from the battery manufacturing, consumer electronics and electric vehicle ecosystem who will be working with Ionic to speed development into a commercial produced solid state battery. IONIC Materials has secured $65 million in funding to speed up their Revolutionary Polymer Electrolyte Solid State Battery. According to other reports, Dyson who had invested…

Hydrogen & Electrolysis, A crappy combo... or is it? We all know that the "hydrogen economy" has a long way to go in a lot of areas before it is viable: - development & reduced cost of fuel cells (for stationary and automotive use) - standardization of hydrogen storage, transportation, and transfer (fueling) - development of hydrogen sources Regarding the development of hydrogen sources, there are a number of sources being studied, including bacteria and plants that may create hydrogen as a natural product, superheating water in nuclear plants, stripping hydrogen from fossil fuels, and various others. Then there is electrolysis. I and many others h…

Nobe 100 - AWD 3 Wheeled, 136 Mile Range Vintage Cuteness My NOBE Web site Nobe's founder and CEO, Roman Muljar believes what people want is a simple low maintenance easy to use means of transportation. In this he is bringing to the global market the Nobe 100. This is an all-wheel-drive trike. Yes a trike that has a top speed of 68 miles per hour, travels 136 miles per charge can be had in a hardtop or convertible and is to quote the CEO's primary goal: "to create something so effortlessly stylish that you want to lick it." Mr. Muljar says here you will find a little bit of Alfa, Mercedes 300SL, Fiat 500, Saab 96 and Tesla as his inspiration. This is …

Nothing fancy today, but found these two videos of a guy who bought this 1939 Dodge Brothers 1/2 ton pickup for $250.00, cleaned it up and then decided to make it an EV. Pretty Cool if you ask me! Part 1 Part 2

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com DOE $15 Million Investment into US XFC Infrastructure The Department of Energy has announced funding opportunity number DE-FOA-0001808 for building XFC (Extreme Fast Charging) across the United States. The floor is $500,000 with a maximum single payout of $5,000,000 as the DOE works to achieve a reduction of 2.5 billion gallons per year of petroleum by 2020. The focus of this grant system is to encourage and fun development of the new XFC charging system and batteries that would allow mass adoption of EV auto's. The focus is to decrease charging times while maintaining currents o…

Original Tesla Founder creates new Startup with Chinese Company SF5 In the beginning you had Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, both had founded and sold an eBook reader company. Their passion was in auto's and they started Tesla. Both left the company in 2008 but they kept their hands in the EV auto business by starting up new company's. Eberhard went to focus on density of batteries with his new company. Chinese auto company Sokon Motors bought InEVit, Eberhard's battery company and with it also bought up the old Hummer Factory in South Bend, Indiana with SF Motors headquarters in Silicon Valley. Based on a Skateboard chassis platform, you have wh…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com West Coast Electric Highway Expands to 7 States for Fast Charging Arizona is the latest state to join the newest 7 member states that will expand the original West Coast Electric Highway system. Originally Washington, Oregon and California got together to build the West Coast Electric Highway at a cost of $257 million dollars to the taxpayers. This enabled anyone with an electric vehicle to drive from Vancouver BC to Baha California on I-5 in an electric vehicle. Since then, these states have expanded their EV chargers across state highways giving greater range to anyone driving an electric…

University of Maryland, director of Materials Innovation and lead author of the paper seems to think we can have a greener planet and healthier life by using shell fish or more specifically the Chitin that is found in the shellfish. Crabs are among just one of the many shellfish that not just Americans, but pretty much the global population loves to eat leaving tons and tons of shellfish for the garbage dump until now. Lithium as we know has its own draw backs when it comes to mining and refining the material for our greener EVs. Yet this is the most common used material for the battery cells. Now we have the first research done that is thinking outside t…

Solar Roof, Power Wall and EV Charging, is it worth the Cost? When I came across this story, I wondered just what the cost was for having this all in a home and would it be worth the cost? The setup is as follows: 2000 sq foot house with Tesla Solar roof - $55,000 Powerwall 2.0 for 5 kWh storage - $8,500 to $16,000 depending on where you live. 240V home charger average cost is from $403 to $930 dollars depending on charger features, median cost is $663 Working from the high side of cost, you have $55,000 + $16,000 + $930 = $71,930 and then you have various rebates from federal and state levels that can run from a low of Federal rebate …

Linkity "Big oil is behind ethanol's bad press" Posted Oct 29th 2008 at 11:47AM by Xavier Navarro Filed under: Etc., Ethanol, European Union "Big oil is behind ethanol's bad press." That's what Javier Salgado, CEO of Abengoa Bioenergy, one of Europe's leading ethanol producers, said in an interview published in Econoticias. Salgado took on more than big oil as he counteracted all the negative press ethanol is receiving from all sides. First of all he, claimed that biofuels were not responsible for the rise in food prices, given that prices have now come down yet we are using more biofuel than ever. His opinion is that the rise in oil prices was to blame. He even s…

This roadblock must be removed: http://gas2.org/2009/07/31/natural-gas-conversions-could-cost-a-couple-hundred/

Ultra Capacitors from Skeleton Technologies To answer the immediate question, can Ultra Capacitors replace batteries? No they cannot. Yet from the country of Estonia where Skype was invented, the ability to to provide 100 kW of power in a small 10kg module that can handle over 1 million cycles of power for instant accelerate and then recharge it on a deceleration is now a reality. You can use a smaller battery reducing battery costs by 10% and extending the life as the hit on a battery from acceleration is what reduces battery life. The end result is longer life by using batteries with ultra capacitors that can soak up deceleration and regenera…

Autoblog story In an effort to save automobile production jobs from the shift away from ICE auto's, Germany has earmarked a $1 billion Euros or about $1.2 Billion US dollars in a push to protect local jobs and reduce alliance on outside country battery production. Many in the industry say it is too late as they are too far behind in the current battery technology. Germany says it will focus on Solid State batteries as LG Chem with battery production in Poland and Samsung with battery production in Hungary are the main suppliers to the big German 3 auto suppliers. Boston Consulting Group believes that battery cell production capacity will exceed demand…

In 2019 Hyundai will be launching their new Fuel Cell Electric Truck line in Europe. For now, the truck will officially debut at the IAA Commercial Vehicles Show that takes place September 20th to 27th in Hanover, Germany. The truck continues Hyundai drive to lead the market in clean transportation options. They have offered a clean simple aerodynamic truck that is expected to match the real truck that will be shown at the show. The tech is based on the experience gained from the ix35 fuel cell auto and the recent NEXO Fuel cell concept. Hyundai has had numerous announcements this year as they have partnered with Audi on Fuel Cell technology research to allow t…

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Cummins Beats Tesla First round of the Electrified Semi truck fight goes to Cummins. Tuesday August 29th 2017 Cummins introduced to the world their AEOS Electrified Class 7 Semi. This is an 18,000 pound big rig capable of carrying a 44,000 pound payload using a 140 kWh battery pack. This fully functional prototype truck a city range of 100 miles pure electric. Cummins said this is a true city oriented cargo solution that is silent and green for use in city deliveries. The truck has a 140 kWh recharger that allows a 1hr recharge time of the 140 kWh battery pack. Cummins says that by 20…

http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/02/22/new-enzyme-could-make-cellulosic-ethanol-competitive-with-fossil-fuels/

http://www.economist.com/science/displayst...ory_id=11529364 In search of forever As a source of power for cars, fuel cells have been a disappointment. For laptops and mobile phones, they are just about to take off METHANOL is nasty stuff. Careless distillation in many a backwoods still has caused it to blind the imbibers of “alternative” alcoholic drinks. Yet it has its uses, and one of them may be to restore fuel cells to their oft-vaunted role as the power packs of the future—but with a twist. The main role that has been discussed for fuel cells over the past few decades is as replacements for the internal-combustion engine. Their actual use may turn out to be …