Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels

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…

2018 Q2 Report to CARB.pdf Electrify America website Electrify America City Fact Sheet Electrify America City Info Graphs Electric Vehicle Awareness campaign As posted above for your reading pleasure Electrify America is running behind schedule, yet they have signed leases on 71 of the 162 highway / community DC charging station locations that will open in 2019 around California. This is mostly due to confusion among permit granting officials regarding the requirements for installation. Electrify America is working with the state and has brought in partners to work in parallel to get the program back on track by the end of the year. Ele…

EPA - Fuels New Standard - Premium? Current administration has been doing everything they can to gut the EPA even though Auto companies have stated just push out the MPG standard till 2030 or so giving us time to delivery the results. Yet with that, the auto industry is trying to get onboard with Europe to a single standard. In Europe, 95 RON is their baseline fuel standard. This is equal to our 91 octane and while we have a 40 to 50 cent premium standard for 91 octane fuel, this only makes up 11% of the gas produced in the US. Making 91 the new base standard would increase gas creation resulting in lower prices for that gas and cleaner running engines along with a 3…

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 - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Euro EV Truck, Not for the US 59 horsepower, 167 pound feet of torque, 22 kilowatt battery pack, and a 100 mile range a Ford F150 this is not. Yet as I have stated in other forums and auto threads, I truly believe inner city folks as well as city governments would love to have a true mini pickup, not a mid or full size, but a true mini pickup truck that seats 2 people and can still carry a decent amount of weight. In this case, 1,400 pounds. Kolle, a conversion company in France is taking the Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric delivery van and converting it into a pickup truck. Clearly …

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 Auto's in B.C. Canada more Like California Laugh if you will but could it be that British Columbia of Canada is more like California than the rest of Canada? B.C. has recently not only endorsed the CARB of California much like the west coast but now they are allowing special passes to EV owners to drive in all HOV lanes. According to CBC News of Canada, EV auto owners are now allowed to travel all of B.C. Provinces HOV lanes passenger free. Premier Christy Clark announced a series of initiatives to get the population to go green. The following is being done starting now to get B.C. a…

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…

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…

EV Battery War Heats UP, Asia Versus America! Seems America, Tesla and the department of energy have created the next war. This is the Battery war, Lithium Ion versus Solid State batteries and Japan is behind. As such according to the story in the Nikkei, the Japanese government is funding research by leading Japanese manufacturers to develop what they believe will power the EVs of the future. This group brings together the Japanese Consortium for Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (Libtec) with Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, Honda Motor, Panasonic and battery maker GS Yuasa to develop rapid charging solid-state batteries that are easier to manufa…

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.…

EV Charging NorthEast Strategy Electrify America, the multi billion dollar investment in the US charging infrastructure turned on their first fast charging station in Massachusetts as part of their 4 year investment in North America not including their $800 million California investment. EA will be building out an extensive network of fast charging stations that will support people wanting to go on road trips with efficient, fast and reasonable charging of their EV auto's from coast to coast. Up till now, while the northeast states have signed onto California's move to a cleaner auto environment, the installation of charging stations have been haphazard at…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com EV Group Buying, Is it the Right Thing to do from a State / Federal Level? Washington, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee all have instituted Group buying programs of EVs to push the cost of the EV auto down significantly. Per an editorial on Green Car Reports about this very same thing the quote the following: "The Colorado counties of Boulder, Adams, and Denver cut the price of a 2015 Nissan Leaf S for residents by $8,349. Combined with Federal and state incentives, that effectively reduced the price of this model from $29,860 (including destination) to less than $13,000." Dealerships s…

Very Cool Tech

So the building I work in took away 4 spots on the 1st floor of parking for gas auto's and installed chargers and designated them EV only. I decided to keep an eye on them, empty all day, not a single EV in the spots. Wonder how much we will loose to dedicated EV only parking with chargers before we see this take off and they are always full? Will the Chevy BOLT drive more use of dedicated EV parking and chargers? How about all the other members here, have you seen more and more regular parking converted to EV only parking with chargers?

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com EV Trucks, What are your options? Last week, Ellen Musk, CEO of Tesla start his normal dog n pony show about his company and the future and touched on Semi Trucks and an electric pickup. While there has been plenty of photo shopped images of a tesla pickup, this made me think about what are the current EV options for pickup trucks today on American roads? We will start with one of many startups that is now in production. EV Fleet has started production of their 100 mile range pickup. Considered to be one of the best in slipping through the air. EV Fleet has a multitude of …

Every automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has their own platform, or they have signed an agreement with another OEM to use their EV platform. The following chart lists all of the current North American Automotive OEMs and the platform details that they have released. While there are a few oddball platform voltages such as the Toyota/Lexus/Subaru platform with a 355-volt system or the Lucid with a 924-volt system, the bulk of the OEM auto manufactures have gone with a 400-volt or 800-volt system. Many of these OEMs are already planning or have moved to an 800-volt platform such as Tesla with the production start of their Cybertruck that is base…

EV World Podcast about Electric autos in UK in 1959 and today! Llewellyn_King.mp3 They cover how Harrods used electric vans to deliver groceries to the wealthy in the UK and today they are now using the newest EV vans from Nissan to deliver groceries. A very interesting podcast to listen to and hear this man talk about the history and why this time EV's are here to stay. ev world story

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com EVgo Partners with Nissan and BMW Again to Expand DC Charger Network According to the latest release this week by EVgo, a leader in EV charging systems for home, work or public use, they have partnered up with Nissan and BMW to expand coast to coast the DC fast charging network offering both CHAdeMO and SAE Combo (CCS) connectors allowing ALL EV types to charge on the fast charge network. These are 50 kW DC fast charging systems. EVgo currently has 668+ DC fast charging systems across the U.S. This partnership will allow them to expand across the US supporting all EV auto's…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com Wednesday, February 13, 2013 So January of 2013, the gov passed the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012. There are many different benefits for various groups, but the nice focus on this is the tax credits for Alternative Fuels. Taxpayers may claim a 30-percent credit for the cost of installing qualified clean-fuel vehicle refueling property to be used in a trade or business of the taxpayer or installed at the principal residence of the taxpayer.209 The credit may not exceed $30,000 per taxable year per location, in the case of qualified refueling property used in a trade or business and…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Faraday Future and Lucid Motors, Newest EV Automakers in America! Tesla as well as the Detroit, European and Asian auto companies have new competition. Tesla has seen in the last few years, engineers leave that had alternative dreams / plans that conflicted with Musk. As such this fall 2016 we are seeing coming out of the skunk works mode two new EV auto companies based in California is Farady Future who is already big in F1 E-Racing with over 1,400 employees world wide and Lucid Motors. Both companies have broken ground in Arizona for auto production lines. While there is little spec…

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!

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Faraday Future Teaser, Pre-order, Reveal and More! Faraday Future emailed out yesterday Dec 6th 2016 confirming that they will at the Jan 5th - 8th CES show in Las Vegas reveal their production ready EV auto. They have also tweeted this and posted to their web site pictures and video's. Interesting is the pictures from Autoblog where you can see their first EV will be more CUV style I think than car. Better yet is that they are clearly using Tesla as a Bench mark.

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Faraday Future's FF91 really a Tesla X competitor, not Tesla S? Story broke on electrek web site about the FF91 in a comparison to the Tesla X ev CUV. Facts of the matter is the FF91 seems to really be in size and shape more of a competitor to the Tesla X than the Tesla S which Faraday compared it to when they first revealed the EV. Comparison Specs Length FF91 - 206.7" long Tesla X - 198.3" long Height FF91 - 62" tall Tesla X - 65" tall Width - both are 89" Battery Packs top end FF91 - 130kWh with 378 mile range Tesla X - 100kWh …

Penn State Research Penn State Nickel foil fast charging battery diagram To quote their abstract with significance: Significance Range anxiety is a key reason that consumers are reluctant to embrace electric vehicles (EVs). To be truly competitive with gasoline vehicles, EVs should allow drivers to recharge quickly anywhere in any weather, like refueling gasoline cars. However, none of today’s EVs allow fast charging in cold or even cool temperatures due to the risk of lithium plating, the formation of metallic lithium that drastically reduces battery life and even results in safety hazards. Here, we present an approach that enables 15-min f…

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 …

Love them or hate them, electric vehicles are here to stay as many auto companies are promising to go full electric on their product lines by 2030 to 2035. The goal here is to bring up for discussion many common myths about electric vehicles as electricity provides just another choice of how to power one's vehicle today. Today's options are gas, diesel, hydrogen, gas-electric hybrid and pure electric and if your 45 to 50 years old, these choices will likely be available for the rest of one's life or at least ones driving lifespan. Electric autos arrived in an era of already unprecedented choices when buying a vehicle and no one is going to force you to buy an electri…

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Oregon has officially sent out notice to the world that their first public large scale fueling station is open and the official opening is June 11th. This allows drivers to get from Canada to Baja California on pure CNG only now. Not only does this reduce oil consumption, but since this is also a Redeem station, it is using recaptured methan from biowaste and trash.

Fisker Claims 400 mile range, 9 min recharge time for new Graphene & Solid state battery! Seems they are talking about a battery around 130kWh in size. They also are saying they will show off their new XFC charger at CES They wrap this up by saying they will be the first with Level 6 autonomous driving. Makes the term road rage a whole new thing, AI Road rage?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/france-ban-gas-diesel-cars_us_595e4a69e4b02e9bdb0ad1e4?fos&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

The biggest challenge facing the auto industry is securing enough Lithium for the planned battery packs they will use to power the new EVs that are coming. Seems that since Tesla has signed a contract and started building their auto plant in China, Chinese Lithium suppliers have warmed up to committing to them as a supplier. Ganfeng Lithium of Jiangxi China has signed a 3yr contract with Tesla to supply 1/5th of their yearly production to Tesla for production of batteries. This can be renewed in 3yr chunks if so chosen. Ganfeng Lithium has also signed a long term contract from 2019 to 2025 to supply the majority of Lithium to LG Chem. This shows they have locked in the in…

Interesting article at Motortrend MotorTrend

Never seen commercials ... Seen commercials ... This one says available 2009 ...

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…

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Germany's First Hydrogen Train Yesterday Germany introduced to the world the first long distant Hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint can travel 497 miles per tank load of Hydrogen fuel, carry 300 people per train. This new train is slated to start service Dec 2017 in Germany. The plan is to replace all 4,000 diesel trains that Germany says is contributing to their Acid Rain problem with clean emission free Hydrogen trains. According to the various news reports, this new breakthrough train was developed in only 2 years. The company that did the development work is Alstom of Fran…

Honda and GM have partnered up to develop the next generation of high density extreme fast charging battery packs. Honda and GM have already partnered on Hydrogen cell and motor technology development. Now they sign a multiyear agreement to develop batteries for the next generation of auto's. To quote the news release: "General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC) announced an agreement for new advanced chemistry battery components, including the cell and module, to accelerate both companies’ plans for all-electric vehicles. The next-generation battery will deliver higher energy density, smaller packaging and faster charging capabilities for both companie…

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 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…

GM gets Hydrogen on the Go Quantum to Supply Transportable Hydrogen Refueling Stations to General Motors IRVINE, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc., today announced that it is supplying three transportable hydrogen refueling stations to General Motors. These units will be used to refuel GM's fuel cell vehicles, which are equipped with Quantum hydrogen fuel systems, at various locations, from vehicle proving grounds and public ride-and-drive events to fleet demonstrations. "Our transportable hydrogen refueling stations are designed to support our customers as they advance their hydrogen fuel cell vehicle initiati…

One could say that LG marketing tag line of "Life's Good" might be not so good right now. According to the Korean news site "thelec.net" GM is following recent announcements by BMW, Volvo, Stellantis and others that have chosen to dump the use of pouches and focus on cylinder cells using the 4680 format that Tesla has brought to market. The 4680 according to Tesla is five times more energy than the current smaller cells that Panasonic builds for them, increases range by 16 percent and is six time more power when you compare equal to equal size battery packs. This change in direction has thrown a wrench in the talks for the 4th Ultium C…

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com 2015 GM Bi-fuel CNG pricing! This week GM released the 2015 pricing for their Bi-fuel options on Silverado and Sierra 2500HD and 3500HD trucks as well as the Chevy Express and GMC Savana Cargo and Passenger Vans. Chevy and GMC Trucks Bi-fuel CNG option starts at $9500 for the option. Chevy and GMC full size vans can be purchased with the CNG option in a 3 tank ($10,825) or 4 tank ($12,090) configuration. GM Warrants the Bi-fuel auto's on their current 5 year or 100,000 mile powertrain warranty which ever comes first. These auto's are serviced at all dealers nationwide in the United State…

GM States Desire to be First to Profit from Mass Selling EVs. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1110469_gm-goal-profitable-affordable-electric-cars-built-in-big-numbers Seems GM is focusing on lower the cost of the batteries sooner rather than later and to turn a profit from EVs. This brings up the question: With China pushing for such high numbers of EV to be sold in that country, could we see a faster decline of ICE auto's and a rapid rise of EVs?

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/16/694303169/as-more-electric-cars-arrive-whats-the-future-for-gas-powered-engines

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/fi...ited-states.php Interesting synthetic diesel article Chris

Green Auto Sales Up Gotta love it when you can find stories of research that shows the growth of the GREEN AUTO movement. Autoblog just posted their review of the September numbers and I just love this section from the story: "GM once again was buoyed by demand for the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which resulted in 2,632 units sold. That more than offset the 28 percent decline in Chevy Volt extended-range plug-in sales. Overall, GM green-car sales jumped 56 percent from a year earlier." So the highlight numbers are as follows: Hybrids / Plug-ins up 8% from a year earlier at 44,000 units. Plug-in sales were robust advancing 18% from a year ago at 14,500 unit…

Green, Super Green, Extreme Green Green power generation is showing proof of even bigger drops in emissions! Electric Insights Quarterly in UK just published their latest report that is proving the fossil fuel industry to be wrong. For years the Fossil Fuel industry has stated that electric auto's pollut equal to if not more than ICE auto's. Yet the latest studies are now showing that in many cases, green energy production has reduced car emissions by 2/3rds. The report shows that in the 1980's emissions was 740 g/kWh, down to 500 g/kWh in the early 2000's and now consistently seeing a bounce of below and just above 100 g/kWh in production. In many cases, g…

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/...&id=8149429

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Harley Davidson E Bike! ~ PROJECT LIVEWIRE ~ The Experience Tour! The week of June 23rd Harley Davidson will introduce its first electric bike. A company known for its big loud touring bikes and iconic brand plans to become a leader worldwide in developing technology and standards for electric vehicles. At an invitation only event in New York, Harley will show off its handmade demonstration models. The company will then take the bikes on a 30-city tour to allow people to test drive the bikes and provide feedback. This tour will allow Harley to refine the bike …

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…

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…

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100537924?__source=xfinity|mod&par=xfinity

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 Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Ever here of BYD? Do not feel bad if you do not know this 38 Billion conglomeration business that is based out of China and builds everything from Solar panels to electric auto's. Warren Buffet owns 10% and has stated he feels they will be a major player in the the world wide push to Electric Autos. So why would people easily forget all the rage that Tesla is you might ask? Try an Electric Bus that will travel 155 miles on a single charge. That is right, BYD bought a defunct RV manufacturing plant in California and is ready to roll off the first pure electric bus that will be delivered to …

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?

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…

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 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…

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…

In Wheel Hub Cool EV Motors Protean Electric is making some very cool ev motors which should make auto conversions easy and talk about simple with big long range battery packs. More videos are found ere: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Protean+Electric+In-wheel+Motors+in+Actual+Laboratory+Testing Have to say the break out test is cool from thick ice. Clearly motors can handle being submerged, I can see a true EV 4x4 as battery packs get to have longer range. Course need to replace the Jerry cans with replaceable battery packs.

Back in 2016 I wrote a piece about in-wheel hub motors and listed options of this technology that would cover medium duty commercial auto's. The start up company was doing great work here in the US yet no one seemed to really notice or pay any attention to the possible performance options with an AWD auto that would have 800 hp / 4,000 lb-ft of torque where they had proven the technology in a Ford F-150 pickup converted. Fast forward two years and I highlighted another startup that was building an in-wheel hub motor size on par with traditional drum brake units that had great possibility also for efficient fast EV torque monsters. Since that time both companie…

Let's get to the core of why Infinitum is a company to watch, possibly invest in if you are comfortable with risk and how it could influence the Electric Vehicle movement of the global automotive industry. First, understand that electric motors have been around for over 100 years. They are made up of an iron core, a ton of wrapped copper wiring and can be very heavy. In this regard is the biggest reason for the change coming with a company like Infinitum. Example of traditional electric motor installed versus Infinitum All-in-one solution. Here you can visually see the difference between a traditional electric motor and Infinitum All-in-one solution. …

http://www.american.com/archive/2008/novem...nergy-delusion/ Chris

Investing in Zero Emission Auto's by the Auto Alliance To Quote the Auto Alliance website: "The Auto Alliance, the leading advocacy group for the auto industry, represents 70% of all car and light truck sales in the United States, including the BMW Group, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen Group of America and Volvo Car USA.Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Alliance also has offices in Sacramento, California and Detroit, Michigan." This dedicated group of businesses sent a letter to the governors of the following nine states, C…

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 …

http://www.thedrive.com/news/22659/the-electric-jaguar-i-pace-is-germanys-newest-taxi Seems Munich is wanting to clean up the air and as such, one of the largest taxi services just took delivery of 10 new iPace EVs to use and see how they do against the dominate taxi there, the Mercedes-benz E-Class taxi. Munich has acknowledged they have a noise, emission pollution problem that contributes to their acid rain problem and is hoping that new EV taxis can replace their massive diesel taxi fleet dominated by Mercedes-benz E-Class and BMW 5 series sedans.

88.61 MPH might not seem like fast or very exciting, but for a boat flying over water and going 12 mph faster than the previous record, a fast electric boat is amazing to see. Nice sound, faster than most. Full story can be read here: http://www.thedrive.com/tech/21587/jaguar-breaks-world-electric-boat-speed-record

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…

According to a story by Autoblog, Kalashnikov is showing off a retro Soviet era electric car. Yes this is the AK-47 gun builder making something a bit more peaceful and silent in their newest venture. Using a 90kWh battery pack, this bad boy is good for 215 miles and a 0-60 mph time of 6 seconds. What are your thoughts? LIke it, pass,???? https://www.autoblog.com/2018/08/24/kalashnikov-electric-car-prototype/

According to the web site Motor authority, Karma has shipped their first new cars off the assembly line to their 8 dealers. Auto starts at $130,000 and goes up for a plug in hybrid that has 50 miles pure electric and a turbo 4 banger generator for a total range of 300 miles. http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1096957_2017-karma-revero-starts-delivery

https://media.jaguar.com/news/2018/08/jaguar-i-pace-sets-production-ev-record-lap-time-weathertech-raceway-laguna-seca-ahead To quote Jaguar's press release: Jaguar has set a production EV record lap time of 1:48.18 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the new all-electric I-PACE performance SUV ahead of its display at the 2018 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Largest Source of Greenhouse Gas? Transport Sector In 40 years of tracking, the biggest source of greenhouse gas pollution is no longer power plants. Transportation has this distinction covering boats, planes, trains and automobiles. According to the latest government data, the U.S. has made a massive switch from Coal powered electricity, the dirtiest form of power generation to natural gas, wind and solar reducing since 2000 this sector leading our greenhouse gas production to making it equal to the transportation sector in 2016 and finally having the transportation sector surpass it in 2017. Health being one of the biggest benefits of this switch as …

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 Leaf 1.0 Leases to be extended till 2.0 is released!! If you have followed Nissan at all they have decided to starting with the month of April, allow anyone that is in a Nissan Leaf 1.0 that has a lease up to extend their lease till the end of the year when Leaf 2.0 becomes available world wide. Thus hoping to keep a good number of their existing customers from defecting to the BOLT. If you choose this, they are offering 3 months of courtesy payments and you are put on the list to get the next leaf before the general public. For more details, lessees should contact Ni…

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'…

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…

G. David Felt Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer www.CheersandGears.com Loves Truck Stops, 99 cents per gallon CNG fueling! Loves truck stops posted to their web site the announcement of 5 new CNG fueling centers that now offer CNG Fast Fill at only 99 cents per gallon. San Antonio, Texas – I-35, Exit 144 Rockwall, Texas - I-30, Exit 70 Katy, Texas – I-10, Exit 737 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – I-40, Exit 166 Amarillo, Texas - I-40, Exit 74 Loves now offers CNG Fast Fill fueling at 11 truck stops. They started off with what they call the Texas Triangle with CNG fast fill available in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. They now have pushed up into …

G. David Felt - Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.cheersandgears.com Magna Powertrain Building options for EV's Around the World Magna has started off by showing Tesla they can build a superior power train and why 3 motors is better than 2 in that you gain torque vectoring that allows less HP and Torque to accelerate a car even faster. So just how does a Magna powertrain Model S hit 0 to 60 faster than 2.3 seconds in the Model S P100D? Torque Vectoring. Just so people can understand, the P100D Tesla S is a 762 HP monster. Magna yanked the power train and replaced the dual motor powertrain with their triple motor power train. This is three motors ea…