Raving about my RAV4 EV (again)

The recent Toyota-Tesla announcement regarding a new generation of RAV4 EVs has sparked interest in the originals, here, in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Subversive advertising

Coda's got the right idea. Spied atop a gas pump in Santa Ana, California.


Tip o' the hat to Al.

Shanghai: Amidst the clamor, many glide by silently on two wheels

Shanghai is a mind blower.

Exuberant, flashy skyscrapers dot the landscape soaring above the city's overhead freeways, many claiming their place in the skyline with decorative, synchronized light shows. Immense shopping malls with every major international brand represented are packed with locals out merely for a stroll, the newly rich dressed to the nines toting Cartier bags, and tourists alike.

Down at street level, boulevards and alleys are stuffed to the gills. Cars, most of recent vintage (including BMWs and Mercedes) compete with busses (some electric) and trucks, as well as innumerable scooters, and bikes in crazy disrespect for both the modern traffic control systems and pedestrians negotiating their way amidst the traffic.

It's the hubbub of noise and smog that comes with fast-paced, well-funded economic development.

Yet almost undetectable amidst the cacophony, most of those ubiquitous two-wheelers are electric. When you find yourself on a less trafficked street it becomes apparent as e-bikes loaded with boxes obscuring the vehicle itself, and young people on scooters, cruise by inaudibly. Old and young, male and female, manual worker and office worker, they slink,drift and dart about silently. Then a gas scooter destroys the relative tranquility leaving a stink in its wake.

The e-bike and scooter store near my centrally located hotel is doing a brisk business every day

of the week selling the $300 electric two-wheelers. One sees them parked everywhere, but I've yet to see one charging, except at the store. There's no public charging, but that clearly hasn't hampered their adoption. Not only by local consumers, but also the local government. I've seen small electric police vehicles and trash collectors.

The Chinese government is putting serious money behind this electric transportation revolution, recently announcing an $8000 subsidy for electric cars and investments in public charging infrastructure. To complement the modern, clean and extensive electric Metro system, hopefully they will also expand the legacy electric bus network still at work in Shanghai, a system San Francisco maintained as most American cities pre-maturely abandoned this generations-old zero-emission transit technology.

With recycling bins and advertisements for wind power, the ubiquitous electric two-wheelers, and
investments in electric cars, maglevs and bullet trains, there is awareness among the Chinese leadership of sustainability issues amidst the impenetrable, insufferable smog of Shanghai's economic development. They have a long way to go, but steps are being taken.

Posted by Marc Geller

Steve Jobs orders LEAF at WDC

Steve Jobs just showed off the Nissan LEAF on the new iPhone at Apple's Developer's Conference in San Francisco.

He displayed the ad Nissan will be running for LEAF on Apple's new iAd platform.

And then he ordered a car with via the ad.

Check out a couple of images from Engadget.com

One more T/Thing: new EV before Model S

"In an interview with The Chronicle, Musk said the new alliance would produce a joint Toyota-Tesla car that would be a Toyota vehicle powered by a Tesla drive-train, hitting the market before the Model S. The companies also plan to develop other electric vehicles together, he said."

[Source: San Francisco Chronicle]

Toyota and Tesla make a deal; NUMMI back in business

This is a big deal. Biggest EV news since Carlos Ghosn got religion.
I just watched the press conference where Musk and Toyoda announced an agreement.

Toyota's investing in Tesla.
Tesla's buying the NUMMI factory.
Model S and subsequent vehicles will be made at NUMMI.
Tesla won't oppose any union activity.

This is obviously great for Tesla and advocates of electric cars.
It's great for the San Francisco Bay Area.

It's also great for Toyota. They appear forward-looking. And give people something other than brake problems to think about when they hear "Toyota."

Toyota gets to continue their "everything hybrid" goal without damaging the brand's strategy.

And they take their great knowledge of electric vehicles off the shelf where it gathers dust.

As one whose 8 year old Toyota electric car with 78,000 miles on the original battery pack drove exactly 100 miles yesterday using 89% of the charge, I welcome Toyota back.

Electric VW due in 3 years

VW has released some more information on its electric plans. Look for an e-Golf to be launched in 2013. 93 mile range from a 26.5 kWh lithium battery pack. Similar to the LEAF or RAV4-EV, the car weighs about 3400 pounds, a few hundred pounds heavier than the gas/diesel versions.

Around the same time, VW intends to have two other EVs on offer, a smaller e-UP, and a Jetta.

One interesting side-note: Many of us RAV4-EV drivers have become used to and supportive of an option to "free-wheel" when letting off the accelerator. Although Tesla and LEAF don't incorporate such an option, it seems VW will. According to VW's press release:

"...the Golf blue-e-motion - with its top speed of 140 km/h - ... can even coast or "sail". "Sailing" occurs whenever the driver – adopting an anticipatory style of driving - releases the gas pedal, or more apropos: the electric pedal. As in the drive system of the Touareg Hybrid, which is being produced today, the motor is then is disengaged from the drivetrain so that the car can coast..."

Oil Spill Containment Attempt Fails

“I wouldn’t say it has failed yet,” said Doug Suttles, the operating officer for exploration and production for BP, the company that was leasing the oil rig when it exploded April 20. “What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn’t work.”

The slick, which has already come ashore on the Chandeleur Islands off southeast Louisiana, is projected to curl west in the next three days, threatening not only the Mississippi River Delta but also miles of Louisiana coastline to the west of the river.

[Source: New York Times]

Transmission Losses:" Military joins oil spill effort

"The US military has joined efforts to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico as fears rise about its scale."

The oil rig disaster off Louisiana is the top news item on the NY Times and BBC.com. The "transmission losses" from this one event now include not only the oil leaking and the environmental consequences, but also the costly involvement of the US military.

Same "transmission losses" when everything goes right, of course. There are always leaks, though not at this scale. There is always the US military, ensuring safe passage for tankers in another gulf. Now to protect our shores they are assisting industry to mitigate the mess, in this case BP. (Beyond Petroleum, really?).

[Source: BBC.com]

"Transmission Losses:" Oil leak worsens

Government officials said late Wednesday night that oil might be leaking from a well in the Gulf of Mexico at a rate five times as large as initial estimates have suggested.

[Source: New York Times]

UCS proposes plug-in cars roadblock: What's wrong with Big Enviro?

With friends like these.....

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has proposed what could be a huge roadblock to the further implementation of our sensible pro-plug-in car policies. At the SAE World Congress,

Union of Concerned Scientists [Research Director of the Clean Vehicles Program] Dave Friedman stated that automakers should be responsible for the methods used to generate power for electric vehicles.

Autobloggreen.com's report continues:

Toyota's director of environmental technology, Tom Stricker, was shocked by what Friedman said. Stricker responded in disbelief with, "Are you saying auto companies should be held responsible for electricity generation?" Friedman replied stating that new policies need to account for the entire energy use of a vehicle.

And that reaction was from an auto company that is taking a "go slow" approach to using grid electricity as a "fuel" for cars.

Let's be clear. Scientific studies comparing the emissions from a gas car's tailpipe and the electric car's smokestack, so to speak, range from "a wash" (all coal) to "a big win" for the electric car (natural gas, hydro, nuclear, renewables or even a combination including some coal.) Begin to account for petroleum's up-stream emissions, and we find ourselves well past no-brainer territory.

Yet here we've got a reputable enviro organization, with "science" right in it's title, that appears ready to penalize plug-in cars just as they are approaching the showroom by asking the cleaner technology to pass a hurdle never demanded of petroleum.

Big Enviro - the national Sierra Club , the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC,) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) - have long been less than enthusiastic about plug-ins. Based on the science, they should have long ago made clear to their members and policy makers that a plug-in car driving on the grid today is cleaner than a gas car. Whether plug-in cars are available or not, this is something they know and should want people to understand. In addition, because an EV can drive as easily on renewable electricity as coal, electric points the way toward a true zero emission future that includes electricity generation and mobility.

Instead, Big Enviro has gone down the rat hole of diminishing returns. Putting their faith in perpetual tinkering with engine efficiencies and fuel mixtures along with an array of ways to perpetuate the gasoline paradigm, from biofuels to hydrogen, has left consumers and policymakers confused. Perhaps they bought into the automakers determination not to make plug-in cars, and didn't want to tilt at windmills, so to speak. Perhaps they saw their "SUV-into-the-wild"-driving membership base as a tough nut to crack for "limited range" electric cars. There are signs that bode well for Big Enviro becoming more actively supportive, including that Michael Brune, longtime supporter of plug-in cars at Rainforest Action Network, has come on as Executive Director at Sierra Club.

This will all change as plug-in electric cars hit the road. It won't be long, I suspect, before the leadership of our major environmental organizations gets with the program, as their own membership begins to drive plug-in cars. They'll begin using plug-in cars in their self-promotion, as if they've been pushing for this all along. May that day come soon.

[Source: Autobloggreen.com]

"Transmission Losses:" Oil Rig Sinks in Gulf, 11 still missing

"The oil rig off the southeast coast of Louisiana where an explosion occurred Tuesday night has collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico, a Coast Guard official said....

On Wednesday, as firefighters battled the blazing rig, Rear Adm. Mary Landry, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District, estimated that 13,000 gallons of crude were pouring out per hour. But officials said then that the pollution was considered minimal because most of the oil and gas was being burned up in the fire. (emphasis added.)...

Workers who survived the explosion arrived at a hotel here early Thursday to reunite with their families as the search for 11 missing crew members continued in the Gulf of Mexico...

Robert MacKenzie, managing director of the energy and natural resources group of FBR Capital Markets, said that in 11 years as an analyst, he could not recall another incident like this.

“There are rigs that burn down, but it’s usually during the drilling process and not when the rig is close to finishing the well,” he said. (emphasis added.)

[Source: New York Times]
[Photo Credit: Reuters/U.S. Coast Guard/Handout]

"Transmission Losses:" Oil Leaking Underwater From Well in Rig Blast

Robotic devices monitoring the deepwater well where a giant oil rig exploded and sank last week have discovered oil leaking from the well, a development that a senior Coast Guard official on Saturday called a “game changer.”...

Roughly 1,000 barrels of oil a day are estimated to be emanating from the riser, officials said....

The sheen of crude oil and water mix on the surface of the water was still more than 40 miles from shore at its closest point on Saturday. “That gives us a lot of time to try to mitigate in response to the spill,” Admiral Landry said.

The sheen had spread to a 20-by-20-mile area, Coast Guard officials said.....

High winds and 10-foot seas have prevented the oil spill response vessels from making it to the site to continue cleanup on Saturday....

On Friday, officials suspended the search-and-rescue operations for the 11 missing members of the rig’s crew...

[Source: NY Times]

"Transmission Losses:" Oil Rig Blast in Gulf...of Mexico

Beyond Petroleum?

An explosion Tuesday night on an oil drilling rig off the coast of southeast Louisiana left at least seven people critically injured and 11 others missing....

The oil drilling rig, named Deepwater Horizon, is positioned about 50 miles southeast of Venice, La. It is owned by Transocean, a Houston-based company, and under contract to British Petroleum....

“The rig is leaning badly,” Mr. Nungesser said in an interview with WWL-TV, a New Orleans television station. He added that Coast Guard officials felt “like it may go over sometime today.”

[Source: New York Times]

"Transmission Losses" A 2Fer - Oil and Coal

Small patches of oil were seen Sunday from a coal-carrying ship that ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef....

Authorities fear an oil spill would cause environmental damage to the world's largest coral reef...

The vessel was carrying about 72,000 U.S. tons (65,000 metric tons) of coal from the Queensland port of Gladstone to China. It has 1,000 U.S. tons (950 metric tons) of oil on board.

Conservationists have expressed outrage that bulk carriers can travel through the reef without a marine pilot with local expertise.

[Source: SFgate.com]

"Transmission Losses:" 5 die in Wash. refinery blast, fire

An explosion and fire at a Washington state oil refinery shook homes and shot flames into the night sky early Friday, killing five people and critically injuring two others....

The blast was the biggest fatal refinery accident since a 2005 explosion at a BP American refinery in Texas killed 15 people and injured another 170, authorities said....

The state of Washington fined Tesoro $85,700 a year ago after an inspection found 17 serious safety and health violations at the Anacortes refinery. The state Department of Labor and Industries reached an agreement with the company in November requiring the hazards to be corrected and an independent safety audit, the agency said on its Web site. The fine was reduced to $12,250, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Web site....

Greg Cummings, from Abbottsford, B.C., had just gone to bed at the RV park across the bay from the refinery when he heard a loud whoosh and saw the flames.

“I thought it was a terrorist attack,” he said.....

San Antonio-based Tesoro Corp. is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. The Anacortes refinery can refine about 130,000 barrels of crude daily, according to the company. The U.S. Energy Information Administration Web site ranks it as the 59th largest refinery in the nation.

Tesoro has owned the Anacortes refinery since 1998. It mainly processes Alaska North Slope crude and makes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, mostly for Washington and Oregon....

Of the 18 open major accident cases the chemical safety board is examining, at least seven are refineries, Horowitz said. Yet there are only 150 refineries in the country and tens of thousands of other chemical plants.

“Almost half our accidents, the serious ones, are at refineries,” Horowitz said. “We’re seeing a disproportionate number of serious accidents at refineries.”

[Source: MSNBC.com]

Transmission Losses: Motorist Dies in Flash Fire at Gas Station

A motorist today died today after his car caught fire on a petrol station forecourt, police said.

Firefighters said the "flash" fire had been contained inside the car and no-one else was hurt.

Police said fire was thought to have broken out shortly after the man had bought fuel and climbed into the car at a Shell garage in Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire.

"It obviously could have been much worse," said a police spokeswoman. "It seems that the fire didn't spread at all and the garage was able to reopen."

[Source: The Independent]

Big news: LEAF in the mid- 20s

The Nissan LEAF, the first all-electric car to be mass marketed by a major automaker, will come in around $25,000, with help from the federal tax credit of $7500. At 25% of the cost of a Tesla, we're no longer talking about a car for millionaires.

If you live in a state that recognizes the benefits of EVs with rebates and incentives of their own, the LEAF could come in as low as about $21,000. If you don't, get active with your state legislators.

Get ready to sign up, $99 refundable deposit, on April 20.

More info at NissanUSA

Gearless in Great Britain: Fast charger in action

Robert Llewellyn is a Brit with a keen interest in electric cars who is one of those leasing a Mitsubishi iMiev this year. He's got a great weekly video podcast, Gearless, chronicling his experiences. This week, Quick Charge. Using the same Japanese device I visited in Vacaville last week.

He uses quaint British time-measurement terms. "A cuppa and bacon bun" is how long it takes to fill up. I wish he'd been more specific, using standard quantitative terms (like minutes,) giving us the state of charge he arrived with and left with.

Anyway, Robert is wowed by how quickly the car charges. We can see that the charger delivered 345 volts at 70 amps, which is actually on the slow side for fast chargers. Check it out:

Fast charger comes to Voltageville: A Glimpse at the Future

In 2001 I began driving an electric car, obtaining the last of the ZEV mandate-required EVs. As I got turned on to the benefits and technological readiness of electric cars, the writing was on the wall and EVs began to disappear from California's roads. I got enthused just as the automakers, CARB, the feds, and major environmental organizations ended their various flirtations with EVs.

The notion of the plug-in hybrid revived the hope of plugging in. I made my peace with the notion of a transition vehicle, with a plug and an engine. GM announced the Volt.

Then a couple of years ago Carlos Ghosn had some sort of epiphany and announced Nissan's belief in the inevitable electrification of cars, and Nissan's intention to lead the transition. He defied conventional thinking by moving directly toward the commercialization of all-electric cars. Hundreds of thousands of Nissan all-electric cars would be manufactured in Asia, America and Europe within a very few years.

I was thrilled. Consumers would soon begin to have a choice of vehicle types that include real electric cars. The marketplace, rather than bureaucrats and academics, would decide whether EVs have a place.

Government and industry began to plan for the rollout of plug-in cars with a plan to roll out public charging infrastructure. Level II charging stations are great for opportunity charging while shopping or working and should be widely diffused. But there wasn't much discussion about faster charging options, as it entails additional obstacles of cost and lack of standards and a presumption that cars wouldn't be fast-charge enabled. Although I knew it was technically feasible, it seemed we would have to wait. Although fast charging stations could enable long distance EV driving and are one way to meet the needs of urban purchasers of EVs who don't have parking with access to electricity, it is logically not a matter of first priority.

But just as I was pleasantly surprised to find Nissan's LEAF in the offing, so too fast charging is going to appear more rapidly than expected. The DOE grant to the Etec EV Project will put 260 Level III chargers in the ground in the next two years. Nissan's LEAF will initially appear with a fast charge connector, something that will surely be a purchase option in the future. (And is some compensation for the slow 3.3kW Level II charger in the first cars.) The iMiev, should Mitsubishi do an American release, also has a fast charge connector. And Th!nk announced intentions to enable fast-charging in its cars in an agreement with Aerovironment.

Once again, I celebrate that consumers will have options as we work our way toward the best solutions for quick charging. Better Place has pushed its proposed solution to the range dilemna - battery swap stations. One car maker, Renault, is making cars to spec, and BP has demonstrated the battery swap device in Japan. Swapping out an empty pack for a full one is enticing. It's proven to be enticing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. If swap stations can be commercialized and the batteries can be charged at Level II speeds and below, they too might offer benefits and be part of the clean transportation quilt. But essentially off the shelf Level III fast charge stations, capable of delivering near-to-full charges in under 30 minutes, can be put in service within months. A Level III fast charger can be installed for about $100,000, compared to millions for a hydrogen station and perhaps $1 million for a battery swap station.

Which finally brings me to the fast charger I saw the other day in Vacaville, CA. Installed by PG&E with funding from the State, it sits beneath a solar PV array amongst a handful of Level II chargers, including small paddles for RAV4 EVs, AVCONs for RangerEVs, and aTesla charge station. The fast charger uses a Japanese connector (an American standard remains under consideration) which was easy to handle. I wish I had gotten a photo of the complete line-up of chargers under the solar array, because it is evidence of real-world solutions, available now, to make plug-in cars and renewable electricity a reality quickly.