Mudslinger's Corner

Solar cars still a way off – CNN.com

 (CNN) — Toyota’s third-generation Prius, due at dealerships this spring, will have an optional solar panel on its roof. The panel will power a ventilation system that can cool the car without help from the engine, Toyota says.

But it’s a long way from the 2010 Prius to a solar-powered car, experts told CNN. Most agree that there just isn’t enough space on a production car to get full power from solar panels.

“Being able to power a car entirely with solar is a pretty far-reaching goal,” said Tony Markel, a senior engineer at the federal government’s National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado.

In the new Prius, the solar panel will provide energy for a ventilation fan that will help cool the parked car on sunny, hot days. The driver can start the fan remotely before stepping into the car. Once the car is started, the air conditioning won’t need as much energy from a battery to do the rest of the cooling.

“The best thing about using solar is that regardless of what you end up using it for, you’re trying to use it to displace gasoline,” added Markel.

The question is, how much gasoline can solar power offset? Markel said his lab has modified a Prius to use electricity from the grid for its main batteries and a solar panel for the auxiliary systems. He believes the car gets an additional 5 miles of electric range from the panel.
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According to recent articles in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, Toyota has bigger plans for harnessing power from the sun. Nikkei reports that Toyota hopes to develop a vehicle powered entirely by solar panels. The project will take years, the paper reported.

When contacted by CNN, however, a Toyota spokeswoman denied the existence of the project.

“At this time there are no plans that we know of to produce a concept or production version of a solar-powered car,” said Amy K. Taylor, a communications administrator in Toyota’s Environmental, Safety & Quality division.

Motorists don’t have to wait for a 2010 Prius to drive a solar-enhanced car, however. Greg Johanson, president of Solar Electric Vehicles in Westlake Village, California, said his company makes a roof-mounted panel for a standard Prius that enables the car to travel up to 15 additional miles a day.

The system costs $3,500, and it takes about a week to make one, Johanson said. Billy Bautista, a project coordinator at the company, said Solar Electric Vehicles gets so many requests for the system that there is a backlog of several months.

The company’s Web site says motorists can install the panels themselves, although it recommends finding a “qualified technician.”

The system delivers about 165 watts of power per hour to an added battery, which helps powers the electric motor, Johanson said.

But others said it would take a lot more power than that to replace an internal combustion engine.

Eric Leonhardt, director of the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University, said that even if solar cells worked far better than they do today, they wouldn’t generate enough power for driving substantial distances. The best cells operate at about 33 percent efficiency, but the ones used on vehicles are only about 18 percent efficient, he said.

Leonhardt said it would be more practical to use solar power to help charge a car’s battery and use the more efficient panels mounted on a roof or over a parking area to supply the rest of the electricity needed to drive the engine.

“Solar panels really need a lot of area,” he said.

Leonhardt thinks Toyota’s new Prius is a good first step toward using renewable energy. Some cars get hotter than 150 degrees inside when parked in the sun, so reducing the temperature could mean Toyota could use a smaller AC unit, he added.

Johanson of Solar Electric Vehicles said he’d like to see Toyota bring the weight of a Prius down from 3,000 pounds to 2,000. He also hopes for a small gasoline engine and a larger electric motor. That will probably come in the future, when Toyota unveils a plug-in engine.

In the meantime, Solar Electric Vehicles sells its version of a plug-in Prius, with a solar panel installed, for $25,000, Bautista said.

Toyota is the largest automaker to incorporate solar power into a mass-produced car. But its solar panel is not the first for a car company. Audi uses one on its upscale A8 model, and Mazda tried one on its 929 in the 1990s.

In addition, a French motor company, Venturi, has produced an electric-solar hybrid. The Eclectic model costs $30,000, looks like a souped-up golf cart and uses roof-mounted solar panels to help power an electric engine. It has a range of about 30 miles and has a top speed of about 30 mph.

domain-b.com : India may see the Tata – MDI Air Car this year

13 January 2009      
    
Forget hybrid vehicles, forget electric cars. How can any of them match up to a car that runs on next to nothing? Ladies and gentleman, presenting the Air Car, made by French company MDI in collaboration with India’s Tata Motors. Running on compressed air, the revolutionary vehicle may be introduced in India before the end of this year.

Although the car consumes no fuel, yet there is a cost associated with filling its tanks with compressed air. However, considering the mileage that the vehicle delivers, the running costs are extremely low.

Furthermore, with no combustion there is no emission – an extremely important trait in the currently pollution-conscious world.

Although the Air Car doesn’t require traditional fuel options like petrol, diesel, or gas and is driven primarily by compressed air. However, the company has also developed an alternative means to power the car using a combination of air and petrol, diesel or ethanol, just like a hybrid.

MDI has officially said that they ”will release in France the first cars for the Air France company before June 2009. The cars will be available for the public at the end of 2009.”

Mumbai-based Tata Motors, India’s third biggest car manufacturer had signed a licensing agreement with MDI for manufacturing the car in India. The agreement between the two envisages development and refinement of the technology. (See: And now, a car that runs on air from the Tata stable)

“Tata Motors has not finalised any timeframe for deployment of the technology of engines powered by compressed air. Tata Motors is licensed to deploy the technology only in India. As and when we have any details of deployment in India, we will share them with you,” MDI added.

MDI has developed several models of the Air Car designed to accommodate two to six passengers.

A typical three-seater car, which had been unveiled earlier, is about 2.65 metres in length (smaller than the Tata Nano’s 3.1 metres) and 1.62 metres wide (wider than Nano).

The price of the car will be unveiled at the launch, but, according to the company’s website, the  price may range from Rs2.33 lakh to Rs8.69 lakh.

YouTube – The X PRIZE Vision 2008

A major investment in ethanol fuel production in Australia and a range of greener vehicles underpin Holden’s bid for a greater share of the eco-friendly motoring market from early next year.

Managing director Mark Reuss says Holden is in talks with American firm Coskata to establish Australia’s first plant to produce cellulosic ethanol, made from non-edible plant material, for use in motor fuels.

By 2010, Holden will also produce locally-built cars that can run on E85 fuel – fuel made up of 85 per cent ethanol – in an effort to encourage widespread use of ethanol-rich fuel in Australia.

E10 fuel – with 10 per cent ethanol – is widely available in Australia and is compatible with a range of modern vehicles.

The fuel would be cheaper, largely renewable and would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Mr Reuss said.

Little start-up investment would be needed to sell commercially, he said.

“We have always said we would take a leadership position on ethanol and we’re going to provide the vehicles to do that,” he told a dinner in Melbourne on Thursday.

“We already have Saab bio-powered E85 vehicles on the market but there is obviously greater market pressure required to stimulate infrastructure, fuel production and policy in Australia.”

Holden will modify fuel systems and recalibrate engines in its cars to run on E85 fuel and will develop cars powered by other alternative fuels, Mr Reuss said.

Australia could lead the world in researching and developing vehicles powered by a range of alternative fuels, Mr Reuss said.

“It (ethanol) is not the only answer but things like LPG, ethanol, maybe CNG (compressed natural gas) here, with the resources that Australia has, I think this country could really lead that,” he said.

From early next year, Holden will also introduce a new range of green-friendly cars, known as EcoLine.

The range, announced last month, would eventually include cars that run on diesel, LPG or renewable energy, or have variable cylinder systems that shut down cylinders to save fuel while a car is cruising.

The company will import the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in rechargeable hybrid electric car, to Australia by 2012.

Consumer demands and the threat of climate change was “driving a fundamental and permanent shift” in the cars manufacturers produced, Mr Reuss said.

“The time to act is now and that’s why I see 2009 as a year of transformation for Holden. Truly this is the reckoning of General Motors,” he said.

© 2008 AAP

Holden embraces alternative fuels – Breaking News – National – Breaking News

Suspense Builds in the Automotive X Prize ‘Green Prix’ | Autopia from Wired.com

The greenest race on earth, the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, is heating up, like Salma Hayek dancing on a waffle iron. The competition will award $10 million dollars to the teams that win a stage race for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPG or the energy equivalent (MPGe). Twenty-two contenders have been accepted to registered team status since the multimillion dollar competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles was announced in March.

YouTube – Compressed Air power at work

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YouTube – ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURGE TECHNOLOGY NO BATTERIES NO GAS

Ghana News :: Air Cars: A New Wind for America’s Roads? ::: Breaking News | News in Ghana | international

From the Site:

A new car maker has a plan for cheap, environmentally friendly cars to be built all over the country

An air-powered car? It may be available sooner than you think at a price tag that will hardly be a budget buster. The vehicle may not run like a speed racer on back road highways, but developer Zero Pollution Motors is betting consumers will be willing to fork over $20,000 for a vehicle that can motor around all day on nothing but air and a splash of salad oil, alcohol or possibly a pint of gasoline.

The expertise needed to build a compressed air car, or CAV, is not rocket science, either. Years-old, off-the-shelf technology uses compressed air to drive old-fashioned car engine pistons instead of combusting gas or diesel fuel to create a burst of air to do the same thing. Indian carmaker Tata has no qualms about the technology. It has already bought the rights to make the car for the huge Indian market.

The air car can tool along at a top speed of 35 mph for some 60 miles or so on a tank of compressed air, a sufficient distance for 80% of consumers to commute to work and back and complete daily chores.

On highways, the CAV can cruise at interstate speeds for nearly 800 miles with a small motor that compresses outside air to keep the tank filled. The motor isn’t finicky about fuel. It will burn gasoline or diesel as well as biodiesel, ethanol or vegetable oil.

This car leaves the highest-mpg vehicles you can buy right now in the dust. Even if it used only regular gasoline, the air car would average 106 mpg, more than double today’s fuel sipping champ, the Toyota Prius. The air tank also can be refilled when it’s not in use by being plugged into a wall socket and recharged with electricity as the motor compresses air.

Automakers aren’t quite ready yet to gear up huge assembly line operations churning out air cars or set up glitzy dealer showrooms where you can ooh and aah over the color or style. But the vehicles will be built in factories that will make up to 8,000 vehicles a year, likely starting in 2011, and be sold directly to consumers.

There will be plants in nearly every state, based on the number of drivers in the state. California will have as many as 17 air car manufacturing plants, and there’ll be around 12 in Florida, eight in New York, four in Georgia, while two in Connecticut will serve that state and Rhode Island.

The technology goes back decades, but is coming together courtesy of two converging forces. First, new laws are likely to be enacted in a few years that will limit carbon dioxide emissions and force automakers to develop ultra-high mileage cars and those that emit minuscule amounts of or no gases linked with global warming. Plug-in electric hybrids will slash these emissions, but they’ll be pricey at around $40,000 each and require some changes in infrastructure — such as widespread recharge stations — to be practical. Fuel cells that burn hydrogen to produce only water vapor still face daunting technical challenges.

Second, the relatively high cost of gas has expedited the air car’s development. Yes, pump prices have plunged since July from record levels, but remain way higher than just a few years ago and continue to take a bite out of disposable income. Refiners will face carbon emission restraints, too, and steeply higher costs will be passed along at the pump.

Tata doesn’t plan to produce the cars in the U.S. Instead, it plans to charge $15 million for the rights to the technology, a fully built turnkey auto assembly plant, tools, machinery, training and rights to use trademarks.

The CAV has a big hurdle: proving it can pass federal crash tests. Shiva Vencat, president and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors, says he’s not worried. “The requirements can be modeled [on a computer] before anything is built and adjusted to ensure that the cars will pass” the crash tests. Vencat also is a vice president of MDI Inc., a French company that developed the air car.

The inventor of this technology is Mr. Guy Negre, who is the founder and CEO of MDI SA, a company headquartered in Luxembourg with its R and D in Nice, France.

Source: Yahoo.com

November 3, 2008 11:53 a.m. EST

AHN Staff

Providence, RI (AHN) – Despite oil prices going down, the $150 a barrel record price in July had many motorists think twice on the cost of fuel they are placing inside their vehicle’s tanks. It has also spurred inventors to come up with vehicles that run on alternative fuels.

Two such vehicles are making inroads in various global cities today. One is the electric bike, which is silent compared to motorcycles that run on fossil fuel. The other is a car that will run on air and a little fluid.

Various global capitals are now testing grounds for the popularity and durability of electric bikes. In the U.S. the top manufacturer is Vectrix Corporation, which in September reported a 738 percent increase in revenues compared to the same period last year. Vectrix sold 1,184 electric bikes to dealers in September, which is a 156 percent rise.

Its Electric Vx1 and Vx1e models were assembled in Poland, but Vectrix recently signed a contract with China to have a facility in Asia. Outside the U.S., Taiwan’s SYM Corporation plans to also outsource the manufacturing of its electric bikes in China.

Vectrix bikes have been spotted in the Netherlands and Scotland. The electric bikes, though, are still pricey at $11,000 in the U.S.

Meanwhile, another U.S. firm, Zero Pollution Motors, is planning to come out with a $20,000 vehicle that runs on air and a bit of salad oil, alcohol or gasoline. It will use compressed air to drive car engine pistons instead of gas or diesel similar to what Indian car manufacturer Tata has used.

A tank of compressed air will travel for about 60 miles at 35 mph. Refill for the air tank will be by plugging it into a wall socket or recharging with electricity since the motor compresses air. The air vehicles will likely roll out of U.S. factories by 2011 with planned manufacturing plants in almost all the states.

Silent Electric Scooter Making Inroads In Many Capital Cities Around The World | AHN | November 3, 2008