Excellente article today from EVWorld.

Including images like the above, they systematically counter all the major objections electric vehicles are facing in the world today. If you constantly find yourself having this conversation, read it

Their debunking of the “range myth” is incorrect, however. As I have stated previously on this blog, range anxiety isn’t based on practical daily use, it’s based on how we imagine our ideal lives. YES I visit wineries (once every 2 years). YES I go camping (once in my life). I need my car to enable my aspirations!

MYTH: Electric Cars Do Not Reduce CO2 Emissions

• Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld said that “the entire reason for doing these stupid little cars is a lie” because electricity “comes from coal. In some cases, some studies show that these can produce more pollution than internal combustion engines.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/27/12, via Nexis]
• Jonah Goldberg wrote in a Chicago Tribune op-ed: “The point is to reduce CO2 emissions, right? But in some regions, we get our electricity from CO2-spewing coal. The more electricity pulled from the grid, the more coal is burned, essentially replacing dirty oil with dirtier coal.” [Chicago Tribune, 8/10/10]
• A Washington Times editorial said that when a person uses an electric car, “instead of coming out the tailpipe, the unwanted carbon-dioxide molecules are instead released at the power plant, which is generally coal-fired well outside their view.” [Washington Times, 1/17/12]

FACT: Electric Vehicles Cause Substantially Fewer CO2 Emissions

Electric Vehicles Emit Less CO2 Even If Coal Supplies The Power. This chart from the Department of Energy shows that, even though coal is the source of nearly half the nation’s electricity, all-electric vehicles (EV) like the Nissan Leaf, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) like the Chevy Volt cause on average substantially less carbon dioxide emissions than conventional gasoline-powered vehicles:

At Driverless Car HQ, we believe that possibly the biggest impact of Driverless Vehicles will be in the field of logistics. The incentives for operators are too great to ignore.

Boulder Electric has released their first electric truck to used by a paying customer.

Boulder’s truck is not cheap, coming in at about $70,000, but the company says one of their models only costs seven cents a mile to operate. Taking into account maintenance, fuel costs and vehicle life, that could save a business owner about $5,000 to $8,000 dollars per year, per truck.

image via Boulder Electric Vehicles

So just what will a Boulder customer get for the money? The Boulder is powered by a lithium-ion phosphate battery that spins an AC motor. That combo provides customers with a top speed of 65 mph and the choice of a truck capable of 40, 80 or 100 miles of range, depending on battery selection.

It’s been a while in the works – just check out this video from 2009:

And with a focus on fleet sales, they definitely know who is going to be paying the bills! Fleet sales deliver the economy of scale that helps auto start-ups get off the ground.

Looks like BP and Exxon are beginning to smell trouble:

The biggest oil companies in the world have calculated that few, if any, of today’s drivers will see electric cars outnumber gasoline and diesel models in their lifetimes.

While politicians and green lobby groups insist the future of transport is electric, in the past two months BP and Exxon have released data which points to electric cars making up only 4-5 percent of all cars globally in 20-30 years.

The motivation for this release isn’t hard to work out.

Dear BP, meet Better Place.

Currently, electric vehicle sales aren’t faring so well – the Volt and Leaf are both currently struggling.

It doesn’t take Sherlock to realise that the one factor holding EVs back is range. We all know it. Cost is a side issue. (If you question that, ask Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus and the rest how much price factors are hurting their business). I personally wouldn’t buy an EV at the moment. Why? Because cars represent who we imagine ourselves to be – or better said, who we want ourselves to be. Hence, the consistent purchasing of off-roaders by people who never actually go off road. Just in case, right?

Despite growing concerns that Better Place was just vapourware (which hasn’t been helped at all by the bizarre lack of updates on their website), the recent launch in Israel has begun to shift my doubts. I personally can barely believe it, but with the calibre of investors involved and Renault especially investing heavily with the Fluence ZE , accompanied by claims all the way back in December 2010 of pre-sales to the tune of 70,000 (with most sales coming as I have personally been predicting – to fleets) , BP, Exxon and co had better be getting nervous.

To me, it all seems too good to be true. But there’s no reason to doubt it.

Better Place may not make driverless cars but their business model is – in our opinion – almost definitely what will be the basis for future driverless car companies. That being the case, we will report on all their major news going forward.

The Washington Times today reports on Uber.com, an innovative company that is growing fast:

Any time you want a car ride, just pull out your smartphone and tap the Uber app, and a luxury car will respond within minutes. You can even watch your phone map as the car gets closer. The service isn’t for everyone. At almost twice the cost of a taxicab ride, Uber serves a rarefied market. But tips are included, the ride is luxurious, the convenience is unbeatable and there are no cash transactions.

The service was an instant hit, easily beating Uber’s ridership and revenue forecasts. Within three weeks, District taxicab drivers began beefing about losing business, and DC Taxicab Chairman Ron M Linton accused the company of operating illegally. “We plan to take steps against them,” he said during a public hearing.

Visit Uber.com here

The cars still have drivers – and are not cheap – but the convenience of ordering a car via an app is something that many people seem to be willing to pay extra money for. (Isn’t it amazing how many backflips we will do to avoid human interaction?)

This is the model of the driverless car future – ordering your car via phone, waiting several minutes for it to get to your door and then moving off silently.

Meanwhile, Better Place has sold “hundreds” of electric cars to a car rental company in Israel:

Better Place and the Eldan Group, the largest car rental company in Israel, today announced that they signed an agreement to lease and rent hundreds of electric cars. Under the agreement, Eldan will acquire hundreds of Renault Fluence Z.E. electric cars from Better Place in 2012.

Eldan is responding to customer demand for electric cars and joining the global green trend. It will be the first to offer its customers the opportunity to rent electric cars in Israel.

It’s my belief that the driverless electric car model will follow similar patterns to what we are seeing above – that the economic incentive for companies to buy hundreds of them will be enormous. So much so that there’s a good chance it will bypass private car owners who gradually get round to updating their own vehicles.

A Stanford University research team has designed a high-efficiency charging system that uses magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit large electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. 

While this isn’t the first instance of this technology being developed, it’s exciting to see the potential here. Without enormous government backing this technology will struggle to get off the ground. In our opinion, a battery-swapping model is more viable (great article on that here by Brad Templeton).

Here’s how the system would work: A series of coils connected to an electric current would be embedded in the highway. Receiving coils attached to the bottom of the car would resonate as the vehicle speeds along, creating magnetic fields that continuously transfer electricity to charge the battery.

To determine the most efficient way to transmit 10 kilowatts of power to a real car, the Stanford team created computer models of systems with metal plates added to the basic coil design.

“Asphalt in the road would probably have little effect, but metallic elements in the body of the car can drastically disturb electromagnetic fields,” Fan explained. “That’s why we did the APL study – to figure out the optimum transfer scheme if large metal objects are present.”

Using mathematical simulations, postdoctoral scholars Xiaofang Yu and Sunil Sandhu found the answer: A coil bent at a 90-degree angle and attached to a metal plate can transfer 10 kilowatts of electrical energy to an identical coil 6.5 feet away.

 

It may not be the most exciting driverless vehicle around, but the French Induct Cybergo will be demo-ing their electric vehicle in Indianapolis for anyone who lives in that area.

It’s an interesting angle on driverless vehicles. Quite obviously, this one is not intended for use on the open roads (yet) but the possibilities are endless.

Credit : MIT

The MIT Citycar has officially announced today that it is headed to production.

The car, which is fully electric, is notable for its ability to fold – which gives it an ability to jam into very tight spaces.

Interestingly, the business model is mostly focused on share-car systems such as Zipcar or Flexicar, with the goal being to price the car somewhere in the  range of 12 thousand Euros, much cheaper than the Smart Car produced by Mercedes.

The car runs has a range of 75mi (120km) and battery packs will be leased.

Better Place has, after several years of anticipation, delivered its first vehicles – all Renaults, all 100% electric. This is quite exciting as there was an emerging feeling that Better Place was nothing more vapourware. The creation of battery switch-out stations is the perfect idea when it comes to convincing customers to adopt electric vehicles.

“Just four years ago, almost to the today – we stood together with President Peres and Carlos Ghosn and announced our commitment to break the world’s dependence on oil, starting in Israel. We were a small start-up with a powerful vision and what many called an audacious plan. Today, on our fourth anniversary, that audacious plan reached another important milestone: the delivery of the first tens of cars to employees in Israel. As you can see in the attached photos, today was a celebration, followed by a joint drive of all cars through the streets of Israel.”

More Information + Photos Here

Video:

(http://youtu.be/bn1XibHtq9U if you can’t see the video)

The car can travel up to 150 miles on a charge and will cost $37,000. This is a reasonable price for what you will be getting. It just goes to show that the main obstacle to widespread adoption is the lack of ability to charge batteries quickly (or swap them.)

More info at Slashdot