Brent's Blog » EV, PHEV & Hybrids

Japanese invent car that runs on water

brentwilliams — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:46:56 +0000

A Japanese company has invented an electric car that runs solely on water. Just think! Capture rain water to put in your tank, no more auto pollution, global warming, wars over oil, real freedom!!

Genepax unveiled the car in Osaka and claims that all you need to get the engine going for about an hour at a speed of 50 miles is 2.1 pints of any kind of water — rain, river or sea. The car will continue to run as long as you have a bottle of water to top up from time to time.

Read article here

Air-Powered Car Coming in 2009/2010 at Sub-$18,000

brentwilliams — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:47:26 +0000

Air-Powered Car Coming to U.S. in 2009 to 2010 at Sub-$18,000, Could Hit 1000-Mile Range

The CityCAT, already being developed in India will be available for U.S. production in three different four-door styles. But it’s the radical dual-energy engine, with a possible 1000-mile range at 96 mph, that could move the Air Car beyond Auto X Prize dreams and into American garages.
By Matt Sullivan

Published on: February 22, 2008

The Air Car caused a huge stir when we reported last year that Tata Motors would begin producing it in India. Now the little gas-free ride that could is headed Stateside in a big-time way.

Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year.

New Kits Turn Any Car Into a PHEV

brentwilliams — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:25:32 +0000

New conversion kits offer the potential for 100 miles per gallon and more.

2001 Toyota RAV4 EV auctioned on Ebay

brentwilliams — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:45:17 +0000

Astonishing! This rare EV sold on Ebay for $89,200!

Electric Cars for 2010

brentwilliams — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:05:22 +0000

Electric Cars for 2010

By John Addison (6/4/08). With oil prices rocketing past $130 per barrel, a growing number of vehicle makers are planning to offer electric vehicles by 2010. Zero gasoline will be used.

Over 40,000 electric vehicles (EV) are currently used in the United States. Most are used in fleet applications, from maintenance to checking parking meters; these EVs are mostly limited to 25 mph speed and 20 mile range. A growing number of fleet EVs, however, are early trails of a new generation of freeway-speed EVs that will be available to the mass consumer market in 2010.

Mitsubishi is on target to sell its electric vehicle in the U.S. in 2010. The i-EV is a friendly looking sub-compact which easily handles freeway speeds. It’s expected 100 mile-plus range per charge will meet the needs of urban dwellers and most in suburbia. The drive system uses three permanent magnetic synchronous motors which receive power from a 16kWh lithium battery stack. Tokyo Electric Power is currently testing ten i-EV

Nissan’s and Renault’s famous CEO, Carlos Ghosn, plans to be selling electric vehicles in the U.S. market in 2010.

Read the rest on GreenTechBlog

146 mpg for Rocklin, CA residents

brentwilliams — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:23:28 +0000

An entrepreneurial mother has bought a golf cart business and transformed it into an electric car dealership in Rocklin, California called Electric Car Living.

On May 30th and 31st she is introducing a new affordable electric car design called the ZAP Xebra. The event is Friday from 3pm to 7pm and Saturday from 11am to 3pm.

“ZAP says its Xebra electric city-car and truck cost from 1-3 cents per mile while gasoline costs 15-20 cents per mile. ZAP’s research into used gasoline cars shows that average late model used cars average between 15-22 MPG. On a pure energy consumption basis, the ZAP Xebra can get about 146 MPG.”

See CNN Money for this article

ZAP Electric Cars now in Central Valley

brentwilliams — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:45:58 +0000

VISALIA, California

“A new kind of electric car and truck are taking gas prices head-on in California’s Central Valley. The gas-free vehicles are from California automaker ZAP (OTCBB: ZAAP) and are now available in Visalia.”

Alt Car Expo – Sept. 26-27, 2008, in Santa Monica

brentwilliams — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:19:18 +0000

A great reason to get down to L.A. this September, www.altcarexpo.com

68 “mpg” hydrogen Honda coming in July

brentwilliams — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:22:20 +0000

“Honda has just announced details of the leasing program for the new FCX Clarity fuel cell car…”

“The Clarity will be the first series “production” fuel cell vehicle available for lease to retail customers and the first examples will be delivered in July of this year.”

“American Honda expects to lease about 200 Claritys during the first three years of the program. Right now, Honda is filtering through the 50,000 people that have shown interest in the lease program. The majority of those people who will be ruled ineligible because they don’t live within range of a hydrogen filling station in the Los Angeles area.”

See AutoblogGreen for the story —- also here in AutoBlog’s “Prius-Fighting-Hybrid” article

SmartCar for 2009

brentwilliams — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:46:25 +0000

SmartCar will have an all electric model coming in 2009.

Specs according to newsletter from EnVironmental Motors

Capable of producing a normal speed of 55 to 60 mph, with a cruising speed of up to 75mph

Range of approx 320 miles at 55-60 mph

Range of approx 200 miles at 75 mph

Short charge with onboard generator: 2 hours. Fully charged in about 8 hours

Air Conditioning

SMART RDS FM/CD Player

Price range $30,999- $33,999 (ouch, nothing smart about that)

Pininfarina EV coming to U.S.

brentwilliams — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:39:08 +0000

Italian Pininfarina will be producing a plug-in electric car by 2010 for Europe, Japan and the U.S. for about $23k. It will have a range of 155 miles and a 5 minute quick charge will be good for about 15 miles.