[jimmydean]

That KTM is hawt.

 

[Toshi]

I saw one of those in upstate New York last summer. Maybe it wasn't a hybrid, but it was a real goofy looking dual front wheel scooter. How do you lean into a corner with one of those?

 

[Toshi]

1960s electric moon-motorcycle!

 

[Toshi]

a nice little comparo of the three box-cars out there

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4306145.html?nav=RSS20

Nissan Cube S. 30.8 mpg in popular mechanics' hands.

Scion xB. 28.6 mpg.

Kia Soul Sport. 31.2 mpg.

 

[Toshi]

want an electric mustang that gets to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds? you can buy it from a missouri company...

http://pluginmotors.com/Buy a Mustang.html

the catch is that it'll cost you $75,900, and that's for the 85 mile range version to boot. thanks but no thanks.

 

[Toshi]

here is a paper that suggests that plug-in hybrids might not be what's indicated after all:

http://www.cmu.edu/me/ddl/publications/2009-EP-Shiau-Samaras-Hauffe-Michalek-PHEV-Weight-Charging.pdf

We find that when charged frequently, every 20 miles or less, using average U.S. electricity,
small-capacity PHEVs are less expensive and release fewer GHGs than hybrid-electric
vehicles (HEVs) or conventional vehicles. For moderate charging intervals of 20-100
miles, PHEVs release fewer GHGs, but HEVs are more cost effective. High fuel prices,
low-cost batteries, or high carbon taxes combined with low carbon electricity generation
would make small-capacity PHEVs cost-effective for a wide range of drivers. In
contrast, increased battery specific energy or carbon taxes without decarbonization of
the electricity grid would have limited impact. Large-capacity PHEVs sized for 40 or
more miles of electric-only travel are not cost effective in any scenario, although they
could minimize GHG emissions for some drivers and provide potential to shift air
pollutant emissions away from population centers.

 

[Toshi]

in a very strange twist to the Brammo Enertia story, Greentech Media reports that it will be sold in... Best Buy.

WTF. really.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/best-buy-to-sell-brammo-electric-motorcycles-5804.html

Best Buy to Sell Brammo Electric Motorcycles
The electronics chain is getting into the motorcycle sales business, with plans to sell Brammo's $12,000 Enertia in five West Coast stores in May. Best Buy Venture Capital invested in Brammo last year, and Brammo's CEO wants to sell his motorcycles in thousands of Best Buy stores.
by: Jeff St. John
February 27, 2009

Best Buy is getting into motorcycles – think Geek Squad in mechanics' coveralls.

The consumer electronics store chain is going to start selling the Enertia electric motorcycle made by Ashland, Ore.-based startup Brammo at five of its West Coast stores in May, CEO Craig Bramscher said Friday.

other weird tidbits from the article: the Enertia has a built in webserver (?), an open API, and Geek Squad hacks will be able to change tires and do other minor maintenance.

hi-res gallery: http://www.autobloggreen.com/photos/evs23-brammo-enertia-motorcycle/

 

[Toshi]

3/9/9 update: the mileage for the 2010 Prius will actually be 51/48/50. shocking, i know.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/09/toyota-corrects-prius-mpg-rating-to-51-city-48-highway-50-combin/

2010 Prius news:

its mileage will officially be 50 mpg city, 49 mpg highway. toyota forecasts selling 100k of them in its first year, and 180k the next. also, although toyota will sell the 2009 old-gen prius aside the new 2010 prius in japan they will not do so in america, only selling the shiny new one.

on the battery-electric front, Mitsubishi is said to plan to build 10,000 iMiEVs per year, with some of them to be sold, rebadged, as peugeots.

in the "one taillight out" camp: over 40% by mass of the VW Golf VI is recycled materials.

The German TÜV NORD agency has certified that more than 40 percent of the mass of a new Golf is made from recycled materials. That's over 1,161 lbs of metal, glass and fluids. The vast majority, over 1,100 lbs, of that is metals such as steel and aluminum which are readily recyclable and, in fact, much of the metal used in many new cars is recycled scrap.

 

[jimmydean]

50mpg city and 49mpg hwy? Interesting.

 

[dump]

Any mention of carbon footprint of all these new cars?

Seems like a better model would be to retrofit existing rather than continuously buy new.

 

[Toshi]

Any mention of carbon footprint of all these new cars?

Seems like a better model would be to retrofit existing rather than continuously buy new.

good thought, dump. people are concerned about this issue. i have several thoughts on this issue -- a surprise, i know

1) it's only fair to compare new cars to new cars. not everyone in the global market can buy exclusively used cars by the definition of the term, and the cars that are removed from the global pool through attrition need to be replaced in any fair comparison.

2) slate.com did their own analysis of whether a new prius is carbon neutral compared to a 10 year old corolla. their analysis indicates that the new prius has a lower carbon footprint. http://www.slate.com/id/2194989/?y=1

3) some boffins at the mit energy lab did their own study in 2001 about lifecycle energy usage and carbon emissions. lifecycle in this case means exactly that, from production to recycling, including the energy to transport it to market and to run the thing over its life. i summarized their findings in post #94 in the [brammo] enertia thread. the real money figure is the figure below.

do note that they assumed everyone needs a midsized car. if you change that assumption (and can live with just a motorcycle, or the subway, for example) then the results change as well. i'm not sure that it's a safe assumption to assume that the relative rankings of each energy source will remain constant across vehicle sizes, ie, that a diesel-electric hybrid motorcycle is necessarily the most efficient solution all around.

The bars shown are meant to suggest the range of our
uncertainty about the results but, as expected, even the uncertainties are uncertain. We
estimate uncertainty at about plus or minus 30% for fuel cell and battery vehicles, 20% for
ICE hybrids, and 10% for other vehicle technologies.

[...]

Vehicles with hybrid propulsion systems using either ICE or fuel cell power plants
are the most efficient and lowest-emitting technologies assessed. In general, ICE
hybrids appear to have advantages over fuel cell hybrids with respect to life cycle
GHG emissions, energy efficiency, and vehicle cost, but the differences are within the
uncertainties of our results and depend on the source of fuel energy.

my own note is that they assumed a total-system energy efficiency of 32% for electric vehicles. Tesla's calculations dispute this, citing a figure of 52.5% (source: http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:u0S4-tHUbn8J:www.stanford.edu/group/greendorm/participate/cee124/TeslaReading.pdf+tesla+21st+century+car&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari). a change in this figure would affect results dramatically...

in any case, however, it might make more sense for me to get a Prius (or Prius 2, or Chevy Volt) instead of [the Enertia]. food for thought.

4) finally, small hybrids (such as the prius) may be the best way to go ultimately given driving habits, if we can believe the findings of the CMU study from just five posts back in this very thread.

 

[Toshi]

backyard ingenuity. a very ugly but apparently functional series hybrid. weedeater motor. 48V lead-acid. Wilderness Energy hub. voltage regulation by throttle on the motor.

probably pollutes like a mofo, but a commercialized/slick version of this could take care of that and be loads less ugly to boot. the general concept of a (heavy-)bicycle-sized series hybrid is interesting.

 

[Toshi]

ENV hydrogen fuel cell-electric hybrid motorcycle as tested by james may of top gear fame. apparently the ENV's parent company has some sort of agreement with suzuki. even given that the chance of seeing something similar in production form on the street before 2020 is approximately nil.

 

[dump]

thanks for the info toshi... interesting findings.

 

[Toshi]

Aptera company and 2e news:

1) 2/27/09 company newsletter. interesting bits:
- the width of the production car will be less than the 91" measured on the prototype shown at the TED conference
- Aptera plans to have 100,000 California-designed and -built Apteras on the road 5 years from now (!), creating 1500 jobs in the process
- $500 deposits on a 2e are held in escrow and are fully refundable (a dig towards Tesla's ambiguous deposit refund policy) and if one chooses to "lock in" the deposit and forgo the refundability then it becomes a $750 credit towards a 2e automagically
- October 2009 is the planned production launch date

2) 2009 Aptera 2e brochure. specifications subject to change. highlights:
- the brochure looks showroom ready
- Vista, CA is the site of the development and assembly plant, with Carlsbad, CA the site of composite body shell fabrication
- Cd confirmed as 0.15
- previously reported specs confirmed in a nice table at the end of the brochure
- iPhone connectivity! that seals the deal!

 

[Toshi]

a homebrewed electric push trailer. Nine Continents hub motor off of 48V 10Ah of SLA for economy and because weight in a push trailer aids traction.

 

[Toshi]

RUF Greenster. supposedly to be produced in a small run in 2010. 270 kW Siemens motor with 695 ft.-lb. of torque. "The battery can apparently be charged in only one hour from a 400V outlet" per ABG.

 

[dump]

can't imagine owning a porche, but damn they're hot!

 

[jimmydean]

RUF makes a damn nice Porsche.

 

[JewBagel]

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/1021059497.html

Just in case it sells soon.
For Sale
1976 BMW (2002) EV Conversion
Completed and painted in 2003. KTA kit with 9" motor, Curtis Controller (2003), Zivan 220 charger, Vacuum brakes - (steel flex lines), EV-1 tires, Koni Shocks, Deka GEL Batteries, one year old. RANGE -- 30 + miles, I-5 capable --65 MPH. Windows out paint 2003 --yellow, Sun Roof, new race style seats, voltage monitor system.

PRICE -$ 9 K or best offer.

 

[Toshi]

Top Gear US has decided to build a project car. their goals: 70 mpg, 0-60 < 7 sec, $7000.

http://www.topgear.com/us/features/more/we-build-a-70-mpg-car/

their plan: 1981 VW Rabbit Diesel + modern VW TDI powertrain + aero mods.

an update on Project Sipster: http://www.topgear.com/us/features/more/project-sipster-optimism-meets-realism/

Cam sourced us an engine from a damaged 2003 Jetta TDI that cost us $4,000 (Canadian dollars, so about U.S. $0.04), while the transmission is from a 1998 TDI and set us back another CAD $1,000.

Mismatching the transmission is our first clever mileage trick. Tall gearing is critical to stretching fuel economy; the slower the engine can turn, the less energy is wasted overcoming the engine's own friction. [...]

Somewhere in cyberspace we found an old scan of a chart that purported to show efficiency of a Volkswagen TDI engine, and if we believe this chart (What choice do we have? It came from the Internet) the TDI is most efficient at 1,800 rpm. Our target, then, is to achieve a tolerable cruising speed at 1,800 rpm. With the original Rabbit gearbox, 1,800 rpm is only good for 48.5 mph. If we have to drive that slowly to get 70 mpg, we might as well take the bus.

Using the 1998 TDI transmission and installing the tallest fifth gear that will fit, though (a fifth gear from a European-market Transporter van, naturally), we should be able to cruise at 61 mph right on our 1,800-rpm sweet spot. [...]

If you've ever so much as changed your own oil, you know this is pure fantasy. If the mechanical bits don't scare you, consider this: The Rabbit's original, mechanically injected engine required only six wires to run and was managed by a pump and a cable attached to your right foot. The new engine has 121 pins going to the computer, 64 going to the instrument cluster and six going to the gas pedal. The computer is also expecting to talk to an ABS computer and might get lonely when it doesn't find one in our car.

 

[Toshi]

the topic of motorcycle emissions has come up several times in this thread. namely, in post 858 i looked at the actual numbers behind motorcycle emissions standards in the US and Europe, with the conclusion that a modern Euro 3 emissions-compliant motorcycle is about as clean as a ~2000-2003 automobile. implicit in this statement is that motorcycles prior to the Euro 3 standard are much, much dirtier.

it seems that this hasn't escaped california's attention. assuming they will find a way to pay for this and it passes, model year 2000 and newer motorcycles may start be subject to smog testing starting in 2012:

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/03/05/california-planning-motorcycle-smog-checks/

For those of you living and riding in the state of California, you should be aware of a proposed senate bill that will require smog checks for motorcycles. Senate Bill 435, introduced by California State Senator Pavley on February 26, proposes smog checks on motorcycles, beginning January 1st, 2012, for all motorcycles model year 2000 or newer. All motorcycles had previously been excluded.

SB 435, as introduced, Pavley. Smog check program: motorcycles. Existing law establishes a motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program (smog check), administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs, that provides for the inspection of motor vehicles upon registration, biennially upon renewal of registration, upon transfer of ownership, and in certain other circumstances. Existing law exempts from biennial inspection all motorcycles until the department implements test procedures applicable to motorcycles. Violations of smog check requirements are a crime. This bill would require the department to include model-year 2000 and newer motorcycles in the smog check program beginning January 1, 2012.

i, for one, think this is a good thing. picking off the low hanging fruit has the highest yield.

 

[Toshi]

finally, a twofer post about electric cars:

the Mitsubishi iMIEV continues to crawl closer to market. the LHD world-regs-compliant version was unveiled in Geneva. boring low-fi youtube video of unveiling not inlined but it's on autobloggreen if you're interested.

an overview vid showing some quality exterior and interior shots. plus, if you listen closely enough you can learn japanese while you're at it!

-------------------------------

http://valleywag.gawker.com/5164035/tesla-ceo-in-digital-witch-hunt

on the other side of the world Tesla seems embroiled in some corporate warfare, with elon musk trying to root out leaks by providing slightly different info on upcoming products to each employee, thereby allowing it to be tracked when leaked. problem is that one of the execs inadvertently spoiled the plan. whoops.

Enraged by leaks at his troubled Silicon Valley electric carmaker, CEO Elon Musk cooked up a sophisticated electronic scheme to catch the blabbers. It backfired hilariously on the brilliant entrepreneur, who's a bit blabby himself.

In his latest witch hunt, which our tipster says took place recently, Musk set out to entrap potential leakers by sending each employee a slightly altered version of an email which he expected would get sent to the media. Musk began the memo, "I'm a big believer in trusting employees."

By altering phrases scattered throughout the email &#8212; changing "I'm" to "I am," for example &#8212; a Tesla IT employee created individualized memos which would have a detectable "fingerprint" in the text. In the memo, Musk asked everyone to sign a new, stricter nondisclosure agreement. The agreement wasn't the point of the email &#8212; it was just a ruse to catch the company's leakers.

Musk did not even let his executives in on the plan. That's where the scheme went hilariously wrong.

Hapless general counsel Craig Harding, who's overseen several legal setbacks for the company, forwarded his own personalized copy along with the agreement. As a result, everyone at Tesla had a copy of Harding's version to compare to their own, making Musk's scheme plain to see &#8212; and giving them a version that was safe to leak.

"What was surprising was that Elon failed to mention the entrapment to his executive team," says our tipster. "When they learned of the scheme, unhappiness ensued. Isn't trust a great thing?"

 

[Toshi]

back in the very first post of this thread i mentioned the Stokemonkey. it is a "mid-drive" system that uses an electric motor mounted in an Xtracycle, the bike-lengthening gizmos that BAH uses for carrying cargo. the motor used is Crystalyte hub motor, just as on my bike only not used as the hub of a wheel. the advantage of the Stokemonkey is twofold: it allows for greater efficiency and torque as it drives the bike through the geared, existing drivetrain, and it allows for greater utility via the Xtracycle.

the Stokemonkey has been unavailable since 2007 due to product liability issues. however, it turns out that http://ebikes.ca/, the vancouver, bc shop through which i source my electric gear, has a few kits lying about for sale. contact them if you've been holding out for such a beast.

update: a friendly reader points out that the Stokemonkey has come back on the market through Clever Chimp itself since this thread was started, somewhat of a commentary on this thread itself.

http://cleverchimp.com/products/stokemonkey/

 

[Toshi]

i spent the morning at microsoft for reasons that i cannot disclose. what i am allowed to say is that i was very impressed with the microsoft connector and shuttle connect system, however.

the connector is a private bus line that is microsoft's attempt to get its full-time workers out of their cars. as anyone who has driven over the SR-520 floating bridge at commute hours this is a commendable goal, and they aim to reduce puget sound highway traffic by 250,000 car-miles per week. the idea is to help employees be productive on their commute instead of sitting unproductively and unhappily in traffic by giving them a comfortable seat in a microsoft-operated bus with seat assignments by a web-based scheduling system and wifi access for good measure. it's really quite a good idea from a productivity standpoint, let alone the environmental aspect.

(a van hool bus in microsoft connector livery)

how it works is that there are microsoft connector routes that pick up employees from the neighborhoods in which they live: west seattle, ballard, queen anne, capitol hill, snohomish, and so forth. these routes are serviced both by huge van hool interstate buses (think nice greyhound, or, for hro people, the buses we had in brazil) and by large conversion buses based off of heavy-duty truck chassis. these microsoft connector buses all converge on the overlake transit center, which is literally across the street from microsoft's main redmond campus.

(a truck-based conversion bus in microsoft connector livery)

not all activity is centered on the main campus, however, and even the campus itself is quite sprawling. thus there's a second part, the microsoft shuttle connect system. the shuttle system has a veritable swarm of smaller vehicles that shuttle employees (and me, today) from the transit center to any microsoft building on the east side, and from any one building to another. they operate like a taxi or an airport shuttle -- you tell the driver which building you'd like to go and then the route is made up on the fly -- only they're free. receptionists at each of the building summon shuttle vehicles when you need to get from one place to another. it's really a fantastic luxury, like having your own driver and car.

(one of the 41 priuses in the microsoft shuttle connect vehicle pool)

what really impressed me was the organization, the high utilization of this service, and the sheer number of vehicles in operation. when i stepped off of my own bus at the transit center there must have been 20 connector shuttle vehicles waiting, and each in turn filled up quickly with employees and whisked them off to their destinations. these vehicles spanned the gamut of sizes: toyota priuses -- they have 41 of them!, gmc minivans, standard full-size passenger vans, dodge sprinters done up in passenger guise, and numerous conversion body minibuses built up off of diesel, dually full-size van chassis (similar in construction to seattle medic one ambulances).

 

[dump]

many bay area companies have been doing something similar for some time. know guys on the google, yahoo & apple shuttles. they're big fans of the program. vm ware shut down their shuttle several weeks back due to cost considerations.

 

[Toshi]

Piaggio MP3 Hybrid news from the horse's mouth

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506768,00.html

Paolo Timoni, President and CEO of Piaggio Group Americas &#8212; maker of the Piaggio and Vespa brands of motor scooters &#8212; confirmed to FOXNews.com that the company is planning to sell a plug-in hybrid version of one of its vehicles in the United States starting in early 2010.

[...]

Timoni [said that] Piaggio is currently going through the certification process for the scooter with the National Highway and Transportation Safety Association. [...]

According to Piaggio, the three-wheel scooter will travel several miles on battery power alone, and get up to 141 miles per gallon overall, which would make it one of the most fuel efficient vehicles ever made.

The parallel hybrid design combines a 125cc engine and an electric motor in a similar way to the powertrain in the Toyota Prius, and should be capable of accelerating the scooter from 0-60 mph in about 5 seconds. It can be charged from a standard 110 volt electrical outlet, and uses a combination of regenerative braking and several adjustable hybrid modes to charge the battery on the move, balancing performance and efficiency to the tastes of the rider.

[...]

Pricing has not been set, but Timoni says to expect the MP3 hybrid to cost $8,000-$9,000 when it hits showrooms next year, about the same price as the current top of the line MP3 models.

my comment is that the 5 seconds is most definitely a 0-30 mph time, not 0-60 mph. nevertheless the facts that can be gleaned from the article sound pretty good:

- 141 mpg (will clearly vary by length of ride since it's a plug-in hybrid)
- 40 gm CO2/km (previously reported)
- 0-30 mph in 5 seconds
- $9,000 USD
- 2010 commercial availability in the US

 

[Toshi]

Piaggio MP3 Hybrid news from the horse's mouth

- 141 mpg (will clearly vary by length of ride since it's a plug-in hybrid)
- 40 gm CO2/km (previously reported)
- 0-30 mph in 5 seconds
- $9,000 USD
- 2010 commercial availability in the US

that said, i'm not holding my breath and will stick to my current plan of getting a (standard gasoline powered) MP3 250 this summer or fall. a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, or is it a 65 mpg gasoline bike in the garage is worth two theoretical 141 mpg bikes?

if piaggio works out its bugs and releases the Hybrid in the US in 2010 then bully to them, and i will strongly consider upgrading. however, as this thread has amply demonstrated, "green" products seem to attract unforeseen delays like flies to honey...

 

[Toshi]

want to go green? live in a big city.

The Lorax Was Wrong: Skyscrapers Are Green

By EDWARD L. GLAESER

Edward L. Glaeser is an economics professor at Harvard.

In Dr. Seuss’ environmentalist fable, “The Lorax,” the Once-ler, a budding textile magnate, chops down Truffula to knit “Thneeds.”

Over the protests of the environmentally sensitive Lorax, the Once-ler builds a great industrial town that despoils the environment, because he “had to grow bigger.” Eventually, the Once-ler overdoes it, and he chops down the last Truffula tree, destroying the source of his income. Chastened, Dr. Seuss’s industrialist turns green, urging a young listener to take the last Truffula seed and plant a new forest.

Some of the lessons told by this story are correct. From a purely profit-maximizing point of view, the Once-ler is pretty inept, because he kills his golden goose. Any good management consultant would have told him to manage his growth more wisely. One aspect of the story’s environmentalist message, that bad things happen when we overfish a common pool, is also correct.

But the unfortunate aspect of the story is that urbanization comes off terribly. The forests are good; the factories are bad. Not only does the story disparage the remarkable benefits that came from the mass production of clothing in 19th-century textile towns, it sends exactly the wrong message on the environment. Contrary to the story’s implied message, living in cities is green, while living surrounded by forests is brown.

By building taller and taller buildings, the Once-ler was proving himself to be the real environmentalist.

Matthew Kahn, a U.C.L.A. environmental economist, and I looked across America’s metropolitan areas and calculated the carbon emissions associated with a new home in different parts of the country. We estimated expected energy use from driving and public transportation, for a family of fixed size and income. We added in carbon emissions from home electricity and home heating. We didn’t try to take on the far thornier issues related to commercial or industrial energy use.

This exercise wasn’t meant to be some sort of environmental beauty contest, but an estimate of the environmental costs and benefits associated with living in different parts of the country. In a recent City Journal article, I gave a brief (and somewhat polemical) synopsis of the results.

In almost every metropolitan area, we found the central city residents emitted less carbon than the suburban counterparts. In New York and San Francisco, the average urban family emits more than two tons less carbon annually because it drives less. In Nashville, the city-suburb carbon gap due to driving is more than three tons. After all, density is the defining characteristic of cities. All that closeness means that people need to travel shorter distances, and that shows up clearly in the data.

While public transportation certainly uses much less energy, per rider, than driving, large carbon reductions are possible without any switch to buses or rails. Higher-density suburban areas, which are still entirely car-dependent, still involve a lot less travel than the really sprawling places. This fact offers some hope for greens eager to reduce carbon emissions, since it is a lot easier to imagine Americans driving shorter distances than giving up their cars.

But cars represent only one-third of the gap in carbon emissions between New Yorkers and their suburbanites. The gap in electricity usage between New York City and its suburbs is also about two tons. The gap in emissions from home heating is almost three tons. All told, we estimate a seven-ton difference in carbon emissions between the residents of Manhattan’s urban aeries and the good burghers of Westchester County. Living surrounded by concrete is actually pretty green. Living surrounded by trees is not.

The policy prescription that follows from this is that environmentalists should be championing the growth of more and taller skyscrapers. Every new crane in New York City means less low-density development. The environmental ideal should be an apartment in downtown San Francisco, not a ranch in Marin County.

Of course, many environmentalists will still prefer to take their cue from Henry David Thoreau, who advocated living alone in the woods. They would do well to remember that Thoreau, in a sloppy chowder-cooking moment, burned down 300 acres of prime Concord woodland. Few Boston merchants did as much environmental harm, which suggests that if you want to take good care of the environment, stay away from it and live in cities.

 

[Toshi]

1) jay leno drives the Mini E and likes it. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/10/video-jay-lenos-garage-welcomes-mini-e/

2) the rumored honda insight base price of $18.5k hasn't materialized. US base price including destination: $20,470. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/honda-insight-base-price-20470/

3) much as i did, americans are cutting down on car use, in some cases selling their car outright and relying on Zipcar as a backup. i can attest that one can save a lot of money by doing this! http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/03/10/budget.irpt/

(CNN) -- Everyone's trying to cut their budget this year, from the White House to big corporations to ordinary citizens. For many Americans, this means making big changes and going without things to which they've become accustomed.

For some, the economic downturn means saying goodbye to that icon of American prosperity: their car.

"What am I cutting from my budget? Something sad ... my car," said college student Kyle Aevermann, who is trying to sell his Nissan Sentra.

Aevermann is having trouble finding a job and knows that selling his car will save him money in multiple ways. Not only will he no longer have a car payment, he won't have to pay for gas, insurance or maintenance. He estimates that gas and insurance alone cost him around $3,000 a year.

"For a college student, that's a lot of money," he said.

Aevermann plans to use Zipcar, a short-term rental service, when he needs to drive, and to walk everywhere he can.

"Stores are only a mile away. I have legs. I can walk; I can ride my bike," said Aevermann

4) Autobloggreen reviews the Mercury Milan Hybrid (mechanical twin to the Ford Fusion Hybrid)... and gets under 30 mpg in michigan weather. it's not a prius-beater. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/10/review-2010-mercury-milan-hybrid/

5) Lidl, a discount grocery chain in Germany, will be selling Opel Corsas and VW Polo Crosses online through their website, at a 25% discount from MSRP. i think this is a great development. zipcar and this illustrate that transportation truly has become a commodity. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/grocery-getters-from-the-grocery-store/

6) the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid is somewhat of a monstrosity, a la the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. however, it does have a neat trick up its sleeve: an extra clutch in the drivetrain that lets its gas engine be disengaged from the wheels while "sailing" on electrical power alone, even at freeway speeds. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/10/first-drive-sailing-in-stuttgart-with-porsches-cayenne-s-hybri/

The combustion engine has been borrowed from Audi, with a belt-driven Roots-type supercharger nestled between its directly injected cylinders. So equipped, the engine generates 333 hp and 324 pound-feet of torque. Unlike in other gas-only Audi applications, the air-conditioning compressor and electrohydraulic steering pump are powered by the battery pack. For its part, the electric motor adds up to 221 pound-feet of torque. Combined, Porsche figures the two power sources are good for 374 bhp and 405 lb-ft of torque at just 1,500 rpm.

 

[Toshi]

live in paris? you can get 400 euros towards a new electric scooter if you do. what's more, you will be able to recharge your electric scooter for free at one of the 40 charging stations scattered around the city.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/11/do-you-want-an-electric-ride-paris-adds-400-to-your-piggy-bank/

the eSolex, a 1150 euro 400W 36V 15Ah lithium-batteried moped is one such option that'd qualify. more normal scooter-looking things similar to those that i reviewed a few pages back are also eligible provided their top speed is less than 30 mph.

 

[jimmydean]

Zero emissions race bike. (repost?)

<edit> More info

http://www.xenophya.com/electric-motorcycle/zero-emissions.html

 

[Toshi]

nope, that's not a repost. there are other TTX-GP bikes that have been posted, but not that one.

ford announced that they've sold 100,000 Ford Escape Hybrids this week. toyota congratulated them, and then put out a press release saying that they've sold over 1,000,000 hybrids in the US alone (1.7m worldwide to date).

meanwhile mitsubishi quietly continues to work on their battery-electric vehicle, the i-MiEV. it's being tested in japan, in california by conedison, in new zealand by meridian energy, and around europe by various governments and utilities. here are a few youtube vids on the jelly-bean shaped kei-car-turned-electric. the first is in english, the last two are short commercials aired on japanese television:

 

[Toshi]

1) a car-sized battery that can charge in 5 minutes, just as fast as an ultracapacitor, has long been a dream. now it's a reality in the lab, and not just on crank websites but as published in Nature. here's the full text:

https://www.yousendit.com/download/U0d6a3NaMGtlM1JjR0E9PQ

and here's the arstechnica summary:

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/03/lithium-breakthrough-could-charge-batteries-in-10-seconds.ars

The results are pretty astonishing. At low discharge rates, a cell prepared from this material discharges completely to its theoretical limit (~166mAh/g). As the authors put it, "Capacity retention of the material is superior." Running it through 50 charge/discharge cycles revealed no significant change in the total capacity of the battery.

But the truly surprising features of the cell came when the authors tweaked the cathode to allow higher currents to be run into the cell. Increasing the rate by a factor of 100 dropped the total capacity down to about 110mAh/g, but increased the power rate by two orders of magnitude (that's a hundred-fold increase) compared to traditional lithium batteries. Amazingly, under these conditions, the charge capacity of the battery actually increased as it underwent more charge/discharge cycles. Doubling the charge transport from there cut the capacity in half, but again doubled the power rate. At this top rate, the entire battery would discharge in as little as nine seconds. That sort of performance had previously only been achieved using supercapacitors. [...]

A more significant problem is that these batteries may wind up facing an electric grid that was never meant to deal with them. A 1Wh cell phone battery could charge in 10 seconds, but would pull a hefty 360W in the process. A battery that's sufficient to run an electric vehicle could be fully charged in five minutes—which would make electric vehicles incredibly practical—but doing so would pull 180kW, which is most certainly not practical.

2) honda is going to start selling an ethanol powered dual-sport in brazil, home of a large domestic ethanol-from-cane-sugar industry.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/12/honda-to-sell-worlds-1st-bike-with-bio-ethanol-mixed-fuel/

3) an average (worldwide) car puts out 2.7 "tonnes" of CO2 per year. "tonnes" ==> imperial tons, methinks, and american cars probably put out quite a bit more. an average cow puts out 4 tonnes of CO2 per year, on the other hand. this is shocking until you realize that a car is generally used to ferry one, perhaps two people around while the cow's products go to feed much more than that same person. nevertheless this CO2 emission is non-negligible, and EU countries are proposing a "cow tax" to offset the emissions. i fully support this as a Pigovian tax that internalizes the externalities so that the market system can do its thing.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5877416.ece

4) people drove less and took public transit more in 2008. no surprise, what with gas prices, no? well, they continued to drive less (but took public transit less as well) when gas prices came down. chew on that.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/lower-gas-prices-dont-inspire-more-driving/

5) Th!nk, apparently rescued from the brink of financial ruin by a loan from its battery supplier, Ener1, still hopes to bring the Th!nk city to the US. how much? "the price to consumers, after government incentives, would probably be under $20,000, but you'll need to figure in an $80-90 per month fee to lease the battery". hmm.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/03/12/th-nk-details-u-s-manufacturing-sales-plans-hopes-to-sell-cit/

 

[Toshi]

posted here since N8's Zipcar thread disappeared mysteriously ("Cool urban-based alternative to owning a car"):

today i'm going to estimate my transportation costs accrued since ditching my car in may 2008.

before i do that, however, let us take a minute to reflect on how expensive owning a private automobile truly is. i could compute this in true back of napkin fashion, looking up depreciation, estimating insurance and maintenance tabs, and averaging out the price of gas for my region. this would be both painful and inaccurate. thankfully, i don't have to do this, as AAA already does this yearly and systematically in their "Your Driving Costs" study.

part 1, the car scenario:

background and assumptions:
- 10k mi/yr as i'm a city dweller with a short commute
- a small car since i'm not math-impaired and don't feel the need to advertise either my masculinity or soccer mom status, as it were
- no finance charge since i'd be insane to not take advantage of low or even zero APRs given the desperation of auto dealers
- i work ~5.5 days per week when vacation is factored in
- parking at my workplace(s) is $5.50 per day

operating costs including gas, maintenance, and tires: $1399
ownership costs including insurance, registration, depreciation but not finance per our assumptions: $3581
parking at work, assuming free parking at home: $1584

total: $6564, or $17.98 per day. note that most of this cost does not directly hinge on the price of gasoline.

part 2, my actual costs:

background:
- as readers of this blog probably know, i built an electric bike on which to commute that uses ~30 Watt-hours/mile of electricity
- seattle's electricity is very cheap at 3.76 cents/kWh, and is predominantly hydroelectric (i pay extra to have 100% wind power but that's not included in this calculation as it is a pure luxury)
- my mileage on the bike will be right around 1000 miles this year
- the battery on my bike should be good for at least 2000 miles, so we'll use that as a conservative estimate
- i'll assume 50% depreciation per year on the bike and battery, which works out perfectly with the above at least for the first year
- the tires look like they'll be good for 1500 miles
- parking the bike is free both at my house and on the bike racks at work
- i have a Zipcar membership, which includes my insurance, and i occasionally buy jessica gasoline and car washes to compensate her for use of her car
- my bus pass costs $23.34/month pre-tax

electric bike operating costs including electricity ($0.01/mile * 1000 miles = $10), tires ($56/1500 mi * 1000 mi = $37.33), maintenance, lots of warm clothing, and replacement parts ($727, mostly clothing): $774
electric bike ownership costs (bike + electric bits cost / 2 per our 50% depreciation assumption): $1058
non-bike transportation costs including my bus pass ($280), Zipcar fees/insurance ($75), Zipcar usage ($122), parking when using jessica's or the parents' car ($47), plus gas/car washes for jessica ($211): $735

total: $2567, or $7.03 per day. this figure is entirely independent of the price of gas assuming Zipcar's rates remain constant.

part 3, conclusions:

going strictly by the above numbers we see that $6564 - $2567 == $3898. this is a conservative assumption to boot, as it assumes a low mileage on a small sedan in the car case, and in my actual costs it assumes both that i'd have to buy winter cycling clothes anew every single year and that i'll have to replace parts on my initially-finicky electric bike at a constant pace. therefore i feel it is safe to conclude that not owning a car has saved me at least $3900. given that i came from a Mazda RX-8, which had much higher depreciation, gasoline, insurance, and maintenance costs that the listed AAA figures i probably saved twice that.

is this a fair comparison ultimately for the general population? no. going from driving 10,000 miles a year&#8212;or 20,000 as i did for several years with road trips&#8212;to not having a car, using Zipcar minimally, and scooting around town 1000 miles on an electric bike is not a typical case, and i don't think most americans are motivated enough by thrift or their environmental conscience to pull it off. however, i was sufficiently motivated, i pulled it off, and these numbers are my reality.

 

[Toshi]

and here's the number of zipcars in my neighborhood:

unfortunately Zipcar doesn't have cars in long island so i won't be able to keep this up.

 

[Toshi]

top gear continues with their project sipster, installing a modern TDI engine in a 1981 rabbit to achieve 70 mpg and 0-60 in 7 secs.

http://www.topgear.com/us/features/more/diesel-geekery-101/
http://www.topgear.com/us/videos/more/project-sipster-gets-a-new-heart/

i think their project is amusing to watch but not a very good example for the real world:

1) late-model TDI engines are hard to come by cheaply
2) the swap has taken 168 hours so far per the video, which would be over the budget in labor alone, plus they're over the budget for parts alone as well
3) an old rabbit sucks as a car in terms of safety and amenities, and isn't a realistic commuter vehicle for joe sixpack whether or not it has a shiny new tin heart
4) 70 mpg on diesel is "worth" about 62 mpg given current pricing, and, more importantly, would likely only save you a few hundred dollars per year in operating costs

moral of the story: don't try this at home unless you want to burn $15k, countless skinned knuckles, and still end up with a crappy car with a burnt out taillight.

 

[Toshi]

Th!nk, apparently rescued from the brink of financial ruin by a loan from its battery supplier, Ener1, still hopes to bring the Th!nk city to the US. how much? "the price to consumers, after government incentives, would probably be under $20,000, but you'll need to figure in an $80-90 per month fee to lease the battery". hmm.

and now a video of the Th!nk City in Ann Arbor, MI. apparently Th!nk is courting Gov Granholm to put up some tax incentives for a plant to build electric cars in michigan. the video itself is nothing special, but it is available in HD if you click through to the youtube page itself (vs. the embed)

several diesel motorcycles have been mentioned previously in this thread. on in particular that i remember is a converted Kawi that the marines use built by Hayes Diversified Technologies (not the brake company. http://www.dieselmotorcycles.com/). the HDT motorbike is not available for purchase per their website. in the meantime, another diesel bike has surfaced and is available for purchase, albeit only in the Netherlands and for a princely sum:

EVA T-800 CDI "Track dieselpowered motorcycle"

17500 euro. available now in NL only, supposedly in the EU in 2010 and maybe, someday in the US. its diesel is out of the Smart CDI, boasting 45 hp and 74 ft-lb torque. mpg is reputed to be 112 mpg at a constant 55 mph. it has a beautiful tubular steel chassis, Excel rims, Brembo brakes, WP suspension components...

ah, but that price. maybe if one were a millionaire touring nepal with an entourage all in diesel land rovers and wanted to only bring one kind of fuel truck along. (for comparison's sake the Smart fortwo CDI gets 71 miles per US gallon on the EU test cycle and the NL price is 11889 euro + TTD as best as i can tell from the NL smart site.)

my motivation for going two wheels is largely frugality. designs such as this throw that completely out the window.

 

[Toshi]

UPS is testing series hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks. here's an animation of how such a system works:

 

[Toshi]

here's the best Aptera 2e interior shot i've seen yet (from reuters) along with a moody exterior shot apparently from a google photosession judging by the title: