VW, Toshiba Planning A Smart EV Car

Last week, Toshiba and Volkswagen unveiled a partnership for developing next-gen electric car batteries.Mostly known for laptop computers here in the States, Toshiba is the General Electric of Japan. They build everything fromconsumer electronics to nuclear power plant components.Fine by me, I just don’t want my EV to catch on fire! Or my laptop for that matter. But as of late, Toshiba is foraying in to greener pastures. And so is VW with it’s new BlueMotion Technologiesline.The VDub partnership comes on the heels of Toshiba entering the solar power plant market. Toshiba isn’t producing the solar panels themselves, at least for the time being. They will be using their competitor’s solar panels along with components they produce for large-scale power plants.Alongside the nuclear power plants, Toshiba also provides components for hydroelectric plants and for power transmission systems. They are even pursuing carbon-capture technology.So it is of no surprise that Toshiba has been eying the hybrid and electric car market. They have already been developing a super-charged ion battery (SCiB) for both laptop computers and electric bikes. Once again, I kinda hope these don’t catch on fire!“One of our big target markets is the automobile market,” Craig Hershberg, Toshiba’s director of environmental affairs, told Green Wombat. “We’re currently talking to one of the big automakers in the U.S.” But they wouldn’t say whom.In fact, they recently announced plans to spend $331 million on building a SCiB factory.“Toshiba aims to make SCiB a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses worldwide,” the company said in a statement. Enter Volkswagen!I have a feeling the VW Up! will be the first model to see this pairing.Because of its iconic styling, the concept car is being touted as the next new “Beetle,” not to be confused with the actual New Beetle. VW’s foray into alternative-fuel vehicles is nothing new. They have even launched a new brand just for it: VW’s BlueMotion Technologies.But they have yet to really tap the electric vehicle market. At the very least, they are EV-curious. That is apparent by kick off their hybrid electric Touareg. But it seems the VW Up! Concept would benefit most from the Toshiba-VW pairing.Currently, there are two models of the Up! Concept: the Up!, a small three-door, and the Space Up!, a mini-van. One key feature that has gotten a lot of attention is its Apple iPhone like interface, something VW hopes to add to all its models.For those real VW enthusiasts, the engine isn’t in the front, baby.IT KEEPS GOING…AND GOINGSo what does the SCiB mean for EVs?Well, the souped-up battery can charge to 90-percent capacity in ten minutes. According to Toshiba, that is depending on its use. Notably, laptop versions of the battery can be discharged 6,000 times versus the 500 times for a conventional battery. It can also operate down to -30 celcius (-22F). That is pretty good for an Electric Vehicle type application. But, DIY Electric Car made this point about the battery:Say for instance, we fitted a new Tesla Roadster with SCiB batteries. Could we actually perform a 5 minute charge? The Roadster’s efficiency is reported as 133 Wh/km (4.7 mi/kWh). This means that fully refueling from a 300 mile drive would require around 63kWh of electricity. Multiply by .9 to get a 90% recharge (as Toshiba states is the 5 minute charge) and you have 56.7kWh. Multiply that by 12 to get the amount of kW required for a 5 minute charge. That’s 680kW. Regardless of what you may know about electricity, that’s a whole lot of it.To actually feed the car 680kW, we need to select a usable voltage. The best that’s commercially available right now would be 480v or actually 220v if it’s household current. For the sake of argument let’s choose 480v. The size of the wire to transfer the energy is dependent on how many amps are going to flow through it. Amps are just watts divided by volts, so when we apply this we get 1416 amps. Technicalities aside, the wire would have to be something like 0/8AWG or about 2 inches in diameter to feed the current to the vehicle. Is this any more or less safe than filling a car with gas yourself?The Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen AG, Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn, says “this will be a major step forward towards the development of series production electric vehicles for our customers.”He went on to say that Volkswagen’s objective is “to be the first manufacturer to provide an emissions-free, affordable and safe large-scale production electric vehicle.” Though some specialists believe a mass-produced EV is still 10 plus years away.Though some kind of model should nonetheless be available by 2012, when increasingly strict carbon emissions limits set by the European Union are due to take effect.

New Chinese electric bus

While we have a pretty impressive electric bus here in America, an announcement that a Chinese joint venture will begin building buses with a 300 km (186 miles) range certainly got our attention. The FAW Bus and Coach Company has teamed up with battery maker Tongkun New Energy Technologies Co., Ltd and plan to have their people-carriers on the roads around two different cities in Jilin province by June. They already have 70 on the order book and if they can deliver the range performance promised, we expect they'll sell more. The 24 passenger bus can not only go far on its lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄) batteries but it can also re-charge them in as little as 20 minutes. With a useful life of 2,000 cycles, they could last 300,000 miles. Not bad for a bus with a 500,000 yuan ($73,145) price tag and low running costs. Hopefully the new design will also be a little easier on the eyes than the current baby bus built by FAW, pictured above. [Source: Xinhua]

Tags: electric bus, ElectricBus, FAW Bus and Coach Company, FawBusAndCoachCompany, Jilin, LiFePO4,lithium iron phosphate LiFePO4, LithiumIronPhosphateLifepo4, Ltd, Tongkun New Energy Technologies Co.,TongkunNewEnergyTechnologiesCo.

Chery Auto unveils electric car

China's Chery Automobile said on Thursday it has rolled out its first self-developed electric car, becoming the second home-grown car maker to tap potential demand for clean energy cars. The model, known as S18, is capable of going as far as 150 kilometers on electricity when fully charged, with a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour, Chery said in a statement. Chery uses iron-phosphate-based lithium-ion batteries for S18, which can be fully charged in 4 to 6 hours and 80 percent charged in half an hour, it said. The company did not say when it would start mass production of the model or whether it had secured firm orders. BYD Auto, subsidiary of rechargeable battery maker BYD Co, launched its plug-in hybrid car F3DM in China late last year. Henry Li, general manager of BYD Auto's export trade division, told Reuters in October that the firm has signed up 10 distributors for the plug-in hybrid car in Europe ahead of its targeted entry into that market in 2010. BYD, in which a unit of U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) has committed to pay $230 million for a 10 percent stake, is scheduled to launch its first all-electric car, the E6, in China in the second half of 2009, Li added. Beijing unveiled a plan earlier this month to subsidise the purchase of clean-energy vehicles for public transport fleets in 13 cities to help its automobile industry develop green technology. The trial scheme will promote the use of electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles by public transport operators, taxi firms and postal and sanitary services.

Rinspeed iChange EV

Swiss automaker Rinspeed will debut at the 2009 Geneva auto show an electric concept car that changes shape to conform to the number of passengers on board. The iChange is a lightweight, 4,280mm (approximately 14 feet) EV sports car with a teardrop-like silhouette designed to maximize fuel efficiency for the single passenger. But with the push of a button, the sloped rear of the car pops up to accommodate two additional passengers, if needed. The concept sports car forgoes doors, opting for a very ADA-unfriendly clamshell roof. Rinspeed is obviously assuming that in the future, women will no longer wear skirts. Proving that efficient doesn't have to be boring, the iChange is equipped with three lithium ion batteries, producing a total of 150kW of power that propels the car from 0 to 100 kmh in 4.2 seconds and achieves a maximum speed of 220 kmh (about 136 mph). The car charges in 3 hours and has a maximum range of approximately 90 km. The dual design poses an answer to the problem: most car trips are short, single-passenger commutes to work or the store, but consumers still want a car that can accommodate the occasional multiple-person or long drive. Rinspeed explains that "as a result of the increased weight and no longer optimal aerodynamics, the energy consumption increases--but only for the time passengers are actually on board," but they don't say by how much. Without that data, it seems like a radial exercise to achieve more or less what the Tesla Roadster already does as a two-seater, and what the start-up's Model S sedan will probably do as a four-seater. The Tesla Roadster uses a custom microprocessor-controlled lithium ion battery with 6,831 individual cells that produces 248 HP (185 kW) to achieve a straightline performance of 0 to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds with a range of about 220 miles. The much-anticipated Tesla Model S sedan--set to debut in March--reportedly will have a range of approximately 160 miles. Much of the efficiency seems to be in the details rather than in the design. Large solar panels on the car top and sides provide an environmentally friendly mode for charging the batteries and maintain an ambient temperature inside the car on hot days. The iChange's lightweight Harman/Kardon infotainment system is designed for minimal parasitic drain on the battery and can calculate the most fuel-efficient route.

Subaru Electric Car G4e

Subaru G4e is a concept car based on the R1e (2 seat, 40kwh battery, 104kph, 80km range) proof of concept. However, the G4e has all the makings of a real car, rather than just a concept, with a 200km range on a single charge.Using a fast charge circuit, 80% of the battery can be charged within 15 minutes so it is very convenient to drive long distances and charge up, maybe after a stop at a shopping mall, at work or back at home – if there is the high capacity charging circuit available. A full charge on a home circuit (110v) will take 8 hours. The battery itself is a next generation vanadium based battery rather than lithium and gives the G4e double the range compared to a lithium battery.The motor is a 65kW permanent magnet synchronous motor. It is a 4-door hatchback and can carry 5 people, with a triangular shape that gives it a low 0.276 drag factor. It is also slightly larger than a Toyota Yaris so theSubaru G4e should be a very useful and popular vehicle.

Michelin-Valeo partnership to boost plug-in hybrid cars

French giants Michelin and Valeo have formed a partnership to develop and produce both plug-in hybrid cars and all-electric cars.The announcement comes on the back of Michelin introducing its revolutionary active wheel technology, (see previous post) which sees dual electric motors inside wheels that propel the car and control the suspension. They will be used in electric cars produced by Heuliez from 2010 onwards.Michelin believes that fuel cell-powered or battery cars that use Active Wheel technology will not require a clutch, gearbox, transmission shift, anti-roll bar or a universal joint. The Active Wheel technology is a standard wheel with one electric motor spinning the wheel while the other works as an active suspension system.According to Valeo CEO Thierry Morin, his company will assemble a powertrain system that the car will be built around. The companies are said to be seeking a car manufacturer to join a consortium and they may team up with either a French of German automaker.Valeo, a specialist in electrical systems, will concentrate on producing engine and battery cooling systems, as well as lighting, energy management and climate control. It has already made in-roads into the green car market as it supplied the drivetrain for more than 10,000 electric vehicles created by PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault.

Chrysler Creates New Company Solely for Electric Vehicles

Chrysler has been working quietly on an all electric vehicle for a while now and it seems as though they have every intention of following through with the concept. The reasoning behind this comes after the news that they have created a separate company to help market the new EV and hopefully give Chrysler some footing to get back on its feet.The new company is called Peapod Mobility and their first vehicle set to go into production is called the Peapod. The Peapod is a small neighborhood vehicle that can seat up to 4 adults andcruise around at a top speed of 25 miles per hour. It is available in 8 different colors and is currently priced at $12,500.
Peapod Mobility is also working on a 2-seater vehicle that will share the same 25mph top speed, along with a van and a small 2-seat utility vehicle that features a bed and toolboxes. There are also rumors of a city electric vehicle that will be able to reach speeds around 50 mph and can be used by daily commuters.Expect to see the Peapod around your neighborhood within the year.