Archive for April, 2009

A suite of big-name manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Fiat, Toyota, and Mitsubishi, have agreed on a common standard for the plugs used for charging electric vehicles. According to German energy company RWE, the plug will be a three-point (live, neutral, earth) arrangement that uses a fixed 400V supply. Daimler, maker of the upcoming electric Smart car, has already begun a pilot scheme with RWE in Berlin (pictured). Although talks are ongoing to finalize the design details, it’s due for unveiling today in Hanover, Germany, at the world’s biggest industrial tech fair–Hanover Messe.
This agreement means that whatever brand of EV you own, you’ll be able to pull into a roadside electric “gas” station and hook it up to a charging stand for a top-up without having to hunt for one that matches your car’s brand of connector. That makes charging electric cars on the go (perhaps at a rest-stop on a long freeway ride) identical to how you can pull into any gas station today and top-up your petrol tank, a fact which will undoubtedly aid public adoption of the new technology. The adoption of a standard should also help keep costs down in terms of car production and for the manufacturers of public charging points–both good in lowering prices for the EV owner.

That “rest-stop” model will probably only be relevant in the early years of the EV, while the cars have limited range. But there’s also the issue of cross-boarder traveling to think about–less of an issue for private drivers in the U.S., but the European public is used to crossing boarders on a daily basis. If each country had a different standard, then having to haul around a bunch of socket/voltage converters would be a severe barrier to adoption. And there are all those millions of trucks on the roads, hauling materials between exporters and importers–someday soon they’ll be electric too.

The big names involved in this agreement dwarf some of the the interesting, but low-volume EV producers currently in the news, such as Tesla, Aptera. With these companies getting behind the EV plug standard, electric cars could become viable sooner than you may have imagined.

DETROIT — Ford on Monday indicated that its electric vehicle strategy is on track for a rollout of several vehicles in the coming years, including a battery-electric passenger car developed jointly with auto supplier Magna International by 2011. The Dearborn automaker gave the update on its vehicle electrification plans at the 2009 Society of Automotive Engineers’ World Congress here.

In a statement, Ford said it will use lithium-ion battery systems to power a pure battery electric Transit Connect commercial van in 2010; the battery-electric passenger car developed with Magna International by 2011; and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and next-generation hybrid electric vehicle by 2012.

In research presented to the gathering, Ford said lithium-ion battery systems will be 5 percent more energy efficient and less costly than the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today’s hybrid electric vehicles.

“Ford is strongly positioned to accelerate its electric vehicle strategy this year thanks to the significant research we’ve already completed,” said Susan Cischke, Ford’s group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering. “Our collaborative work with suppliers and partners will help us be one of the first automakers to bring the next generation of personal transportation to market.”

Inside Line says: Ford provides engineers — and the rest of the world — with an optimistic update on its work to develop electric vehicles. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent

The US electronics retailer’s long-awaited UK debut is being helped rather than hindered by the slump, its international boss tells Zoe Wood
A year ago, the prospect of Best Buy landing on British shores was all but greeted with a chorus of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” at the prospect of the best of US retailing riding into town. But as the first anniversary of the American electrical superstore’s £1.1bn tie-up with Carphone Warehouse approaches, we are yet to hear even the opening bars.

The first store openings have been pushed back to the spring of next year and cynical observers are wondering whether the American giant regrets its decision to make a play for the British market as a decade-long consumer boom grinds to a halt. There is also strife in its domestic market, where it has cut expansion plans - as well as hundreds of jobs - as it battles the worst slowdown in spending since the second world war.

But Bob Willett, the British chief executive of Best Buy’s international operations, who is in town to thrash out strategy with Carphone directors ahead of the mobile group’s fourth-quarter trading update on Wednesday, is bullish: “The US is still our biggest growth opportunity in the short term, but in the longer term we need to think about what we can do to maximize shareholder value.”

None the less, recession and the travails of UK market leaders Currys and Comet make you wonder why Best Buy is bothering to tackle a mature market that is past its best. Together, Currys and Comet lost nearly £20m on UK sales of £2.5bn in the first six months of their financial year.

In May of last year, Minnesota-based Best Buy surprised the City when it struck a deal to acquire half of Carphone Warehouse’s retail arm for £1.1bn. The companies had already been quietly working together for several years: Carphone brought Best Buy’s Geek Squad IT support service to the UK and helped Best Buy open dedicated mobile phone stores. The alliance showed Best Buy had serious ambitions to grab market share in the UK; in Canada, where it competes with Wal-Mart and Costco, Best Buy has a market share of 37%.

“I understand the level of skepticism, and that’s healthy, but [Currys parent] DSG is the wrong comparison,” says Willett. “This is a mature market - but that’s an advantage because, John Lewis aside, no one provides customer service. We think we will grow the market.”

In America, Best Buy has differentiated itself in a crowded market by creating relaxed stores where staff known as “blue shirts” soothe customers’ “techno stress”. The retailer has been researching the British market for almost three years and Willett insists profit margins will be higher than in the US due to the mix of products sold - its bread and butter is entertainment products such as PCs, TVs and home entertainment systems rather than washing machines and toasters.

“There’s nothing like us here,” says Willett, promising UK stores will be “spectacular”. “In Mexico we’ve even got a disco unit with a disc jockey and people go up and say: ‘Can you play Mantovani or Joe Cocker?’” he adds - perhaps betraying his 62 years.

In a challenge to specialists HMV and Game, Best Buy also plans to sell DVDs, games and CDs in its British shops, while its website will offer downloads. It plans to wheedle its way into consumers’ affections by emailing them when their favourite artist - in Willett’s case, Cocker - is touring or has a new album out.

Best Buy says it has delayed opening in the UK as playing a waiting game is working in its favour, with talks progressing on more than 30 stores, according to property sources. It is negotiating rent deals 20% to 30% below original estimates as landlords struggle to find tenants for recession-hit premises. To succeed, Best Buy needs to keep fixed costs such as rent to a minimum, as it has calculated it costs 40% more to operate stores in the UK than in the US.

Willett warns a debut could drift further into 2010, arguing that it would be folly to be held to an particular date. The company intends to be a multichannel retailer from the word go and will launch its website in tandem with the first batch of stores, opening enough to give it national scope.

He says it is wrong for analysts to focus on store openings, as the internet is key to growth - web sales are rising faster here than in the US.

“Up to a third of our business will be done on the web, so you don’t need hundreds of stores,” he says. “There are 130 main towns in this country. It’s inconceivable that you’d need more [stores] than that and the likelihood is it will be a lot less.” He adds that the strategy in the current tough sales climate is to “sweat” both retailers’ existing assets, by making products usually seen in Best Buy’s American outlets increasingly available in Carphone stores.

He believes customers spend more when channels work in harmony. “You do better on the web if you have a store base and vice verse.”

Willett often plays the straight Brit to the genial American charm of Best Buy’s outgoing chief executive Brad Anderson, with the pair often sharing the stage at conferences. Anderson, who planned to follow his father into the church but dropped out to work in a music store, now opts to give sermons on customer service. Willett, who started his career at Marks & Spencer, bangs the drum about Best Buy’s IT and supply chain systems.

The duo seem an unlikely fit with Carphone founder Charles Dunstone, but all parties say the companies are “kindred spirits”, with Anderson joking that he knows a meeting is going well when Dunstone stops texting.

Anderson’s manner belies his tough-guy credentials and Best Buy’s potential to be a serious competitor in the UK. This year it saw off its biggest rival, Circuit City, which has failed to emerge from bankruptcy protection. In his six years as chief executive of Best Buy, it more than doubled sales to $40bn. It also forged long-standing relationships with major suppliers such as Sony, Apple and Microsoft. As Anderson says: “Our price promise is in our brand. You’re in big trouble if you’re called Best Buy and you don’t deliver on price.”

But Anderson will hand over to trusted lieutenant Brian Dunn this summer. Best Buy’s domestic market remains in turmoil and last week it emerged that it is changing its American staff structure in a way that could lead to hundreds more job losses.

Willett has said he expects Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, to give Best Buy a rough ride. In some ways it will mirror the supermarket by opening different types of outlets, from giant superstores to high street shops, alongside Carphone’s existing stores, which will increasingly offer Best Buy products such as laptops and PC accessories as well as mobile phones. Best Buy may also bring some of its other retail brands, which include Canadian electronics giant Future Shop and audio-video outlet Magnolia.

So the Americans are coming: just not yet. With the first Best Buy stores due in April next year, Willett says: “It is not about speed - we don’t want to go the way most retailers go in international markets, which is down the Swanee. In the US we have opened 100 stores in a year and can gain scale very fast.

Nissan has promised to supply its highway-legal electric vehicles to the Phoenix area, as well as the previously announced Tucson area, for public and private fleets by the end of 2010, the Renault-Nissan Alliance plans to announce Thursday.

An artist's rendering of what Ecotality fast-charging commercial stations may look like. (Credit: Ecotality)

“This is a deployment well in excess of a couple hundred,” said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America.

In anticipation of Nissan’s municipal and eventual commercial electric vehicle (EV) launch, the energy technology company Ecotality plans to also announce on Thursday an expansion of its chain of electric charging stations beyond the Tucson Metro area stations it announced in March.

The total plan, which includes partnerships with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) and Pima Association of Governments (PAG), is that Ecotality will create an electric plug-in infrastructure corridor encompassing the greater metropolitan areas of both Phoenix (Maricopa County) and Tucson (Pima County), as well as the 116-mile stretch between them along the Interstate 10 highway.

Using a 480-volt rapid-charge option, Nissan’s EV-02 prototype–which has the battery pack and motor that will be used in the final commercial version–can charge up to 80 percent capacity in about 26 minutes, according to Perry.

Ecotality’s CEO Jonathan Read said charging up at its SAE Level 3 (440V) fast-charging stations may actually even be a little quicker in practice.

Ecotality’s fast-charging commercial stations may look similar to those Ecotality stations used for typical private off-road EV fleets.
(Credit: Ecotality)

“Nissan’s conservative. We believe that generally the charge time can be 15-20 minutes, given most people are not going to run to zero. I almost dare you to try to get a Starbucks in less than 15 minutes. It’s really conducive to a stop for a beverage, a quick shop, a stop at the pharmacy, so we’re going to position these where people normally stop for a few minutes anyway,” said Read.

In addition to commercial charging stations, there are also plans to work with local utilities to install 220-volt outlets in the garages of would-be EV owners. At those outlets, Nissan’s EV would take an average 4 hours to recharge from zero to full capacity, according to Perry.

But you won’t have to be a Nissan customer per se to get a charge from an Ecotality-built station in Arizona.

“Our charging stations are going to be agnostic; they’ll work on any battery in any vehicle that adheres to the SAE standards. So while Nissan will be the first here, they’ll attach to any vehicle that comes along,” said Read.

Phoenix and Tucson residents may actually have cooperative community leaders to thank for the EV opportunity, if Nissan is to be believed.

Never underestimate the value of municipalities that get along with each other, their utilities, and the private sector when embarking on projects that require permitting, said Perry.

“Phoenix had all the things we were looking for in a launch market: High consumer interest, but really something you shouldn’t underestimate (is) a regional planning authority that has a history of working well together and moving things forward in a coordinated fashion to make Phoenix plug-in ready. Plus, we have support from the utility companies. Plus interest from the private sector, support from Ecotality, and major employers interested in participating. When those factors are there, that’s what you want,” said Perry.

Perry said he’s seen interest from companies who’d like to provide employees with free charging stations in their parking facilities as part of a sustainability plan.

Ecotality, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., had another logical reason.

“We actually have a long and storied history in electric here. We worked on charging stations for the old EV1s before they were crunched by General Motors,” said Read, referring to Ecotality’s subsidiary eTec.

While the charging equipment was made by Delphi, eTec installed many of the residential charging stations for General Motors’ EV1 customers in the Southwest, particularly Arizona, as well as some public charging stations, according to Ecotality

Source CNET

The new Nissan EV02 is Testing the US market for EV's

Tack on Phoenix, Arizona to the growing list of U.S. cities that plan on developing an electric vehicle (EV) charging network with guidance from Renault-Nissan. The car company, which will sell its lithium-ion powered EVs to commercial customers starting next year, recently signed on Tucson, Arizona, as well. Now Nissan will work on an EV charging corridor between the two cities.

As part of Nissan’s plan, energy technology company Ecototality will build the 116-mile corridor along the Interstate 10 highway. Nissan will also work with Phoenix-area utilities to install 220-volt outlets in EV owners’ homes. Don’t think Nissan is trying to corner you into buying their brand–the company’s charging stations work on batteries in any vehicle that is up to SAE standards.

If you are interested in checking out Nissan’s EVs, they’ll be on the road in 2012 for retail customers. Nissan’s EV-02 prototype can charge up to 80% capacity in 26 minutes (the Tesla Model S charges fully in 45 minutes).

Nissan has already signed on a number of cities, states, and countries to its EV charging station program, including San Diego, California, and Sonoma County, California, as well as Oregon, Tennessee, Israel, Monaco, and the U.K. But Nissan isn’t the only company with dreams of building a worldwide charging network. Shai Agassi’s Better Place is working on networks in Israel, Ontario, and San Francisco. Here’s to even more competition–the faster these companies scramble to set up charging networks, the faster EVs become practical for everyday use.

Source- Fast Company

US conglomerate General Electric, which is viewed as a barometer for the health of the US economy, has reported a 35% fall in quarterly profit.

GE boss Jeff Immelt says the firm is performing well despite the recession

Profit in the first three months of 2009 slid to $2.8bn (£1.9bn) from $4.4bn a year earlier.

However, the decline was less than analysts had been expecting.

The recession hurt sales in most areas of GE’s business, which range from jet engines to household appliances and financial services to television.

Jeff Immelt the company’s chief executive said he would cut costs by more than $5bn in 2009.

“Amid a continued weak economy, we’re performing well,” he said.

GE has had a tough first quarter. It was forced to cut its dividend payment for the first time since 1938 and its top credit rating was downgraded.

GE’s finance unit GE Capital has been hit because it makes a wide variety of loans, including mortgages, that have since seen their value plummet.

The economic downturn has also hit its industrial unit, which makes aircraft engines, home appliances, light bulbs and wind turbines.
Source-BBC News

The Republic of Ireland’s electricity board expects to create up to 3,700 energy jobs in the next five years.

The ESB said new energy technologies were driving the investment, which will see 800 apprentices being taken on.

The firm said 1,300 external jobs could be sustained by projects such as electric car chargers and wind energy.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said: “This is a major step in advancing the government’s commitment to building Ireland’s smart economy.”

He added: “The announcement shows that we are delivering on that vision and providing new and sustainable jobs for current and future generations.”

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan said: “Today we are stimulating the economy, shortening the dole queues and helping the environment at the same time.”

The Republic of Ireland has been hit by the worst recession in decades, with the rate of unemployment rising to 11% in February, the highest since 1996.
Source-BBC News

Ultra-green vehicles at heart of £250m plan to slash UK’s carbon emissions.

Electric vehicle on Charge Post

Consumers are to be offered incentives of up to £5,000 to purchase an electric car under government plans to be unveiled today that will also see the creation of electric car cities across the UK and the launch of large-scale experiments with ultra-green vehicles.

The proposals are part of a £250m strategy, seen by the Guardian, spelling out a revolution in Britain’s road transport network based on ultra-low carbon vehicles. It will be launched today by Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, and Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, with the aim of kickstarting the market for cleaner road vehicles and slashing the UK’s CO2 emisisons.
The new breed of electric car. Link to this audio

Hoon said yesterday that decarbonising road transport had a big role in helping the UK meet its targets of reducing CO2 emissions by 26% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. “Something like 35% of all our carbon emissions are caused by domestic transport,” he said. “Of that, 58% of the emissions are caused by motor cars.”

The focus of the strategy, in the first instance, would be on urban transport. “Given that 60% of journeys by car are under 25 miles, there’s no reason why someone using a car for commuting on a regular basis will not be able to charge up their car at home, take it to work and come home again well within the distance an electric vehicle should be able to travel,” Hoon said.

The cash incentive for consumers would be available to offset the higher upfront costs of electric cars, in particular the price of the batteries in modern vehicles. How the money would be distributed is yet to be decided but Hoon said it would be available only to people buying cars that ran entirely, or for the vast majority of their time, on electricity. The scheme, which would be enforced by setting a ceiling for the amount of CO2 a car emits, will become operational in 2011.

“What we’ve got to get people used to is the idea that electric cars will become quite normal, quite usual,” said Hoon. “That it won’t be exceptional and, without being unkind to existing electric vehicles, they won’t be slightly odd, they will be cars that conform to appropriate safety standards and we can use on an everyday basis.”

Part of this attempt to habitualise people to electric cars will be to offer various models to the public to try out. The government’s strategy proposes £20m to foster a core of cities and regions interested in developing an infrastructure to charge electric vehicles.

In addition, about 200 electric cars will be available in city centres across the country for the public to try out.

“It may well be that one of the ways forward is for a city to offer itself as a model for demonstration because we’re still at that stage where we’ve got to persuade people that this can be something that is easy, regular, predictable and not something difficult,” said Hoon.

Last week Boris Johnson, the London mayor, announced his intention to make the capital a showcase for electric car technology by putting 100,000 electric cars on the roads. Hoon said he was looking at ways of contributing to the mayor’s £60m plan. The government aims to begin work on a national infrastructure but expects the private sector to take the lead in building the charging networks needed for mass adoption of electric vehicles.

Car manufacturers are a key part of the strategy: £100m will be available for research to car makers. “What we want to see is the UK firmly in the lead in the manufacturing sense because we want to ensure the incentives … benefit, broadly, manufacturing in the UK,” said Hoon.

The government also wants to find ways to support the ongoing costs of electric cars. “We are looking at ways we can continue to support [electric car owners], perhaps, the cost of the batteries - leasing or renting them - there are various options around,” said Hoon. “It’s that part that could incentivise consumers to buy an electric vehicle.” John Loughhead, executive director of the UK Energy Research Centre, welcomed the government’s move. “It has developed for itself some high aspirations in the role the UK is going to play …” he said. “But the question really is it doesn’t tell you exactly how they’re going to do it.”
Source- Guardian UK

BYD Auto has been the poster child for electric cars in China ever since Warren Buffett invested in the company back in September. But in recent months new players, including the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Daimler AG and battery maker Electrovaya, have come onto the scene as well — making China look more and more likely to give electric cars a strong push into the mass market.

Plug-ins are slated to hit the Chinese market in earnest over the next few years. BYD’s plug-in hybrid F3DM went on sale (for fleet operators) late last year, and it’s supposed to launch its first all-electric model — the E6 — in the second half of 2009. Nissan announced plans in November to start selling electric cars in the country by 2012. On Friday, the Renault-Nissan Alliance said it expects to roll out electric cars (and charging infrastructure) as part of a pilot project in central China’s Wuhan by 2011. In February, China’s Chery Automobile unveiled an electric concept car at the Detroit Auto Show.

Some of these companies are also working on electric models for the U.S. market. BYD plans to sell its electric E6 and a plug-in hybrid sedan in the U.S. by 2011. Renault-Nissan has started working with governments and utilities in California and Oregon to gear up for regional electric vehicle rollouts next year. Daimler, which is working on an electric version of its Smart Fortwo, has just introduced the gas version in China, joining a league of lower-priced lookalikes.

The big boon for automakers and battery suppliers — and consumers looking for more affordable alt-fuel cars — would be scale: China has the world’s second-largest car market (it exceeded U.S. sales for the third month in a row in March), and as the Wall Street Journal reports, the government is determined to help it grow an average of 10 percent a year for the next three years. If plug-ins take off among Chinese consumers, it could help companies drive down production costs with higher volumes — whether by selling their own vehicles or benefiting from battery suppliers’ economies of scale.

But there’s a bit of a Catch-22: Prices remain high for mass adoption in China. With a price tag of roughly $22,000, BYD’s F3DM — available only to fleet operators at this point — is too costly for companies to go for it en masse. According to reports from Chinese media picked up by AutoblogGreen and GM-Volt today, BYD has sold just 80 F3DM units in four months.

BYD aims to bring that price down to about $16,000 through higher production volumes, helped along by U.S. and EU buyers. That would put the F3DM well below GM’s $40,000 Chevy Volt and competitive with Honda’s 2010 Insight, expected to have a base price of just under $20,000. According to Fortune magazine’s cover story this week, BYD’s cost-cutting moves so far include hiring people to assemble batteries instead of buying the $100,000 robotic arms used by Japanese competitors, flying executives in coach for business travel and putting them up in suburban rentals instead of posh downtown hotels for events.

For those of you ready to hit the comment button and point out that China gets most of its energy from coal, which means electric cars would be plugging right into dirty energy, some food for thought: Taking a gas-powered car off the road in China and replacing it with an electric one would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 19 percent, according to a MicKinsey report noted recently in the New York Times. Think it’s a bad trade? The floor is yours.

Source -Earth2Tech

The makers of batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles are getting some big incentives to move their companies here to Michigan.

Tuesday Governor Jennifer Granholm signed more legislation to encourage them to open factories here.

It means one thing, jobs- about 6,600 of them- and with the state unemployment rate hovering near 12 percent, thats good news for Michiganders.

“It’s not a question that the electric vehicle is going to be built, the question is where?” said Governor Granholm.

The answer is Michigan.

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority unanimously approved battery cell manufacturing tax credits for four companies Tuesday including Johnson Controls, LG Chem, Dow Chemical and A123 Systems.

Martin Dober of the MEDC says the tax credits are what won the business.

“A lot of other states have been competing for these projects, and I can say pretty confidently that at least two of the projects announced today would have gone to other states if not for these incentives Michigan put together,” Dober said.

In order to get that tax credit each company must create at least 300 jobs, and Chrysler, who has partnered with A123 systems, says they’ll create one thousand jobs immediately.

“It’ll bring jobs to Michigan, it also keep the infrastructure here in the US. One of the issues with electric vehicles is the key component for the electrification don’t exist in high volumes so commitments from Michigan and commitments from our suppliers and Chrysler allows us to bring jobs and infrastructure here,” said Lou Rhodes of Chrysler.

Governor Granholm hopes that bringing the infrastructure here will rebrand Michigan.

“There is no doubt that we are presenting the best of the best in the country. There is nowhere else that you will be able to find the intensity of reasearch and developement that you find in Michigan,” Granholm said.

Taking the state from the rust belt all the way to a green technology hub.

While this is big news, the governor urged these companies to apply for the $2 billion in federal funds that are available for advanced battery solutions.

She says the battery cell industry is projected to be a 18 to 20 billion dollar market by the year 2020