Archive for May, 2009

Sir Terry Leahy plans to win over consumers with carbon labelling, charging points in car parks and zero-emission stores
The picturesque town of Ramsey, on the edge of the Fens in Cambridgeshire, is an unusual setting for a ground-breaking project.

Ramsey’s history, which dates back to 969AD, is dominated by an abbey. Today all that remains is its ruins, but the town is about to be given a new landmark - and it could have an even greater significance for generations to come.

Tesco is to build the world’s first zero-carbon store in the town, and the company hopes the building will act as a template that can be rolled out internationally.

From the outside it will look much the same as other Tesco stores. Inside, though, it will be quite different. The single biggest addition at the wood-built store will be a combined heat and power plant that will create surplus energy to sell back to the grid. It is 25% more expensive than a conventional system, but the payback in energy savings more than justifies the premium. For Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, one of the world’s biggest retailers, the new zero-carbon store is another sign that his firm is championing the green cause to cut the world’s carbon emissions.

Leahy is adamant that change can be achieved quicker through better information and greater consumer choice, than by tax and regulation. He believes government intervention could be the worst thing.

“The danger is people are so taxed already that every time green is mentioned it is with a new tax that just switches people off the whole subject. How can you contemplate the future if the promise is tax and regulation? Who is going to buy into that?”

He believes business must lead the way, but society has to understand that going green does not mean low growth. “You are only going to grow your way to it. To do it any other ways runs counter to how economies work,” he said.

It is a theme Leahy will address in a keynote speech this week at the London School of Economics. Ahead of that lecture he told The Sunday Times: “It is the same as anything else in a modern economy. It starts with the consumer getting interested in the subject. As Arnie Schwarzenegger [governor of California] has said, ‘you have got to make it cool to be green’ and not make it worthy. You have to encourage people to want to consume the same as other people.

“The history of periods when governments have tried to plan an economy is not encouraging. When regulation seeks to dictate the direction an economy takes - however noble a goal climate change is - it is not going to work,” he said.

“You have to find a way of getting economies to grow in a green way. I think too much of this debate is about how much growth should we give up to be green. This is the wrong approach because the risk you run in the West as a result is low growth or no growth. The bigger risk is [that going green] will be ignored by China or India because they are simply not going to adopt any policies that are no-growth.”

The new store in Ramsey is one of several initiatives by Tesco, which was the highest scoring supermarket in this year’s Sunday Times Best Green Companies awards. Its intention is for all stores now being built to emit half the carbon of an equivalent one in 2006.

Tesco is also planning to provide top-up charging facilities for electric cars in its car parks - it is currently studying two pilot schemes in London, one in Kensington, the other in Vauxhall. The plan is to build a network of charging points and the group is already holding talks with a number of local councils.

And it is extending its carbon labelling. At present Tesco labels 100 products with information on their carbon footprint but this will now be extended to milk, bread and recycled paper. The ambitious goal is for all products to eventually be labelled so that consumers know how much carbon was emitted in their production. In the case of milk, the company is aiming to work with the Sustainable Consumption Institute to find new types of animal feed that would help reduce the vast emissions of the dairy industry.

Leahy said: “One of the miracles of modern society is that products can be made all over the world with lots of different raw materials and yet there is a process [cost accounting] by which each product can be correctly priced for the consumer.

“We have to create similar things for carbon accounting - so, wherever it is made, we know the cost. This allows customers to make choices . . . If products are carbon priced and accounted, consumers can adjust their behaviour.

“Food retailers are right in the centre of the main process of consumption in society. Consumers account for 60% of carbon emissions. It is not about denying that, it is about what are we going to do about it. You can’t have less consumption. You need a different consumption. You can’t have less growth. It has to be green growth.”

Leahy said carbon labelling should not be seen as carbon rationing: “If the whole thing is taking something away without providing an incentive for something else, it is not going to work. But if you say to someone ‘here is a better life, a low carbon life’, you will get more consumption and a growing economy.”

Leahy has already seen how quickly behaviour can be changed. In a single week this year Tesco sold more low-ener-gy light bulbs than it did in the whole of 2006. This was achieved through promotion and pricing. Similarly, its new recycling centres have tripled the amount left by customers.

Leahy also refers to the success his group has had with carrier bags. In Ireland, the government imposed a tax of 15 cents on a bag to reduce the amount used by customers, whereas in Britain Tesco simply offered an incentive of one Clubcard green point - equivalent to one penny - for every reused bag. The success rate, said Leahy, proves that an incentive is ten times more effective. So far more than 9.5m customers have benefited from the scheme.

“You can’t tax petrol more than we have already but people are still driving around in great big gas guzzlers. It is not until you incentivise and motivate them through information and choice that you get them to say it is cool to drive a small car or it is cool to drive a low-carbon one.”

In the green race, Britain lags countries such as Denmark and Sweden but Leahy believes that this country can catch up and needs to set an example for the developing world to follow.

“If we are only able to demonstrate that there is a future of tax and regulation and limited growth in order to achieve sus-tainability, China and India won’t buy into it. We have to show how modern economics, modern marketing and distribution and competition actually encourage people to consume the same.”

Tesco is not alone among the food retailers in trying to lead the green agenda. Because of its international reach, though, if it can make people rethink their approach it will touch a lot of consumers and have a real impact. What Leahy wants to do is harness that influence.

“Whenever there is big coming change you need to be at the forefront to make it work for you. I am a marketing man by background and that is what marketing is. When people have new needs there is an opportunity.”

At Tesco, the company is already using double-decker lorries to cut delivery journeys and, like other food retailers, is also using other approaches - biofuels, rail transport, even the canal network.

Marks & Spencer, J Sainsbury and Asda, meanwhile, are all pioneering their own green projects. These have been well received by customers but Leahy’s comments that green must not be at the expense of growth will strike a chord.

The consumer will drive demand and that in turn will create competition between companies to come up with greener goods. The CBI, the employers’ organisation, is a supporter of this approach - but the government must buy into it as well.

In the end, though, it comes down to information: “If people don’t know the carbon content of their lifestyle,” said Leahy, “how can they make a difference?”

EASY TO DIGEST
MARKS & SPENCER has agreed a three-year contract with Shanks to convert its food waste into electricity. The deal, to be unveiled shortly, is part of the store group’s drive to eliminate landfill by 2012.

M&S produces some 116,000 tonnes of waste per year. Under the deal with Shanks, the waste-management group will process food waste in anaerobic digesters, which break it down into methane gas and solid material. The methane can be used as fuel for power plants.

All the big supermarkets have announced initiatives to slash waste amid growing customer concern over climate change. Sainsbury has pledged to be landfill-free by July. Source: Timesonline London

Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket group, is backing electric cars. The food retailer is to start providing charging facilities in its car parks for battery-powered vehicles.

The new initiative, which will start in London, could be rolled out nationally if it proves a success with customers.

It underlines the priority that all retailers are placing on promoting green issues.

Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco’s chief executive, told The Sunday Times: “As Arnie Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, has said, ‘you have to make it cool to be green’.
“Businesses have to show how the consumer can make a difference.”

Tesco will test the electric-car facility at two stores. The intention is to recharge a battery within two hours, but it is in talks with several companies to see if this can be shortened.

In a speech this week at the London School of Economics, Leahy will say tax and regulation are not the way to make consumers convert to a greener lifestyle.

“The danger is people are so taxed already that every time green is mentioned it is with a new tax that just switches people off the whole subject.”

As part of its drive to cut carbon emissions, Tesco will also announce that it is to build the world’s first zero-carbon store in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire.
Source:

Nissan is enduring hard times right now and is seeking $1.1 billion in low interest loans from the U.S. Government to help fund their hybrid and electric vehicle programs.

The government has set aside $25 billion in funding to help support advanced technologies in the automotive field. These technologies apply to electric vehicle, alternative fuel vehicles, and other advancements that produce a low emission vehicle.

Nissan has been regarded as a leader by many in the electric vehicle field. They have set up agreements with many states in the U.S. and countries throughout the world. The agreement aims to provide charging infrastructures for electric vehicles in the near future through programs that aim to put electric vehicles on the streets nearly everywhere.

Now Nissan needs help in their efforts and according to several source will be approve for the loan. When approved, Nissan will move forward quickly with their EV plans and hopes to become the front runner in the EV race.

The company is seeking an additional $1.1 billion from the Development Bank of Japan, a bank backed by the nation, and has previously borrowed over $500 million from the Japanese government.

Hopefully, the additional funds will allow Nissan to push forward and development the electric infrastructure that they have laid out plans for across the U.S
Source: Edmunds

As Washington debates climate change, a lot of utility company CEOs have assumed high-profile roles: Jim Rogers of Duke Energy is appearing in commercials with the Environmental Defense Fund, David Crane of NRG Energy has emerged as a leading advocate for nuclear power and Michael Morris of American Electric Power, the nation’s biggest coal-burning utility, naturally talks up clean coal.

David Sokol, the chairman of an Iowa-based utility holding company called MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which is 80 percent owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has for the most part been quieter. But Sokol and MidAmerican Energy have been positioning their business for a low-carbon future. MidAmerican’s investments in wind power mean that it generates more power from renewable source than any other regulated utility, as best as I can tell. It was Sokol, at Buffett’s request, who engineered MidAmerican’s investment in BYD, the Chinese battery-maker and auto company that is building low-cost electric cars. (See Warren Buffett Takes Charge, my story about BYD that ran last month in FORTUNE.) And now there’s more news from MidAmerican, and you heard it here first: The company will soon begin testing batteries from BYD that, if all goes well, could store electricity on a large scale at a reasonable cost.

That’s a big deal.

“We’ve never really had storage capability on utility systems,” Sokol told me recently, by phone. “Given the progress BYD has made on the technology of batteries for electric vehicles, the question is, how do we ramp that technology up so that we can use it for multiple purposes in the utility world?

“Probably the most obvious is the ability to store intermittent renewable resources, such as wind or solar,” Sokol said.

Put simply, cheap battery storage at scale would address one of the biggest drawbacks to wind and solar energy, which is that, unlike coal or nuclear power, they are unpredictable — you can only make electricity when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.

“If you can store electricity when the wind blows, and have it available when you need it, that argument goes away,” Sokol says. But he cautions: “There’s a fair bit of distance between here and there.”

Just a few details: This fall, MidAmerican will build a 2 megawatt storage facility using BYD batteries at an existing substation in Portland, Oregon, where it operates the local utility, Pacific Power. BYD, meanwhile, is building a bigger storage facility in China, and plans to build a third one in a still-undisclosed location on in southern California. That’s about all I can tell you because BYD is reluctant to talk about its research.

The 2 megawatts of battery storage in Portland will allow MidAmerican to test BYD batteries to see how well they charge, what control systems are needed to discharge the electricity and to analyze their reliability and cost. “It will let us do a fair amount of testing to understand the economics of a 100 or 200 megawatt storage facility to back up wind,” Sokol says.

Currently, electricity can’t be stored economically on a large scale except in systems that pump water uphill, then release it to generate hydropower. So-called pumped-storage systems, however, often consume more energy than they generate; they make sense only because water can be pumped uphill using cheap off-peak power, then released so the electricity can be sold during periods of peak demand when prices are higher.

Low-cost battery storage would be a dramatic improvement over pumped storage for many reasons, not the least of which is that the batteries could be located in urban areas where electricity demand is high.

Sokol has credibility when he talks about energy and environmental issues, in part because of his association with the plain-spoken Buffett but mostly because of MidAmerican’s own track record. “For the last six years, we have been very focused on trying to move our overall portfolio to the lowest carbon footprint possible,” he says. “We’re building every wind and geothermal project that we are able to.” A thoughtful and unpretentious Omaha native, Sokol is a student of business and author of a slim and insightful volume of management advice called Pleased But Not Satisfied. MidAmerican, whose subsidiaries provide electricity and natural gas to nearly 7 million customers in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain states and the UK, had about $12.7 billion in revenue last year.

About 24 percent of MidAmerican’s generating capacity now comes from renewable or noncarbon fuel sources, including wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass. About 50 percent comes from burning coal, which is about the same as the U.S. average, but its PacifiCorp subsidiary caused a stir back at the end of 2007 when it said it would scrap plans for new coal-fired power plants in Wyoming and Utah, in part because of concerns about climate change.

When we met last December in New York, Sokol explained to me that he is a big believer in electric cars because electric engines are far more efficient than those that burn gasoline. An all-electric vehicle–even one powered by today’s U.S. mix of electricity generation — produces about 20 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions of a gasoline-powered car that gets 20 miles per gallon. As battery prices come down, electric cars will be both cheaper to drive and cleaner than today’s fleet. Just this week, BYD and Volkswagen agreed to work together on electric cars.

Sokol nevertheless opposes the Waxman-Markey climate change bill approved last week by the House energy committee. In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, he wrote that the legislation will place an undue burden on consumers because it requires utilities to pay for allowances to emit CO2 and creates a complex and unnecessary trading scheme:

The real hidden catch of the cap-and-trade system, though, is that it will require consumers to pay twice: first for emission allowances and then for the construction of new low- and zero-carbon power plants.

Sokol did say, however, that the electricity sector can achieve the 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 mandated by the bill. Getting there will require advanced technologies like the electric cars, large-scale batteries and solar photovoltaic panels being developed by BYD.

Founded in 1995, BYD now employs 130,000 people in 11 factories, eight in China and one each in India, Hungary, and Romania. If nothing else, the company has demonstrated that it can move fast. “Working with them,” Sokol says, “is sort of like watching bamboo grow.”

San Diego, May 27th, 2009

By Angus Clark-CEO, Evoasis/EVSTAT

An EVolution is happening in London, England

London, England is quickly becoming an EV epicenter (epicentre for you Brits) and as such, has had to begin to think-through the issue of EV charging infrastructure in a more immediate and purposeful way than most cities. Notwithstanding London’s desire to be perceived as an eco-friendly city and responsible host of the coming Summer 2012 Olympic Games, the natural tendency to take advantage of  relaxed parking fees, congestion charges, road taxes and other benefits for EV drivers has made London a test bed and template for the future adoption of electric cars. The first player on the field was Reva, an Indian company who has managed to sell well over 1000 of their G-Wiz neighborhood electric vehicles (NEV’s) to early-adopting Londoner’s who have made this less-than-stylish (read ugly) little chap an instant icon in the EV world.

Helpful to this movement is a guy named Boris; Boris Johnson-Mayor of London to be exact. Boris Johnson may also become an icon to the EV world, putting enthusiasm into a business that was badly in need of a sponsor city, while adding enough economic incentives to give the market a well-timed nudge into reality. While not yet a “God” to guys like us-He is not actually paying us to come to London and deploy as such; positive spin followed by tangible action on the part of his implementation teams have created a “causeway” (it is a cause after all) into the City and opened up the real possibility of executing a successful business plan around electric vehicle sales, services and support functions for a number of companies. That at least qualifies him for Sainthood and I will refer to him as St. Boris The EVangelist in all official correspondence to him now and in the future.

St. Boris The EVangelist-The Man, The Myth, The Mayor

While assuring that the Mayor will never get my mail, I also credit several of London’s borough’s with early support of EV charging infrastructure, first and foremost, the Borough of Westminster, who have also recognized the value of supporting these pioneering measures by making areas in the city, zones for placement of Level II curbside charging stations. The Mayor’s office has announced plans to allow private companies to install as many as 25,000 curbside points in the greater London area.

To understand the impact of curbside charging as supporting infrastructure to the EV owner/operator vs purpose-built, multi-point station models, a number of “floating point” variables must be taken into account.

1. Charging times-Curbside is limited to relatively low voltage/low amperage service due to the limited “shore power” on hand which in the UK is typically 208 VDC 30 amps. Still double that of US plugs but not in the fast-charge regime by any stretch, so expect curbside to be a 3-4 hour event/occurrence. Another way of looking at that would be to say each point has an 8 car/day potential as a source. With cars moving on and off and “empty time”, that’s really likely closer to 6 cars/day, assuming one might be “camped on it overnight”. Many residents in London do not have access to off-street parking and have curbside residential parking stickers which allow them to occupy the space overnight.

2. 25,000 curbside points will draw power from the grid during all parts of the day further draining the resources of an already overtaxed power supply infrastructure. It used to be peak-heating which was driving the demand in England-remember, it’s a cold place; however, in recent years this has flipped, becoming peak-cooling instead. Whether this is due to global warming or too much structural glass, geothermal effects or too much hot air from Parliament the net result is that peak energy loads occur in the daytime hours and London is not unused to Summer “brownouts” similar to those that have crippled the Eastern seaboard of the US on a number of recent occasions.  We assume due to the scale and scope of the project, an installed cost of 25,000 charging points would cost 10K USD per point, installed, or 250 Million dollars; not an insignificant investment by any definition. As London charges $6/Hour for parking in many areas, expect parking revenues to be reduced dramatically, as currently, EV owners get a huge break on parking their cars. EV parking year round goes for about $150 dollars a year total cost, so is a huge financial incentive. It’s unclear how long this incentive will remain in the offing. Not forever for sure.

So let’s do some basic arithmetic: 25,000 points servicing an average of 6 cars per day gives you a potential of 150,000 cars per day throughput.

Let’s look at some attributes of the EVSTAT station model.

EVSTAT Stations store power during off-peak and deliver during on-peak, keeping the facility independent from the utility grid during peak-demand cycles

Average cost to bring a station online and operational is 5 Million USD-EVSTAT uses stored energy to provide power during the day. This energy is taken in to the storage bunker at night from a sub-station, to be used for vehicle charging and facility power during dawn-to-evening peak usage times.

EVSTAT stations have a 7000 square foot “footprint” with 24 charging points on the inside perimeter and 48 on the outside perimeter, for a total of 72 points which can all deliver up to 500 volt, 200 amp DC supply, giving the average fast-charge capable EV an 80% top-up in 20 minutes.

Vehicle throughput is 2.5 cars per charge “pump” per hour for an average daily potential of 4,320 cars per day/per EVSTAT station. As curbside can deliver roughly 150,000 cars per day throughput for 250 Million dollars invested, it would require 34.7 EVSTAT locations be built in the greater London area to equal this throughput. Cost of 34.7 stations would be 173.5 Million dollars of capital expenditure.

As the EVSTAT stations are “off-grid” during peak-demand utility times, they would not be a net-negative in the power delivery/usage equation. They also can be used for load balancing by the utilities, with a much more practical “well of power” than the Vehicle-to-Grid schemes currently being explored. Better to go to 37 points for power-draw than 25,000 points, some of which are occupied/operational and others not.

BUT the BIG point is this-You cannot safely perform high-voltage fast-charging at curbside locations, so that’s off the table right away.

EVSTAT stations can make use of used EV batteries which, while no longer efficient after a few years as car power packs, are still half-life capable storage devices, when placed in a large matrix with their peers. While not a final recycling operation, EVSTAT stations can eke out the last useful drops of power from these units for several years, prior to sending them off for final disposal and treatment.

Safety is the first and foremost consideration when dealing with electric vehicle charging. You just don’t want the general public to be too involved in playing with high voltage electrical connections. EVSTAT stations mitigate this risk by providing purpose-built, ring-fenced and professionally staffed service facilities into the mix, while also giving the driver a comfortable, practical place to “hang-out” while waiting for their car to be topped-up.

It remains to be seen which models will be the most sustainable going forward. I expect it will be a “bit of everything” as is usually the case with essential services and transportation schemes. EVSTAT stations plan to be there for the short, medium and long-term developments in the EV industry.

Stay tuned for announcements from us in the near future.

See you all in London-in an EV

Angus

Nissan have announced the release of a new all-electric vehicle next year, but the styling of the car has yet to be finalized. Now, Nissan’s chief designer Shiro Nakamura has come out and provided a rendered speculation of the EV’s styling.

Car or Car-Toon? You've either got to love it or hate it

The new Nissan EV will shock viewers with its appearance, Nakamura claims, adding that this is a purposeful design to make sure the public knows that this is an all-electric car and not just a hybrid. The car will be avoiding the wedge-shape adopted by the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight and instead will let bespoke EV features make it distinguishable.

One of the more striking features is the car’s grille-less front, the electric drive-train doesn’t really need a grille but it still looks weird. Since there is no bulky engine up front, the car will also have a very low bonnet-line to aid aerodynamics and give it a bold appearance. The final ’subtle’ clue to car’s electric status is a recharging plug that will be visible on its nose, leaving no doubt about the power source.

While the car won’t be as constrained in its design as conventional vehicles, its designers still had to sit it on an existing Nissan platform. Because of this, the designers couldn’t fully exploit the design possibilities presented by the electric car, but this has also helped them keep costs of development down.

This fact will change in the future as Nissan develops specific platforms for electric vehicles and lets its designers work from scratch. For now, Nissan is hoping that its new design will be bold enough to stand out in the upcoming crowd of electric vehicles.

There is little doubt the Nissan EV will stand out but it may not be for the right reasons.
Source: Car and SUV-New Zealand

In its continuing effort to research and develop electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid models, U.S. automaker Chrysler submitted proposals totaling $448 million to the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Should the proposals be approved, the Department of Energy, Chrysler and its partners would pay $224 million each and would include an investment of up to $83 million to build a new technology and manufacturing center in Michigan to help develop and assemble these vehicles.

Chrysler said that complex would produce more than 20,000 vehicles a year and would be functional by 2010.

The Department of Energy has designed initiatives to speed up the development and manufacturing of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, which includes applications for matching funds.

Chrysler has been operating in bankruptcy since April 30.

The automaker plans to sell its most valuable assets to a new company owned by the U.S. and Canadian governments, Chrysler’s union and Italian car maker Fiat SpA. A judge is expected to rule on the proposed plan later this week.

Additionally, U.S. President Barack Obama last week announced tough new fuel economy standards for automakers.

Chrysler had the lowest fleet mileage of any of the major U.S. automakers as of 2007, when the company was still part of German automaker Daimler AG. That same year it also set up its ENVI unit to develop fuel-saving vehicle technology.

The new vehicles Chrysler plans to develop include the Dodge Ram 1500 plug-in hybrid, the Chrysler Town & Country plug-in hybrid and the Chrysler Town & Country electric vehicle.

Some $365 million for a national demonstration fleet of more than 365 test vehicles for select customers and partners would also be a part of the proposed plan.

Chrysler executive vice president for product development Frank Klegon said the plan would accelerate the company’s efforts to develop and manufacture electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

He suggested it would also reduce the amount of time it would take to get these vehicles on the road.

Hybrid plug-in vehicles have both a battery plus a conventional gasoline-powered engine
Source:RedOrbit.com

Last week, Volkswagen and Chinese automaker BYD signed a memorandum of understanding to work together “in the area of electric mobility” and vehicles that use li-ion batteries. BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu (yes, the guy who likes to drink battery fluid) and VW’s Martin Winterkorn signed the MOU in Wolfsburg, Germany.

2009 BYD F3DM plug-in hybrid-To go with VW Vaporwagon?

Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board for Technical Development at Volkswagen, said in a statement (available after the jump) that, “Hybrids and electric vehicles will play an increasingly important role [for VW], of course. Particularly for the Chinese market, potential partners such as BYD could support us in quickly expanding our activities.”

Perhaps VW was kicked into action by another German automaker taking a look at another EV automaker?
[Source: VW]

PRESS RELEASE:

Volkswagen and BYD sign memorandum of understanding

Partnership in the area of electric mobility to be explored
Wolfsburg, 25 May 2009 - During an informational visit by the Chinese carmaker BYD “Build Your Dreams” – led by the Chairman of the Board of Management, Wang Chuanfu – a memorandum of understanding was signed last week by Mr Wang and Dr Winterkorn.

Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board for Technical Development at Volkswagen, insisted on personally providing the delegation of Chinese top managers with information. The visit, which took place first at the Elektrotraktion Technology Centre in Isenbüttel and then at the test tracks in Wolfsburg, featured technical discussions and test drives with a variety of vehicles such as the Golf twinDrive and the prototype for an electric vehicle. “Volkswagen will consistently expand its successful ‘BlueMotionTechnologies’. Hybrids and electric vehicles will play an increasingly important role, of course. Particularly for the Chinese market, potential partners such as BYD could support us in quickly expanding our activities,” emphasised Dr Hackenberg.

Afterwards, the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Dr Martin Winterkorn, and the Chairman of the Board of Management of BYD, Wang Chuanfu, signed a memorandum of understanding. The objective of signing a memorandum of understanding between Volkswagen and BYD is to explore the options for partnership in the area of hybrids and electric vehicles powered by lithium batteries.
Sources: Volkswagen and AutoBlog.com

Hannah Elliott, Forbes.com

Everybody knows the auto world has shifted. The trick is divining which brands have got the gumption to last.

Now, with U.S. President Barack Obama’s new efficiency standards requiring a fleet-wide fuel economy average of 35.5 miles per gallon, automakers have their work cut out for them.

Domestic carmakers in particular are gearing up to battle forthcoming offerings from new-to-the-U.S. Fiat, with its diminutive 55.5-mile-per-gallon Fiat 500, and Chinese newcomer BYD, maker of the staid hybrid-electric F3DM sedan. Motor City had better get cracking. It takes four years to produce a market-ready vehicle, and a typical lifecycle for one model is seven years. While we wait to see what brands emerge victorious, Honda’s mod CR-Z and Ford’s “eco-boosted” Euro models point to the types of cars we can expect by 2014.

Just don’t get your hopes up for lots of choices when it comes to plug-in cars. Automakers insist there’s still much to improve about the humble combustion engine, and they plan to eek out all the improvement they can get.

Tom Plucinsky, a spokesman for BMW, says the company will bring a gasoline-powered and highly efficient X1 compact SUV to market by 2014.

“There’s no breakthrough,” Plucinsky says. “It’s all little things that can add up. We’ve made big advances over the last five years or so in the efficiency of the gasoline engine, but we think that there’s another 10 per cent there.”

BMW will find that 10 per cent by using smaller (read: lighter), forced-induction engines that generate more power. (Plucinsky says naturally aspirated engines will be relatively nonexistent by 2014). Ford and Mercedes have also said they’ll bring 4-cylinder, turbo-charged engines to the U.S. in the next several years.

Audi has joined the light-engine surge as well, committing to building a next-generation S5 that weighs hundreds of pounds less than the current version. Audi’s Bradley Stertz says advances in aluminum construction will lighten its load, making it more fuel-efficient.

In the meantime, Americans can expect a trickle of vehicles from afar. Italian-run Fiat and Alfa Romeo will likely have vehicles in U.S. showrooms by 2014. But the real news lies further east: China.

At the Detroit Auto Show Chinese automakers Brilliance and BYD (”Build Your Dreams”) showed cars that could eventually reach the states, perhaps branded under a different name. Geely and Chery are other Chinese automakers with ideas for expansion outside the East.

Lincoln Merrihew, senior vice president of business solutions for market research firm TNS, says he expects a China-made car to hit in five years or less.

“It’ll be a mixture of capabilities and bravado that will determine who comes in under their own flag,” Merrihew says.

Asia leads the green-power front. Nissan is testing battery-charging networks in Arizona, saying an unnamed electric vehicle will go on sale by late 2010. Toyota says it will sell one million gas-electric hybrids per year during the 2010s; Honda President Takeo Fukui has repeatedly said his company is most-heavily endorsing hydrogen technology.

Still, no one technology has emerged the clear winner. Sara Pines, a spokeswoman for Honda, says the company is experimenting with several possible solutions. Others say the as-yet undetermined carbon-emission standards in California will largely determine how automakers move forward.

That uncertainty has basically created a level playing field. Now it’ll come down to whether the upstarts can hang with the big boys.

Motor City had better get cracking. It takes four years to produce a market-ready vehicle, and a typical lifecycle for one model is seven years. While we wait to see what brands emerge victorious, Honda’s mod CR-Z and Ford’s “eco-boosted” Euro models point to the types of cars we can expect by 2014.

Just don’t get your hopes up for lots of choices when it comes to plug-in cars. Automakers insist there’s still much to improve about the humble combustion engine, and they plan to eek out all the improvement they can get.

Tom Plucinsky, a spokesman for BMW, says the company will bring a gasoline-powered and highly efficient X1 compact SUV to market by 2014.

“There’s no breakthrough,” Plucinsky says. “It’s all little things that can add up. We’ve made big advances over the last five years or so in the efficiency of the gasoline engine, but we think that there’s another 10 per cent there.”

BMW will find that 10 per cent by using smaller (read: lighter), forced-induction engines that generate more power. (Plucinsky says naturally aspirated engines will be relatively nonexistent by 2014). Ford and Mercedes have also said they’ll bring 4-cylinder, turbo-charged engines to the U.S. in the next several years.

Audi has joined the light-engine surge as well, committing to building a next-generation S5 that weighs hundreds of pounds less than the current version. Audi’s Bradley Stertz says advances in aluminum construction will lighten its load, making it more fuel-efficient.

In the meantime, Americans can expect a trickle of vehicles from afar. Italian-run Fiat and Alfa Romeo will likely have vehicles in U.S. showrooms by 2014. But the real news lies further east: China.

At the Detroit Auto Show Chinese automakers Brilliance and BYD (”Build Your Dreams”) showed cars that could eventually reach the states, perhaps branded under a different name. Geely and Chery are other Chinese automakers with ideas for expansion outside the East.

Lincoln Merrihew, senior vice president of business solutions for market research firm TNS, says he expects a China-made car to hit in five years or less.

“It’ll be a mixture of capabilities and bravado that will determine who comes in under their own flag,” Merrihew says.

Asia leads the green-power front. Nissan is testing battery-charging networks in Arizona, saying an unnamed electric vehicle will go on sale by late 2010. Toyota says it will sell one million gas-electric hybrids per year during the 2010s; Honda President Takeo Fukui has repeatedly said his company is most-heavily endorsing hydrogen technology.

Still, no one technology has emerged the clear winner. Sara Pines, a spokeswoman for Honda, says the company is experimenting with several possible solutions. Others say the as-yet undetermined carbon-emission standards in California will largely determine how automakers move forward.

That uncertainty has basically created a level playing field. Now it’ll come down to whether the upstarts can hang with the big boys.
Source:CTV Canada

Matt Majendie

* Last Updated: May 06. 2009 2:33PM UAE / May 6. 2009 10:33AM GMT

The traditional filling station finally has a rival and there’s not a petrol pump in sight. Evoasis, a US company, will later this year introduce its first charging station in a bid to revolutionise the electric car industry, and Abu Dhabi residents may soon get a chance to experience it first hand.

The Evoasis EVSTAT station-All cars can be charged with variable power delivery, particular to each one, in an optimized method

As it stands, there are too few plug-ins globally for electric cars to be truly viable, and it can take up to seven hours to charge a car Not any more.

Traditionally, the only plug-ins available have offered a meagre 220 volts. Evoasis’ charging stations will have the capacity for up to 500 volts at its 24-hour stations.

And instead of drivers having to wait hours for their cars to charge up, they can be fully charged in just 20 minutes. And while they wait, they can use facilities similar to regular service stations.

Angus Clark, the company’s CEO, is in talks with governments and companies around the world about the scheme. He is also planning to visit Abu Dhabi soon to talk with the organisers of Masdar City. He is interested in building a station at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, as well.

“I’m not quite sure what will happen in the Emirates just yet,” says Clark. “We’d love to have a charge station in Masdar City, another at the airport and then possibly something between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It’s not decided what route they’re going to take with regards to the electric cars, but they’ll need the infrastructure we can offer. Masdar City is particularly exciting for us.”

However, it is London that holds the key, acting as the test area for the system. At least one filling station is expected to be built there this year to service 24 cars at a time on the high-voltage setting and more look likely to follow in the capital in the immediate future.
Clark explains, “London is the perfect guinea pig. There’s the issue of the congestion charge, which doesn’t apply to electric cars, and massive road tax relief plus far cheaper parking. As a city, it’s a little bit more mature about electric cars than other places. It’s perfect for us as there are incentives for electric cars and it’s making big steps towards being a much greener city.”

A host of sites have been earmarked, most of which will be housed in railway stations, in part to aid commuters but also to tap into the high-voltage power required.

The centres will have more than 100 different cables to charge the various cars, which Clark admits is a pitfall but not necessarily a major problem.

“The cables thing is an issue as we’ll need to house all those cables but it’s a bit like having different mobile phone chargers, really,” he says. “It’s a difficulty but only initially. It’ll be very easy for attendants to change them and it won’t be a problem.”

The other issue is that the driving distance of electric cars is still not great compared with their petrol-powered rivals. However, Evoasis is working on the premise that battery power is on the verge of a major overhaul.

“The next generation of batteries will be on the market come 2012,” says Clark, “and car manufacturers know they need to improve the longevity of batteries to take electric cars to the masses. And I’m confident that will take off in a big way.”

As for the cost to customers, they will be charged at the London site about £2 (Dh11) per visit for charging up their cars. Should London work, as Clark confidently expects it to, other sites will follow globally. And he insists the company’s model is likely to be followed by others, a move he would welcome.

“We’d hope other companies would do the same thing,” he says. “We can’t do this globally ourselves and we’d hope there will be competitors. We don’t want to alienate anyone – we want to be able to include 99.9 per cent of the population.”

Source: The National News-UAE