BYD Adds Plug-In as China Gets Edge on Toyota, GM
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — BYD Co., the Chinese automaker backed by Warren Buffett, started selling the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid, gaining an edge on Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. in electric-powered vehicles.
The F3 DM can run for 100 kilometers (62 miles) using only batteries, Shenzhen-based BYD said in a statement today. Toyota plans to begin testing plug-ins, which can be recharged from household powerpoints, late next year, it said in August. GM aims to start selling the Volt plug-in in late 2010.
Play video of F3 DM car.
Hawaii signs agreement for statewide electric car infrastructure
Hawaiian Electric Companies and Better Place signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on both the infrastructure and the energy sources to power Better Place’s unique network of public charging spots and battery swapping stations with renewable energy. Hawaiian Electric is the first utility in the United States to sign an agreement with Better Place. The partnership will enable the island to capitalize on abundant renewable energy resources with statewide deployment of the electrical vehicle infrastructure.
Better Place, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, will build the car recharging stations and provide recharged batteries for electric cars.
Hawaii currently uses petroleum to generate about 3/4 of it’s electricity! In terms of vehicle miles / BTU energy input, vehicles powered by electricity are typically more efficient than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. But the island would need to increase it’s proportion of renewable resources and coal in order to truly ween itself from imported oil. Imported oil and coal are extremely expensive in Hawaii, so the island is expected to develop greater renewable resource capacity with its ample access to solar, wind, wave and geothermal power.
DOE and EPA Release the 2009 Fuel Economy Guide
2009 model vehicles are ranked here in terms of annual fuel costs*. The Toyota Prius continues to lead the pack. And the Honda Civic CNG, a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas, made the top ten.
| 2009 Toyota Prius 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
 7.4 barrels/year |
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| 48 city |
45 hwy |
$949
|
|||||
| 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid 4 cyl, 1.3 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
 8.2 barrels/year |
||||||
| 40 city |
45 hwy |
$1039
|
|||||
| 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
 10.1 barrels/year |
|||||
| 35 city |
33 hwy |
$1284
|
|||||
| 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
10.1 barrels/year |
|||||
| 33 city |
34 hwy |
$1284
|
|||||
| 2009 smart fortwo convertible 3 cyl, 1 L, Automatic (S5), Premium | |||||||
 |
|
9.5 barrels/year |
|||||
| 33 city |
41 hwy |
$1325
|
|||||
| 2009 smart fortwo coupe 3 cyl, 1 L, Automatic (S5), Premium | |||||||
 |
|
9.5 barrels/year |
|||||
| 33 city |
41 hwy |
$1325
|
|||||
| 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
 10.7 barrels/year |
|||||
| 34 city |
31 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Honda Civic CNG 4 cyl, 1.8 L, Automatic 5-spd, CNG | |||||||
|
|
 0.1 barrels/year |
|||||
| 24 city |
36 hwy |
$1366
|
|||||
| 2009 Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
10.7 barrels/year |
|||||
| 34 city |
31 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
10.7 barrels/year |
|||||
| 34 city |
31 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Toyota Yaris 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Manual 5-spd, Regular | |||||||
 |
10.7 barrels/year |
||||||
| 29 city |
36 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Honda Fit 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic 5-spd, Regular | |||||||
 |
|
11.0 barrels/year |
|||||
| 28 city |
35 hwy |
$1408
|
|||||
| 2009 Toyota Yaris 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic 4-spd, Regular | |||||||
|
|
11.0 barrels/year |
|||||
| 29 city |
35 hwy |
$1408
|
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*Annual fuel costs are based on 45% highway driving, 55% city driving, 15000 annual miles, and the following fuel prices:
- Regular gasoline: $2.91 per gallon
- E85 - fuel mixture of 85% Ethanol, 15% Gasoline: $3.50 per gallon
- CNG - compressed natural gas: $2.55 per gallon
For a personalized cost comparison you can modify the city vs. highway driving percentages, substitute higher fuel prices, and do advanced searches at http://www.fueleconomy.gov.
You can also find the latest fuel efficient vehicle tax incentive information on the website at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxcenter.shtml.
Airports implement “green projects” and renewable energy
An article last month in USA Today highlighted a variety of energy conservation measures and water conservation measures at airports, including an array of 20 miniature, 6-foot-tall wind turbines at Boston Logan International Airport. Once finished the complete array of wind turbines is expected to produce about 100,000 kilowatt-hours annually, equal to the electricity usage of about 17 average-sized homes. The airport may buy additional turbines depending on how well the first 20 turbines perform.
State renewable energy programs helped pay for the turbines at Boston Logan, where airport officials expect to see annual savings of $12,000 to $15,000, producing a 10 year payback. Boston Logan also replaced its fleet of diesel shuttle buses with natural gas vehicles, and designed the 2-year-old $500 million Terminal A to meet the highest national standards for energy efficiency.
Other green projects are popping up at airports around the country in response to rising fuel prices this year. The eco-friendly ideas and projects are expected to improve energy-efficiency and water-efficiency as well as public perception of the airports.
Stanford Energy Lecture Series: Saving energy is less expensive than buying it.
Several podcast lectures by Amory Lovins (RMI) are now available online through the Rocky Mountain Institute. You can find several different lectures, or download the slides (linked below), on the following five topics:
- Buildings: Highlights innovative buildings in a variety of climates and looks at highgly efficient “superwindows”, dimmable electronic lighting ballasts, “no-duct” displacement ventilation, and climate adaptive building designs.
- Industry: How resource productivity is becoming more important than labor productivity, Thermal integration…
◊ Innovative and distributed power systems
◊ Designing friction out of fluid-handling systems
◊ Water/energy integration
◊ Superefficient and heat-driven refrigeration
◊ Superefficient drivesystems
◊ Advanced controls
◊ Rightsizing everything (if we designed 747s this way…) - Transportation: Modes of transport, automobile and military vehicle efficiency, fuel efficiency, and innovative designs
- Implementation: Oil; Barrier-busting; Marketing efficiency; Electricity: public policy, business strategy, and negawatt markets
- Implications: Oil, Climate, Nuclear power, Distributed generation, Energy security, Nuclear proliferation, Global development
These lectures are also available as podcasts from Stanford University: itunes.stanford.edu.
The following image is taken from the “Industry” lecture.
RMI depiction of downstream energy...Saving a little energy downstream saves a lot of energy upstream!
CA greenhouse gas bill prioritizes transportation projects that limit commutes and curb urban sprawl
Schwarzenegger signs greenhouse gas bill (AP)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Tuesday that attempts to ease greenhouse gas emissions by giving priority to transportation projects that limit commutes and curb urban sprawl.
Supporters said the legislation is needed to help implement a 2006 law that requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
The bill requires the state Air Resources Board to set regional targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks and directs regional planning agencies to develop land-use strategies to meet those targets.
Cities and counties will not have to implement those plans, but they could lose transportation funding if they don’t.
I inflated my tires this weekend…
It was a sunny day, 80 to 85 degree F, in Pittsburgh this past Saturday. I had just driven several miles before stopping to inflate my tires at a local gas station. My tire pressure should have been higher than normal on such a hot afternoon, right?
Well I could not find the cheap, little tire pressure gauge that used to be in my glove box, so I used the gauge on the hose handle of the tire inflation machine, which I just read is the LEAST accurate gauge you can use. According to the gauge, my tires were 20-25 psi (seriously under-inflated) on a hot and sunny day after driving several miles of errands. The gauge was probably inaccurate, but my tires did look kind of under-inflated based on the slight bulge where the rubber meets the road, a noticeable decline in fuel economy in recent months, and the fact that I hadn’t inflated them since they were newly installed six months ago.
I inflated each tire to about 40 psi, which required a good 10 or 15 seconds per tire with the air compressor. The maximum pressure rating is 44 psi as indicated on the sidewall of my tires, so 40 psi should be fine. After inflating the tires, my ride seems a bit peppier, but it will take a few more tanks of gas to see whether my fuel economy has really improved. According to the EPA, under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.4 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires. Properly inflated tires are safer and last longer.
The most noticeable difference was more aesthetic — I spent $2.50 in quarters to vacuum the interior of my car for the first time in maybe five years.
The Concept of Fuel Economy: Does it Lead to Good Decisions?
If you own two vehicles, a car and a SUV about the same age, then you will inevitably be faced with the decision of which car to replace first. If saving fuel is one of your motives, then you might be interested in this quick miles-per-gallon-math from Technology Review.
Say you’ve got two cars in your garage. One of them gets 34 miles per gallon; the other gets only 12. You drive both cars 10,000 miles in the course of a year.
Would you save more gas by a) trading in the 34-miles-per-gallon car for one that gets 50 miles per gallon, or by b) trading in the 12-miles-per-gallon car for one that gets 14 miles per gallon?
New experiments suggest that people tend to pick a). After all, a 16-miles-per-gallon improvement seems better than an improvement of just 2 miles per gallon.
The right answer is b).
If you start driving the 50-miles-per-gallon car instead of the 34-miles-per-gallon car, you’ll save 94.1 gallons of gas per year.
If you start driving the 14-miles-per-gallon car instead of the 12-miles-per-gallon car, you’ll save 119 gallons per year.
The math is simple arithmetic. Divide the total number of miles driven (10,000) by the miles per gallon to get the total gallons used to drive that distance. For 12 miles per gallon, the answer is 833. For 14 miles per gallon, it’s 714.
So what do you think — is “mpg” a good indicator of fuel economy?
Diesel & Gasoline Prices Slip: First Time Since March 08
The average price of gasoline and diesel fuel in the U.S. has started to slip in recent weeks. Last week the average price of gasoline was $4.10 per gallon, and diesel fuel was $4.65 per gallon.
Tens of Thousands of Tennesseans Expected to Switch to Plug-in Vehicles within Next Five Years
The Republican Senator of Tennessee, Lamar Alexander, said this week that he expects tens of thousands of Tennesseans to switch to plug-in electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles at least partially powered by electricity within the next five years.
The TN Senators met with representatives of auto manufacturing companies, battery producers, and Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Bill Sansom, who offered a 20 percent discount of off-peak electricity (i.e. outside of noon to 6 PM) that would encourage adoption of plug-in vehicles with batteries that could be charged cost effectively during off-peak evening hours.
According to Energy Central News, TVA carries an excess generating capacity of roughly 7,000 megawatts in the evening, equivalent to the generating capacity of roughly six or seven nuclear power plants.
The top selling hybrid car in the U.S., Toyota Prius, is also the most fuel efficient car sold in the U.S. with an average fuel economy of 48 miles per gallon. GM sells several hybrid vehicles as well.
In contrast to non-plug-in hybrid vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) need to operate in a long-range charge depleting mode, which requires deep discharge of the battery’s energy over time. A123 Systems develops affordable PHEV cells, based on nanophosphate lithium-ion battery technology, with the following innovations:
- Higher energy density for long-range (100+miles), charge-depleting, all electric PHEV operation;
- Retention of high power for charge-sustaining PHEV operation;
- Thousands of deep discharge cycles for successful, long-term PHEV operation.
The following graph illustrates how the A123 PHEV cells maintain their energy capacity over thousands of deep discharge cycles.
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NYMEX: Light, Sweet Crude Oil (CL)
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NYMEX: Natural Gas (NG)
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NYMEX: Heating Oil (HO)
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EIA: Retail Prices
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Bloomberg: Wind Energy Index
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MAC: Global Solar Energy Index