Welcome to the Electric Car Weblog. In addition to links, news, and tips about electric cars and other forms of alternative transportation we are publishing an on-line diary of our current EV project. Started in August 2005 the chronicle follows the conversion of a gas powered Ford Probe into an Electric Car.
You will find articles organized by categories, along with recent comments, along the right hand column of the website. If you are just getting started with the idea of converting a gas car to electric be sure to check out Your First Electric Car .
Welcome and enjoy!
-Jerry
You will find articles organized by categories, along with recent comments, along the right hand column of the website. If you are just getting started with the idea of converting a gas car to electric be sure to check out Your First Electric Car .
Welcome and enjoy!
-Jerry
- Chinese microcar, the MyCar. The MyCar will come in both a gasoline or diesel version (the fuel used is unclear—the MyCar website refers to it as an “explosion-engine version”) and an electric version, and will sell for €6,500, or about US$7,000. [via GCC]
- Hybrids with Li-Ion in the Tank. “It’s easy to see the attraction of lithium-ion for auto makers. Li-ion cells are smaller, lighter, and more powerful than NiMH batteries. If manufacturers can bring prices down—a vital consideration since batteries account for over a third of the cost of hybrid systems—there’s every reason to believe that Li-ion will supplant NiMH as they have in laptops and other electronic gadgets.” Amen, brother, Eve will take a few too!
Who Killed the Electric Car? · 25 January 06
David Dymaxion got a chance to see an early showing of the movie, Who Killed the Electric Car? at this week’s Sundance Film Festival.
David posted a review of the film to the Electric Vehicle Discussion List and I asked for permission to re-post it here for those who don’t follow the list.
- Nanomotors that run on sunlight. “While the nanomotor is less efficient than some fuel-powered engines—it has an efficiency of only 2 to 12 percent—the researchers point out that it doesn’t need refueling and that sunlight is free.” Harnessing this “free power” might be a bit of a challenge seeing that 3.8 million of them, end to end, span the width of a penny.
- Video of the Wrightspeed X1 in action.
- Tiny Tim, seven inch motor powering the OrangeCrush electric motorcycle. Check out the comparison to the inside of a 9” ADC motor.
- John has started converting a 1958 Harley Davidson Servi-car.
- 502kmh/311mph on the Japanese Maglev (Google Video)
- Valence has expanded its Lithium lineup. Also available is a matching battery management system and battery discharge indicator (fuel gauge?). Oddly, they still haven’t shipped a 144vdc pack for us to test! ”:^)
Comment [4]
- Wasting energy standing by. “Britons waste the equivalent of around two power stations’ worth of electricity each year by leaving TV sets and other gadgets on standby.”
- Dashboard computer candidate? Old 486 Futitsu Tablet PCs for $59-$99. (8MB Ram…wooo hooo!) Surplus Sales also has a pile-o-motors and meters (250 amp shunt for $25)
- Energy Blog has a follow-up article on flow batteries, this one featuring Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries
- John’s Prius Site. I must say this is one of the more extensive, exhaustively documented car sites out there. Well done!
Comment [8]
- NEC organic radical battery technology.
- Article covering Firefly’s battery advances (PDF file) [link from James]
- Bosch wins prize for it’s Flex Fuel Engine Management System.
- Nano-based Lithium Batteries or hybrids a step closer
- Prime Minister’s Electric Dream confuses car makers.
- A real-time display of New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) energy prices. (which appears to be IE centric)
- Free parking in Salt Lake City for eco friendly vehicles.
Comment [2]
- Thanks to Darin for the tip on Zenn’s NEV. It’s a NEV/LSV (neighborhood EV or low speed vehicle) and laws vary from state to state. Click Zenn’s legislation map to find out what your state’s rules are. They have a page of videos. BTW, the picture isn’t the ZENN but a Dauphine Electric found elsewhere on their site.
- The space-iest looking hybrid design goes to Accelerated Composites for their diesel hybrid concept. Looking more like an attenuated jet fighter cockpit the aerodynamic design is claimed to achieve 330 MPG.
- If you somehow got tickets to Sundance this year be sure to check out the film, Who Killed the Electric Car. (Jan 19-29, 2006)
- Smoke detectors and the Radioactive Boyscout