January, 2009

article thumbnail

It’s Time To Go To The Mattresses

Creative Greenius

So let me get this straight - while those of us who are trying to lead greener lives, have been cutting our carbon footprints and working with our cities, states and the rest of the USA to help them do likewise, Killer Coal has been playing us for chumps and wiping out all our efforts every single second of every day. Can you believe the nerve of those dirty backstabbers?

Coal 199
article thumbnail

First Apteras Rolled Out Today!

Electric Cars are for Girls

The moment we've all been waiting for - the first few shiny Apteras have poked their noses out from the factory door.

Aptera 229
article thumbnail

Turbine Truck Engines Enters Strategic Alliance With China Corporation; Two New Engine Designs to Result

Green Car Congress

Turbine Truck Engines, Inc. (TTE), the developer of the concept Detonation Cycle Gas Turbine (DCGT) for heavy-duty vehicle applications ( earlier post ), has signed a strategic alliance agreement with China-based Aerospace Machinery & Electric Equipment Company, Ltd. (AMEC). Details of the agreement call for the two companies to collaborate on the development and commercialization of the DCGT specifically for application opportunities in China.

Engine 150
article thumbnail

Lotus Reportedly Planning Electric Car

Revenge of the Electric Car

Lotus Evora 2+2. Well, it had to happen. Lotus is making an EV. Actually, it’s a plug-in hybrid much like the Chevy Volt. After both Tesla and Chrysler chose the Elise and Europa, respectively, for their slot car-fast EVs, it only makes sense that the car company named after a flower would make its own “flower power&# speedster. GM is supplying the range-extending genset which makes sense as they they’ll be able to amortize it and drive the cost down.

article thumbnail

How serious is Norway about climate change? So much that its streetlights self-dim

emissions global warming Norway climate change carbon dioxide youtube lighting

article thumbnail

Rear Coil-Overs

Open Source Civic EV Kit

To finish up the suspension, I installed the rear coil-overs. The procedure is much the same as the front coil-overs. When the guys at Les Schwab swapped out the rear springs for the cut-down front ones awhile back ( see this post ), it looks like they chewed up the shock end pretty bad. I had to go to Auto-Adventure and buy a used shock. The whole assembly was only $30 and they have tons of used Honda and Subaru parts.

Honda 100
article thumbnail

Multi-nation survey reports consumers want electric cars. Now.

Plugs and Cars

A large survey, 4000 people in eight countries, has discovered what many of us have been saying all along. There is an existing market for electric vehicles, especially among those who can afford the extra cost of limited-production new technology vehicles. The only problem? There are no cars for sale. A Business Week blog reports on the survey by the Munich based consultants Bain & Co.

More Trending

article thumbnail

A Portable Generator in Your Electric Car

Electric Cars are for Girls

Can you put a portable generator in your electric car to extend the range? Yes! In this interview, Alain St. Yves says if he can do it, so can Detroit.

article thumbnail

Washington Governor and Legislators Introduce Climate Action Plan; $419M for Transportation Projects

Green Car Congress

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and legislative leaders have introduced a Green Jobs and Climate Action legislative package that proposes investments totaling $455 million in the next biennium for energy-reducing transportation projects, energy efficiency projects, green buildings and clean-energy technology. Of the $455 million: $419 million goes to transportation projects and programs such as: investments in HOV lanes; bike and pedestrian safe projects; park and ride lots; more vanpool vehi

article thumbnail

Smart Meters and Electric Cars

Revenge of the Electric Car

This is a well written story in the Pasadena Star News about how the utilities are gearing up for the coming plug-in vehicles. While many people are wringing their hands over how the grid, old and cranky as it is, will be able to handle the millions of EVs that will be on our roads in the years to come, several forward-thinking utilities are beginning to implement the smart meters that will enable the grid to handle the added load by timing the charging to when the capacity is there to handle it

article thumbnail

My First Week of Commuting

Open Source Civic EV Kit

This has definitely been an interesting week. With the front suspension coil-overs installed, I felt much more confident in driving the car around without bottoming out. The link-10 is pretty good at measuring state-of-charge with Peukert compensation, so I felt good about knowing how much juice I had left. I commuted to work three days this week (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday).

DC 100
article thumbnail

Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

article thumbnail

Norway stimulates economy and electric cars with 5000 chargers

Plugs and Cars

As a part of the new government economic stimulus plan, Norway will be getting a "forest" of charging stations for electric vehicles. The Scandinavian nation, which is home to Th!nk, today has about 2500 EVs on the road. The plan is to quickly install 5000 charge points, reports Richard, the founder of the website Electricaid. Electricaid was created late last year to explore ways to help save Th!

Norway 100
article thumbnail

Comedy CAFE Clowns Crack Me Up

Creative Greenius

Car Makers Serve Up Funniest Fail Ever! Click on this pic to read the story behind this photo. As I get ready this morning to head over to the Lutheran Church in Gardena to participate in this national day of service by helping to prepare meals for my less fortunate neighbors, I want to thank the auto industry for giving me a great laugh at their expense.

GM 150
article thumbnail

Electric Car Motor and Transmission All-In-One?

Electric Cars are for Girls

I have recently seen an electric car motor that claims to be an all-in-one unit, with motor/transmission all together in one package.

article thumbnail

Biosyncrude Gasification Process Could Produce Motor Fuel at Cost of Around $3/gallon

Green Car Congress

Overview of the Bioliq process. Source: Henrich et al. Click to enlarge. The Bioliq biosyncrude gasification process ( earlier post ) used in a large plant with a capacity of > 1 Mt/a can produce biosynfuel for about €1.04 per kg or €0.8 per liter (US$3.08/gallon US), according to an analysis by researchers at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany, which is co-developing the process with Lurgi.

Cost Of 150
article thumbnail

ExxonMobil announces 6th oil discovery offshore Guyana with Ranger-1; Guyana may move from non-producer to regional powerhouse

Oil

article thumbnail

Bright’s Plug-In Car: Aerodynamics Are Key

Revenge of the Electric Car

This new company, Bright Automotive , is founded by ex-GM EV1 people, and the super efficient Rocky Mountain Institute to make plug-in hybrids in Indiana. Like Paul MacCready’s original design for the Impact that established the world’s lowest drag coefficient of.195, Bright will be building cars that “do more with less&# , a philosophy MacCready was famous for (and the title of a wonderful biography on him).

Plug-in 124
article thumbnail

Frustrations with Springs

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Okay, I admit it. I'm an obsessed control freak. That said, let's move on. The drooping front suspension on the Civic is really getting me down (no pun intended) and I'm getting anxious with the coil-over kit sitting in my living room. So, I spent an hour and a half watching you-tube videos last night to see if I could install the coil-overs myself.

Kits 100
article thumbnail

Obama to grant California waiver Monday

Plugs and Cars

New York Times reports the expected change in federal policy will happen Monday.the centerpiece of Monday’s East Room announcement is Mr. Obama’s directive to the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately begin work on granting the so-called California waiver, which allows the state, a longtime leader in air quality matters, to set its own standards for automobile emissions.

Grant 100
article thumbnail

Electrified Blondes in Convertibles For Everyone!

Creative Greenius

I have seen the future my friends and it looks exactly like a 76 degree January day filled with beautiful people driving gorgeous plug-in hybrid and plug-in electric cars. Come with me now as I take you there… And do not let anyone tell you that you must wait for this tomorrow, because you don’t. It is already here today. Your Greenius was there and I have the photos.

Convert 150
article thumbnail

Electric Boat Conversion With Generator

Electric Cars are for Girls

I want to convert my 30 ft. boat's V8 gas-guzzlers to 2 DC electric motors that run with a 10KW generator. I'm going to have.

article thumbnail

Report: Toyota’s Operating Loss Will Widen to US$4.5B

Green Car Congress

The Nikkei reports that Toyota Motor Corp.’s group operating loss for the year ending March 31 is likely to jump to ¥400 billion (US$4.5B) from the ¥150 billion it projected last month ( earlier post ). With the global economy quickly weakening, the automaker has been unable to halt the slide in auto sales and is heading into its first net loss since the year ended November 1963, when it started publishing net results.

Toyota 150
article thumbnail

Electric Cars: Yes We Will

Revenge of the Electric Car

400,000 at the Lincoln Memorial concert. Dateline: Washington, DC. The buzz is everywhere and completely electric in Washington DC this week. And some of that energy is headed directly to plug-in cars. We’ve heard electric cars mentioned time and again in our two days here, and we haven’t even been to Live Earth’s Green Gala yet. It’s just remarkable to see what a few short years can do in terms of global consciousness and awareness.

article thumbnail

Installing the Front Coil-Over Suspension

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Here's the process I used to remove the existing Civic springs and install the front coil-overs. The first step is to jack up the front of the car and put it on jack-stands for stability. Since I don't have a spring compressor, I'm going to use the entire car as my spring compressor instead. I rolled a floor jack under the swing arm and raised it until the car just came off the jack stand.

article thumbnail

Gore's group on board with plug-ins

Plugs and Cars

The Alliance for Climate Protection, Al Gore's group, has taken another step toward promoting plug-in cars (all electric cars and plug-in hybrids) with its RePower America campaign. They've got the budget to really move the national conversation about the future of cars away from the well-funded distractions of hydrogen, fuel cells, natural gas and ethanol.

Gore 100
article thumbnail

Manhattan Beach, The South Bay’s Greenest City

Creative Greenius

Happy New Year! I hope you’re as happy and energized as I am about Obama’s impending Presidency and his game-changing energy and environmental appointments. If you’re not, then you’re probably part of the problems we’ve been having and your unhappiness is something I can live with. The Creative Greenius says you can now expect a bold United States policy on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a rapid shift away from carbon-based fuels to renewables and a science-based

Water 150
article thumbnail

Golf Cart Battery Question

Electric Cars are for Girls

For golf carts that are being used seasonally only 6 mos. each year and left to sit 6 mos. off and on, will this practice shorten life.

article thumbnail

US Air Force Halts Coal-to-Liquids Plant Project

Green Car Congress

After a thorough review of project requirements and information submitted by a team of functional experts, Air Force officials have determined proposals received for a coal-to-liquid synthetic fuel plant on Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., are not viable. The Air Force will no longer pursue possible development of a plant at the installation. As the source-selection authority, Kathleen Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, made the decision after reviewing

Coal 150
article thumbnail

Tesla Offers ‘Sport’ Model…0-60 in 3.7 seconds!

Revenge of the Electric Car

Roadster Sport with optional clear-coat carbon fiber top. When I was a kid in Arab, Alabama, in 1965, I discovered slot cars. They were a new phenomenon then and quickly got everyone’s attention. They were fast as hell, sounded cool, and it only cost one penny per minute for track time. I remember the really fast cars had “re-wound&# motors, whatever that was.

Tesla 124
article thumbnail

Finishing the Guages, Link-10

Open Source Civic EV Kit

I worked all day to get the tach sensor fixed and the link-1o installed. Here's my solution to fixing the tach sensor. I'm using a stainless steel bolt to hold it in (which is just barely magnetic). I'm also using a salvaged plastic gear as a non-magnetic spacer to put the spinning magnet disk inside the sensor housing. At first the gear was too thick and the head of the bolt rubbed against the inside of the sensor housing.

DC 100
article thumbnail

Electric Cars - Yes We Can!

Plugs and Cars

[©Nikki Kahn - The Washington Post] East Coast - Along the route President-elect Obama rode on his way to DC, electric car activists spell it out. West Coast - 75 electric vehicles paraded through the streets of Santa Monica in a pre-Inaugural Parade with a message for the President-elect. Tags: train route yes we can barack obama electric cars drive change charge baby charge battery electric car.

article thumbnail

Happy New Year!

Creative Greenius

Tags: environment.

article thumbnail

Is My Motor Too Small For My EV Conversion?

Electric Cars are for Girls

I want to use a 10 hp motor (approx 7500 watts and 3500 rpm with a 1:2 gearbox) with an Allen-Bradley power flex 40 drive, and a good.

Motor 89
article thumbnail

Austro Engine and Diamond Aircraft Receive EASA Type Certification for Turbo Diesel Airplane Engine

Green Car Congress

Austro Engine and Diamond Aircraft Industries have received EASA Type Certification for the Austro E4 turbo-diesel general aviation engine (the AE 300). The AE 300 is an inline four cylinder, 2.0-liter piston engine which uses Jet A1 or diesel fuel to produce 170 hp (127 kW). The AE 300 diesel. Click to enlarge. The AE 300 is a liquid-cooled, with a double overhead camshaft (DOHC).

Engine 150
article thumbnail

The Climate Change Caravan

Revenge of the Electric Car

Say Hello to Guest Blogger Alexis Ringwald - with this first dispatch from the Climate Change Caravan in India. On January 3, 2009, a group of passionate individuals launched the Climate Solutions Road Tour : an epic month-long 3,500 km journey from Chennai to New Delhi, India to demonstrate that clean transportation solutions do exist and call upon automakers globally to build them.

article thumbnail

Suspension Toys

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Since I've been having difficulty finding springs that actually fit the car and handle the extra battery weight, I broke down and called Ground Control to see what they had to offer. They were very responsive and their technician recommended a coil-over set with custom springs for the project. Delivery was remarkably fast. I ordered these Tuesday and they arrived today.

Kits 100