The now in production sequel to the already classic documentary Who Killed the Electric Car from 2006 is called The Revenge of the Electric Car. With a third leg of what is almost bound to become a trilogy, we might end up with the title The Return of the Electric Car. On April 24, 2003, California killed its electric car mandate which had been spurred by the development of General Motor’s EV1. At the funeral ceremony for the EV1, staged to raise awareness about the premature end of an innovative programme, Ed Begley said:

What the detractors and the critics of electric vehicles have been saying for years is true. The electric car is not for everyone. Given the limited range, it can only meet the needs of 90%of the population.

This comment is from the documentary and for anyone who has seen the film, GM has become a criminal. Introduced in 1996, all the EV1′s was recalled in 2004 and subsequently destroyed. What happened since is that GM lost the head start it had created. As someone said, during the last few decades they became masters at missing opportunities. So what of the ‘EV2′, the Chevrolet Volt?

Glancing at the concept car on the dais, I realized I was looking at the Barack Obama of automobiles -everyone’s hope for change.*

The Volt is a hybrid car, not an electric one. But where other hybrids so far have been based on a dual power-train solution with both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, the Chevy Volt will use its fossil fuel engine only to recharge the batteries, not propulsion as such. This is what makes it exciting. But also very risky, it is a project that entails large risks for the American behemoth. Overtaken recently by Toyota as the world’s largest car company, the Volt represents GM’s attempt to take back the limelight. If it fails the implications are grave.

Along with GM’s announcement that it will build a battery pack assembly factory in Michigan later this year, CEO Rick Wagoner also announced that a new battery lab will be built in Michigan. At 3000 sqm, the lab will supposedly be the largest advanced battery testing facility in the world. Fully operational, the lab is intended to be used also for testing the capabilities of other manufacturer’s batteries. Any company that develops new cells will be offered the possibility to do a full evaluation, free of charge. The intent is to expand the knowledge base of advanced batteries as much as possible. In this way, GM hopes to help battery makers accelerate their development and therefore benefit from improved performance and reduced costs. In view of their own intentions to make battery technology a core competency in the future, this sounds like a win-win situation, GM can benefit from other companies R&D while offering their facilities. It also sounds like piggy-back riding, not only you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours. There is no such thing as a free lunch, least of all in the automotive industry.

At the New York Auto Show in March 2008, Bob Lutz said to the assembled press and visitors:

I think the whole company has now learned the lesson that when you set out and do bold things, you win, and when you’re cautious and let someone else do the bold things, you lose. It may be years before we make a dime on this product. Years! And the board said, ‘Don’t even talk about profitability. General Motors needs this car.*

It is probably true. After years of mistakes, bad publicity and being on the brink of bankruptcy, GM is on a quest. Not only searching for a revolution in the shape of a car but one on the level of the entire company and what it stands for. The money-is-no-object approach is not new to Detroit; there have been many expensive research and science programs never intended for production. Some of them have been publicity stunts in the effort to maintain the old ways. The EV1 was developed as an experiment but was for a brief period of time actually out there, on the road. In Who Killed the Electric Car, one conclusion is that it was the fact that it had the potential for success that was its downfall. That neither Big Oil nor Big Car could allow a disruption in the lucrative state of affairs that is based on the internal combustion engine.

General Motors like to avoid using of the term ‘hybrid’, preferring to call it an electric vehicle with a ‘range extender’ but this makes it no less a hybrid. These were shunned and laughed at in the US but Toyota showed that not only do they present a viable alternative but there is also a market for them. The question now is will the Volt become the next step on the road to sustainable individual transport, a Hybrid Mk.II, or just another impasse like parenthesis in automotive history? Scheduled for show rooms in late 2010 -with reservations for some delays- it has the potential to become a bold leap, space program style.

* Article ‘Electro-Shock Therapy’ by Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic, read it here.

For more information on the Volt, click here for the official website.

Posted under Cars & Transport, Companies, Gas & Electricity

The Lightning Car Company Limited is combining retro/classic British sports car design with cutting edge technology to produce the Lightning, an EV is powered by four electric motors. It has been developed for performance, elegance and exclusivity. It is to be launched initially as the GT followed by a lightweight GTS and finally a longer range, more equipped GTSE model. The car is built from a carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb composite monocoque chassis making it light and safe with a sleek, beautiful carbon fibre body.

The computer-controlled four in-wheel 120kw motors utilising Hi-Pa Drive technology and lets the car fine tune power allocation individually to each wheel making it highly efficient. Therefore, no gearbox, no differential, no drive shaft or prop shaft to contend with, meaning that as it eliminates transmission, it minimises power loss. As most top-notch electric motors, these provide phenomenal torque and power capability, all of which is generated at the wheels, the point at which it is required. This eliminates mechanical complexity and power losses experienced with standard ICE cars. For car specification fetishists this translates to 700+ bhp and 0-60 in 5 seconds for the GT and an estimated 4 seconds for the lighter GTS. Unlike a petrol engine, full power is available from zero rpm. This is of course an interesting twist to the efficiency argument, are we supposed to save power in order to spend it immediately?

The Lighting can be charged from a conventional mains power supply overnight but with access to a 3 phase, high power charging station, it takes approximately 10 minutes to reach full charge. This delivers 200-250miles of motoring which is rather impressive and takes the edge off the old EV=short range. Full regenerative braking makes use of energy when decelerating, possibly steching the figures even more. According the manufacturer, powering the car on a domestic power supply will cost approximately 2.2p per mile, a tenth of the price of a petrol car. The batteries are centrally located allowing for greater balance while still leaving space for necessities like golf clubs or rural England essentials such as hunting equipment and rubber boots. This is a car to be parked in a mansion drive way.

The irony is that the most important headline grabbers among electric cars, like the Tesla Roadster and the Lightning under scrutiny here, are not in themselves anything at all like a solution, nor do they really make the case for electric cars that much stronger. While The Lightning Car Company does nothing really decisive to change the state of the nation, its role is perhaps more like that Formula One, to be a boundary pusher from which associated technological breakthroughs will trickle down to the plug-in minicar we will actually afford.

Petrol prototypes utilising a Mustang Cobra V8 are already in use however the Lightning Car Company are now focusing on the electric emission free GT which is available for pre-order. Presented at the British Motor Show in July last year and scheduled for a late 2008 delivery there are no signs of the £120,000 Lightning being any closer to customers. To be sure, even when it does become available, it will stay far from most consumers with a price tag like that.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Cars & Transport

Pretty much like its homoacronym BP (for British Petroleum), BP (for Better Place) is mainly into providing energy for transport. But within that spectrum, the difference could hardly be greater. Better Place ‘builds electric-vehicle networks powered by renewable energy to give consumers an affordable, sustainable alternative for personal mobility.’ The key here is of course renewable energy. The old BP is heading there as well but the bulk of its operations will likely remain fossil fuel derivatives until that market crumbles. The new BP on the other hand started out, as the name implies, to promote change in how our society functions and in doing so help save the environment.  Better Place, in a press release (read excerpts and/or entire text below), announced on the 15th of January that they will be partnering with the government of Ontario, Canada, that is hoped to ‘create a model for the adoption of electric cars in Canada.’

Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, says:

With today’s announcement, Ontario is taking a system-wide approach to retooling its economy for growth and environmental leadership. Our partnership will move Ontario toward a new era in personal transportation – from the current Car 1.0 model centered on the internal combustion engine to a Car 2.0 model of electric cars powered by renewable energy. Today’s announcement is the all-important first step in an expected electric car charging network rollout for Canada, and we look forward to working in partnership with the Ontario government on it.

Furthermore, the partnership stipulates preparatory studies and realisation of practical on behalf of both parties showing that organisations/companies and authorities can work closely and equally towards a mutually rewarding relationship and end result. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment also has invited Better Place and major Japanese car makers to participate in a major electric car project there. From the press release this relationship is descibed as follows:

[The Province of Ontario] has committed to conducting a comprehensive study, which will look at ways to speed up the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles. The study is scheduled for release in May 2009. At the same time, Better Place will be developing an electric car charging network plan and timeline. This announcement maintains the province’s traditional strength in automotive production while incorporating the forward thinking technology of battery operated vehicles. Embracing this technology in its early stages will provide the province with the stimulus needed for enhanced job creation and economic growth.

On more general note, what makes Better Place a truly interesting initiative is how it intends to address both distribution and production of electricty issues that haunt the electric car as a realistic means of transportation for the masses. Tom Heintzman, President of Bullfrog Power which is the only 100% green energy retailer in Canada, ‘Better Place is leading a bold and compelling movement, and we are excited to provide 100% clean, renewable electricity for its network and cars powered by it. For truly emissions-free transportation, it is crucial that we not simply transfer the problem from the tailpipe to the generator. Better Place is taking a firm stance by committing to fueling electric vehicles with renewable power.’ Let us all hope that Bullfrog’s involvement will make Ontario a Better Place.

FULL PRESS RELEASE: Better Place Partners with Ontario to Bring ‘Car 2.0′ Electric Car Infrastructure to Canada TORONTO (Jan 15, 2009) — Better Place, the world’s leading mobility operator, today announced a partnership with the government of Ontario to help bring an electric car network to the province and create a model for the adoption of electric cars in Canada. Ontario, which is one of North America’s largest car producing regions, seeks to transition its auto manufacturing sector for future growth from electric vehicle production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“With today’s announcement, Ontario is taking a system-wide approach to retooling its economy for growth and environmental leadership,” said Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO, Better Place. “Our partnership will move Ontario toward a new era in personal transportation – from the current Car 1.0 model centered on the internal combustion engine to a Car 2.0 model of electric cars powered by renewable energy. Today’s announcement is the all-important first step in an expected electric car charging network rollout for Canada, and we look forward to working in partnership with the Ontario government on it.”

In conjunction with today’s news, the company appointed Lawrence Seeff as Head of Americas Business Development. Mr. Seeff brings more than 20 years of global real estate and financial experience from leading and growing a privately-held, multi-billion-dollar firm.

Better Place will establish its Canadian head office in Ontario, and build an electric vehicle demonstration and education centre in Toronto to lay the groundwork to help get electric vehicles running on Ontario roads.

The province has committed to conducting a comprehensive study, which will look at ways to speed up the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles. The study is scheduled for release in May 2009. At the same time, Better Place will be developing an electric car charging network plan and timeline.

This announcement maintains the province’s traditional strength in automotive production while incorporating the forward thinking technology of battery operated vehicles. Embracing this technology in its early stages will provide the province with the stimulus needed for enhanced job creation and economic growth.

Under the Better Place model, the company plans and installs a network of charge spots and battery exchange stations, giving drivers the same convenience to “top off” as they enjoy today with gasoline stations. Much like the mobile phone model, Better Place installs and operates the network of charging infrastructure, while leading auto manufacturers produce electric cars for the Better Place network. Better Place sources renewable energy to power the network, creating a zero emission solution from generation to grid to transportation.

For consumers, it means they’re able to subscribe to a sustainable transportation service. Better Place provides the batteries to make owning an electric car affordable and convenient. Better Place will install charge spots in parking spaces at home, at work, and at retail locations, which enable the network to automatically top off the electric car.

For distances longer than what most people drive in a given day, drivers will pull into battery exchange stations to swap a depleted battery for a fresh one in less time than it takes to fill a car with gasoline.

Better Place is partnering with Bullfrog Power, Canada’s only retailer of 100 percent green electricity, and Macquarie Group, a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services, and is continuing to build other relationships both locally and around the world. In Ontario, Bullfrog Power will provide all of the renewable energy needed to power the Better Place network.

“Better Place is leading a bold and compelling movement, and we are excited to provide 100% clean, renewable electricity for its network and cars powered by it,” said Tom Heintzman, President, Bullfrog Power. “For truly emissions-free transportation, it is crucial that we not simply transfer the problem from the tailpipe to the generator. Better Place is taking a firm stance by committing to fueling electric vehicles with renewable power.”

Macquarie will partner with Better Place as financial advisor on developing a network rollout plan and investment timeline for Ontario. Michael Bernstein, Senior Managing Director of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd., said, “The Better Place business model is an exciting opportunity for the domestic auto industry, the clean energy industry and the public sector to assist in the development of a sustainable transportation market in Canada. Macquarie is pleased to deploy its expertise in assisting Better Place and Ontario to develop a new electric vehicle network in Ontario.”

The Better Place network of electric car charging infrastructure is built on open standards. One goal of the growing Better Place ecosystem, which includes The Renault-Nissan Alliance, is giving consumers a wide range of choices when it comes to vehicle make and model. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment also has invited Better Place and major Japanese carmakers to participate in a major electric car project there.

About Better Place: Better Place is a mobility operator that aims to reduce oil dependence by delivering personal transportation as a sustainable service. Launched in 2007 with $200 million of venture funding, the company builds electric-vehicle networks powered by renewable energy to give consumers an affordable, sustainable alternative for personal mobility. Better Place is working with partners to build its first standards-based networks in Israel, Denmark, Australia, California and Hawaii. Better Place will activate networks on a country-by-country basis with initial deployments beginning in 2010.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Cars & Transport, Companies, Environmental News, Press Releases

For more than a century, internal combustion engine cars have throned as a symbol of personal freedom, fashioned after an American post-war ideal born out of the wealth of cheap oil. Even in the face of the environmental consequences such as air pollution, climate change, peak oil and having our habitat poisoned by thronged highways filled with suburban sprawl commuters, we have continued to buy into this ideal. Therefore, instead of trying to amend the root of a problem which stems from overuse of finite resources for our comfort and enjoyment, we are now trying to find alternatives that will permit us to continue down this ultimately failed path. One of the proffered substitutes is hydrogen, not in itself a source but a carrier of energy.

Honda is readying their hydrogen clean car flagship the for small scale market introduction in… 2010. Too few, too late. The fact that it is happening at a ridiculously slow pace adds to the fuel-cell-as-silver-bullet-charade interpretation. Michael Graham Richard, in the Treehugger Blog article on the FCX, says:

While fuel cell hydrogen cars are impressive technological marvels and we can dream about a world where most transportation only emits water, we should be realistic about the obstacles that need to be overcome before that world is a reality.*

First of all, try to imagine the time it will take to replace all the cars already out there. Secondly, the most common and sensible objection to this technology is the enormous investment required, in both money and energy, to set up an infrastructure for large scale production and widespread distribution of hydrogen. The electric car manufacturing competitors have, with plug-in EVs are mass produced (which is happening right now) and widely accepted(which is coming), an already up and running grid. (Ecotricity’s founder Dale Vince is having a wind powered car built by a team from Lotus. It could have been a vehicle literally propulsed by wind using sails, but it is, logically, his company’s wind turbines providing the fuel. Electricity. He could have had the turbines power hydrogen production plants but that feels, in all honesty, pretty stupid.) Another thing in favor of the EV scenario is that, even if it represents a staggering amount of work and financial investment, conventional cars could actually be ‘upgraded’ by changing the combustion engine to an electric motor. A similar hydrogen ‘upgrade’ is technically all but impossible, mainly due to security issues.

In an interview published in the Wall Street Journal, Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui explains why his company is neglecting EVs in favour of hybrids and hydrogen cars:

We feel the practical feasibility of the electric vehicle is very limited. The biggest issue is driving distance. The other issue is the recharging time. The FCX Clarity can be recharged in one minute. With the electric vehicle, it can take several hours. However, this is not to deny the possibility of battery electric vehicles. It’s very useful for vehicles with restricted applications, like golf carts.**

This comment is not in tune with reality. Much of our future transportation is liable to be restricted in any case and if there are no hydrogen fuelling stations in place, the recharging time of the FCX is irrelevant. In reference to the argument that hydrogen cars would allow us the same amount of independence that its gasoline ancestor have it must be said that it is encouraging an unsustainable way of life. When Fukui is asked what went wrong with Honda’s hybrid the Insight which was introduced in the US before the Toyota Prius, he say:

Well, I don’t think anything was wrong. Our intention was not to try to make Insight a mass seller. The significance of the Insight was that at the time, we wanted to establish the best record for fuel efficiency, and we did.**

The research the went into bringing forth record breaking hybrid was not dropped. Why it was not more aggresively pursued is a mystery, Toyota’s best seller came along and became synonomous with green cars. Is the Clarity another in Insight or is it smoke screen? Fukui continues, ‘We have to make strategic choices. The hybrid will be the core product, and after that comes fuel cell and clean diesel.’

The intention with this article was to make a critical analysis of the actual car. What remains is criticism. Not of the car as such -which is to all appearance an engineering masterpiece- but of hydrogen cars in general. For a long time, the industry has promised but not delivered and there is, in January 2009, too much still to be solved and not enough clarity. Sorry Honda.

As EcoSwitch is not able to offer any truly convincing arguments for full scale hydrogen car technology as a solution, look for them here. Best of luck.

.

* Blog article ‘Top Gear LOVES Honda’s Hydrogen Car, But…’ by Mike Graham Richard on Treehugger.com, read it here.

** Article ‘Honda CEO Vies For Green Mantle’ by John Murphy in Wall Street Journal Online, read it here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Cars & Transport, Companies

In the 1990′s, when any given Sunday morning people would wake up realising that what they really needed was a very big jeep, Toyota decided to go down another path. Or yet another path, they were also down to the armpit in the SUV cookie jar like most of the automotive industry. Actually, they still are, ready for 2009 they have eight different models in their SUV-line: Venza, FJ Cruiser, 4Runner, Land Cruiser, RAV4, Sequoia, Highlander and, added for effect, the Highlander Hybrid. It may be said at this point that a well designed and efficient SUV in some cases matches emissions of much smaller cars and, on occasion, passes severe tests as well. But still.

Nevertheless, those early years of R&D on hybrid solutions assured what is today a healthy lead on a market that has a future; whereas in the US Ford and General Motors are struggling to stay in business. Interestingly, in the mid-nineties with the EV1[Electric Vehicle 1], GM had an excellent opportunity to show the way. Tough regulations in California prompted a new take on emissions and for a while the EV1 looked like the answer to that. When GM, for reasons still open to speculation, suddenly stopped renewing the lease agreements (the car was not sold but leased) and subsequently destroying the popular vehicles, they lost not only an enormous investment but also their place in the hot seat.

Toyota did go ahead with research and development, ultimately by putting mass-produced cars on the market. Today the Toyota Prius is still by far the most sold ‘clean car’ and has become a beacon, not so much because of its efficiency but more due to the fact that is actually there. Or here, wherever we go we come across it. In 2008 the company saw sales increase by about 30% for their line of hybrids, the Prius accounting for a large part of the 1 600 000 total. Calling hybrids clean is of course an inaccuracy; they still run partly on petrol derivatives. But still.

All Toyota hybrids have an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, linked by a generator. The two alternate or run simultaneously, depending on how the vehicle is driven. Slightly simplified, it goes something like this:

* Start-up: Only electric motor, from start to mid-range speeds (city)

* Normal: At cruising speeds, both engine and motor runs, the engine partly used for propulsion, partly for generating electricity. Power allocation is computer controlled for maximum efficiency. The generator also recharges the battery with surplus engine power

* Hard acceleration: The battery supplies additional power to the total output of motor and engine

* Deceleration/Braking: Called Regenerative braking system recovers kinetic energy, the generator transforming it to electric energy which is stored in the battery.

The last being an inherent but clever aspect of electrical propulsion is that when braking so that energy can be harnessed where in traditional cars is simply lost. A principal sales argument for hybrids are their self-reliance, equal or surpassing those of both petrol driven and all-out electric vehicles with one system compensating for the shortcomings of the other. Toyota are not seeing their hybrid technology as a stepping stone to fuel-cells or another system, but as the core in what they claim will become the “ultimate eco-car”* due to this flexibility and that it can tap into an existing infrastructure. Fuel cells powered vehicles on the other hand, are by many not considered feasible for full-scale implementation for a couple decades, the technology is for now simply too expensive. Additionally, in reference to the smooth shift to hybrids, today there are 8 hydrogen filling stations in Europe. With the following article featuring Honda’s FCX Clarity, we take will take a closer look at hydrogen.

* For a comprehensive explanation Toyota’s hybrid technology, download a PDF here.

Posted under Articles, Cars & Transport, Companies

Raise your hands everyone who thinks we can go on driving… I was going to write SUVs but realised it is December 2008 now. The Clean Car race is finally on and along with all the excitement this spring, what with oil prices breaking records day after day for months, the SUV is being buried alive and we are looking for alternatives. What I write then, will be something like: Raise your hands everyone who thinks we can go on driving anything at all. That would be most us with at least one hand in the air. Because we have to, right? Well, it does seem like we do. How much our system will have to change depends, in part, on how much of the current world order can remain intact. Some, like James Howard Kunstler for example, say it will be a dramatic upheaval and that it is just around the corner. Ever heard of the Olduvai scenario? You probably will, soon enough.

The indisputable fact is that this system – the one we seem so desperately hell-bent on maintaining in a confused collective effort – is unsustainable. So we scratch where it itches by planting a tree, buying a hybrid car, recycling some bottles and… oh, yeah, migrate to green companies in general. Greenenergy, Ecolaundrical, GreenWashUp Liquids et cetera
On the other hand, with a credit crunch that simply will not stop crunching; most of us are dragged kicking and screaming into changing our habits. The global backlash does have the potential to do some good. This spring, chain e-mails about boycotting the big oil companies were cluttering in-boxes all around the world and innumerable newspaper articles went on about fuel prices reaching levels where businesses go out of… well, business. In Spain the fishing fleets stayed tethered in ports and demonstrating truckers blocked the access to European capitals. To be honest, if high prices on fuel is the way to go green; this would have been a good thing. Unfortunately, while many small companies went bankrupt and the little people suffered, BP along with the rest of Big Oil – for all the green paint it covers itself in nowadays – saw their profits go through the roof, the usual suspects coming out winners once again. And this is, obviously, not the road to a sustainable, shiny happy future for us all.

Hoping there is such a thing as a future, let us try and rethink ourselves, step by step. As long as there are cars to be driven, cars will be driven. As long as there is money to be made burning fossil fuels, money will be made. One way to counter that would be to choose an alternative to the wasteful ways of today be it [Eco] switching to energy saving light bulbs or to a hydrogen bio electro solar hybrid… phew… car.

So, if you ARE thinking about buying a car, the crunch not bothering you, then perhaps you should be checking ‘The Clean Car Race’ headings every once in a while. We will present a number of what has been labelled Clean Cars. The first ones rolling off this EcoSwitch assembly line are …  [drum roll]… Japanese. Big surprise there, eh? With Toyota Prius as the default hybrid, the land of the rising sun has an edge because of the high degree of integration between their automobile industry and companies providing high tech batteries or similar accessories. This goes by the name of Suriawase which means “coordination and integration,” a combination with a distinctly Japanese touch. Therefore, EcoSwitch goes to Japan. Tag along. The next article will look at the Toyota line of clean cars.

Posted under Articles, Cars & Transport

Green Car Rental is now available from National Car Hire…but what is so green about National Car Hire? We all know that many companies claim they are ‘green’ when they often aren’t!

We went to find out at the massive World Travel Market held at Excel in London this week. In addition to numerous green hotels (which we will write about in due course), we found National Car Rental showcasing their multinational green initiatives in response to demand for cost-effective, environmentally friendly travel solutions. National were proud to announce that they were the first green car rental brand in the UK to add information on average CO2 emissions for each car group.

Were we impressed with this? Well, it is a definitely a positive step in the right direction and we would like transparency to be offered from all car rental companies in terms of what average CO2 emissions are for each car group.

The only thing they might do to further improve their green credentials (but this will take time) is introduce all electric cars which have zero emissions as long as your electricity supplier is also green. So make sure you sign up to www.good-energy.co.uk or www.ecotricity.co.uk if you are serious about reducing your emissions immediately.

So if you don’t already own the latest Lighting or GWiz All-Electric car and want to use a green car rental company, go with a high mpg green rental car such as those offered through National Car Hire. For information, the best cars are A or B Rated in terms of emissions. National have a full list of what they have available on their website and they have some excellent deals to. To take a look or enquire, we have enclosed a direct link below:

http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=1020&awinaffid=!!!id!!!&clickref=&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalcar.co.uk%2F

Posted under Cars & Transport

A group of British grease (the oily kind not the 1950’s hit musical) lovers recently pulled off an eco-rally from London to Athens which entailed cars travelling the distance powered entirely on waste vegetable oil. The teams collected their second-hand fuel from restaurants and cafes along the route and got along surprisingly well considering the unconventional method of power! The aim of the 2,500 mile rally was to inspire people to make use of used vegetable oils by fuelling vehicles, preventing them from being discarded into landfill sights and the sea. Unlike ethanol and other controversial bio fuels, recycled cooking fat does not effect food production.

Andy Pag, the 34-year-old Londoner who organised the rally is no stranger to carbon neutral travelling; in 2007 he drove from London to Timbuktu in a lorry powered by diesel made from cocoa butter produced by a chocolate factory in the UK. He is very proud of the events innovation, “I think we can safely say that this is the first long-distance car journey in Europe that has relied on restaurants and burger bars as an informal network of filling stations.” He was surprised by the interest his journey created, as people began to follow the rally, gathering to watch the fuelling process.

The trip lasted eleven days and the eight teams got through an estimated 350 litres of cooking oil. Some of the vehicles – ranging from a brand new Renault to a pretty ancient former taxi – had already been converted to run on vegetable oil; however the drivers of the unconverted cars had to brew bio diesel using a portable ‘fuel pod’ processor. This was a 2,500lb (1,134kg) machine which was transported in a transit van, and apparently is “as easy as a washing machine to use,” it was manufactured in the UK and costs around £500, including a pump.

“We used what is known as an oily bits centrifuge system, the world’s first mobile purification system for cars, to filter the waste en route,” said Pag’s co-driver, secondary school teacher Esther Obiri-Darko. “It gets rid of all the crud.”

Pag attended an awards ceremony highlighting alternatives to fossil fuels at the British embassy in Athens and spoke of the rally, “It’s true we spent a lot of time fat-finding, knocking on the doors of restaurants begging for their waste, but it worked. And the beauty, of course, is that when such supplies are collected straight from a restaurant and used as fuel they have a zero-carbon footprint,”

Whilst the trip was an amazing experience the group was determined to show that there are other ways to get fuel other than using fossil fuels which are not only dwindling but also polluting the environment. “I think we made quite a lot of converts along the way,” said Pag. “There’s a whole trail out there of restaurant owners who are now looking at their waste products with different eyes. Our hope is that others will start to realise the energy that is in waste, too.”

Posted under Articles, Cars & Transport, Environmental News, Renewable Energy

There has been a booming evolution of Green car models. Being green does not have to be a nasty sacrifice. While the Myers NmG is described as funky, I would be personally laughing my head off more than actually driving the funny looking car. Although the car is not to my personal taste, I do admire the manufacturers and their concern for the environment. Bravo!

YES! But if you are looking for a hotter looking car, check this one out – the Tesla Roadster!

We can become Green, but in a fashionable way.

From Global warmer to Global fighter!

Yes, you can be a Hero of Nature when you consider this:

Over 6 pounds for a gallon of gasoline can easily produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) during the combustion process. Gasoline combines with oxygen to release greenhouse gases which we know leads to global warming.

However, the good news is that nowadays we can switch to efficient options such as hybrid cars which save the world from excessive un-eco gases.

Hybrid cars: These cars function with two power sources: a combustion engine and an electric motor. While moving at a low speed or in traffic, the charged battery supplies energy to the electric motor of the vehicle. The petrol engine, on the other hand, comes into action at higher speeds where extra power is needed. At the same time, the internal combustion engine recharges the battery cells; therefore there is no need of an exterior charging device or wastage of energy.

It is proved that hybrids can be 100% Green, especially when the car is travelling at low speed because it relies on the electric motor which does not emit any greenhouse gas. With the combined processes hybrids doubtlessly cuts down on the emission of CO2 and other harmful gases.

In the U.S, the Hybrid Toyota Prius is at the peak of success whereby not only it is green but equally clean!

Posted under Articles, Cars & Transport, Climate, Environmental News

Generally people relate ‘steam power’ to the slow moving steam trains and boats of an age long since left in the dust, a sentimental picture of a Victorian railway perhaps… not exactly state of the art eco-power you may say. However steam power is getting a re-vamp thanks to a company who are trying to make the steam-engine more efficient and compatible with modern day technology.

Clean Power Technologies, in Newhaven on the English south coast, are trying to create a car that runs on steam power. They are developing steam hybrid engines that cut down and reuse the huge amount of energy wasted by the internal combustion engine.
“When you talk of steam people think you are going backwards,” said Abdul Mitha, the company’s CEO and president, “Anywhere where you are wasting a lot of heat, we can go in, capture the heat and turn it into energy savings … Steam has tremendous power.

It can drive a steam locomotive, so why can’t it drive an automotive engine?”
Of the energy in a vehicles petrol tank, just 27% is converted into forward motion, 33% is spent cooling the engine, 4% is lost as friction and a huge 36% is lost as exhaust heat. The company is aiming to harness the wasted heat that is pumped out of the exhaust and convert it into useful power. “There is a lot of heat that is created and totally wasted. Clean Power Technologies aims to recover 40% of this exhaust heat”, Mitha.

Clean Power Technologies have created an experimental model in which engine exhaust at 750C, the typical for a lorry, is run through a steam accumulator which heats water to 360C plus, creating high pressure steam which they are ultimately aiming to pump back to the main engine to drive the pistons. However at the moment they are using the steam to run refrigeration units transporting frozen goods on the trucks. A demonstration truck is under construction to be completed by the end of October. Once they have completed the refrigeration units, the company is planning to expand to powering the electronics and air conditioning for boats, and hopefully by 2011 a complete steam hybrid car.

The plans are supported by Dr Ralph Clague, a mechanical engineer at Imperial College London, “Recycling exhaust heat and energy that is rejected from the engine has got to be the way forward in the future.” He feels that there has been no need to improve the efficiency before, however people are now faced with minimal fuel supplies and rocketing prices, “A tank of petrol or a tank of diesel is such an incredibly good energy store that we have been able to afford to throw some of it away up until now.”

Although these ideas have been around in the industry for a while, Clean Power technology is addressing them practically and productively. “It’s a perfectly feasible idea … Obviously now with rising oil prices etc it becomes essential to extract more energy from the fuel you are putting in.” Clague.

Posted under Articles, Cars & Transport, Climate, Environmental News, Renewable Energy