First Commercial Biofuel Jet Test Flight
December 30, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
The first biofuel test flight by a commercial airline was completed yesterday by Air New Zealand using a 50:50 blend of a jatropha-derived synthetic paraffinic kerosene and conventional Jet A1 fuel (named NZ-J50) in an Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 on Tuesday.
The two-hour test flight took off from Auckland airport on Tuesday morning, with the jatropha-derived biofuel blend powering one of the four Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. Read more
Squeezing More Miles Out of That Hybrid - Wall Street Journal
December 30, 2008 by Adam Birdhy · Comments Off
 Boston Globe | Squeezing More Miles Out of That Hybrid Wall Street Journal - An electric-powered car works essentially like a regular hybrid -- it runs on batteries and has a gasoline engine as well. But electric-powered cars run ... Longer road to breakeven |
NEC and Nissan Join to Make Hybrid Car Batteries - eFluxMedia
December 29, 2008 by Adam Birdhy · Comments Off
 Fresh News | NEC and Nissan Join to Make Hybrid Car Batteries eFluxMedia - The batteries will be also used by Nissan, which will mount them on the company’s hybrid and electric car models. According to a representative at NEC, ... Electric, Hybrid Cars Coming Soon from Nissan Nissan, NEC To Invest $1B in Batteries - Report Nissan, NEC to spend $1 billion on battery output: report |
Electric, Hybrid Cars Coming Soon from Nissan - EV World
December 28, 2008 by Adam Birdhy · Comments Off
Fresh News | Electric, Hybrid Cars Coming Soon from Nissan EV World, NE - SYNOPSIS: Nissan plans to release an electric car and an original hybrid prototype vehicle in 2010. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd plans to unveil its new electric ... Nissan, NEC to spend $1 billion on battery output: report Nissan, NEC To Invest $1B in Batteries - Report NEC and Nissan Join to Make Hybrid Car Batteries |
Ford Fusion Hybrid reportedly the most efficient electric car - TopNews
December 26, 2008 by Adam Birdhy · Comments Off
 BusinessWeek | Ford Fusion Hybrid reportedly the most efficient electric car TopNews, Arkansas - Ford Motor Company has unveiled its new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid electric car – which, built with next-generation hybrid propulsion system, is claimed to be ... Ford Hybrid Emphasizes High Mileage Five most fuel efficient cars of 2008 Ford Fusion Smokes Camry Hybrid on Fuel Economy |
Smart Electric ForTwo to be Shown at Detroit Auto Show
December 26, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
The upcoming North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, will see smart showing off it’s electric-powered fortwo, which was first announced earlier this year. Smart plans to equip this next-generation smart EV with lithium-ion batteries.
Other vehicles joining the list of debuts at NAIAS are the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, with new direct injection engines (earlier post); and a new Kia concept. Read more
Switch to Front-Wheel Drive puts Aptera Delivery Date Back
December 25, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Previously, Aptera’s pre-production models used a belt-driven rear wheel, but now Aptera is reportedly saying that all production models will be front-wheel drive. They have given the following reasons for the change of heart:
- Better weight distribution, which, in turn, maximizes stability
- Improved traction during acceleration and in inclement weather wet conditions
- More efficiency at higher speeds
- Increased durability during the life of the vehicle
- Improved noise insulation
- Increased rear cargo space (without sacrificing front legroom)
This is really a rather surprising change of such a fundamental nature at this relatively late stage, and calls into question the team behind what was promising to be a really fundamental change in automotive technology.
Police go green: Department buying new hybrid cars - LocalNews8.com
December 23, 2008 by Adam Birdhy · Comments Off
 WHDH-TV | Police go green: Department buying new hybrid cars LocalNews8.com, ID - AP - December 23, 2008 10:05 AM ET SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Salt Lake City Police Department plans to buy four or five hybrid Toyota Camrys and 45 ... Salt Lake City blue going green Salt Lake police fight crime — and fuel costs |
EEStor Ultracapacitor Patent will Revolutinize Electric Cars…Portable Electric Power in General
December 22, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Last week EEStor was granted a US patent for their electric-energy storage unit, of which no one outside the company has seen so much as a working prototype. The patent (link here to the PDF) has some incredible information about the technology that has been promised by EEStor, but not clearly spelled out before. These capacitors have some crazy individual unit specs! They are rated for 3500 V, weigh about 5 grams each and have 1 milli Farad. This is absolutely unbelievable in a world where you normally have to make a choice between high capacitance, high voltage, or small size, they seem to have all three.
The power output of the device is roughly 52 kWh, very close to the Tesla power, but at only one third of the weight. If they can bring it to market at the stated weight (130kg) it’ll makes things very interesting. The Tesla’s current battery pack weighs 450kg so you could triple its range, or cut the vehicles weight by 25%.
The claimed charging times are also pretty impressive with 3-6 minutes charge time for 52 kWh - 286 lbs for that compared to 752 for a Li-Ion battery. And the Li-Ion takes 6h to charge. However you would need to be on three phase / 480 volts connection to achieve that sort of charge time.
EEStor notes “the present invention provides a unique lightweight electric-energy storage unit that has the capability to store ultrahigh amounts of energy.”
The core ingredient is an aluminum coated barium titanate powder immersed in a polyethylene terephthalate plastic matrix. The EESU is composed of 31,353 of these components arranged in parallel. It is said to have a total capacitance of 30.693 F and can hold 52.220 kWh of energy. The device is said to have a weight of 281.56 pound including the box and all hardware. Unlike lithium-ion cells, the technology is said not to degrade with cycling and thus has a functionally unlimited lifetime. It is mentioned the device cannot explode when being charge or impacted and is thus safe for vehicles.”
And when they say ultra-high amounts of energy they are not joking, 3500 V battery powered drills could soon be on our hardware store shelves.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car rolls in with hybrid cars - Bizjournals.com
December 20, 2008 by Adam Birdhy · Comments Off
Enterprise Rent-A-Car rolls in with hybrid cars Bizjournals.com, NC - Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. this week designated four Houston-area locations as “hybrid branches,” giving them a high concentration of hybrid vehicles for ... |
