You all may ask who the heck is Galvin? Well he was the CEO of Motorola and has started an initiative to improve the electrical supply system in the USA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvin_Electricity_Initiative
There is much debate about plug in hybrids and purely electric cars. No matter what the electrical power system is need of an upgrade. Next month Tesla Motors will start selling their Lotus built roadster that uses lithium ion batteries as the energy source. http://www.teslamotors.com/
This car will sell for $98,000 and not too many will be produced. The batteries have just over 54 kilowatt hours of stored energy and the battery pack will have a mass of some 900 pounds. The rest of the car (frame, body and motor) will weigh another 1,000 pounds. These batteries are good for 500 cycles of charge discharge and the range of the vehicle is 200 miles so the battery pack should be good for 100,000 miles. Tesla is more practical than the ultracapacitor we discussed last week as charging is accomplished in a little more than 3 hours so the service needed from the electric company is only 150 amps at 110 volts. Tesla however will remain unaffordable until lithium ion batteries are less expensive.
Last week there were many new efficient prototype vehicles displayed at the Frankfurt Auto Show. Mercedes will introduce hybrids in the next couple of years. The car has not been named but the Re-Volt could be a winner.
Frankfurt Auto Show Features Hybrids, Fuel Cells, and Minis
European automakers demonstrated a new interest in hybrid and electric vehicles at last week's Frankfurt Auto Show, while automakers of all nationalities showed a strong interest in small cars. For example, Mercedes-Benz arrived at the show with seven hybrids, including a luxury sedan concept vehicle called the F 700, a 17-foot-long car that achieves a fuel economy of 44.4 miles per gallon (mpg). The research vehicle features a homogenous charge compression ignition engine, a technology that produces the high fuel economy of a diesel engine from a clean-burning gasoline engine. Mercedes has also mated its clean-diesel engine to an electric motor, creating the Bluetec hybrid. The company plans to introduce a gasoline-fueled hybrid SUV and sedan in 2009, followed by two Bluetec hybrids in 2010, one of which will achieve 51 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. The company also plans to start the limited production of its first fuel-cell vehicle in 2010. In addition, the Mercedes Car Group exhibited its smart car in three new incarnations: an electric-only vehicle and both diesel and gasoline versions with "micro hybrid drive," a belt-driven starter and alternator that allows the engine to shut off at stops. See the DaimlerChrysler press releases about the auto show and the F700.
The Ford Verve concept may indicate the company's future direction for small cars. Credit: Ford Motor Company
Opel, a division of General Motors Corporation, exhibited the Flextreme, a plug-in hybrid that can travel 34 miles on its lithium-ion battery before a small diesel engine starts charging the battery. Opel also exhibited the Corsa Hybrid Concept, a coupe that combines a belt-driven starter and alternator with a lithium-ion battery. Volvo Cars, a division of Ford Motor Company, exhibited a plug-in hybrid with motors in each of the wheels. The Volvo ReCharge Concept can travel about 60 miles on battery power alone, using a lithium-polymer battery pack that can be recharged in a standard outlet. Ford also exhibited the Ford Verve Concept, a stylish small car billed as "the first sign of what the future may hold." See GM press releases about the Corsa Hybrid and the Opel Flextreme and the press releases from Volvo and Ford.
Asian automakers were also present at the show, and even unveiled some world premieres. Hyundai unveiled its third-generation fuel-cell vehicle, the i-Blue crossover vehicle. And Toyota introduced the iQ concept, a vehicle that looks much like a smart car, but seats three adults "in comfort." The company also exhibited two new models of its Yaris subcompact. See the press releases from Hyundai and Toyota.
Not to be left out China is also going green if only for a day. This Saturday China has declared this Saturday a “No-Car Day”. My suspicion is that the Hasidic Orthodox Jewish community in China who follow the strict observance of the Sabbath convinced the Ministry of Construction of the wisdom of a car sick out http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070917/sc_afp/chinaautotrafficenvironment
As proof I am not a crank I offer these recent articles on the virtues of LEDs http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=S4BOSDHS1GHYAQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=201805563
and the non-virtues of biofuels http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/oecd-blasts-eu-biofuels-rush/article-166628 I had inside knowledge that the OECD would issue a statement condemning bio-fuels as one of the subscribers to TT attended the OECD session a few months back.
I had opined several months ago that if each citizen of the US shed 10 pounds of fat this would propel our cars for half a day in the form of bio-diesel. CNN recently reported that airlines are spending nearly $300 million a year in extra fuel cost to carry the extra fat now common in the population http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/09/14/bod.squad.obese.travel.cnn
The hundred dollar laptop to help poor kids around the world gain access to the internet goes into production in November. Unfortunately the $100 price target could not be met and the actual cost will be $188. http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=WZP5VHYUQEUNYQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=201806663
The word of the day is recreant a word we never use to describe TT readers.
Word of the DayThursday September 20, 2007
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recreant \REK-ree-uhnt\, adjective:1. Cowardly; craven.2. Unfaithful; disloyal.
noun:1. A coward.2. An unfaithful or disloyal person.
His recreant companion disappears around the fence, but he remains, smiling affably.-- Eric J. Segal, "Norman Rockwell and the fashioning of American masculinity", Art Bulletin, December 1, 1996
To any man there may come at times a consciousness that there blows, through all the articulations of his body, the wind of a spirit not wholly his; that his mind rebels; that another girds him and carries him whither he would not. . . . The open door was closed in his recreant face.-- Genie Babb, "Where the bodies are buried", Narrative, October 1, 2002
Wordsworth compares himself to a truant, a false steward, a recreant, when he does not write poetry, when poetic numbers fail to come spontaneously, when his harp is defrauded and the singer ends in silence.-- J. Douglas Kneale, "Majestic Indolence: English Romantic Poetry and the Work of Art", Criticism, September 22, 1996
And it appears in the way the review essay was set up: Aronson versus Miliband, the recreant versus the faithful one.-- Ronald Aronson, "Response to Victor Wallis", Monthly Review, October 1, 1996
But was it worth surrendering your religion, hence your honor, and becoming a recreant?-- Eugen Weber, "The Ups and Downs of Honor", American Scholar, January 1, 1999
Recreant comes from Old French, from the present participle of recroire, "to yield in a trial by battle," from re-, "re-" + croire, "to believe," from Latin credere.