Electric Vehicle news roundup

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For $500 you can now reserve your Aptera electric or super-hybrid vehicle. Deliveries should start October, 2008 The first Aptera prototype, the Mk-0, was a parallel hybrid Diesel and achieved an average of 230 MPG at a steady state of 55 MPH. This was pure Diesel/mechanical drive with no electric assist. The All Electric Aptera has about 120 mile range.

UPDATE: Li-tec, German company, claims lithium ion battery breakthrough.

The Aptera has “two plus one” seating allowing plenty of room for driver and passenger while an infant seat (newborn to age three) can be located in the middle behind the front seating. There is enough storage space to fit 15 bags of groceries, two full-size golf club bags or even a couple of seven foot surf boards.

The approximate price for the all electric version is $26,900 and the plug-in hybrid $29,900. These prices are subject to change any time before we begin production.


here is the latest Aptera prototype electric and high mileage car.


Here are the mileage numbers for a hybrid Aptera based on range driven per day

For Tesla electric cars prices have been increasing and delivery dates have been slipping

* 2007-2008 Roadster – $92,000-$100,000
* 2010 WhiteStar – $50,000-70,000
* 2013 (?) sedan compact – $30,000

Exxon Mobil’s chemicals arm said at EVS-23 that it has developed a new heat-resistant separator film for the next generation of lightweight lithium-ion batteries.

Exxon Mobile already is manufacturing the stuff at a plant in Japan and said Sunday it has launched a feasibility study for a second plant, this time in South Korea.

The company believes battery makers, anticipating growing demand for the world’s automakers as they launch new hybrid and all-electric vehicles, will be scaling up lithium-ion production over the next three to four years.

Harris wouldn’t disclose revenue or sales projections for Exxon Mobile’s film, but said that the business has been “growing an average of 15 percent a year” for the past several years and is “working with many” battery makers to quickly bring the new film to market.

There will be battery-electric trucks, thanks to the efforts of a British company, Tanfield Group, and its Smith Electric Vehicles Group.

The company broke the news at the annual Electric Vehicle Symposium conference being held in Anaheim this week.

The idea’s a great one: a big delivery truck – Smith calls it the world’s largest high-performance electric truck – that can travel up to 150 miles at 50 miles an hour on an overnight charge, costs 75 percent less than a comparably sized diesel to operate (11 cents a mile versus 45 cents), can haul a payload of up to 15,800 pounds, and does it all without tailpipe emissions or that lovely diesel clatter that’s such a delight to the ear at 6 a.m.

The company believes there’s huge potential in the U.S., where the market for Class 5, 6 and 7 intra-city delivery trucks is about 200,000 a year. Smith hopes to have a 5 percent share, or 10,000 trucks a year, by 2010.

The trucks have a $150,000 starting price, but lower fuel and maintenance costs mean they pay for themselves in about five years.

The economics are better in Europe, where fuel prices are considerably higher than in the U.S., and where government policies favor vehicles with low greenhouse gas emissions

OEMtek, based in Northern California, can convert your Toyota Prius in half a day for between $12,500-$15,000. Average fuel economy is 125 mpg in combined urban and freeway driving. OEMtek can also offer fleet and volume discounts.

So a $21,000-23,000 Toyota Prius could be converted into a Plug-in hybrid for a total cost of $33,500 to 38,000.

You might be able to pick up a used 2004 Toyota Prius for about $16,000 and have a plug in hybrid after conversion for less than $30,000.

BREEZ is a Plug-and-Play after-market solution that delivers an additional 9 kWh of energy storage using Valence Technology’s lithium phosphate batteries. (this is over 6x more energy than Toyota’s battery.

No removal of spare tire or original battery
Hinged Structure allows access to spare tire
Installation Time of 1/2 day
12-month Warranty

OEMTEK’s Ford Escape + BREEZ upgrades an existing Ford Escape Hybrid vehicle into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV, to increase zero emissions miles by approximately 30 miles and to increase the Ford Escape Hybrid�s fuel economy from 30 mpg to over 70 mpg. We supplement the Ford Escape Hybrid�s original nickel metal hydride battery with Valence’s lithium phosphate rechargeable battery pack, with 9 kWh of energy storage.

FURTHER READING
Cars that are more fuel efficient than a Toyota Prius

50% more energy is spent for buildings than vehicles. Here is my article on cost effective energy efficiency for buildings

Plug in hybrid conversion sources

Open source plug in hybrid wiki