Electric vehicles

With electric cars increasingly employing energy harvesting in shock absorbers, regenerative braking, thermoelectrics on hybrid engine and exhaust and photovoltaics on the roof, attention is turning to two wheel electric vehicles, starting with regenerative braking in electric motorcycles.

Two wheel electric vehicles (EV) have a bright future with sales already a magnitude higher than the numbers for any other type of EV. IDTechEx forecasts for 2010 and 2014 are as follows.

Experts say that the energy in winds miles above the earth is sufficient to provide the world's energy needs. One company working towards harnessing this energy is Kite Gen Research, based in Italy.

From 1880 to 1920 there was a boom in electric cars before a shakeout all but eliminated them until they crept back as golf cars seventy years later, a modest niche of the automotive market. Now we see ...

25 January 2010 - A consortium led by micro gas turbine company Bladon Jets has secured investment from the UK Technology Strategy Board to develop an Ultra Lightweight Range Extender (ULRE) for next generation electric vehicles.

The burgeoning electric vehicle EV industry cannot be understood by simply looking at cars. The complete market value is, and will remain, about double the market for cars. The leaders such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan make electric vehicles for many applicational sectors.

On the 15th December at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, MIT researchers introduced the Copenhagen Wheel — a revolutionary new bicycle wheel that not only boosts power, but can keep track of friends, fitness, smog and traffic.

Printed electronics and electrics will be a $335 billion business in twenty years, just for devices primarily made by printing with electronic inks. IDTechEx gives a summary of the projections.

Dependence on increasingly troublesome oil supplies and rapid degradation of the environment provide every reason why electric cars, whether hybrid or pure electric, should now be adopted rapidly.

Alastair Callender, of Callender Designs, has developed a radical 58m, rigid-wing superyacht concept called 'Soliloquy', which will be powered from wind, solar and Hybrid Marine Power (HMP) technology from Solar Sailor Holdings Ltd.

There is now consensus that hybrid and pure electric cars will be the fastest growing sector of the car business for the next twenty years. Analysts and manufacturers project 15-20% of cars made in 2020 being electric.

Plug in hybrid electric cars are now prioritised by most major car manufacturers. Pure electric on- road cars are prioritised by Nissan and a host of vibrant start up companies, they have one thing in common. The cleverest, most expensive part of their planned vehicles is increasingly the traction battery.

The US Navy is developing robot surveillance jellyfish that employ energy harvesting in order to survive and navigate at sea for many years.

Golf carts with a solar powered charging system that charge the carts up during a game of golf are becoming more popular and can be used on and off the golf course.

Club Surya in London is one of a new generation of "eco-clubs" which encourages its patrons to work towards climate change. The club's main feature is the piezoelectric dance floor.

The world is putting over $50 million in government funding into electric cars and the Obama administration is also putting a large sum into the enabling technologies, particularly batteries.

Hybrid cars are a great success. In addition, pure electric cars are at last moving beyond the golf car and neighbourhood vehicle stage with serious volumes beginning to be sold.

Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg have unveiled, at Dübendorf airfield close to Zurich, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA, the first aircraft designed to fly both day and night without fossil fuel or pollution.

In all forms of electric vehicle, power management is key and any form of energy harvesting is welcome. The modern car will therefore increasingly use regenerative braking, solar panels outside and maybe energy harvesting shock absorbers as well.

Swedish supercar marque Koenigsegg and NLV Solar AG, a pioneer in photovoltaics and accumulator technology, have joined forces to create the Quant. The brainchild of this marriage of power and energy is a four-seater solar electric car.