Electric vehicles

As part of the highly successful IDTechEx event "Energy Harvesting USA" this week in Boston, there has been a visit to the MIT spinoff Levant Power which has made remarkable progress in only two years.

In historical terms, the death of the flint tool, cooking by dung and other bygone technologies occurred very rapidly. This was because several factors conspired to bring in the better alternative and this created a multiplier effect. So it is with lead acid batteries. To this huge industry and the magazines that write about it, there is a long term, if unspectacular, future for the lead acid battery in vehicles - the main use.

In historical terms, the death of the flint tool, cooking by dung and other bygone technologies occurred very rapidly. This was because several factors conspired to bring in the better alternative and this created a multiplier effect. So it is with lead acid batteries. To this huge industry and the magazines that write about it, there is a long term, if unspectacular, future for the lead acid battery in vehicles - the main use.

Sauter Carbon Offset Design presents Deliverance, a DynaWing solar hybrid supertanker that qualifies as the largest and by far the greenest post panamax vessel to be built and as such the most economical form of crude oil transport to and from any part of the globe.

Hydro-Québec and Technifin have entered into an intellectual property collaboration agreement relating to the licensing of their respective intellectual property in lithium titanate spinel oxide (LTO) technologies, notably for lithium-ion battery applications.

Bernd Widdich has filed Provisional Patent Application Number 61/537,301 with Claire R Doane for a nodding wind harvester and gained a first order for its use on an electric vehicle charging station.

Kooper International, which was founded back in 2008 and based in Tel Aviv, Israel, manufactures premium e-Scooters (e-Rollers, e-Steps) for local and international markets. The company develops high-end zero emission, environmentally-friendly, accessible and affordable, high-performance and lightweight urban electric vehicles.

A German project recently launched 20 units of the Audi A1 e-tron on the roads of a Munich pilot region. Audi, E.ON, the public utility Stadtwerke München and Technische Universität München (TUM) are project partners in this fleet trial. E.ON and SWM are in charge of expanding and maintaining the charging infrastructure in the Munich metropolitan area.

A consortium led by micro gas turbine company Bladon Jets has been awarded funding from the Technology Strategy Board to continue its development of an Ultra Lightweight Range Extender (ULRE) for next generation electric vehicles.

Those designing electric vehicles have much in common, whether they are hybrid or pure electric, on-road, off-road, on-water, underwater or in the sky.

Electric vehicles larger than cars include many boats, trucks, buses and other industrial and commercial vehicles, manned and unmanned aircraft and military vehicles for the field of combat and supply lines, even tugs for aircraft. Some electric vehicles are the size of a car but pack a much bigger punch.

Bernd Wittich has filed Provisional Patent Application Number 61/537,301 with Claire R Doane for a nodding wind harvester and gained a first order for its use on an electric vehicle charging station.

The Centre of Excellence for Low-Carbon Technologies collaborates on the following, having commenced in 2009 with nearly Euros 10 million in funding to 2013.

In understanding EV markets and trends it is absolutely vital to realise that their adoption is not usually for the popularly understood reasons such as saving the planet or getting a government subsidy.

Lola Group and Drayson Racing Technologies (DRT) recently announced, further detail on the groundbreaking Lola-Drayson B12/69EV all-electric prototype.

Environmental monitoring of the ocean, marine research and the offshore oil and gas industry all demand strong technical expertise and advanced engineering solutions. In response to this demand, NTNU has newly established the Applied Underwater Robotics Laboratory (AUR Lab).

Lew Fulton of the IEA projected global oil production as level for now. There is a strong need for carbon dioxide reduction and the likely sale of PEVs and PHEVs is consistent with a reasonable achievement in respect of this. He said that transport 40-50K EV+PHEV will be sold in 2011.

Dr Peter Harrop provides an update on the International Electromobility Conference Ljubljana.

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside's Center for Environmental Research and Technology have received a $2 million contract for a first-of-its-kind study of hybrid construction vehicles.

Contrary to popular understanding, people have been making money out of electric vehicles for over 110 years. Unfortunately there have also been bankruptcies in the electric vehicle business in most of those years. The primary difference lies in market positioning not brilliant inventions, working long hours, automation of production, matching the size of your operation to the amount of business you can realistically gain - avoiding over and under-investment - and other aspects that come to mind. Those are sometimes important but always secondary. In market positioning, the two key factors are avoiding excessive competition, including rigged markets, and making what will be wanted in the years to come.