Electric cars part 2

In my recent post on the Volt and Leaf electric cars I neglected to mention there is already one mass produced electric car on the streets in Australia. The Mitsubishi - iMiev.

The iMiev is similar to the Nissan Leaf in that is it a pure electric vehicle with no internal combustion engine. Similar to the Leaf it gets about ~12o km per charge. Also like the Leaf the iMiev can be both 220V (ie: household electricity) charged or high voltage fast charged.

Doing some comparisons: the iMiev has both a smaller battery pack and a less powerful electric motor than the Leaf, but is quite a bit smaller and lighter overall, which allows it to get a similar range. The Volt is also bigger and heavier than the iMiev, but has a similar sized battery pack since it only runs all electric for ~55km before its backup petrol engine kicks in. Looking at their specs it would seem the iMiev is similar to the Leaf in being ideally suited as a city or commuting car.

The advantage of the iMiev is that it is already available in Oz, at least to lease, while the others don't arrive till next year. As Mitsubishi ramps up production over the next few years we should be seeing of few more of them around.

Electric cars - An important solution in a world of peak oil.

Last week ABC Catalyst looked at peak oil and how high petrol prices are here to stay. An obvious response to these issues is to make the economy (and the people within it) less dependent on oil by using less of it. This week Catalyst went to America to preview one of the core solutions to this problem - electric cars.

Electric cars have come along way in the past decade or so and two currently on sale in the USA are the Chevy (Holden) - Volt and the Nissan -Leaf. There has been a lot of buzz about these cars, and both have won several "Car of the year awards".

There are a lot of advantages to electric cars, beyond just reducing oil use. Electric motors are much more efficient than petrol engines, so this and the high price of oil make electric cars much cheaper to drive per km. With no tail pipe emissions electric cars help to clean up polluted city air and of course emit no greenhouse gasses. In fact if your electricity comes from renewable sources then they truely are zero emissions vehicles.

So how do they work?

Well the Volt is a plug in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). It has a battery which powers an electric motor. In electric only driving it can travel ~55 km on a single charge. Then as the battery gets depleted a small petrol engine starts up which powers an electric generator to keep the car going and give it a total range of ~600km. In this way the Volt eliminates "range anxiety", the fear you'll run out of battery charge and be stuck somewhere. But here's the clever bit, most people drive less than 55km in their daily commute, which means you can charge the battery between commuting and continually run in all-electric mode. Then if you want to drive long distance on the weekend, you still can. The volt plans to be, and is, a replacement for the main family car. Another benefit is the battery can be charged from a normal residential power point, making this process nice and easy.





The LEAF (unlike the Volt) is a pure electric vehicle (PEV), it has no petrol engine at all, instead it has a lot of batteries and an electric engine. Since it is all electric it's battery range is longer than the Volt at ~110 km. Only having one engine (and not being a hybrid) also makes the Leaf cheaper than the Volt. The leaf is ideal for shorter trips or commuting but although the batteries can be high voltage fast charged in ~30minutes it isn't ideal for long trips.

Photo: Tennen-Gas. Permission: cc-by-sa-3.0

Both these cars should be hitting our shores in 2012.

For even more info about these cars, see the wikipedia pages on the Volt and the Leaf

update on ebikes buying group

I ordered an ebike as promoted at our recent meeting, and the scheme is going ahead with a delay until 6 November to get the numbers up. But the good news is the supplier in an email I received today has decided to guarantee the fully-discounted price even if they don’t make the target of 50.

Here’s a pointer to the Sustainable Jamboree web page with more detail on the bulk buy.

Electric Bicycle Buying Group

Our upcoming meeting is on electric bicycles. Garry Willett from Sustainable Jamboree, will be talking about the e-bike bulk buy he is organizing. For those considering this offer, here is some more information about the bikes available (taken from the Sustainable Jamboree website).


"Please let us know if you’re interested to buy an electric bicycle for $1600 ($700 off)! Models on offer include the eZee Sprint or Torq.

We’re in the process of organising a buying group in partnership with Glow Worm bicycles but we need 50 people to order one with them through Sustainable Jamboree.

http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/store/product/ezee-torq
http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/store/product/ezee-sprint
http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/faq

Those interested can contact Garry for an order form etc: garry [at] sustainablejamboree.org

For information about the Queensland Government’s position on e-bicycles see: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Registration/Registering-vehicles/Wheelchairs-and-small-devices/Motorised-foot-scooters-and-motorised-bicycles.aspx#motorised_bicycles

This buying group does not constitute a product endorsement. Please do your own research before making any decision."

TTKD Sept Meeting: Electric Bicycles - The future of transport in the city?

Electric bicycles offer an affordable, sustainable and congestion free way to travel in the city.

Come and hear from some local electric bicycle enthusiasts, try out their bikes and check out the opportunity to get an electric bike at a heavily discounted price.

Speaking on electric bicycles will be

Dr Paul Martin, an Anaesthetist and electric bicycle enthusiast. Paul has been able to replace most car journeys with cycling and will be speaking about the advantages of electric bikes and why they are well suited to a city like Brisbane.

Garry Wilett, a member of Sustainable Jamboree, Garry is organising an electric bike bulk buy will talk about how you can purchase your own electric bike at a heavily discounted price.


Why an electric bike? well as Garry told us:

"This probably does not mean much, but let me tell you my bike can do 30Kmh without peddling. Faster if I peddle. It can travel 40km on a charge and up to 90kms if I peddle a bit. It flys and guess what I don't feel like I have been rung out when I get to the other end. No heart palpitations or wobbly legs. Oh, and I don't wear lycra. I just ride in my every day clothes. The bike paths are getting better and I have found riding the bike quite safe."

Wed 15th 7:30pm
The Uniting Church Hall
982 Moggill Rd Kenmore

Ten climate policy ideas Julia or Tony could steal

Did you know that India has a tax on coal burning? No, neither did I. Thankfully Graham Readfearn's on the case and has an article on the ABC called "Ten climate policy ideas Julia or Tony could steal" where he investigates policies being used overseas to cut carbon emissions, including carbon taxes, electric car rebates, green roofs, solar hot water mandates and the rather intriguing Carbon Points rewards scheme in Korea.

Perhaps most surprising is the fact that India, a developing country, has introduced an (admittedly small) tax on burning coal which will go towards installing solar power, something that a rich country like Australia has been unable to achieve.

Check out the article.

QLD Electric Vechicle roadmap - call for comments

2010 is the year electric vehicles (EVs) hit the mainstream with EV roll-outs from many of the world biggest car makers.

To this end the Queensland government has issued a discussion paper (don't worry it's really quite short) about how QLD will promote EVs to take advantage of their ability to help reduce pollution and start weaning us off oil. Next they want to know what we think.

According to Kate Jones:

"Priority areas and actions canvassed in the Roadmap include environmental impacts; recharging and electricity grid impacts; standards, planning and regulation; consumer uptake and behaviour change; industry development; and renewable energy"

"I invite all Queenslanders who have an interest in sustainable transport solutions to consider the issues and opportunities identified in this EV Roadmap and provide their comments and ideas on this exciting new technology."

If you want to comment, you can do it here until the 19th of July, the short discussion paper is here. Transition Kenmore will likely provide a comment so if you are part of TTKD feel free to send us an email so we can add your points.

Renewable Energy Solutions - Online version of Phillip Machanicks talk

The first speaker at our recent meeting on renewable energy solutions was Dr Phillip Machanick.

He has been kind enough to put his talk online at www.scribd.com and I have embedded it below.

Don't forget to check out Phil's blog as well.


Clean Energy Options

The future's electric

Or at least it will be if Shai Agassi has his way. Another great TED talk, this time from the CEO of electric car start up Better Place.
2010 marks the launch of a number of plug-in electric cars including the much talked about Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. Unlike the major automakers Agassi plans to decrease the cost of electric cars by not requiring car owners to buy the batteries; and increase their convenience by creating battery exchange stations much like petrol stations today.

For more, watch the video...

Electric bicycle world tour

Electric bicycles are a cool piece of technology that can allow you to ride around a hilly and hot city like Brisbane without breaking a sweat. Despite their advantages, which include being an extremely environmentally friendly and efficient method of transport, electric bikes don't have a very big profile here in Oz. This is in contrast to countries like China where it is estimated there are 120 million electric bikes on the road.

In an effort to raise the profile of electric bicycles Spaniard Guim Teruel has undertaken an electric bicycle world tour. Starting in Beijing, Guim's cycles have so far taken him through parts of Asia, New Zealand and down the eastern sea board of Australia. Currently in Sydney (he appears to have been in Brissie last month but unfortunately I wasn't aware of it) Guim has been powering his journey with solar panels attached to a small trailer that he tows which charge his spare battery.



Guim has a website where he has been documenting his travels. Check it out and check out electric bikes.

Free Electric Vehicles Forum

Picked up from the Sustainable Jamoboree mailing list…

Free Electric Vehicles Forum - 1pm, 22 May

1 – 3pm, Sat 22 May 2010
Repeated 2 – 4pm, Wed 26 May 2010

Veue: Mt Ommaney Library, Dandenong Road
RSVP: info@sustainablejamboree.org or phone 3375 7268

Speakers / panel

• Dr Andrew Simpson, senior research fellow, Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. He has over 10 years experience in the hybrid/electric vehicle, electric power and renewable energy industries in Australia and North America, including two years most-recently at Tesla Motors in California.
• Russell Austerberry, Australian Electric Vehicles Association, Brisbane.
• Paul Martin, electric bicycles enthusiast
• Allan Dow, www.elationebikes.com.au - tbc

Looks interesting and worth going.