Where can I find an electric car?

Many of us have been stuck in the notion that electric cars are still a thing of the future and that we are still waiting for the technology to improve. Sorry guys the technology for the electric car is old and the improvements are astounding! Every major car dealer has supplied the world an fully electric car and now it the time you get to hear about them.

General Motors has the Volt that gets 40miles on pure electric and 500 miles on a gasoline electric hybrid. General Motors is likely to introduce a electric SUV hybrid in 2012.

Nissan has introduced the Leaf which gets 100 miles a charge from it 100% pure electric propulsion.

Ford is selling the Focus in an array of options. A consumer can pick the fully electric, electric hybrid, of fuel efficient sedan.  Ford is preparing to have 5 electric/hybrid cars by the end of 2012.

Toyota and Honda have be pumping out hybrids for years but both manufactures have a pure electric car and Toyota will release a electric SUV the RAV-4

These car manufactures are the only one gearing up for the electric car craze. China anticipates a need for 100 million charging station by 2020. Manufactures like BMW, Fiat, Volkswagen, and Renault Fluence are launch or preparing to launch their own line by 2013.

Still think this is a underdeveloped idea? Check out Clean Fleets Top 10 car makers to see it they are kidding.

 http://www.cleanfleetreport.com/clean-fleet-articles/top-electric-cars-2010/

A Real Case - Prospects and Analysis of Potential CNG Vehicle Implementation in China

     China is currently heavily dependent upon foreign oil imports from the Middle East in an effort to support its growing economy. The increase in natural gas serves as the ideal springboard from which compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles can gain economic viability in China. Adopting compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in China would improve national political and environmental standing. First, increased use of compressed natural gas vehicles will lower demand for foreign petroleum. Second, compressed natural gas vehicles exude fewer pollutants than traditional petroleum based vehicles. Consequentially, CNG vehicles will decrease pollution emitted into the air, which is a strong motivator as the current air quality in China is poor, particularly in Beijing wherein pollution levels are 23 times those of New York City. Therefore, CNG vehicles will greatly contribute to the air pollution issue.

      The social costbenefit analysis takes Beijing as a case-study, and concludes that CNG implementation will result in a benefit to society in the form of decreased pollution levels, which will spell great societal savings considering the amount of vehicles present in Beijing.

     One of the results is the below chart, which indicates that CNG is significantly lower in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions than conventional gasoline (CG) or conventional diesel (CD), which are the two most popular fuels used in China.

     

     There is also a recent study on buses in Washington by the National Renewable Energy Laboratories shows further reductions of emissions from CNG vehicles as compared to diesel buses.

More information:
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/institute/bigproblems/Team3-1209.pdf

-Xiaoting Wu

    

Electric Car Government Programs

 
     Growing things need help and encouragement. In order to promoting the electric cars, the U.S. government has created a number of new programs.  Many of the programs came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The factory in Holland, Mich., that will build batteries for the Chevrolet Volt and Ford Focus Electric got a $151 million grant from the federal government as part of the stimulus act. Not only does having a domestic battery plant help the electric car industry, but the factory also employs 300 workers, which is no small thing for the troubled Michigan economy. Another factory in Livonia, Mich., received $249 million in stimulus dollars to build electric car batteries.

     However, the government's programs are not only intended for the car makers, they also provide benefits to consumers. One of benefits is that the government offers a tax credit to consumers who buy an electric car. The  programs cover in a variety of areas. The most useful one in my mind is the infrastructure program, which means to place electricity charging stations out where people can use to charge quickly and conveniently.

     In a word, programs that the U.S. government are creating toward the electric cars are used to make the cars easier in consumers' life.

Read the entire article: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/electric-car-government-programs.html

- Xiaoting Wu

Noise Makes Electric Cars Safer

     Should electric cars make noise? The ordinary cars produce not only air pollution, but also noise pollution. The electric cars are emphasize on the environment issues, so should they be quiet? Obviously,  the answer is no. The noise electric cars make can be a warning to pedestrians. There are several discussions about what noise the cars should make (http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2008/06/fake-engine-noise-to-make-electric-cars.html).

     Althought electric cars can solve noise pollution, they may be more dangerous for people. Many people killed by the green cars, including the blind, pedestrians and bicyclists. The blind use their hearing to locate and avoid dangers, and the pedestrians and bicyclists also use the sound to know if a car is coming or not. So it's important to make the electric cars have noise so that we can avoid dangers and traffics. However, if the "make quiet cars noisy" were to have its way, the problem of noise pollution will still remain unsolved. (To know more information, go to: http://www.examiner.com/green-transportation-in-national/hybrid-and-electric-cars-can-solve-noise-pollution-and-may-be-more-dangerous-for-the-deaf)

- Xiaoting Wu

Natural Gas For Transportation

Natural Gas For Transportation?



     Billionaire oil man turned energy independence activist T. Boone Pickens has lately been doing the cable news talk show rounds again, trying put a little wind back into the sails of his flagging Pickens Plan. The alternative energy scheme would seek to replace gasoline with compressed natural gas, which generates 30 percent less emissions and is readily abundant within the United States. Pickens spent what any non-billionaire would consider a fortune promoting and investing in this idea, with little or nothing to show for it as of yet.
     According to a two-year study out of M.I.T. though, natural gas really is the future—just not of transportation. The report says it's highly unlikely that natural gas will ever power more than 15 percent of vehicles in the United States, but predicts that by 2050, the fuel will replace coal as the leading source of electrical power in the United States. Simply by ramping up natural gas production and electrical generation, the study says that "CO2 emissions could be reduced by as much as 22 percent with no additional capital investment."
     So even if mainstream commuter cars will never carry CNG tanks, the electric vehicles of tomorrow are likely to indirectly get much of the juice they use to charge their batteries from natural gas. ...

Read the entire article about CNG Vehicles:
http://www.hybridcars.com/news/natural-gas-power-electric-cars-28194.html

- Xiaoting Wu

Who leaves the smaller carbon foot print; CNG or Electric powered cars?

First off both fuels are friendlier to the environment than petroleum powered cars; but in deciding which of these two energies is better we have to not only how renewable they are but which is overall friendlier to the environment? Hi. I'm leaning towards CNG as a better alternative to petroleum than electric cars. Methane is what we call Natural Gas and this can be produced by collecting and refining the decomposing waste. Today landfills are powering town around the world. 40% of the gas produced by the landfill is methane and can be refined and transported directly to homes via the pipeline infrastructure already in place. In Tillamook dairies are powered by the methane that the cows excrement produces. Like electric cars CNG cars have about a 100-200 mile per fill-up or charge making them idea for local travel but not long distances. The development of a quick charge battery will take longer to develop than to provide fill stations along highways for CNG. CNG fuel providers could be put in place just by governments providing subsidies or incentives. Additionally methane is charged with effecting the environment when it is released into the atmosphere, it is a greenhouse gas. Methane has a much much smaller effect when it is burned. CNG cars burn methane. Electric cars are primarily run on electricity that is produced by burning coal, which not only releases CO2 into the atmosphere but the digging for coal releases unburned methane into the atmosphere. Electric cars are great but CNG cars are a better choice of today. A possible alternative or maybe a better solution would be a combination of the fuels. Electricity is created by burning coal to heat water. The water turns into super heated steam which is used to turn a turbine. That turbine turning creates an electromagnetic field from which an electric current is produced. If the coal was replaced by natural gas, which is renewable, the effect of coal on the environment could be minimized. According to the US Energy Information Administration coal accounted for 44.5% of the electricity generated in 2009. The EIA also reported a drop in Natural Gas cost driving states to switch their electricity generation operations from coal to natural gas. “Coal-to-gas switching. The increase in delivered coal prices and the decrease in delivered natural gas prices, combined with surplus capacity at highly-efficient gas-fired combined-cycle plants resulted in coal-to-gas fuel switching This occurred particularly in the Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina) and also Pennsylvania. Nationwide, coal-fired electric power generation declined 11.6 percent from 2008 to 2009, bringing coal's share of the electricity power output to 44.5 percent, the lowest level since 1978. Coal consumption at U.S. power plants paralleled the decline in generation, dropping 10.3 percent from 2008.8 In sharp contrast, natural gas-fired generation increased 4.3 percent in 2009, despite the 4.1-percent decline in overall electric generation. The natural gas share of generation increased to 23.3 percent—the highest level since 1970. Electricity's share of the total U.S. natural gas consumption has also risen rapidly, growing from 17 percent in 1996 to over 30 percent in 2009.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2010). Electric Power Annual. Retrieved from http://eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html Here is a little blurb by James G. Speight “NG use does not contribute significantly to smog formation, as it emits low NO x levels and virtually no particulate matter. For this reason, it can be used to help combat smog formation in those areas where ground-level air quality is poor. Increased NG use in the electric generation sector, a shift to cleaner NG vehicles, or increased industrial NG use, could all serve to combat smog production, especially in urban centers where it is needed the most. Particularly in the summertime, when NG demand is lowest and smog problems are the greatest, industrial plants and electric generators could use NG to fuel their operations instead of other, more polluting fossil fuels. This would effectively reduce the emissions of smog-causing chemicals and result in clearer, healthier air around urban centers. Particulate emissions also cause air quality degradation in the US. These particulates can include soot, ash, metals and other airborne particles. NG emits virtually no particulates into the atmosphere. In fact, particulate emissions from NG combustion are 90% lower than from the combustion of oil, and 99% lower than burning coal. Thus, increased NG substitution in place of other dirtier fossil fuels can reduce particulate emissions.” (“Natural gas, the clean fuel,” 2009) Natural gas, the clean fuel. (2009). Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, January(2009), . Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1641211601&Fmt=3&clientId

EV.com

EV.com is a great website that is dedicated to electric vehicles of all kinds. On EV.com there are EV guides on converting a motorcycle or a gas powered car into electric, or you can find media stories about EV's, including Jay Leno's green car challenge for the stars, located under the EV gallery tab. There are links to EV current events, to concept vehicles, to EV industry updates, to being green articles. There are some links to stories that are a bit outdated, but overall this is go to website for a consumer that owns or is contemplating owning an electic vehicle. Follow this link to view the website.