Monday, November 30, 2009

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

2011 Chevrolet Volt Pre-Production Test Drive | Popular Mechanics

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 01:01 PM PST

Popular Mechanics gets behind the wheel of the pre-production Chevy Volt and first experiences the car in pure-electric and sustained-charge modes.

This post is an excerpt of an article from Popular Mechanics. You can read the full post (with video) on their website. Written by Barry Winfield.

LOS ANGELES—We’ve been following the Chevy Volt as it has progressed through many milestones before it became a development mule based on the 2011 Chevy Cruze last May. That test drive was completed entirely in electric-only mode. Today, we had a chance to slide behind the wheel of a Volt that looks and feels much closer to production. We experienced the car in both pure-electric and sustained-charge modes, when the conventional gas engine powers an on-board alternator to supply the needs of the electric motor when the batteries reach an elected state of discharge.

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Diesel-Electric Supercar Has 80 Mile Battery Range, Gets 44 MPG After That

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 12:12 PM PST

Capstone Turbine Corporation—a company normally known for making microturbines that provide back-up power for industrial and commercial operations—has built a prototype extended-range, diesel-electric supercar that has a 0-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, a top speed of 150 mph and can go 80 miles on battery power alone before a diesel-powered microturbine kicks on and charges the battery on the fly for an additional 420 miles on one tank of fuel.

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MINI Diesels Spied, Could be on Sale in U.S. Next Year

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 10:09 AM PST

America needs more diesels. They get great fuel mileage and tend to require less work than traditional petrol engines… plus they sound freakin’ sweet when coupled with turbochargers. And they make gobs and gobs of torque. I love torque.

I also love the MINI. These spy photos show a MINI mule being tested with a diesel engine, and BMW has been saying for some time that they are considering a diesel MINI for the U.S. market. Even better, there might be a twin turbo version with over 200 horsepower. Super. Freakin’. Sweet.

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Electric Car Batteries May Cost Too Much For Energy Grid Storage

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 09:31 AM PST

The idea of using electric cars to store energy for the power grid is a good one, I think. Unfortunately, it may be too expensive at this time to make any sense, according to one recent cost analyst. The same high cost problems that have hindered electric cars in the past mean it may not make sense for the future even beyond 2020, unless the costs come down.

Then again, advancements in battery technology seem to be happening on a daily basis, so maybe it doesn’t make sense today, but tomorrow could be a different story.

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Ancient Protein May be Key to Unlocking Potential of Algae Biofuels

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 09:12 AM PST

Researchers at the Berkeley Lab have identified a light harvesting protein that could be used to develop more eoncomical algae biofuels.

In a discovery that should help sustainable algae biofuels make the leap from an exotic curiosity to a mainstream fuel, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have identified an ancient protein that helps keep green algae from imbibing too much sunlight during photosynthesis.

The protein, called LHCSR, is a molecular self-regulator that protects algae from a damaging overdose of sun. With a better understanding of how the protein functions, it may be possible to engineer strains of algae that can be grown economically in artificial photosynthesis systems, providing more stability and efficiency than an open pond without the expense of a bioreactor.

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