New posts from Gas 2.0! |
- Better Place Battery-swap Station Gets Real in Israel (video)
- AT&T Adds 101 CNG-powered Chevy Vans to New Commercial Fleet
- Duke’s Garage Unveils Electrified Classic Porsche Replicas
- F-22 Raptor Goes Mach 1.5 on 50% Biofuel Blend
- As Gas Prices Rise, So Does Fuel Theft
| Better Place Battery-swap Station Gets Real in Israel (video) Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:00 PM PDT Project Better Place keeps making waves, having recently announced partnerships with Renault and expansion into Denmark. With all the news and progress being made, Better Place certainly seems legit, but perception often lags reality, and some of our readers have left comments questioning whether Better Place’s business model had any legs. As if answering in the affirmative, Project Better Place’s Israeli facility released this video of the battery swapper in action, effectively “topping off” the electric car with a simple swipe of a card in about the same time it would take to top-off a conventional ICE car. The stations themselves are designed to be modular in construction, and compatible with several different EVs – although they are presumably leaning heavily towards batteries powering Renault/Nissan’s EVs. The Truth About Cars blog reports that 8 more Better Place battery-swap stations are currently in construction, and the company hopes to eventually have 40 similar stations operational throughout Israel. Shai Agassi, the company’s CEO, says "you're seeing the second Apple" in the video above … which may or may not mean that he plans to follow in Steve Job’s footsteps. Source: The Truth About Cars.
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| AT&T Adds 101 CNG-powered Chevy Vans to New Commercial Fleet Posted: 29 Mar 2011 01:00 PM PDT The addition of over 100 new SULEV-ii compliant commercial Chevy Express vans to AT&T’s service fleet is a great way to generate some positive PR for the company – especially after last week, when the telecom giant announced it had bought TMobile’s US operations, creating a Still, the news that AT&T is choosing a clean-air option for its latest round of purchases is genuinely good for the environment and certainly good for AT&T’s bottom line, which will surely reap financial benefits from the CNG switch in the face of $5/gallon gas. Hopefully more fleet managers will follow suit. Source: AutoEvolution.
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| Duke’s Garage Unveils Electrified Classic Porsche Replicas Posted: 29 Mar 2011 11:00 AM PDT
Based out of Westminster, Colorado, Dukes Garage has made a business out of converting all sorts of cars to electric power, among them a classic Mustang convertible, several VW Bugs, and numerous Porsche. The eSpeedster and eSpyder will be their first "kit" car offering, with a price of $49,995, and a 110 mile range thanks to a lithium-ion battery pack and 39 kW electric motor. This electric Porsche will be surprisingly peppy, with a 6.7 second sprint from 0-60 mph, and running the ¼ mile in less than 15 seconds. The eSpeedster will have a top speed of around 90 mph too, and recharge in between six and eight hours. You also get a leather interior and an optional iPod-connecting radio.
The real key to this car is weight; this classic reproduction Porsche lacks much of the heavy modern safety equipment and unnecessary bells and whistles found on modern cars. Thus, a smaller battery pack can help it get much farther. And at under $50,000, it is less than half the price of a Tesla Roadster in arguably a much cooler looking package. Hell, I’m sold, but if you need more convincing, they’re also working on an electric ’75 VW MicroBus. If you could convert any old car to electric power, what car would you choose? For me, it would probably be a 1967 Mercury Cougar, an offshoot of the Mustang but much cooler looking (at least to me!) Source: Duke’s Garage Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs. You can read about his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout or follow his non-nonsensical ramblings on Twitter @harshcougar.
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| F-22 Raptor Goes Mach 1.5 on 50% Biofuel Blend Posted: 29 Mar 2011 09:30 AM PDT
The U.S. Air Force wants to achieve 50% of its domestic jet fuel from biofuel blends by 2016. The mixture used in this raptor was 50% JP-8 jet fuel and 50% camelina oil, with the camelina sativa breed being especially desirable for its used in alternative fuels. Jet fuel burns very hot and has a very high octane, which is needed to propel these fighter aircraft to many times the speed of sound. The maximum speed for the Raptor is estimated to be over Mach 2 with afterburners, so going 1.5 times the speed of sound, or over 1,100 mph, without the afterburners is a pretty big deal on 50% biofuel. There was no perceivable loss in power to the plane, and use of the fuel reduces emissions by up to 80% while coming from a domestically grown, inedible plant. Unfortunately, it's on a jet that may not be around for very long. The F-22 Raptor, which only formally entered service in 2005, was the center of a bitter debate over budget cuts and military spending. Eventually Secretary of Defense Robert Gates threatened to have the President veto the procurement budget if it included the final order of Raptor air supremacy fighters. Future fighters are sure to have alternative fuel capability as a mandatory requirement when companies submit their bids. This falls in line with the Marines buying two Smith Newton electric trucks, and the Army soliciting bids for a hybrid flying armored car. Montana has been experimenting with camelina biofuel blends, and I dare you to call one of their cowboys a hippy. Growing fuel from an inedible plant and employing Americans while limiting the money that goes to oppressive regimes is exactly what this country needs. The U.S. military knows that it must wean itself off of oil by 2040, and sees fuel shortages happening as soon as 2015, but I guess some patriots would rather pledge allegiance to oil than practical thinking. Source: Gizmag Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs. You can read about his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout or follow his non-nonsensical ramblings on Twitter @harshcougar.
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| As Gas Prices Rise, So Does Fuel Theft Posted: 29 Mar 2011 07:17 AM PDT
We're not quite at $4 a gallon in the U.S., but petroleum prices in the U.K. have shot past $8 a gallon. With a 20 gallon tank, that's $160 worth of fuel just ripe for the picking. If you're talking about big trucks with 1,000 liter (about 260 gallons) of fuel, that's over $2,000 just begging to be stolen. Entire truck fleets can have their fuel tanks empted in a single night, with the thieves pocketing over $20,000 for a few hours of siphoning fuel. What's more, they're doing it with relatively simple tools, like a battery-operated minipump and a few drums to store the fuel. The problem is rather prolific too. Two-thirds of the respondents to a Road Haulage Association survey reported fuel theft in the last year. Another problem has been "red diesel," a lower tax fuel designed for off-road use in boats and farm machinery as opposed to cars. It has a lower tax rate, and there are organizations removing the red dye and selling it as regular diesel. I'm not positive, but this is probably less-refined fuel, meaning more emissions and less money via the taxes. Sounds just awful. Glad we're not there…yet. But if gas prices continue to edge towards $4 a gallon, fuel theft will probably go on the rise in America too. It’s happened before, and parts of California already have gas for over $5 a gallon, so you better get your locking gas caps now. Source: BBC Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs. You can read about his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout or follow his non-nonsensical ramblings on Twitter @harshcougar.
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