Ten Thoughts on Advanced Vehicles: EVs and Beyond

EVs, alternative fuels, advanced vehicles and renewable energy news is coming fast and furious since Labor Day and John Voelcker projects a possible 100,000 plug-in vehicles for 2013. For more on these stories, click on the live links in the copy. 

1. When I think of charging infrastructures I was surprised to see that Orlando, Fla. is home to more than 300 electric charging stations. So with conducive weather forClick to expand image. Enterprise is now offering Nissan Leafs rental cars in Orlando, FL. electric vehicles and a charging infrastructure in place, Drive Electric Orlando, a public/private partnership, was born. The partnership announced that Enterprise Car Rentals will now be offering Nissan Leafs as rental car options for visitors and business travelers. After some research, the rental price comes to $95, approximately, for three days (see image, right). Seems like the price is right and could be a fit for Orlando tourism visitors, but the Leaf is small and may not be a fit for families. Chevy Volt? 

2. Exciting times: The modern day PT Barnum, Elon Musk, will speed across the country in his Model S sometime in late 2013. The American showman will average 1.5 hours/day of charging with Tesla's supercharging network. Doing the math, that's three charges of 240+ miles at, approximately, 30 minutes a charge. I'm also looking forward to the twitter carnival from Iron Man.

3. Speaking of road trips for Tesla owners in California, looks like Reno and Lake Tahoe became a bit more enticing with Harrah's announcement of sixteen Level 2 charging stations (from Schneider-Electric). Tesla owners love road trips and there are quite a few owners in northern California. Smart move by Harrahs. Plus, there's already a Tesla supercharging station in Sacramento, so getting to Norcal is quite inexpensive—the savings can go to Harrahs.

4. In the land of renewables, wave and tidal energy lands on U.S shores in the form of research money from the Department of Energy. Tidal energy is farther down the road in Europe, but DoE's current efforts look to identify areas for development in the U.S., test control software for these applications and monitor how these hydrokinetic devices affect sea environments to eliminate any environmental issues. Big players are involved, such as ABB and its collaboration with Resolute Marine Energy and Texas A&M University on how to produce a better direct-drive generator to increase operation up-time. Development opportunities are abundant here in the U.S and, well, it's the energy century.

5. A press release from the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) says that diese passenger-vehicle sales rose by 41% in August (yr/yr). The DTF in its press release calls it “clean diesel” (insert laugh here) and this trend follows the overall increase in car buying by the American public in 2013—overall sales are up by seventeen percent in August. The “MPG mindshift” by the American car consumer may be happening and, of course, the increase of diesel car models from automakers explain the increase, too. My gut also says the public is buying the “clean diesel” moniker to some degree (more mileage doesn't mean its a cleaner fuel, just the opposite with diesel).

6. Manufacturing training gained traction a bit last year in the national press as the presidential horserace reporting illustrated that manufacturing jobs were open but unfulfilled. A recent story from Dave Greenfield at Automation World magazine documents how a partnership with TriCounty Technical College, Pendleton, S.C., and manufacturers are working to provide engineering students with practical skills and developing a worker pipeline for these participating companies, such as Duke Energy, BMW, Eletrolux, Kongsburg Automotive and Johnson Controls, to name a few. Video: How Higher Educations Critical Flaws Affect Manufacturing (The Automation Conference).

7. Do you wonder when a big automotive company, like Ford, says electric vehicles potential sales are too small because the charging infrastructure is not there—Ford Marketin reps had a whole presentation on this at IEEE conf in June. I beg to differ, the charging infrastructure is growing at a very solid pace. Regarding the charging infrastructure, 1,195 electric vehicle charging stations have been added in 2013 through the beginning of August, setting the total at 6,395 for the nation according to the Department of Energy. ANd retailers are seeing the EV sales figures, see here: A press release from eVgo on their recent announcement. For me , it would be interesting to include a home charging tally, separately. Ford's innovative culture, right.

8. VW releases pictures of its e-UP (see image, below) and e-Golf (press release) at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto show. The Golf brand sales in the U.S. have fallen since the early 1990s--peak popularity. Not much change in design style with the e-Golf, however, it could resonate enough in Europe.The e-Golf delivers a driving range of 118 miles on a fully charged battery pack and the Up! can travel 99 miles. (Source: Wards Auto)

9. A MBA professor released a paper on the R&D process for Chevy's Volt and it is making the rounds on the Interwebs. I have not read it but it coincides with the Volt's best ever sales month in August (per John Voelcker's recent EV sales post).

10. GE made a recent announcemet on its latest development of battery research on the flow battery—its has fuel cell properties that allows it to continously charge itself via the car, not an outlet. It's projected to be about eight to ten years away, good read. DoE kicked in more battery research money in August, too. Beyond energy density?