SOLAR TODAY Blog

Ever since SOLAR 2008 in San Diego, where I got to scare pedestrians with the electric Photon trike, I’ve been lusting after a fast e-bike. As we reported in the July/August issue of Solar Today, Chinese and European factories are now cranking out millions of electric-assisted bicycles, sold mostly to commuters. A dozen or more companies, like Optibike, have sprung up in the U.S. to sell or even make these machines. To be classified as a bicycle, speed must be limited to 20 mph. Up to 30 mph, you can classify the bike as a moped, and it’s more likely to be styled like an old Vespa scooter.
I stumbled across a start-up company right here in Boulder, ElectroRide. Their Spark prototype uses mountain bike running gear (except for the serious-looking roadie tires), but otherwise looks like a mean motorcycle. I rode the Guzzi over there to prove I could handle two-wheeled speed, and begged for a ride.

Blair Keller, the inventor of this beast, wheeled it out and turned me loose. It’s eerie to accelerate away in near-silence (you can hear the drive-chain humming, and a little tire noise). I found a straight stretch of road behind a row of warehouses and turned the throttle. It went 48mph, and 50 if I crouched over the “tank.” This means it will keep up with commuter traffic, for 20 miles at a stretch.

The 180-lb. Spark runs a 12-hp Etek motor, driven at 48 volts by four 12-volt sealed lead-acid batteries (lithium ion comes next). The hardtail frame is a little harsh over pavement seams. The second prototype will have a sprung saddle, a faster, 17-hp Perm motor with regenerative braking, a silent toothed-belt drive, an on-board charging system and nicely-finished fiberglass body panels. It will have a great weatherproof void where the engine cylinders and fuel tank sit on a conventional motorcycle — a storage bin to take your briefcase or grocery bags.

Plan is to get the Spark into production and sell it for about $3000 — very cheap compared to the slick high-speed electric commuter motorcycles, which start at around $8000 and go up. If I commute 10 miles each way, the fuel savings would pay for the Spark in less than four years. And of course the carbon footprint is tiny.

I look forward to a day when the our streets flow silently with clean, sensible personal vehicles that can knock your socks off.

Wheeeeeeeee!

To promote climate awareness and all things good, Alexis Ringwald is about to take off on a trip across India in an electric car. She sent us this youtube link.

According to The Economic Times, electric cars are now available in Delhi from four different companies. One of them, Reva, manufactures EVs in India and exports them. These are cheap, tiny urban tranports, but they sure look like fun. Looks like a couple of frat boys could stack ‘em three deep in a motorcycle parking slot.

According to today’s New York Times, General Motors is about to close four plants, reducing production of pickup trucks and large SUVs by about 500,000 units annually.

At the same time, the company announced plans for expanded production of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, some of them based on a thrifty new 1.4-liter turbocharged engine. The plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt gets a firm introduction date no later than the fourth quarter of 2010.

CEO Richard Wagoner told reporters that rising fuel prices “ . . . are changing consumer behavior and changing it rapidly. We don’t believe it’s a spike or a temporary shift. We believe it is, by and large, permanent.”

GM announced last week that 19,000 union workers — 26% of its workforce — have accepted buy-outs.

Honda, scrambling to catch up with Toyota in the race toward cleaner, greener cars, announced on Wednesday that it will introduce at least three new hybrid models for the 2009 model year, including a light, cheap version priced at about $20,000.

In a mid-year strategy speech, CEO Takeo Fukui said the company expects to sell 200,000 of the new entry-level hybrids each year, with total hybrid sales reaching 500,000 cars annually after 2010 — about 10% of the company’s production. Toyota last week shipped its millionth Prius, which has been in production since 1997.

Honda entered the hybrid category with the two-seat Insight in 1999, and currently builds a single hybrid model, a version of the Civic. The new cheap hybrid will be a five-door, five-seat sedan with a small gasoline engine assisted in acceleration by an electric motor. Batteries and control circuitry will live under the trunk.

Existing hybrids cost about $5,000 more to build and sell than their gasoline-driven equivalents, Fukui said. The new design is meant to carry a $2,000 premium.

On Monday, Nissan announced a joint venture with NEC to manufacture compact laminated lithium ion batteries for use in a new line of electric cars. The new factory is scheduled to begin operations before the end of the year, with an initial production capacity of 13,000 units, expanding to 65,000. Nissan-Renault plans to introduce electric cars in the U.S., Denmark and Israel for the 2011 model year. Volkswagen has signed a battery development deal with Sanyo, and General Motors has contracts with high-tech battery-makers A123 and LG Chem.

My colleague Neal Lurie cycles to work every day, about 10 miles each way (see his article about it here). It’s still snowing on and off here in Colorado, and I was waiting for consistently good weather (I’m such a wimp). But May 16 is Bike to Work Day, so last night I got the road bike down, pumped up the tires, and found my cycing shoes.

Boulder has well-marked bike lanes along major streets, and bike paths that bypass major intersections. Missing all those red light kept the ride to 15 minutes — about the same time it takes to drive the three miles.

The day’s riding will save me about 50 cents in gasoline, and about 4 pounds of carbon emissions.

The National Sporting Goods Association does an annual survey of sports participation. They say that cycling participation fell 10% this year — only 3.7 million Americans cycle regularly, and only about .4% of U.S. workers commute by bike (compared to 36% in Copenhagen) .

On the other hand, bike sales are up sharply. According to the Earth Policy Institute, twice as many bikes as cars are sold worldwide. 80% of those bikes are built in China. –Seth

On the first day of SOLAR 2008 in San Diego, the SOLAR TODAY staff motored a few laps on the ASES Photon, the University of Florida’s slick, fast Solar Trike. It’s a recumbent tricycle with a hub motor on the rear drive wheel, powered by a 48-volt, 10-amp hour lithium-iron phosphate battery. The 80 pound trike accelerates briskly to about 25 mph, and can cruise at 12 to 15 mph for about 20 miles, without pedaling. Pedal a bit to extend the range. The trick to maximize range is to pedal briskly when accelerating and relax in cruise.

The PV modules on top can be oriented to face the sun, and recharge the battery at about one amp. If you park it in the sun while at work, the battery will hold a full charge for the commute home.

The thing is incredible fun. It accelerates and rolls easily on pedal power alone. When you hit the thumb-button accelerator, it zips along quickly enough to evoke little squeals of joy from some drivers, and yips of surprised panic from overtaken pedestrians. Use the horn!

Cornering is go-kart quick but the narrow low-drag bike tires can skip a bit if you’re too aggressive.

University of Florida’s Nate Mitten said the parts are worth about $4,500. A less-expensive production version would make a practical commuting vehicle in any town with good weather and a well-developed network of bike trails.

In the photo, SOLAR TODAY”S Brooke Simmons grins as she peels off, headed for trouble, leaving UF’s Dan Robinson (blue tee shirt) in her dust. –Seth Masia

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY

My old friend John Howe lives sustainably on a farm in Maine. Among other things, he builds solar-charged farm tractors, and converted an old MG Midget to solar-charged battery power.

In my recent SOLAR TODAY story on low-carbon cars I cited some figures on the astonishing quantity of gasoline we burn in the U.S., and what it costs us in terms of trade imbalance. I got the numbers off a lying, cheating government website, and John spotted the blunder. Here’s his note of admonition:

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By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY

Renault-Nissan will introduce an all-electric vehicle (EV) in the United States by 2010, the company announced on Mar. 5. It’s apparently part of a world-wide strategy of charging-station build-outs involving Silicon Valley start-up Project Better Place (PBP), NEC, and the Israeli government.

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By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY

A few weeks ago I spent some time with a group of road-building contractors from Pennsylvania, and I took the opportunity to ask what sort of infrastructure changes they’re planning for in an oil-constrained future.

The answer, in two words, is truck lanes.

Confronted with $4 diesel fuel, headed to $10, trucking companies want permission to run road trains. A road train is a string of several trailers pulled by a single tractor cab. This is common practice across the Australian Outback, and it’s common to see trailers double-ganged or occasionally tripled on open stretches of highway in the western United States and Canada. Trains don’t mix well with congested traffic and windy roads – car drivers especially object to the problem of passing a slow road train grinding up a long grade. North American rules limit road trains to about 100 feet in length, and to limited-access highways with at least two lanes in each direction.

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