Study: Energy usage attributable to electric vehicles could rise 1,700% by 2020— Autoblog Green

Energy usage attributable to electric vehicles could soar 1,700 percent by 2020, according to a report authored by utility consulting firmThe Shpigler Groupand released by theUtilities Telecom Council(UTC), the so-called"voice of critical infrastructure communications."Annual megawatt-hour (MWh) usage from plug-in vehicles could swell from only 146,000 in 2010 to 2.6 million by 2020, the report notes. This, according to UTC, raises a host of technological and operational issues for the nation's electric utilities, particularly when it comes to modernizing and upgrading the U.S.' dated infrastructure.

The report,"Gearing Up for Electric Vehicles: Tackling the EV Challenges to the Smart Grid,"notes that the forecasted surge in plug-in vehicles could lead to a 61-fold annual reduction in CO2 emission. While that's a remarkable reduction, the report doesn't provide adequate info to determine if it's even remotely close to accurate.

UTC says that to accommodate this game-changing shift in electricity usage, a number of issues must be addressed, including improved battery performance, advancements in vehicle-to-grid technology that can utilize a vehicle's battery as a grid storage device and infrastructure innovations that support the peak load changes that plug-ins will undoubtedly introduce to the nation's grid. That's a lot of work that needs to be completed by 2020, but almost anything is possible, right?

Photo by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright©2010 AOL

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Ecotality installs 1,000th Blink Level 2 residential charging station— Autoblog Green

On Monday,Ecotalityannounced that it had completed the installation of its 1,000th Blink Level 2 residential charging station, marking a significant milestone in the deployment of plug-in vehicle chargers in the U.S. Installations of Blink residential charging stations began in early 2011, coinciding with the delivery of vehicles like theNissan Leafand theChevrolet Volt.

On a related note, Ecotality recently added Macy's department stores to its list of commercial partners, which includesBP/Arco,Best Buy,Cracker BarrelandFred Meyer.

Ecotality is project manager ofThe EV Projectand will oversee the installation of approximately 14,000 commercial and residential charging stations in 18 major cities and metropolitan areas in six states and the District of Columbia. The massive EV Project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8 million, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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Consumer Reports says now's not the time to buy a hybrid vehicle— Autoblog Green

Toyota Prius versus a sheep– Click above to enlarge

Despite the fact that the national average price of gasolinehit $4 a gallon last week, Jeff Bartlett,Consumer Reportsdeputy online automotive editor, says that now's the worst time to buy a hybrid vehicle. Why's that? Well, as Bartlett explains, many owners of gas-guzzling SUVs are ditching their rides in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Therefore, the values of behemoth SUVs are declining, while prices for hybrids and other fuel-sipping vehicles are on the rise due to soaring demand.

In an interview withHybrid Cars, Bartlett stated:

The best advice for a fair portion of people is to think through the long-term picture and hold {on} to a gas-guzzler for next few months.Buying a hybrid can quickly pay itself off. But those economic benefits are undermined when buying your hybrid at the exact moment when hybrids are in greatest demand, and when trading in your less-efficient vehicle is the least desirable.

That makes sense, right? While Bartlett is not saying that hybrids aren't worth the additional upfront investment, he is implying that now's not the ideal time to trade in a gas-guzzler for a fuel-sipping automobile. Of course, filling up at $4 a gallon doesn't mean it's the worst time, either.

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Majority of Americans want 62 mpg CAFE standards; automakers don't— Autoblog Green

It's easy to find examples of ways Americans disagree on politics (just turn on any cable news channel right now) but here's a curious case of the majority agreeing on one important point: 62 percent of Americans support an increase in the average fuel economy mandate in the U.S. to 60 miles per gallon by 2025.

That's aroung the level currently under loose discussion in Washington (which is 62 mpg), and the strong, bi-partisan support is the finding of a survey released today by the Consumer Federation of America, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation under commission. The current CAFE rules, announced in April 2010, require35 mpg by 2016.

Thereisone group that's against the 60+ mpg level, though: automakers. As formerGMvice chair Bob Lutztold us the other daywhen talking about a CAFE increase that wasn't quite 62 mpg,"Nobody knows how to do a full-line fleet with the equivalent of 42 miles per gallon. That's ain'tgonnahappen.com."More broadly, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents many major automakers, asked the Obama administration tonot consider a 62 mpg standarduntil more studies on this level's impact on the industry are completed. It warned that such a high level might negatively affect safety, sales and jobs.

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Edmunds lists most, least fuel-efficient sporty vehicles— Autoblog Green

2011 Mini John Cooper Works package– Click above for high-res image gallery

Question: can sporty vehicles be fuel efficient? Answer: yes. Recently, the team over atEdmunds Auto Observercompiled a list of some of the most and least fuel-efficient sporty vehicles available. Surprisingly, there's a monstrous gap (of $165) between the lowest and highest monthly fuel costs (computed with gasoline at $3.96 a gallon) for vehicles in the"sporty"category.

Coming out on top, with the lowest estimated monthly fuel costs for sporty vehicles, was theMini Cooper($165), followed closely by the Mini Cooper convertible ($169), Mini Cooper S ($174) and the Mini Cooper with the John Cooper Works package ($186). Notice a trend? Slotting into fifth place was theVolkswagen GTIwith six-speed automatic transmission ($195). Down at the bottom of the chart, with estimated monthly fuel costs of $330, was theChevrolet Corvette ZR1andBMW M3.

Obviously, the performance of vehicles in Edmunds' broadly defined sporty segment varies dramatically but it still provides interesting reading. Clickherefor a look at the complete list.

Gallery:2011 Mini John Cooper Works Package

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Video: Electric Aero Train soars to 124 mph, floats inches above road— Autoblog Green

Hovering Aero Train– Click above to watch videoafter the jump

A Japanese research team led by Yusuke Sugahara at Tohoku University has built a robotic prototype of a free-flying,ground-effects vehiclethat sort of floats within inches of the road. Called Aero Train, this ground-effects vehicle will be used to test an autonomous three-axis stabilization system.

Packing electric motors, the Aero Train hovers inches above the tarmac, eliminating any rolling resistance and allowing it to hit a top speed of 124 mph. A U-shaped concrete channel controls air flow and provides the Aero Train's robotic controls with a makeshift road to follow. On-board computers control pitch, roll and yaw of the prototype.

In the future– get this– the developers envision the Aero Train traveling within a tunnel capped with solar panels that send juice directly to the vehicle's batteries.Hit the jumpto catch video of the prototype Aero Train floating down the road.

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Scuderi split-cycle engine decreases 2011 Nissan Sentra's fuel consumption by up to 35%— Autoblog Green

Scuderi Group,an engineering and licensing company based in West Springfield, MA, has released fuel consumption results of a computer study that modeled the effects of variousScuderi Split-Cycle(SSC) prototype engine designs, including turbocharged andair-hybrid, in a2011 Nissan Sentra. The computer tests simulated Federal Test Procedure-75 (FTP-75) for each of Scuderi's engines and preliminary results show that a decrease in fuel consumption of up to a 35 percent was achievable when Scuderi's Split-Cycle air-hybrid engine replaced the Sentra's standard 2.0-liter four-cylinder mill.

The primary purpose of the study was to examine one fundamental question: how fuel efficient are Scuderi's engines? According to Scuderi, this question has been difficult to answer because it's dependent on the type vehicle and the route driven. However, with the computer study attempting to model real-world driving, Scuderi believes that it's one step closer to definitively getting a fundamental answer.

Scuderi Group will provide in-depth details on the results of the 2011 Nissan Sentra study at the Engine Expo 2011 in Stuttgart, Germany in mid-May.

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It's official: National average gas price hits $4— Autoblog Green

The national average price of gasoline has hit exactly $4 a gallon, approximately a dime below its all-time high. According to a Lundberg Survey of fueling stations released on Sunday, pump prices rose 12 cents over the past two weeks. On July 7, 2008, the national average price of gas soared to $4.114 a gallon, a record-setting high, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.

If you're hunting for bargain gas, and willing to drive to get it, then Tucson, AZ offers you the lowest average price among cities surveyed, just $3.62 a gallon. Meanwhile, drivers in Chicago suffered the most, having to dish out an average of $4.50 for a single gallon of the go-juice.

The U.S. Department of Energy will release its weekly survey of diesel and gasoline prices on Monday afternoon. Who's willing to bet that prices will have come down by then?

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D'oh! How the government's flex-fuel fleet leads to increased gasoline use— Autoblog Green

We've talkedbeforeabout President Obama's plan to greenify the federal fleet, generally thought of as a good thing. In leading by example, Obama hopes to show the American public that flex-fuel vehicles– and other gas-misers like hybrids and plug-ins– can substantially reduce our dependence on gasoline. However,Automotive News(sub. req.) has posted an interesting article showing that even the best of intentions don't guarantee success.

In 2009, despite increased purchases of flex-fuel and hybrid vehicles, the U.S. government fleet consumed three percent more gasoline than it did in the previous year. While it may sound paradoxical that E85-capable vehicles actually end up using more gasoline, there's nothing mysterious going on here. For example, last year, 55 percent of the government's E85-capable vehicles ran on gasoline simply because there were no stations offering E85 where they filled up. With only one percent of filling stations offering E85, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to fill the tank with this high-ethanol blend.

Then there's a larger problem."All the E85 vehicles are bigger, less fuel-efficient vehicles,"Roland Hwang, transportation program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Automotive News."And they're going to be filled up with gasoline most of the time. Therefore they're going to use more gasoline than more fuel-efficient gasoline vehicles."

We're not sure if we agree thatallE85 vehicles are bigger, but certainly the high-volume players in the E85 market are trucks and sedans. There is hope for the federal fleet, however, as the U.S. Agriculture Department has recently started a program that aims for 10,000 E85 pumps in the next five years, which would more than quadruple the number of existing stations.

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22% of Americans"extremely confident"gas will soon be too expensive to drive normally— Autoblog Green

With the price of a gallon of gasoline steadily rising, many U.S. motorists now say that steep payouts at the pump will soon limit their ability to drive as they please. According to a survey conducted by HNTB Corporation, 63 percent of U.S. motorists believe that gas will be so costly that their time spent behind the wheel will sharply decline. In fact, 22 percent of the respondents are"extremely confident"that gas will soon be too expensive to continue drive normally.

On average, gas at $4.90 per gallon would push most of those surveyed to turn to public transit. Even though soaring gas prices were cited as the primary reason (42 percent) Americans with adequate public transportation in their area would hitch a ride rather than drive, 14 percent say that convenience factors in too. As for saving the environment, only six percent of surveyed drivers say that it will play a role in deciding whether or not to give public transportation a go.

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Graphene composite material is thin like paper, 10 to 13 times stronger than steel— Autoblog Green

In work recently published in theJournal of Applied Physics, a University of Technology Sydney (UTS) team led by professor Guoxiu Wang presented reproducible test results showing that graphene paper has the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry. How? Well, researchers at UTS have milled raw graphite by purifying and filtering it with chemicals to reshape and reform it into graphene nanosheets. We should explain.

By using a proprietary process, the UTS team claims to have made a material that, when compared to steel, is six times lighter, is five to six times less dense, is two times harder and has ten times the tensile strength and 13 times the bending rigidity. Sounds pretty amazing to us.

Lead researcher, Ali Reza Ranjbartoreh, claims that:

The exceptional mechanical properties of synthesized graphene paper render it a promising material for commercial and engineering applications. Not only is it lighter, stronger, harder and more flexible than steel it is also a recyclable and sustainable manufacturable product that is eco-friendly and cost effective in its use.

Furthermore, Ranjbartoreh says the test results show that use of graphene paper in the automotive industry would allow the development of lighter vehicles that consume less fuel, emit lower amounts of CO2 and have reduced operating costs. Given how hard and expensive it is to implement carbon fiber in mass-produced vehicles, we don't expect to see a graphene nanosheet EV any time soon, but we're keeping this tech on our radar.

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European Commision director says remaining oil dependent would be"fatal mistake"— Autoblog Green

The European Commission's (EC) directorate general for energy and transport, Marjeta Jager, warns that it would be a"fatal mistake"for the European Union (EU) to postpone measures that reduce oil dependency. At a recent Green Party conference in the European Parliament, Jager stated:

If action is delayed, in the not-too-distant future we may be forced to drastically reduce all our mobility and import technological solutions from other parts of the world.

Jager pointed to theEC's Transport 2050white paper, which reads, in part:

The widely held belief that you need to cut mobility to fight climate change is simply not true... Curbing mobility is not an option; neither is business as usual. We can break the transport system's dependence on oil without sacrificing its efficiency and compromising mobility. It can be win–win.

Last week, International Energy Agency chief economist, Fatih Birol, claimed that theworld's crude oil production peaked back in 2006:

The existing {oil} fields are declining so sharply that in order to stay where we are in terms of production levels in the next 25 years, we have to find and develop four new Saudi Arabias.

We just looked at a map, and couldn't find any more Saudi Arabias.

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World Bank says"new global electric vehicle value chain"worth $250 billion by 2020— Autoblog Green

Unsurprisingly, China will play a huge role



"When you do some of the back-of-the-envelope calculations, it really points to a massive shift."

That's the takeaway point from a new study–"The China New Energy Vehicles Program: Challenges and Opportunities"– released by the World Bank Transport Office and global management consulting firm PRTM. We recently had the chance to talk to PRTM's Oliver Hazimeh, who said the study shows that there's really no chance that plug-in vehicles arenotgoing to make a huge impact in the coming decade. One way is through a new global value chain for electric vehicles that is estimated to reach $250 billion by 2020.

People's crystal balls differ, but Hazimeh believes that it is"more than doable"and"likely"that somewhere between nine and ten percent of the vehicles sold in 2020 will be plug-ins. Add up all the different pieces that make up these vehicles (especially batteries) and things like the associated expansion at utilities due to a smart grid, and you get to the study's $250 billion headline number:

Given what we see the OEMs committing to, given the cost curves and what we expect from ICE technology and fuel costs, the trends point to a direction where the economics will create enough pull for that number.

The study authors didn't need to use outrageous oil prices for 2020– just $120 a barrel– to get to the 10 percent number. If the real price of oil hits $150 or $160, something Hazimeh said was"more likely,"then some of the pressures get applied even stronger."When it starts making economic sense, then we think it's more than the early adopters– the two or three percent– who will buy these things,"he said.

Even 10 percent annual sales is still only two-three percent of the total fleet, but this is still a very optimistic prediction. Hazimeh has been studying these numbers for a long time, though, and hasn't changed his predictions for 2020 in a big way in the last few years because of the strong efforts China is making to electrify its fleet:

What is really highlighted is that China is ahead, but I would say it's ahead because, politically, their commitment and understanding of the imperative to move to the plug-in platform is clearer there. You can argue that it's because of the single-party system, and it's easier to corral that vision, but it's there and it's translated into these initiatives that were set up, right from the beginning, as larger pilots. It's not about 20 or 30 vehicles, but it's about a minimum of 1,000 vehicles and they quickly expand them. And they invested heavily in technology around batteries and some of the motor technologies.

If you'd like to see the data and reasoning behind the report yourself, clickhere(PDF).

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In new SEC filing, Tesla says Model S is on track, Daimler orders more and 1,650 Roadsters have been delivered— Autoblog Green

Tesla Motorsreleased its latest SEC filing today, and there was good news and more news for the first quarter of 2011.

First, the company had revenues of $49 million, up 35 percent from the previous quarter's $36.3 million. This makes 2011 Q1 Tesla's most profitable quarter ever, even though net loss for the quarter was $48.9 million (on"generally accepted accounting principles"basis).

Second, and this is key for the long-term, CEO Elon Musk said in a statement that plans for the Model S are continuing as planned:

Our engineering and manufacturing teams have now completed the construction of all of our Model S alpha vehicles, having finished the final alpha in April. These vehicles are successfully undergoing the planned cold weather brakes testing, ride and handling evaluation, safety validation, electrical integration, and noise, vibration and harshness evaluation. As has been our plan, we will continue testing this quarter with a particular focus on durability and systems integration as we prepare for our beta build later this year. Overall, we remain on track for first customer deliveries of the Model S in mid-2012.

Also,Daimlerhas upped its order for Tesla-builtSmart FortwoED components by 300 units (from 1,800 to 2,100). Tesla says all of these will ship in 2011. Oh, and Tesla now says that more than 1,650 Roadsters have been delivered around the world. If you're a real detail junkie, you can read the 8-K SEC reporthere. At the end of the trading day today, TSLA stock was at $26.69.

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IEA: Governments need to rethink reliance on oil— Autoblog Green

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is an independent, multi-government group formed out of the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. The Agency forecasts oil production and monitors international oil markets and energy sectors. Just five years ago, the IEA rather confidently predicted that oil production would rise to 120 million barrels per day by 2030. Well, there's been a change in outlook.

Now, IEA chief economist Fatih Birol says that the world's crude oil production peaked backed in 2006. Furthermore, Birol predicts that oil prices will rise by 30 percent over the next three years. That price hike, according to Birol, is due to declining access to crude and because some of the world's largest oil producers will intentionally slash output to artificially drive up prices.

Birol says that although peak crude oil production is behind us, abundant natural gas could provide a viable alternative. The IEA says that governments around the world need to rethink their reliance on oil. That's a statement that we can wholeheartedly agree with.

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Burton Electric is a kit roadser built on the chassis of Citroen's 2CV— Autoblog Green

It's built on the same Citroen 2CV chassis as its gasoline-burning sibling, but there's one significant difference: it runs on battery power. The Burton Electric, hailed as"the world's most sustainable sportscar"by Burton, boasts a meager curb weight of 1,631 pounds.

The electrified kit roadster is equipped with a 16-kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack and features a 25-kW electric motor that puts out 89 pound-feet of torque. The electrified Burton has a claimed range of 87 miles and tops out at the highway-capable speed of 75 miles per hour.

Priced from€38,000 ($56,468 U.S. at the current exchange rate), owning the Burton Electric doesn't come cheap, but it's without competition, so we don't see its lofty price tag as being a huge problem. Soon, Burton will offer the electrified conversion kit, allowing buyers to build a Burton Electric and existing Burton owners to switch their gasoline-fueled rides over to battery power. As with all of the other Burtons, the electric version can be accessorized and modified to suit buyers' tastes and budget.

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