Dec
29
An Electric Hybrid Bulldozer Goes On Sale
December 29, 2009 | 3 Comments
With a little fanfare Caterpillar announced last week they’re shipping a diesel engine driven generation set to electric motor hybrid drive bulldozer. The D7E model is in the upper midsize range with the Cat C9.3 ACERT(TM) diesel engine rated at 235 net horsepower (175 kW) driving a powerful electrical generator that produces AC (alternating current). [...]
Sep
30
Building a Cheaper Hybrid Car
September 30, 2009 | 2 Comments
Hanna Plesko, a doctoral student at the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory of ETH Zurich has worked out a better and less costly to produce power electronic converters for hybrid cars.
Plesko says, “It’s rumored that hybrid vehicles can improve your image, but in some cases the automobile companies have difficulties to cover their costs.” With Hollywood [...]
Sep
25
The Super Sexy Swedish Electric Stunner
September 25, 2009 | 1 Comment
Perhaps you remember when Volvos looked like they were carved from wood by an axe while other manufacturers were going windswept and aerodynamic. Then they finally switched to svelte a decade or so back and improved on that while others have moved on to muscular, angular and blocklike. One wonders who is leading whom.
Volvo Cars [...]
Sep
16
A New High Efficiency Vehicle Electric Motor
September 16, 2009 | 3 Comments
Oxford University in the UK has spun-out a new company, Oxford Yasa Motors, set up to commercialize a lightweight energy efficient electric motor developed at the Department of Engineering Science. The new technology promises to help firms build more efficient electric vehicles.
Astute readers will realize that power to weight and the size issues of motors [...]
Sep
15
The Automotive Generator Set Competition Starts Here
September 15, 2009 | 1 Comment
Lotus Engineering, a division of Lotus, one of the world’s renowned automotive consultants unveiled its Range Extender Engine at the 63rd Frankfurt International Motor Show. Used in series hybrid vehicles, Range Extender Engines are coupled to an electrical generator to provide a highly efficient source of energy to power the electric motor directly or charge [...]
Aug
21
Simulating Carbon Ultracapacitor Performance in Cars
August 21, 2009 | 1 Comment
With the bulk of the energy issues centered on transport fuels sourced from oil, excepting the pollution and CO2 matter that coal offers, the pressure has mounted on the major oil use – worldwide personal transport vehicles, the dream realized by many and desired by many many more. When someone critically views the impacts that [...]
May
22
The Tipping Point For Electric Drives is Near
May 22, 2009 | 1 Comment
In the UK where driving distances and range expectations are shorter engineers are beginning to think that electric drive with battery sets are fully viable market prospects.
Such a conclusion relies on some important lessons and reveals the obvious problems. The problem list is short, but significant. The range issue is foremost due to battery limitations [...]
May
8
A Fusion for 1,445 Miles on a Tank of Gas
May 8, 2009 | 2 Comments
It wasn’t even a tanker truck either. A Ford Fusion hybrid could have been the new record holder for the pure stock “hypermiling” distance record with 15 more miles and would be the record holder for the gasoline powered mid-sized sedan had the Guinness Book of Records showed up. So Ford gets to bask in [...]
Feb
10
Raser Tech’s Hybrid Drive Is Going On Road
February 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Raser Technologies, Inc., a NYSE traded firm (RZ) announced it has released a video news report updating shareholders and the public on its progress to complete the full-sized SUV plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) demonstration vehicle incorporating the Company’s Symetron technologies. Working in conjunction with FEV and a yet to be named global auto manufacturer, they [...]
Dec
4
Charging Up Cars May Mean Saving the Auto Industry
December 4, 2008 | 1 Comment
A year or so ago the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a federal energy lab, found that 73% of the nation’s light vehicles could be recharged with the existing utility infrastructure if the vehicles were plugged in overnight. Such a shift from gasoline to electricity as a primary transportation fuel could displace an estimated 6.2 million [...]
