We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

The Hailfire Droid from Star Wars is one slick vehicle. The only downside is the closest you could get to driving one is by buying the Lego version. The EDWARD, on the other hand, is a diwheel that actually exists. An acronym standing for Electric Diwheel With Active Rotation Damping, EDWARD was developed over several years at the University of Adelaide.

This futuristic vehicle is propelled entirely by electric drive and packs sealed lead acid batteries good for an hour of driving. Its top speed is about 25 mph, limited mainly by the drive ratio of the motor and wheels. The maximum incline it can traverse is about 12 degrees due to its high center of gravity, but there is a reason for this. See, this project was more than just a mechanical engineering exercise. The students wanted to design a fully functioning control system that would enable "slosh" control (tumbling in heavy braking or acceleration maneuvers), as well as other neat tricks including the ability to drive while upside down.

To fully appreciate the diwheel and control system, click through past the break for a 5 minute video of it in action.

[Source: University of Adelaide via TreeHugger | Image: University of Adelaide]

While Honda's EV-neo has been available in Japan since last year, the rest of the world had to make do without them. That will change next month in Europe, as Honda will be unveiling the little electric in Barcelona. That's a good choice, considering 30 percent of all vehicles there are motorcycles. There will be a demonstration program in conjunction with the Barcelona City Council in which Honda will provide 18 EV-neos for a year.

The EV-neo comes equipped with a Toshiba SCiB lithium-ion battery pack (the same type that Mitsubishi is using for the i-MiEV). The battery is good for up to 18 miles of range and tops out at a scooter-like 30 miles per hour. The standard charger will fully charge a depleted pack in 3.5 hours, but an optional rapid charger can reduce that to 30 minutes. The base price for the EV-neo is expected to be 4,000 Euros ($5,750 U.S. at today's exchange rate).

[Source: Honda]

The Center for Investigative Reporting has put together an interesting video explaining the true cost of gasoline to the American public. While gas may have dropped to below $4 a gallon in recent weeks, the video explains that we are really paying closer to $15 a gallon! How's that you ask? Well, there are many hidden costs such as:

• Health effects due to gasoline related pollution. In 2008, CSU Fullerton's Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies released a report showing that the cost of air pollution for the greater Los Angeles area adds up to more than $1,250 per person per year, and is more than $1,600 per person in California's Central Valley. In addition to all the medical costs of asthma, and other respiratory illnesses, there are lost workdays, and missing school days that factor in.


• Reduced crop yields due to air pollution. The U.S. Global Change Research Program released a report in 2009 that showed greenhouse gases can reduce crop yields for "soybeans, wheat, oats, green beans, peppers and some types of cotton."


• Cleaning up oil spills and leaking gasoline storage tanks. While this one is harder to quantify, some estimates on the Gulf spill cleanup are upwards of $20 billion, although we would hope BP is footing the bill for that one. But besides the large oil spills there are thousands of leaking gasoline storage tanks that the EPA cleans up (they've already cleaned up over 400,000 in the last 30 years).

It's interesting to note there is no mention of military spending in the video, so depending upon how related you feel our military presence in the Middle East is to foreign oil security, you may have to tack on a few dollars to the $15 tag. The five-minute video is available after the jump.

[Source: California Watch]

100 watts of power power may not sound like much in the world of automobiles. Heck, a Nissan Leaf can churn out 80,000 watts, but that doesn't mean if it can't get you places. Pierce Hoover, an inventor and journalist wanted to teach his son about being energy conscious, and to show him that the power of just one light bulb can take you across the country.

The father and his 13 year old son, Nash, along with some help from a team of engineers, set out to build a two-seat human-electric hybrid vehicle. The final product, while not as aerodynamic and sleek as Hoover has originally envisioned, is very practical and contains a 1,400-watt hour battery (aka 1.4 kWh) and a 100-watt motor capable of propelling the small four-wheeler up to 25 miles per hour. The goal is to travel up to 60 miles per day using no more power than a 100 watt light bulb would over a day.

This cross-country journey, dubbed the Eco Tour, is sponsored by GE and Popular Science magazine. You can follow the team's 4,000-mile journey, which is already underway, at the Popular Science website here. For the first 200 miles, the father and son team averaged around 25 watt-hours per mile, which is below the original 35 watt-hour target, but that was before they got to the Appalachians. We wish them the best of luck as they begin to get to the hilly stuff.

[Source: Environmental Protection and Popular Science | Image: Chuck Coker – C.C. License 2.0]

Multi-fuel capable cars have been around for quite some time. Case in point, five years ago we reported on a Volvo prototype that could burn five different types of fuel. But a new project from Chrysler is aiming to do something that none of these existing flex-fuel vehicles can pull off: an engine that burns both gasoline and diesel at the same time.

The diesel fuel (which is kept in a separate tank and has its own fuel injector) is sprayed at specific times to control knock (i.e., premature combustion). This greater control against knock allows the engine to run a higher compression ratio which increases efficiency especially at partial throttle. The goal of the project is to improve a Chrysler Minivan's fuel economy by 25 percent. A prototype 2.4 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine is being developed that aims to match the power of the traditional 4.0-liter V-6 while decreasing fuel consumption considerably. There is a lot going on in this new engine besides just the dual fuels (i.e., engine downsizing and turbocharging as well as MultiAir valve technology), so it's hard to say how much of the increase is due to the multifuel approach.

The project, entitled "A MultiAir / MultiFuel Approach to Enhancing Engine System Efficiency" is being funded by Chrysler and partners Argonne National Laboratory, Ohio State University, Delphi, and FEV who are putting up $15.5 million, as well as the Department of Energy, which is contributing $14.5 million more. It remains to be seen if the additional cost of the extra complexity of the engine – and the hassle of filling up twice every time you gas/diesel up – will limit the commercial interest. For those of you interested in all the technical details, the full merit review and peer evaluation can be found here.

[Source: Kicking Tires via Green Car Reports]

In light of the devastation caused by the recent earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan, Mitsubishi is releasing, a year ahead of schedule, a device which allows i-MiEV owners to power their electric appliances at home using their EV's battery should they find themselves without power. Mitsubishi claims that the 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack can supply power to an average Japanese home for almost one and a half days.

This is a great idea, because who doesn't want to have the ability to use your car to help cook or to keep electronic communication devices charged during an extended power outage. The device will provide a 100-volt AC outlet capable of up to 15 amps (1500 watts peak power), enough to run even a washing machine (although in an emergency situation, we doubt that people would think doing their laundry is an item of first priority). The device is expected to be on market by the end of the year.

[Source: All Cars Electric via Yomiuri.co.jp]

Best Buy may be pulling the plug on its lineup of electric two-wheelers due to poor sales, but that doesn't mean they want to get out of the EV business entirely. Rocco Pendola from Seeking Alpha had a chance to sit down with Best Buy and discuss some of their future market strategies. The electronics giant told Pendola it sees electric vehicles simply as a "computer on wheels." Like any computer, EVs may break down or need service, and the Geek Squad could be there to assist right in your driveway. This could help alleviate people's aversion to EVs and increase adoption rates.

Best Buy already has deals with Ford and Mitsubishi for installation and support of home EV charging stations. Moving forward, Pendola thinks Best Buy may have plans to implement something akin to Tesla's Mobile Service Rangers but for other electric vehicle brands. It all makes sense, since we called Tesla's Mobile Service Rangers the "Geek Squad for EVs" back in 2009. Coming around full-circle, in a few years, the Geek Squad may be the one fixing that computer on wheels in your driveway.

[Source: Seeking Alpha]

This may sound surprising, but Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal has gone on record saying he wants the price of oil to decrease. Why's that you ask? It's all about the long-term game, says the Saudi Royal Family's stock market and real estate magnate. In a recent interview with "CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS," Al Waleed admits:

We don't want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price of oil goes, the more they have incentives to go and find alternatives.

Talal goes on to say that he thinks the price of oil should be closer to $70 to $80 a barrel instead of the current $100/barrel rate. With such high oil and gasoline prices, Talal fears that new technologies are being pushed ever harder to squeeze more and more miles out of each gallon of gas. Further, Talal worries that U.S. efforts to increase its Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35.5 mpg by 2016 and anywhere from 47 to 62 mpg by 2025 (along with automakers' burgeoning plug-in vehicle strategies) could eventually lead to reduced or eliminated dependence on Saudi oil.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req. | Image: Nestor Galina – C.C. License 2.0]

We imagine being the CEO of an electric vehicle start-up company would be a dream job for many of our readers, but one of the job responsibilities no one would enjoy is dealing with all the naysayers. Whether it's a stock analyst saying Tesla will fail like internet groceries or two university students claiming Tesla is a prime takeover target, CEO Elon Musk has to deal with a lot. Recently, with acquisition rumors still persisting, Musk wanted to set the record straight and told Bloomberg:

"I don't think it's a good idea to plan to sell a company. I don't personally have any interest in selling. I think there's a lot of innovation we can bring to the car business."

In addition, Tesla expects to post losses for at least another year while they prepare for high-volume production of the Model S sedan. With partners Daimler and Toyota adding to Tesla's revenue stream via battery pack development, Musk thinks Tesla can stay independent for a long time.

[Source: Bloomberg]

The U.S.-spec Chevrolet Volt may not have a handy 'battery hold' button like the upcoming Opel Ampera, but that doesn't mean you can't optimize battery usage during trips. As Nick Chambers from PluginCars found, the "Mountain Mode" setting can be used to better control when the battery pack runs down.

Mountain Mode was originally designed to preserve battery power before getting to a long mountain pass such that full power would be available for steep climbs and overtaking slower vehicles. When engaged, it holds (or charges) the battery at 45 percent state of charge. The difference between this and battery hold is that the Ampera's feature retains the battery at whatever level it's at when engaged and doesn't recharge the battery. The Ampera doesn't get Mountain Mode.

However, as Chambers found out, using this special mode on regular non-mountainous trips can improve efficiency. How's that you ask? Well, when the battery is depleted the Volt gets better fuel economy on the highway (40 miles per gallon) than in the city (35 mpg), so it makes sense to try and do as much fully electric driving in the city as possible. But the Volt has no idea what kind of a trip you are taking and will always use up the battery before starting to burn any gas. For trips longer than 30-40 miles where you know you will be doing some of those miles on the highway and some in the city, you can reserve a few of your electrons for the last part of the trip if that is low-speed city driving. It's pretty simple to do, too: just engage Mountain Mode when the remaining battery capacity is roughly equal to the amount of city miles you'll have at the end of the trip. Then, when you exit the highway, revert back to Normal driving mode to enjoy the gas-free miles you saved up.

[Source: Plugin Cars, GM]

Pop quiz: Say you split your driving evenly between a 21 mpg SUV and a 75 mpg Vespa scooter. What would your average miles per gallon be? If you answered 48 mpg you're not alone, as that's what Vespa came up with in their infographic we posted last week (reposted above). The only problem is that that answer is wrong. The real average is 32.8 mpg.The reason for the large difference is that in order to correctly calculate average mpg, you can't simply add both numbers and divide by two. You have to first convert to gallons per mile (gpm), then average. We've discussed gpm before and have featured a graph on the subject here, but both of those posts are a few years old so we thought this was a good time for a refresher.

If Vespa is having trouble with the math, the average consumer isn't likely to fare much better. Of course, if we just switched over to the metric system and measured in liters/km, like most of the rest of the world, we wouldn't have this problem. Fat chance, we know.

In any case, it seems someone informed Vespa of this error after the infographic was released. The company quietly changed the infographic values on its website.

At a panel discussion Sunday evening at WantedDesign, an international design exhibition held in Manhattan that occurred alongside the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Benoit Jacob opined that, "after over a century of car design, it may be time for a bit of a rebirth." Jacob is the head designer for BMW i, the eco division of the well-known German automaker. He wasn't just talking about the visual design of vehicles, but something deeper. Times have changed, he said, and so should our modes of transportation so they better address the growing traffic issues in megacities as well as the pressing need to preserve our environment. BMW i's answer to this is creating environmentally conscious vehicles as well as getting involved in a car sharing program (DriveNow).

During the talk, Jacob presented the audience with teaser images of the all electric BMW i3 that is due out in a couple of years. He also made mention of some of the unusual research and development (recall the fabric covered GINA) BMW is involved in such as car bodies built via origami-like folding of sheet metal and the use of recycled wood. We look forward to seeing how much of this new technology makes it into production, even if we're not holding our breath.

[Source: The New York Times]

HybridCars.com got their hands on a new 2011 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and put it through its paces. Except for improved voice recognition of the truck's OnStar telematics system, everything remains largely unchanged from last year's model, which we reviewed here.

The Silverado Hybrid packs a whopping 6.0 Liter V8 mated to GM's Two-Mode Hybrid System. When combined with the twin 60-kilowatt electric motors, the drivetrain churns out 332 horsepower and 367 pound-feet of torque. The truck comes in both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions, and both net a 20 mile per gallon city and 23 mpg highway EPA rating. Combined, that's good for 21 mpg.

Starting at $38,725, the Silverado Hybrid certainly costs a pretty penny but, as HybridCars notes, you get a lot of standard features and are only paying about $3,500 extra for the hybrid powertrain versus the standard version. Compared to a Silverado 1500 LT, which gets 13 mpg city and 18 mpg hwy, you would be looking at saving close to $900 a year in fuel costs (assuming 15,000 mi/year with gas at $4.00/gal). That could mean a payback time of less than four years, which sounds great to us.

[Source: HybridCars]

A couple of days ago, U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma introduced the Ethanol Subsidy and Tariff Repeal Act. The bill, amendment #309 to a small business bill, will do away with the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the tariff on imported ethanol if passed. According to Senator Feinstein:

Ethanol is the only industry that benefits from a triple crown of government intervention: its use is mandated by law, it is protected by tariffs, and companies are paid by the federal government to use it. Ethanol subsidies and tariffs sap our budget, they're bad for the environment, and they increase our dependence on foreign oil. It's time we end subsidies that we cannot afford and tariffs that increase gas prices.

The VEETC is a subsidy that gives refiners $0.45 for every gallon of ethanol blended with gasoline, adding up to about six billion in taxpayer dollars every year. $3 billion will be saved this year alone if the bill passes by July 1. Eliminating the tariff will lower the cost of imported ethanol. Support for ethanol subsidies has been waning lately. Even Al Gore, who helped pass subsidies for corn based ethanol during his vice presidency, recently changed his stance. Close to 40 organizations have asked to stop the subsidy, including some refiners who receive VEETC cash.

[Source: The State Column | Image: drewzhrodague – C.C. License 2.0]