EVguide
HEM HOME
Solar panels at IKEA office in Älmhult, Sweden
EVguide
HEM HOME
|
2006 ~ 2007 reflexions Knut Abrahamsen, Editor  Photo ElBil Norge The Kewet Buddy productionspeed at ElBil Norge in Oslo is increasing, and these colorful small cars ( and drivers :-) are very good advocates of the clean battery vehicle. 
Even Enviro Elbilsalg in Drammen, Norway should get credit both for their fine EV workshop and for still findingold Peugeot and Citroën EVs on the EU Continent and importing them to Norway.  The production of the Indian Reva ( G - Wiz ) is increasing, and some 750 of them are now rolling in the London area. Some of them roll in Norway, and there is even a Norwegian representative now, see www.revanorge.no  The Italien Maranello has got a Norwegian representative, see www.Lcar.no  Few news from Think in Aurskog, Norway, but it looks like there will be some production of "the New Think City", with the Swiss Zebra batteries, at the end of 2007. If so, they mention a possible production of about 5000 cars in 2008. No news about the Think Public.  No news from Miljøbil Grenland about the Norwegian, Canadien and Chinese battery EV project. Hybrid cars that cannot be charged from an electric outlet - are now produced in large quantities, mainly by Toyota, and distributed all over the world. In Scandinavia they are most commen in Sweden, but few of them in the rest of Scandinavia. Information about advantages of hybrid cars that can be charged - from an electric outlet is getting more commen. Why cannot Toyota do it if some pioneers in a "garage" in California can do it ? To be fair against Toyota, part of the problem can be insufficient batteryproduction. In fact the production probably is to small even for the small batterypacks in the hybrids that cannot be plugged - in, - but The new battery technology works !  Photo: Tesla Motors In "another garage" in California Tesla Motors put together 6831 lithium-cells for use in their flagship Tesla Roadster, and it works. But isn't that the work for batterydeveloper/ -producers ?  Mr. Leif Berix bought some standard lithiumbatteries and put them in an old, max 30 kmph batteryelectric moped, and challenged some of the worlds largest mopedproducers how far they could go on a charge. None of them answered his challenge, but anyhow, in May 2006 he made a controlled test with his moped. The result: 232 km on one charge, and almost none attention in the media ! Mr. Berix really deserves more credit for his good initiative ! Californien Phoenix Motorcars will build some 500 battery electric SUVs and SUTs in 2007 with Altairnanos new NanoSafe lithium batteries. They say the batteries will last for 400 000 km or 12+ years, and CAN be recharged in 10 minutes.  Louis Palmer has tested the Swiss Zebra batteries in his Swissbuilt Solartaxi On the trailer there are solar panels for battery charging. He is so satisfied with the batteries that he will start on a trip around the Globe next Summer with the aim "to educate people about global warming and what can be done about it." The old Nickel Cadmium batteries are on their way out - but after 132 000 km in his Peugeot 106 EV Anton Bech still only have original batteries in his car ! Øyvind Lunde has made 155 000 km in his Think City, and still 12 of the 19 batteries in it are the original ones ! The Solar Cell development is very positive - and even here California is in the front. Many battery EV users have their own solar panels which produce so much energy that they even can sell some of it to the grid. Even Germany is clever to use this new possibility. It's interesting to see that now you can use the same measurement units when talking about large solar panels and wind power plants as they use in nuclear power plants. And the building time is of course much shorter for solar and wind plants, not to speak about the opposite . . .  Photo: Transatlantic21 The Swiss solar catamaran Sun21, with 65 m2 solar panels and two 8 kW electric motors, is now crossing the Atlantic on it's way to New York. Follow them on www.transatlantic21.org Let us hope this will result in a lift for solar boats. EV2006 - the yearly cometoghether for EV friends  - took place at the top of Denmark where Anton Bech and friends had made a fine program. Where EV2007 will take place - is yet not decided, but we will be back soon about that. Our friends from England and Germany have already said that they will attend with their own battery electric cars this year, and Anton Bech will come with his own new batteryconstruction. ( Made in his garage ;-) The Geneva International Motorshow 8 - 18 March 2007 probably can be of interest for EV - interested people. There are so many EV- and batteryprojects going on in these days, and the Swiss EV Association e-mobile , mainly in German, always are represented on the show. They use to make a survey about EV-related products in the show. The Indien Reva will be there, and it would be strange if you could not find some plug-in hybrids there too. EVS 24 The International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition - organized by the World Electric Vehicle Association WEVA, will be arranged in Stavanger, Norway in May 2009. It's the first time it will be arranged in Scandinavia, but before that EVS 23 will be arranged in California in Dec. 2007. Did the Electric Vehicle die ? Obviously not, but Chris Paines film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and Al Gores "An Inconvenient Truth" has been good eye-openers for many people. Let us hope that it gives some advantage if some of these people also SEE and SIGN this petitation: The EV organisations AVERE, CITELEC and EPE - last Autumn made a petition to be sent to EU > "- to set up a large programme for development and demonstration of battery-electric and hybrid electric vehicles, so as to highlight their respective and immediate benefits for energy economy and emission reduction, while eliminating the burdens restricting these technologies from real market access." Here YOU can sign > Here you can see the 25 latast signatures and their eventual comments > |
EVguide
HEM HOME