Altair Nanotechnologies (partnered with Boshart Engineering, an auto proving firm) is now testing an electric vehicle powered by its safe and fast-charging lithium batteries. From a corporate release this summer:
"Altairnano NanoSafe battery cells have now achieved over 9,000 charge and discharge cycles at charge and discharge rates up to 40 times greater than are typical of common batteries, and they still retain up to 85% charge capacity.
As an example of the application significance of this feature if a conventional lithium battery is charged and discharged every day then it would typically last for about 2 years. Under the same scenario, an Altairnano battery would be projected to last 25 years. This durability is critical in a high value application like electric vehicles."
These batteries are expensive now. After the first ten thousand electric vehicles (EVs) powered with them are sold (the $100,000 Tesla Roadster sold its first hundred in three weeks in August,) volume production will begin reducing battery costs. Sometime in the next few years, the EV equivalent of the Model T will go on the market; then we can stop funding terror and begin to breathe free.
The $80,000 battery electric Tesla Roadster is selling well (although deliveries don't begin until next year.) Zero to sixty in four seconds, with a range of 250 miles per charge. Charging takes four or five hours, but who cares, if you plug it in and go to bed?
Tesla plans to build more-affordable electric vehicles (EVs) once early adopters get the economy-of-scale ball rolling. I'm saving my pennies for a $30,000 third-generation EV that will outrun everything at a stoplight (just like the late, lamented GM EV1.)
The battery-replacement canard continues to make the rounds. Toyota RAV4 EVs (NiMH-powered) have rolled 150,000 miles without needing new batteries. RAV4 EVs in California are now passing 100,000 miles with no need for battery-pack replacement.
I drove a GM EV1; just like the car mags had said, it took off like a silent rocket, handled like a dream and had all the bells and whistles. GM's cost basis for leasing an EV1 was under $35,000, although GM never sold their electric vehicles (EVs.)
If GM had actually mass-produced its touted "most efficient production car in automotive history," it would have sold for $30,000 in a few years as efficiencies of scale lowered unit costs. Instead, GM sued to get out of producing EV1s, along with Chrysler and a group of new-auto dealers. The W Bush Administration supported the plaintiffs with an amicus brief.
The zero-emission vehicle mandate was gutted, and automakers began repossessing their lease-only EVs and crushing them. GM soon refused all EV1 lease renewals, refunding attempted renewal payments and taking the cars away from people who wanted to buy them.
Of all the uninformed comments on the debut of the magnificent, zero-emission Tesla Roadster, the "conspiracy theorist" label tagged onto EVangels like myself is the most laughable.
General Motors, Chrysler and a group of new auto dealers sued to void the zero emission vehicle mandate that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed in 1990 (nine months after GM debuted the 'Impact' electric vehicle (EV,) which became the EV1.) The W Bush Administration filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.
The CARB soon folded its hand, negotiating a memorandum of agreement with automakers that allowed them to build a few EVs and test-market them. Of eight EV models built by six major automakers, only two were ever offered for sale. Tortuous qualifying and expensive home installation of $3000 chargers was GM's way of depressing demand for the EV1, which was available by closed-end lease only (no buy-out option.) That was before CARB wilted; afterwards, GM stopped building EV1s and soon refused to renew leases. GM repossessed a thousand EV1s, trucked them to its Mesa, AZ proving grounds and crushed them all.
See EVWorld.com or Electrifying Times Magazine online for more information.
Slashdot Mirror
Altair Nanotechnologies (partnered with Boshart Engineering, an auto proving firm) is now testing an electric vehicle powered by its safe and fast-charging lithium batteries. From a corporate release this summer: "Altairnano NanoSafe battery cells have now achieved over 9,000 charge and discharge cycles at charge and discharge rates up to 40 times greater than are typical of common batteries, and they still retain up to 85% charge capacity. As an example of the application significance of this feature if a conventional lithium battery is charged and discharged every day then it would typically last for about 2 years. Under the same scenario, an Altairnano battery would be projected to last 25 years. This durability is critical in a high value application like electric vehicles." These batteries are expensive now. After the first ten thousand electric vehicles (EVs) powered with them are sold (the $100,000 Tesla Roadster sold its first hundred in three weeks in August,) volume production will begin reducing battery costs. Sometime in the next few years, the EV equivalent of the Model T will go on the market; then we can stop funding terror and begin to breathe free.
The $80,000 battery electric Tesla Roadster is selling well (although deliveries don't begin until next year.) Zero to sixty in four seconds, with a range of 250 miles per charge. Charging takes four or five hours, but who cares, if you plug it in and go to bed? Tesla plans to build more-affordable electric vehicles (EVs) once early adopters get the economy-of-scale ball rolling. I'm saving my pennies for a $30,000 third-generation EV that will outrun everything at a stoplight (just like the late, lamented GM EV1.)
The battery-replacement canard continues to make the rounds. Toyota RAV4 EVs (NiMH-powered) have rolled 150,000 miles without needing new batteries. RAV4 EVs in California are now passing 100,000 miles with no need for battery-pack replacement. I drove a GM EV1; just like the car mags had said, it took off like a silent rocket, handled like a dream and had all the bells and whistles. GM's cost basis for leasing an EV1 was under $35,000, although GM never sold their electric vehicles (EVs.) If GM had actually mass-produced its touted "most efficient production car in automotive history," it would have sold for $30,000 in a few years as efficiencies of scale lowered unit costs. Instead, GM sued to get out of producing EV1s, along with Chrysler and a group of new-auto dealers. The W Bush Administration supported the plaintiffs with an amicus brief. The zero-emission vehicle mandate was gutted, and automakers began repossessing their lease-only EVs and crushing them. GM soon refused all EV1 lease renewals, refunding attempted renewal payments and taking the cars away from people who wanted to buy them.
Of all the uninformed comments on the debut of the magnificent, zero-emission Tesla Roadster, the "conspiracy theorist" label tagged onto EVangels like myself is the most laughable. General Motors, Chrysler and a group of new auto dealers sued to void the zero emission vehicle mandate that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed in 1990 (nine months after GM debuted the 'Impact' electric vehicle (EV,) which became the EV1.) The W Bush Administration filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs. The CARB soon folded its hand, negotiating a memorandum of agreement with automakers that allowed them to build a few EVs and test-market them. Of eight EV models built by six major automakers, only two were ever offered for sale. Tortuous qualifying and expensive home installation of $3000 chargers was GM's way of depressing demand for the EV1, which was available by closed-end lease only (no buy-out option.) That was before CARB wilted; afterwards, GM stopped building EV1s and soon refused to renew leases. GM repossessed a thousand EV1s, trucked them to its Mesa, AZ proving grounds and crushed them all. See EVWorld.com or Electrifying Times Magazine online for more information.