Shock It To Me: Levant Power's GenShock System

Most of you have probably heard of regenerative braking - how energy lost during deceleration is converted into electricity. What you may not have heard of is the regenerative technology being developed by Levant Power Corporation. Instead of focusing on the horizontal movement, they looked into the energy from a vehicle's vertical movement, specifically reclaiming the energy lost in shock absorption.

Whenever you pass over a speed bump, pothole, or any other uneven surface, the shock absorbers take some of that force and dissipate it as heat. Levant wanted to capture that lost force, and transform it into usable energy. They developed the GenShock technology, which works by pushing fluid through a specialized piston to generate electricity.

The website also claims it results in less maintenance and longer life for the shock absorbers, due to less heat dissipating inside the shocks. While exactly how much fuel efficiency increases is not firmly established (anywhere from 1 to 12 percent), harvesting technologies such as these could, in the future, spell big gains for electric and hybrid efficiency.

Chevy Volt Buyers Can Get Free Charging Units

The long-awaited Chevrolet Volt goes on sale Fall 2010. A real problem for owners of electric cars and plug-in hybrids is that recharging stations are still limited. General Motors and its partners will reduce what’s called range anxiety by making 15,000 charging stations available to Chevy Volt buyers. These are heavy-duty 240-volt charging stations, which can be installed in a garage.

Electric cars and PHEV plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt generally recharge in around three hours on 240-volt, which is what we use to run washing machines and often air conditioners. It takes eight hours on regular household current. As part of the purchase price, Chevrolet is giving Volt buyers a special 120-volt charge cord with the unique prong that’s being standardized for EV and PHEV vehicles.


ChargePoint charging station for electric and PHEV cars

One-third of those fast-charge stations — or 4,400 — will be available for free, including installation. Normally, a charging station and installation costs between $1,000 and $2,000. The other 10,000 stations will be in public garages, corporate fleet garages and such.

The charging stations are computerized, of course, and GM and the DOE will collect the data to help plan for more widespread use of electric cars. Information collected will include such things as average charge time, energy usage and the starting and ending time of the charging process.

The EV and PHEV charging stations are from either ECOtality, Inc. or Coulomb Technologies. The projects are made possible with a grant of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Chevrolet Volt is an electric vehicle with extended range capability, designed to drive up to 350 miles without stopping to recharge or refuel. For the first 40 miles, Volt is powered by pure electricity, without using gasoline or producing tailpipe emissions. When the Volt’s lithium-ion battery is depleted, a gasoline-powered engine/generator seamlessly operates to give you another 300 miles of driving range.

At least GM has stopped claiming that the Chevrolet Volt gets 240 miles per gallon, which I wrote about recently on my Green Car Examiner pages.

Guest Blogger: Evelyn Kanter

Solar Power Recharges Electric Car

Talk about sustainable energy — recharge your electric car with solar power. There are a handful of solar-powered charging stations around the world where drivers can juice up their EV vehicles, and one of them has just opened in New York City.

Solar power to recharge EV cars could be a game-changer, and especially this concept design, since it combines both solar power and recycling.

This solar-powered EV charging station is near the headquarters of Beautiful Earth Group, a sustainable energy company, on the Brooklyn waterfront. The solar power system is built out of old steel shipping containers, and entirely powered by state-of-the-art Sharp 235 watt photovoltaic panels.

The solar-powered EV charging station is being used to charge the plug-in electric MINI E being tested by Beautiful Earth Group. There are about 500 electric MINI E vehicles, but this is the only one to run exclusively on solar power.

Guest Blogger: Evelyn Kanter

Ford's Transit Connect Electric: A Step Forward into the Past

Electric vehicles have a long history in the U.S. In 1897, electric cars found one of their first commercial uses as taxicabs in New York City. In the city, range was less of a disadvantage and they were considered cleaner, quieter, and easier to use than internal combustion vehicles. However, the 1920's saw the advancement of the internal combustion vehicles, much of it driven by the Ford Motor Company and the electric car became obsolete. Now a century later New York may see the return of the fully electric taxi cab. Azure Dynamics Corporation is partnering with Ford Motor Company (ironically enough) to produce the Transit Connect Electric, an all electric version of Ford's 2010 Transit Connect commercial delivery van. With fleet availability predicted for late 2010, and a taxi cab version also offered, New York may see the return of its electric cabs after a century of absence. Ford Motors plans to provide Azure Dynamics with Transit 'gliders' (vehicles without a fuel system or drive drain) in which Azure is to install its Force Drive battery system drivetrain. A lithium-ion battery produced by Johnson controls powers the Transit, and with a 240 volt connection recharges in 6 to 8 hours. The Transit has a range of up to 80 miles on a single charge with a maximum speed of 75 mph. Another alternative is conversion to natural gas or propane in the the taxi version of the Transit. Ford includes an engine prep kit for this purpose, and if Ford's guidelines are followed the conversion doesn't even void the engine warranty. Hopefully this signals the rise of alternate energy vehicles in the commercial sector, and maybe in the future the city streets will be full of blissfully quiet vans and trucks, and absent the roar of gas and diesel engines.

And A-WAZE We Go!

Waze is a user generated smart phone application designed to bring drivers the most up to date road information. This application is downloadable for free from their site, www.waze.com. When you drive traffic data is communicated to other drivers. Drivers can also manually input road information, such as police traps, weather conditions or accidents, to other Waze users by placing visual indicators or attaching photos directly to the map. A Waze user can also report new roads or mapping errors. The success of Waze is completely driven by user participation and right now it's still in its early stages. However, I believe that this social application has the potential to protect me from two evils: traffic and speeding tickets.

Great Live Lectures on Oil Spill

TED, a nonprofit organization that brings together great minds for compelling lectures has put together a day of lectures for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The lectures are streaming and can be watched live at http://www.livestream.com/tedxoilspill/.

Highlighted speakers include:

Diarmuid O'Connell - VP of Tesla

Klaus Lackner, Columbia University professor of Geophysics

Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

Philippe Cousteau, son of Jaque

and much more http://tedxoilspill.com/speakers/

Earthgarage Interviews Energy Xtreme

Energy Xtreme installs their Independence Package, an auxiliary battery system, on police cruisers. This eliminates the need for police cars to idle their engines. I spoke with Energy Xtreme’s CEO Devin Scott and got great information on this innovative anti-idling technology.

1) How did Energy Xtreme start?

We found this technology about 5 years ago, which has actually been in existence for about 10+ years but it was never brought to commercial use. We started coming up with idle reduction products and clean mobile power products. We combined the core technology, which is a dry, solid state, non-hazmat, power cell with electronics to create a power management system that operates a vehicle’s full electrical system and provides clean mobile power for tools and equipment without engaging the vehicle’s engine.

2) Can you tell me about the anti-idling Independence Package for police cars?

The Independence Package operates the police cruiser’s full electrical system--including the lights, camera, computer, radio and any ancillary electrical equipment without engaging the vehicle’s engine. So, a police cruiser typically runs its engine 24/7 and the reason being is that the OEM battery would run dead in 10 to 15 minutes trying to power the vehicle’s electrical load. So, they have to keep the car running and the alternator powers all of that equipment. What we’ve done is taken the charge off the alternator and stored it for when the engine is off. We can protect that OEM battery from ever going dead. We don’t allow our system to drain past 20% complete depletion so there is always enough power there to jumpstart or start that vehicle, so a police officer will never be left stranded.

3) Can you describe the installation process?

The installation process is very simple. It is a three-wire install, one to the ancillary electrical load, one [wire] to the alternator and one [wire] to the OEM Battery. The installation takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to do. We found that most police departments have capable fleet managers to do the install with an installation manual. We also have an install video and we can walk them through the first install [over the phone]. This does not void any factory warrantees.

4) Describe the environmental benefits and what is the payoff time?

We are eliminating emissions and not just reducing them because we are turning off the vehicle that would otherwise be turned on to power this equipment. So, it’s just a mathematical equation to how we affect and how much we eliminate vehicle emissions.

For example, if we reduce 4 hours of idle time on a police cruiser, which equates to a gallon of gas per hour and it’s twenty pounds of C02 emissions per [gallon of gasoline] that we reduce from EPA standards. So then just multiply that out.

So, the Dallas police department typical uses the system from 3 to 5 hours a day, so their pay off is quick. We say that the payoff is less than two years just on fuel savings alone and that is based on an average of about two hours a day. So, if your averaging 5 hours a day or 6 hours, whatever that reduction in fuel is a direct correlation to how long it takes to take off.

In addition to the fuel savings we also eliminate dead batteries because we are taking the load off the OEM battery. Our system has no maintenance. So the fact that we eliminate dead batteries, we reduce labor costs and down time. One police department fleet-manager told me he thought this [Independence Package] would “revolutionize the way that police fleets operate. [The same fleet manager also said that] police departments usually keep 20-30% more cars just to keep them on the road because of dead batteries. … These [OEM] batteries are running dead every 4-6 weeks. So they [police officers] wake up and they have to deal with what car works, get another car, get another patrolman to take that car. And he [this fleet manager] thinks that will eliminate the need to keep that many cars on hand because we can reduce the number of dead batteries. He thinks it will reduce the number of cars they [police dept] purchase, which will bring significant dollar savings, which isn’t even calculated into this.

5) Where do you see anti-idling technology going in next five years?

We will continue to refine and we will see idle-reduction regulations. We see that already, a lot of cities are having ordinances against idling with fines and the more that we see that….the more technology we will be driven to create idle-reduction packages.

…..Our technology is generation neutral so we don’t care what the vehicle is powered by. Whether it's diesel, gas, battery propulsion, we can supplement and take over that electrical load, which allows the fuel efficiency of that car to increase substantially and get rid of idling all together. I also think that we’ll see regenerative breaking come into effect within the next 5 years and I think that will be the next major step in idle reduction.

No Shame

Remember that pesky oil spill in the Gulf? Oh yeah, that one. BP is at it again, but this time off the north shore of Alaska - www.nytimes.com. The company got around the offshore oil drilling ban by building an island made of gravel and using a new drilling technique to reach a reservoir two miles below the surface and almost 8 miles off shore. Hmmm, that sounds even more risky than drilling directly above the reservoir like in the gulf and we all know how well that went. BP has no shame.

The project already has permits from state and federal governments but the Mineral Management Service (MMS) is in bed with the industry and Alaska is home to Sarah Palin the queen of drill baby drill. Not exactly tough regulation standards. The major problem with this project is that drilling horizontally is not a proven safe method of extraction. Gas kickbacks as they are called are more frequent and harder to detect. Such a kickback is what caused the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig which killed 11 people and is now wreaking havoc on the gulf coast. Maybe the costs of the cleanup and other liability issues will overcome BP's financial capabilities, the company will go under and they won't be able to complete the project. That would be satisfying, but some other DB will take over for BP, AKA there won't be any LOL.

Never Change Your Oil Again

Wouldn't that be nice? Now it can be a reality with the 1950's-sounding Electro-Lube Oil Refiner - www.mnn.com. The device attaches to the engine where it removes solids, prevents the accumulation of water in the oil and neutralizes acid. This all leads to better function of the car, increased fuel mileage by an estimated 3-4% and longer engine life. Such products have been used since the 1970's in larger ship engine but is only now being used in smaller commercial and personal vehicles. Hey, why not? No more oil changes, better fuel economy and longer engine life. Can't beat that!

Police Idling on the Job

Have you ever walked by a parked police cruiser and wondered why the engine is idling? Turns out, the electrical equipment in police cruisers require so much power that they will run a standard car battery dead in less than 15 minutes if the engine isn’t running. Energy Xtreme, a mobile power company out of Austin, TX has addressed this issued with their Independence Package. The Independence Package is a power management system run by a battery pack in the trunk. It allows for the electrical equipment in police cruisers to operate without the engine running.

This anti-idling technology saves money and CO2 emissions. Energy Xtreme reports that for every hour of engine idling 1 gallon of gas is burned, 20 lbs. of CO2 are emitted and 35 miles of wear is placed on the engine. Their package is easy to install and pays for itself in less than 2 years. Major police departments all over the US and Canada have already added this technology to their fleets. An interview with Energy Xtreme CEO, Devin Scott will be posted later this week. In the meantime, you can check out the product at www.energyxtreme.net.

Taxing Gas Guzzlers

I’m a car guy. I have an environmental conscious, but I still admire horsepower and thoughtful design on any vehicle. But regardless of track times, the performance crossover SUV is one of the most impractical vehicle classes ever made. All performance crossover SUVs possess a higher center of gravity and bulky exterior, which is usually paired with a surprisingly small amount of cargo space. Did I mention shitty gas mileage?

The gas guzzler tax is placed on any vehicle with a combined average fuel consumption below 22.5 mpg. The tax starts at $1,000 and works its way up to $7,700 for cars that get less than 12.5 mpg. But the gas guzzler tax is only on cars. Performance crossover SUVs do not get taxed for guzzling because their exterior dimensions and ground clearance have them recognized as utility vehicles.

This loophole is absurd. The BMW X6M, a performance crossover SUV with a 555 hp, 4.4L V8 engine gets a combined fuel consumption of 13 mpg. Yet it has no gas guzzler tax because it's considered a utility vehicle. Meanwhile, the BMW M5, which uses the same engine as the X6M and has nearly identical fuel economy, gets slammed with a $3,000 gas guzzler tax.

It’s time that we close the loophole and tax all gas-guzzlers.

Smart ForTwo Electric Car

I like torque - the thrill when you step on the gas. Except this time, it wasn't a gas pedal. It was the accelerator in the new smart fortwo electric drive car. I got the chance to get behind the wheel of the new smart in Brooklyn last week. The electric motor generates torque instantly, unlike a conventional gas engine that takes time to build up power. The car takes off like a jack rabbit. It felt solid and seemed much larger than its diminutive size. Driving around the streets of Park Slope, I was thinking, this could be the future of the automobile and a pretty good one at that.

Range is 82 miles and it can be recharged in 3 1/2 hours with a standard 22oV outlet; 8 hours on a 110V. Smart USA plans to bring in 250 electric vehicles as a pilot, available only on lease. Smart is wisely targeting universities, businesses and municipalities, and to a lesser extent, early adopter consumers.

Thinking Ahead

A new traffic alert system is being planned by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority with the help of IBM. Instead of giving drivers updates about traffic and accidents as they happen, the Authority wants to predict what trip times and traffic will be like in the future (not 20 years but 20 minutes) - nytimes.com. This will happen using technology which gathers information about traffic patterns from across the state and analyzes that data to estimate future trip times on various roads. They will be posted along highways so that people can best estimate the shortest route and the shortest trip time to their destination. Save time, save money and save gas.

Better Than Gasoline?

At Earthgarage we tend to be proponents of diesel because more energy is stored in one gallon of the fuel than in gasoline (which means you get better mileage). However, some question whether diesel really is better than gasoline - edmunds.com. Diesel has a poor reputation in the United States (it's dirty, diesel engines are loud etc.) but many countries around the world rely heavily on diesel as a primary transportation fuel. The problem with diesel in the United States is that it costs more than gasoline, there are very few options for diesel cars, and those cars are much more expensive than gasoline powered cars. Furthermore, gasoline cars are closing the gap in efficiency. If you will get the same mileage in a gasoline car, why would you spend more money to purchase a diesel car and then pay more for fuel?

On the other hand, maybe we should be paying more for fuel so that people are more likely to change their driving habits. When money is involved, people tend to wake up an pay attention. I have a sneaking suspicion that we will all be waking up sooner rather than later - nytimes.com. Let's hope so.

We Need More

Would you drive 5.4 miles less per day to end drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? This is how much Treehugger.com predicts would free us from using oil from the gulf - a tangible way of making the argument (a little simplistic, too) - treehugger.com. As we continue to see oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, anyone in their right mind would question the safety and value of deep water oil drilling. Too bad it takes a disaster like this to make people wake up and pay attention. The broader point is that whether the oil is coming from the Gulf of Mexico or from the Middle East, our petroleum supply is insecure in the broadest sense. The technology is not there to stop an oil spill 5,000 ft. below the surface, sentiments in countries like Iran, Iraq and other oil producing countries in the Middle East are anti-American (with good reason) and "easy" oil production is waning around the globe. We will have to continue to rely on hard to reach sources of oil which brings increased risk. We need to do a lot more than drive 5.4 miles less every day. We need to increase efficiency and conservation as well as find new, renewable sources of energy. Without this we will continue to be beholden to oil from the Gulf and Middle East.