Would you like to own a used Olympics BMW?

Some great news for all Beemer fans here in the UK. BMW plans to sell off most of their Olympic fleet cars. This includes the 320d and 700 520d EfficientDynamics as well as the new 1 Series ActiveE electric vehicles, MINI E (electric vehicle) and 5 Series ActiveHybrids.

The great news is that there are more cars then their dealers here in the UK can distribute and more than 50% might go up for auction, where some lucky fellow might be able to get them at a bargain (or maybe not). No cofirmation yet as these are all rumours.

It's about time to upgrade my old car for a new one and a Beemer would be ideal. Not sure whether I can afford the Olympic cars even though they are used. I would love to try out the 1 Series ActiveE electric vehicles or Minie Es.

An electric car is an option I am considering for my daily commute to work as we have free recharging points in our car park. I was really jealous when I learnt that several bloggers in Malaysia had been given Nissan Leaf cars to review for a few weeks. That's another car I would love to try out.

Warming up Electric Cars

Standard cars usethe excess engine heat to regulate the cabin temperatures. However, this can prove to be quite challenging in Electric Vehicles which draw energy from the battery and end up reducing the the driving distance (sometimes up to 30%).

An interesting article on The Txchnologist takes a look today at the equipment and the solutions that are being tested to regulate the temperature of the cars: Madam, I’m ADAM: Cool Ideas for Warming Up Electric Cars.
 

BMWi concepts

The BMW i3 Concept and BMW i8 Concept cars. Visit the BMWi site for more info.

BMW i3 and i8 at LA show

BMW recently showed of their i3 and i8 Concepts at the 2011 LA Auto Show.

Both the i3 and i8 cars are part of BMW's "Project i" and is a separate brand.

First unveiled at 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, the i3 is expected to go into mass production in 2013 and available for delivery by the end of the year. The car will be BMW's first zero emissions mass produced vehicle.

On the other hand, first announced in 2010 and also unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, the BMW i8 is a hybrid and sporty looking car. The car will be available in 2014. SO far no news on expected prices as yet.

GE Joins Hands with Nissan

GE and Nissan has announced a joint, two-year R&D collaboration to speed up the creation of a reliable charging infrastructure for electric vehicles like the Nissan LEAF.



They plan to focus their resources on two key research areas:

1. integrating electric vehicles with homes and buildings and
2. investigating EV charging dynamics and the future impact on the electricity grid once millions of EVs are on the road.

I found it really interesting to learn that 25 percent of the world’s electricity is generated or distributed by equipment designed and made by GE,;

For more information read the complete GE Report.

Results of the Largest Electric Vehicle Trial

Late 2009, I wrote a post "Electric cars tested in the UK" about CABLED (Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators) - the UK’s largest study into long-term low carbon vehicle use.



The results of the test were released by researchers in Aston university, Birmingham last month. Their press release says among others:

• ..that in spite of initial scepticism surrounding the capability of electric vehicles and concerns over range ‘anxiety’, they are more than capable of meeting the needs of drivers that require efficient urban transportation.

• most journeys undertaken (77%) lasted less than 20 minutes and only 2% used more than 50% of the battery

• electric vehicle users are not motivated to replenish their vehicle’s battery by reaching a particular point of depletion; rather they are driven by convenience and with data showing the vehicles are parked for 97.2% of the time (23.3 hours each day) it is apparent that there is ample opportunity for them to be plugged-in.

More details can be found on the CABLED site.

Toyota Advanced Technology Vehicle Display

­Little Tokyo Design Week: Future City announces the Toyota Advanced Technology Vehicle Display. The event will be held this coming July 14-17 in Little Tokyo (Los Angeles, California).

They plan to exhibit the Prius Plug-in, the RAV4 EV battery-electric vehicle and the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hybrid.

The range of the Prius Plug-in is approximately 13 miles (at speeds up to 60 mph). The compact Lithium-ion battery can be fully recharged quite fast - in 3 hours on 110 volts and 1.7
hours on 220 volts. The best part is that when the EV power is depleted, the Plug-in performs like a
conventional Prius.

Toyota plans to launch the car for sale in the first half of 2012 in the US.

The RAV4 EV is a joint project with aims to develop an electric version of the RAV4 with the intent to bring a RAV4 EV to market in 2012.

Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell hybrid vehicle fleet has logged several million miles since hitting the road in 2002, with significant technological improvements along the way. Toyota's current FCHV-adv
nationwide demonstration program is placing more than 100 vehicles with demonstration partners by 2013, providing one of the largest fleets of active fuel cell vehicles in the country.

The primary goal of the demonstration program is to spur infrastructure development prior to fuel cell vehicle market introduction in 2015.

For more information, visit the ­Little Tokyo Design Week site.

The Electric Car Wars

Edited from the press release by Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx

Toyota announced today that their global cumulative sales of hybrid vehicles have reached 3.03 million worldwide. They entered the market with the Coaster Hybrid bus in August 1997 followed by the original Prius in December of the same year. 

The Toyota Prius, now made in still drives almost all of its hybrid car sales. It is now joined by the hybrid version of the Auris, global production being in the UK. Other electric versions of all its car models are being rapidly introduced. Toyota is not very keen on pure electric cars at present levels of battery performance and focusses on the hybrid versions of their model.

Many car companies only realised the potential too late and the only way they had a chance of competing with Toyota from a position a long way behind, was to form alliances with other car companies. 

Now the BMW cooperation with PSA Peugeot Citroen is being solidified into a 50:50 joint venture, functioning in the second quarter, to share the formidable cost of developing hybrid powertrains and seek early volume.

Before that, Daimler AG, bought 10% of Tesla, and developed electric Smart and Mercedes models. They have struck a partnership with Renault Nissan to develop small cars, notably pure electric ones. Renault Nissan also partners with Mitsubishi on this. Mitsubishi promises electric versions of all new car models. Like Nissan and Fiat, it seems to prefer the pure electric small car route.

Euro NCAP starts testing electric vehicles

Euro NCAP has published the results of tests on seven new vehicles, including its first test of a fully electric car- the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. The car received a credible four star rating.

The cars were tested in the same test conditions as the other cars in the programme. They paid special attention to post-crash battery integrity and the proper functioning of the battery cut-off switch that isolates the high-voltage battery in the event of a crash. The news release mentioned that no electrical or fire hazards were detected during the testing of the i-MiEV.



Regarding the test results of the other cars, the small off-road 4x4 Dacia Duster didn't do well with an overall rating of only 3 stars. In contrast, the Mitsubishi ASX and the Nissan Juke achieved the coveted 5 star overall rating. Furthermore, the small MPV Hyundai ix20, also received a 5 stars Euro NCAP rating.

Tata Indica Vista EVX manufactured in Coventry

The Tata Indica Vista EVX was developed at the Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) based at Warwick University by a 230-strong team of engineers who worked on the project for four years.



The Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) was set up at the University of Warwick, Coventry in 2005.

Anyway, the car won two awards at the inaugural Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Brighton to London Future Car Challenge in September last year, namely the the Most Economic Small Passenger Electric Vehicle (EV) and the Most Economical and Environment Friendly Small Passenger EV.



The Indica Vista EVX completed the journey from Brighton to London at a cost of only £1.35. The same journey would cost around £6.17 for a comparable sized petrol engine car.

The new Indica Vista EVX is now being manufactured at Tata's secret location in the Walsgrave area of Coventry.

Elvin

Elvin the Electric Vehicle

ELVIN stands for Electric Vehicle with Interactive Noise and it is a utility vehicle which is used around the University of Warwick campus of patrol the car parks.

Electric vehicles are really quiet and the lack of sound has been identified as a safety issue. Tests are now being carried out at the University of Warwick by fitting the vehicles with the NoViSim's sound system to find out of drivers' and other road users reactions.

The Nissan Land Glider

One of my friends who works with Proton, the Malaysian auto maker mentioned that the Peugeot BB1 concept looks like the Nissan Land Glider.

Nissan Landglider at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show

The Nissan Land Glider concept was unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. Similar to the BB1, the Land Glider also has a motorcycle-inspired Tandem architecture. The rear view mirrors have been replaced by cameras and monitor. Another innovation was the non-contact charging system that enables it to be recharged at any wireless charging station.

The Peugeot BB1 concept

A complete rethink of the car by Peugeot. The BB1 concept is an electric car which carries 4 people and designed so that it is only 2.5 metres long - smaller than the Smart ForTwo and Toyota iQ. The car made its debut at the Frankfurt International Motor show.

Instead of a steering wheel, the car has handle bars and no pedals on the floor. Similar to a bike, the accelerator and brake levers are on the handles.

Check out the video:

Jaguar CX - 75

One of the major complaints about electric cars is that they are so ugly looking and slow. The G-Wiz is often the butt of so many jokes, Jeremy Clarkson in particular like to make fun of the car.

Anyway, the new breed of electric cars are changing people's perception of electric cars. They look sexy and are fast.

I blogged about the Jaguar CX - 75 concept some time back. Here are some pictures of this sexy car from Jaguar.

First Leaf electric car goes to Nashville family

According to a news report, a family in Nashville, Tennessee, US, has become the first family to receive keys to the much talked about full electric car - the Nissan Leaf. This car won the Car of the year 2011 - the World's first electric car to win this award.



Actually the report might be wrong because the first person to get the Leaf in the US is Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, the official spokesperson of Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf will be available in the UK in March next year and will cost £23990 after the £5000 Govt. discount.

Rise of the Electric Vehicles - the IDTechEx electric vehicle event in San Jose, California

The inaugural IDTechEx electric vehicle event in San Jose, California was a great success and it will now be repeated annually in three continents. The range of different electric vehicles on display was fascinating such as a Hawkes Ocean Technologies submarine, a 200 mph silent Formula One Racing car from Kleenspeed, etc.

BMW, Nissan and Fiat provided fascinating views and announcements as well. Detailed market statistics for all types of electric vehicle were shared at the event.

Professor Pietro Perlo of Fiat Central Research insisted that, for maximum benefits, vehicles must be "born electric". He is developing small pure electric cars because they have the clearest business case, being lower cost, not just non-polluting at point of use. However, he is cautious about the first generation in-wheel motors. Others are using them confidently.

On-road vehicle makers shun third generation traction batteries such as lithium sulfur, fearing for safety, but they are already used in electric aircraft and military off road vehicles. 1kWh/kg is achieved with lithium air and lithium water, where carbonate based electrolytes have proved a dead end. Presenter PolyPlus Battery Company claimed to have cracked this problem, having moved on from lithium sulfur focus. Indeed, with its compliant seal, its batteries are pressure tolerant for EVs at great depths under the ocean and rival the energy density of gasoline. 1 kWh/liter and 600 wh/kg are being targeted under a recent ARPA-E grant. This work and that of Sion Energy on lithium sulfur target 300 miles affordable range for pure electric land and air vehicles. Toyota and IBM recognise that here is the future. Meanwhile, 1.3 kWh/kg and 700 Wh/liter has been achieved with a damage tolerant lithium water battery for marine use that has no self-discharge. A pilot line is planned next.

Future of Electric Vehicles Europe will take place in June 2011 in Munich, Germany. Visit www.idtechex.com/evEurope for more info

A little green van called ELVIN

Electric cars do not have an internal combustion engine - which is great for the environment. However, this means that they are amazingly silent. This brings up some unique safety issues. People can't hear the cars coming up behind them.

To find a solution to this problem, a research project in the University of Warwick is using a green van called ELVIN (Electric Vehicle with Interactive Noise) which emits different sounds to see how people perceive the sounds.

Jaguar's C-X75 concept

Jaguar’s has just unveiled their new concept car, the C-X75, at the Paris Motor Show. It's a car that seeks to embrace the influences of classic cars like the 1950s C-Type and D-Type racers and unique 1966 XJ13 Le Mans prototype and project them onto the future.

The C-X75 is a two-seater electric supercar. According to Jaguar, it has a potential top speed of 205mph (330kph) and able to go from 0 to 62mph (0-100kph) in just 3.4 seconds.

The car has four 145kW (195bhp) traction electric engines, with one engine powering each wheel.

The C-X75 will also be at the LA Motor Show from 19th to 28th November.

BTW, Jaguar recently celebrated their 75th Anniversary and I was there at the Coventry Motor Museum admiring the  lovely classic cars. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera and all I have are some pics I posted on Twitter via my mobile.

Electric cars tested in the UK

The CABLED (Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Vehicle Demonstrators) consortium is currently testing a total of 340 electric cars across the UK. This includes the  Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Jaguar Land Rover's _e electric/diesel hybrid, LTI’s TX4E taxis, Mercedes Benz/Smart FourTwo electric drive, Tata Indica Vista EV and the hydrogen-powered Microcab.

The Microcab

The test  seeks to find out how how practical these electric cars under real life conditions would be - this include how they are used and charging information. Recharging points will be provided by Birmingham and Coventry City Councils and Eon. Birmingham University’s hydrogen refuelling station will also be available.

Researchers from Aston University will be analysing the data generated.

Interestingly out of the total cars that will be tested for a year, 110 will be based in Birmingham and Coventry. 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEV cars were passed to test drivers in the West Midlands with the rest will be given to lucky drivers, specially selected by Coventry University researchers. Hope I am one of them.

The funny G-wiz

When I saw the G-Wiz for the very first time, it brought a smile to my lips. This is apparently quite different from my friend's reactions when they first laid eyes on this unusually shaped car.  UGLY was the term they used to describe it.

The first time I saw this car was in London and the reason I found the car amusing was not the shape which does look funny but because there were two of these cars parked in a single parking space. I only learnt later that these cars are pure electric cars and built by an Indian company based in Bangalore called the Reva Electric Car Company. It is sold under the G-Wiz brand name in the UK by GoinGreen and costs about £7500 which makes it one of the cheapest green cars.

Their latest model, the G-Wiz L-ion is the world's first commercially produced lithium-ion powered electric vehicle.

The car is meant for urban driving and seats two adults and two kids. It is said to have a range of around 80 Kms per charge using lead acid batteries or 120 Kms on lithium ion batteries.