China Plans “Drive Thru” Museum Posted on October 21st, 2009
No word on whether it will include a McDonald’s. The growing trend in China is car ownership. Exemplifying this is the new plan for a “drive through” museum, which will be called the Nanjing Automotive Museum. It’s a private enterprise, not a government one, but I just have to wonder what the point is.
I can understand why some nature parks are drive through. Sometimes animals that are nice to look at will eat people. Other times, they step on us. That doesn’t mean we don’t like to look at them.
But a regular museum? Why do you need to drive through that?
Anyway, the design for the museum is pretty goofy too. Look at the parking stalls that appear to be on a forty-five degree downward angle. Hope that’s not the handicapped stall…
The actual exhibits are, in the main, not visible from the car, to be fair. The idea is to drive your car up the museum’s ramps (circling around it), park on the roof, and then walk down through the exhibits. At the bottom, you take an elevator back to the roof and your parked car.
While the idea is kind of novel (though it seems like any parking garage to me, just without the “garage” bit), it also looks like a huge waste of energy. How many cars will visit the thing, drive all the way up it (for no reason) and then all the way back down? Isn’t that kind of pointless?
Not that I can throw rocks, living in the glass house of energy extravagance we call America. I hope there’s at least some cool stuff in this museum, anyway. Something other than the world’s largest ball of string or smallest goat or whatever, that is.
Zero Motorcycles Gets EPA Certificate of Conformity for 455mpg! Posted on October 19th, 2009
Zero Motorcycles issued a press release today announcing that they’ve received their Certificate of Conformity from the Environmental Protection Agency and have been rated equivalent to 455 miles per gallon under EPA standards!
That’s great news, as this means the Zero S and DS (no word on the Zero X) are now fully street legal machines nationally, as they have already received Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards certification and even have the equivalent to that in Canada.
The other big news is that this puts them into qualification for a 10% federal tax credit and any state tax credits also available. That changes the street price from $9,950 to $8,996 for most U.S. buyers.
Pretty awesome news from Zero.
Global Green Cars – Affordable American-Made Electric Vehicles Posted on October 14th, 2009
Meet the G-3, one of three models currently offered by Global Green Cars. This one is my favorite, though I’m not sure if the cargo is included in the sale price or not. You’re looking at the most American-made small pickup truck on the market. Bar none.
The company that builds these started in the 1990s under BAT International (as subdivision Green Star Products Int). They were one of only four companies at that time which had a working prototype electric on-the-road vehicle. They comprised three of the seven vehicles offered for testing to the government’s EV America program in 1994.
Located in Kentucky, the company makes three vehicles: a proprietary 2-seat coupe, a converted SUV, and a proprietary small (1/2 ton equivalent) pickup truck.
The G-1 (pictured above) is a coupe designed from the ground up to be a low-cost, first or second car and commuter. It has a top speed of 100mph and a range of 100, 160, or 250 miles per charge depending on your package.
Now get this: the MSRP on this car is $18,000 for the 100 mile option, $25,000 for teh 160 mile option, and $30,000 for the 250 mile option. $18,000 for a working, freeway-capable battery electric?! Holy crap!
The G-1 has a front and rear trunk, is shown without color as the wheels, colors, seat types, etc. are all fully customizable on order, and it has a steel safety cage and all the requirements for USDOT highway use. It’s currently being sold in Asia in several markets.
The G-2 is a converted SUV. It’s obviously a Mitsubishi, which the company sources without motors or transmission and then adds electrical components to. It has a 100 mile in-town range, a speed of 50mph, and sells for $26,950. It’s obviously not freeway capable, but is meant for the around-towner and the suburbanite.
Finally, we come upon the G-3. This one, as I said, is my favorite. It has a range of about 125 miles, carries two passengers (jumper seats in the ex cab, but they aren’t counted), and a top speed of 80mph. It comes in yellow or white and with your choice of bed style: 3-side fold-down, flatbed, dumper bed, standard pickup bed (w/ tailgate), and a box van or refrigerated van.
It’s capable of about a half ton in carrying capacity (1,000 pounds or so), and seems very capable. I’d be more than happy with one of these (even without the great cargo in the pics) and, for the record (hint), I prefer yellow.
The G-3 is a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) with a small gasoline generator on board. It gets 100mpg(e)+ in this configuration.
Global Green Cars seems to be the quiet EV company that nobody’s heard about, but with great products. I hope to see more of them on the road. They are currently awaiting FMVSS and NHTSA approvals for their two proprietary forms, but are taking interested buyers’ queries.
Killer DIY Electric Motorcycle Becomes Creators Resume Posted on October 10th, 2009
In two months, a bare frame became this awesome ride. That’s all it took Tom Micelito build his electric motorcycle, which he calls the Ion. Now, it’s his resume as he looks for a career in industrial design. The Ion was his senior project at Appalachian State University. Hope he got an A+.
The bike started as a 1996 Kawasaki ZX6 Ninja. Tom stripped it down, took his measurements, and began his design and build. With several CAD model iterations, motorcycle magazine cutouts, and some real talent for aesthetics, he finally had what he wanted on paper.
To make it real, he had only two months if he wanted to get the grade. He started work on the chassis, adding 24 40Ah li-ion phosphate batteries (about 3kWh), a 95lb-ft torque motor (AC), a controller, and a quick test ride to make sure it all worked. At that point, the bike was weight equivalent to the original Ninja. Exactly as planned.
His weight distribution put the center of gravity at roughly bottom-center, just as the original had.
Miceli then began on the body work and street-legal components (lighting and so forth).
The bike’s top speed is 70mph and it has a range of up to 60 miles on a charge, which takes about six hours at 110v. Miceli continues to tweak the Ion, post-graduation, as he uses it to find himself a new job as a moto-designer.
With the help of his father, an electrical engineer, the graduate is planning some serious upgrades to the bike. He doesn’t think the acceleration is as good as it could be and he wants more speed and range. So he’s going to upgrade to 60Ah batteries and will ad a self-designed 2-speed transmission that will get up to about 50mph in first gear and double that in second. Yep. 100mph.
And yes, he got an “A” from his professor for the bike.
Balqon Not To Be Left Behind: New Highway-Ready Electric Truck Posted on October 7th, 2009
A few days ago, we brought you news of Vision Motor’s plans to sell their hydrogen fuel-cell big trucks through LA Freightliner. Balqon, the other big player in this electric big trucks game, has now announced that they will be producing an on-road highway-ready version of their trucks as well.
Previously, we talked about the drayage trucks that Balqon is already producing for dockside service in Southern California. Now that technology is being used to build Class 7 and 8 heavy trucks for on-road service in short-haul applications.
The first model, the Mule 150, uses the lithium-ion batteries and electric power train that Balqon has put in their port trucks. The Mule 150 is capable of carrying up to 7 tons, can travel at 55mph (California speed limit for large vehicles) and has an unloaded range of 150 miles and a fully-loaded range of 90 miles.
The Mule 150 uses the same battery pack that the drayage trucks do as well as the same motor technology. It’s built on a cab-over design in safety steel. It’s expected to release this quarter and has already undergone safety and performance testing. No word yet on who is supplying the box and accessories (explaining why they’re drawn in on the publicity photo above). Those are traditionally built by someone other than the vehicle manufacturer, often to customer spec.
Expect to see these operating around the Los Angeles and San Diego areas soon!
