South Africa unveils its first electric car
October 1, 2008
Posted in Transport
South Africa’s first electric car, the Joule, has finally been unveiled to the public. We’ve been waiting months to get a look at this six-seater designed by Keith Helfet, the South African-born former chief stylist for Jaguar, and built on “practically a shoestring budget” by Cape Town-based Optimal Energy. (Video here)
The chassis has been designed to accommodate two large-cell lithium ion battery packs, but since research shows that 99 percent of urban users drive less than 150km a day, Optimal Energy says only one battery is needed to power the Joule. That battery will give you a range of about 200km – adding another one will double the range to 400km.
The batteries are charged using a normal 220 volt home outlet and take about seven hours to recharge – which in South Africa, where there are concerns about electricity supply, could be done at night without placing stress on the grid, the firm says in a press release.
The Joule is silent and has zero emissions (except of course for those produced in generating the electricity needed to charge its batteries). Its top speed is 130km/hour and it has fast acceleration and a tight turning circle, says the release.
Gauteng province is being evaluated as the site for the Joule’s first assembly plant, the release says. The car will be sold in all the major South African centres and should be available towards then end of 2010. The car will also be available on the international market.
The car will make its global debut at the Paris Motor Show on October 4.
Solar cars line up in Pretoria for start of first race around SA
September 26, 2008
Posted in Transport
On Sunday, six solar cars will set off from Pretoria on an epic, two-week race around South Africa. The competitors in this Solar Challenge, which include teams from India, Japan, and South Africa, have built their own cars and designed their own engineering systems. They’re now ready to test them on some of the most demanding terrain that solar cars have ever known, say the race organisers.
The six weird yet wonderful vehicles will make their way from Pretoria to Cape Town, then drive along the coast to Durban, before climbing the steep Drakensburg Mountains on their way back to Pretoria and the finish line at the Innovation HUB on October 8.
“This event brings together the technologies students and the public need to understand when building and using electric cars and alternative energy solutions,” say the organiser. They are feats of engineering that combine technologies like electric motors, batteries, solar energy and hydrogen fuel cells. Read more
Range Rover goes electric
September 24, 2008
Posted in Transport
Range Rover, the fuel-hungry SUV that is parked on the pavements of the most exclusive Jo’burg shopping malls, is going green. I can hear the excited rattle of ethical jewellery already. The prototype Liberty electric Range Rover will be unveiled next year, reports the Telegraph. It won’t be cheap, though – probably somewhere between R1.4-million and R1.9-million – but it’ll do about 320km on a single charge and the manufacturer says that it’ll cost 80 percent less to run than a petrol equivalent. It will also have solar panels mounted on the roof that can charge the battery. The Liberty could be on sale next year, the Telegraph reports.
New battery touted as breakthrough for electric cars
September 22, 2008
Posted in Transport
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are set to dominate the market for electric cars and bikes, according to Metaefficient. They are apparently the least environmentally toxic of all the battery types, plus they have greater range, power and safety – and faster charging times. There’s a graph comparing the energy density of various battery types in the Metaefficient post as well as a list of the advantages of LiFePO4 batteries. The batteries are apparently widely used in Asia.
Media gets sneak peek of SA’s electric car
September 14, 2008
Posted in Transport
Journalists got to see South Africa’s first electric car, known as the Joule, this week. The car’s lithium-ion batteries can be charged using a 220-volt outlet and it has regenerative braking, said Edwin Naidu in a report on IOL. He described the car as “a compact six-seater that looks like an uncluttered mix of a Renault Scenic and a Citroen Picasso”. The Joule was developed by Cape Town company Optimal Energy and designed by Keith Helfet, who has also designed cars for Jaguars. Naidu says the care should be available from the end of 2010 and is expected to cost about R200,000. But it looks like we’ll have to wait until the Paris Motor show next month to see the Joule. Full story on IOL
The oil crisis and the search for a new way of living
September 9, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy, Transport
Saliem Fakir looks at SA’s energy options and what can be done to improve our energy security.
We live in interesting times that promise both peril and opportunity. Things have changed so fast within the span of just a year that it’s putting a strain on our ability to adapt.
It took five years from 2002-2007 for the oil price to go up by $60/barrel; but in the last 12 months, the price of oil surged by an additional $70/barrel.
The surge in oil prices is making life for everybody uncomfortable, as its ripple effects are being felt throughout the global and South African economies. It has, however, brought home the urgency to find solutions. The whole world is in the throes of a massive cycle of innovation. There lie two possible pathways before us. Read more
Hydrogen car tour over, but don’t expect them in showrooms soon
August 26, 2008
Posted in Transport
The Hydrogen Road Tour 08, a 13-day trip across the United States by hydrogen cell cars is complete. Nine car makers took part in the groundbreaking zero-emissions tour. There were sections where the cars had to be carried on the back of flatbed trucks because there were no hydrogen fuelling stations, but apparently one of the points of the road trip was to highlight the need for more fuelling stations in the US. Reuters reports that the US has 60 hydrogen fuelling stations, but only two are open to the public. There appears to be a great deal of public interest in the vehicles, and car makers are spending vast sums of money developing them, but a study by the US National Research Council found that even in a best-case scenario, car manufacturers will only sell about 2 million electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2020.
Via :: Planet Ark
IT, airline industries: equal polluters
August 18, 2008
Posted in Transport
Asked about which industries contribute the most to carbon emissions most people would likely pick on the transport and heavy engineering sectors. It’s unlikely that many would finger the IT sector. But, according to IT analysts Gartner, the IT sector emits just as much carbon dioxide as does the airline industry. At the annual Gartner conference in Cape Town today senior vice president, Peter Sondergaard, said that the company estimated that the IT sector accounted for two percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, roughly the same as the airline industry. According to research quoted by the UK Independent, it takes around 1.8 tons of chemicals, fossil fuels and water to produce a PC.
Lotus omnivore will run on anything
August 15, 2008
Posted in Transport
Just in case you were starting to imagine a future filled with humming electric cars, along comes the Lotus Exige tri-fuel. The Exige uses the new multi-fuel engine being developed by Lotus and can run on gasoline, ethanol, methanol or a combination of the three. And, while the Lotus Exige promises to be greener than most sports cars, it still knows how to burn up the track. Wired reports that an Exige tri-fuel car accelerated from a standstill to 60mph (96.6km/h) in just 3.88 seconds. That is 22 hundreths of a second faster than the petrol-only Exige S.
Hydrogen cars go on tour in America
August 14, 2008
Posted in Transport
In Who Killed the Electric Car, US President George Bush said hydrogen was the transport fuel of the future. Who’d have thought that five years after Bush issued a challenge to innovators to develop hydrogen technologies that a fleet of hydrogen vehicles would be touring America?
Nine car manufacturers have hydrogen-fuelled cars taking part in a whirlwind tour across the United States. The 13-day Hydrogen Road Tour ’08 started on Monday in Portland, Maine, on the east coast, and will end in Los Angeles, California, on the west coast on August 23. The companies taking part are General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW. The BMW Hydrogen Series 7 burns hydrogen in an internal combustion engine. Read more
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