A FACTOID DAY.

It rained and rained and rained some more, yesterday. We snuggled in to  read books, which is always a treat.

I subscribe to gas.2.0 and always find interesting content since I own an electric hybrid Toyota, and the site covers all vehicles electric and otherwise. On August 4th, he blogged that electric car sales rose 530% over 2012. There are people resistant to the new technology, but other countries have gainfully embraced it.

That said, Nissan, Honda and Toyota have decided to work together and standardize the electric plug for EVs. Next on the list, is standardizing the pumping stations to remove one of the perceived obstacles in going electric.

Now, Gas.2.0 gives information on all sorts of vehicles? The Spyder home airplane is now available in the U.S. in kit form.

  Ultralight aircraft manufacturer Greenwing International has just released pricing for its latest all-electric airplane, the eSpyder – and, for just $39,990, you can park one in your garage today. In kit form, anyway.

According to GreenWing’s stated figures, the 32 hp electric motor can propel the eSpyder to maximum air speed of 68 mph. Peak efficiency, though, is found in an “economy cruise” mode that holds the tiny plane at 38 mph, which translates to about 90 minutes of flying time in between 2-3 hour battery charges. Spiffy. Not for me, but, down the line..who knows.  It may be the wave of the transportation future along with driverless cars.

And why would a vehicle site be interested in Fracking and agriculture?  Because we are talking fuel, here. Fracking is touting jobs they can’t deliver and the oil industry is holding onto an unsafe process with a death grip.

American farms are struggling to attract workers. Farmers have jobs, but no applicants – and they concede that the problem is only getting worse as innovation in alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, as well as growing demand for the materials necessary to make plant-based renewable plastic pushes up demand for their products to the point that there are thousands of jobs waiting to be filled.

With green jobs growth out-pacing literally every other US industry, this is a serious problem.  And with a whole new generation of college students entering the arena in the spring, maybe someone should promote American Ag degrees.

Thank you Gas.2.0 for writing my blog today.

HYBRID VEHICLE NEWS.

I’m re-posting Gas 2.0. his blog entry for today. The no reply window does not allow me to ask in advance. So credit is not mine.  I’ve spread the word about this awesome blog before. As a hybrid vehicle owner, I love supporting the industry that will help us curb carbon emissions.

Sales Of Alt-Fuel/Hybrid Vehicles Soar In U.S

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 12:00 PM PST

Is 2012 the year that alternative fuel vehicles finally come into their own? It’s starting to look like that after a particularly strong October saw alt-fuel and hybrid car sales set a sales record for the third consecutive month. All told, more than 46,000 alt-fuel vehicles were sold in the U.S. in October, putting sales on track to break 500,000 alt-fuel sales for the year.

Leading the sales charge was Toyota, accounting for more than half of October alt-fuel sales with over 24,000 units sold. 16,774 of those sales came from the Prius family of hybrids, including nearly 1,900 Prius Plug-In models.

Those are good sales no doubt, but the Chevy Volt still leads the plug-in hybrid market, selling 2,961 Volts in October. The Nissan Leaf also performed admirably thanks to a new $199 month lease deal that helped move 1,579 Leaf EVs off of lots. Even Ford had good news to celebrate, including 118 sales of the Ford Focus Electric.

As already noted, the Ford C-Max Hybrid started off strong with over 3,000 units sold in its first full month on the market. Diesel vehicles also had cause to celebrate, with Volkswagen seeing a 43% increase in diesel sales over October of 2011, selling 8,235 units.

All tallied together, alt-fuel vehicle sales in the U.S. have already reached 446,000 units. With another couple of months like October, sales should break the 500,000 mark for the first time ever in the U.S. It looks like the tide might finally be turning against gasoline.

THE WORLDS OLDEST CAR

My friends, to know where we came from it may interest you to see a picture of the oldest car in the world that is still running.  And, it runs on water.

Commissioned by French entrepreneur, Count de Dion, and built by Georges Bouton and Charles-Armand Trepardoux, the 1884 De Dion steamer was nicknamed “La Marquise” after the Count de Dion’s mother. Measuring just nine feet in length, La Marquise features twin compound steam engines, “spade handle” steering and seats four people “dos-a-dos” (back-to-back). The seats are located on top of the steel tank, which holds 40 gallons of water, good for about 20 miles; its sophisticated boiler, fed by coal or coke, can be steamed in 45 minutes. Of course, it has to stop every 20 miles to refill the water tank, but isn’t that a gas!  (Pun intended)  The car is currently up for auction.

Hydrogen “steam” technology is making some headway, but electrics are far an away the choice for the new cars all over the world.

I’m so into the new cars, the electrics and the possibilities. There are literally hundreds of them out there. But, our good congress people don’t support new technologies with much effort because half or more of them are too busy bickering and beholden to the oil companies. Too bad we can’t fire the whole bunch and start over with new rules.

Take a look at some of the innovative cars in other countries:

A British car conversion, powered by coffee grounds.

A sporty Chinese electric that may or may not be built by Ford Motor Company. Hmmm!

This is BMW’s electric scooter. I own an electric scooter, and a Prius. But this scooter is much sexier than the one I have. Hoo, hoo!

France will put 4,000 new sporty electrics on the road in 2012.  (Couldn’t find the picture.)

The prediction is that electrics are going to be the cars of the future. They are getting better and better. There is an ECON show going on in Missouri where home conversions are on display. One couple converted their Opel from a Youtube video instruction.It isn’t that hard, folks.

I’m in Wilsonville, OR. visiting Portland with a very competent Real Estate person over the next couple days. So, I will try and find the innovative technologies I promised in yesterday’s blog.

If you are really into new technologies, try Gizmag Emerging Technologies Magazine online and Gas 2.0. where most of this information came from.

 

 

AUTOMOTIVE FIRSTS

The new EPA ratings netted the Nissan Leaf a 99 MPGe, and the Tesla Roadster 119 MPGe. Their latest all-electric competitor, the Mitsubishi i, has been rated at an impressive 112 MPGe, with an estimated 98 miles of all-electric range. Now that is encouraging. I can’t recommend enough the website :http://gas2.org/

I signed up for email notifications and find some amazing work going on around the world  with new technologies and automobiles. Beating big expensive oil sounds much more possible whenever I read Gas 2.0.  Understand that the MPG figure with the small e is how miles per gallon is translated into an equivalent electric range.

We take our comfortable rides for granted, but here are some automobile firsts:

The steering wheel first replaced the tiller in 1900 on the Ohio Automobile Co. Packard Model C.
New York issued the first license plates in 1901.
Oldsmobile had the first speedometer and a car called Gobron-Brillie hit 103.55 mph in Belgium soon after in 1904.
The first reported stolen car was reported in St. Louis in 1905.
Prince Henry of Prussia invented the windshield wiper in 1911 and had it fitted to his Benz.
Gulf Oil opened the first drive-in Gas Station in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1913.
The first drive in restaurant opened in 1921, the Pig Stand, in Dallas, TX.
Denver took delivery of the first car designed especially for police work in 1922, a Cadillac. It was called a bandit chaser with a gun rack, two rifles and two searchlights.
Car radios were first sold in 1929 by Motorola.
On July 16, 1935, Oklahoma City put up the first parking meter. (Curses on you Oklahoma.)
Oldsmobile introduced the automatic transmission, its Hydra-Matic in 1939.
The 1939 Nash offered air conditioning as an option. Dubbed the Weather Eye.
Bucket seats were first placed in the 1955 Corvettes and Thunderbirds.

Air conditioning didn’t become a standard until many years later. I remember a 1961 Dodge with air conditioning that consisted of a bucket the driver filled with  ice placed on the hump between the driver and front seat passenger. A small fan plugged into the cigarette lighter and blew “cooled” air into the interior. When the ice melted, you had to stop somewhere and fill it up again. What a hoot. But those bucket seats, now those were comfortable and sexy. Wow! So, who put in the first cigarette lighter?

THE NEW WAVE ENGINE

Some of you know I own a Prius, a 2001 model, the first to come to the U.S. I still drive it an appreciate the mileage savings. However, check this out:

The wave engine pictured above was developed by Michigan State University researchers, it’s the size of a cooking pot and can burn just about any kind of fuel. It does so in a way that shaves weight from the vehicle and is up to 3.5 times more efficient than an ICE engine, meaning better fuel efficiency and up to 90% less CO2. Spinning at high speeds sends a shockwave through the device, igniting air and whatever fuel happens to be used. Simple, light, cheap, and effective.
However, it will not directly replace an engine or transmission setup, but rather it could work as a range-extender for plug-in hybrid vehicles. The Wave Disk spins very fast, generating a lot of energy from a very small package that could dramatically lower the weight of hybrid vehicles while improving the fuel efficiency. For example, a Chevy Volt typically gets around 36 MPG in charge-sustaining mode, but with a Wave Disk engine, it could get closer to 100 MPG while in charge-sustaining mode.
All of this information comes from the blog Gas.2.0

The U.S. government has invested over 2 million dollars into this green technology. How is that for a transition from big oil to whatever other innovations coming down the line.

Another busy day for me. Its nice to be able to borrow information from others. I wanna drive forever. And, get a wave in my Motor Home.

GAS 2.0

Jim and I went to a play and I met an old friend. She introduced me to her partner as the first person in the state to buy a Prius. It struck me as funny that she remembered that about me. It got me to thinking about how automobiles have changed.
I used to own this Electric, 1994 Chevy Pick-up. It was a government experiment and the engine was built by Hughes Aircraft. It looked like an aircraft engine.

Somehow it seemed unreal to me when I’d open up the “gas cap” and plug in this huge plug instead, like it was a cartoon or something.
The 24 batteries were wired together under this plastic shield under the bed of the pick-up. It was quite a chore unscrewing the bed and removing it to look at the batteries. Only did it once. They were guaranteed for 8 years, but I got the truck when it was 11 years old and still running. Three years later it was unable to make the hill leaving my house. I had to have it towed by a neighbor once to get it home. Finally sold it, but I thoroughly enjoyed this big heavy horse.
After Obama got elected, it seemed Detroit was flatly disinterested in any environmental improvements on their autos.That has changed dramatically. Everyone is putting out an electric hybrid, or plug in, or changing the world, one car at a time. I took a picture of this little plug-in below. No one blinks an eye at plug-ins now. They are numerous, Ford Fusion, Volkswagen Scirocco, Mini-E, Axon…
Check out Gas2.0. You will find cars that will make your head spin. Prototypes such as the Porquepine, a solar vehicle, Tesla motors expensive jewel and so on. But, no one has quite matched the far reaching efforts of Denmark where they use wind power. Then they store it in car batteries. They intend to switch their entire country over to Nisson electric vehicles with “filling” stations-in two years. For distance travel, they can drive onto a docking station and in 40 seconds, the old batteries are exchanged for a full new one. Its quite a feat and quite an investment.
The same American entreprenuer working to make this change in Denmark a reality, is also focusing on Hawaii and other places. Can’t wait to see the wonders of a new world. Like the Porquepine come to life. Oh, man, I want one of those, Porquepines.