Getting There: Electric, hybrid cars get their day

Electric and hybrid vehicle owners are going to show off their rides during a pair of events this month.

On Saturday, a group of Inland Northwest owners will be rallying at the top of Mount Spokane.

The electric vehicles are expected to arrive at the summit as early as 6 …

Electric and hybrid vehicle owners are going to show off their rides during a pair of events this month.

On Saturday, a group of Inland Northwest owners will be rallying at the top of Mount Spokane.

The electric vehicles are expected to arrive at the summit as early as 6:30 a.m. for coffee and doughnuts. The public is welcome.

"The drive up the mountain will display the confident hill-climbing torque of an electric motor," organizers said in a news release.

Jaremko Nissan is a sponsor of the event.

On Sept. 19, the public is invited to the CorkHouse at 1400 N. Meadowwood Lane in Liberty Lake, where more than 20 vehicles will be on display from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The two events are part of National Drive Electric Week that starts Saturday.

In Liberty Lake on Sept. 19, organizers expect to have Tesla, BMW, Nissan and THINK among the show vehicles. Gas-to-electric conversions and a "zero motorcycle" will also be there.

Members of the public may be lucky enough to hitch a ride in an electric vehicle or even get a chance to drive one.

Jorgen Rasmussen, an electrical engineer, will be among the experts at the event.

David Klenda, of Spokane Valley, said he bought a used Nissan Leaf earlier this year and has become attached to the all-electric vehicle. He expresses an enthusiasm common among electric vehicle owners.

"I happen to love that car," he said. "It responds so much faster. The torque and horsepower are there. It is a blast to drive."

In addition, it's easier on the environment, he said.

"Fossil fuels do not need to be the backbone of transportation. The technology exists to put long-range, practical and affordable zero-emissions vehicles in every garage," Klenda said in a separate news release.

For more information, go to the Facebook page of the Inland Northwest EV PV Group.

School safety

In Coeur d'Alene, police and firefighters are teaming up to get kids to and from school safely this week. The new school year starts Tuesday.

Police officers will patrol school speed zones and crosswalks while firefighters will be stationed at schools to help students use marked crosswalks.

Officers will enforce all traffic laws with a "zero tolerance" policy, according to a police news release.

Speeding and failure to stop at crosswalks will be their biggest targets. Speeding in a school zone could result in a $156.50 fine.

Spokane projects

Work will start this week to repair pavement on Ray Street from 17th to 29th avenues in Spokane.

Ray will be closed to through traffic during the work, which will include improvements to sidewalk ramps.

Work to pave a portion of Erie Street from First Avenue to the BNSF Railway overpass will begin Sept. 14.

The city says 43rd Avenue from Garfield to Perry streets will be closed to through traffic until late this month. The closure is needed to install stormwater facilities.

Also, work on High Drive from Bernard Street to Grand Boulevard will continue through the fall. The work is a combination of roadway improvements and stormwater facilities.

Work continues on Havana Street from 37th Avenue to Glenrose Road.

Indiana Avenue from Division to Dakota streets remains closed for reconstruction.

Highway work

On state highways, work continues on southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 195 from Interstate 90 to Excelsior Road to repair broken concrete pavement panels.

The paving project on state Highway 290 from Sullivan Road to the Idaho state line will continue this week, causing traffic restrictions during work hours from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Single-lane traffic will be guided by pilot cars.

Workers are finishing installation of striping, rumble strips and guide posts.

State Highway 291 in Stevens County from Swenson to Jergens roads will be under pavement construction Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A single lane of traffic will be guided by pilot cars.

On Tuesday, U.S. Highway 395 from the Little Pend Oreille River Bridge to Arden will be reduced to a single lane guided by pilot cars to make room for pavement patching.

Finishing work on U.S. 195 from Plaza to Cornwall Road could result in traffic delays.

Around the Valley

In Spokane Valley, 32nd Avenue and Collins Road will have traffic restrictions Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

At Argonne Road and Valleyway, work will result in lane closures starting Wednesday.

On Indiana Avenue at Spokane Valley Mall, one lane in each direction will be closed starting Wednesday at 7 a.m. for construction of a mall entrance.

Source: Getting There: Electric, hybrid cars get their day

Why Toyota's Hydrogen Car Should Worry Tesla Motors Investors

The Toyota Mirai doesn't look like much of a threat to Tesla's sleek and powerful Model S. But it's a sign that the world's largest green-car maker isn't buying Tesla's vision. Source: Toyota.

Who could crush Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA)? Probably nobody could at this point -- except Tesla itself.

But there's one company that could make a very serious run at the Silicon Valley upstart. This company has a huge war chest, massive global scale, unparalleled car-manufacturing prowess, a deep and well-funded research and development team, and years of experience with battery-electric car technologies.

If you know the auto business, you've probably figured out that I'm talking about Toyota (NYSE:TM). Toyota is already far and away the world's leading producer of battery-hybrid vehicles. It's not much of a stretch to say that Toyota could create a pure battery-electric car with great range and performance -- and build it at a price that Tesla, and most others, would struggle to match.

But instead, Toyota threw that R&D team -- and a lot of cash -- into a quixotic-seeming effort to develop the Mirai, a car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Why? 

The insurmountable problem, as Toyota sees it, with battery-electric carsHere's why: After a great deal of research and pondering, Toyota's electric-car experts came to the conclusion that recharging time would prove to be an insurmountable obstacle in the mass adoption of battery-electric cars. Even with Tesla's vaunted "Superchargers," it takes a long time to fully charge a battery-electric car with reasonable range. Everyone seems to assume that recharging times will fall as the technology advances, and perhaps it will. 

But Toyota's scientists have concluded that recharging time can't be brought down enough without building massively inefficient chargers that squander the technology's efficiency advantages. That means, they say, that electric cars will remain niche products.

Toyota thinks that mass-market consumers will stick with cars that can be refueled at a gas station -- like conventional hybrids -- until electric cars that can be recharged just as quickly hit the mass market. That's why they developed the Mirai. 

Toyota says fuel cells are "a better battery"Toyota's U.S. CEO, Jim Lentz, told me earlier this year that the company sees the hydrogen fuel cell as a "better battery." The Mirai is an electric car, but it runs on the electricity that its fuel cell chemically converts from hydrogen gas. "Recharging" the Mirai takes about five minutes: One simply refuels the hydrogen tank.

The Mirai doesn't look like a car that could threaten Tesla. It's kind of strange looking, it's not particularly fast, and at almost $60,000, it's still very expensive for what it offers. And right now, there are very few hydrogen refueling stations in the U.S. For most consumers, it doesn't make any sense.

But Toyota -- the world's largest car company, and arguably the greenest -- has made a very big bet on what the Mirai represents. It says that the costs of the fuel cell will come down sharply during the next several years. And Toyota (and others) are investing in networks of hydrogen-refueling stations, just as Tesla has invested in its charging network.

Toyota's standing makes it hard to dismissIt may well turn out that Toyota has made a bad bet here. If it were almost any other automaker -- almost any other company -- it would be tempting to just laugh and dismiss the idea.

But this isn't any other company. It's Toyota. Betting against Toyota when it comes to green-car technology should give any thoughtful investor pause. I think that anyone investing in battery-electric automotive technology needs to ponder the Mirai -- and the thinking that led to it -- very carefully.

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John Rosevear has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns and recommends Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Source: Why Toyota's Hydrogen Car Should Worry Tesla Motors Investors

Atlanta, Vision Fleet turn on city's own EV car sharing program

City of Atlanta sets National Example by Launching Electric Vehicle Fleet Program

City fleet to include 50 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles

ATLANTA – The City of Atlanta announced today it will deploy one of the largest municipal fleets of electric vehicles in the United States by the end of 2015 under legislation approved this week by the Atlanta City Council. The measure is part of Mayor Kasim Reed's agenda to ensure that Atlanta is one of the nation's leading cities for sustainability, and will reduce the city's dependence on fossil fuels while saving taxpayers thousands of dollars per year.

The new fleet deployment complements the existing efforts of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability to support electric vehicles such as the recent installation of the first public charging station on Mitchell Street near Atlanta City Hall. The charging station is free and open to the public.

"Replacing our current cars with clean-fueled vehicles, powered by cutting-edg e technology, is a historic step for the City of Atlanta," said Mayor Reed. "The program is yet another example of how we are fully invested in making Atlanta a healthier and more prosperous city."

Spearheaded by the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, the new vehicle fleet program is aligned with the City's Power to Change Plan which seeks to reduce vehicle emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020.

"This is the start of a long-term program to develop policies and programs that will encourage employees, residents and businesses to consider using electric vehicles," said Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, Director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability. "We are grateful to our partners who helped with the passage of this program, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Clean Cities Georgia, NRG eVgo and Georgia Power's Electric Transportation Team."

In partnership with Vision Fleet, a plug-in vehicle fleet company, the City of Atlanta developed an innovative finan cing structure that bundles together all the expenses of purchasing, fueling and maintaining the electric vehicles into a guaranteed rate that is a lower cost than conventional vehicles. Additionally, Vision Fleet will utilize its comprehensive suite of technology, data analytics, and provide operational support designed specifically for reducing the cost of ownership of alternative fuel vehicles.

The City of Atlanta fleet vehicles will include 100 percent electric models, such as the Nissan LEAF, as well as plug-in hybrid models like the Chevrolet Volt and the Ford Fusion Energi. Cars will be distributed throughout the city's fleet based on the needs of each department.

"This project will have enormous impacts on fuel consumption and fleet service costs," said Vision Fleet CEO Michael Brylawski. "For example, each of the 50 electric vehicles deployed will save at least 550-600 gallons of gas annually. In addition, fuel costs for the new electric vehicles will be about o ne-third of the old gas vehicles costs, and maintenance will be reduced by approximately 40 percent."###

For more information about the City of Atlanta, please visit http://www.atlantaga.gov or watch City Channel 26. Follow the City of Atlanta on Facebook and Twitter @CityofAtlanta. Follow Mayor Reed on Facebook and Twitter @Kasim Reed

Source: Atlanta, Vision Fleet turn on city's own EV car sharing program

What is creativity? Red Dwarf’s Robert Llewellyn talks tech, TV pitches and electric cars

In the latest in a series of interviews exploring pure creativity, and how it is conceived, nurtured and grown, The Drum catches up with actor, comedian and writer Robert Llewellyn.

Most widely known as Red Dwarf's Kryten and presenter of Scrapheap Challenge, Robert Llewellyn has appeared in and presented numerous TV programmes. He is also a prolific producer of online content, largely dedicated to electric cars and renewable technologies, including hugely successful shows Carpool and Fully Charged.

Llewellyn was a pioneer of online video. In 2000 he formed a company called British Web Broadcasting, one of the first online video sites for comedy. The problem with being a pioneer at the start of the entury was that, as they were paying for the bandwidth, and people were downloading via dialup modems, the more successful they were the more money they lost. Bills of tens of thousands of pounds with no income saw the company collapse and Llewellyn return to traditional TV.

Llewellyn was lured back online by the "endless frustration of traditional TV". He recalls the impossibility of pitching ideas to TV companies even though he'd proved their viability through live performances. "I'd do a talk on stage one night and pitch the idea as a TV show the next day to execs who said it wouldn't work for an audience, even though I'd seen it work the night before!"

All of this meant he found the prospect of producing his own content particularly exciting,  especially as it plunged him into the sort of direct relationship with his audience he had always relished during his live performances, enabling him to tell immediately if the content worked or not.

"This puts you into a whole new relationship with your audience, putting you in the middle of a very complex conversation. People get angry when they think I haven't produced enough, calling me lazy and acting as if I've deliberately stopped producing content as an insult to them!"

He believes one of the biggest unexpected benefits to the entertainment industry delivered by the internet is the incredible longevity it brings to content. For example, an online show he made five years ago about Masdar City, a fully sustainable city in Abu Dhabi, is still receiving over 10,000 views a week.

"You could never get that with traditional TV and it still feels very weird," he says.

Producing his own content has meant Llewellyn has had much closer contact with brands than during his traditional TV work but he's found the experience mostly painless. Toyota was the commercial partner for Carpool and the brand's only wish in providing the car the series was set in was that it would help make electric cars 'normal'. "It never wanted its brand mentioned and wanted it cut out if we ever did, which I thought was very brave."

The need for complete authenticity when brands play in this space was highlighted by his work with British Gas, the commercial partner of Fully Charged, his online show dedicated to sustainable energy.

"British Gas wanted to talk about its products, which I was happy about as it has very good products in the space," he says. "But when they pushed this too hard, they didn't get many views, and viewers started posting links to competing, cheaper products.

"The move online should be so simple but it's actually a huge grey sludge of compromise, despite being so exciting."

So, how do you define your creativity?

"I'm driven by problems and issues in the real world that I don't have the imagination to do something about in the real world. I've written a sci-fi trilogy set 200 years in the future where the world is actually better. The idea was taken from the massive logjam of technology I'd see in labs that had been stymied by entrenched companies like electricity providers. I could walk around a coal factory with a placard protesting or I could alternatively imagine a world without it, where we had moved past it and were OK. The industry are experts in instilling fear of a world without coal so I wanted to help remove that fear."

Where do your creative ideas come from?

"Always from personal experience. A good example of this is my novel Punchbag. About 20 years ago I was at a Soho production agency walking down the corridor when I overheard a man's voice saying appalling things to a woman. Looking in there was a man in a blue padded suit being punched hard by women at a self-defence class. Violence to women was already sadly a part of my life, and this sparked something in me that led me to travel to San Francisco to the place where these blue-suited men got trained, which led to a play and then the book.

"It was a million-to-one change I'd walk past that room and witness that. My creativity has been a series of unfocused threads that run through my life and get lit up by a catalyst like that.

"This happens a lot during my visits to different laboratories for my shows. A nano-fiber cloth stronger than any other material every known that I was shown, for instance, inspired elements of my science fiction."

Can creativity be learned or taught or is it purely innate?

"You can encourage creativity but I don't think you can teach it, it is kind of innate. Creativity is really about making connections, often surprising connections that lead to the birth of something new. So it is possible to encourage people to make connections between things that can seem disparate on the surface."

How closely do the two sides of creativity – thinking and producing – need to be aligned?

"In my creative work they do need to be absolutely aligned. However the real artists I know don't give a toss about any of that. They do work for themselves and are not at all worried about the final 'product'. I'm always extremely excited about the final product. Not just in terms shifting units of things but in terms of people properly receiving my ideas."

This feature also appears in The Drum's relaunch issue, published on 2 September.

Source: What is creativity? Red Dwarf's Robert Llewellyn talks tech, TV pitches and electric cars

Tesla's economy Model 3 electric car to hit the road in 2017

Tesla's Model X will seat seven people and features gull-wing doors 

Tesla founder Elon Musk has confirmed his electric car company will launch a budget vehicle.

Mr Musk took to Twitter to announce that the Model 3 – a "smaller and lower cost sedan" – will begin production in "about two years".

The long lead time is down the company needing to complete its "gigafactory" – a giant $5bn (£3.2bn) plant to produce battery packs that is currently under construction in Nevada – according to Mr Musk.

Model 3, our smaller and lower cost sedan will start production in about 2 years. Fully operational Gigafactory needed.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015

Mr Musk gave no further details about the new car.

Tesla's Model S saloon is priced at $70,000 in the US and almost £50,000 in the UK for the base model. Industry pundits think the Model 3 could sell for around $35,000.

The Model S - Tesla's first car

What it will look like is also unknown, although billionaire Mr Musk – who made his first fortune co-founding online transaction company Paypal – has previously said it would be "way different from any other car on the road".

The cheaper vehicle could see the popularity of Tesla cars explode, taking the marque out of the luxury sector and into the price range of far more motorists.

The entrepreneur also took to soc ial media to reveal the launch date for the long-awaited Model X sports utility vehicle (SUV), pictured left. He tweeted that the first production model would be delivered to buyers on September 29 at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California.

The billionaire said that the Model X "is $5k more than an S due to greater size & body complexity".

With same options, Model X is $5k more than an S due to greater size & body complexity. Sig Series is fully loaded, hence high price.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015

With its distinctive gull-wing doors - called "falcon doors by Tesla" - designs for the seven-seat Model X were first displayed three years ago with production due to start in 2013. However, production was held back despite strong interest from buyers, leading to speculation that strong demand for the Model S could be causing hold-ups, or that engineering the vehicle was proving more difficult than expected.

First production cars will be handed over on Sept 29 at our Fremont factory

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2015

Speaking at Tesla's results on August 6, Mr Musk called the Model X a "particularly challenging car to build, maybe the hardest car to build in the world".

He added: "But it is an amazing vehicle and I think it will blow people away. Our biggest challenges are with the second-row seat. It's an amazing seat, a sculptural work of art, but a very tricky thing to get right."

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Source: Tesla's economy Model 3 electric car to hit the road in 2017

Electric cars could feed power back into grid through wireless 'antennas'

the car will perform to between 93-95% of its maximum capacity across a power range of 400 watts to 3.6 kilowatts, even if there is a 20cm gap between the coils

German researchers have unveiled a prototype wireless system that allows a car to receive and discharge power to the grid from coils under a road or parking space.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology IWES in Kassel believe their system will be 93% efficient even when there is a gap between coils in the road and the car.

Coils are built into the road which can wirelessly transfer electricity to a separate coil in the underbody of the car via a magnetic field. A charging system is also present in the car, with various connections for charging via modern charge spots and power outlets as well.

"Even with an air gap of 20cm, we achieve an efficiency of between 93 and 95%– and do so across the entire power range, from 400 watts to 3.6 kilowatts," explained Dr. René Marklein, project manager at Fraunhofer IWES. "Comparable systems achieve that kind of efficiency only over shorter distances, which limit their usefulness for cars with larger ground clearance."

The car is being presented at the IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt in two weeks' time.

Battery powered

The system also offers an option for wireless vehicle-to-grid storage. In situations where solar or wind sources are producing too much energy for a power grid, the batteries in the car can be used to store the excess energy. The cars then transfer this energy wirelessly back into the grid when renewable power dies down.

Fraunhofer scientists delve a bit further into their research in the short soundclip below.

Fuel of the future

Despite this being a prototype, the car may not have to wait long to get a full trial on British roads.

Last month, Transport Minister Andrew Jones confirmed that a series of world-first trials would be carried out to test how wireless charging technology could be deployed on the country's motorways and A-roads.

These roads would supply similar wireless charging technology to the one that the researchers are presenting in Frankfurt.

Last week Nissan announced a partnership with Architects Foster + Partners to build the 'fuel station of the future', which would include systems to harness the potential of battery storage in cars. Ultimately, we could see the prototype cars pumping renewable energy stored from the grid, into electric fuel stations. 

Matt Mace

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Source: Electric cars could feed power back into grid through wireless 'antennas'

SPI Announces Strategic Investment In Electric Vehicle Rental Business

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SHANGHAI, Sept. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Solar Power, Inc. ("SPI") (OTCBB: SOPW), a vertically-integrated photovoltaic ("PV") developer, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to invest RMB30 million for a 60% stake in Beijing Yiwei New Energy Technology Development Company ("Yiwei"), which will employ an Internet-based platform to provide electric vehicle ("EV") rentals in China. In connection with the investment, SPI will leverage green energy produced by projects funded through Solarbao.com, the Company's innovative online energy e-commerce and investment platform, to construct a network of Solarbao.com-branded EV charging stations in key metropolitan areas in China and to power Yiwei's fleet of electric vehicles. Furthermore, Solarbao.com is expected to serve as a financing platform for EVs and EV charging stations, providing sustainable financing for the growth of Yiwei's business. "By leveraging the rapidly increasing generation capacity of Solarbao.com-funded projects, this partnership will help power Yiwei's pioneering fleet of electric vehicles through clean solar energy, creating a closed-loop solar energy ecosystem from power generation, power storage and efficiency management to electricity resale," said Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman of SPI. "With China's market for high quality rental cars growing daily, we are confident that consumers will appreciate the cost advantages of Yiwei's solar-powered rental cars, the convenience of booking EV rentals anytime through their Internet-connected mobile devises, as well as the opportunity to participate in China's green vehicle revolution through 'green commuting'." "Combined with SPI's existing sub-charging stations business, the EV rental business will provide an additional resale channel for the sale of Solarbao.com eco-friendly energy. It will also further Solarbao.com's strategy to operate under an asset-light busi ness model and to construct an Internet-based distribution network for sustainable green power to be delivered to residential, commercial, transportation and other end users in a cost-effective manner." 1 of 3
Source: SPI Announces Strategic Investment In Electric Vehicle Rental Business