Indianapolis Car Sharing Service Launches Amid Questions

An electric car sharing program that's launched in Indianapolis faces lingering questions about its city subsidies and complaints about the charging stations tying up parking spaces.

Mayor Greg Ballard has promoted the BlueIndy program as an energy-saving alternative mode of transportation, while some skeptics wonder whether the city is the right choice for such a service.

The city's BlueIndy partnership with French company Bollore Group began renting the cars to the public. Drivers who buy a membership can rent the cars by the hour and return them to any of 26 self-service charging stations in the city.

Ballard said the city is offering an on-demand car that he believes will appeal to many people.

"It's there when you want it and when you need it," he said. "It's a service that is perfect for students who can't or don't want to own a car, for empty nesters looking to downsize, for people who need reliable transportation that can't afford car payments and insurance and registration and fuel."

Bollore says the company is investing $41 million in the project that will eventually have 500 cars and 200 charging stations. The city is spending $6 million on the project and Indianapolis Power and Light Co. is contributing $3 million.

Some Democratic City-County Council members question the Republican mayor's decision to spend so much on the car-sharing project rather than public safety and street repairs. They also say Bollore is getting other perks, including not having to pay city fees for permits and the use of hundreds of parking spaces at no charge.

"We got brand new BlueIndy cars and we can't find adequate police cars for public safety, which is number one right now with the murder rate," Councilwoman LaKeisa Jackson said.

Chas Navarra said he was alarmed when a charging station for several BlueIndy cars went up along the street close to his home in the Old Northside neighborhood near the city's downtown.

"I live in a historic neighborhood, and I've got a rental car business in front of my house," Navarra told The Indianapolis Star. "What's the difference between having this and Hertz or Avis parked out there? How is this going to be good for my (property) valuation?"

BlueIndy President Herve Muller said few of the stations are in front of single-family homes and that locations were picked based on residential densities, where people work, college locations and busy transit routes.

Michael Thwaite, president of Plug In America and a partner of Tesla Motors Club, said he was surprised Bollore, which owns car-share operations in Paris and London, picked Indianapolis for its first such venture in the United States.

"It is an odd choice, there's no doubt about it," Thwaite told the Indianapolis Business Journal. "One would have thought that they would have started in a very electric-car-friendly city."

BlueIndy says it has sold more than 1,000 memberships already and expects tens of thousands of users during its first year in Indianapolis.

"We think it's the perfect city to do this," BlueIndy General Manager Scott Prince said. "If we had the world's greatest mass transit system today, this arguably would not be the first city we'd be launching in in America."

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Source: Indianapolis Car Sharing Service Launches Amid Questions

Russia Decrees: Every Gas Station Must Have Electric-Car Charging Too

Thanks to a single, sweeping decree, Russia could soon become a much more hospitable place for electric cars.

The country is currently home to just a small number of electric cars, and its charging infrastructure is relatively undeveloped.

But the national government now requires that all gas stations in the country must be equipped for electric-car charging in little more than a year, by November 2016.

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The order to provide charging stations on such a large scale was signed August 27 by Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, reports The Moscow Times.

Gas-station owners will be required to cover all costs of installing and operating charging stations, the paper says.

Estimated costs for a charging station in Russia range from 100,000 rubles ($1,480) for a Level 1 AC unit, to 3.5 million rubles ($51,720) for a DC fast-charging station, according to Maxim Osorin, head of electric-car seller and charging-network operator Revolta Motors.

The government decree did not specify what kind of charging stations owners will have to install, so it's possible many will go for the cheapest option.

Officials hope a mandatory expansion of the charging network will increase electric-car sales.

Only about 500 electric cars have reportedly been sold in Russia since 2011, when the Mitsubishi i-MiEV first went on sale there.

ALSO SEE: Lada Joins Electric Car Ranks, But Is It A Leaf-Beater?... (Aug 2012)

The Mitsubishi was the first modern electric car to go on sale in Russia, and the Japanese firm is still the only foreign automaker officially selling electric cars in the country.

However, the BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model S have appeared in small numbers, without any factory support.

Domestic manufacturer AutoVAZ also sells an electric car, the EL Lada.

This model went on sale in 2011, but only 49 have reportedly been sold so far, compared to 217 i-MiEV electric cars.

There are currently no government cash incentives or tax credits for new electric-car purchases, like the ones that have been adopted by the U.S. and other countries.

MORE: More Olympics Green Cars: Soviet Hydrogen-Gasoline Minibuses Of 1980

In the capital city of Moscow, the only perk electric-car drivers get is free parking.

There is also a network of 28 public charging stations, operated as a pilot program by Moscow United Electric Grid Company.

[hat tip: Jack Sapourn]

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Source: Russia Decrees: Every Gas Station Must Have Electric-Car Charging Too

First Place Finish for Penn’s Electric Race Car

First Place Finish for Penn's Electric Race Car

September 8, 2015, Volume 62, No. 04

 

The Penn Electric Racing team in Nebraska this summer: (back row, left to right) Jeremy Wright, Eli Gottlieb, Jay Fleischer, Tommy Sutton, David (Xiaohan) Chen, Manfred Reiche, Prith Gowda, Jason Chen and Courtney Kobata; (front row, left to right) Foster Collins, Dan Shanks, Adam Farabaugh (seated in car), Andrew Remec, Forrest Milburn and Parth Patel.All the students are in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics (MEAM), except Parth Patel, who is in electrical and systems engineering (ESE).An additional 20 members of the team did not travel to Nebraska, but contributed to the design and construction of the car. The team members who returned to campus with SEAS Dean Vijay Kumar (in center): Parth Patel, Forrest Milburn, Jason Chen, Jay Fleischer, Andrew Remec, Prith Gowda, Jeremy Wright, Tyrrell McCurbin, Dan Shanks, Courtney Kobata and Penn Engineering Professor Andy Jackson.

Penn Electric Racing has taken home top honors at an international competition.

The automotive engineering society SAE International hosts an annual series of racing events designed to spur creativity, innovation and problem solving in the next generation of engineering students. Its Formula SAE competition pits custom-built, high-performance racecars against one another. This year, over the weekend of June 17, it brought in more than 100 teams, hailing from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India and Japan.

Gas-powered racers made up a majority of the field, but Penn's team set out to show that an electric car could hold its own against them. The more than 30 student members are united by their desire to push the envelope of what an electric car can do, not only in terms of its environmental bona fides but the qualities that make driving fun.A high-speed test track is the perfect venue for such a synthesis. 

Even getting on the track is an accomplishment. Most of the 20 electric racing teams that came to the Lincoln, Nebraska event, including peer automotive engineering powerhouses MIT and Carnegie Mellon, were disqualified during the event's exacting technical inspections.

Penn's car last year, REV0, met with that fate. Drawing on the lessons learned there, the team put a year's worth of fine-tuning into its successor, REV1. Beyond design upgrades in the shop, the team was able to do more rigorous field-testing of their vehicle this year. The opening of Pennovation Works (Almanac March 3, 2015) allowed for extra practice space.  

Their hard work paid off. REV1 took first place among electrics overall, winning seven of the eight categories. These included overall design, cornering, endurance and time-trials on a full racetrack. The acceleration test was one of the team's strongest suits; beyond taking first among electrics, REV1 would have beaten all but three of the gas-powered cars. 

"We had our fingers crossed, but we really didn't need to. The car worked flawlessly," said Andy Jackson, the team's faculty advisor, at a ceremony marking the team's return to campus.

Dr. Jackson, a professor of practice in the School of Engineering and Applied Science's department of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics (MEAM), stressed that his role on the team was merely an administrative one and that the students did all of the work on the car themselves.

Not only are they involved in all aspects of its design, fabrication and testing, but senior team members are also responsible for recruiting and training their successors.

The team is looking to raise additional funds for the 2015-2016 year. They have put together a budget with the goal of being the top-performing race car, gasoline or electric, in FSAE Lincoln in June 2016. They would like to identify a team sponsor and major donor, such as GM, and are working on this.

"This is an incredible learning experience for the students," Dr. Jackson said. "Next year, we expect to be not only the clear winner among electric cars but to beat most of the gasoline cars, too."

 

Source: First Place Finish for Penn's Electric Race Car

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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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