Hybrid Technologies Begins Construction of the Hybrid Living Home
Li-ion Motors. (HYBT) and its subsidiaries - R-Electric Car Co., Global Hybrid Corp., Solium Power Corp., and WhistlerTel - emerging leaders in the development and marketing of Lithium-powered and VoIP products worldwide is pleased to announce that construction has begun on the Hybrid Living Home, an engineering and eco-space showcase developed by Hybrid Technologies.
Bernstein and Ricardo Report: Cheap Will Beat Cool in Vehicle Electrification
John Petersen On September 26, 2011, Bernstein Research and Ricardo plc published a 450 page analytical report titled, "Global Autos: Don't Believe the Hype – Analyzing the Costs & Potential of Fuel-Efficient Technology," which combines best in class securities research from Bernstein with the deep automotive expertise of Ricardo, a global leader in engineering, product innovation and strategic consulting. The result is the most comprehensive, detailed and eminently reasonable forecast of short-, medium- and long-term trends in advanced automotive powertrain technology that I've had the pleasure to read. It's devoid of axe grinding or cheer-leading and...
Automotive Batteries, Short-term Revenue Growth Favors Lead-acid By 6 To 1
Last week, an article in Green Car Congress summarized a market forecast that Dr. Menahem Anderman presented at this month's Advanced Automotive Battery Conference in Long Beach, California. In his presentation, Dr. Anderman evaluated the market for HEVs in 2011, projected a $1,230 million market for automotive NiMH batteries, and projected a $320 million market for automotive Li-ion batteries. The following graph comes from Green Car Congress, is based on data from Dr. Anderman's AABC presentation, and shows both unit sales and market value of the Li-ion batteries that will be used in HEVs by 2011 (click on the...
Michigan Buys 10 Hybrid-Electric Vehicles For State Use
The state will add ten Ford Escape hybrids to its fleet as part of a plan to cut fuel costs and make the state's vehicles more environmentally sound, officials said at a press conference Tuesday. The hybrid S.U.V.'s run on gas-electric engines and get 33 miles per gallon, and burn 50 cleaner than internal combustion engines.
Epic Changes Are Coming in the Electric Power, Transportation and Energy Storage Sectors
John Petersen Epic is the only word I can use to describe an evolving tragedy that killed tens of thousands of people, inflicted hundreds of billions in property damage, destroyed 3.5% of Japan's base-load power generating capacity in a heartbeat and will cause recurring aftershocks in the global electric power, transportation and energy storage sectors for decades. While I'd love to believe the worst is behind us, I fear the times of trouble have just begun. Since it's clear that Japan will have to turn inward and serve the urgent needs of its own population first, the...
Honda Makes Scooters With Hybrid Engines, Fuel Cells
Honda Motor Co (HMC) said it has built scooters powered by fuel cells and gasoline-electric engines, extending the technology for the first time to two-wheeled vehicles. The automaker developed a scooter with a fuel cell-power plant the size of a normal 125 cubic centimeter gasoline engine as well as a so-called hybrid two-wheeler with a 50cc engine, Honda President Takeo Fukui told reporters at the company's research center in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Ener1 And Delphi Sign LOI To Form Lithium Battery Joint Venture
ENER1 INC (ENEI) and Delphi Corp. (DPH), today entered into a non-binding letter of intent to create a joint venture to leverage their combined expertise in lithium batteries. Delphi and Ener1 will be negotiating definitive agreements and conducting due diligence in the coming weeks. "The combination of Ener1's vapor deposition process and its nanotechnology for production of high-rate, low-cost lithium batteries with Delphi-developed high energy capacity technology would allow the venture to have a key advantage in penetrating its target lithium battery markets," — Kevin Fitzgerald, Ener1's CEO. ENEI is up over 14% on this news...
Energy Storage: Q1 2012 Winners and Losers
John Petersen The first quarter of 2012 was the best of times for shareholders of companies that are developing and manufacturing cheap energy storage products like lead-acid batteries, but the worst of times for shareholders of pure-play lithium-ion battery developers. The following table tracks stock price performance in the energy storage and electric vehicle sectors for the first quarter of 2012 and for the twelve months ended March 31st. Long-term readers will notice that the current list is a good deal shorter than it was in March of last year because of my decisions to...
The Best Peak Oil Investments Meet the Strong Grid: CVTech Group
Tom Konrad CFA CVTech Group (CVT.TO, CVTPF.PK) operates in two of my favorite clean energy sectors: electricity transmission and distribution and efficient vehicles. Here is a look at the company's fundamentals. In "The Strongest Strong Grid Stocks" of my 2010: The Year of the Strong Grid? series, I took a quick look at CVTech Group's financial ratios, and decided not to look deeper because they had considerably more debt in comparison to income than the other electricity transmission ("strong grid") stocks I covered in that article. I came across CVTech again while looking at companies involved in...
Why Long Range EVs Can Never Be Cost Effective
by John Petersen America’s love affair with the automobile has always been based on the freedom of the road and the ability to hop in the car and drive wherever we want to go; be it to the corner store to buy a loaf of bread or out to the lake for a long weekend. Even though most of our trips are short, people invariably want the flexibility to go for a long drive when the open road beckons. Unfortunately, that mentality is disastrous when it comes to EV economics. I’ve been writing about energy...
UQM Technologies Delivers Hybrid Electric Vehicle to Deere & Company Incorporating Recent Advances in...
Unique Mobility Inc (UQM) announced today that it has delivered to Deere & Company (NYSE: DE - News) a John Deere hybrid electric concept vehicle incorporating both of the latest advancements to UQM(R) propulsion system technology, 10 to 1 constant power speed ratio and full wave commutation technology. Constant power speed ratio (CPSR) is the ratio between the top speed of a motor and its base speed. Across this speed range, a motor is able to deliver maximum power. The Company's permanent magnet electric propulsion systems achieve a 10 to 1 CPSR.
Two High-Speed Rail Stocks For The Stimulus Packages
A couple of weeks ago, we received an inquiry from a reader asking us to look into potential beneficiaries of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)'s high-speed rail (HSR) provisions. This sounded like something our readers would want to read about so I decided to do it. In a nutshell, here are the two main component's of ARRA's HSR approach: $8 billion for for HSR corridors and other intercity passenger rail service (unclear at this point how much will go into each, although the companies discussed below can benefit from both) The rules around state issuance...
Battery-powered Locomotives – Compellingly Green Economics
John Petersen For the last two years I've been paying increasingly close attention to trailblazing work by Norfolk Southern (NSC) in the field of battery-powered locomotives. My interest was piqued in June of 2010 when Norfolk Southern hired Axion Power International (AXPW.OB) to develop a battery management system that would allow rail locomotives to run on battery power and recharge their batteries through regenerative braking. I believed the decision was positive news for Axion because nobody hires a battery manufacturer to design a BMS for somebody else's product. My enthusiasm was tempered, however, by knowing that an earlier...
What I Didn’t Buy: Railpower Tech (RLPPF.PK)
Over the past few days (and continuing this week), Tom has been writing about about what he sold recently. Lately, I have been thinking about what I could buy with the cash I have sitting around, seeing as many alt energy stocks look like bargains compared to where they were trading at just a few short months ago. Over the weekend, I looked again into a stock I wrote about in May, Railpower Tech (RLPPF.PK or P.TO). I got a couple of requests for updates on this one so I decided to write about it. Railpower makes hybrid...
Solid Hydrogen Storage Powers a Practical Hydrogen Hybrid Vehicle
Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ENER) and ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures LLC, is demonstrating the use of its metal-hydride hydrogen storage system in a modified hydrogen-electric variant of today's best-selling hybrid sedan. The modified hydrogen hybrid will be available for test drives at the South Coast Air Quality Management District's "Hydrogen - Fueling the Clean Air Future" conference today and tomorrow, August 16 and 17, at the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, Calif.
The Race For Silicon Anodes
Graphite is the most widely used material for battery anodes. The anode is the positively charged electron collector in a battery. It collects and accelerates the electronics emitted by the battery’s cathode. Graphite gets the anode job because it is has excellent electric conductivity and resists heat and corrosion. Plus it is light weight, soft and malleable.
As satisfied as manufacturers might be with graphite anodes, none would balk at an alternative material that boosts battery performance or reduces cost. Scientists believe battery capacity can be increased as much as ten times by using silicon for anodes. It requires six atoms of carbon to bind one...