Clean Fleet Articles

Solar Energy’s 33 Percent Annual Growth will Accelerate

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Solar energy growth continues its strong growth. For the 30 years from 1979 to 2009, solar energy has grown 33 % CAGR (compound average growth rate). For this decade, over 40 percent is forecast. Although 2009 was hurt by a sever recession and difficulty in financing large projects, most additional power brought online in the United States, Europe, and much of Asia was renewables. 32 GW of solar power is installed globally; 7.2 GW was installed last year. I joined 2,500 conference attendees at Intersolar North America, that develop this progress report, especially about solar in the 100kWh to 20 MW hour category.

2010 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive

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The Smart Fortwo is popular with city drivers that need to avoid $25 daily parking fees by fitting in spots to small for others. In 2010, 250 battery electric smart cars will be put on the streets of U.S. cities. Early in 2012, Smart plans to make over 10,000 Smart Electric Drives for sales globally and be a major player in urban electric cars. The new Smart Electrics deliver an 80-mile range per charge with a 16.5kWh lithium ion battery pack that consists of 18,650 Tesla format cells. Daimler owns Smart, Mercedes, and about 4 percent of Tesla.

New 2011 Honda Civic Hybrid with Lithium Batteries

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Honda expands on all fronts with Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, and Electric Car. In 2011 Honda will introduce a new Civic Hybrid using a new lithium-ion battery from Blue Energy, a joint venture company between GS Yuasa and Honda. The Honda Fit Hybrid will be introduced. New battery-electric car and plug-in starts U.S. trails this year with fleets such as Google and Stanford University.

2002-03 Toyota RAV4 EV

Toyota and Tesla Bring Back RAV4 EV

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In Spring 2012, the new Toyota RAV4 EV can be ordered from dealers. Pricing has not yet been set. Tesla, in partnership with Toyota, is bringing back the popular Toyota RAV 4EV. The SUV will have a new electric drive system and use a Tesla battery pack of 5,500 Panasonic lithium nickel cells. Tesla has produced over 30 of the new RAV4 EV prototypes for test drives and extensive evaluation.

Nissan LEAF Battery Warranty

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Nissan appears to be debating between offering a 5 year / 60,000 mile warranty for the Nissan LEAF, or an 8 year /100,000 mile warranty that matches GM’s offer for the Chevy Volt. Because lithium batteries are expensive, warranty decisions can make the difference between an automaker making and losing money on early electric car sales. The stakes are higher for Nissan than for GM or Toyota. For the Nissan LEAF to deliver up to 100 mile range per charge, a 24 kWh of lithium battery pack is included, and up to 80 percent of the battery must be used in the charge-discharge range.

GE Bets 10 Billion on Digital Energy including Electric Car Charging

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GE intends to be the leader in smart grid charging of electric vehicles. GE’s Watt Station EV Charger was personally unveiled today by CEO Jeff Immelt. Globally, GE already helps thousands of electric utilities be more efficient in generating power and in distributing power. With a growing family of smart grid solutions including smart charging of vehicles, GE will help utilities with Digital Energy. The GE Watt Station is the first product in a family of vehicle smart charging products and services from GE.

Toyota Fights for Leadership in both Plug-in Hybrids and Battery-Electric Cars

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As the world leader in hybrid cars, Toyota is fighting to extend that leadership in both plug-in hybrids and battery-electrics. In plug-in hybrids, GM plans on first mover advantage with the Chevy Volt. In electric cars, the Nissan LEAF has a sizable lead over the Toyota FT-EV. But Toyota has more cars on the road with electric motors, advanced batteries, and electric drive systems than all competitors put together. This article discusses Toyota’s roll-out of the Prius PHV, the FT-EV, and progress with advanced batteries.

Clean Technology Venture Investment Increases 65 Percent in First Half of 2010

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The Cleantech GroupT and Deloitte released preliminary 2Q 2010 results for clean technology venture investments in North America, Europe, China and India, totaling $2.02 billion across 140 companies. Cleantech venture investment was up 43 percent from the same period a year ago. The number of deals recorded in 2Q10 was down from a record high of 192 in 1Q10, but still represents a strong quarter by historic standards. This completes 1H10, up 65 percent on 1H09.

4.7 Million Electric Car Charge Points by 2015

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Pike Research forecasts 4.7 million charge points for electric cars will be installed worldwide from 2010 to 2015. Pike forecasts that by 2015, more than 3.1 million EVs, including plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles, will be sold worldwide. Pike Research’s indicates that competition from infrastructure providers will intensify by the end of 2011. Leading the first 20,000 U.S. charge point installations are AeroVironment, Better Place, Coulomb Technologies, and ECOtality. GE, Panasonic, Samsung, and Siemens are moving into the space with hardware and network services.

Mitsubishi i Electric Car 2012 U.S. Model

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Fortunately, the new 2012 Mitsubishi i for the USA will have the steering wheel on the standard left side, because I am struggling with this test drive of the 2010 iMiEV Japanese version. Steering from the right-hand side is not so bad, but every time I use the “turn signal lever” the windshield wipers start flying. Mitsubishi is now taking orders for the 2012 U.S. version of the popular Mitsubishi electric city car starting at $29,125, over $5,000 less than the 2012 Nissan LEAF.

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