EVs land in Antarctica

e-ride Industries' EXV2s. Image from NREL, photo by Dennis Schroeder.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has announced that McMurdo Station received two electric vehicles to help test whether the research station can move away from a dependence on diesel trucks. If the vehicles can handle the tough conditions at the remote station, they’ll help offset current fossil fuel use and pollution.

Transporting vehicle fuel to Antarctica is expensive, resource intensive, and requires a lot of planning, while both wind and solar (at least, for half the year) are plentiful on the ice. Moreover, McMurdo Station is considered a pristine research environment and anything that can be done to reduce pollution without jeopardizing operations would be helpful. Therefore, the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs is working with NREL and the Department of Energy to incorporate more renewable energy and efficiency practices into current facilities.

As part of that effort, NREL researched and tested e-ride Industries’ EXV2 electric utility vehicle. The units were chosen because the truck-like bed and larger utility-style tires more closely resembled the pick-up trucks currently being used. NREL subjected the vehicles to sub-zero temperatures and, after being assured they functioned as expected, outfitted them with insulation and battery heaters and sent them by boat and transport plane to McMurdo.

e-ride Industries' EXV2 lands on the ice in February 2011. Image from NREL, courtesy of Kent Colby with Raytheon Polar Services.

Since landing on the ice in February, the vehicles have been used on a daily basis, logging more than 70 hours and nearly 140 miles. The real test lies ahead, during Antarctica’s bad weather months. The vehicles will then be subjected to brutally cold conditions. “Empirical data on the capability of the vehicle batteries in such cold is critical,” NREL Senior Task Leader Ted Sears said. “As a result, we are trying to learn everything we can about how the vehicle systems operate and respond in the extreme cold. Despite the vehicles being equipped with battery warming devices, there are still going to be limitations on their capabilities.”

McMurdo isn’t the only facility looking at whether renewables can reduce fuel use. Remote locations the world over would benefit from similar vehicles. Currently these places have to ship fuel in at great cost.

Read more about the project on NREL’s website.

A new VW van for climate-conscious hippies

Original VW van. Image from Wikipedia

The iconic VW van, known and loved by hippies, college kids, and campers, has been updated for a new market of climate-conscious consumers. Volkswagen’s microbus, the Bulli, first debuted in 1950 and was produced through 1967. Other versions of the popular bus followed on the heels of the Bulli, but now the company has reincarnated the original in the hopes of bringing back the sense of freedom inspired by the original.

The all-electric Volkswagen Bulli

The new Bulli, a concept vehicle shown at the Geneva Auto Show, is all-electric, can go up to 186 miles on a single battery charge, and can reach speeds of 87 miles per hour. Jonathan Browning, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America, told Automobile Magazine that although the vehicle is just a concept, it was “number one on my unfunded projects list.” Still, experts don’t rate the chances as very high that the vehicle will go into production. We hope they’re wrong!

240-horse electric bike to race Pike’s Peak

Wired's photo of motorcycle racer Chip Yates

Wired is reporting that motorcycle racer Chip Yates and his team have developed a 240-horsepower electric “superbike” that is capable of producing a phenomenal 365 foot-pounds of torque. They plan to race it in the June 29 running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Although the bike weighs an ungainly 585 pounds, the amount of power it produces easily makes it a contender against gasoline-powered machines.

An earlier version of the bike, with 194 horsepower, managed to reach speeds of 158 mph and earned Yates a second- and third-place finish in the WERA Motorcycle Road Racing Heavyweight Twins races in Fontana, California. Wired reports Yates as saying, “I was surprised. I was thinking, optimistically, that I’d like to be fifth or sixth. I was over the moon. There’s no way we figured we’d get a podium.” While electric motorcycles have been racing for some time, none of them have challenged gasoline-powered machines in the way Yates’ bike has.

Wired's photo of Chip Yates racing his electric superbike

The Pikes Peak race will be a real challenge. It is one of hardest courses in motor sports, rising from 9,390 to 14,110 feet through 156 turns in just over 12 miles. The terrain includes dirt and gravel as well as pavement. In Yates’ favor will be the advantages of an electric bike: there is no performance loss due to elevation, as there is with gasoline-powered vehicles, and an electric bike doesn’t need to rev up in order to power forward. The bike’s 365 foot-pounds of torque is available the minute Yates twists the throttle.

We, along with a lot of others, are looking forward to seeing what this bike can do. Although Yates doesn’t plan on commercially developing the motorcycle, it’s this kind of innovation that will surely help transform the industry.

Wired has written several pieces on Yates and his bike. You can read them here, here, and here. Watch a video below:

Hydrogen fuel cell cabs arrive in London

Intelligent Energy's Fuel Cell Black Cab on Westminster Bridge, passing the Houses of Parliament

Intelligent Energy has announced that the first of their hydrogen fuel cell black cabs have taken to the streets of London. The zero emission cabs have a fuel cell and a battery that allows them to travel up to 250 miles, well within the confines of a conventional taxi.

At a March 22, 2011 event, one of the taxis traveled around London to some of the city’s iconic landmarks. Eventually, the project will deliver a fleet of vehicles by 2012. Mayor of London Boris Johnson said, “These prototype zero-emission taxis are a shining example of British ingenuity, combining revolutionary fuel cell technology with an iconic design classic. This marks an important milestone in my goal to create a cleaner cab fleet, firstly through introduction of the first ever age limits moving towards zero-emission vehicles as they come to market.”

The fuel cell black cabs were developed by a consortium of companies, led by Intelligent Energy and including Lotus Engineering, London Taxis International, and TRW Conekt, with partial funding from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board.

The Atlantic has posted a special report on energy

The Atlantic has been posting a variety of stories and videos in a wide-ranging special report called “The Future of Energy.” Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic and author of Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology, started the discussion each week by discussing an episode or question from the past that might help us frame our thoughts about what the future holds for our energy systems. Energy experts from a variety of disciplines were then invited to explore the topic and discuss the big ideas.

There are 3 topics posted in the collection: Part 1 – The Electric Car Solution, Part 2 – The New Nuclear Reality, and Part 3 – Big Solar vs. Environmentalists. The fantastic stories related to these topics offer a wide-ranging look at something that affects us all.

You can read the stories here.