When Mini sent the news about opening up the Mini E Field Trial application this morning, I jumped right on it. The email didn’t sit in my inbox for long. I immediately applied to become a Mini-E test driver. The honor of leasing a cutting-edge full-electric Mini E is only being extended to folks that live in the NY/NJ or LA metro areas. Chalk this up as yet another reason I’m glad I live in New Jersey (just don’t bring up the topic of taxes).
While I won’t share all the secrets of the Mini E Field Trial application process, I will say that it’s a Flash-based application that eats up all available monitor real estate. Needless to say, it was pretty cool to see the silver and yellow Mini E take over my iMac’s 24-inch screen. The application was fairly exhaustive (but fun), and took roughly an hour to complete.
I have my fingers crossed that we’ll be among the 500 people chosen to field test the Mini E for a year’s time. The Mini E is, without a doubt, one of the coolest transportation developments ever. This is a research project like no other and a remarkable chance to help make history. Continue reading →
Of all the vehicles shown at SEMA 2008, PML Flightlink’s electric Ford F-150 sits proudly at the top of the hill when it comes to pure innovation. Don’t look for an engine under this F-150′s hood … the means of propulsion has been put out to the wheels, with PML Flightlink’s HI-PA Drive electric wheel motors (clad in shiny green metallic paint) nestled behind each of the conventional rims. This is four wheel drive (4WD) in its purest sense: four wheels, four permanent magnet brushless motors.
The 4WD PML Flightlink F-150 has a range of approximately 100 miles. A 40 kilowatt hour Lithium ion battery, weighing roughly 1000 pounds, is slung between the frame rails. While typical charge time is six-to-eight hours with the 110-volt charger, a fast three-phase charge can be completed in under an hour. Continue reading →
While it’s been nearly impossible to escape the buzz surrounding the Chevy Volt (apologies for the phrase) a great many journalists and bloggers had written off the chances of Chrysler making a splash in the new world of electric cars … a great many, but not this one.
Just a week after the Volt’s unveiling, Chrysler is playing its trump cards … pulling the curtain on not just one, but three brand new electric vehicles … one for each of its marquees. The iconic Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler minivan will be transformed into electric vehicles, along with a brand new Dodge EV sports car that Left Lane News has pegged as a reworked Lotus Europa. Continue reading →
The third and final panel of the Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008 conference immediately followed Jay Inslee’s remarks and got right down to the brass tacks. Moderated by Tom Friedman, author of The World Is Flat and foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, the Federal Policy Towards Plug-In Vehicles panel tackled the thorny topic of the Washington’s role in the electric transportation revolution.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Panel:
Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Andy Karsner – Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy
John Podesta – President, Center for American Progress
Sue Tierney – Managing Principal, Analysis Group
Jon Wellinghoff – Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA), stepped up to the podium, “a Seattle Mariner pinch-hitting for a Boston Red Sock,” when John Kerry was called away on family matters. Inslee was well received, as he described the decarbonization of the United States economy as “the greatest challenge and greatest opportunity since the Internet age.”
“This is a great time to be alive,” said Inslee, referring to the electrification of the fleet as “the birth of a whole new industry.”
Inslee, the author of Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy, compared the challenge ahead to President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon in ten years.
“We have to revolutionize the United States into a clean energy economy,” implored Inslee, as he called for the use of American intellect, innovation, creativity, liberty, and competition to bring forth the change.
Furthering the comparison to the space race, Inslee stated that the United States is in a clean energy race with Germany, Denmark, Spain, and England to provide clean energy technology for the entire world. “We have not gotten out of the gate yet.”
“The car is just one part of the system that is being developed,” continued Inslee, stressing the importance of a carbon cap and trade system to “unleash the development of clean energy.”
