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.”
Representative John Dingell (D-MI) set it all in perspective when he stated, “Our dependence on oil is a matter of major national security concern. Now we import less oil from the Middle East then thirty years ago. But the world still relies on oil extracted from dangerous and unstable parts of the world. And our military is regrettably and unfortunately placed in the position of being the guarantor of the world’s energy supply.”
While our present situation is perilous, the promise of a plug-in future is bright.
“We could fill up the batteries in these cars at the cost equivalent of 75 cents per gallon of gasoline. There would also be a net reduction in carbon dioxide emission.” Representative Dingell continued, “Electrical vehicles and plug-in hybrids have the potential to revolutionize not only the American automobile industry, but our entire energy mix.”
Moving to an electric-powered transportation economy, will force us to consider the source of the new power.
We must look at the big picture over the long haul.
“If every new vehicle sold in the next decade is electric,” Dingell said. “We will confront a situation where we will have to ask, ‘have we simply pushed the source of carbon emissions upstream?’”
