Hybrid Vehicle - Volvo: What’s the best kind of range extender?

A hybrid vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, is a hybrid vehicle, right? Volvo will try and test three different types of hybrids, both paralel and series. They all have their own advantages, but so far no other manufacturer has put them to such a test yet; they ususlly pick one type and go with it.

The goal of the test remains unclear, so does the aim of this study; hard to determine succes then, but in the mean time, Good Luck to Volvo for this attempt.

Volvo: What’s the best kind of range extender?
http://www.hybridcarblog.com/volvo-whats-the-best-kind-of-range-extender/

No word on whether Volvo is planning to bring all three plug-ins to market, or whether the focus is efficiency and/or cost-effectiveness.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Coulomb Technologies introduces ChargePoint Android app for EV owners

Driving an electric vehicle and driving around to find that charging location you needed is in use for a few more hours? Coulomb stationscan be tracked and monitored from now on, so no more needless driving around or waiting for an undetermined time to get a charge.

Seems like the way to go for other manufacturers as well, but what more should the App tell you? Suggestions are welcome.

Coulomb Technologies introduces ChargePoint Android app for EV owners; 20K-plus charging sessions/month on ChargePoint Network
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/07/coulomb-20110708.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29

We are seeing more than 20 thousand vehicle charging sessions a month on the ChargePoint Network and, on average, drivers remain plugged in for an average of eight hours a session. The ChargePoint app provides essential information and control for EV drivers needing to charge. Since EV charging stations are typically busy for hours, EV drivers need an app that tells them which stations are currently available to them. I have driven EVs for more than a decade and know firsthand what it means to arrive at stations that are already use or broken. That doesn’t happen on ChargePoint.

—Richard Lowenthal, founder and CTO at Coulomb

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- Roelof

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Article: Rolls-Royce President Talks Electrics, High-Tech

Some nice insight into the electric vehicle plans of Rolls Royce. Owners of Rolls Royce vehicles are not so much interested in new electronics every 2 year and this recent interest in fuel economy or electric vehicles that the rest of the world is keen on has not landed yet.

Rolls Royce is currently not sure if hybrids ir electric vehicles are the way to go and is having lots of discussions with current owners. It is a good thing that BMW is also quite active in the hybrid and electric vehicle arena, so when the decision has been made at Rolls they can adopt from BMW technology.

Rolls-Royce President Talks Electrics, High-Tech
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/07/rolls-royce-president-talks-electrics-keeping-up-with-technology.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cars%2Fkickingtires+%28Kicking+Tires%29

Then again, with 11 bull hides and 10 square meters of wood inside a Phantom’s cabin, it’s a long shot whether any Rolls-Royce customer gives a whit about outdated electronics. After all, most Patek Philippe timepieces don’t include a stopwatch.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Range Anxiety Drive Leaf 779 Miles in 24 Hours

Some time ago the people at Epyon drove their electric vehicle, a Nissan Leaf for 24 hours and used their famous fast charging solution to see how far they could go. Having driven 779 miles within a day and considering the warnings from Nissan on fast charging, hoe bad is their battery now?

The people at Epyon told me they test their fast charging stations frequently and fast charging is probably the only wsy they charge thrir cars. Sofar they have not seen any significant impact on the battery that suggests damage, the capacity has only dropped a few percent over the course of many months of testing.

Three Dutchmen Shirk Range Anxiety, Drive Leaf 779 Miles in 24 Hours - Car and Driver Blog
http://blog.caranddriver.com/three-dutchmen-shirk-range-anxiety-drive-leaf-779-miles-in-24-hours/

Michiel Langezaal, Wouter Robers, and hirsute Lars Bech work for Epyon Power, a Netherlands-based concern developing fast-charging stations for electric vehicles. They are also, in grand Dutch tradition, reserved on the outside with a well of boundless nuttiness within. As such, they decided to see how far they could drive a Nissan Leaf in 24 hours by utilizing Holland’s network of fast-charging stations along the highways.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Hello my dear car

When people start talking to objects they get frowned upon, unless the object starts to talk back as well. More and more manufacturers are implementing speech technology, also in the electric vehicle. 

According to Frost & Sullivan we will see a rapid increase of voice control in our cars the next few years, will we also have dialogues like Michael Knight and K.I.T.T.? Telling a car to come over or a car telling you it wants a quick charge might be just around the corner.

Frost & Sullivan: 16 million vehicles in Europe will have basic voice interface, 7 million will have advanced voice interface by 2017
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/07/voicehmi-20110704.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29

According to an analyst comment from Frost & Sullivan on the European market for voice control interface, steering wheel controls and multifunctional knobs, about 16 million vehicles will have basic voice interface and 7 million vehicles are likely to have an advanced voice interface in Europe by 2017.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Building an electric car Top Gear style

From bashing an electric vehicle to building one themselves; Top Gear can do it all apparently. An amusing set of episodes can be found on Youtube where the guys build an EV using a TVR chassis and some familiar Top Gear spirit.

Check out the videos here:

Building an electric car – Top Gear – BBC | Electric Vehicle ...
http://www.electricvehicle-conversion.com/building-an-electric-car-top-gear-bbc

Jeremy, Richard and James attempt to save the planet by building their own electric car out of a TVR chassis and milk float batteries before descending on the streets of Oxford in their new creation.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Fully Charged YASA motors episode 23

A really nice show on anything related to the electric vehicle industry, I must say I am a big fan myself, with always interesting items to discuss.

A nice video for the weekend, where you meet up YASA, a company that manufactures electric motors and features a little discussion on the question how finite rare earth elements are. Good stuff.

Have a nice weekend!
- Roelof

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