Electric Echo Blog

Ok, so the doco Who Killed The Electric Car may have stung GM into full blown counter-spin mode and hence the knee-jerk announcement of the Chevy Volt, AKA “the electric car that runs on press releases” but I’ve got to admit that after viewing this interview with GM’s Bob Lutz my scepticism is waning. Which can only mean that my excitement is building!

Yes, I am now fully convinced that the Chevy Volt will be built and that it just may be the catalyst that triggers our departure from the Fossil Fuel Age and finally propels the human species into the into the Lithium Age. If GM are telling us that they have 150 engineers working on the Volt and another 400 engineers working on the “flexible” drive trains of the near future then I ain’t gunna fight it any more, I believe ‘em.

My Hero; David Vieau, President & CEO, A123 Systems.

Of course, it isn’t GM who’re the real catalyst, it’s the Apple Computers of the battery industry, A123 systems, that are really changing the world and to GM’s credit, they know it. If you want to get a good idea where we are at the moment with Lithium batteries and EV’s and you have a spare half hour then I can highly recommend this “Lithium-Ion Live” video (also from Autoline Detroit), in particular, the Q & A video at the end is very interesting.

Now, back to the garage to do some more cycle testing on MY A123 batteries…

(Thanks to Steven Lough for posting these links on the EV Discussion List.)

I think it must be called the “Blog-inversely-proportional-rule”, that is, the more you have to say the less time you have to say it because there’s so damn much going on! I’ll try to summarise…

A couple of months ago I was contacted by Jeff Poole from the Queensland Conservation Council (you should see his really cool sustainable home) about being one of the 30 participants nation-wide to go and see their local member about climate change policy for the Bigswitch campaign. Anyhow, enough about politics the upshot was I got my ugly mug on page 1259 of the local rag buried amongst some car yard ads, I think. It did get better though because the Courier Mail were contacted and they did a much better job and apparently Jack and I got some reasonable real-estate in today’s hard-copy edition. The online version is here.

Also a couple of months ago I was contacted by a very nice chap from WA (well, he writes nice emails) by the name of Ian Hooper from ZEVA (Zero Emission Vehicles Australia), how cool is that name. Ian is an Mechatronic Engineer (more coolness!) and is in the middle of his own electric vehicle conversion and in an effort to help promote EV’s he is venturing into the world of being an Australian EV parts supplier.

Ian kindly sent me a couple of battery pack dashboard gauges to try out. Now KISS has always been a philosophy of mine so I’ve never had any such gizmatronics fitted in the past but I have to say now that I’ve got them, I love them! It’s well worth a visit to Ian’s ZEVA website, a very professional effort.

Ok, so then I started getting excited about lithium batteries again, I can’t remember what triggered this, but I think that’s a side-effect of most addictions. I’ve decided that if I’m to even think about those A123 Nano Phosphate super-cells then I have to get a little more serious about testing out just how good they are and how would I put together and manage 1600 of those little cells. So I finally signed up to THE EV live knowledge base – The Electric Vehicle Discussion List and got some of the answers I wanted but many I didn’t. It appears that not too may folks have built battery packs from these cells so I’m going to try and document my cautious journey in the hope that it may help others.

Then amongst all this, Toyota decide to start testing the electrified water with a trial Plug-in Prius (great video). This may turn out to be the biggest automotive news ever, then again, it might not…

A few weeks ago I was filming some on-board video from my Electric-Echo on the way home from work for a little project I have in mind, when I came upon the finest of Italian engineering and styling, a little red Ferrari (is there any other colour?). Well, I couldn’t help myself and just had to show him what the finest of backyard EV engineering could do to his sorry little red tail!

OK, so the idea is a little desperate and the production is very corny but it was fun to make!

Well here’s why those A123 batteries stir my blood, a 8.22 second 1/4 mile reaching 250kmh!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDHJNG2PngQ]

I was quoted USD$12.25 each for 1500, that’s about AUD$24,000! The Killacycle uses about half that many, but discharges them a little quicker…

This is a really cool Victorian State Government ad about CO2 emissions from household electricity consumption.

It’s pushing for energy conservation i.e. less balloons but just imagine if there were no balloons! It’s as easy as signing up to your local Green Energy supplier and paying a little more (usually about 3 cents more per kWh) for the renewable stuff. Can’t imagine this ad being shown in QueensCoalland!

Triple J reporter Kaitlyn Sawrey from the Hack team came for a ride to work with me early yesterday morning. She did a great job of interviewing me about my E-E and asked all the right questions. Then somebody’s audio skills managed to clean up my clumsy answers and turn them into something reasonably coherent! I’m very happy with the outcome… Triple J E-E Interview.mp3

Triple J is Australia’s very popular Public Broadcasting Network for music, it appeals mainly to those on the climbing side of the age hill. (Is that me?!) Here’s a Wiki on triple J.

Australia’s multicultural public broadcaster, SBS, broadcast a short doco (20mins) a few weeks ago (on Dateline) about EV’s in the USA. It was a pretty good effort from solo journalist Chris Hammer and concentrated on the recently released movie “Who Killed The Electric Car?” and the local EV enthusiasts scene. It’s very cool to see John Wayland’s 12 second street legal EV blow the doors off a Mustang!

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had visits from a few locals from nearby suburbs who’ve found out about the E-E. It’s nice to have some interest close to home, doesn’t make you feel quite so “out there” .

Alex and Sylvia were researching a more responsible purchase for their next vehicle and were deciding between hybrid or diesel. I think they see EV’s as the way of the future but where to get one?! While diesel is a better choice than petrol and if biodiesel is available; a better choice than hybrid, I think it is very important to encourage the development of hybrid technology. Once the plug-in hybrid option is available to the consumer the automotive industry is going to change forever, very exciting stuff.

Alex made me feel a bit old by making a cool little (3.7M) video (requires Quicktime) of their visit…with his phone! (Hey, who’s the telecommunications technician around here anyway?)