Tue 22 May 2007
Today mayor Bloomberg announced that the city’s yellow cabs plan to switch to hybrids within five years.
Bloomberg stated that “there’s an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City… these cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes.”
Over the past 18 months the city has been testing models, including the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h and the Ford Escape.
Full story: MSNBC
Thu 17 May 2007
Yesterday the guys at Popular Mechanics tested out the Ford HySeries Edge: the world’s first working plug-in, fuel-cell, hydrogen-powered car. This Detroit-made is being featured as a concept at the New York auto show today.
Though wafting zero-emissions exhaust in our face taught us plenty as to the realities of a hydrogen-powered automotive experience, what really made our test special was actually being able to drive a car running on advanced hydrogen fuel-cell technology that can power itself with a 336-volt battery pack.
Sat 5 May 2007
Thumbs up for the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization research team! They have finally made the impossible possible!!
The Bangalore Based Reva electric car receives an upgradation in the hands of a group of research scientists from DRDO to turn this environment-friendly car into an astonishingly fuel-efficient vehicle!! The new avatar of Reva is going to be powered by hydrogen fuel cell in addition to its battery. This new development is expected to add a new chapter in the production and consumption of hybrid cars in India…perhaps beyond that too.
While delivering his speech at the ongoing 94th Indian Science Congress at the Annamalai University Tamilnadu, DRDO chief M Natarajan declared “Running it could cost as little as 40 paise a km,”. He also confirmed the successful testing of this hybrid car at the Naval Material Research Laboratory at Ambarnath, 60 km from Mumbai. He also let the gathering know that the car has been performing quite well. Now 100 paise make 1 rupee, while it takes roughly $45 to make a rupee. So you can understand how cheap it is going to run a fuel-cell powered Reva!
How’s the car going to work to make this wonder any way? Well it’s no magic; let’s explain.
When the car is switched on, it draws power from its built-in battery for the initial 30 minutes. In the meantime methanol and water undergo the conversion process to produce hydrogen to power the fuel cell. Then onward, the fuel cell is prepared to supply constant charge to the batteries helping extend the range of the vehicle. This makes it possible to operate the car in the areas where electricity is significantly in short supply.
The DRDO scientists proudly describe the fuel cell as a “small silent power plant”. With this cell, the emissions will be unbelievably low. The testing models are slightly made bigger than the standard Reva models to accommodate the fuel cell rack in its boot. However plans are there to make the fuel cell more compact so that the final version of the hybrid looks just like the current Reva model. The standard Reva has a range of 80 km. The hybrid version will overtake it by additional 40 Km having an initial range of 120 km. This range could be further extended.
The DRDO-Reva uses a phosphoric acid fuel cell. This implies the car is fine with “dirty hydrogen” — hydrogen with a strong content of gases like carbon dioxide. So the hybrid Reva can be the ideal vehicle to run in some of the polluted cities of India.
The present Reva models will cost you anywhere between Rs.300, 000 ($6,800) and Rs.400, 000 ($9,000). However the DRDO- Reva is expected to cost you around Rs.150, 000 more for each.
Hats off to the Indian scientists for their path breaking efforts; the rest depends on the market response to the hydrogen-powered car to deal with the problem of fuel costs and pollution. …Let’s wait and watch till then.
Wed 2 May 2007
“We have enough energy resources and green technology in the United States to enable us to stop relying on foreign dictators to supply us with fuel,”—- The USA finds her new advocate for alternative fuel generation in Brian Schweitzer, Democratic governor of Montana. His disagreement with President Bush on the point of war of Iraq is not under the scope of this site, but what interests us is his emphasis on building up of a more powerful USA on the basis of green technology.
The oil rich Middle East had much to do with the international power equation; but the scenario should change now and the USA has to do many things to initiate the process….feels Montana’s Democratic governor Schweitzer. “Along with a smart strategy in Iraq, our energy independence can make us stronger and safer.” affirms Schweitzer.
Presently the nation consumes up 6.5 billion barrels of oil annually. Only 2.5 billion barrels are produced at home; the rest comes from “some of the world’s worst dictators.”
The governor puts forward a simple three-prong strategy for achieving this energy-independence:
He stresses on various alternative fuel sources. He turned out to be great supporter of biodiesel, also pointed to the importance of producing more ethanol. Another option is wind power and it’s a fact that since the governorship of Schweitzer wind power electric generation has significantly increased in Montana.
The Governor seems to sincerely believe that all these efforts of generating green fuel can only take the USA to a greener and safer future. He believes, the green technology will throw open the doors for thousands of new jobs in the country. If pursued with sincerity, the alternative fuel sources will help the nation earn her much needed energy independence within ten years. Most importantly, with a reliance on greener and cleaner fuels, country will never require to send her children to the battle fields thousands of miles away from home. With an end to the war, there will be cut on defense budget too.
Even if you do not subscribe to political views of Schweitzer, you can’t possibly ignore its humane side! After all we all should try our bits to leave a greener, cleaner and most importantly safer world for the generations to come.
Â