Green Options

In a major coup for the city of San Jose, CA, Tesla Motors — of Roadster fame — has chosen a 90-acre lot in an industrial area of the city as the site of its new manufacturing facility and headquarters.

Back in June, the Governator himself was lamenting about the prospect that Tesla Motors — one of the state’s own shining green corporate stars — might pass up California in favor of New Mexico as the location for its future facilities.

But, after some serious wheeling and dealing, Schwarzenegger convinced Tesla that California was the right place to build by promising beucoup tax incentives and major financial help. His package included a government-funded lease-to-own option that would save Tesla from purchasing $100 million of equipment up front, and waive $8 million in taxes to boot.

Above and beyond the state’s financial incentives, the deal with San Jose involves a 40-year lease in which Tesla has the first 10 years rent-free and all development fees rebated in the form of tax credits. Gotta hand it to Tesla, they certainly know how to work the system.

General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, appearing on Capitol Hill, called on Congress to support advanced-battery development in the U.S., which he said lags far behind the government-supported development efforts in Japan and South Korea.

The lengthening lead Japan’s auto makers hold in securing supplies of advanced batteries to power the next generation of automobiles has become a rallying point for the U.S. auto industry in seeking at least $25 billion in government loans.
Over the past decade, Japan’s auto giants have been teaming up with its electronics companies, which have dominated global battery manufacturing for laptop computers, mobile phones and other products.  Now the American auto companies are playing catch-up.

Securing an adequate supply of batteries over the next few years has become a growing concern for auto makers everywhere. The U.S. industry is leery of depending too heavily on foreign battery makers allied with Japanese auto makers, for fear those suppliers would give priority to filling the orders of their Japanese partners.

In an international effort, Japanese automaker Toyota and Électricité de France (EDF) are expanding their European plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) testing program to the United Kingdom.

The trial builds on the first European PHEV testing program launched by Toyota and EDF on French roads in September 2007. The UK partnership is designed to evaluate vehicle performance within an urban environment, vehicle infrastructure requirements, and driver behaviors and expectations.

Trials started on September 10th and will continue for more than one year. Toyota’s PHEV will make its on-the-road debut as part of EDF Energy’s company fleet and will be tested by employees under every-day driving conditions. The modified plug-in Prius being tested will utilize nickel-metal hydride (NiMh) batteries, with an all-electric range of approximately 8 miles if the speed remains below 62 mph. When Toyota begins producing the plug-in Prius (expected for fleets in 2009), it will utilize superior lithium-ion batteries.

The Berlin electric vehicle project will have more than 100 cars and 500 charging stations.

Germany’s Daimler has teamed up with Essen-based utility RWE on a pilot project in the country’s capital. The project will see more than 100 electric cars on the road and a network of 500 charging stations.  Daimler currently has a pilot project in London, where a test fleet of about 100 first-generation Smart Fortwo electric cars are being used by corporate groups and municipal authorities, including the London Police.

Eva Wiese, a spokeswoman for Daimler, told the Cleantech Group that the new Smart cars in Berlin will have a greater range.

“The London one has 115 kilometers, and we think that with the new battery technology it will be a little better, but we haven’t specified it yet.”

Recent reports have pegged San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla Motors, maker of the high-speed electric Tesla Roadster, as a battery supplier for Daimler, but the Germany automaker is keeping tight-lipped about its power plans.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by the Stanford News Service in December 2007.

Last December, researchers at Stanford University found a way to use silicon nanowires to store 10 times the amount of energy of existing lithium-ion batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, but more importantly, this technology can be applied to electric vehicle batteries.

The breakthrough is described in a paper, “High-performance lithium battery anodes using silicon nanowires,” published online Dec. 16 in Nature Nanotechnology. The paper was written by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, his graduate chemistry student Candace Chan, and five others.

According to Cui: “Given the mature infrastructure behind silicon, this new technology can be pushed to real life quickly.”

VentureBeat reports that PowerGenix has developed a nickel zinc (NiZn) battery that has 35 percent higher power and energy density than a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery (used in hybrid vehicles), but is half the cost of a lithium-ion battery.

This is great news for scooter fanatics, who right now are forced to choose between cheap scooters with lead-acid batteries and expensive scooters with powerful lithium-ion batteries.

While the kinks are worked out, Tesla is starting to move Roadsters off the production line slowly.

27 Roadsters are currently in various stages of assembly, and the company hopes to reach a monthly production rate of 100 cars by this December.

In a blog post on the company website, Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori has reprinted the content of a note he sent to customers last Friday in which he states that Tesla has finally “broken the logjam” and already delivered 9 Roadsters to California.

Editor’s note: This post is a lead-in story to the Gas 2.0 interview with Mil Ovan, Senior Vice President and Co-founder of Firefly Energy.

Last week John McCain, the presumptive presidential nominee for the 2008 Republican ticket, suggested that a $300 million government-sponsored competition would be a good way to spur development of next generation battery technologies.

His comments generated debate in the blogosphere and around the United States. Meanwhile, Barack Obama, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic ticket, called McCain’s proposal a gimmick suggesting that $300 million was not enough.

Regardless of my feelings about the proposed competition or the candidates themselves, it got me thinking about just who might win it if it were to become a reality. All that thinking led to this post, and, hopefully, to several others that will look at the most promising next generation battery technologies on the horizon.

This week I’ll start with Firefly Energy.

Editor’s note: This interview is a companion piece to Part I of the Gas 2.0 series about who might win John McCain’s proposed $300 million dollar battery competition if it were to become reality.

Last week John McCain, the presumptive presidential nominee for the 2008 Republican ticket, generated debate by suggesting that a $300 million government- sponsored competition would be a good way to spur development of next generation battery technologies.

His comments got me thinking about just who might win such a competition it if it were to become reality.

Firefly Energy is one of the companies that made it to my short list. Founded in 2003, they have been working on reinvigorating old-hat lead-acid battery technology in such a way that it would become brand new and cutting edge once again.

Firefly’s innovation is that they’ve taken the heavy lead plates you’d find in a classic lead-acid battery and replaced them with a light carbon-graphite microcell foam that’s been impregnated with lead.

I recently had a chance chat with Mil Ovan, Senior Vice President and Co-founder of Firefly, about the company, their take on McCain’s competition, Firefly’s battery technology, environmental worries about lead, the Oasis battery, electric vehicles and the company’s plans for the future.

Tiguan HyMotion Fuel Cell Concept Car

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a VW press event showing off the new hydrogen fuel cell powered Tiguan. The vehicle (above) is one of only two concept prototypes in the world, and this one was flown in from Germany for its US debut.

The event was originally intended to be a test-drive of the HyMotion Tiguan, but the vehicle was having “electrical problems” that kept it out for display only. A VW spokesperson assured us that it had nothing to do with the fuel cell, but whatever the problem was they didn’t want it to happen to us in mid-day San Francisco traffic.

TRIAC Electric Car. Range: 60-100 Miles. Cost: 2 cents per mile

This little number has been getting some good press lately (see EcoGeek and Inhabit), and for good reason: it’s the first commercially available electric vehicle with a price tag and functionality that could meet the needs of the average city driver (assuming you can afford it).

OK, you aren’t going to fit a family of 5 in there, but that’s not what it’s made for. Green Vehicles, manufacturer of the 3-wheeled TRIAC EV, calls it a “modern freeway commuter,” because the zero-emissions vehicle can reach 80 mph and will get you into the carpool lane with a single driver. Safety-wise, it has a structural steel cage the company says is the “same metal skeleton used in race cars” and a low center of gravity to maintain balance (but surprisingly has no airbags).