The Volt completed the EPA fuel efficiency course, and got a lower rating than GM wanted - below 50MPG. However, this completely misses the point of the range-extended electric vehicle, which is to provide a first set of miles on cheaper electricity, then switch to gas as needed. So what to do? How do we classify the vehicle? More importantly, how do you let consumers know how it works and compare this and other future RE-EVs.
A few days ago, Ener1’s CEO said that, given sufficiently large orders to enable mass production of Li-Ion cells, the prices could drop in half, and that the savings could be passed on to the users for use in vehicles. How much of an effect would this have on something like the Volt or a completely plug-in vehicle? Not as much as you might think.
On Thursday, Sunpower, Optisolar and PG&E agreed to a 800MW deal, with undisclosed financial terms. Its a big leap for Photovoltaic solar in terms of scale - previously, utility sized systems (100MW+) were the domain of solar thermal power and companies like Ausra, but with this project, PV systems scale up to utility scale. The question is how much does this really cost…
Recently, AltairNano demonstrated their Lithium-Titanate batteries in a real world demo for Indianapolis Light and Power. They had two 1MW/250kWh units, and the batteries and equipment performed very well. The primary use for these large shipping-container sized units is for backing up inconsistent power sources like solar or wind. The units had a 90%+ efficiency returning the stored power to the grid.
But thats not what I’m talking about. Phoenix Motorcars are looking to use these batteries in their electric vehicles. And its these batteries that could change electric vehicles. Well, as soon as they get cheaper.
The very important Solar Energy ITC (investment tax credit) is coming up for a vote this week. It will extend the Solar ITC for eight years (until 2016) along with doubling the residential credit cap up to $4,000. The house passed a similar bill in May (HR 6049), so once this is signed, its on to reconciling the differences and heading to the President’s desk.
Apple is expected to launch their new notebook lineup sometime during the month of August. So lets quickly go over the rumors.
Its easy to say that we need flying cars or a cure for cancer now. But in this blog entry I’ll go over and show you why EREVs (extended-range electric vehicles) could have such a huge impact, both on a per car basis and from the nation’s perspective.
In part 1, I talked about the basic of solar power.
In part 2, I went into detail about thin-film technologies that stand to dramatically bring the price down.
In this part, I’ll talk about Solar Thermal, focusing in on Concentrated Solar Power, or CSP. This is using the heat energy from the sun to generate power.
In part 1, I covered the two different types of solar power and the basic on cost and ROI.
This is part 2. I’ll cover some future developments, specifically thin-film technologies which could revolutionize solar power. But TF has its drawbacks too, specifically low power efficiency per sq meter.
This is my first diary on Solar energy of many.
In this entry I’ll cover the solar basics, and cover some of the economics.
Note: this is a repost of a few diary entries I wrote at dKos.