A New Electric Vehicle
EV Innovations is unveiling a commuter-vehicle prototype tomorrow.
Kevin Bullis 04/08/2009
- 10 Comments
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Another small company is having a go at filling the demand for electric vehicles that the major automakers haven't yet filled.
Tomorrow, a company called EV Innovations, based in North Carolina, will officially unveil a prototype of the Wave, an electric vehicle with a range of 170 miles that's expected to cost $34,900. It was available for a preview at the New York International Auto Show today.
The company only recently got a manufacturing license. Before that, it was converting conventional vehicles into electric cars. The prototype seems to be inspired in part by a fish-shaped electric car developed by Aptera, although the Wave has four wheels instead of three--a potential advantage because having four wheels allows it to qualify for tax credits. However, there is a bill before Congress to rewrite legislation to allow three-wheeled electric vehicles to qualify for tax credits.
The company is also developing an electric sports car that's expected to accelerate from 0 to 60 in four seconds. Again, the company seems to be following in the footsteps of others, this time Tesla Motors. It will have a larger interior than Tesla's Roadster, which could make tall people happy. Mike Cerven, director of sales at EV Innovations, hopes to get Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger interested.
Overall, though, there's not much that stands out about these new offerings. The battery chemistry isn't new, the range isn't impressive, and so far the design doesn't seem that thrilling. But the company has been developing its own batteries, and it hopes to bring them to production by persuading the government to give it some of the money set aside for battery R & D in the stimulus package that was signed into law in February, Cerven says. Maybe those batteries will significantly improve the cars.
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Keith Tomilson
9 Comments
A Hybrid Hybrid
I would like to see Ford bring out a Hybrid called the "Fairlane 500" . It would be powered by in wheel electric motors driving the rear wheels that would draw power from Lithium Polymer batteries housed in an area behind the rear seat and in front of the trunk and a bank of Ultra capacitors built in under the back seat .It should have a driving range of 20 miles on battery and capacitors and be able to go 70 miles per hour on Electric power alone .
For longer continuous highway driving a 500 cc inline four cylinder high compression engine would be used which could run on gasoline , propane , natural gas , diesel , or hydrogen . ( it would be a good way to get hydrogen into the system without going through the high cost of fuel cells)
This engine would be connected to drive the front wheels only and would be a full powered gen-set , and would generate power for the battery and can be started without a separate starter motor . It would be connected by an electric clutch and a single speed gear set for driving at highway speeds (cheap & simple)
The car would come from Ford as Plug-in and the heat for defroster and warmth would come from the engine when the temperatures drop .
The engine would run when a/c is used to cool the car too .
This would be a low cost and easy to build hybrid that would fit nicely in a midsized or a full size bodied car .
Drive around town on electric , get up to highway speed on electric , and cruise all day on the 500 cc engine until passing is needed then use both together for maximum torque and power . Eighty miles per gallon would be easy with this set up and it would only require a 144 volt battery pack which will cut down on battery costs as well .
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GaryB
119 Comments
Re: A Hybrid Hybrid
Why in particular Ford? My next car will run largely on electric (plug in or full electric). I don't know who will make that car, since I currently have a 13 year old Toyota Camery Wagon, I can afford to wait for a decade. Come to think of it, if Ford could make cars that run without problem for well over a decade, 150K miles, they might have already had my business.
I just wonder whether with this stimulus money, that it would be better invested in these newer companies and for sure better invested in battery technology on which it all depends.
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Tysto
34 Comments
Re: A Hybrid Hybrid
Okay. I really don't think you can get 70 MPH out of two in-wheel motors on a big sedan. And once you've run the batteries down, that .5 L engine is going to give you very sluggish performance, especially while also trying to recharge the batteries. And there's no way you could get it to run on all those different fuels or car-makers would already be doing it. And you can't use in-wheel motors to start the engine; they're not mechanically connected. A single-speed gear set wouldn't work for the gas engine's low torque at low RPM. And if you could heat the car just with the tiny engine, car-makers would already be doing that.
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