After looking at the first few reports from the Tokyo Motor Show, a universal theme becomes obvious.
What alternative to gasoline will take over?
A quick look at the vehicles offered this year and little something called “Project Better Place,” the answer becomes clear.
The answer is electric technology.
One of the vehicles already stealing the press’s spotlight is what has been dubbed one of the world’s most efficient vehicles, the Mitsubishi i MIEV Sport.
With lithium ion batteries, two in-wheel motors up front and a single large motor out back, this car isn’t too different from other electric cars, except for its solar panel roof and wind turbines in the grill.
But that isn’t all: Suzuki has a hydrogen/hybrid concept motorcycle and Yamaha has a hybrid-powered “quadracycle” dubbed the Tesseract.
And aside from the showing in Tokyo, Shai Agassi, onetime executive of SAP, has started “Project Better Place.”
I know, I know, the name isn’t awe inspiring, but the goals and funding set up for this venture have major implications.
The whole idea of Project Better Place is to revamp travel infrastructure to cater to electric and plug-in hybrid cars on a country-by-country basis.
Citing global economic interests, Mr. Agassi has raised $200 million from Israel Corp., Morgan Stanley, VantagePoint Venture Partners, and a group of individual private investors managed by Michael Granoff, including James Wolfensohn, Edgar Bronfman, Sr. and Musea Ventures.
With this money they plan on mimicking business models used by mobile phone carriers. The same way these carriers use a network of cell towers, Project Better Place will have a web of charging grids woven through cities.
With this system, drivers can subscribe to the network and get subsidized electric cars, cutting the cost of ownership considerably.
And if this sounds like some outlandish “Beyond 2000” sort of a plan, think again . . . a testing framework will be in place in the next 24 months. After those two years the company will flood the global markets with thousands of electric vehicles each year.
And if that isn’t enough to convince you of the death of America’s gas-guzzling tradition, don’t forget about the five main reasons why we are going green.
1. Even though they are stumbling like drunks, GM is undergoing a massive conversion. Proof? Multi-page spreads in Car and Driver and other magazines touting their new green alternatives; enviro-conscious commercials; and further Volt, battery and hydrogen development. As a side note, their Baltimore Transmission plant just began production of a hybrid transmission.
2. Toyota and Honda have found the American consumer’s soft spot. It’s not about saving the environment, but saving greenbacks. Now that the Achilles heel has been found, they’re laying it on thick in ads reinforcing the notion that green cars cost less.
3. Gas. No one believed it three years ago, but now it is undeniable. Oil is running out, and therefore gas is getting more expensive. Nothing screams “more efficiency” like $4 per gallon.
4. Alternatives are no longer alternative. Hybrids aren’t some newfangled contraption, they are accepted and loved.
5. With all the other manufacturers playing catch-up to Toyota, no rock is being left uncovered in the search for lighter and more powerful everything. Major technological breakthroughs are in the works right now, and may be seeing light sooner than we think.
As always, keep your hopes in the future but your sense in the present,
Field Palmer
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We need electric, plug-in vehicles!!!
The aforementioned are trying to build bigger, gas-hog , and faster cars!!??
Tokyo and China are leading the way.
Good job T and C!!!
Now G.M. is dying. That is great.
Eventually they will have to stop producing gas guzzlers.
Why do they not just make the electric car and do what is right both for themselves and sosiety?
They get rid of engine, gearbox, differential, drive shafts, CV joints, brake paraphenalia etc.
Their motor in each wheel concept results in all wheel drive at no premium cost, 80% plus efficiency regenerative braking, plus variations of control on traction and stability that are just not possible with any other concept.
No other configuration can match the inherent fuel efficiency and the vehicle can be all things to all people - hopping in mode for low cost, highway driving or sport thrill at the touch of a button. In volume, it should potentially be the lowest cost to produce and maintain, since a lot of the expensive/heavy components don't exist and the simplicity means there's far less to break.
It does give the option of running a decent distance as an all electric, but, with a full tank of gas, you know you have 1500 km available if you need it.
I would like to be able to buy a car like this as my next vehicle, don't care what model or manufacturer. I want all these options and no other concept could give them to me. I wish someone would just go ahead and bring it to market.
thanks
Nigel
I hope that Green Chip Review can help me ;I wont to know if this kind of Li can be use in the production of electrical bateries.
Thanks very much for your help
Hanan Litvak
Wait until vehicle Re-charging overloads the electrical GRID and Kwh prices soar to the point that hardly anyone but the rich could afford the 50 cent range it would likely push where the utility charges could be.
To avoid bankrupting the economy, a multi energy source and diversity must be used in the transition. Yes, and including petroluim!
Lets get real. Pushing a freight truck or freight train with power off the grid? Much of forien dependance could sure use a booswt from domestic production expansion providing a buffer against higher costs and foren dependence. I can just see farmers interupting his planting or harvesting to go back to the shed to let his new electric tractor charge overnight! Or harvest machines working for only two hours a day due to recharge cycles. Lets not junk what works too rapidly in favor of something that is not yet proven workable universally!
For the global warmers: Has anyone notice this year whales are getting stuck in the north pole due to the early freeze due to early. This year, the freeze is far earlier than normal???? Where is all the heat!
iltiy charges to.
In addition we could design a time of day for recharging, e.g., Between midnight and 6 AM create low KW rates, but signifidanly higher during peak loads.This would prevent having to build new power plants to accommodate the electric car charging.
And last, we must build batteries in this country to alleviate some of the curent unemployment.
Sharing an electric car might appeal to Israelies who are commune minded but most of us do not want to drive a vehicle that somebody else has sweated in (or worse) public transport has more appeal.
The future for Detroit lies in more economical conventional cars, a 5 seater family car is capable of 60 mpg now and can be built for $10,000 if you forget the gizmos. The big 3 all produce small cars so the cost of selling more in the US has no R&D cost it is all about convincing the public to buy them.
Jap car makers have a big advantage in that they do not have the massive pension liability Detroit carries, the taxpayer is going to have to take this burden over before US car makers can return to profit. I see no point GM going bankrupt, stopping pensions, making 100,000 workers idle and Toyota taking over Detroit, Ford and GM CAN make good cars.
New technology will increase efficiency in the future and I am sure that we will travel less but oil WILL remain dominant for decades to come, heavy trucks and aircraft have no remotely practical alternative. So, lets cut the hype, oil can be produced in many ways, from gas, coal, bio crops, shale and bitumen and the energy density needed for aircraft is not likely to be found elsewhere.