Although the overall tone of this year's North American International Auto Show had a far lower emphasis on "green vehicles" than we've seen in recent years, we were nonetheless surprised to see three different niche companies with electric vehicles present on the main floor. Two of these compaines, Tesla and Coda, had all-battery EVs; the third, VIA Motors, has pickups and vans with electric drive and onboard generator for extended range driving, much like the Chevy Volt.

In fact, former GM Vice-chairman Bob Lutz is on the board of VIA. Lutz was the champion for the Chevrolet Volt during his tenure at GM and is largely credited for getting the Volt into production. Since the company is using GM vehicles as the platform for their conversions, having a solid connection to GM is vital.

Like the Volt, VIA is a Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E- REV; or alternately, REEV: Range-Extended Electric Vehicle), the same principle behind the Volt.

VIA obtains full-size pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs and does the conversion to turn those vehicles into electric vehicles. In terms of warranty, crash testing, and most other factors, these are still GM vehicles. Only the transmission has been removed (even the gas engine remains to run the generator), and a small electric motor roughly 11 inches (28 cm) in diameter by 11 inches long. The converted vehicle can be charged like other hybrids and EVs, and has an electric drive range of up to 40 miles. Then, when the generator takes over, it can continue for up to 300 miles in "range extender" mode. This gives the vehicles an MPGe rating of about 100 MPG, which is a huge leap from the 10 to 15 MPG average many of these large vehicles get as conventional vehicles.

The initial focus for VIA is on corporate fleets with a need for work trucks. An optional inverter allows the vehicle to be used as a mobile generator to provide electricity for remote and off-grid work sites. VIA is in limited distribution this year, but is expecting to begin selling to consumers in 2013. The company is taking reservations for the 2013 VTRUX pickup, which will have an anticipated sales price of $80,000. Like other hybrids, that's a big up front premium to pay. But for high mileage users, the fuel cost savings and lower maintenance requirements will make this a viable alternative.

Last week, Apple officially unveiled its iBooks 2 textbook platform where iPad users can download electronic versions of textbooks that are not only interactive, but cheaper too. Apparently, it was just what educators and students were waiting for because early reports are saying that in just its first three days the iBooks store saw 350,000 downloads of e-textbooks.

Apple has partnered with the three textbook publishers Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who together represent 90 percent of the textbook market. The e-textbooks come equipped with features like 3D animated models, random pop-up quizzes and the ability to create sticky notes on pages and then have them assembled into digital 3 x 5 notecards for use as study aids.

The digital textbooks also come with the advantage of being updated whenever new information comes along, keeping owners from having to purchase subsequent editions. Even with these added elements, high school e-textbooks cost $14.99 or less.

Studies have shown that once a certain threshold of e-books are downloaded, replacing the purchase of hard copy books, the carbon footprint of the e-reader or tablet itself is canceled out and from that point forward users are making a positive environmental impact.

With the size and weight of textbooks, that threshold could be even lower than with a typical book.  Between the Amazon's Kindle textbook store and the new Apple textbook store, students now can save their backs, their wallets and help the environment:  win-win-win.

via Engadget

Kodak may be in the middle of some financial trouble -- it just filed for bankruptcy yesterday and has shut down almost all of its camera film production -- but they're looking at solar energy as a way to a fresh start.  The camera and film maker is hoping to use its already existing manufacturing processes to produce thin-film solar cells.

Kodak is working with Natcore Technology to develop and produce flexible, thin-film solar cells made of nanotubes that could match the efficiency of conventional silicon cells. Thin-film cells haven't made as much of a splash in the market yet mainly because of the efficiency lag between them and silicon cells, but thin-film is catching up.

If Kodak can make a major improvement in efficiency, they have two major advantages compared to other manufacturers:  cost and experience.  Kodak could use its existing and proven film production equipment to produce the solar cells, potentially cutting costs in half.

It will likely be tricky transition for the company, but we'll be interested to see if Kodak can make this work and improve on the thin-film technology available today.

via MIT Tech Review

A study conducted by Columbia University Ph.D. students found that 93 percent of daily car travel done in America is within the battery range of electric vehicles.

The students analyzed data from the National Household Travel Survey where people reported the miles driven on individual trips and over the course of an entire day.  The study found that 95 percent of one-way trips were 30 miles or less, far below the battery range of the EVs on the market today.  Further, 93 percent of cars traveled less that 100 miles in a full day.

The 100-mile range mark is the standard goal for most automakers right now.  Not every automaker has hit that mark exactly, but most are coming close.  For instance, Nissan claims a 100-mile range for the LEAF, which applies to ideal driving conditions, while the EPA gave it a 73-mile range rating based on real-world driving.  The Honda Fit EV, coming out this year, will have a range between 76 and 123 miles depending on driving conditions.

Battery range will continue to improve as technology moves forward and automakers get better at manufacturing EVs and as that happens, less and less people will be able to have "range anxiety."

via Grist

Offshore wind farm projects have finally been receiving approval in the U.S., but none have started construction yet.  A 25-MW project planned for off the coast of Atlantic City could step up and break ground first if approval comes in March.

The developers of the project, Fisherman's Energy of Cape May, have announced that they're ready to start construction in the fall if approval is given from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.  The five-turbine wind farm will be capable of powering 10,000 homes and could be finished and feeding electricity to the grid by Labor Day 2013.

The Atlantic City project could be the first constructed of a series of wind farms planned as part of the East Coast wind corridor, stretching from Virginia to New York City and with major financial backers like Google and grants from the federal government.

via NJ.com

One of the surprises at this year's NAIAS was the presence of several companies with exclusively electric vehicle lines. Tesla has been at the show regularly for the past few years, but this year also saw the presence of several electric vehicle (EV) companies on the main floor. One of these companies is Coda, a company that has just a single model at the present time (the website refers to "The Car", singular).

The Coda is largely manufactured in China. The company website says that, "Our chassis and body (glider) are manufactured at an existing facility we lease and operate in China... we ship the glider to California, where we install the energy storage system, and complete vehicle assembly. The final inspection and quality assurance processes also take place in California." However, they also note that, "The majority of the vehicle’s key electric drive components are manufactured in the United States."

Coda does not have particularly distinctive styling; it's a stealth EV in that sense, looking more like a generic compact car, rather than a distinctively recognizable car like a Volt or a Prius or a LEAF. The car is a 5-seater with a range of up to 150 miles. The battery is lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) with a capacity of 36 kWh. The base price for the Coda is $39,900.

It will be interesting to see if Coda is able to get a foothold in markets in the US or elsewhere.  Is this the beginning of something new, or just a blip in the turbulent automotive world?

Electric vehicles have certainly slid from their peak of prominence at the 2010 NAIAS, but they hold a place in the overall automotive fleet that will only continue to grow. Whether or not they are going to replace the internal combustion engine is a separate debate that I don't propose to weigh in on here.

As I noted in my first article about this year's Detroit Auto Show, some kind of hybrid or EV seems to be a part of having a complete line for all the major car makers. More Priuses from Toyota, the VW E-Bugster concept, Ford's C-Max and hybrid and EV Fusion models, and other examples all add to the fleet of electric vehicles available.

In addition to the big manufacturers, there were three companies dedicated to electric drive vehicles that were on the main floor this year: Tesla, Coda, and VIA (more about these forthcoming). AMP Motors also had two vehicles on the lower level Ride & Drive track, and is exhibiting in the Concourse during the Public Show period.

While many small companies had a main floor presence with the 'Electric Avenue' that was part of the 2010 show, those three companies were there with freestanding displays, rather than just being part of a specialty side show. (By my count there are 37 nameplates on the main floor, so, by that measure, EVs are approaching 10 percent of the brands showing at NAIAS; it doesn't mean anywhere near that number of EVs are in the global fleet, but I think it does indicate that they are a growing presence in the market.)

Straight electric vehicles are still expensive to buy, and though those costs will come down, they are going to remain a barrier for many buyers. Extended-range electric vehicles offer short-range all-electric drive and plug-in economy along with range flexibility of a liquid-fueled vehicle. All-electric EVs have limitations, and aren't suitable for every driver, but neither tiny subcompacts nor monster SUVs meet every need, either. All vehicle choices include tradeoffs, and for some drivers' needs, all electric vehicles are a viable solution.

Cold weather, which has been a concern for EVs in general, seems to be starting to be addressed (after all, some EVs are going to be driven in parts of the US other than the Southwest). The newer Nissan LEAF will have seat warmers and steering wheel warmers, which will cut into the overall driving range, but will make it more comfortable to drive on cold days.

Maintenance is another factor that many electric drive companies are starting to discuss. Electric motors need much less maintenance than ICE engines, and the reduced maintenance costs will be another factor that will more readily be figured into the consumer economics of total EV ownership cost.

Lastly, if you haven't seen them already, shortly before this year's NAIAS, there was a discussion about electric vehicles between Joel Johnson's You Are Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars (Jalopnik) and Maggie Koerth-Baker's Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal (BoingBoing). There are good points made in both articles, and those with a strong opinion on the subject may be interested in reading these two articles as well.

image: EcoGeek

links: Green Cars at NAIAS 2012
You Are Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars (Jalopnik)
Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal (BoingBoing)

A study released by the Department of Defense found that four miltary bases located in the California desert could generate 7 GW of solar power, the equivalent of seven nuclear power plants.

The department studied nine different bases located in California and Nevada to uncover the solar energy potential and found that even though 96 percent of the land on those bases was unsuitable for solar development, there still existed enough suitable land on four California bases to generate more than 30 times the electricity used by those bases.  That 7-GW potential also equals about 25 percent of the renewable energy that the state is requiring utilities to use by 2015.

The department is looking to make distributed installations of solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy sources in order to bring down cost and also to make the bases more self-sufficient, hopefully allowing them to run operations for weeks or months if any interruptions occurred in power from the grid.

The four military bases that will likely see solar power development based on this study are Edwards Air Force Base, Fort Irwin, China Lake and Twentynine Palms.

via DoD

Cell phones are a big source of e-waste, accounting for millions of phones that are discarded annually. Some steps have been taken to try to make some cell phones greener, but it's been small measures so far. However, wireless network provider Sprint is now planning to require all of the cell phones for the network to have green certification.

The standard for mobile phones, developed by UL Environment along with cell phone manufacturers and other industry members, is known as UL ISR 110 (PDF). It is a third-party testing standard that evaluates phones in the categories of Materials Use, Energy Use, Health and Environment, End of Life Management, Packaging, Manufacturing and Operations, and Innovation.

The Samsung Replenish is the first handset to achieve certification under this standard. The Replenish is largely recyclable, as well as having recycled content for many of its components. Sprint hopes to have 70 percent of its handsets meet the certification by the ned of next year.

via: GreenBiz

Cargo ships could start traveling through clouds of bubbles as a means for increasing their efficiency. Air lubrication consists of injecting air into the water underneath a ship to reduce the friction, which should allow the ship to travel faster while using less fuel.

Naval engineers are looking at the tradeoffs between the energy needed to blow air bubbles underneath ships and the benefits in increased efficiency this would provide. At present, they believe this could lead to increased fuel efficiency of 5 to 20 percent for freighters.

This technology is likely to make its first appearance on freighters on the Great Lakes, rather than on ocean-going cargo vessels. "Great Lakes ships tend to have large, flat bottoms – an ideal shape for the technology because air stays underneath the ship instead of bubbling to the surface." However, if it brings efficiency improvements, it can be expected that air lubrication will be adapted to new ocean freighters.

image: via Wikimedia Commons

via: Midwest Energy News