MAY 13

Right now, electric cars may not emit greenhouse gases themselves, but the coal-fired power plants that provide the electricity that fuels those cars do.   That may be the ugly reality now, but ideally in the not too far future, EVs will juice up with clean, renewable energy.  One Japanese town is getting a jump on that beautiful future by serving as a testing ground for solar-powered electric vehicles.

Tsukuba City, Japan, which is near Tokyo, is playing host to a project brought together by various companies, including Mazda, Think Global, EnerDel and Itochu.  As part of this project, Mazda2 vehicles have been outfitted with electric drivetrains built by Think, using EnerDel lithium ion batteries.

These cars will solely fuel-up at rapid-charging stations powered by solar-powered stationary grid storage units.  The charging stations will use DC current to facilitate a quick charge.  The cars will be tested by the Tsukuba City community in a ZipCar-type set up.  The residents will have smart cards that grant them access to the cars and charging stations, track the charges and bill them for their use.

via CNET

Comments (5)

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Power problem
written by Ellen, May 15, 2010

The problem has been posed that...

ight now, electric cars may not emit greenhouse gases themselves, but the coal-fired power plants that provide the electricity that fuels those cars do.

Why cannot small coal furnaces be included with the car? The energy density of coal is certainly sufficient to allow mobile operation. Safety is not an issue because modern technology is capable of safely containing a small furnace.

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Driving is overrated
written by mkass, May 15, 2010

Personally, I like the idea of a car you don't drive. Think about it. Look at all the things you could get done, the emails you could send and the cell phone conversations you could have without a bluetooth, legally. Seriously, you could gain a LOT of productive time not having to employ yourself as a direction/velocity control unit for a car. http://organicconnectmag.com/w...rless-car/

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Why only the Japanese?
written by George, May 17, 2010

I mean, why can't we borrow a piece of their mentality?

Both USA and Europe should come up with projects like these. Otherwise, in 20 years, USA will be a 2nd world country compared to Japan...

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coal powered cars?
written by bigjobsboard, May 18, 2010

Well, Ellen, that could be a nice idea. But burning coal and other fossil fuels adds up to the carbon in the atmosphere. Just imagine if millions of cars use built-in furnaces, isn't it just like opening up thousands of coal plants? This japanese idea is already a great idea. In fact, this could just be the trned in greener transportation.

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@George
written by Ellen, May 18, 2010

Umm well generally, the Japanese are collectively more intelligent than the USA. They are more innovative and have fine appreciation of quality.

I don't think there is any question that the US is going to sink economically as the century progresses. This is nature's way of allocating resources to those most worthy of them.

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