March 6, 2007

Electric Cars and Hollywood Stars: Automotive Industry Education Foundation Joins the Party as the All-Electric Phoenix SUT is Unveiled

March 6, 2007 No Comments

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Joseph Kenny, president of the Scottsdale-based Automotive Industry Education Foundation, joined celebrities Ed Begley Jr. and his wife Rachelle Carson, actress Daryl Hannah, Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, and more than 400 supporters, investors and environmentalists who gathered at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles this past week for the unveiling and induction of the only five-passenger, all-electric, freeway-speed sport utility truck (SUT) in America.
Alan Algan, Chairman and CEO of the Automotive Industry Education Foundation, said, “We are very excited to support the efforts of Phoenix Motorcars as they bring this important vehicle to the marketplace and revolutionize fleet and consumer transportation. We want to congratulate them on the launch of their SUT and wish them great success in their roll out.”

Electric Cars: The Next Big Thing

March 6, 2007 No Comments

By: Dave White on Tue. Mar. 6th, 2007, 7:56AM PSTURL:
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/354/C11942/
Just in case all those stories about the Tesla and the GM Volt don’t drive the point home, let us officially announce that the electric car is back.
The very fact that General Motors, the company that famously killed the alternative-fuel vehicle in the film of the same name, is putting both feet into its efforts to build such a beast is proof positive that a large handful of Tesla fanatics can’t be wrong.

CityCar Electric made by Media Lab

March 6, 2007 No Comments

CityCar via MIT
The CityCar electric automobile, developed and prototyped by Smart Cities, is designed to meet the demand for enclosed personal mobility – with weather protection, climate control and comfort, secure storage, and crash protection – in the cleanest and most economical way possible. It weighs less than a thousand pounds, parks in much less space than a Smart Car, and is expected to get the equivalent of 150 to 200 miles per gallon of gasoline. Since it is battery-electric, it produces no tailpipe emissions.Source: MIT
The architecture of the CityCar is radical. It does not have a central engine and traditional power train, but is powered by four in-wheel electric motors. Each wheel unit contains drive motor (which also enables regenerative braking), steering, and suspension, and is independently digitally controlled. This enables maneuvers like spinning on its own axis (an O-turn instead of a U-turn), moving sideways into parallel parking spaces, and lane changes while facing straight ahead.

SunEdison Solar Energy Inverter and Grid Interconnection

March 6, 2007 No Comments

Broad Adoption of ANSI C12 in Inverter Manufacturing Phase by January 2009 Will Simplify Solar Energy System Output Reporting for Interconnection to the Grid
Source: SunEdison
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SunEdison, North America’s first and largest solar energy services provider, announced that SunEdison, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), and inverter industry leaders SatCon Technology (Nasdaq CM:SATC) and Xantrex Technology (TSX:XTX) will support the adoption of utility industry standard ANSI C12. The adoption of the ANSI C12 at the inverter level by January 2009 will standardize detailed system level output reporting for solar photovoltaic power plants and hybrid grid systems (photovoltaic deployed at traditional utilities).
Currently, utilities and solar energy service providers measure AC power output at the meter to the ANSI C12 standard, but not to the inverter level. At the inverter level, each solar system deployment requires specific knowledge of that particular system’s information technology and software.