Ten Plug-In Cars We're Impatiently Waiting For In 2010

[wtmusic]

"2010. For plug-in vehicles advocates, this is the year of many, many promises. As of today, there are only around 3,000 highway-capable electric vehicles from major automakers on U.S. roads. By this time 12 months from now, there should be many thousands more. Someday, we're pretty sure, plug-in cars will be as common as after-Christmas sales on December 27th, but for now we've culled a list of the cars that automakers have either announced will be making their market debut in 2010 somewhere in the world or, in some cases, will take a big step towards production status this year. In short, these are the cars that will make 2010 Year One of the new electric car era. We hope."

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/01/01/ten-plug-in-cars-were-impatiently-waiting-for-in-2010/

Photos and descriptions at link

Of particular interest: Myers Motors, which took over Corbin Motors in 2005, has scrapped the original Sparrow. wtmusic took it for a test drive a few years ago, and though it had a lot of spunk the visual appeal of the car was um, limited (it has been described as resembling anything from an insect to a turd on wheels):




Below: Myers' new NMG 2-seater, scheduled to roll this year. The car features an Li-Ion battery pack and a stock 60-mile range, upgradeable to 100. They've managed to make their 3-wheeler pretty darn attractive, and at $22k it could be a contender:



I'm hoping that (like Tesla) this company's hard work pays off for them :toast:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. I guess the innovators will be left out of the equation once again

www.afstrinity.com



AFS Trinity Power has developed patent-pending technology that makes it possible for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to achieve 150 MPG, go 40 miles in all-electric mode, and use gasoline for additional unlimited miles in hybrid mode.

In July 2007, in order to very quickly demonstrate all of the key attributes of this technology, the company mounted an effort to build two fully operational XH-150 SUV prototypes using off-the-shelf components. The two vehicles—modified Saturn Vue SUVs—were built in less than six months. They were unveiled on January 13, 2008 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. (Press Announcement) and (Salon.com test drive report).

On April 8, 2008, AFS Trinity started a cross country tour to give Americans their first onroad look at what CNN and others suggested may be “the car of the future.” The XH-150 arrived at the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, April 20, 2008 (Video of Congressional Ride-and-Drives). On July 22, 2008, AFS Trinity attended the Plug-in 2008 convention in San Jose, CA. (Video: CBS Affiliate coverage I Press Release).

On September 24, 2008, AFS Trinity CEO Edward W. Furia urged Congressional leadership and the Presidential candidates to support $25 Billion Auto stimulus package, provided small innovative companies are not left out and the funds are administered by an independent body. (Press Release I Letter to Speaker Pelosi I Full Page Ad in New York Times & Washington Post)

September 28, 2008 - Washington Post,"Corporate Socialism, Intelligently Applied"
See also, October 26, 2008 - Washington Post, "Time To Change Gears for a Fuel Efficient Future"

On November 17, 2008, AFS Trinity Power Corporation reported independent test results demonstrating that the company's "Extreme Hybrid" technology that utilizes batteries in combination with ultracapacitors will enable a plug in hybrid vehicle using the system to have a useful life that is 6 times greater than plug ins that use lithium batteries alone -- 150,000 miles for an AFS Trinity Extreme Hybrid versus 25,000 miles for a conventional plug in hybrid that uses lithium ion batteries alone.
(Press Announcement I Related New York Times Article in PDF)

[wtmusic]

2. Probably not included because ultracaps have been ultra-hyped so much

there's a lot of skepticism whether they're even practical for automotive traction:

"EEStor's claims for the EESU exceed the energy storage capacity of any capacitor currently sold, by orders of magnitude. Many in the industry have expressed great skepticism regarding the claims. Jim Miller, a capacitor expert who visited EEStor to evaluate the technology for potential investors, stated he was very skeptical because of current leakage typically seen at high voltages and because there should be microfractures from temperature changes. He stated "I'm surprised that Kleiner has put money into it."<17> Andrew Burke, another expert who visited EEStor stated the consensus among experts was that the dielectric constant could not stay as high as claimed at the voltage levels claimed (i.e. energy density could not be that high). He stated EEStor would not provide any data to contradict the experts.<18>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eestor

[jmowreader]

4. I don't think they're safe

The fun part about capacitors is they're able to dump their entire charge in no time at all, and they can hold a LOT of charge. CRT televisions all have a label on them--deadly voltages are contained in this device. It's the capacitor that does it--it can dump the entire charge into someone who touches it, right now.

Now we're talking about a cap that holds millions of times the charge of the capacitors in a television. If a car with one of these in it (or a bank of them, more than likely) gets into a wreck and the fire department needs to use an electrically-conductive agent to put out a fire, what then?

[hunter]

3. I'd like to see the laws reworked so there wasn't such a bias toward 3 wheel "motorcycles."

The fast little three wheelers are cool, but maybe we could get some 45 mph town cars too...

[mackerel]

5. I'd love to see Tesla make it big and hopefully it will

become affordable for us working class slobs.

[wtmusic]

6. It all has to do with crash testing.

Auto manufacturers spend up to $50M per model smashing their cars into concrete barriers to satisfy NHTSA regulations (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) are exempt - but limited to a max speed of 35mph). Any companies like Myers and Aptera that want a chance of competing in the market for highway-speed, enclosed vehicles are going to make them with three wheels.

onedit: A good way to jumpstart American boutique auto manufacturing would be to allocate some of Obama's EPA budget for crash testing subsidies.