EV World's editor in chief sends back photos from the EDTA Ride & Drive event in Washington D.C.
Open Access Article Originally Published: November 29, 2006
The organizers of this year's Electric Drive Transportation Association conference lucked out; the weather for late November felt more like late September or early October. The sky was clear over Washington, DC as dozens of conference attendees milled about in front of the U.S. Capitol building waiting for their opportunity to get behind the wheel of a million dollar fuel cell vehicle or a $14,000 low speed electric car courtesy of Canadian-based ZENN and U.S.-based GEM.
On the high-end of the price spectrum were four fuel cell vehicles from Toyota, GM, Hyundai and Honda, each pictured below. The ZENN and GEM offered a different perspective for conference goers: affordable if slow speed transportation, ideal for running around congested urban neighborhoods and small towns.
Missing from the line-up were plug-in hybrids -- with the exception of Electro Energy's prototype -- and highway-capable electric cars like the eBox, the Tesla Roadster, the Wrightspeed, and the Phoenix sport utility truck. However, Miles Motors did have their electric car in the exhibit hall, but not available to drive. EV World will be flying out to Southern California for the AltCarExpo in December and we're hoping to see many of these high-speed electric cars then.
The day following the Ride & Drive in DC, on the West Coast in California, GM announced that they would be developing -- they announced no immediate time table -- a plug-in hybrid that utilizes GM's soon-to-debut two-mode hybrid system.
The newest generation of the Toyota FCHV hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Based on the Highlander platform, the vehicle performs comparable to the 4-cylinder gasoline model, but gets between 40-60 miles per kilogram of hydrogen, giving the vehicle a range of about 200 miles.
Diminutive ZENN microcar is manufactured in France. Canadian company ZENN imports it as an engine-less "glider" that it equips with electric drive, making it one of the most car-like EV's available in North America. It is currently powered by conventional lead batteries, but the company has a agreement in place to install the EEStor "super-battery" when it becomes available. According to company president Ian Clifford, a five hundred pound EEStor power pack will give the car 100 miles+ range. He is confident that EEStor will pull the wraps of their mysterious "battery" very soon; his exact word was "imminent" and that I could, in fact, hold my breath for their announcement.
Hyundai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. I didn't get a chance to learn much of this model, but I did discover that there is now also a Kia version as well. It was on display in the exhibit area.
General Motor's Hydrogen3 fuel cel car based on the Opel Zafira from GM Europe. I drove the car the short trip around the west front of the Capitol. My brief impression is that the car is refined and responsive. As soon as the hood was opened, people crowded around to peer inside to see how the magic happens.
Honda FCX fuel cell sedan is based on the original EV-Plus electric car. It is the first fuel cell car to be leased to a consumer in Californa. The next generation of the FCX -- which was not at the conference -- boasts sleek, dramatic styling and improved performance.
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Reader Comments
22 comments so far...
06-Dec-2006
39404
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Still wondering about the safety of an ultracapacitor. If it shorts, will you die by electrocution or incineration, or will it be so quick it will not matter?
Posted by: g silver
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30-Nov-2006
38791
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'Bout damn time EEStor, let's get this show on the road!
Posted by: Rydogg 2nd
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30-Nov-2006
38802
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Amen!!! We've heard NADA from them for too long!!!
Posted by: Same Here!!
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30-Nov-2006
38821
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EEStor announcement, eh?
*deep breath in... holding*
Posted by: Justin Time
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30-Nov-2006
38864
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I'll take a Zenn.
Posted by: Hans Nicolaisen
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01-Dec-2006
38890
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How about showing us the electric Silverado by UQM?
Posted by: Ed Nate
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07-Dec-2006
39579
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Ian Clifford, your ZENN car is a good accomplishment. Best of luck with it. But don't hold your breath waiting for EEStor. Your association with EEStor is going to hurt you. Kleiner Perkins led a gamble by investors who put $3 million into the company. They can afford to take that loss. I don't think you can. My advice? Don't walk away from EEStor. Run.
Posted by: paul peterson
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07-Dec-2006
39592
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By the way, John Demers, it looks like Google Video finally took the Inconvenient Truth video off their site. I'm surprised it stayed up as long as it did, blatant copyright infringement that it was. But I watched the video while it was still up -- it was entertaining. Al Gore makes a surprisingly good presenter and actor. Sounds like several people thought so -- I heard that Inconvenient Truth was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar.
Posted by: paul peterson
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11-Dec-2006
40048
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super caps do not have the storage capacity , even the one I am consulting for which at lab tests have shown is 4 times carbon or lit, and is still only 1/6 the storage capacity of lead acid , they will not power a EV car , they are great however for regen or acceleration use but require much more complicated electronics.
Posted by: robert Tarzwell
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01-Dec-2006
38897
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The whole Inconvenient truth
is on Google videos.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1853143128000829382&q=al+gore&hl=en
Posted by: John Demers
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01-Dec-2006
38900
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I didn't get a very good photo of it, unfortunately, but it was strange looking into an empty engine compartment. Because of a last minute schedule change, I had to travel to NYC for part of the conference and didn't get a chance to follow-up with UQM about their truck.
Posted by: Bill Moore
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01-Dec-2006
38920
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Bill, where was the electric motor and batteries in the UQM Silverado?
Posted by: paul peterson
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01-Dec-2006
38935
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John Demers, thank you for posting that link here. That video should be required viewing, planet wide.
Posted by: Steve Ward
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02-Dec-2006
38990
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Well, at least we know that EEstor's "superbattery" isn't superlight. Can it recharge superfast? If not, it is doomed as a battery for an all-electric car. In this day and age I'm amazed at how many small companies are trying to put one over on tyhe public by trotting out impractical junk that
even makes the EV1 look not all that bad.
Posted by: kent beuchert
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08-Dec-2006
39617
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G Silver – given that engineers have developed the means for vehicles to carry 15+ gallons of gasoline without burning, poisoning, asphyxiating, or blowing up the passengers, even in fairly serious traffic accidents, it seems reasonable to assume that it will be possible for engineers to develop the means for vehicles to carry ultra capacitors with a similar level of safety. ----- Paul Peterson, if everyone ran away from unproven technology, no technology would become proven, and you would be sharing your opinions with us by drawing them in the sand with a stick instead of using a computer. Is EEStor likely to succeed? I don’t know. But unless you can offer some kind of solid technical reason why what they’re trying to achieve can’t be done, maybe we should all just let them try, without us trying to separate them from their supporters. Please. And for the record, I have no connection with any of these companies.
Posted by: Steve Ward
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08-Dec-2006
39622
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Certainly you should take or leave my comments as you see fit, Steve Ward. But I think it is important to be critical of some of the outrageous claims being made in the battery industry. I've been a lawyer in Silicon Valley for over 30 years now. That doesn't make me God. But it does give me a good eye for evaluating technologies and companies. In my view, Altair and EEStor should be viewed very critically. I think Phoenix Motorcars and ZENN are being taken advantage of. And I think it right to warn them. I have no other agenda, though. I think there are a lot of legitimate startups in the battery industry, like A123 and Firefly. And I wish them all the best.
Posted by: paul peterson
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08-Dec-2006
39627
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Paul, I have as much desire to be warned as the next guy, and do not wish to muzzle a necessary warning. All I ask is that the warning have more substance than the word *run*. Without the substance, a warning ironically lacks credibility in the same way the unproven technology lacks it. If you repeat it often enough without substance, it starts to sound malicious, and your stated lack of agenda unfortunately starts to look like an agenda. So please, warn when you feel it is needed. But give some substance to back it up.
Posted by: Steve Ward
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04-Dec-2006
39191
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Hi,
Just to clarify on Bill's EEStor comment above. It will take a "100 pound" EEStor energy storage unit (not 500 pound) to drive our ZENN LSV 100 miles. Currently we have just under 500 pounds of GEL lead acid in the vehicle, which gives us an effective range of 35 miles.
Ian
Posted by: Ian Clifford
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04-Dec-2006
39223
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Ian, what is the volume of the 100 lb battery pack, and when will you be making the formal announcement?
Posted by: Justin Time
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08-Dec-2006
39723
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paul peterson:
<>
Altair is delivering product to Phoenix Motorcars. EEStor is still a phantom. I wouldn't put these two in the same category.
Posted by: g silver
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09-Dec-2006
39762
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You are right. Altair has delivered a battery pack to Phoenix, and they put it in a truck. The fact that there is an Altair NanoSafe battery pack out there says something. Given that, I have to agree with Steve Ward's approach -- let's see how Altair's battery pack measures up rather than focus on the things I have emphasized. The proof is in the pudding. Let's taste it.
Posted by: paul peterson
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05-Apr-2008
61050
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nice car!
we are manuafacture of electric car.
we have three models
Posted by: kayla wang
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