Some people spend hundreds of millions developing electric cars but Miles Rubin thinks that what the public wants is a familiar normal sedan with electric motors, that’s it.

So he went to China, found a suitable body shell and then stated talking to Lishen, In case you don’t know and you probably don’t, Lishen is the world’s biggest supplier of compact lithium-ion batteries and their charge stores are found in Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Vodafone and other big name brands.
Basically Rubin just packed as many batteries into the car and bolted on an electric motor to power the wheels.

Exact details are sketchy but don’t expect anything too fancy for the USD45K that they are asking for it.
The price tag is not exactly cheap, after all you add a few thousand more and you can get an entry level Tesla machine, which looks a lot better.
Anyway after green rebates and other incentives, the car’s actual retail price would probably be nearer USD37K.

So what do you get, apart from blanked out grille and an extension cord? Well the company estimates that it will cost less than $3, on average, to drive 100 miles. A comparable petrol-powered sedan that gets 20mpg costs about $17 per 100 miles.
Driving a Coda equates to over $2,000 in operation and maintenance savings per year at normal driving rates, which equates to $20,000 in savings over a ten year period.
Are you excited yet?

I think that this is what the future will look like, backyard garages converting cars to run on electricity when oil gets ridiculously pricey.
I hope the conversion is done properly, we don’t want exploding batteries during charging do we?

Daimler AG and Tesla Motors Inc have recently announced a solidification of their partnership, with the Stuttgart outfit acquiring a 10% stake in the rising electric car maker. The companies have already been working closely together to integrate 1,000 units of Tesla’s lithium-ion batteries and charging systems into Daimler’s electric smart fortwo, due to commence production later this year in smart’s assembly plant in Hambach, France.

 
Tesla Roadster with electric drive smart fortwo.

This collaboration will see Daimler place Prof. Herbert Kohler, Vice President of its E-Drive and Future Mobility division among Tesla’s board of directors. The scope of their collaboration shall include the development of battery systems, electric drive systems and individual vehicle projects.

The bosses at the press conference.

From this partnership, Tesla stands to benefit from having access to Daimler’s expertise in the areas of engineering, production and supply chain, allowing them to, hopefully, get the upcoming Model S onto the production line quicker.

On Daimler’s side, this move keeps them inline with their electric vehicle policy. Plans are already afoot in the company to industrialize lithium-ion technology. Currently, Daimler is the only manufacturer that has all of developing, producing and marketing of batteries for electric vehicles under one roof. Since 2007, they have been having 100 smart electric cars running around in London undergoing trials.

Eventually, electric propulsion will be appearing in Mercedes-Benz vehicles. A fuel-cell powered B-class will commence small-series production this year, while the first battery powered Merc is set for introduction next year. By 2012, all smart and Mercedes electric vehicles will be powered by Daimler’s in-house produced lithium-ion batteries.

I want to ask readers of this blog and also those in power this question: Why do we want to promote electric car technology?

Is it because we are Star Wars/Star trek fans and like the electric sounding buzz from their transport pods?

Is it because we think electric cars are cool?

Or maybe because we think electric cars will save the planet?

Perhaps because we are jsut caught up in the future-tech hype but do not really know why electric cars are important?

It’s great that Proton has the foresight to partner with Detroit Electric for the production of noiseless cars but that joint-venture will die a slow death if the country is unclear why electric-drive technology is important, why it MAY be one of the solution for the future of transportation.

The truth is we do not really know which way things will move in the future. What most scientists agree is that fossil fuel is a finite resource so we will ahve to find an alternative energy source.

The most abundant element in nature is Hydrogen, it fuels the universe. The sun runs on hydrogen and so do all the stars.

So scientists are saying the the future is hydrogen.

So how are we going to power our world on this light and highly flammable gas?

Well, one could burn it inside a normal internal combustion engine like petrol. Companies like BMW are hedging their future with this option.

You can also run the gas through a series of special membranes in a fuel cell and generate electricity to drive motors for a car. Mercedes-Benz and GM are looking at this possibility with Ballard Technologies.

In the second option, the primary drive of the car is electric and the motor can be supplied with current in many different ways – fuel cells, batteries, wireless transmission, or maybe we will see a future where our roads are magnetised to interact as linear induction motors with vehicles running over it.

The future is far from clear so ti is just as well that we start understanding the eelctric drive technology a little better because it is one of the major possibility junction for the future.

In the meantime we, as a country needs and energy policy and by that we need a set of goals and a roadmap on how to get there.

We need the Government to work out the national energy needs for the next 10, 20, 50 or even 100 years and once we figure out how much we need, then the experts need to agree where the energy is going to come from.

Finally we need a roadmap onhow to achieve those goals.

Many countries are now looking at a long range goal that is totally free of fossil fuel. In the medium term many developed economies want to achieve significant reduction in their fossil fuel reliance.

Since we all know that oil is going to run dry one day, it is every Government’s responsibility to predict when it is going to happen and how we are going to prepare ourselves before things become critical.

We need to know now whether the country should focus on solar energy, wind power, wave power, hydroelectric, nuclear technology or maybe we want to just rely on magic.

At the same time we need to actively promote energy efficient technologies and sadly we do not see this happening in any serious or concerted effort outside of Northern Europe, Japan and California.

While we congratulate Proton, we must push our Government to formulate a national energy policy to make sure that we are not caught out.

Why do car companies go geeky ugly when designing electric/hybrid cars?

Take a look at this picture and tell me that the car doesn’t look ‘futuristic’. Futuristic is another word for geeky and in the case of the Chevrolet Volt it represents what boring cars from the future would look like.

I wonder what evil spirit comes over and possess the designers whenever the are told to design a purpose buit hybrid or electric cars. Just look at the hideousness that are the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight and now the Chevrolet Volt.

What is so wrong with making these cars look cool and desirable on their own?

I mean the Prius is only cool because Hollywood types drive them, if not, the only people who would touch them are bearded people in sandals who think trees make interesting conversation.

Back to Our Volt.

Take one look at the car and one look at other cars that are coming out of General Motors in the next few years and you can see just how different the Volt is. The Volt was intentionally designed to look like they came from a different time, that it would stand out in a  crowd.

That’s a good thing but in doing so, the designers and stylists seem to forget that even in the distant future, people would still like beautiful objects.

The production Volt looks like a ToyotaPrius that been given the boot and front end from the original Volt concept show car and the result is totally unsatisfactory. It has some of the elements that we love from the concept car but somehow it doesn’t make us excited.

It’s like almost sneezing. You are keyed up with anticipation for a great release and then it doesn’t happen and you feel your lung collapsing on you.

And the same applies to the interior

Overall the interior does look rather attractive with swooshing dynamic lines and rather neat details but then they slap a huge piece of shiny white plastic on the centre console. What was that all about. Whoever told them that shiny white objects would look good anywhere outside a toilet?

The white plastic gives the centre console a certain immaturity rather than youthfulness but I think that’s the worst thing I can say about the interior.

The good news is that of the three cars, Prius, Insight and Volt, the Volt is the best looking but that’s not saying much.

For real inspiration in the electric car business, you have to look at Fisker or Tesla

If you look at the Tesla Roadster, all you see is a gorgeous little sportscar, it doesn’t shout ‘electric’. The only clue for the eagle eyed is the slightly cleaner than normal detailing but you can conceivably attribute that to chance.

After all some car companies do not like ostentatious detailing even on their normal sportscars.

Then there is the painfully stunning Fisker Karma hybrid premium sedan.

This could easily be a Maserati or Jaguar or anything on four wheels that is gorgeous.

Henrik Fisker, the designer who gave us the modern Aston Martin DB series, understands that even people who buy electric cars want their cars to look gorgeous.

This is how you make electric cars stand out in a crowd. This is how you reward your customers for being environmentally friendly, this is how you pay them back for buying a car that is more expensive than normal.

My wish is to never see another ‘futuristic’ looking electric or hybrid cars… enough is enough