Green Energy News | December 19, 1999

December 19, 1999 – Vol.4 No.38

ENERGIES... week of December 19, 1999

THE POSTMAN’S EV . The single largest fleet of electric vehicles in the U.S. is headed to California. In a contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Ford Motor Company will build 500 electric postal delivery vehicles. California will receive 480; the other twenty will be used in and around the District of Columbia.

With the purchase of the EV’s, USPS has required that they cost no more per unit than their non-electric counterparts. With the help of funds from corporate partners and government, the price was able to meet that stipulation. Partners in the program included the California Energy Commission, the California Air Resources Board, the California Electric Transportation Coalition, the State of New York, a number of EV supportive utility companies operating in California, and other organizations - 15 in all.

The delivery vans will be based on the Ford Ranger EV and have a range of 50-80 miles.The vehicles will be built in Rome, New York to begin delivery by Fall 2000. The USPS is looking to purchase 6000 electric delivery vehicles nationwide with hopes of similar state and corporate assistance.

BATTERIES PRECEDE EV’S. Both Evercel and Electrosource have announced battery orders which will make way for more electric vehicles on the road.

Evercel, in its joint venture with Xiamen Three Circles ERC Battery Company, will sell 6000 Model 40 12 Volt, 30 Amp-hour nickel-zinc batteries to Taiwan EVT Technology to power electric scooters. The sale is a result of new financial incentives offered by the Taiwanese government to reduce air pollution by building a market for the exhaust-free scooters. With the incentives, EVT will receive $1286 for each unit sold, $536 based on the scooter design, $750 on the Evercel battery. The incentive should reduce the retail price of each scooter enough to compete with their gasoline powered counterparts.

A fleet of EV’s will also cruise the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Electrosource has received an order for 6000 E-Power (tm) batteries from Frazer-Nash Research Ltd., the sole supplier of EV’s for the September games. E-Power is a 27 Amp-hour “intelligent” lead-acid battery that weighs only 18 pounds. Visit Frazer-Nash at http://www.frazer-nash.com/ .

WIND BUILDING IN TASMANIA. Hydro-Electric Corporation will go ahead with a 10.5 megawatt wind farm on the island state. This announcement came with the recent offer of incentives by the Australian government to help increase renewables two percent by 2010. The site purchased by Hydro could produce 100 megawatts if power could be sold to the mainland. An undersea cable is under discussion.

In a study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians are generally not aware of renewable energy programs offered to consumers by utility companies. Only 3 percent purchase green power; of the vast majority that don’t 79 percent are unaware that the programs even exist. Tasmanians have the highest rate of green power users at 94 percent. Of course the state is almost entirely powered by hydro. Visit Hydro-Electric at http://www.hydro.com.au/ and the Bureau at http://www.abs.gov.au/ (see Social Statistics study 4602.0)