Which Electric Drive | Green Energy News

February 28, 2005 – Vol.9 No.49

WHICH ELECTRIC DRIVE?

If an electric motor will eventually drive our cars and trucks, which will it be, battery electric, fuel cell or hybrid?

Battery electrics may eventually have the 300-mile range demanded by motorists, but will still likely need long recharging times. The charging infrastructure its easy and cheap to build, however. A plug-in connection to the grid - renewable or conventional power - or to a source of distributed power like a solar array will do.

Fuel cell vehicles can soon achieve the 300-mile range per hydrogen filling and refilling times are short. But the refueling and supply infrastructure is the most difficult and expensive to build.

Hybrids are here today and growing in numbers and sophistication. No new infrastructure is needed. Hybrids could also run on renewable fuels. But hybrids pollute, though at much less levels than conventional vehicles.

All of the technologies are more expensive than people are used to paying for conventional cars. (Battery electrics would probably be the most likely to see their costs drop to conventional vehicle levels since they have the fewest high-tech, expensive parts.)

There’s news from all three technologies.

BatScap of France has introduced BlueCar, an all-electric vehicle powered by lithium metal polymer batteries. About 10 feet long (3.05 meters) BlueCar seats three (plus two in folding seats) and can travel more than 125 miles (200 kilometers) on a charge. The batteries are expected to have a lifetime of 10 years or 90,000 miles whichever comes first.

BatScap is a joint effort of the Bollore Group and state-owned energy power company EDF. Visit BatScap at http://www.batscap.com/ .

DaimlerChrysler has introduced a new, updated version of its F-Cell hydrogen fuel cell car. The new F-Cell is based on the a Mercedes-Benz B-class cars (which aren’t sold in the U.S.) The new F-Cell has a 100-kilowatt electric drive motor (35 kW larger than the previous version) and has a range of almost 250 miles (400 kilometers).

According to DaimlerChrysler there are 60 F-Cell cars being tested by customers in the U.S., Germany. Japan and Singapore. Visit DaimlerChrysler media at http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/ .

Orion Bus Industries has announced it has completed deliveries of an initial order 125 hybrid electric buses to MTA New York City Transit and will deliver an additional 200 hybrid buses to the agency by the end of 2005.

At 325 the fleet will be the largest hybrid transit bus fleet in the world.

Buses in the initial order have been delivering fuel economy 30-percent better than conventional diesel buses; particulate emissions have dropped 90 percent; oxides of nitrogen have dropped 40 percent; greenhouse gases are down by 30 percent.

Near New York City, Roosevelt Island has ordered four hybrid buses from Orion for its transit fleet. Those buses will be delivered by 2006 Visit Orion Bus (a division of DaimlerChrysler) at http://www.orionbus.com/ .