After Gutenberg

jcwinnie

Domenick Yoney relays a Reuters report. CEO Charles Gassenheimer stated that Ener1 may be able to cut the cost of lithium ion battery prices in half.

If they can achieve their cost-reduction goals, the pay-back period for all-electric cars may be reached in as little as two years instead of the current 7 or 8 if the price of oil stays around $100 a barrel.

Already making batteries used for plug-in Prius conversions, Ener1 has a $70 million supply deal with Th!nk.

Of course this kind of sea change in price will require a huge increase in volume. Gassenheimer says they will need to have volumes in the hundreds of thousands to achieve this price drop but silver-lines that cloud by saying, “But the important point of this here is the demand side of this equation doesn’t seem to be the problem.” He says demand is “off the charts in Europe and Asia” and expects American demand to keep increasing as well.

jcwinnie

A sign of how mainstream they’re getting, electric bikes are being sold on websites of Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Rob DeHoff riding an Ultramotor A2B that he sells at his bicycle shop.

Target.com has carried two models of electric bicycles since July 30, according to Target spokeswoman Brandy Doyle. Three more models were being added this month, she said. As it does with many new products, the company is reviewing whether the bikes will be introduced to stores, Doyle said.

Wal-Mart began carrying a few models on its website last spring. “We certainly have seen a fast-growing interest, since they are easy to use and economical, and therefore they do not stay long in stores,” spokeswoman Tara Stewart said.

“When the price of gas hit $4 a gallon, the spike in interest surged.”

jcwinnie

Peter Rosegg of Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) said the time is not too distant when electric cars will cost less and be more readily available on the market. HECO is looking at the situation, “closely and optimistically.” Sometime in the near future the company will be changing its meters to an advanced system that will let customers charge electric cars overnight for a cheaper rate.

Studies done by the Natural Resources and Defense Council and the Electric Power Research Institute have shown that, electric cars are cheaper than driving cars running on fuel.

Have you seen a car that looks like no other driving around Molokai? You might mistake it for a fancy golf cart or even a space-age vehicle from The Jetsons.

In fact, it is not an ordinary car, it’s an electric car and it’s the only one on Molokai.

Owned by Kala‘e resident John Wordin, the Dynasty Sedan, shipped from British Columbia, “generates a lot of interest.”

To feed the curious minds, he actually does plug the car into a regular wall outlet. Every night, he plugs the car in, and when he wakes up, it’s charged. According to Wordin, the car takes four hours to fully charge, equaling one kilowatt-hour, and will run for approximately 30 miles at 25 mph. The vehicle uses a lot of energy uphill, but with a full charge, he makes it around town just fine.

Wordin paid $14,500 for the car, and combined with shipping costs, the total price was around $20,000.

At his Kala‘e home, 40 solar panels charge his vehicle and run the house. His water heater and outdoor power equipment are solar as well.

The car, if charged twice a day, costs Wordin an extra dollar on his electric bill and gives him approximately 30 miles. In comparison with gas prices, Wordin can travel 150 miles on five dollars, the cost for approximately one gallon of gas.

Besides helping his wallet, the car helps the environment. The average new vehicle has a smog/pollution index of 0.53 percent, while the electric car emits no pollution into the air.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for every gallon of gas burned, 20 pounds of pollution and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

Wordin’s concern about the environment has been growing since 1998. He read books and articles on the subject of America’s fuel dependency and has been preparing himself for the necessary changes.

“My interest in this has evolved over a period of time,” he said.

Wordin is trying to provide an example for the community. He has seen gas prices continue to rise, the economy fall and the environment suffer.

“People are still buying SUVs; something is definitely wrong,” he said. “They just don’t get it, oil is running out. The world is changing and I see examples everyday.”

Wordin’s dream is to see the whole island driving electric cars.

“Sure, it’s possible,“ he said. “People just have to realize there are profound changes in the economy, as well as the environment.”

jcwinnie

Hey, you are just in time for a Romm rant! Professor Romm informs, “The world’s second-largest maker of solar batteries plans a massive increase in capacity to meet soaring demand.”

Bloomberg reports:

The company will raise the capacity to 6 gigawatts as early as 2014, from 1 gigawatt estimated for 2010…

Sharp, which lost its market-leading position to Thalheim, Germany-based Q-Cells AG last year, is focusing on expanding its solar-cell output through thin-film technology. This uses 1 percent the amount of silicon needed for conventional models….

One gigawatt of power is enough to light up at least 200,000 households of four people in Japan….

“Hey, that is great news! Why do you think it is a rant?”

Wait for it…

“Graph illustrating the relative portion the United States has contributed to annual world production. The world shipments increased to a record high of 1194 MW during 2004, more than a 35-fold increase since 1989. The largest annual increase in U.S. production since data has been collected, a 60% increase, occurred between 2003 and 2004. U.S. production reached a record of more than 139 MW in 2004.”

Yes, the United States created the solar cell industry and literally launched it into space 50 years ago. And, yes, solar PV is going to be one of the largest job-creating industries of the century, projected to grow from “from a $20 billion industry in 2007 to $74 billion by 2017.” And, yes, today America has precisely one of the top ten PV plants, with plummeting market share, as the figure above makes all too painfully clear

But don’t get all friggin’ sentimental on me. Think of the few billion dollars U.S. taxpayers saved because:

• President Reagan gutted Jimmy Carter’s renewable energy program (see “Who got us in this energy mess? Start with Ronald Reagan“).
• Newt Gingrich blocked President Clinton’s effort to boost funding for solar PV research and deployment programs.
• Conservatives in general like John McCain and George Bush opposed the kind of funding and incentives that countries like Japan and Germany embraced.

The fundamental tenets of conservative ideology say that if countries like Japan and Germany and China make most of the PV cells it must be because they have an inherent “comparative” advantage over us. You gotta start reading your Ricardo, people. Any card-carrying conservative knows that if other countries manage to get millions of their workers’ hands dirty actually making stuff, it’s only because they are better at it. We’re still the brainiacs who invent the technologies first and then wisely save a few pennies of the taxpayer dollars not promoting American technologies into billion-dollar American industries. We’ve still got all those Internet-related jobs, and it’s not like the government had anything to do with that.

So please, all you progressives and enviros out there, stop your whining. The plan is unfolding as it should, indeed as it must. Do not argue with the invisible hand. People will think you’re crazy.

Sure the those thin films look cool. They look like something that could generate a lot of jobs for a high-tech, high wage economy.

But don’t be deceived by liberal propaganda. I have it on very solid information that real men who want real jobs drill, baby, drill.

“I see what you mean. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?”

Yaz.

jcwinnie

Reading the above facetious and snarky post, I realized that the unsuspecting reader would have to know that the nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs for DeWalt power tools are made by A123Systems.

Anyway, according to Mike Millikin, “the American Ceramics Society awarded A123Systems the Corporate Technical Achievement Award for developing breakthrough ceramics that enable new technologies such as stable, high-power, rechargeable batteries that are safer and more powerful than earlier lithium-ion rechargeable varieties.”

A123 co-founder, Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang (Professor of Ceramics, MIT) began working on a recognized problem with lithium iron phosphate, the active material typically used in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. The pure material is non-conductive, thus devices made with it use materials such as lithium cobalt oxide for the positive electrode. In order to be safely usable, however, these batteries have power limitations that make them ineffective for many uses.

Chiang began working on ways to alter the compound itself by adding small amounts of metal and uses special techniques to process it. The result of his research was a breakthrough, nanoscale phosphate cathode material with high electronic conductivity that enables high-power, safe chemistry, long life and environmental soundness, at a relatively low cost. Their long life leads to reduced lifecycle and system costs resulting in greater overall price-performance for rechargeable and disposable batteries. Chiang began working with partners to develop the product for mass production in 2002. A123Systems launched in 2005.