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Google Video Contest; PHEV News Roundup
May 7, 2008 (From the CalCars-News archive)
CalCars-News
This posting originally appeared at CalCars-News, our newsletter of breaking CalCars and plug-in hybrid news. View the original posting here.
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We've fallen behind on news... below are some of the important reports we've seen. We're providing mainly URLs and headlines rather than full texts.

CONTENTS:


GOOGLE RECHARGEIT/YOUTUBE VIDEO
Create a 90-second video about PHEVs in the next few weeks and get featured all over! The sooner the better on this: if you're one of the first, and you produce a gem, you could be featured when the project launches. Here's the first paragraph of the Google/Youtube video invitation go to the URL for details: Would you like to drive a plug-in vehicle? Hundreds of vehicles are on the road today, but millions of people want them. Create a YouTube video telling us why you want to drive a plug-in. If you already own one, create a video showing us how it works! Your videos will be featured on a map on Google.org's RechargeIT website and the best videos will be awarded prizes.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pNKDyRAyFLWjkknkazWn7Hg&email=true


PHEV MAP UPDATED
By the way, the jointly-produced Calcars-Google map of "Where PHEVs Are" at
http://www.rechargeit.org and at http://www.calcars.org/­where-phevs-are.html (along with a list of vehicles at that second URL) is now relatively up to date -- if your PHEV isn't there, please follow the instructions at the CalCars URL to submit your car.


WSJ IDENTIFIES NEW SMALL PHEV COMPANIES
A survey in the Wall Street Journal, "Start-Ups Race to Produce 'Green' Cars," by Edward Taylor, on page B1 May 6, 2008, shows we may need to add Loremo, Mindset and Gordon Murray to our
http://www.calcars.org/­carmakers.html list of small carmakers working on PHEVs. http://online.wsj.com/­article/­SB121002128666768637.html


CHEVY VOLT IN PREDICTIVE MARKET
Fans of the popular book, "The Wisdom of Crowds" will note that at Popular Science's POPSCI.COM, "The Future Now," the odds of the Chevy Volt coming to market by January 1, 2011 rose steadily last year from 50 in May to the mid-70s in October of last year, and since then has been steady -- so you'd get a $100 payoff for a $73 bet.
http://ppx.popsci.com/­security/­view.php?symbol=CHVOLT For the large volume of GM Volt news, we refer you to http://www.gm-volt.com


RASER & FEV DEVELOPING A PHEV http://www.mlive.com/­business/­index.ssf/­2008/­04/­plugin_suv_on_drawing_board_of.html Auburn Hills firm FEV Inc. develops plug-in hybrid SUV by Sven Gustafson | Oakland Business Review Thursday April 17, 2008, 3:00 PM Auburn Hills-based engineering company FEV Inc. is working with a Utah firm to develop a full-size plug-in hybrid electric sport-utility vehicle capable of driving up to 40 miles in electric-only mode within three years. Provo, Utah-based Raser Technologies Inc. [NYSE:RZ] describes the vehicle, which it is developing with a Detroit automaker, as an electric vehicle with a range extender that would deliver average fuel economy ratings of 100 miles per gallon. Raser would not identify the Detroit automaker it is working with but said it will likely demonstrate the vehicle with the company during a United States auto show later this year. The vehicle will use a series hybrid architecture that combines lithium-ion battery packs with a small gasoline engine, an onboard generator, a traction motor and electronic drive controller modules. The technology would initially be incorporated into an existing production full-size SUV but could eventually be incorporated into pickup trucks, said James Spellman, Raser's vice president of business development.


TOP CANADIAN AUTO PARTS SUPPLIER MAGNA PUTS $30M INTO PHEVS
This project with an undisclosed automotive manufacturer as partner could be signficant.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/­servlet/­story/­LAC.20080429.RMAGNA29/­TPStory/­Business Magna's next car to be powered by electricity Leaps into environmentally friendly market with plans to build plug-in hybrid autos GREG KEENAN AUTO INDUSTRY REPORTER April 29, 2008 AURORA, ONT. -- Magna International Inc. has joined the race to develop a plug-in hybrid car and plans to have a prototype on the road next year or in 2010. The Magna project is being run out of the Magna Steyr manufacturing and research and development operations in Austria. It is being led by Herbert Demel, chief operating officer of vehicles and powertrain for Magna, and Burkhard Goeschel, chief technical officer of vehicles and powertrain.
<snip>
The main Magna Steyr engineering centre consists of about 1,200 engineers in Graz, Austria, adjacent to the assembly plant where Magna Steyr assembles complete vehicles under contract for GM's Saab division, Chrysler LLC, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
<snip>
But engineers and researchers in virtually all Magna divisions are working on projects designed to assist in the plug-in hybrid program, taking advantage of the parts company's diverse areas of expertise, such as development of lightweight metals, new uses for plastics, expertise in development of engines and engine components, and its experience in co-ordinating complete vehicle assembly.
<snip>
The parts giant, based in Aurora, Ont., has set aside an initial budget of $30-million to develop the car, Mr. Stronach said. Magna has vowed never to compete with the auto makers it supplies, so it could manufacture such a vehicle on a contract basis for one of its customers or assemble the car under its own brand for niche markets in which its customers don't participate.


TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL STORY ON CALIFORNIA'S ROLE IN PHEVS
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/­servlet/­story/­LAC.20080501.WHPLUGIN01/­TPStory/­Environment California jump-starts the plug-in race For now, the leaders are General Motors and Toyota. Both are developing plug-in hybrids for sale around 2010 JEREMY CATO jcato@... May 1, 2008 Who says governments can't mandate technological breakthroughs? Nearly half a century ago, California regulators led the world by introducing strict anti-pollution rules. Despite heated opposition, auto makers managed to comply and today the average new vehicle is 98 per cent cleaner, in terms of smog-forming emissions, than it was in 1963. Thanks to catalytic converters, cleaner fuel and more efficient fuel and combustion management technology - the various traps and filters and fuel injectors that are now standard on all new cars - tailpipe emissions from new vehicles are now pretty negligible. Well, California is at it again.
<snip>


CANADIAN CONSORTIUM PLANS TWO-PHASE PHEV STUDY
Quebec City and Partners Launch Major PHEV Study
http://www.greencarcongress.com/­2008/­04/­quebec-partners.html 23 April 2008 The Université Laval, Desjardins Group, Enersys and Quebec City are launching a joint study project on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). If the pilot study is a success, a second phase of the project could integrate up to 50 PHEVs into Quebec City streets.


PHEVS PERCOLATING THROUGH PROGRESSIVE MEDIA
We recall sometime ago thinking, "when will the Wall Street Journal notice PHEVs?" Now the paper writes frequently about them (though we don't think the conservative editorial page has noticed them that page has weighed in strongly against corn ethanol, including a lead editorial today). And the conservative National Review has run a number of columns including PHEVs, including one by Senator John McCain last year at
http://www.johnmccain.com/­informing/­News/­NewsReleases/­3b0ee87d-060f-4f4d-a873-5902d49907df.htm .
Now on the left-liberal side of the spectrum, we find environmental correspondent Mark Hertsgaard in The Nation (the US's oldest weekly magazine, published since 1865), writing about PHEVs in "Running on Empty" April 24 http://www.thenation.com/­doc/­20080512/­hertsgaard . And in the May-June 2008 Mother Jones Magazine http://www.motherjones.com/­news/­feature/­2008/­05/­the-seven-myths-of-energy-independence.html , Paul Roberts writes favorably about PHEVs in "The Seven Myths of Energy Independence."


JEFFREY SACHS ON PHEVS
Jeffrey Sachs continues to promote PHEVs; in an Earth Day column, "Reinventing Energy," that was syndicated and reprinted worldwide, he said, "Perhaps the single most promising development in terms of energy efficiency is “plug-in hybrid technology” for automobiles, which may be able to triple the fuel efficiency of new automobiles within the next decade."
http://www.project-syndicate.org/­commentary/­sachs140


MAJOR UPCOMING CONFERENCES: MORE INFO SOON
As we head up to Wenatchee, Washington for PowerUp 2008, we're keeping an eye out on the developing programs for the June 11-12 "PHEVs2008: What Role for Washington?" -- see preliminary info at
http://www.brookings.edu/­events/­2008/­0611_plugin_vehicle.aspx and the July 21-24 Plug-In 2008 Conference in San Jose -see http://www.plugin2008.com .


NEWS FROM APTERA
This three-wheeled vehicle, which will be sold in PHEV and EV versions, is starting to accumulate substantial orders. At the company's newsletter,
http://www.aptera.com/­newsletter043008/­ leading items include: Fortune names Aptera as 1 of 11 great green ideas today AutoWeek talks with our new SVP of Manufacturing, Neil Hanneman Newsweek lists Aptera as one of the '10 Fixes for the Planet'


DR. ANDY FRANK PROFILE
Appearing at the same time as the Nova "Car of the Future" show that featured Dr. Andy Frank, he receives well-deserved recognition from his hometown newspaper, the Sacramento Bee (we hope the Governor read it!)
http://www.sacbee.com/­107/­story/­867936.html "His pet PHEV" -- UC Davis' father of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle says we're finally ready to drive green, by Cynthia Hubert, Friday, April 18, 2008, in SCENE section, Page K1

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