Chinese automaker launches plug-in hybrid If you've been waiting for the Chevy Volt or Toyota's as-yet unnamed offering before you buy a plug-in hybrid automobile, you'll need to sit tight until their planned 2010 releases. If you must have a plug-in right now, however, you'll need to move to China. That'd be the PRC, not Taiwan. Chinese carmaker BYD Auto began …
"..The F3DM charges at 220 volts. There's no word yet from BYU Auto whether a 120-volt version will be available when the company begins shipping the F3DM to the US in 2010..."
They don't need to provide a 220 V. charge version for the US. Just put a 1:2(ish) step up transformer in the powerfeed then run the resulting 220V into the charging equipment.
Why do new technology people keep forgetting about old and established technology?
I thought the US power supply was typically two-phase 110volt. Low power circuits run on 110 volts off one phase, high-powered heating and cooking equipment uses both phases for 220v.
In that case, no transformer is needed, though a 220v spur would be needed off the distribution board into the garage or wherever.
thaaaaat's the way!
full electric cars backed up with generators in the boot, NOT a dual-drive system..
now that's settled let's start producing these babies en masse!
maybe in time the ridiculous hypocracy of forcing people to stop smoking everywhere but continue to breathe in the toxic, carciagenic asphixiating car exhaust fumes, will be less and less silly..
dam those infernal combustion engines!
cheers,
bill
p.s. stuff and nonsense: http://www.eupeople.net/forum ;)
Lest we forget, nearly all stand-alone homes (the majority of places with a vehicle garage) come standard with 240V mains connections. Typically these are already in use to power appliances like electric stoves, water heaters, heating and air conditioning. It is fairly trivial to have a 240V line run to the garage (if it isn't already there to power an electric clothes dryer) to provide a charging station for an electric auto.
A 1-liter engine? Crikey, this is sounding more like my MG every day! Speaking of which, I wonder if Cherry Motors will offer a 'leccy version of the MG-TF when they start production at their Oklahoma factory? After all, 62 miles is about the cruising range of an MG - before one of the Lucas parts breaks down and requires a field rebuild in order to return home...
Barkeep, hand me my coat and a warm pint out of the Lucas reefer there, won't ya now...
"Also not yet known is what modifications, if any, that the F3DM will need to pass the relatively stringent US safety regulations - relative to those in China, that is - and whether any additional range-limiting weight gain will occur due to any needed safety upgrades."
Would that be a reference to crash test video's hosted on your favourite Video sharing site perchance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbe5ILICT4M
For years i've been an advocate of fair trade, not the 'free trade' we currently have where China dumps everything on us and in return they get our scrap metal to continue the cycle. However with the current winds with our President socializing the USA I say more power to China. China is communist, they know they're communist, they know the government of China subsidizes the industry so they can undercut everyone else. Our country is doing the same thing and we're still tanking, so go China.
Maybe they meant 400 volt. China uses a 3 phase system like much of the rest of the world. In such a system you can get way more power out of the line.
Anyhow such hybrid cars would be great for stabilicing the power grid. Just enable people to sell their electricity they generate with their cars.
Of cause the Register makes this slang up. It's their major pastime as far as I can see. Anyway, "Leccy Lizzie" is obviously an attempted alliterative nod to the "Tin Lizzie", or Henry Ford's T Series that brought motorised private transport to the masses. In this case massed private electric propulsion (at least in part) to the self same average member of the public. That's very different to the electrically powered hyper-priced toys over which this organ normally salivates. This sort of thing is not the complete answer, but it is at least a practical idea which could eke out oil supplies, at least for commuters. Also, if it forgoes expensive, and potentially unstable, lithium batteries (a metal with distinctly limited total worldwide resources) in favour of more common materials, albeit at the expense of battery-only range, then that's a reasonable compromise to make.
What is needed now is a power distribution system which allows these type of vehicles to charge up more cheaply at times when electricity is in surplus. Given the inherent variability of many sources of renewables (wind, wave and solar all suffer from this), then a storage system is essential to make the best use of them. Probably this would require some sort of device, fitted within the car, that interacts with the electrical generation grid by modifying the charge rate according to instructions. Possibly this could piggy-back on the cellular phone system to avoid major infrastructure spend where two-way communication is required. Where cellphone coverage is an issue, one-way communication to the car could use frequencies with more reach. Combined with GPS in cars, the grid could fine-control the draw rate in different geographical areas according to available supplies. It might even be possible to reverse the flow to fill in for brief shortages (but that's trickier as it would require mods to household wiring). In effect, the on-board generator would be acting as a backup for the mains grid system. Such a device could also be used to "adjust" the price of electricity used for charging the car. It would also be possible for such a system to interact with commercial recharging systems (imagine charging stations in places of work, in car parks etc).
What people won't like is that this could be used for charging motorists an excise duty for electricity used to charge car batteries. I cannot imagine European countries long forgoing the revenues from fuel duty if electricity did take a large part of the market for travel. It's possible to imagine such devices being compulsory with big fines for bypassing them.
it's powered off rust?
Or could it- given that it's also supposed to be Li-Ion, be LiFePO4s or something similar?
Still, looks normal and seems like a decent enough car- especially compared to the quadricycle tax-dodging pieces of crap like the GWhiz...
And Steven Jones, please don't give the gov't any more ideas for new taxes. I know they'd have come up with it eventually, but don't help them along...
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