Posted on 05/29/2006 9:21:14 AM PDT by BlueSky194
Felix Kramer is on a mission, one that carried him and his new plug-in Toyota Prius hybrid to the steps of Capitol Hill. There he and representatives of Electro Energy, which brought along their own plug-in Prius, showcased to some of Washington's most powerful politicians, from Orrin Hatch to Hilary Clinton, technology that can help make America less dependent on petroleum: cars that can get 100 mpg.
The event -- organized by SetAmericaFree.Org -- was planned to coincide with an announced summit between the White House and Detroit's beleaguered carmakers. Although the meeting was postponed at the last minute by the Bush Administration until June 2nd, Kramer and company, along with auto industry chief executives, traveled to the U.S. capital to lobby lawmakers and testify before Congress.
EV World talked with Kramer about the historic event -- more photos of which are available here -- to get his impressions and perspective.
Ethanol Isn't Enough For the auto companies making the rounds in Washington, the message from GM and Ford was we're doing E85, which is a relatively cheap fix of less than $200 per car and according to Kramer, "lets them off of the hook for the next ten years." While he favors ethanol, it alone isn't enough to seriously address America's oil addiction when the nation consumes 140 billion gallons of gasoline annually, while producing just under 5 billion gallons of ethanol.
"If you fuel the local miles with electricity, then you need only 40 billion gallons," he said. "That's really an achievable goal."
He went on to explain how his small, three-person team at California Cars Initiative worked with Electro Energy, a Danbury, Connecticut firm that has developed a technology to improve NiMH batteries for use in plug-in hybrids, to create yet another plug-in Prius, bringing the total in the North America to more than half a dozen.
"The reason we did this process at time when everybody is really talking about lithium ion batteries is that we think there is still life in nickel metal hydride batteries; and we, in particular, think that it is really important to show the world and show Detroit that nickel metal hydride batteries make really good plug-in hybrids, because? the last objection that carmakers have is that? the batteries aren't ready? [and] lithium ion is unproved. There is a certain element to truth in that you don't have? a ten year track record, but that's certainly not the case with nickel metal hydride. These are batteries that carmakers have been using for about a decade in hybrids.
"And so, we wanted to show a lithium ion car, the Energy CS car that is my car, the car I drive every day, and this NiMH car from Connecticut. It was a great combination to have those two cars there."
Kramer explained that there is a slight difference in the low-speed, electric-only range of the two cars: Electro Energy's NiMH car will do about 20 miles, while the Energy CS -- equipped with Valence Saphion lithium ion batteries -- will do between 25-30 miles as long as the speed is below 35 mph, at which point Toyota's computer control system will switch on the gasoline engine.
He emphasized that he doesn't want to give the impression that people have to drive these cars slow in order to benefit from their increased performance. He explained that when driving the first 50-60 miles (presumably in urban traffic), the cars will be operating half the time in electric mode and half the time on gasoline, hence the description of the cars at 100+ mpg.
By his calculation, some 10 U.S. Senators and more than a dozen members of the House of Representatives, as well as New York Governor Pataki and former CIA director James Woolsey, got to experience the cars, either driving, riding or viewing them.
Kramer said they were all "thrilled", noting that several days later, Senator Clinton mentioned the cars in a major policy speech on energy security at the National Press Club.
A major reason for having the plug-in hybrids on Capitol Hill was to give tangible credence to the Set America Free Fuel Choices for American Security Act, which is a bipartisan and bi-cameral bill working its way through Congress, that is designed to provide incentives for various fuel saving strategies, including flexible fuel, plug-in hybrids." Kramer said quite a few members of Congress have signed on to the bill and that its sponsors are determined to see it through to law. This is only one of a number of proposals designed to promote less dependence on imported oil, which accounts for 60 percent of U.S. oil consumption.
While the CalCar founder didn't officially testify before the Congress, he was acknowledged by Congresswoman Judy Biggert during one of the hearings. He invited the committee members to come drive the cars, noting that he'd "brought along his infrastructure" -- a well-placed barb against proponents of hydrogen. He held up a short length of electrical cord, one end wired with a conventional 110 volt plug and on the other a twist-type plug that connects to the car. He referred to it as a "dongle," a popular term around his Silicon Valley home, which often refers to a small electronic device used to protect access to computers. Photos from the event suggest that his "dongle" was popular with the politicians.
EV World's interview with Felix Kramer is just over 25 minutes in length. We encourage you listen to it in its entirety using either of the two MP3 players available on this page or by downloading it to your hard drive for playback on your favorite MP3 device. The interview will also be available on the Apple iTunes service.
Nope. I drive it to work (40 miles) every day. This is my daily driver.
I agree with you on the new tech. I stay pretty much cutting edge in everything I do.
When hybrids go to Hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels, I will be looking hard at them. That is the real tech of the future.
Unless you are 10 years old, you will never see it. Perhaps you will have solar panels that heat your water on your roof, but hydrogen is as far of as fusion.
Ethanol is cheaper and easier. Why switch to a gas and have to build a new infrastructure, when a liquid works so much better and can be grown by local farmers..
Indeed, solar i.e. transforming and transporting the sun's energy, is the answer. But our technology won't surpass mother natuer for a long time. We might improve upon it a bit, but plants have the right mix already. Grow 'um and burn 'um year after year. And when you need more energy either you grow more, grow more efficiently, or burn more efficiently. That is the challenge of the 21st century. The first to figure it out (India, China or the US) wins.
Actually when I talk solar panels I am talking photovoltaics.
We have working fuel cells now. The big prob is more efficient solar panels. Folks are working furiously on those as we speak. (getting better too)
Think of a car that has no gas tank, pumps, lines, injectors, pistons, spark plugs, cranks, cams, etc. :-)
Carbon Fiber body, Titanium alloy frame, fly-by-wire with only a joystick, heads-up display for instrumentation, Lexan wraparound cockpit, weight under 1000 kilograms, radar avoidance, IR viewing at night, almost no moving parts. WOW!
BTW, everything I describe can be built today. All we need is a bit more efficient cell. That is coming (and coming fast IMHO)
My other car is a 94 Geo Prizm. Held together with duct tape, but I don't care. Runs like a champ, good on gas. I leave the van & Jeep home most of the time.
We don't have to import coal. Most people would recharge car batteries overnight when peak demand is lower, not during the day when we use the electricity to run AC for all the big box buildings that populate our cities.
Ummm.... I don't think so. Most folks would plug the car in just as they were getting home from work (and turning on the AC). The evening hours are the peak hours.
More like 5-6 years for battery replacement. (Max!) maybe 2-3 years, it depends.
The hybrid I'm waiting for is the hydraulic hybrid. It stores hydraulic pressure in an accumulator and is bled out to hydraulic motors at the wheels or differential. No batteries! Also unlimited power at take off until the pressure bleeds down. The gas or diesel engine would kick in about 1500 lbs and cut off about 4k lbs. The accumulator could be as large as you have space for. Ford is working on Excursion size vehicles that could get 30mpg. If it can't pull a 28ft boat, what good is it?
I read that one of the hybrid manufacturers offers a 10-year warranty. (I forgot whether it was Ford, Toyota or Honda. I didn't care that much because I won't by a hybrid until the bugs are worked and reliability is assured, if ever.) Anyway, I'm sure it's a prorated warranty like an ordinary car battery.
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