Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Officials: Chicago pollution hurts Sheboygan County's air quality - This sucks -

Posted: Oct 29, 2013 10:40 AM CDTUpdated: Oct 29, 2013 10:43 AM CDT
Extrapolate this forward and no matter where you live your air quality will suck if we as a society fail to roll forward in a significant different way.  Just saying...

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) - Sheboygan County officials hope to boost the county's air quality ratings by taking measurements farther from the shores of Lake Michigan.
Sheboygan Press Media reports the county has regularly had the worst air in the state.
But officials say that's because pollution floats north along Lake Michigan from Chicago. Sheboygan County, which is north of Milwaukee, gets hit worse than other areas because it extends farther out into the lake.
The county has been monitoring air quality at Kohler Andrae State Park, which sits on the lakeshore. It will soon begin testing air inland at a station located off state Highway 42 in the Town of Mosel.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
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My dad was from Sheboygan and my wife's family lives there...

Friday, October 25, 2013

Eight states representing nearly a quarter of U.S. auto sales on Thursday agreed to aggressively move to increase the number of electric- and hydrogen-fueled cars, trucks and buses on the roads.

States' pledge could boost electric car business

  @gregorywallace October 25, 2013: 4:18 AM ET
electric car charging station Standards for charging stations could help make zero-emission vehicles more appealing to consumers.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Electric car makers are about to get a little more help that could boost sales.

Eight states representing nearly a quarter of U.S. auto sales on Thursday agreed to aggressively move to increase the number of electric- and hydrogen-fueled cars, trucks and buses on the roads.
Automakers are struggling to meet targets set by the federal government for sales of these vehicles. But by developing standards for charging stations, expanding financial incentives to buy the cars and lowering consumer electric rates, the states hope to make the vehicles more appealing.
Their goal is a 3.3 million vehicle increase by 2025. The largest single increase would be in California, which spearheaded the initiative and has announced a goal of 1.5 million new zero emission vehicles in the next 12 years.
Related: Electric car prices decelerate
The agreement was applauded by environmental activists including the Sierra Club. Auto industry groups called the agreement a positive step.
Global Automakers -- a group representing Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC), Subaru and 10 other auto companies -- said its members were "pleased" states would be working towards a single plan. "Getting the marketplace ready to support [zero-emission vehicles] is a shared responsibility and automakers are already making huge investments in developing the technologies," the group said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the program would also help reduce "the emissions that are causing our climate to change and unleashing the extreme weather that we are experiencing with increased frequency."
Related: Has the fuel cell car's tine finally come?
The states did not release an estimate of how much the initiative would cost.
Sales of these vehicles have underperformed both government and automaker expectations, said Mike Omotoso, an analyst with LMC automotive. Even when factoring in a $7,500 federal tax credit and state tax credits of up to $2,500, zero-emission vehicles can cost more than gasoline-powered vehicles, he said.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

8 states vow 3.3M zero-emission vehicles by 2025

Our concept we have on the books 
  • From back in 2004 - A key element of our design, was a very cool innovation; the reinvented, re-branded drive through - Breeze-Thru™. With the intention to re-power tomorrow's vehicles concurrently designed in. Way too early.
The time is now and we cool a unique design to make this happen faster.
Perry
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The governors of eight states including California and New York pledged Thursday to work together to create charging stations and other fueling infrastructure needed to get 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on those states' roadways by 2025 to curb greenhouse gas pollution.
Representatives from all eight states were gathered in Sacramento to sign a memorandum of understanding that would create a task force meant to help increase charging infrastructure, roadway signs and other changes in an effort to buoy the market for electric cars, hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. By 2015, there are expected to be more than 200,000 zero emissions vehicles on roads across the U.S.
The other states involved are Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. The eight states together represent about 23 percent of the U.S. auto market.
Auto makers applauded the agreement as an important step toward getting consumers interested in these technologies, which until now have been slow to catch on because of worries over electric car range.
"(3.3 million) is not an achievable goal given what we're doing today from an infrastructure investment standpoint. It's just not," said Dan Gage, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington, D.C., which represents Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co. and 10 others.
"Up to this point there's been a lack of consumer interest, and a lot of that has to do with investment in infrastructure," he said.
Each state has already, separately adopted rules to require a percentage of new vehicles sold to be zero emission by 2025. California's mandate of 15.4 percent calls for a total of 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles to be on the state's roads by that time.
While the agreement signed Thursday requires no specific financial commitment from each state, they have all vowed to work together to smooth building codes and other regulations in a way that will allow quick rollout of new charging stations.
"The idea is to make it easier for customers to operate and use zero emission vehicles, this in turn will help pave the way for success of the auto industry," Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, said.
Deb Markowitz, Vermont's natural resources secretary, said her state has not put a cost on achieving the goals, but believes in the end the state will partner with private companies to help them build charging stations and other infrastructure needed.
Getting 3.3 million of these vehicles will be a steep curve. In California, plug-in-hybrids and electric vehicles currently make up less than 2 percent of the auto market.
There are now 16 zero-emission vehicles from eight manufacturers on the market; nine that run on batteries alone, two hydrogen fuel cell cars and five plug-in hybrid models, which can run on battery alone or gasoline.
Officials say that every automaker will have a zero-emission model by 2015.
Car dealers, who are under pressure to help meet these 2025 goals, say getting fueling infrastructure like charging stations in place quickly is the only way to get average consumers used to a new product that requires new driving habits.
"We think that is going to be necessary for some of the range anxiety and other acceptance barriers that need to be broken down," said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association.
"The cars are coming - they're here already - but if you don't have a place to charge them, there's not going to be the level of consumer acceptance."
Governors signing the memorandum all hailed the cooperative effort as a way to more quickly solve the inevitable problems that arise when making such far-reaching changes in people's everyday lives.
And some see future economic benefits from the switch to new vehicles.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said more electric vehicles are key to his state's efforts grow the region's economy.
"Diversifying transportation fuels and providing drivers with options will help reduce vulnerability to price swings in imported oil that hurt consumers and our economy," Patrick said in a statement.

Monday, October 14, 2013

JB Straubel - Forget Battery Swapping: Tesla Aims to Charge Electric Cars in Five Minutes

I figured we are headed for this - as far back as 2004 when designed in 'non-traditional' retail automobile energy lanes to a futurist Diner. Our Retro-Jetson themed concept. 
Perry
Tesla Motors is pushing the limits of charging technology to make electric vehicles as practical as gas-powered cars.
Faster service: A Tesla charging station in Hawthorne, California.
Electric vehicles take too long to recharge. To charge a Tesla Model S just halfway takes five hours at a typical home or public charging station. But in its effort to make electric vehicles more practical, Tesla Motors is quickly reducing the charging times. Last September, it unveiled a network of “supercharging” stations—designed exclusively for its Model S and future electric vehicles—that could charge a battery halfway in 30 minutes. In May, it announced an upgrade that cut that time to 20 minutes. Now Tesla’s chief technology officer, JB Straubel, says the company eventually could cut the time it takes to fully charge the battery to just five minutes—or not much longer than it takes to fill a gas tank.
Straubel isn’t referring to the battery swap technology Tesla recently unveiled (see “Why Tesla Thinks It Can Make Battery Swapping Work”). That system doesn’t charge batteries quickly. It simply takes out a depleted battery and replaces it with a fully charged one. He’s talking about what might be a more appealing option for drivers: recharging the battery in your car while you wait.
Link to full article