Alexandra Paul on Electric Cars . NOW on PBS

Alexandra Paul on Electric Cars . NOW on PBS: "Actress Alexandra Paul, an activist and former star of 'Baywatch,' is so passionate about electric cars, she even got arrested for trying to save hers. Paul, a founding board member of Plug In America, is currently starring in the Lifetime movie 'The Boy She Met Online' and co-stars in the film 'The Frankenstein Brothers' due out next year.

NOW: You've had four electric cars. What are you driving now?

Alexandra Paul (AP): I drive an electric-powered 2001 Toyota RAV 4. I bought it used after GM wouldn't allow me to re-lease my EV1.

NOW: How do you go about charging your car?

AP: My car charges at home, in my garage, while I sleep. I charge pretty much every night, by just plugging this special paddle into the front of my car. In the morning, it's ready to go. Simplest thing ever.

NOW: How do you handle long distance driving?

AP: My car has a range of 100 miles per charge. I live on the outskirts of Los Angeles and I drive an average of 56 miles per day, so my electric car fits my needs perfectly. When I need to drive farther, I borrow my husband's Prius. But it uses gas, so I don't like it very much.

Range is the number one concern of people thinking about buying an electric car, which is interesting considering the average American only drives 29 miles a day. Here is my advice: if you are a two car family, then use the EV for most of your driving and the gas car for when you have to go farther. If you only want one car and your commute is 100 miles or less, then rent a car for those times you go on long trips. I have found most of us travel less than we think we do.

NOW: Compared to your other electric cars, how does your Toyota RAV 4 compare?

AP: In the 20 years since I bought my first electric car, battery technology has improved 10 times over. My first car, a converted Datsun ran on lead acid batteries, only went 25 miles before I had to plug the extension cord into the wall socket. My next car, which was a converted VW Rabbit, had the same batteries but went 50 miles. My EV1 had nickel metal hydride batteries, a special 240 V charger, and went 120 miles per charge. My current car runs on that same 15 year old technology. Today, the cars being built use lithium-ion batteries, which have the ability to go many more miles on a charge. The Tesla has a range of 240 miles and charges in 3 1/2 hours. Even faster charging batteries are expected in the near future.

NOW: What are some of the advantages of driving an electric car?

AP: The equivalent of 82 cents per gallon, quiet smoother ride, no tailpipe emissions, no transmission to fix, no oil to put in the car, virtually no servicing —except rotating the tires a little more often —no supporting oil wars or oil companies, no pollution if you have solar panels, less pollution even if you charge from the grid, domestic energy source... should I go on?"

Joule ready to drive in 2012 | ITWeb

Joule ready to drive in 2012 | ITWeb: "South Africa's first consumer electric car, the Joule, will require capital of around R5.5 billion over the next three years to bring to market.

This is according to Kobus Meiring, CEO of Optimal Energy – the Cape-based company that conceptualised and developed the Joule.

“We plan to start setting up a plant in 2010, with the first vehicles off the line in 2012,” says Meiring. He adds that the Eastern Cape is a very strong possibility for the location of the first plant, with the East London Industrial Development Zone being one of the front-runners.

The zero-emissions battery-powered electric vehicle was exhibited at the recent South African Automotive Week, in Port Elizabeth, which Meiring said went well."

Pushing Beyond 100G Ethernet - Network World

Pushing Beyond 100G Ethernet - Network World: "Professor Harvey Newman from the California Institute of Technology joins us to talk about his recent experiment that delivered the first true 100 Gigabit payload transmission over a single wavelength, and where Ethernet is headed in the future - to Terabit and beyond! (14:08)"

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Nerd Venn Diagram.png (PNG Image, 434x407 pixels)

YouTube - Sen Cardin at Senate Climate Hearings - 10/27/2009

YouTube - Sen Cardin at Senate Climate Hearings - 10/27/2009: "Senator Cardin (D-MD) talks up the benefits the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act will entail for Marylanders and the country at large.."

Lithium-Ion Batteries Could be Too Expensive, MIT Team Says | BNET Auto Blog | BNET

Lithium-Ion Batteries Could be Too Expensive, MIT Team Says | BNET Auto Blog | BNET: "According to Luis A. Ortiz, research director of MIT’s Group Sadoway, “It’s all about the time frame. There is plenty of lithium overall [mostly in China and South America], but in order to meet expansion targets we’d have to considerably expand the pace of mining, and I don’t see ramp rates that would allow the mines to keep up with that demand. Maybe 10 to 15 years from now.”

Another huge issue is lithium cost, Ortiz said. “There is no open market in lithium, and there are very high swings in demand,” he said. The U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) sees as its goal to “continue development of high-power battery technologies to reduce cost to $20 per kilowatt-hour and extend life to 15 years.” Such cost and lifecycle metrics would make mass penetration of battery cars a virtually foregone conclusion. But Ortiz sees $20 a kilowatt-hour as far in the future.

“The cost has to come down to the point where EVs can reach the majority of the population, and I see lithium challenges as keeping batteries at least 2X from the price USABC would allow mass adoption,” Ortiz said. He added that the high cost of containment structures (to ensure safety) and the volatile organic carbonate used as an electrolyte are “fixed overheards” that are hard to bring down over time, and very difficult to reach $100 to $150 a kilowatt-hour. Right now, Ortiz said an optimistic assessment would put lithium-ion battery technology at $400 to $600 per kilowatt-hour."

Lithium-Ion Batteries Could be Too Expensive, MIT Team Says | BNET Auto Blog | BNET

Lithium-Ion Batteries Could be Too Expensive, MIT Team Says | BNET Auto Blog | BNET: "By all appearances, battery-powered cars are ready for prime time. The list of companies planning to introduce new plug-in hybrids and electric battery cars in the next few years is long, and includes General Motors (the Volt and a separate plug-in hybrid), Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler, Infiniti, Aptera, Tesla (the Model S sedan), Fisker (the Karma plug-in hybrid), BMW, Bright (a plug-in hybrid commercial van), Coda, Wheego and many more.

Almost all of those vehicles will be powered by lithium-ion batteries, because lithium has the best available energy density while being very low weight. But a team at MIT’s department of materials science and engineering, headed by Donald Sadoway, is convinced that lithium is problematic for a number of reasons and is unlikely to carry EVs the extra mile to widespread consumer acceptance."