Tag: AltCar Expo

The 8th annual AltCar Expo

The BMW i3

The 8th annual AltCar Expo continued in Santa Monica, with marked change and growth.  The AltCar Expo is a great opportunity to ride and drive some of the latest alternative vehicles and understand ways you can do your part with Climate Change. World Team Now visited the Expo on Friday, during the “Fleet Day”, and Saturday for “Public Day”. There we so many inspirational highlights at this year’s event (see World Team Now’s photo album).

The AltCar Expo had the latest in various Alternative Technology Vehicles: Electric, Hydrogen, Propane, Natural Gas, Bio-Diesel, Hybrid but since World Team Now is focused on long term solutions that are sustainable “cradle to cradle” –we focus on electric, which can be charged by renewable energy source like; solar, wind or hydro. We love the concept of the solar boat.

Ford’s C-Maxx Energi and Fusion informational poster

Good old fashion American Ford and Chevy are now gaining strength in the market with electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles(PHEVs).   The C-Max Energi from Ford is a promising vehicle that may lead the market in PHEVs eventually, but we could not fully evaluate that from our one test drive experience.  What is evident is the number of options from each manufacturer who are all now entering either the hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles with products to choose from, like Chevy’s new “Spark”.  Nissan continues to surprise improving on their leading EV, here with Nissan’s souped-up Leaf, the Nissan Leaf Nismo RC.  20130921_141155 BMW’s i3 EV has range and is part of a new brand, BMW i, consisting of EVs and hybrids. Also, we were impressed by Genze (more than a scooter), Team Marine, the international flair of participation from the Netherlands constituency, and Lumos.

Lumos' solar carport

Lumos’ solar carport

Lumos has a kit solar carport that has game-changing opportunities to source your own energy and help address your utility’s high demand to supply electricity by being able to take advantage of what’s called arbitrage energy by selling back to the electrical grid.  V2G (vehicle to grid — see WTN’s IEEE article “Vehicle Electrification: Status and Issues” for more on this) with the option of a net-zero grid-tied building is one of the significant ways each individual can do their part to combat Climate Change and learn to better live in balance with our natural resources. EPA made a solid step in limiting emissions Friday of new coal plants to 1,100 pounds of carbon-dioxide per megawatt-hour of power produced.

Team Marine in “Volts Watson”

The heart of the inspiration was Santa Monica High School’s club Team Marine, there to unveil their newly transformed vehicle named Volts Watson – an old Volkswagen Beetle from 1971 that is now all-electric (see photo album). It was a heartwarming experience to see one of the children that I taught to skate, ocean swim and many other of his life’s first experiences, Matthew Zarken, be part of Team Marine. His brother Nicholas was a volunteer for World Team Now last year at AltExpo and wrote this about his experience.

The RAV4 continues

Please come be part of the Team — see Team Marine’s transformed car, World Team in action, and be inspired to take action — be part of  “Draw the Line” on Climate Change, as day of global action against the Keystone XL pipeline, and be for renewable action with your choice to choose your source of energy and what you drive. There were many opportunities to see the evolution of the electric vehicle from its beginning to now – the growth is remarkable. there was a new milestone with more than 10,000 EVs sold in August. “The 35 million EVs sold in 2012 will rise 3.6 times to nearly 129 million in 2022”, (worldwide and including e-bikes)  as cited in this report that demonstrates how the vehicle game is changing. Electrifying transportation, like with the solar boat demo-ed here

20130921_140836

At the solar boat from World Team Now: Jacinta Camacho Kaplan, Laura Fercano Demieri, Liana Foksheneanu, and Suzanne Maxx

or connecting directly to renewable energy source– is a sustainable way to go, especially as we improve energy storage capabilities. People are beginning to understand the connection between economics and the ecological.  There is greater weight placed in their choices and actions when thinking about the next generation to consider more carefully.  However public adoption and dealership education has just begun – both of these elements along with supportive policy will contribute to long term rollout of electric vehicles significantly.

 

 

CA Innovation Leads with EVs, Renewable Energy Policy and Law

By Suzanne Maxx 

Up the coast at the Informational Hearing on Renewable Energy at California State University, Channel Islands (CSU-CI) and down at The City of Santa Monica’s annual AltCar Expo, the opportunities to test drive numerous EVs were abundant— read more from a young WTN intern’s perspective here.

These events and others set the stage for some much-needed support, policy, and action from the Nation’s leading state of clean energy. Together these events contribute to the public education and adoption that is now needed for renewable energy sources, energy storage, electric vehicles and charging infrastructure for the public.

Senator Fran Pavley and Senator Lou Correa at the Special Hearing for Energy Security

California is the largest clean energy economy in the nation. Sustainable energy and security transcend partisanship and State Senator Fran Pavley, who chairs the Select Committee on the Environment, the Economy, and Climate and Senator Lou Correa, who chairs the Committee on Veteran Affairs, mingled with some of the key stakeholders of renewable energy projects outside on CSU-CI’s campus where we were among the many alternative vehicles; including hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells, and electric vehicles (EVs)  such as;  Nissan’s Leaf, Chevy’s Volt, Mitsubishi’s iMi-EV, BMW’s Active E and more that were available to test drive prior to the Informational Hearing titled “Energy Security: California, Business and Military Partnerships”. Video of the hearing is here.

Tesla’s Model X SUV

A significant contribution of much-needed jobs has been created by innovative automotive electric vehicle manufacturers that established their headquarters and manufacturing plants in the State of California such as;  Tesla (who alone brought in more than 1500 new jobs), Coda and Fisker.  So significant of an impact that, just yesterday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) agreed to grant Tesla 10 million dollars  so they will be able to hire an additional 500-700 workers and manufacture not just a sports vehicle or the sedan (Model S), but also this SUV (Model X) with all of their vehicles touting a 250 mile battery range. Tesla committed to providing $50.2 million for the project and adding the jobs to qualify for the grant that’s funded by vehicle registration and smog fees. Tesla’s Gen 3 vehicle which is expected to sell for around $30,000, will help meet the company’s goals to provide electric vehicles to the masses by making it not just “eco”-logically friendly but also “eco”-nomically friendly. This may be one of the game changers needed for EVs (besides improved battery technology and charging infrastructure) that will also affect the big picture of air quality and public health— benefiting not just some people, but potentially us all.

The senators asked the panel on Building an Energy Secure Economy; Creating Jobs, which included Diarmuid O’Connell Tesla’s VP of Business Development, Dave Barthmuss of GM, and others, what they can to do for the OEM’s to forward the EV movement and public adoption.  All agreed the popular carpool sticker now given to EVs, which saves time, has incentivized many— but the challenge was still public education, which seemed to be the common thread all discussed, and public perception. From the panelists’ point of view, the biggest challenge now is many people don’t know the vehicles are out there, that the infrastructure is ramping up with public and private charging stations plus simple things like the fact that you can charge your vehicle to any household outlet with the cord that comes with your car.  People tend not to know about the total $7,500 in rebates, nor do they consider the freedom from the cost of maintenance of the lifetime of the vehicle— compared to a standard fossil fuel combustion engine. However they do seem to understand that value of not paying for gas, and some people care about the implications for our next generation and energy security from independence on foreign oil.

During the public comment, and also privately with the senators, I was able to ask, “What about taking the rebate off of the sticker price at the dealership to lower the cost immediately?”  I also was able to inquire into DC fast charging plus some of the other renewable energy policy questions regarding wind and tidal energy that World Team Now supports. Fran Pavely is renowned for really listening to and interacting well with her public constituency and for that we are pleased.

Yesterday CEC decision to invest $20 million which will also contribute towards 5,000 charging stations, and more for local governments’ planning for EVs, and  projects like The Bay Area’s “eTaxi” Program using Better Place’s model to swap out batteries in all-electric taxi cabs, while funding  “switch” stations in key places (like the airports) to ultimately achieve unlimited range. The all-electric motorcycle, “Zero” is also a beneficiary of the CECs’ support as they moved their manufacturing plant from Asia to California.   Progress was made not just for EVs but also for energy storage, statewide charging infrastructure and other renewable energy projects in general, for more read the CEC’s press release here.

The Informational Hearing provided more than the panel’s two agendas.   National security and renewable energy had a boost with the public who seemed to be pleasantly surprised to hear more about the active stand the military now takes to demonstrate and deploy renewable energy and environmentally sustainable actions— such as the installation of LED street lights on the 3 local military bases and in Ventura County (VC).  It was encouraging to learn veterans are leaving the military with trained skills and technical expertise in the installation of renewable energy systems such as solar.  We were overwhelmed by the depth of military adoption of renewable energy in VC bases with projects ranging from wind to concentrated solar energy, along with energy storage technology.  Renewable energy plays a powerful role in the game of security, with both offensive and defensive operations in the military.

Senator Pavley was able to share the morning’s news— the bill, SB1409, she wrote which was passed by all parties unanimously in the Senate, and was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on September 27th, 2012, and became The Energy Security Coordination Act of 2013.

This bill supports the state and the federal military to work together on renewable energy research, development, and planning, not only for efficiency but also for security.  It supports the work of the Department of Defense (DOD) with VC and helps to ensure the permanence of the military bases and thus the jobs in the local economy.  Coverage of the military’s local renewable energy initiatives, plus the panel discussion on the “DOD’s Clean Energy Achievements in CA,” will be continued in an upcoming blog post.

 
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