One Building, One City: World’s tallest prefab, Sky City, is breaking ground in June

Sky City will be 2750 feet tall, 220 stories, housing 30,000 people in …

by Lloyd Alter in Modular Design

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/cars/week-transportation-plug-milestones-teslas-sparks-stupid-tweets-etc/

Solar Impulse flies very slowly – it took the solar-powered airplane more than 18 hours to travel 650 miles from the Bay Area to Phoenix – and the cockpit is so small, the pilot can’t ever get up from his seat. Which raises the delicate question of how certain human functions are addressed while in flight.

We have the answer.

In a video released yesterday by the Swiss team, the “How do they go to the toilet?” mystery was solved. (As was the mystery: Do the Swiss have a sense of humor?)

Now, one thing you might be thinking is, OK, that water bottle takes one type of excretion. But what about, you know, number two action?

Well, Solar Impulse says that’s an eventuality the pilot, be it André Borschberg or Bertrand Piccard, takes action to prevent from ever becoming an issue: “During long journeys, pilots prepare by eating a diet low in fiber so that the plastic water bottle will be sufficient,” the team said. “The second airplane under development will have a more advanced solution to support longer flights.”

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/aviation/solar-impulse-bathroom-mystery-solved.html

Most people don’t realize that before buying a bike, you should make sure it fits your body. It probably didn’t matter when you were three feet tall, and just dying to get those training wheels off, but now that you’re an adult, a bike that’s a little too small, big, short, or long for you can cause some real issues.

Even the slightest angle change can affect the performance of professional riders, which is why designer Ralf Holleis is developing the VRZ. Using a combination of carbon fiber track bike frame, and 3D printed titanium lugs, Holleis has created a super-light, fixed-gear bike that can be customized for an individual rider in a very small period of time.

Normally obtaining a bike that’s custom built for your body takes a) a lot of money or b) a lot of welding know-how. With Holleis’ new hybrid method, however, the time and cost are reduced.

“You could change the geometry to what ever fits you best, then the lugs gets generated by a software,” explains Holleis on his website. “The generated 3D files are produced with laser-cuseing process. Afterwards the printed parts need to be finished and bonded to the tubes.”

Ok, so it still takes a fair bit of know-how. But considering how quickly 3D printing technology is disseminating through our culture, one can only expect that it will become easier and cheaper over time. And the benefits for bikers will be huge.

Not only is the VRZ safer and healthier because it’s created just for a specific person’s body, it’s also lighter than almost every bike we’ve ever seen. At a trim 4.9 kg (10 pounds 11 ounces) it’s the perfect vehicle for whipping around the track in style.

VRZ 1. a tack bike frame with 3d printed lugs from Ralf Holleis on Vimeo.

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/vrz-custom-track-bike-you-can-almost-3d-print.html

Available soon in California and Oregon

The Chevrolet Spark EV, the first 100% electric vehicle by GM since the EV1, is getting close to its launch date. It’ll first be available in California and Oregon in mid-June as a 2014 model, and at some future point, GM will roll it out in other states and countries (so far, plans include Canada, South Korea and “select European markets”).

© GM

Chevy Spark EV Pricing

The first thing to note is pricing. The MSRP is $27,495, but after the federal tax credit of $7,500 that goes down to $19,995, and in California you could have further incentives of $2,500, bringing the final cost to $17,495. That’s very cheap considering that you have further savings on gas and maintenance (electric cars have few moving parts and fluids that need to be changed — even the brake pads wear out extremely slowly thanks to regenerative braking).

There’s also a leasing option, and while that will vary from dealer to dealer, GM says it could hit $199 per month with $999 down (which includes a security deposit). This could not only make the Spark EV one of the cheapest and cleanest urban vehicles around. And at those kinds of prices, it might be one of those electric cars that you “get paid” to drive (see explanation for how the math works here).

© EPA

Efficiency: No sparks wasted…

Another thing to note is just how energy efficient the Spark EV is. It helps that it is small and light, but still, 119 MPG-equivalent combined, 128 MPG-equivalent city, and 109 MPGe highway. Those are impressive number, even for an electric car.

For comparison, the original Nissan LEAF is only rated at 99 MPGe combined. GM definitely did something right with this power train.

Photo: GM

Driving Range, Charging Speed

Driving range is estimated to be 82 miles with the EPA’s methodology. For comparison, the 2013 Nissan LEAF gets 75 miles on the EPA test. The 21 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, made by A123 Systems, has a 8 years or 100,000 miles warranty.

Charging speed is another highlight for the Spark EV. It’ll be the first vehicle on the market to have the option of charging with the recently approved SAE combo charger for DC Fast Charging. This will enable the Spark EV to recharge up to 80% in approximately 20 minutes at DC Fast Charging stations when they become available, and GM says that the EV will be “capable of handling multiple compatible DC Fast Charges daily”.

Those fast DC stations will not be available immediately, but it is a new standard that should become (hopefully) very common over time.

© GM

First of many 100% electric vehicles by GM?

It’s nice to see GM going back to fully electric cars. The Chevy Volt has been getting great Consumer Reports ratings and has introduced many to the concept of a plug-in hybrid, but I still believe the future will eventually be 100% electric.

It would be great if GM used the expertise developed with the Spark EV (they obviously know how to make a very efficient electric powertrain!) to make a Volt EV that was 100% electric and had a driving range closer to 150-200 miles. Or maybe it would have to be a Cadillac EV to justify the higher price at first (kind of like the ELR, but not a plug-in hybrid).

© GM

© GM

Via GM

See also: GM working on electric car with 200 miles range, says CEO

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/chevrolet-spark-ev-be-priced-27495-lease-starting-199month.html

Do the math

There’s an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal about just how cheap electric cars can actually be once you factor in incentives and saved fuel costs. Bottom line, if you live in a state that has good incentives and you take a short lease, it’s possible that you could be paying almost nothing net, or even get paid, to drive an electric car. On top of that, you could be getting nice side benefits like reduced insurance rates, access to the carpool lane, free parking in some places, etc. Not bad!

That’s not how most people see things right now, but I think that over time this math will become more widely understood and that will help electric vehicles. After all, the vast majority of people, on the vast majority of days, don’t drive farther than the range of the current crop of EVs (and year by year that range will only get longer).

Flickr/CC BY 3.0

Subsidies, subsidies…

I can already hear those who will complain about electric car incentives and their cost to the taxpayer. This argument cannot be entirely dismissed, but to those people, I will argue that we need to get our priorities straight and keep things in perspective. The taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of billions, if not trillions, for things like foreign wars and military presence and operations around the world to protect the oil supply. Over decades, gasoline and diesel vehicles have received billions in all kinds of help, directly and indirectly. So a few millions over a few years while a new technology grows shouldn’t be at the top of the list of places to cut to save money.

It would make sense to cut all EV subsidies if it was somehow possible to retroactively cut gas-powered vehicle’s subsidies; that would’ve made gasoline much more expensive for decades and EVs would probably be way ahead of where they are now. But I don’t think we can do that…

Via WSJ

See also: Chevrolet Spark EV to be priced $27,495 with lease starting at $199/month (119 MPGe!)

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/getting-paid-drive-electric-car.html

Uncle Sam gains $12 million in interest

Tesla Motors, famously called a “loser” by Mitt Romney, is on quite the winning streak these days. It seems like there’s good news about the company every week.

After raising about a billion dollars in a new stock and debt offering, Tesla has decided to use about half of its new mountain of cash to repay the $465 million Department of Energy loan all at once, 9 years ahead of schedule, rather than do it in half the required time like it had previously said. The immediate benefit to taxpayers will be $12 million, but the long-term benefit could be massive. A whole new world-beating electric car company homegrown in the US, with factories creating jobs and EVs reducing oil consumption and carbon emissions, not to mention a catalyst for other companies (the transition to electric cars would no doubt be happening much more slowly without Tesla at the avant-garde, pushing others to do better). Not bad.

And it’s not all. Musk tweeted this on Monday:

Given govt loan repayment this week (prob Wed), Supercharger update will be next week. Work continuing independent of announcement.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2013

So we can expect some Supercharger news next week… How long can they keep the ball rolling like this?

Wikimedia/CC BY 2.0

Feel free to let Elon Musk stare into your soul.

Via Bloomberg

See also: Milestone: U.S reaches 100,000 plug-in vehicles sold

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/tesla-repay-department-energy-loan-9-years-ahead-schedule.html

Toyota has been rather slow to adopt lithium-ion technology compared to some other automakers, but it seems like they want to catch up.. Japan’s Nikkei is reporting that the company is increasing its lithium-ion battery production sixfold to 200,000 packs per year. The article says that the goal is to upgrade the Prius family, which currently uses NiMH batteries except for the plug-in model.

It’s no clear if only the next generation of the Prius will get the li-ion batteries, or if the current generation will get the upgrade. I’d say the former is more likely, but that depends on when the next generation comes out (the second generation, which started with the model year 2004 in the US, was around for 6 years — if they wait as long before introducing the fourth generation, then I think it’s likely that they’ll upgrade the Prius to li-ion batteries before then).

© Toyota

A switch to lithium-ion would have many benefits, even for the non plug-in hybrid models. At equal energy storage capacity, lithium-ion is significantly lighter than NiMH. That should help improve fuel economy, and possibly increase storage space in the car. If they match the weight, then the new li-ion batteries will store significantly more energy than the old NiMH, meaning that the hybrids will be able to operate in electric-mode for longer periods and at higher speeds. Another way to save fuel.

So even if they just put a li-ion pack in the current generation Prius, without changing anything else, we should see MPG improvements.

This increased li-ion battery production will also no doubt help when Toyota finally decides to do a bigger push in electric-only models. Hybrids are fine, but they are a compromise.

Via GCC

See also: Toyota: 5 million hybrids sold worldwide, 2 million in U.S.

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/toyota-increases-lithium-ion-battery-production-6x-upgrade-prius.html

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has decided to test plug-in vehicles separately from gas and gas-electric hybrid versions of the same models, no doubt to make sure that the extra equipment (battery, power electronics, charger, etc) doesn’t make plug-in models less safe. The 2013 Ford Fusion Energi was one such plug-in to get crash tested, and it passed with flying colors, receiving the highest possible safety rating of 5 stars.

© Ford

This isn’t too surprising considering that the hybrid version of the 2013 Fusion also received 5 stars from the NHTSA, but it’s still useful information for potential Fusion Energi buyers. Good to know that going plug-in doesn’t compromise safety.

The Fusion Energi has an EPA-rated fuel economy of 100 MPGe combined, 108 MPGe city, and 92 MPGe highway. Note that those are “MPG-equivalent”, so real-world performance will vary a lot depending on whether your driving patterns keep the vehicle in electric mode (the Energi has an electric driving range of 21 miles/34 km) for significant portions of your trips or not. You should still get good fuel economy during longer trips, but obviously it’s the short trips that can be made in electric-mode that will give you the best results.

© Ford

The Fusion Energi plug-in thus joins the Chevrolet Volt plug-in in the NHTSA 5-star club.

Via Ford

See also: 2013 Ford Fusion Energi Plug-in Gets EPA Rating of 108 MPGe for City Driving

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/2013-ford-fusion-energi-plug-hybrid-gets-5-star-safety-rating-nhtsa.html

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

By extrapolating the monthly sales numbers a bit, Plug-In America (a non-profit advocacy group that was originally formed to protest the destruction of the EV1, among other things) has projected that the 100,000th plug-in vehicle will have been sold in the U.S. today.

Because this is an estimate, we can’t know who bought plug-in number 100,000, or even if today’s the day for sure (maybe it was yesterday, or it’ll be tomorrow), but it’s still an important symbolic milestone. In 2011, the first full year with the current crop of plug-ins on the market, fewer than 20,000 were sold. In 2012, that number tripled to over 50,000. And it’s currently expected that more than 100,000 plug-in will be sold in 2013 alone. Not a bad growth rate for a technology that is still maturing (like personal computers in the 1980s or cellphones in the 1990s).

© Toyota

Plug-In America writes:

Highlights related to this historic moment:

• Over a quarter-million people are exposed daily to the benefits of electric transportation
• Nissan dealerships in some markets have reported that the Leaf has outsold all other Nissan models for particular sales periods this year
• Tesla’s Model S is outselling the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the BMW 7 series and the Audi A8
• Chevy Volt drivers alone have logged over 187-million electric miles
• The plug-in vehicle market is approaching 48 percent annual growth with both Battery Electric (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) vehicles finding growing interest
• Plug-in vehicle adoption exceeds the adoption of hybrid vehicles over the same timeframe in their market developments
• The domestic EV fleet now offers over 2,000 megawatts of battery storage, which may offer significant opportunities for the future management of our electrical grid and the increasing role of intermittent renewable energy sources
• Manufacturers making EVs now include Nissan, Tesla, GM, Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, and Fiat. These plug-in cars have received a wealth of consumer and industry awards

Youtube/Screen capture

This is good progress, though I believe that it’s still early days for plug-ins. A few more years and prices will come down significantly thanks to economies of scale and incremental improvement in battery technology (breakthroughs are not needed, though they could make things even better than we expect). We’ve already seen it start to happen. At some point it just won’t make much sense for most people to go with gas-only models…

Not that electric cars and plug-in hybrids are a panacea. I think alternatives to driving should be pursued aggressively; making cities more walkable and bike-friendly, improving public transit, making telecommuting possible where it makes sense, etc. But as long as there are cars out there – and in some places (esp. rural), they will make sense for a long-time – they should have as little impact on the environment as possible.

Via Plug-in America

See also: New York City launches LEAF taxi pilot program, wants 1/3 electric taxis by 2020

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/milestone-us-reaches-100000-plug-vehicles-sold.html

This one will go into the “no comments” and “speaks for itself” category.

Twitter/Screen capture

Twitter/Screen capture

If you want more details, you can read the whole (still ongoing) saga here. Thanks to Grist for bringing it to our attention.

Article source: http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/uk-driver-knocks-cyclist-bike-brags-about-it-twitter.html