While greens (and tax collectors) the world over have hailed London's Congestion Charge (CG), the scheme is far from the showpiece legislation its proponents suggest, and it's about to get worse. The Times reports that London's traffic has returned to pre-CG levels. Even less surprisingly, well-paid bureaucrats swallow a full 47 percent of the £800m raised by the CG– to the point where London has cut bus subsidies. At the same time, "The introduction of more bus lanes and pedestrian-friendly measures, TfL [Transport for London] admits, have also contributed to congestion." And now The Evening Standard reports that the recent tweak to the system– adding low CO2 cars like the Fiat Panda and Ford Fiesta to the hybrids who get a free pass– threatens to hole its income. As you (but not London Mayor Ken Livingstone) might imagine, the city cars' exemption from the £8 daily fee has sparked a boom in small car sales. I'm sorry, did I say £8? As part of the tweak, "gas guzzlers" will have to pay £25 a day to drive in inner London. Anyway, a study commissioned by Land Rover (for obvious reasons) reckons that the Mayor's plan to give A and B-class cars a free ride could add an extra 10k cars to London's traffic and "contribute to global warming" (way to stick the boot in). 

Evening Standard »

Source: London Congestion Charge A Shambles

Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, EVS23

Right next to the Modec booth at EVS23, Smith Electric Vehicles commanded a swath of floor space with their large Smith Newton electric truck. Mark Aubry, North American sales manager for Smith Electric Vehicles, was available for an interview and told AutoblogGreen about how these trucks could work for American companies. The official launch of these EVs in the U.S. was two days before we spoke.

The Smith Newton is a 26,000 pound GVW truck, a class 7 truck, 16,000 payload. Smaller versions - class 5 or 6 - are also available. Depending on customer need, these trucks can be delivered with between two and six batteries (one battery doesn't have enough power to move the truck). Using four batteries, the truck can go 150 miles with a 50 mph top speed, while two batteries give you a 40-60 mile range and work best with light products (garments, for example). More batteries also reduce the payload capacity. Each battery pack costs $16,000. With four battery packs, a 2007 Smith Newton is $150,000 ($64,000 for the batteries, $86,000 for the truck). While that's a large amount, Aubry said operating costs are a low 11 cents a mile.

Smith Newtons use sodium nickel chloride (Zebra) batteries, the current battery of choice for heavy trucks. Aubry said that Smith is testing lithium ion batteries and expects to sell trucks with that option in the near future. The Zebra-laden trucks are available now, as is my interview with Aubry (7:30 min, 5 MB).

Gallery: EVS23: Smith Electric Truck

Source: EVS23: The green machine - Smith Electric Truck comes to America

Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Hybrid, Toyota, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Green Daily, EVS23

At the EVS23 show in Anaheim last week, I finally got a chance to talk to Kim Adelman, president of Plug-in Conversions (I missed him at the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo). Adelman offers at-home (or at-work) conversions of your own Prius by adding Nilar battery packs. Plug-in Conversions offers three different battery options - either 2, 4 or 7 kWh. The small system costs around $8,000 and bumps up the mpge rating to around 50-60 with an all-electric range or around eight miles. The 4 kWh system costs $12,500 and gives 16 miles of EV range (although Adelman was able to squeeze 19+ miles from this pack recently). The large 7 kWh pack goes for $15,000 and will move your Prius for 24 miles on electrons and pushes your mpge to 100+.

Adelman is limited by some of the restrictions that Toyota built into the Prius, such as the 34 mph speed limit when running solely on battery power. Should Toyota come out with their own PHEV Prius (which, in current testing, goes 62 mph on batteries), Adelman said, they will give Plug-in Conversions an even more fun vehicle to work with.

The additional packs Adelman uses are Nilar nickel-metal hydride packs. NiMH batteries are the ignored child of the current battery boom - everyone is looking towards lithium technology - but Nilar's Kurt Jensen says their time is not over yet. Jensen was also at the booth and spoke with AutoblogGreen about the Nilar battery technology and some of the patent issues that automakers face when working with nickel-metal hydride batteries. He didn't get into great detail about the intellectual property issues that cover this technology, unfortunately. You can hear Adelman talk about the car here (8 min, 5 MB) and Jensen talk about the batteries here (10 min, 7 MB).

Gallery: EVS23: Ken Adelman's Plug-in Conversion Prius

Source: EVS23: Kim Adelman's Plug-in Prius with Nilar nickel-metal hydride batteries