By the end of August, 59,000 electric vehicles had been sold in the U.S. — more than during all of 2012, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) shows.
That’s good news for a technology sector that’s expected to play an important role in cutting future U.S. oil consumption, says UCS deputy director of clean vehicle research Don Anair.
Over the past three years, Americans purchased more than 140,000 electric vehicles (EVs), which have saved more than 40 million gallons of gasoline each year. California is leading the nation, with 29 percent of all U.S. plug-in vehicle purchases made this year.
EV sales rates have more than doubled in that state over the past year, according to the report. Although East and West coast cities continue to be hotspots for EV sales, purchases are picking up in cities like Denver, St. Louis, and Dallas, Anair says.
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When will all-electric cars be affordable to the mass markets?
One of the great challenges facing all nations this century is reducing the pollution emitted by vehicles of all types. Seventy million new cars are produced annually, adding to city smog and health issues. With petrol-costs rising inexorably on an exponential curve for more than half a century, a solution to creating an emission-free car, which is affordable to the mass markets globally, is becoming critical. Current electric vehicles reduce emissions significantly, but are priced several times the price of a petrol equivalent.
• Electric cars (EV’s) like the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi IE, cost three times as much as a petrol equivalent.
• These expensive EV’s also fail to give adequate range, causing range-anxiety, and possible traffic chaos.
• EV’s large batteries need fast and/or daylight charging – adding emissions at fossil-fuelled power stations
• Plug-in hybrid cars (PHEV’S) like the Chevy Volt, solve the range problem by having a back-up petrol engine.
• The PHEV has a smaller battery, enough only for average daily commuting. This can be charged at night on off-peak power, when the power stations cannot switch off – thus adding no extra emissions for charging.
• BUT, the PHEV also costs more than three times that of an entry-level petrol car.
Can this massive price-chasm be bridged in the near future?
Three new technologies have emerged simultaneously, to make emission-free average daily commuting possible:
• A new battery has been announced, with triple density, and about half the cost, and scheduled for mass production in two to three years – see http://www.enviasytems.com.
• A new electric “In Wheel” motor, pictured below, is in advanced prototype stage. This eliminates all the car’s transmission – gearbox, clutch, drive-shafts, and C/V joints, representing a massive saving in cost, weight, friction and bulk. See http://www.proteanelectric.com .
• The back-up engine in the PHEV Chevy Volt, is a 4-cylinder 4-stroke engine producing about 100 kW. A new patented technology CITS two-stroke engine, pictured below, which no longer burns all its lubricant as two-strokes usually do, can produce this same output, from just two cylinders. And it is the only V-twin to be so well-balanced and run so smoothly. In fact 60% smoother. The manufacturing cost-savings of a two-stroke engine are renown – and to that is now added the cost-saving of two cylinders. In a simple PHEV, where the engine charges the batteries on-the-run when needed for longer trips, it can run at constant rpm, where it can be super-tuned for power, emissions and economy. See http://www.citsengine.com.
Smart Investment capital enabled the former two inventions to become commercial realities for industry. The latter, the CITS engine, has passed early prototype stage. It now seeks moderate funding for its last stage, that of direct injection and scientific data capture and publication, to gain the attention of the motor industry. They receive hundreds of inventions, but as each needs much study to evaluate, they must concentrate on their own R & D, or on those inventions that have been scientifically proven. That is the strategy in place for the CITS engine – which has an independent appraisal by an internationally respected expert, and a nomination awarded by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE-A) for “Excellence in Automotive Engineering”.
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