To avoid our world turning into the Wall-E scenario, consider this: recycle it. Still unconvinced? Can’t be bothered? Well what if I said I’d pay you over $300 for doing so. Would you do it then?

It’s long been said that a green economy won’t fly until it’s economically viable. After all, since the middle of the 18th century or so, we’ve successfully convinced ourselves that humans are first and foremost rational self-interested beings. Meaning that yes, good intentions don’t pay the rent, and we’re okay with it. Or in the green case, you can’t really blame someone for driving an SUV when gas is less than $2-a-gallon.

Anyhow, I was waiting for a train this weekend in the Paris Metro when I saw an ad for a website that trys to wed the oft-missed connection of enviro-responsibility and fiscal incentive.

Yep, it’s called Love2Recycle (pretty catchy, don’t you think?) and the slogan means something like “With us, old things always have value” (hint >> AARP).

The premise is a remarkably simple one: you send in your old phone, FOR FREE, to Love2Recycle, who then recycles it and sends you a corresponding cheque for your efforts.

You can go online beforehand and find out exactly how much your mobile’s worth. For example, an iPhone 3GS (32GB) pulls in about 300€, while a Blackberry Bold will only fetch 135€.

And before you think it: No. No, you don’t need the original packaging/cardboard box. And they’ll even accept phones with signs of “general wear and tear” such as scratches. They simply ask that the phone doesn’t have a smashed screen, traces of liquid, or be in a million little pieces. Well duh.

Unfortunately, the bummer is that the service is only operational in France, Belgium and the UK at the moment.

So if you’re in America, you’ll have to suffice with the EPA’s recycling partnership with cell-phone comps. Which, surprise surprise, only reimburses you with clean-conscience points. Because we’re a country of values.

But for those of you that won’t, here’s a little blurb to whet your fancy. And remember, this is not some green acolyte talking, but our government – yes, it gives us hope that our elected officials are actually on the same page as us! – :

(NB: the bold underlining is my own)

SEC.2 FINDINGS
Congress finds that-

(1) the United States is the largest consumer of petroleum in the world, consuming 19,500,000 barrels per day of petroleum products during 2008;

(2) high and volatile international oil prices represent a significant and ongoing threat to the economic and national security of the United States;

(3) many of the nations on which the United States relies for petroleum supplies or that significantly affect the world petroleum market share neither the national interest nor the values of the United States;

(4) the United States imports more than 50 percent of the petroleum needs of the country each day;

(5) in 2008, the net deficit of the United States in petroleum trade amounted to more than $380,000,000,000, or nearly 60% or the total trade deficit;


(6) the transportation sector of the United States accounts for over two-thirds of total national petroleum consumption and is 94% reliant on petroleum;

(7) the electrification of the light-duty vehicle fleet represents a direct pathway to significant reduction in petroleum dependence, because passenger cars and light trucks account for more than 60% of the petroleum demand and more than 40% or total petroleum demand in the United States;

(8) the electrification of the light-duty vehicle fleet promotes national energy security because the electric power sector uses a diverse range of domestic electricity generation sources;

(9) electric drive cars, when running on electric power, produce no tailpipe emissions;

(10) the deployment of 700,000 electric plug-in drive vehicles would result in a petroleum savings of approximately 10,000,000 barrels per year compared to the annual petroleum consumption as of the date of enactment of this Act;

(11) in 2030, the United States could feasibly deploy more than 100,000,000 plug-in electric drive vehicles, which would result in petroleum savings of more than 1,000,000,000 barrels of petroleum per year and greenhouse gas reductions of over 300,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide compared to the annual petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as of the date of enactment of this Act;

(12) a targeted deployment program for plug-in electric drive vehicles that is focused on competitively selected deployment communities – :

(A) represents the best opportunity to introduce plug-in electric drive vehicles to the market; and

(B) with the information learned from the deployment communities, will-

(i) will inform best practices for the wide-scale deployment of plug-in electric drive vehicles; and

(ii) substantially reduce the oil consumption of the United States.

What does every US President from Nixon through Obama (8 Presidents over 4 decades) have in common?

Watch this clip from Jon Stewart to find out.

History has never been so fun… and considering the subject matter, you’ll need to laugh!

The three-wheeler, which counts Jay Gatsby and Chuck Bass among its likely list of drivers, and has been hailed the “popped-collar equivalent of electric cars,” is the work of Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio.

The 75km (47 miles) range has been specially tailored to handle a full 36 holes of golf on one charge, while the 50 kmh (31 mph) top speed allows drivers to make stylish getaways after icing bros.

Other features include open side-paneling enabling a constant windswept hair look, a front grill that looks like a smiley-face facilitating anthropomorphization, and two backseats that can hold anywhere up to six bitches, depending on derriere-size and sobriety level.

With a shelf life of 800 recharge cycles, the Ape Calessino’s batteries are theoretically capable of lasting up to 15 years. But hey, what do you care when you can just buy next year’s model for a mere $28,000?

[Source: Greenlaunches.com]

623.349 miles (1003.184 km) if you’re the Japanese Electric Vehicle Club.

Packing 8,320 lithium-ion laptop batteries into a converted Daihatsu Mira (a heck of a lot of batteries for such a small car – but hey, who better to fit electronics into small spaces than the Japanese) the team made the record by completing 1,456 trips round a 689-meter flat track over the space of two days.

Driving at a steady pace of 25mph (40kmh) to optimize battery efficiency, the feat took approximately 27.5 hours and employed 17 different drivers.

With the achievement JEVC has beaten their own previous Guinness World Record of 345.233 miles (555.6 km) set in 2009 between Tokyo and Osaka.

Well, Project EVIE would sure LOVE to get its hands on a car like this for our trip. But then again, I’m not sure how great company a back seat full of laptop batteries would make. Unless you’re Steve Jobs…

[Source: Green Car Advisor]

A stunned Mr. Paul Hutton.

IN WHAT IS LIVING PROOF THAT THERE ARE INDEED NO EXCEPTIONS TO THE LAW, Paul Hutton of Essex, England, was recently pulled over, arrested, and banned from driving for 3 years after being caught drunk behind the wheel of a modified Barbie electric car that tops out at 4mph.

Penelope Pitstop anyone?

The 40-year old ex-Air Force aeronautical engineer had found the toy car at a junk-heap last year, and had been fixing it up since with the help of his 17-year old son. The day of the incident, Mr. Hutton was working on the pink-and-white zero-emissions vehicle while knocking back a few drinks. Elated at the progress he’d made, he decided to take it out on a test run. And that is where the trouble began…

Squeezing into the 4ft by 2ft car, knees under his chin, he cruised off down the road toward his neighbor’s house to show off his hard-earned handiwork.

“You have to be a contortionist to get in it, and then you can’t get out. It is designed for three to five-year-olds but I put bigger wheels on it.”

Mr. Hutton made it a mere 250 yards (which, at a constant speed of 4mph, would’ve taken him just over 2 minutes – about a walker’s pace) before a local police car spotted the offender swerving along the side of the road.

A brief, low-speed chase ensued before the police car placidly pulled alongside the would-be fugitive.

“The police car came up alongside me and the officer said: ‘Are you all right there, mate?’”

“There was a dispute between the officers on the phone as to what the legalities of it were. Then they decided I was to be done for drink driving.”

“I was taken to Clacton Police Station and breathalysed. Then I was taken to the cells. I knew it was daft but I didn’t realise it was a criminal thing.”

Mr. Hutton was found to be twice over the legal limit. At his hearing before Colchester magistrates, Mr. Hutton remarked that he was a “little bit surprised” by his punishment, but admitted he had acted like a “complete twit”.

Hutton was not the only one a bit confused. Magistrates’ chairman Neil Munsen commented, “This is most unusual. I have never seen the like of it in 15 years on the bench. The vehicle is not capable of doing the speed of a mobility scooter and could be outrun by a pedestrian.”

And as for the fate of the car? It has been seized and impounded by the police till further notice, though Mr. Hutton has high hopes to reclaim it.

Barbie says 'Drinking and Driving is not cool'.

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco

THROUGHOUT HISTORY, city-states have been the cradle of innovation. Athens, Rome, Venice: all have left their progressive mark upon mankind. Today, it is the principality of Monaco that is leading the way forward, with its tremendous support and promotion of electric vehicles, spearheaded by HSH Prince Albert II.

The small nation located in a small strip of around 2km squared in the southern Gold Coast of France has a historic commitment to electric cars that spans back two decades to the reign of Prince Albert’s father, Prince Rainier III.

Since the early 1990’s, electric Volta vans have been introduced into government fleets. Today they constitute 38% of the Postal Service and Electricity and Gas Company fleets.

Ten years ago, an educational initiative called Jeun’Elec was launched that introduces teenagers to clean mobility and gives them the chance to train in professions linked to EV development and maintenance. The annual Jeun’Elec Day sees students trying out electric scooters, watching electric car races, and entering a competition to win their own customized electric vehicle.

The country currently has 50 self-service electrically power-assisted bicycles (PAB) available in public car parks, with plans to install up to 200 more. And there are over 176 free-of-charge public charging stations, with a pledge to increase that number to 300 in 2011.

A generous 30% subsidy on the retail price of electric vehicles, tax incentives, and a 3,000 Euro subsidy on the Toyota Prius has fostered the registration of hundreds of new electric and hybrid cars, impressive for a country of 33,000, and making it a world record. Monaco is home to two major EV manufacturers, Venturi and Newteon, was the first location in Europe where Tesla chose to build a showroom, and will be among the first European markets to sell the upcoming electric offerings of Nissan, Renault, Th!nk, Mitsubishi and SMART.

This week the country held its annual Motor Trade Show, which since the year 2006, by the express wishes of Prince Albert II, has focused on ecological vehicles and renewable energies under the name EVER.

Prince Albert II was present at the conference and gave an extremely intelligent assessment of the current state and future of EV technology, as well as the actions he and Monaco are undertaking in regards EVs, as part of a speech delivered by live video-feed to the 2010 State of the Planet Conference in New York.

“Clean mobility has reached a new dimension,” he said, where we are finally arriving at a point where public interest and EV technology are advancing hand-in-hand. Clean mobility is capturing a wider audience than ever before, and attracting an “increasing number of energies and talents.” Human incentive is finally giving EV technology the touch it needs to succeed.

“I do not believe that technology alone explains such considerable progress,” he said. “In order to move forward, technology needs a context, demand, and economic and moral environment to drive and foster its development and in this respect we are at a dawn of major changes.”

Prince Albert recognized that it is economic, not moral or environmental issues, that will ultimately decide the success of EVs. It is not enough to merely proclaim the “idea of a world without CO2 to make it [EVs] possible,” nor is it enough to “measure the urgency of this claim to make this happen.” The “only thing that can motivate” EV adoption, is “the prospect of the emergence of a viable economic development sector.”

Part of this “dawn,” he argued, is that we have reached a point where electric cars have begun to make economic sense. “In barely 20 years, a major economic and technological dynamic has been triggered,” he said, and out of the “old, utopian dream of electric cars, has emerged suddenly a viable manufacturing product.”

The economic and energy crisis of 2008, he elaborated, has brought attention to the fact that the “paradigm on which our prosperity is founded is in need of an overhaul,” and has presented us with a unique opportunity to do so.

While stressing the importance of EVonomics, Prince Albert II also talked passionately of the moral obligation of governments, as “custodians of heritage,” to “preserve” this heritage by developing a more “responsible and respectful” relationship with their environment. “Changing a car is accomplishing much more than a technological advance.”

Prince Albert II outlined his efforts towards these goals as a “two-pronged” approach. Firstly, through the actions and initiatives of the Monaco government, and secondly, through the support and activities of the Prince Albert II Foundation.

Prince Albert II setup the Foundation in 2006 from his “personal commitment to broader environmental issues and sustaintability” that deepened following a trip to the North Pole that year during which he witnessed climate change first hand.

The Foundation’s purpose is to encourage “ethical solutions in three major areas: climate change, biodiversity, and water” by sponsoring projects it thinks can make a difference. Since its inception, it has sponsored over 120 projects in 30 countries and all continents. The work it’s supported has ranged from protecting tuna in the Mediterranean, to water management in Africa, and health assessments of polar bears in the Arctic.

Prince Albert II sees his efforts as part of a “global challenge” that requires the “cooperation of different stakeholders.” The environmental problems facing the world, he said, “do not have borders.”

We at Project EVIE can only applaud Prince Albert II’s actions and the example he sets not only to other governments, but to other people with his prudent and responsible approach to the resources and power he inherited in 2005. We also applaud the foresight of his father Prince Rainier III and the initiatives and enthusiasm he provided to the progress of electric cars and renewable energies.

Prince Albert II and the constitutional monarchy of Monaco give a good lesson that is sometimes lost in the fast pace of democracies: that the future depends on going beyond our immediate desires and short-term interests, “not just for ourselves, but for everyone, for future generations and for humanity at large.”

Anyone with a laptop computer, particularly those of us who NEVER turn it off and ALWAYS leave it plugged in, knows all too well about that 5 hours of battery-life ‘honeymoon’ period. Before you know it, 5 hours have become 4. Next you have trouble cozying up with it and watching an entire DVD. Then you can’t even take it out for coffee, too worried about how much power’s left, when the little bar will turn red, and the warning message will pop up. Finally, as your battery is in its death throes, a power outage leaves you scrambling to save your work and praying you will have enough time before everything goes.

Sound familiar? Well, electric car batteries are batteries, after all, which begs the question– can this happen to my car? Claims on the average EV battery life cycle range anywhere from 3 years to 15, depending on whether you’re talking to scientists, the car companies, or converted-EV owners. Folks, understandably, are a little concerned they’ll have to drop a few grand every couple of years just to get a new set of cells. Which would be a major bummer, considering how much money an EV otherwise saves you on energy costs and maintenance.

In response, some car companies are simply sticking behind their product, while others, such as Renault-Nissan and the EV infrastructure startup Better Place are proposing a battery leasing approach. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute however think they have found a different solution.

ChargeCar, an initiative of Carnegie Mellon, claims that by using supercapacitors and personal driving data they can reduce the load on batteries by 56 percent, reduce the heating of batteries by 53 percent, and raise the amount of energy recaptured during breaking by up to 48 percent. Pretty neat!

How does it work? By sticking a supercapacitor in between a conventional car’s batteries and its electric motor, and then installing a smart power management systems which uses a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI”>AI to regulate the flow of electrons between them.

Okay, so what is a supercapacitor? It’s basically an extremely dense block or ‘cache’ that has the capacity (or rather supercapacity) to store a $*%! ton of energy. Just so you know what kind of beefy energy box we’re talking about, they’re typically used to start locomotives, tanks (yes, tanks), and monstrous diesel trucks. They’re not chemical so they don’t have the same heat issues as EV batteries, and have much longer life cycles.

So why don’t all EVs use supercapacitors? With current technology, they’re significantly more expensive per unit energy than conventional EV batteries. Plus, even though supercapacitors can store a lot of energy in a small space, overall they can’t store as much energy as a series of EV batteries.

So how can supercapacitors improve battery life? Supercapacitors, in addition to approaching singularity-level energy densities, also have the ability to rapidly release this energy. ChargeCar’s idea is that by knowing an EV owner’s daily driving habits, the smart power management system can efficiently regulate whether the electric motor draws power from the supercapacitor, or the car’s batteries, and similarly, in which of the two is stored the energy recuperated from braking – therefore lowering the charge/discharge cycles of the battery and increasing its longevity.

Where words fail

Wouldn’t this be expensive? No, because even a very small supercapacitor can make a big difference. In a trial demonstration, the Pittsburgh team combined a 50W supercapacitor with a 25KW battery pack – making the supercapacitor 1/500th of the size of the batteries. Inputting a very simple program, they found that the supercapacitor significantly decreased the amount of times the battery was accessed for electricity.

ChargeCar plans to improve these efficiency gains even further by coming up with algorithms that tailor the smart power management system to drivers’ individual needs. They even hope one day to use the internet to take into account traffic conditions, weather, and even the timing of stoplights. Chargecar estimates that they could reduce the average Pttsburgher’s energy costs by up to 80%.

As part of this effort, ChargeCar is urging drivers to enter their commuting data on their website. Webgoers can also instantly calculate how much money they would save on their daily commute if they drove electric, and by how much stress on an EV battery would be reduced if a simple supercapacitor was added. They’re also holding an open contest geared towards programmers to come up with control algorithms for the smart power management system.

As chief researcher Illah Nourbakhsh, who has been working on electric vehicles since 1988, avouches, ChargeCar is not trying to develop new cars, but rather encourage the conversion of gasoline cars into efficient EVs with capacitors tailored to each drivers’ needs:

“Most electric cars today are being designed with top-down engineering to match the performance of gas-powered cars. Our goal is to revolutionize urban commuting by taking a different approach — by first analyzing the needs, conditions and habits of the daily commutes of actual people and then using this ‘commute ecology’ to develop electric vehicles suited to each unique commute.”

Toward this end, Nourbakhsh’s team has come up with a ‘recipe’ for gasoline-electric conversion that they say any mechanic can follow. The process, which takes about 5 days and costs roughly $5,000 (though they are hoping to reduce this with federal tax incentives), works best, Nourbakhsh says, on lightweight cars with manual transmissions.

Last week ChargeCar held a conference in Pittsburgh with a converted 2006 Scion xB on display and invited car mechanics to come and learn about gasoline-electric conversion. They have even received a grant recently which will allow them to train several of them in the process.

“The number one cost of electric vehicle ownership is the batteries. Smart power management will save money initially because it pairs a low-cost battery pack with a small supercapacitor. And it will continue to save money by increasing efficiency and extending battery life.”

The e6 – the highly anticipated all-electric vehicle from BYD – made its European debut today at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland.

The unveiling came as part of an announcement by Henry Li, head of BYD auto exports, that BYD would begin selling the e6, as well as the F3DM dual-mode plug-in hybrid, in European car markets starting 2011. This follows BYD’s announcement earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show that the e6 will go on sale in the US by late 2010.

It was the Chinese automaker’s first ever appearance at the Geneva Motor Show, but, as Li assured, it would certainly not be the last: “BYD is a feature of the Geneva show from now on” he told audience members at a press conference this morning at Geneva’s PALEXPO convention centre.

BYD is not the first Chinese car company to present at Geneva, however may well prove to be the first successful one. Its domestic rival, Brilliance, which displayed here in 2007, laid out similar ambitions of breaking into the European car market, however has not appeared since.

Brilliance’s failure has been attributed to their models’ poor performance in crash tests, and the company’s reluctance to lower prices (as their competitors did) in response to the 2009 recession.

BYD, however, is confident it will succeed where others before it failed. “In China, there are many automakers. Some are big and some are small. Some are government run and others are independent. I believe we are one of the best and we are a very serious company” said Li this morning.

The Shenzhen-based BYD (an acronym for Build Your Dreams) was founded by Wang Chuanfu in 1995 on a $300,000 loan. Over ten years it grew to become China’s largest manufacturer of mobile phone batteries, and producing over half of ALL rechargeable phone batteries worldwide. Applying its battery technology to cars, BYD Auto was founded in 2002. As of 2009, it is the sixth-largest car manufacturer in China, and exports cars globally to Africa, South America, and the Middle East. In 2008 it attracted the attention of uber-entrepreneur Warren Buffet, who invested $250 million in the company, buying up a 10% stake. In the beginning of 2010, Wuang Chuanfu was named the richest man in China.

Part of BYD Auto’s success has been on consistently producing reliable cars on par with those from bigger, more established car manufacturers in almost every facet except for one: price.

BYD’s innovative operating practices have enabled the company to significantly lower production costs on its vehicles. It produces 99% of its car components in-house, from the dashboard decals to the radio antennae, at a time when many major automakers are increasingly outsourcing vehicle parts. And it employs local Chinese laborers to put together parts that other major automakers produce on more expensive, machine-driven assembly lines.

BYD is pinning much of its hopes of cracking European and US car markets on the e6, its all-electric offering whose impressive specs have caused quite a buzz in the green car blogosphere.

The four-door, five-passenger car boasts a range of up to 250 miles on a single charge – the highest for any upcoming production-line EV. Its projected 72 Kwh lithium iron phosphate battery pack (the largest battery of any production-line EV) will be made entirely of recyclable chemicals, and be quick-charged to 50% capacity in 10 minutes. Performance-wise, the e6 will be able to do 0-60 mph in 12 seconds, and reach a top speed of 87 mph.

Some have questioned whether the e6 will be able to deliver on such claims, and more importantly, if it will be able to meet Western safety and driving standards. BYD, however, remains undaunted, and, as the e6 goes increasingly public, it seems BYD has every bit of reason to be confident in its product.