Pininfarina B0 production schedule slips The Pininfarina B0 – that's B 'zero', not B 'oh' – may be a few months late. The word from Pininfarina HQ in Cambiano, Italy is that the start of B0 production is now “scheduled for late 2009/early 2010” rather then being a dead cert for the end of next year. First shown at the Paris Motor Show, the B0 certainly sits on …
While not overly attractive, and *not* something that I'd probably ever look at buying were it to become available, you have to give our Italian friends credit for designing something that doesn't look it was designed by an escapee from the 1950's on acid.
As so many others commentards have harped on about, why not design electric cars that are actually attractive. And if they can't be sexy, how about at least make them look somewhat ordinary.
If it can do 153 Miles with the Heater on Full in Winter and the Aircon on Full in the Summer and the radio, then it'll go far.. (well 153 miles is far for the average day isn't it?)
This one looks Ideal for school runs, and if they do a two seater micro version it'll make an ideal commuterpod.
I' interested...
Any news on Dean Kaymens Stirling Engined Electric Vehicle?
oh and btw; bye bye Ford GM et al, the dinosaurs are dead!
It's quite a tidy bit of work from the style house/ engineering consultancy that is Pininfarina, if nowhere near as forward thinking as some of their work from years gone by. Maybe the fact that it won't be wearing a prancing horse, trident or leaping cat has had the stylists less enthused.
It doesn't sit quite right around the front three-quarters and some of the touches are hardly original. But if it makes other firms think a bit harder then it's a good thing. Maybe then we'll start to see some really exciting stuff.
It sounds beleivable, although I wonder just how much useful energy those solar panels will collect. However, is there a coming problem with Lithium supplies. According to Wikipedia (yes - I know that el Reg considers this to be the greatest source of incorrect information in the known universe), then the estimated recoverable Lithium reserves amount to about 35 million tonnes (of which known reservers are 11 million tonnes). The US alone has an estimated 250 million passenger vehicles. So that's about 140Kg per US passenger vehicle. If we take that worldwide then maybe we are down to about 30Kg per passenger vehicle (if we look at known reserves then it's about 10Kg per vehicle).
No doubt somebody will should "Club or Rome" at me now - but before people see this as the saviour of personal transport we had better have some idea about the fundamental supply position.
*Capacity* is 30kWh. (peak power delivery is 45kW). 3Kw available from a 13A socket, plus 20% for charging loss = 12hours.
Now, if they gave you a multi-plugged cable, you could perhaps draw 26A, and cut it to 6 hours. In most UK houses, the ring main breakers are set to 32A, giving you a theoretical limit (without special wiring, like your cooker has) of a shade under 5 hours.
At 20p/kWh, you're looking at £7.20 a "tankful". If your eco-friendly friend visits, and asks to plug their car in - get them to cough up!
The article says that the capacity of the battery is 30 kWh. (45 kW is the peak power output.) And there isn't "always a substantial _loss_ involved with charging a battery". True for lead acid, NiCad and NiMH but Lithium-ion chemistry is reportedly very close to 100% efficient. So 30e3/(230x13) = 10 hours. Even if that's a little optimistic, you should still be able to drive it every day (not just every other day...).
If I bought one, I'd be off to Halfords for a nice little Honda Generator to put in the boot. And that's the problem with pure electric. Just like mobile phones, they'll run out at the just the wrong moment. Like when you're 15 miles from home and 3 miles from the nearest 13A socket. That's going to make for an interesting AA call. Now where's my Serial, Diesel, Plugin Hybrid?
Kamen's Sterling Serial hybrid is interesting. Especially if the Sterling engine can run on heat from a wood burning stove.
tho 153 mile range (at what speed?) 30-45 kW output, charges from a normal outlet...sounds to good to be true.
I wonder what happens in winter after a night cold-soaking at 30 degrees F or below? Or is this another toy fir rich elites who then spend more energy heating their garage to keep their battery box toasty at night?
If you left the Geny at home you could run it on Red Diesel!
Stirling Generators are starting to appear in residential boilers(see Baxi ecogen) which actually makes an electric car a far better proposition.... specially as Gas is cheaper (and microgen has no transmission loss!)
The Kamen Car definitely sounds interesting, as long as it doesn't try some daft balancing trick!
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
