Putting the zoom into electric cars

Watch out, Detroit. A new crop of electric-vehicle startups aims to put a dent in the Big Three by applying the latest in high-technology engineering and design.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/19/smbusiness/electric_cars.fsb/

Steve Fambro didn't get into the car business to save the world. He did it to go faster on freeways.

Fambro was driving 36 miles a day, during rush hour, to and from his biotech job in La Jolla, Calif. As traffic slowed to a crawl, motorcycles whizzed past in the carpool lane. He wanted to do the same, and after trying a motorbike and becoming worried about his safety, he decided he wanted to do the same in an enclosed vehicle. He bought a hybrid, but as an engineer he still yearned for a vehicle that got even better fuel economy.

That left electric cars. The selection was discouraging: tiny, boxy vehicles with a short range that took a long time to charge. "Anything you could buy looked as if it was designed in the 1970s," says Fambro.

So he decided to start his own car company. In November 2008, Fambro will begin selling the Aptera. That means "wingless" in Greek, but don't think this car won't fly. It's a sleek two-seat, three-wheel electric vehicle with a top speed of 95 miles an hour, and it comes in two versions: all electric and hybrid.

Made of a Space Age composite material, the hybrid gets 300 miles per gallon, while the electric goes 100 miles on a single three- to six-hour charge. And it looks great in the carpool lane.

For the first time since the early 20th century, America is seeing a flowering of entrepreneurship in the auto industry. Today at least 11 new electric car companies, each working on a wide range of technologies, have launched or plan to launch models. Several of the startups are clustered around Silicon Valley, drawing on the brainpower and pocketbooks of high-tech engineers and venture capitalists. These upstarts are not modest. They believe they can do what major automakers have failed to do: bring an electric car to the mass market.

Electric cars, to be sure, are not new. About a century ago Thomas Edison joined forces with Henry Ford to develop an electric car that would be as affordable as the Model T. In those early days of the automobile, hundreds of manufacturers all over the country tried to compete making both electric and gasoline-powered cars. But economies of scale were not on their side, and small shops - some 415 of them in 1914, each of which produced a few handmade cars a year - eventually gave way to the Big Three.

Photo Gallery: Electric cars made by small firms
The internal-combustion engine could be refueled more conveniently than a battery could be recharged, especially on long trips, and that advantage all but killed electric auto technology. Over the years entrepreneurs would occasionally emerge with a new design to challenge the Big Three, yet all failed. The two most memorable flameouts: Preston Tucker in 1948 with his Tucker Torpedo and John De Lorean, with his silver gull-winged sports car in the 1970s - both of which used internal-combustion engines.

So why does today's new breed of small, renegade car company think it can succeed where so many other auto startups have failed? The entrepreneurs and investors behind the firms point to four factors: consumer desire for measures to address global warming, an abundance of investment capital, new breakthroughs in fiber composite body material, and the availability of cheap computing power and software that help simulate design challenges long before new cars hit the road.

By taking aim at many markets, the electric auto makers are multiplying their chances of success. Tesla Motors of San Carlos, Calif., will sell in early 2008 a speedy $98,000 electric roadster for the Hollywood and hedge fund set (George Clooney and the Google guys have mailed in their down payments).

Entrepreneur Ian Wright, based in Burlingame, Calif., is also aiming at the sports market with the Wrightspeed X1, which he hopes to sell in about two years for about $100,000. The X1 prototype's three-second acceleration from zero to 60 mph makes it one of the fastest autos in the world - second only to the French-made Bugatti Veyron, a 16-cylinder gas-gulping beast that is just half-a-second faster and goes for $1.25 million.

If the Tesla and Wrightspeed give you sticker shock, don't worry. Phoenix Motorcars of Ontario, Calif., is aiming at businesses, and in early 2008 plans to sell a $47,000 electric pickup truck that can be recharged in ten minutes. For those looking for an affordable commuter car, Aptera's gas hybrid will be available in 2008 for $27,000, with an all-electric version for $30,000 (you'll have to plug it into a regular household socket for a few hours after driving 100 miles).

A Toronto company called Zenn sells an electric car and is counting on a radical new kind of power pack from a Cedar Park, Texas, startup called EEStor to next build an Aptera rival. And in 2006 a Norwegian investment firm bought Think, an electric car company once owned by Ford. It plans to launch the Think City commuter car in Europe in 2008 and in the U.S. market in 2009.

Dean Kamen, the Manchester, N.H.-based inventor of the Segway scooter, is working with Think to adapt his Stirling engine to the car, which would extend its 110 mile range. GM has hired A123, a Watertown, Mass., startup to supply lithium batteries for its Volt hybrid, due to launch in 2010. Former SAP executive Shai Agassi has raised $200 million for Project Better Place, a firm that plans to build a network of stations to recharge all these electric cars.

Driving this global network of entrepreneurs is a very global problem. In the U.S., cars and trucks are responsible for some 20% of humanity's emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide. Switching from internal-combustion engines to electric-powered vehicles will seriously mitigate the effects of global warming.

Skeptics point out that the juice for electric cars must be generated by power plants, most of which are fired by natural gas or coal and spew their own carbon dioxide. But 30% of the electricity on the national grid comes from clean sources such as nuclear, solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. According to a study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, using electric vehicles actually results in as much as a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases, depending on the location.

Few of these new car companies are aiming to grow to the size of Toyota or GM. Most will be satisfied if they can become profitable niche players; others hope to sell or license their technology to the big guys. Says Bill Green, a partner at Vantage-Point Venture Partners, which has invested in Tesla Motors: "No one argues today that the Tesla will serve anything but a small subset of the market. But it has changed the conversation. It is a historic and dramatic increase in performance. The big car companies will look at Tesla and say, 'Hey, maybe I can use that technology in my cars.' "

The rise of the jetpack
Venture capital firms are betting big on that outcome too. Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal, used part of the fortune he made selling his company to eBay (Charts, Fortune 500) to help bankroll Tesla Motors. Besides Vantagepoint, investors include Google (Charts, Fortune 500) founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Silicon Valley VC firm Draper Jurvetson. Tesla has raised more than $100 million. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer, along with other investors, has put $7 million into EEStor.

What has these investors excited is that technology is helping small companies rethink the dynamics of car design. Take the Aptera: This aerodynamic, low-slung commuter car has a composite body, made of carbon fiber, fiberglass, and Kevlar, that looks like the cockpit of a jet yet can fit two adult passengers and a child in a baby seat. It weighs 1,500 pounds, compared with the U.S. industry average of 3,455 pounds. Because it has only three wheels, the Aptera will be classified as a motorcycle in most states. But it's beefier than it looks. One inch shorter than a Toyota Prius, the Aptera can still fit a surfboard in the trunk after folding down the passenger seat. The vehicle has passed slalom tests for stability and handling.

Odd, delightful features abound. A solar-assisted air-conditioning system will run on sunny days even when the car is turned off, keeping the interior cool for the driver's return. The covered wheels hang on the ends of protruding axles, leading one auto industry wag to remark that the vehicle looks like "Batman's girlfriend's car." Fambro makes no apologies: "Most auto designs put styling first and function second," he says. "The way cars are designed, half the energy they need is just to push the air out of the way."

Fambro's aim was to change the styling to reduce the drag of the car as much as possible. He succeeded: The Aptera will have a drag one-third that of a today's average car and less than half that of the Prius, the industry champion of low wind resistance.

Fambro created his groundbreaking design on a budget. It would have cost him $10,000 a day to test the car's aerodynamics in a wind tunnel, so Fambro found some software - the same that NASA uses to test the drag of its space vehicles - for just $50,000.

Not your average GPS
The simulation lets him make a change in the style of the car and see the effect on drag very quickly. One result: The car has no side-view mirrors. Instead the driver has 180-degree rear visibility on a videoscreen with the help of cameras mounted on the back of the car. "Ten years ago we couldn't do that kind of testing. And five years ago we couldn't afford it," says Fambro.

His engineers can also use the computer to simulate 50,000 miles of driving, including over potholes, and test the stress on the vehicle parts. (A prototype of the car has been pushed to its limits on an actual test track.) Because the body is made of a composite, capital costs are low compared with those required to build a typical steel car. It can take as much as $1 billion to set up the facilities for the die stamping, welding, and assembly of a new vehicle, but Aptera can make composite parts with a tolerance of 0.001 of an inch quickly and cheaply. "It's an entirely new way of making structural products," says Fambro. He estimates that today's computing power is so fast that he can do with three employees "what a big company such as Boeing ten years ago took a few hundred people to do."

It's one thing to build a prototype; it's another to manufacture complex products in large numbers on time and on budget. Toyota (Charts), with some of the best auto engineers in the world, took years to work the kinks out of the Prius. Aptera must also build or piggyback onto a dealer network to sell and service the cars. That takes capital, skilled manpower, and time. Aptera's all-electric model should at least be very easy to maintain. It has no transmission, and its electric motor has only one moving part, compared with about 400 for regular engines. Its mechanics may need software degrees, but at least they'll have clean hands.

Even if Fambro succeeds in building an affordable, energy-efficient commuter car, the impact on the market, at least in the short run, will be minimal. He hopes to sell around 3,000 to 4,000 Apteras in the first year of production, marketing mostly to buyers in California, Arizona, and Nevada, and then ramp up to about 10,000 cars a year soon after that. Meanwhile, GM (Charts, Fortune 500) alone churns out about 300,000 cars a month. Fambro says he plans to build Aptera into a major car company, but like many entrepreneurs, he is willing to be flexible. "If Toyota or Hyundai offered to buy us," he says slyly, "we would certainly consider it."

Eighth wonder of the world? The stunning temples secretly carved out below ground by 'paranormal' eccentric

Eighth wonder of the world? The stunning temples secretly carved out below ground by 'paranormal' eccentric
by HAZEL COURTENEY - More by this author »

Last updated at 09:58am on 22nd November 2007

Comments (16)

Nestling in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy, 30 miles from the ancient city of Turin, lies the valley of Valchiusella. Peppered with medieval villages, the hillside scenery is certainly picturesque.


But it is deep underground, buried into the ancient rock, that the region's greatest wonders are concealed.

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Hall of the Earth: An amazing room built on the 'supernatural' visions of its creator


Here, 100ft down and hidden from public view, lies an astonishing secret - one that has drawn comparisons with the fabled city of Atlantis and has been dubbed 'the Eighth Wonder of the World' by the Italian government.

For weaving their way underneath the hillside are nine ornate temples, on five levels, whose scale and opulence take the breath away.

Constructed like a three-dimensional book, narrating the history of humanity, they are linked by hundreds of metres of richly decorated tunnels and occupy almost 300,000 cubic feet - Big Ben is 15,000 cubic feet.

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Light fantastic: The giant glass dome of the Hall of Mirrors

Play time: Children look happy in the amazing surroundings
Few have been granted permission to see these marvels.

Indeed, the Italian government was not even aware of their existence until a few years ago.

But the 'Temples of Damanhur' are not the great legacy of some long-lost civilisation, they are the work of a 57-year-old former insurance broker from northern Italy who, inspired by a childhood vision, began digging into the rock.

It all began in the early Sixties when Oberto Airaudi was aged ten. From an early age, he claims to have experienced visions of what he believed to be a past life, in which there were amazing temples.

Around these he dreamed there lived a highly evolved community who enjoyed an idyllic existence in which all the people worked for the common good.

More bizarrely still, Oberto appeared to have had a supernatural ability: the gift of "remote viewing" - the ability to travel in his mind's eye to describe in detail the contents of any building.

"My goal was to recreate the temples from my visions," he says.

Oberto - who prefers to use the name 'Falco' - began by digging a trial hole under his parent's home to more fully understand the principals of excavation.

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Breathtaking: The miles of tunnels enable air to circulate

House of secrets: Below this house is the Damanhurian temple which is one of the largest temple complexes in the world

But it was only as he began a successful career as an insurance broker that he began to search for his perfect site.

In 1977, he selected a remote hillside where he felt the hard rock would sustain the structures he had in mind.

A house was built on the hillside and Falco moved in with several friends who shared his vision. Using hammers and picks, they began their dig to create the temples of Damanhur - named after the ancient subterranean Egyptian temple meaning City of Light - in August 1978.

As no planning permission had been granted, they decided to share their scheme only with like-minded people.

Volunteers, who flocked from around the world, worked in four-hour shifts for the next 16 years with no formal plans other than Falco's sketches and visions, funding their scheme by setting up small businesses to serve the local community.

By 1991, several of the nine chambers were almost complete with stunning murals, mosaics, statues, secret doors and stained glass windows. But time was running out on the secret.

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Hall of Spheres: Creator Oberto Airaudi based his creation on wonderful visions

Bright window: The window decorations have a church-stained window theme

The first time the police came it was over alleged tax evasion and still the temples lay undiscovered. But a year later the police swooped on the community demanding: "Show us these temples or we will dynamite the entire hillside."

Falco and his colleagues duly complied and opened the secret door to reveal what lay beneath.

Three policemen and the public prosecutor hesitantly entered, but as they stooped down to enter the first temple - named the Hall of the Earth - their jaws dropped.

Inside was a circular chamber measuring 8m in diameter.

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Hall of mirrors: The hall has a classical Greek feel

Egyptian wall paintings: Damanhurian art is greatly influenced by both Egyptian and Celtic sytles

A central sculpted column, depicting a three dimensional man and woman, supported a ceiling of intricately painted glass.

The astonished group walked on to find sculpted columns covered with gold leaf, more than 8m high.

Stunned by what they had found, the authorities decided to seize the temples on behalf of the government.

"By the time they had seen all of the chambers, we were told to continue with the artwork, but to cease further building, as we had not been granted planning permission," says Esperide Ananas, who has written a new book called Damanhur, Temples Of Humankind.

Retrospective permission was eventually granted and today the 'Damanhurians' even have their own university, schools, organic supermarkets, vineyards, farms, bakeries and award-winning eco homes.

They do not worship a spiritual leader, though their temples have become the focus for group meditation.

'They are to remind people that we are all capable of much more than we realise and that hidden treasures can be found within every one of us once you know how to access them,' says Falco.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=495538&in_page_id=1811

Toward A New Generation Of 'Greener' Consumer Products

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071119111919.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2007)

Consumers will have access to medicines, cosmetics, and other products that are "greener," less expensive, and more environmentally friendly than ever before, thanks to new manufacturing processes now under development, according to an article scheduled for the Nov. 19 issue of Chemical & Engineering News.

The article, by C&EN Senior Editor Stephen K. Ritter, explains that the processes use so-called supercritical carbon dioxide, a phase of carbon dioxide with both liquid and gaseous traits and that is heralded as a nontoxic replacement for conventional manufacturing solvents.

Ritter notes that while supercritical carbon dioxide shows promise for carrying out greener industrial catalytic processes, it also can provide a means for replacing inefficient chemical separations.

The new processes help reduce the use of conventional organic solvents, reduce energy consumption, and reduce the loss of costly and sometimes toxic metal catalysts. These "advances may allow for greener product separations, which typically make up the bulk of the cost of industrial processes," Ritter states.

Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

Unveiled: Aptera Typ-1 100% Electric and Series Hybrid Vehicles

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/unveiled_aptera.php

by Collin Dunn, Seattle, Nov 19 TREEHUGGER


Ever since we first saw the Aptera, we've been waiting for this: today, the company officially pulled the curtain back the Typ-1, the funky three-wheeler with jaw-dropping efficiency stats. After some speculation about diesel engines and parallel hybrid modes, about how the prototype would hold up in a crash, here's the real deal.

Aptera will be available in two models: all-electric and series hybrid. The electric version is slated for delivery in 2008 with the hybrid model to follow (for more on the difference between series and parallel hybrids, check out our Green Basics discussion of the topic). The all-electric model has a range of 120 miles. The plug-in series hybrid has achieved more than 300 miles per gallon with a range of more than 600 miles. Both will be available for "less than $30,000," though exact pricing hasn't been announced. So, what'll that sizable chunk of change get you?

You'll get some pretty slick features, including solar cells embedded under the roof operate an always-on climate control system, ensuring the interior never gets too hot or too cold, and a computer-controlled “Eyes Forward” vision system. By replacing the side mirrors with embedded cameras that display a 180-degree rear view in the front of the instrument panel, Eyes Forward "gives the driver complete situational awareness without taking their eyes off of the road."

Fully refundable reservation deposits of $500 are now being accepted from California residents on the Aptera website. The company will initially deliver vehicles in southern California, then in northern California and to other regions nationwide; cross your fingers that we'll actually see these on the road before buying a 2009 calendar. ::Aptera via ::Business Wire (sub req'd)

Update: Check out the video below to see Aptera in action.

(::YouTube link)

Trumpeter Swans Re-established In Ontario, Canada

ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2007) — Originally native to Ontario, the trumpeter swan disappeared from Eastern Canada early in the 20th century. Restoration efforts were initiated in the early 1980s to reintroduce the trumpeter swan to its former range. Through conservation efforts the Ontario population has reached 1000, with at least 131 breeding pairs, and the future looks bright.

How the Swans Were Reintroduced

The trumpeter swan’s extirpation from eastern Canada roughly 200 years ago was primarily due to hunting pressure. Populations remaining in the western prairies were also severely affected by over-hunting and were eventually greatly reduced. These populations have since rebounded to the tens of thousands, while the Ontario population numbered 400 swans in 2002.

In 1982 biologist Harry Lumsden initiated the Ontario Trumpeter Swan Re-introduction Program.The first captive pair arrived at the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre in 1988, and were named Big Guy and Lady Girl (or Wye and Marie to some). In 1990, Wye Marsh staff witnessed the hatching of two eggs, the first trumpeter swan cygnets known to hatch in the Wye Marsh in over 200 years. A snapping turtle predated one of the cygnets shortly after hatching, while the other, a female, survived to affectionately become known as Pig Pen, who in 1993 raised the first known wild family of trumpeter swans in Ontario in over 200 years.

A recent report authored by Mr. Harry Lumsden, the coordinator of the Ontario Trumpeter Swan Program, has confirmed for the first time in the program’s history, the objectives have been attained in reaching a self sustaining population of trumpeter swans. At this time, records have confirmed that there are now an estimated 1000 individuals in the province of Ontario and an estimated 131 breeding pairs. Every healthy individual and breeding pair is an extremely valuable asset to the Trumpeter Swan Program as their success will largely influence the continuation of an increasing population.

Originally native to Ontario, the trumpeter swan disappeared from Eastern Canada early in the 20th century. Restoration efforts were initiated in the early 1980’s to reintroduce the trumpeter swan to its former range.

Wye Marsh joined restoration efforts in 1988 with Wye Marsh staff and volunteers monitoring approximately one third of the Ontario trumpeter swan population.

Swans of Wye Marsh

New to the Wye Marsh Trumpeter Swan Program is one permanent resident swan housed in the pond at the treatment centre. This swan is a male, named Roscoe. Last fall, Roscoe experienced a wing injury that has left him flightless. Although it is unfortunate that he will no longer be able to fly or survive on his own in the wild, he now has a safe place to live, and will be cared for. The swans living quarters provide them with a natural setting, which is also close enough to allow viewing for educational purposes.

Shifting Support For Swans

As the swans continue to multiply, there are some changes that must occur in their care, including a decreased attempt to feed swans throughout the growing season when a natural food source is plentiful. A decreased reliance on supplemented food during this time will encourage trumpeters to continue to expand throughout their range in a more natural setting, as well as to ensure that they are consuming the nutrients that their bodies require naturally.

The plan for the future is to only feed the swans in order to gather them together for tagging and banding. Tagging and banding is essential for a successful monitoring program and it expected to be done during times when swans are staging at Wye Marsh in late fall and early spring.

During the winter, Wye Marsh will continue to keep an air bubbler system running to allow open water for our resident swans and those swans preferring to endure local winter conditions rather than migrate south. Lake Ontario has provided a satisfactory wintering ground for many Ontario trumpeters for the last fifteen years.

Volunteering


There are a number of ways for wildlife enthusiasts to become involved in the Wye Marsh Trumpeter Swan Program. The public are encouraged to send in reports of trumpeter swan sightings. Sightings include all trumpeter swans, tagged and/or banded, untagged, adult and cygnets, and should include as much information as possible, such as location, total number of individuals, general comments about behaviour, appearance and health, etc.

Wye Marsh welcomes volunteers to the Swan Program to assist with occasional feeding and monitoring of wild trumpeters as well as monitoring and caring for the permanent resident swans, and care and recovery of any sick and injured trumpeter swans.

Adopt-a-Swan

Between 1997 and 2007, 51 swans have been “adopted” through the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre. Donations are encouraged and may be used towards purchasing feed for tagging and banding purposes, medical bills, treatment for sick and injured swans, population and other research, educational materials, swan pond and berm rehabilitation, and more.

About Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeters are the largest waterfowl in North America.
Adult trumpeters can have a wingspan of up to 3 meters, and can weigh up to 30 lbs.
Baby swans are called cygnets, and are greyish in colour, with a pink bill and feet.
Trumpeters are not bothered by the cold. They have near 35,000 feathers and a 2 inch thick downy layer.
Sometimes the head and neck of a Trumpeter is stained a rust colour as a result of iron deposits in the sediment and water in which the swan feeds.
Trumpeters feed on aquatic vegetation and wild grasses in their natural environment – bread is not recommended as a treat.
Trumpeters live an average of 12 years in the wild, and can live for over 30 years in captivity.
Adapted from materials provided by Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071108205954.htm