The City of Houston and Reliant Energy are launching a program to bring plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to the streets of Houston, to demonstrate the important role that electric cars can play in the city’s clean energy future.

Under the program, called the “Power of the Plug-In,” 10 city-owned Toyota Prius cars will be converted to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 10 vehicle-charging stations will be installed to power them. The Power of the Plug-In is designed to raise consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars and to promote Houston and Texas as an electric vehicle center. Seven of the 10 stations will be available to the public, representing the largest public charging infrastructure in Texas, the city said.

“We’re committed to making Houston the nation’s green energy capital,” Houston Mayor Bill White said in a statement. “That commitment begins at City Hall and these clean-running electric cars and the charging stations that will be available to all Houstonians will get us farther down that road.”

The 10 Reliant-provided charging stations will be located around Houston, with public stations at City Hall, the Health Department office at 8000 Stadium Drive and at the Mayor’s Citizens Assistance Office at 9615 Rustic Wood in Kingwood. Reliant chose Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies, Inc. to provide its ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations. Coulomb is a leader in networked electric vehicle charging infrastructure and its network will enable the city to administer consumer access to the public stations.

The 2009 Toyota Prius hybrids that will be converted are already used extensively by the city. The plug-in conversion module is the Hymotion L5 provided by A123 Systems, a leader in development of lithium-ion batteries for use in electric cars.

The converted plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can deliver up to 100 miles per gallon, helping to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Studies show plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with a 20-mile electric driving range can reduce vehicle carbon dioxide emissions by up to two thirds depending on the generation source for the vehicle’s electricity when compared with traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.

“We envision thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of electric cars on our roads in the coming years, making Houston’s air cleaner and the city greener,” Reliant Energy President Jason Few said in a statement. “Our pilot project gives both Reliant and the City of Houston the opportunity to learn more about the performance of electric vehicles and the needs of drivers while promoting consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars. Reliant is committed to making Houston and Texas the electric vehicle capital of the United States. We think big in Texas and we have big plans.”

Electric vehicles also provide long-term affordability, city officials said. While electric cars generally cost more to purchase, largely due to the high cost of lithium-ion batteries, the vehicles do not require typical engine maintenance, such as oil changes. Electric vehicles are also less expensive to operate because electricity costs less on a per-mile basis than gasoline.

Last week, Reliant and Nissan announced they have reached an agreement to work together to make Houston a launch city for the broader use of electric vehicles by the American public, businesses and public organizations.

The companies said they will advocate for policies that make it easy for consumers to make the switch from gasoline to electric-powered vehicles and will work together to establish the infrastructure of charging stations needed to support a critical mass of electric vehicles.

Considering how the desert challenges our green aspirations, it’s surprising there’s not already a reality show: Extreme Green — Finding eco-friendly solutions in hostile places.

OK, so the title could use some work. The facts remain – the desert is great for producing heat and making solar power. But when it comes to human habitation, it’s an air conditioning-dependent, rugged place.

They understand that in Palm Desert, a small city in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, which gets about 350 days of sunshine a year, endures four months of 100-degree-plus weather and would make a good candidate for the Extreme Green pilot show. Palm Desert both wrestles with, and accepts its environs.

“Palm Desert has a long history of interest in the environment both in energy conservation and saving water and respect for the environment,” said Lauri Aylaian, director of community development for the resort city of 50,000.

Let’s start with transportation.

Look around the town and you will see tourists on the main drag, El Paseo, browsing the shopping district from courtesy golf carts, residents running errands in golf carts and golfers in, yup, golf carts zipping around the environmentally conscientious Desert Willow resort.

In the 1990s, (practically prehistoric times in terms of the recent green movement), Palm Desert began a test program using the golf carts as a way to keep the town pedestrian friendly, avoid traffic jams and reduce exhaust fumes. The slow, emissions-free electric travel became so popular that city leaders later went to the state and won enactment of a law making it legal to use golf carts on the majority of roadways in Palm Desert.

“You can get to most places in the city using your golf carts, about the only thing you can’t do is go on state highway 11 that runs through town,” Aylaian says.

Not only was Palm Desert an early adopter of green travel, its neighboring Desert Willow Golf Resort, is greener than one might realize just looking at it, Aylaian says. The resort’s two golf courses use native landscaping on the land surrounding fairways, which is healthy for wildlife and water-conserving; irrigation systems use recaptured gray water, and the resort has applied for Audubon certification, available to golf courses that retain areas suitable for indigenous birds and wildlife, she said.

As for golf course water use, she says that the course defies the common conception that golf courses are water hogs; city surveys show that water use on the course is no more per acre than in residential areas. (Leaving aside that apples-to-oranges comparison, it’s safe to say that the golf course does far better than many of its kin, with native vegetation saving on water and reducing runoff.)

Many other activities in this vacation spot, just a few miles from better known Palm Springs, are relatively green pursuits, like hiking and biking in the surrounding San Jacinto Mountains. There also are hot air balloon rides offered in the Coachella Valley, and less-than green jeep tours (which Aylaian won’t dismiss, but does note that they occur outside the town’s boundaries).

But while Palm Desert displays many features of the usual glitz-plus-nature consumer-based vacation spot, there are more environmentally mindful — even ground-breaking — green developments happening at the municipal level.

The municipal fleet, including the service trucks, is almost 100-percent powered by alternative fuels. The cars and trucks include hybrids, natural gas and electric vehicles.

But the city knows the rubber meets the road when it comes to off-street power use, and has set up aggressive incentives for making buildings more efficient.

“Air conditioning is essential in the desert; same as in Phoenix or Las Vegas,” says Aylaian.

Palm Desert has confronted energy use head-on with a five-year plan to reduce consumption by 30 percent. Halfway into that program, the city is seeing results, she said.

A key way that the city fosters energy independence is through a direct loan program crafted by Palm Desert leaders and enacted into state law in 2008. Under the program, residents can use money provided by a city/power company collaboration to finance alternative power systems, such as solar photovoltaic rooftop panels. Once installed, the homeowner pays the loan back through an assessment on property tax bills, Aylaian said.

The “enormously popular” program, which is only available in only one other California city, Berkeley, is largely funded through a partnership with Southern California Edison and other power providers, she said, The initial $5 million and the second influx of $2.5 million has all been “been snapped up,” she said.

The money also can  be used to finance more efficient air conditioning systems, white roofs and insulation.

Like the golf cart initiative, the power loans required a new state law (AB 811 also known as the Energy Independence Act), which Palm Desert leaders helped craft and lobbied for.

Fortunately, the leadership of the city, founded in 1970, has always been environmentally aware, Aylaian said, providing the backbone for such changes.

“I think the city founders have long been sensitive to the fact that we live in the desert, which is a hostile and fragile environment, and they’ve been concerned with preserving the environment and developing a climate that will be attractive in perpetuity.

“People choose to spend a lot of money to vacation here, and it’s important that we preserve the desert and the natural attributes of the desert so people will continue to enjoy coming here.”

Palm Desert continues to look for ways, big and small, that it can make a dent in power use. The city encourages energy improvements by waiving permit fees for energy upgrades. It operates a LEED-certified visitors center and runs a trade-in program for Christmas lights in which residents can turn in outdated incandescent for a free new string of LED lights that use at least 70 percent less energy. That’s a way to light up for the season, put cash into residents’ stockings and still keep slowing the city’s electrical meter.

Residents can probably expect more green gifts from persistent Palm Desert, a city that’s growing comfortable with pushing innovation to get what it needs.

Take those courtesy golf carts on the main street. They’re not only emission-free, they soon could be carbon-neutral. Palm Desert has applied for a grant to develop solar panels for their rooftops, so they can recharge while on the go without using any electricity.

Already the city-owned courtesy carts are unique in another way: They’re completely wheelchair accessible. When the Palm Desert could find no golf carts that were already manufactured to accommodate people with mobility issues, it ordered them custom made.

Extreme Green? Bring it on.

(Photo credits: Palm Desert downtown, city of Palm Desert; Desert Willow golf course, Desert Willow Golf Resort; Electric courtesy cart, city of Palm Desert)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Remember those Hummers your neighbors (or maybe you!) drove heedlessly around town, burning through barrels of gasoline but rarely finding those off-road challenges for which these vehicles were created?

With the downturn in the economy and the uptick in carbon emissions, they became a symbol of SUV excess.

But don’t count them out.

Raser Technologies, Inc. has been testing electric Hummer H3Es and reported this week that they recently ran a successful all-electric 50-mile drive. That’s significant because battery-operated vehicles have been curtailed by short ranges of around 40 miles. New models under development are aiming for more than that in hopes of alleviating anticipated consumer concerns over EV range.

“I am very proud of our team and their work to reach this important milestone,” said Jim Spellman, Raser’s Vice President of Business Development, in a statement. “Battery range of this innovative vehicle was more than sufficient to exceed our performance target of 40 miles in all-electric mode. In fact the H3E drove over 50 miles using only approximately 60% of the battery pack.”

Said Raser Technologies chairman Kraig Higginson: “The Hummer performed beautifully with better than expected fuel economy and great acceleration. Most importantly, it did all this with zero direct emissions running entirely on electricity.”

The Hummer H3E, like other electric vehicles in development, relies mainly on the battery, but has a small gasoline engine that functions as an “extender” that is used to recharge the batteries. The H3E road tests indicate that it could manage a 400 mile round-trip, using the battery and extender.

Raser, an energy tech company based in Provo, wants its electric road power to be competitive with GM’s mid-size Chevy Volt, expected out late next year. But its powertrain will serve SUVs and trucks.

“The positive results from this test indicate that we can downsize our battery pack, reducing cost and weight of the vehicle, and still achieve the 40 mile all-electric range needed for optimized typical driving,” Spellman said.

Because these vehicles use such small amounts of gasoline, their mileage is expected to exceed 100 mpg; however, that number doesn’t factor in their total energy consumption. Still, auto experts say these types of electric vehicles, recharged at home using a renewable energy electrical service, can be nearly emissions free.

To see more on the Hummer test drive, visit the Raser website.  Raser, a public company, is known for its work on geothermal energy solutions.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Nissan has opened a chat room to discuss it’s newly unveiled all-electric vehicle (EV), the Leaf, with potential customers.

The car company’s also publishing more pictures of the family sedan, due out in 2010 and revealed this past weekend in Japan.

Many of the questions, predictably, center on the infrastructure to support electric vehicles. For instance, how does an apartment-dweller recharge the thing? There’s not a great answer for that, just yet; apartment building owners will have to get on board and provide parking lot charging stations. Nissan replies that urbanites might find some help at public facilities.

Tech firms that make charging stations, such as the Silicon Valley-based Coulomb Technologies, are just now pushing out the equipment that will support electric cars, with stations sprinkled across the West Coast. Once again, driving electric for early adopters may prove easier in San Francisco (where Coulomb’s ChargePoint  stations are already on the street) than in Kansas.

The US Department of Energy is working to extend EV infrastructure, and just this week awarded a grant of nearly $100 million to the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, to install electric vehicle charging systems and deploy hundreds of Nissan EVs in Arizona , California , Oregon , Tennessee, and Washington.

Which brings us to the other question that turns up on the FAQ, and will likely linger: What about the Nissan’s 100-mile range? The answer, for now: “Our vision is to constantly improve our vehicles to meet our customers’ needs.”

The Nissan answerer behind the green curtain also notes: “98 percent of Americans don’t drive more than 100 miles a day.”

A study released today by the University of California-Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology predicts there would be rapid adoption of electric vehicles, assuming the ownership of the battery is separated from the vehicle.

Overall, the study finds that electric cars with separate battery ownership are not only more affordable than gasoline-powered cars, but that incorporating their financing into a network service contract will overcome the range limitations inherent to fixed-battery electric vehicles.

The new study predicts that electric vehicles with this type of pricing will account for 64 percent of light vehicle sales and comprise 24 percent of the U.S. light-vehicle fleet by 2030. This level of adoption is made possible by the lower purchase price and reduced per-mile driving cost of electric cars with switchable batteries as compared to gasoline-powered cars.

The report, “Electric Cars in the United States: A New Model with Forecasts to 2030,” was authored by Thomas Becker, a Berkeley economist who specializes in international and environmental economics.

“This most recent study is fundamental because it shows that the economics of electric cars with today’s technology favor a paradigm shift in the automotive industry.” Ikhlaq Sidhu, Director of Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology and a professor in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department, said in a statement.

“A wide range of economic benefits come with price-competitive electric cars,” said Becker. “These vehicles make eliminating the U.S. dependence on foreign oil an achievable goal. Transitioning to electric cars will also create jobs, lower health care costs, and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.”

The study also predicts:

• A net gain of up to 350,000 new jobs by 2030 through electric vehicle adoption
• Reduced emissions by as much as 62 percent from 2005 levels when electric vehicles are powered by clean sources of electricity, even over a scenario of improved fuel economy for gasoline-powered cars
• Savings of up to $205 billion on health care costs associated with emissions from combustion engine vehicles
• A decline in oil imports of up to 3.7 million barrels per day, equivalent to the amount currently imported daily from the Persian Gulf region and Venezuela

The University of California study shows that the mass adoption of electric cars is a reachable goal. For electric cars to achieve this wide-scale adoption in the United States, these vehicles must be able to compete with the existing gasoline fueling infrastructure in terms of price, range, and reliability. Becker finds separating the purchase of the battery from the car is the most practical and cost-effective means of addressing these concerns.

First, not having to pay for the battery upfront makes the purchase price of an electric car competitive with that of an internal combustion vehicle. Given current battery prices and the federal tax incentives for the purchase of electric cars, switchable battery vehicles are expected to be $7,500 less expensive than a similar gasoline-powered car when introduced to the market in 2012. The total cost of ownership of these vehicles is expected to be between $0.10 and $0.13 lower on a per-mile basis than gasoline-powered cars, depending on the future price of oil.

Second, electric vehicles with switchable batteries can have a driving range comparable to gasoline-powered vehicles. Just as there is a network of gas stations, the study incorporates the cost of a network of public battery charging spots augmented by battery switching stations into the per-mile service contract price offered by electric car network operators. This business model innovation will ensure that a sufficient density of electric car infrastructure is deployed to extend the range of these vehicles. Through this system, Becker argues that “the overall range of electric cars will eventually rival that of gasoline-powered vehicles.”

Last, consumers must perceive electric cars to be as reliable as gasoline-powered vehicles. To achieve this, Becker again finds that the best solution lies in separating the ownership of the vehicle from the battery. By placing ownership of the battery in the hands of an electric car network operator, consumer concerns over the lifetime or durability of the battery are eliminated. Switchable batteries also allow the newest innovations in battery technology to reach drivers more quickly.

From Green Right Now Reports

Enmeshed in the worst business conditions in decades, America’s auto companies are trying to envision the coming world of transportation. For Ford and Chrsyler, the future is starting to look electric.

Both companies are pushing for federal funds to develop new elctric vehicle programs. Chrysler LLC has submitted a $448-Million plan to the U.S. Department of Energy for the rapid development and manufacturing of electrified vehicles. And Ford has also proposed to the DOE a national pilot project to promote the use of electric vehicles.

Chrysler LLC said yesterday that it has applied for two initiatives established by the DOE — the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative and the Transportation Electrification Initiative. Both are designed to speed development, demonstration, evaluation and manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs). The program would be a 50/50 partnership with $224 million coming from Chrysler and its partners, combined with a matching $224 million from the DOE.

“These initiatives represent how government and the automotive industry are answering the challenge of reaching common goals and demonstrate how rapidly this type of advanced technology can be brought to market in a collaborative environment,” John Bozzella, senior vice president of External Affairs and Public Policy at Chrysler, said in a statement. “Without U.S. innovation and production capacity, we will simply trade batteries for oil in the pursuit of transportation energy.”

If approved, Chrysler said it plans to use funds to build a test fleet of more that 365 PHEVs and EVs, as well as create a new-vehicle electrification technology and manufacturing center located in Michigan. The proposed vehicles include a Dodge Ram 1500 plug-in hybrid, a Chrysler Town & Country plug-in hybrid and an electric version of the Chrysler Town & Country.

Chrysler said it has established more than a dozen partnerships with city and local governments, research and development authorities, utility companies and universities to test the new vehicles. Through a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, Chrysler plans to deliver 165 Chrysler Town & Country electric cargo minivans for daily mail service in four regions throughout the country.

Ford’s proposed national pilot project for electric vehicles includes a request for a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support the project.

The automaker plans to supply a group of utility companies with plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and battery electric vehicles for use in daily operations. The utilities would develop and install “smart” charging facilities for the vehicles. The data from the vehicle use and charging systems will be shared and used to help shape the future power infrastructure needed to meet consumer needs.