Un nuevo vehículo eléctrico, del centenar que ya se comercializan o lo harán en uno o dos años, pero esta vez de la mano de Exxon Mobil, un gran contaminador y que hasta hace poco negaba el cambio climático, promoviendo el coche eléctrico y el ¡car-sharing!, dos medidas para combatir el cambio climático (que era un invento) y reducir el consumo de combustibles fósiles. Cosas veredes. Ahora queda que el Gabriel Calzada neofacha adjure de sus infamias y empiece a pregonar las bondades de las energías renovables.
Una alternativa de transporte urbano es el coche eléctrico Maya 300, que utiliza una batería desarrollada con el apoyo de uno de los más grandes contaminadores del planeta, Exxon Mobil.
Exxon Mobil financió el desarrollo de una batería de litio para híbridos diésel-eléctrico y sólo eléctricos, basados en un componente que se utiliza en la batería de los teléfonos móviles. El Centro de Ciencia de Maryland estrenó el vehículo eléctrico. Estará disponible al público en el año 2011.
El Maya 300 contará con una batería de iones de litio formada por capas separadoras llamadas “SuperPolymer” desarrollada por Exxon-Mobil. El separador es un componente fundamental en las baterías de litio, ya que pueden soportar temperaturas muy elevadas.
Exxon ha conseguido desarrollar una tecnología que soporta hasta 374 grados, es decir, 85 grados más que los sistemas de la competencia.
Cuando Electrovaya anunció en enero el desarrollo del modelo Maya 300 destacó que el vehículo eléctrico puede ser recargado en 8 horas con un enchufe corriente, lo que permite una autonomía en conducción de aproximadamente 200 km.
Exxon lleva trabajando en la tecnología Li-Ion más de 20 años, pero han sido muy reticentes a participar directamente en vehículos eléctricos, hasta ahora. Pero de perdidos, al río, y también se atreven con el car-sharing, y son los primeros en lanzarse al coche compartido con vehículos eléctricos, el colmo del progresismo verde.
El desarrollo de tecnologías necesarias para este tipo de automóviles eléctricos se han convertido en el nuevo objetivo de muchas empresas, entendiendo por primera vez la realidad del calentamiento global y la apuesta factible a nivel comercial de este tipo de productos.
“Cero emisiones, reducida velocidad y vehículo eléctrico“, ese era el slogan del lanzamiento del Maya 300 por el fabricante de baterías Electrovaya Inc. Falta que la electricidad provenga de energías renovables para cerrar el círculo.
El Maya 300 es un pequeño vehículo que, exteriormente, guarda alguna semejanza, sólo estética, con el Smart Fortwo. Está dotado de baterías de polímeros de litio con tecnología iBMS (intelligent Battery Management System), y sus prestaciones son de 190 km de autonomía.
Sin grandes pretensiones, pero con la suficiente autonomía y capacidad como para desenvolverse en las grandes urbes y llevar a cabo muchas de las tareas cotidianas. Está pensado como segundo o tercer vehículo, y puede recargarse usando un enchufe convencional, por lo que facilita su mantenimiento, y posee dos asientos.
El car-sharing es un modelo de alquiler de automóviles en el que el usuario alquila el vehículo por cortos periodos de tiempo, habitualmente por una hora. Es atractivo para aquellos clientes que quieran hacer un uso ocasional de un vehículo tanto como para aquellos que quieran un acceso puntual a un tipo de coche diferente al que usan día a día, o prescindan de tener un coche en propiedad.
La organización del carsharing puede ser llevada a cabo por una empresa o por un conjunto de usuarios que conformen una asociación democráticamente controlada. Hoy en día existen más de seiscientas ciudades en el mundo donde la gente puede utilizar estos servicios.
Pero el carsharing de Baltimore en Estados Unidos es la primera experiencia de carsharing con coches eléctricos, y como la promueve nada más y nada menos que Exxon Mobil realmente provoca escalofríos. Es como ver al Gabriel Calzada neofacha manifestándose a favor del cierre de Garoña o de la termoeléctrica de As Pontes por emitir 10 millones de toneladas de CO2.
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The Maya 300: An Exxon-Assisted Electric Car
ExxonMobil has been working with Electrovaya on technology for electric cars. If you’ve picked up a magazine in the last year, you’ve likely seen ads touting ExxonMobil’s research into lithium-ion batteries.
Electrovaya will discuss its plans for the Maya 300, an all-electric vehicle coming in 2011. The car will run on lithium-ion batteries, charge in about eight to 10 hours, run for 60 miles and plug into regular 110-volt outlets. It will cost around $20,000 to $25,000. An extended-range battery option will run for 120 miles on a charge and cost $30,000 to $35,000.
Electrovaya is a battery maker, but is also producing the car. When it was first announced, Electrovaya said the Maya would be a low-speed electric vehicle. These cars – which are currently made by Zenn Motors and Miles Automotive – top out at 25 to 35 miles an hour and mostly get sold to army bases, campuses and retirement communities.
Low-speed vehicles, though, sell in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, so the price indicates that Electrovaya may have lifted the governor (a feedback device on the car’s engine that can be used to prevent the car from accelerating too fast) and turned it into a delivery vehicle/town car similar to the Think City.
ExxonMobil makes the separator film for Electrovaya’s battery, called the SuperPolymer (what, no Duper?) Besides battery and battery capacity, it will be interesting to listen if Electrovaya talks about new materials to reduce weight and increase aerodynamics. In the automotive world, design has become what we call the third fuel. Both Bright Automotive and Aptera have made design and materials a major part of their strategies.
The company also plans to show the car at the National Motor Vehicle and Aviation Workshop taking place in Chicago, which starts on July 28.
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All-electric car-sharing debuts in Baltimore
Exxon, Electrovaya Roll Out Electric Car Sharing…Slowly
Oil and gas behemoth ExxonMobil has thrown its weight behind a project that combines two gas-saving initiatives: electric vehicle technology and car sharing. Before you celebrate this as a new push to cut reliance on fossil fuels, we should be more exact: If you think of Exxon as a 300-pound linebacker, it has just thrown the weight of its little finger behind the small electric car-sharing program called AltCar launched today in Baltimore with low-speed electric vehicle maker Electrovaya. It’s making a larger push for vehicle technology in general — outside of its deal with Electrovaya — working on synthetic blends and lightweight plastics to help improve fuel efficiency. As the Wall Street Journal put it this afternoon, “The Texas oil giant also wants to make sure that if you ever go electric, there will be a Tiger in your tank (or in the battery that powers your power train.)”
In a release today, ExxonMobil, which has a market cap of more $326 billion, touted investing some $500,000 for the car-sharing program and an accompanying exhibit. The program will for the first month have just two to three of Electrovaya’s electric Maya 300 four-seaters (introduced last year with a separator film developed by Exxon in its lithium-ion polymer battery pack), although the fleet will increase to 10 vehicles after August 1, Electrovaya spokesperson Evan Scandling told us today.
Aside from Exxon’s involvement, what’s interesting about the fleet is that it’s one of the first opportunities for regular consumers to drive the low-speed electric Maya 300, which is slated to launch commercially in 2011. It has a base price of $25,000, max speed of 25-35 MPH, and range of 60 miles. For an extra $10,000, the company plans to offer a model with a 120-mile range. The idea, as explained to Greentech Media last year by Electrovaya research scientist Edmond Lam, is to target the fleet market as well as mainstream city drivers looking for a second or third car.
In a time when a slew of highway-capable electric vehicles priced for the mass market are on track to launch in the next few years, Electrovaya is taking a different route by focusing on the more established but decidedly niche market of low-speed vehicles for public and private fleets.
As far as car sharing and electric demo fleets go, today’s launch is a modest trial (by comparison, the electric Mini E Field Trial is set to include up to 500 vehicles). Electrovaya says its goal is to “accelerate clean transportation as a commercial reality.” The company has won a C$16.7 million (about $13.8 million) grant from the Ontario government to do that through development of its battery technology.
When it comes to marketing the the vehicle itself, however, Electrovaya may have to hit the throttle in order to keep up with the new fleet of companies funding up with multimillion- and billion-dollar loans from the DOE to start delivering plug-in vehicles for the mass market within the next several years, and with the China-based automakers like BYD Auto racing to sell plug-in vehicles for well below the Maya 300’s initial price range.
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Could the future of petroleum companies be in batteries?
It is easy to understand why oil companies in the business of extracting and transporting gas are restless at the idea car makers are now looking into the electric drive as a solution to their woes. What is in store for these giant conglomerates?
The gist is that business models need to adapt and evolve if car companies are to survive, especially if producing electric vehicles, EV that require less maintenance during the first 50,000 miles or so. Oil companies are aware that one day or later, petroleum will run out and another means of energy to fuel our transportation will have to be developed. Different companies are taking different step. While BP and Shell are concentrating on bio-fuels that keep closer to their core business strategies, ExxonMobil has worked on developing advanced lithium solutions. Sadly enough, some companies are quietly shelving green projects after their much hailed PR fanfare last year, in an attempt to give the a green face.
From Oil To Batteries. If it raises a few eye brows to see an oil company spend resources on battery technology research and development, it should not be that difficult to understand why. The petroleum giant has been working on battery technology for over a decade and they have something to show for. ExxonMobil’s approach is different from the famous/infamous Chevron nickel metal hydrade, NiMH patent holder who has not made much progress with this chemistry. It has now been associated with the the movie: "Who Killed The Electric Car?"
Bringing Out Maya. So what has ExxonMobil to show? The all electric Maya 300, produced by Electrovaya, will be a neighborhood electric vehicle, NEV, meaning its speed will be no more than 35 mph, at least in the beginning. ExxonMobil has worked with Electrovaya to make the separator film for the battery, which they dubbed SuperPolymer.
While the Maya 300 might not raise the level your adrenaline deprived body, it is an interesting step forward from a company whose main business model is to find and refine petroleum.
Technically Speaking. The Maya 300 charges in 8-10 hours with a regular 110 volt outlet and should go on sale for around $20-25,000 in 2011. It uses Electrovaya’s lithiated manganese oxide MN-Series batteries. It will sport 12Kw/h battery pack with an additional 27Kw/h in the extended one.
The car will be initially leased to fleets, and a partnership with with the urban car sharing program, AltCar program has been announced for Maryland.
