June 4, 2009 by Rob.

This was posted from the AustinEV group and is significant since stealthy EEStor could be a major playah if their stuff actually works.

Posted in Batteries, EV News, AustinEV | 3 Comments »

February 13, 2009 by Rob.

Should be a big deal…politicians, Li EVs, and (potentially) Austin’s first Tesla.  See AustinEV.org for details.

Posted in Electric Vehicles, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

October 30, 2008 by Rob.

Clair from AustinEV posted a link to the interesting gas2.org site.  They’re a automotive alt fuels multi-author blog.   I found their post about UPS’ hydraulic hybrid delivery truck interesting.  It’s important to keep in mind that Toyota is the only workable hybrid and there are some great alternative designs emerging (e.g. Chevy Volt).

If boxey and brown is not your thing, then consider Peugeot’s very hot looking concept diesel hybrid. A friend was asking me about this at a camp out last weekend and I had not heard about this offering. Looks like fuel efficient is starting to get sexy.

Posted in hybrids, ICE Cars, Alternate Fuels, AustinEV | 2 Comments »

October 19, 2008 by Rob.

We had a busy weekend out at the Austin Maker Faire!  As usual, it was a great event.  Better coordinated than last year and bigger too.  I liked the addition of the Robot Wars.

Alex had a great time showing people how to hack their Wii Motes and even got a blue ribbon!  We had some interesting generational challenges because saying “mod wii mote” sounds like “may we mate” to a segments of the population.  Technology brings so much new vocabulary that it’s easy to forget not everyone immediately parses “google blogs from blackberries.”

Since I was busy with Alex, the RAVolt was left with her EV friends in the other part of the barn.  It was nice to drop in and see so many of the AustinEV/SanAntonioEV crowd (Aaron, Chris, Brian, Gary, and Alphonso).  Since Aaron brought the charger we were able to drive electric both days to the Faire!

Posted in Pictures, Storyline, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

September 25, 2008 by Rob.

With the nice weather, I’ve been driving electric nearly everyday and racking up the miles.  Today the RAVolt’s Odo spun to 150500.  The amount of gas I have not bought is adding up - hahahaha!

Even with the stock market meltdown, Laura’s impatient to get our Honda Fit….tick, tick, tick.

BTW: We’re planning to be at the 2008 Austin Maker Faire October 18-19.  The RAVolt will be in the AustinEV area while my boys have a table hacking Wii Motes - bring your mote and they’ll make the “A” button glow.  Alex is buying all the supplies out of his own $$$ with the dream of making a profit at the Faire (DIY kits for @ $10-12).  Can’t argue with that!

Posted in Daily Use, AustinEV | 2 Comments »

August 16, 2008 by Rob.

Last year’s Maker Faire was a must see event.  The RAVolt and AustinEV gang are planning to be there again.   I think my (lil) makers will have their own table with Wii mods - so bring your Wii mote to get it pimped.

Posted in AustinEV, Planning | No Comments »

August 14, 2008 by Rob.

I’m dumping more of my AustinEV threads into the blog.  I figure my audience is bigger than AustinEV (sorry guys).  In case it’s not obvious, I do not endorse, support, or affirm Joby’s POV.

Comment from Joby:

It’s easy to say “We should develop alternative energy”, but how do you propose that would happen?   The PV industry has been working hard for that cost /KW manufacturing breakthrough that would make solar cost effective for 40 years with very slow improvement.  The Wind farms only work in certain areas and they are far far away from population centers which is why T Boone wants the Feds to get into the transmission line business and even if he gets it built there still has to be a conventional power plant idling on line to back up the wing generation because sometimes the wind just stops blowing like it did for an hour this last march which triggered a capacity emergency that came very close to tripping off large interruptible customers.  As Wind generation becomes a larger percentage of the total generation mix this problem will increase without higher levels of spinning reserve.

The bottom line is that the only economic alternative to fossil fuels, Is Fission fuel. Nuclear generation combined with an effective battery technology allowing more people to use electric cars that would be charged at night when demand is otherwise low is our best hope.

My Response:

I think the answer is the same as why we do EV conversions.  Many hard problems are solved because a wide variety of people look for ways to solve them.  We only remember about the winners.  Every EV conversion is a innovation seed.  Every EV conversion is a drop of water in a wave of innovation.  You pick the analogy… the point is that lots of people thinking = break through.

If EVs were all basically the same (like ICE cars today) then that would be a true waste!  I love seeing all the innovative ways that EV converters and *new* car companies are trying to solve transportation.  If you like cars, this is a great time to be playing!

OT PS: I don’t think that there is any clear winner (e.g.: fission) for power generation at this point.

Posted in Rants, AustinEV | 2 Comments »

August 12, 2008 by Rob.

AustinEV has been chasing an off topic thread about solar that I nudged into an ROI for conversions discussion.  I’ve been (trying to) think deeply about the balance between justification / enthusiasm for driving electric and the practical benefits for people who are not green zealots.  Generally, I don’t push EVs for people unless they are very passionate and I’m wondering if that is a mistake.

I’m still cogitating, but here are my posts on AustinEV…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Solar, Alternate Fuels, Rants, Green Tech, AustinEV | 2 Comments »

August 9, 2008 by Rob.

I decided to swing by today’s AustinEV meeting and it turned out to be a good thing… there was some confusion about the date and I was the only EV owner there for an hour.  We had a big crowd of EV curious (hopefuls?) and I love a stage!  Each meeting seems to bring out more and better informed enthusiasts. I hope some of them decide to take the plunge.

It looks like production EVs are about 3 years off so the urge for conversions will *probably* start to decrease.  If that happens, I suspect we’ll go from a conversion club to an driving experience focus.

Brian “Lasso” Lasseter rescued the meeting and we expanded the topics beyond just conversions to larger market trends.  I also got to see the excellent job he did with his Saturn SL conversion.  Very clean!  He chose 18 batteries (and gets 50 mile range) and also included an AC compressor.

Posted in EVents, Electric Vehicles, Pictures, AustinEV | 3 Comments »

July 30, 2008 by Rob.

Wow…quick response from the AustinEV team!  Thanks.

From Brian:

It’s Cupric Sulfate.  It’s formed by the reaction of Sulfuric Acid (in the air, bubbling off from the battery) with the exposed copper of the battery wire lugs. On the plus side… It’s no longer reactive after forming Cupric Sulfate, so it will not hurt anything.  And another positive, is that it’s the copper lugs that are corroding… and they can be replaced
much easier than the lead battery terminals.  

I do not think it’s a big problem.  If you were really concerned, you could re-tin the copper lugs, or put some waterproof paint over the lugs and terminals.  Waterproof paint would make it much more annoying
to change / remove your wiring at a later date though.   :-/

From Mike:

Try coating the exposed surfaces with vaseline.  It will keep the air and
moisture off and greatly reduce corrosion.  There are several brands of
spray on corrosion preventative, but from past experience vaseline works
just as well, cleanup is pretty easy, and it is cheap.

From Roy:

I get that a lot too, it does not effect conductivity for me.
I usually brusk off the powder with a stiff nylon brush and vacume it up.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Electric Vehicles, AustinEV | 1 Comment »