France is to pump £260 million of state money into the development of electric cars, President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

During a visit to the Paris Car Show he said the money will be “exclusively for the research and development of non-polluting vehicles” over four years.

The money will come from funds already earmarked for environmental projects.

Mr Sarkozy said he will propose that other European countries encourage European Investment Bank loans to car makers for developing lower emission vehicles.

His comments came as French carmaker Renault and Electrite de France agreed to jointly develop infrastructure needed to recharge electric vehicles, allowing a vehicle launch in 2011.

By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU

SHENZHEN, China — BYD Auto Co. is expected to unveil here Sunday what it claims as China’s first mass-produced electric vehicle, the BYD F3DM — one key reason why the investor Warren E. Buffett invested $230 million to take a 10% stake in BYD Auto’s parent company.

Shenzhen City Mayor Xu Zongheng said Saturday the 2008 China High-tech Fair, opening here Sunday, will showcase, among other “innovative achievements” by Chinese companies, the F3DM, an electric car the home-grown auto maker is planning to launch in China by the end of November, pending government approval.

The F3DM (DM stands for dual mode) is an electric vehicle with a small gasoline combustion engine on board to charge the car’s battery when it runs out or assist the electric engine when accelerating. The car, capable of going as far as 100 to 110 kilometers all on electricity when fully charged, is similar in design to the much-hyped Chevy Volt, which General Motors Corp. is scrambling to launch by the end of 2010.

With the F3DM, BYD is launching a so-called plug-in hybrid electric car two years ahead of GM and Toyota Motor Corp, the two global automotive giants that have pledged to come up with similar green cars by 2010. Both GM and Toyota say they are taking more time to make sure lithium-ion batteries they are using for their electric cars are safe.

BYD uses iron-phosphate-based lithium-ion batteries, which it claims it has developed on its own, for the F3DM. Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD Co. — the auto maker’s parent company, said those batteries are “inherently safe” because they are more chemically stable, although they compromise to some extent the ability to pack energy in each cell, compared with more conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Mr. Wang declined to provide a sales target or a price range for the new electric car, but he had said at an industry conference in Beijing earlier this year that the car could carry a price tag of about 150,000 Yuan to make the car comparatively more affordable.

This ability by BYD to offer a green car at an affordable price is one of the several factors that have spurred MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., 87.4% of which Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns, to invest in BYD. According to BYD’s Mr. Wang, the company may accelerate its plans for entering the U.S. and European markets by using MidAmerican Energy’s money. It wasn’t clear immediately when BYD plans to launch products in the U.S. and European markets, however.

The Shenzhen company, better known for being a top global producer of rechargeable batteries for cell phones and other devices, began producing cars in 2005. It has since become one of China’s fast-growing home-grown brands with the gasoline-powered F3 compact sedan.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2008) — Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.

The inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8 percent efficiency was measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. One sun is about the amount of light that typically hits Earth on a sunny day. The new cell is a natural candidate for the space satellite market and for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto the solar cells.

The new solar cell differs significantly from the previous record holder – also based on a NREL design. Instead of using a germanium wafer as the bottom junction of the device, the new design uses compositions of gallium indium phosphide and gallium indium arsenide to split the solar spectrum into three equal parts that are absorbed by each of the cell’s three junctions for higher potential efficiencies. This is accomplished by growing the solar cell on a gallium arsenide wafer, flipping it over, then removing the wafer. The resulting device is extremely thin and light and represents a new class of solar cells with advantages in performance, design, operation and cost.

NREL’s Mark Wanlass invented the original inverted cell, which recently won a R&D 100 award. His design was modified by a team led by John Geisz that further optimized the junction energies by making the middle junction metamorphic as well as the bottom junction. Metamorphic junctions are lattice mismatched – their atoms don’t line up. The material properties of the mismatched semiconductors allows for greater potential conversion of sunlight.

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle.

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ScienceDaily (2008-09-30) — Scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.

PRESS RELEASE
April 8, 2008
Contact: S.T. Tripathi
10355 S. Progress Way
Parker, CO 80134
303.646.8810
1.866.899.8810

PARKER, CO. ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANUFACTURING COMES TO COLORADO.

S.T. Tripathi today announced that Electric City Motors North America has been issued a State of Colorado Manufacturing License. Electric City Motors will now move forward with North American manufacturing of its one of a kind electric highway vehicle, the Current, and will have dealers in Colorado and Florida very soon.

The Current has passed the highway crash test in order to be approved for highway driving. This vehicle will travel up to 75 mph with a 0-60 speed of 4.9 seconds.

When you drive this car it will feel like you have the power of a V-8 under the hood.

This is a 4-door front wheel drive sedan with: driver and passenger air bags; air conditioning,
heating system, and power locks all as standard equipment. The Current will also come in the following colors: white, red, light blue, dark blue, yellow, black, silver, and green. Customers will be able to upgrade to leather interior if ordered.

A complete charge of this electric vehicle will take a maximum of 1-2 hours and provide up to 200
miles traveling time. With most people traveling 29 miles or less commuting to work, this vehicle will
provide transportation for the week without having to recharge. The investment to charge this vehicle is only 2(two) cents per mile compared to an average 35 cents per mile investment with the average gasoline powered vehicle. In simpler terms, the average person spends 18 times more to drive their present vehicle.

Zero maintenance cost and zero emissions from the Current are two of the major benefits of
owning this vehicle in addition to the fuel cost savings. Also, owners of this vehicle can say goodbye to the thousands of dollars in depreciation they incur as soon as they drive their gas-powered vehicle off the dealer lot.

The Current, with air conditioning, will retail for $28,995. Vehicles will begin arriving in 90 days
and deposits are currently being taken at Colorado Auto Connection in Parker, Colorado.

Florida school district receives hybrid school buses.(Industry Report)

Source: Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Today

Publication Date: 12-MAR-07

The School District of Manatee County in Bradenton, Fla., will become the first school district in the country to receive hybrid school buses through the Plug-In Hybrid Electric School Bus Project.

Manatee School District’s two hybrid school buses are part of the 19 hybrid buses awarded nationwide by Advanced Energy, a non-profit corporation that initiated a buyer’s consortium of school districts, state energy agencies and student transportation providers.

The hybrid school buses provide 70%-100% better fuel economy and a 90% reduction in diesel engine emissions.

The buses use Enova’s charge depleting system. With an overnight charge, the system uses a larger battery based on advanced battery chemistry that provides stored energy intended to be drawn down over the driving cycle, thus optimizing fuel economy.

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