JOIN GMS IN THE WAVE 2013

Green MotorSport is joining hands with the Growing Air Foundation "GAF" to wield a double -edged sword against climate change.
Both sustainable energy and reforestation are necessary to lower greenhouse gases and normalize weather patterns.   GAF uses 90% of its donations for reforestation.

 
Green MotorSport complies with the partnership parameters of the Growing Air Foundation. We have  a long history of demonstrating our green commitments and achievements towards reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.  For the past decade we have shown how renewable energy from the sun and wind can power our transport.

Green MotorSport,  in association with  GAF, will help plant trees in selected zones around the world.   Part of the funding raised by Green MotorSport for WAVE 2013 will go towards planting trees within the GAF program. Sponsoring Green MotorSport in the forthcoming WAVE 2013 will help GAF to undertake the reforestation of selected zones in Brazil.  Zones include 1500 hectares just outside Rio de Janeiro. This area is close to a community and is therefore a good place for promoting new tree nurseries for further planting. It will also act as a base for creating the possibilities for essential oils, fruit and nut production, affording indigenous people with a sustainable livelihood. Help us plant over 140,000 new trees comprised of 275 varieties!

The Growing Air Foundation is registered in Holland at the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce (number 34390296) and has been awarded the ANBI Status (8223.46.515) which means donations are tax deductible.

UK  INSTALLING ELECTRIC VEHICLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Electric vehicles can reduce fuel costs by 75%

Businesses that switch to electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles could reduce their fleet fuel costs by 75%, according to a new report on The Plugged-in Fleets Initiative, which is funded by Transport for London (TfL) and Department for Transport (DfT) and delivered by the Energy Saving Trust in partnership with EDF Energy and Route Monkey. Those organisations that operate vehicles with mileage below 80 miles per day would find that a pure electric vehicle fleet would meet their needs on a single overnight charge.  Participants included Boots UK, the London Fire Brigade, Network Rail, Surrey County Council, Southwark Council, Tristar, the University of Cumbria, Wm Morrisons PLC, and York City Council. 

The findings were unveiled at City Hall, London at a gathering of transport experts including Norman Baker MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, who  announced that the Coalition Government has agreed to provide £280,000 of additional funding to help a further 100 fleets understand where Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles could work for them. 

The Transport Minister said: “Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are an essential part of low-carbon transport.  With increasing numbers of models coming to market, and the low running costs that they offer, they will be ever more attractive to companies. It is also encouraging that infrastructure operators and suppliers are increasing the number and accessibility of charge points. This report from the Energy Savings Trust gives fleet managers valuable insight into how different vehicles can be used effectively."

UK Government providing 75% cost of recharging point

Drivers with plug-in vehicles are set to benefit from a £37 million funding package for home and on-street charging and for new charge points for people parking plug-in vehicles at railway stations. The coalition government will provide 75% of the cost of installing new charge points. This can be claimed by:

• People installing charge points where they live.
• Local authorities installing rapid charge points to facilitate longer journeys, or providing on-street charging on request from residents who have or have ordered plug-in vehicles.
• Train operators installing new charge points at railway stations.

The £37 million funding for the package comes from the government’s £400 million commitment to increase the uptake of ultra low emission vehicles and is available until April 2015.   Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said:  "This investment underlines the government’s commitment to making sure that the UK is a world leader in the electric car industry."

The future is for all types of electric vehicle!

There will in future be several types of drive train for road vehicles, according to the report entitled ‘A Portfolio of Power Trains for Europe’ analysed by McKinsey. They will include Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) as well as Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs).   The UK Government has given an interim report on its programme with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, H2Mobility.  An initial roll-out of 65 hydrogen fuelling stations could provide sufficient coverage in line with early vehicle sales, with the network growing to 1,150 sites to provide hydrogen for over one and a half million FCEVs on UK roads by 2030.

Green MotorSport Progress

2013 has seen a very promising start for our GMS team.  With the completion of several high profile electric vehicle projects in 2011 and 2012, for 2013 we are focussing the company’s  efforts on producing an exciting range of cost effective drivetrain technologies.  With an experienced team of highly qualified electrical and mechanical engineers, we look forward to releasing a new wave in powertrain technology focussed on material design, quality, cost, delivery and supply.    

The company now has a selection of  tried and tested lithium ion battery solutions made up of battery electronic management systems and single phase and three phase charging equipment.  Customers can have lithium phosphate battery packs made up to order for any size of project.

The products we have chosen to stock and distribute are cost effective, of high quality and from reliable sources. Lithium cells, electronics and drive train components have all been tested and evaluated by us for quality, durability and product conformity. Product delivery and reliability is our focus for 2013, so we can offer customers value for money and efficient support services.

GMS is also working to bring to market renewable energy technologies which will have applications in both the UK and in developing countries.  We were invited by John Carr, a Medic working in the far reaches of Kathmandu in Nepal, to join an environmental project to see if enough renewable energy could be gathered from the wind and sun in the region to power a medical centre and perhaps an electric car. Currently we have assisted with some professional wind and sun monitoring equipment and very much look forward to the results of the team findings.

Advanced Batteries : Food for thought

Green MotorSport is very impressed by the latest results of developments with lithium ion batteries by scientists at Stanford University.  They have set a world record for energy storage, using a clever “yolk-shell” design to store five times more energy in the sulfur cathode of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery than is possible with today’s commercial technology. The cathode also maintained a high level of performance after 1,000 charge/discharge cycles, paving the way for new generations of lighter, longer-lasting batteries for use in portable electronics and electric vehicles.   The research team, led by Yi Cui, a Stanford associate professor of materials science and engineering, reported its results in Nature Communications.

For some 20 years, researchers have known that sulfur could theoretically store more lithium ions, and thus much more energy, than today’s cathode materials. But two critical disadvantages prevented its commercial use: when lithium ions enter a sulfur cathode during discharging, they bond with sulfur atoms to create an intermediate compound that’s important for the cathode’s performance; but this compound kept dissolving causing problems and limiting the cathode’s energy-storage capacity.  Cui’s innovation is a cathode made of nanoparticles, each a tiny sulfur nugget surrounded by a hard shell of porous titanium dioxide, like an egg yolk in an eggshell. Between the yolk and shell, where the egg white would be, is an empty space into which the sulfur can expand. During discharging, lithium ions pass through the shell and bind to the sulfur, which expands to fill the void but not so much as to break the shell. The shell, meanwhile, protects the sulfur-lithium intermediate compound from electrolyte solvent that would dissolve it.  Prof Cui said “This is the highest performing sulphur cathode in the world as far as we know.   This is a very important achievement for the future of rechargeable batteries.”    The group’s next step is to combine the yolk-shell sulfur cathode with a yolk-shell silicon anode.  

Recent results in the lab demonstrate a long cycle life and impressive C rate for charge and discharge. These new developments fit in well with Green MotorSport’s design with low voltage drives as the cell formats could be around the 2-2.2 Volt mark, with energy density potentially of  3.5 to 9 times that of current lithium phosphate, depending on how they get on with production techniques in the next few years! In theory that's a staggering 400 to 1550  Wh/kg using the new format!   Currently lithium batteries are between about 90 - 155 Wh/kg, depending on the chemistry.

Can you imagine having three or four times or even ten times more energy available?   Just think about the impact on the car market!  A small compact low voltage 48V-80V battery system would be capable of powering a 26kW drive train for many hundreds of miles. The other important thing is that the materials are common place and the production is probably already very cost effective compared with conventional lithium cell production. The lower price of a much smaller battery pack will also affect the cost dynamics of electric cars. 

Lessons learned with Battery Management Systems

Trying to prevent any possible problems with their latest batteries, engineers apparently caused another difficulty with the batteries for Boeings’ Dreamliner. Could over-complicated battery management systems have caused a technical kerfuffle?  Japan's transport ministry said that safety inspectors had found no faults with the battery.  The US National Transportation Safety Board said that the battery did not overcharge and it would now widen its probe to look at the battery charger and the auxiliary power unit.  Keeping it simple normally works best!