Back to the Future’ DeLorean electric car

Electric cars have been heralded as the motorized wave of the future for quite some time now. But for those who still need convincing, how about an electric car that’s actually from the future?

Alright, so the vehicle I’m talking about isn’t actually from the future, it just played one in the classic hit movie “Back to the Future.” The De Lorean Motor Company, started in 1995 to resurrect production of the iconic car, recently announced that it’s partnering up with electric-car startup Epic EV to ready an all-electric version of the DMC-12 for 2013.

The new model will feature a 260 hp electric motor powered by a flux power lithium ion phosphate battery — a combination that should offer a driving range of at least 70 miles on a charge. As for the price tag? Well, salivating fans might want to start saving now as it will cost roughly $100,000, though that might be considered a steal considering that one of the original models used in film being auctioned off in December is expected to fetch somewhere in the ballpark of $400,000 to $600,000. (who ever said car celebrities were affordable?)

Peugeot-Citroen, BMW To Invest EUR100M In Electric Vehicles

French automotive group PSA Peugeot-Citroen (UG.FR) and German premium brand BMW AG (BMW.XE) are investing EUR100 million in a joint venture that will develop technologies for electric and hybrid vehicles, the newly-created company said Tuesday.

BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification said it has already set up a research and development center in Munich, where BMW is based.

A manufacturing center in Mulhouse, in eastern France is being readied for production to start in 2015. It will manufacture components for the drive trains of electric and electrified vehicles that will be made and sold by the two companies, including high-voltage batteries, electric motors, generators, power and energy management systems and charging systems.

The two companies plan to sell the technology and their products to third parties as well as using them on their own vehicles.

Camp Blankets and Throws

Few may know, for example, that he is a native of Oregon or that he has collected antique fabrics and wool blankets since he was a child. “I grew up around Native Americans, and they always gave blankets as gifts,” he said. “I think the design of them is really beautiful. Even in college, I was the guy that had antique blankets on his bed.”

He is still that guy, but now the stacks of blankets are divided between his homes in Philadelphia and Joseph, Ore. And he is always on the lookout for more.

Generally, he prefers blankets made by small American mills like Warped and Wonderful, a one-woman operation in Idaho, and Kindred Crossings, a family farm in Connecticut that produces only 325 blankets a year.

In Manhattan, one of his favorite sources is Paula Rubenstein, an antiques shop in SoHo with a wall of blankets and fabrics spanning a couple of hundred years and many styles. And there is Ms. Rubenstein herself, whose enthusiasm for the merchandise she carries seems to be matched only by her knowledge about it.

“She has such cool stuff, I could go crazy in here,” Mr. Hays said. As he pulled out various pieces, Ms. Rubenstein offered information about the pattern or the weaver.

In the end, Mr. Hays bought two pieces, both of them “early Indian trade blankets,” Ms. Rubenstein said: one striped, by Capps, and another with a totem pole design, by Jacobs Oregon City, made in the early 1900s.

“I prefer blankets that aren’t in perfect condition, like this one,” he said of the striped blanket. “It has some fraying, and someone obviously tried to fix it. And look at these colors: they’re acid-y, almost psychedelic.”

Online, he found a Pendleton blanket that came in various sizes, for $218 to $338. Although it was “a vintage reproduction, which I’m not normally a big fan of, they did a good job,” he said. Most of the time, he noted, “when you do find vintage ones like this, they’re $1,500.”

While he usually gravitates to older companies, Mr. Hays singled out Swans Island as a newer company that met his approval, picking out a gray blanket he liked. “They’re very fastidious about the quality of the wool, about using natural dyes,” he said. “There are 15 colors in this blanket, but it still reads gray.”

An Amana blanket also made the cut, because “it’s from Iowa’s only remaining operating woolen mill,” he said, and it’s “done right by people who care.”

He added: “I love when you can blend grandma country in a clean modern environment. I learned that from my mother.”

Northeast states form electric vehicle network

Ten states from Massachusetts to Maryland are joining forces to promote electric vehicles.

The Northeast Electric Vehicle Network announced Wednesday it will work to help plan and install charging stations throughout the region as well as attract private investment in clean vehicle infrastructure.

Among the things network members will work on: the location of charging stations. Placing charging stations at commuter rail stations, for example, would allow commuters to park and plug, said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center.

"You can have almost a zero emissions experience if you drive your electric vehicle to a train station and plug in while you go into town from there," Arroyo said.

The network also will look into making sure car owners can upgrade the plugs in their garage with ease and will tackle other permitting issues, said Colin O'Mara, Delaware's secretary of Energy and Environment.

O'Mara said the network's goal is to "create the Northeast as the epicenter" of the electric vehicle industry by sharing what has worked and what hasn't.

Environmentalists and others are looking to electric vehicles to help cut pollution because about 30 percent of the region's greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, which includes highway vehicles as well as airplanes, trains and shipping.

The 10 states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Maine is participating in the Transportation and Climate Initiative that is collaborating with the new network, but is not part of the network, said Chris Coil, a spokesman for the Georgetown Climate Center, which is helping coordinate the initiatives.

President Barack Obama has called for 1 million plug-in vehicles to be on the road nationwide by 2015, and the network hopes to account for 200,000 of those vehicles. The network is being supported by a nearly $1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to New York's Energy Research and Development Authority.

Marc Geller is co-founder of Plug In America, an electric vehicle advocacy group. He said the network is one of a number of regional initiatives nationwide working to develop simple, clear guidelines for installing public infrastructure.

Once that's done, Geller said states can "turn to the real question of what can we do to get the public infrastructure in the ground as quickly as the Nissan cars arrive."

Geller said it was important to keep the needs of the car buyer and user in mind, noting that 90 percent of charging by electric vehicle owners currently occurs at home. Public charging stations could give electric car owners the confidence to venture further from home and educate others about the technology, he said.

"For many people, the public charging infrastructure will be an opportunity to see electric cars out in the wild, so to speak," Geller said.

Mike Tinskey, associate director of global electric vehicle infrastructure for Ford, said car manufacturers have agreed on a standard plug for all electric vehicles. The only difference now is the speed of the charging stations.

Tinskey said faster stations that can charge a car in 15 minutes are bigger and about 10 times as expensive as slower charging stations that can take about three or four hours. Ford, which has launched an electric van and plans to launch an electric Focus car later this year, believes the majority of electric vehicles that will be sold will be plug-in hybrids and fueling stations of the future will have gas pumps and faster charging stations.

Nationwide there are about 3,000 slower chargers, and the number of those charging stations is expected to rise to about 12,000 next year, Tinskey said.

Nissan develops 10-minute electric car charger

Charging an electric car may soon be as quick and easy as refueling at the pump.

Nissan, in conjunction with Japan's Kansai Nniversity, says it has created the necessary technology to charge the batteries needed by vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi iMiEV in a record time of ten minutes.

The findings, reported by Nikkei news agency last week, could represent a huge leap forward in public acceptance of electric vehicles, hindered to date by sluggish charge times -- a full charge of common EVs today can take up to eight hours.

The breakthrough reportedly came by changing the electrode inside a capacitor from carbon to tungsten oxide and vanadium oxide to improve power, reports Asean Automotive News.

Batteries charged using the updated system were complete in ten minutes, with no significant effect on storage capacity or voltage, the reports said.

Although it could take a decade to commercialize the technology, such a significant breakthrough could dramatically boost public perception of electric cars.

Last year, Pike Research warned that automakers could soon face pushback from consumers on the length of time it takes to recharge a vehicle, after some major names opted not to include charging hardware which could halve the time from eight hours to four hours.

"Some consumers are likely to feel they have overpaid for their charging equipment or were shortchanged with their vehicle," the firm said.

Last month, Nissan launched a new fast charger in Japan costing less than Y1 million ($13,015), half the price of its previous charging unit.

The new model is nearly half the size in volume than previous incarnations and can charge electric vehicles from multiple automakers, Nissan said.