Dutch Company to Produce Good, Affortable Electric Cars
Detroit Electric, a Dutch company, ‘announced plans Tuesday to produce affordable electric cars by the end of 2009, promising they will be much more powerful than existing models and have zero emissions.’
The company is talking to Malaysia’s national automaker, Proton, and two a German and American one. DE’s chief executive, Albert Lam, declined to name the other two companies.
“We believe in affordable electric vehicles for the public. That is our dream … to find innovative ways to counter global warming,” Lam told a news conference before journalists test drove a sports car, a sedan and a subcompact car fitted with Detroit Electric’s technology.
He said the car will use ‘lithium ion batteries and a motor developed in-house.’
“When people tell you it (an electric car) is not practical, that it runs at a slow speed and you can’t charge it, that is not true,” Lam said.
An AP reporter took Lam to task and decided to take a test drive. The reporter said afterwards that the car was faster than most gasoline-powered sports cars: he felt the car go from 0 to 100 kph in less than five seconds.
Although the engines of other electric cars are much heavier than normal engines, the engine Detroit Electric uses ‘is four to 12 times lighter than existing motors and has a much higher power-to-weight ratio. It can produce 5 kilowatts of power per kilogram, whereas the best electric car in existence can only produce 0.25 kilowatts per kilogram, he said.’
The car will cost $24,000; a reasonably high price in Malaysia, but doable in the West. Add to that the fact that the owner will safe considerably on fuel costs, and the Detroit Electric car suddenly seems like quite a good alternative to the fuel-based cars we all drive around in today. It is fast(er), cheaper, and cleaner. What’s there not to like?
The new company Detroit Electric is run by ex Lotus Engineering CEO Albert Lam. Lotus are owned by Proton, the national Malaysian car company. Hence Albert has good contacts there.
I met Albert to discuss a project (google: Motorsport University Malaysia) when he was CEO of Lotus. He was very polite, professional, and very direct when discussing revenue streams!
I wish him and his partners all the best.
John Mansfield http://www.slideshare.net/johnsean/motorsport-university-malaysia
Um, they’re only saving on fuel costs if they pay less for the electricity per mile than they would for other fuel per mile. And unless they’ve some new tech I’m unaware of, those battery packs will have to be replaced at least every five years or so at considerable expense. Li-Ion batteries lose about 20% of their capacity per year.
And of course the ultimate electrical power source used is what would determine the REAL emissions factor of the vehicles. Just because the car itself is not itself emitting anything does NOT mean it’s "emissions free."
I’m sure others can come up with more factors that should be compared before making feel-good claims. That’s leaving aside the "Oh cool I want one!" factor, which is considerable.
The best part of electric cars is that there are so many ways to generate electricity, many of which can run entirely on renewable sources. Wind turbines, solar panels (PHV, sun light to electricity directly), solar collectors which converts solar energy to heat that runs a Stirling engine/generator set, or bio fuels burned to run a Stirling engine/gen set, or a kite lofted wind turbine,… or any of a dozen combinations which require little or no fossile fuels. Even a mixture of 25% coal with switch grass as a fuel for a Stirling engine/gen set would reduce the overall emissions if the electric car replaced a gasoline powered car.