Kenneth Watkins, an electrical engineer from Orlando, Florida, decided he’d like to make an all electric vehicle for his commute. So he bought a truck, ripped out the combustion engine and associated bits, installed an electric motor, controller, and battery bank, and voila, he had a great all electric truck.

 

Here are the specs on the vehicle:

• Motor: Advanced DC FB1-4001A Series Wound DC
• Drivetrain: 5 speed manual transmission
• Controller: Curtis 1231C-8601 (95-144Vdc) 500 Amp
• Batteries: 24 Trojan T 105, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
• System Voltage: 144 Volts
• Charger: Zivan NG-3
• DC/DC: Converter Power-One
• Instrumentation: 60-160 V Voltmater, 0-400 Ammeter, Tachometer, Controller Temperature gauge, Acc. Voltmeter
• Top Speed: 70 MPH (112 KPH)
• Range: 50 Miles (80 Kilometers)
• Conversion Time: 3 months
• Conversion Cost: $15,000

If you’d like to do a conversion, contact Ken at (407) 805-0766 or through his MySpace page.

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Here comes the Buckeye Bullet.

OK, it’s not a fair comparison, Tesla is a road worthy electric vehicle and the Buckeye Bullet is a single purpose speed machine. Back in 2004, the Buckeye Bullet 1 set and still holds the land speed record for electric vehicles at 315 mph (506 kph) at Bonneville Salt Flats. The Ohio State University College of Engineering is at it again this time attempting to build a hydrogen powered vehicle, the Buckeye Bullet 2, to attempt to set more records in August, 2007.

Who says clean can’t be fast?

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In what can only be described as good news for Polaris Geothermal, the dispute that began in February of this year over the legality of their Nicaraguan geothermal concession has been resolved. Polaris’ Nicaraguan operation, PENSA, retains full control over the concession and plans to continue development on the site in August. This will lead to the eventual operation of a gross 75MW, net 66MW facility.

Based on this news, a nice pop in the share price is in the cards for today. Polaris was most recently trading at $1.15/share.

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In a deal announced this morning, Ormat has formed a new subsidiary, OPC LLC, with Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. Under the terms of the deal, Ormat will transfer the Desert Peak 2, Steamboat Hills, and Galena 2 geothermal facilities to the subsidiary and upon completion, Galena 3. The equity investors will receive the benefits of the production tax credits at the geothermal plants and Ormat will gain cash proceeds from plant operations and will continue to operate the facilities.

Under the terms of the deal, Ormat will gain $118.4M from the asset transfer in two tranches, $71.2M now and $46.6 when Galena 3 is operational and transferred into the new entity. Upon reaching ROI thresholds for the equity investors, Ormat will have the option of repurchasing the assets from the subsidiary and will continue to harvest operating income until the capital investment of plant development is repaid in any case.

This is a smart use of excess production tax credits that benefits shareholders over the long term. At prices under $35/share, we continue to believe that Ormat presents an attractive investment opportunity.

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Marine Current Turbines has today confirmed that installation of its SeaGen commercial tidal energy system will commence during the week of August 20th in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen will be the world’s largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin, and will generate clean and sustainable electricity for approximately 1000 homes. It is also a world first in being a prototype for commercial technology to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years….

Read more…

Having now seen a number of different undersea rotors it’s clear that most are inspired by wind designs. However, given the different density and velocity of the resource (water vs. air) it’s curious that there aren’t more water specific designs. For instance, you might expect the most efficient rotors to mimic the screws seen on ships vs. propellers seen on airplanes. Perhaps one of our readers could offer an explanation for the design center choices around sea harvest rotor design.

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