High-Speed All-Electric Sport Utility Truck

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                                                               Earth-friendly, fuel-efficient vehicles that produce no emissions may seem like a dream of the future. But several companies are already well on their way to introducing such vehicles in North America and around the world. Recently, more than 400 environmentalists, investors and celebrities gathered for the unveiling and induction of the only five-passenger, all-electric, freeway-speed sport utility vehicle at Los Angeles' famed Peterson Automotive Museum: The Phoenix Motorcars "SUT" or sport-utility truck.

The electric truck will be made available by Phoenix Motorcars for full release in 2008, but if you are lucky enough to live in California, a limited number of vehicles will be released to selected consumers in late 2007.

The truck has a top speed of 95 miles per hour. It's a zero-emissions vehicle with no tailpipe or evaporative emissions, no emissions from gasoline refining or sales, and no onboard emission-control systems. Like newer electric cars under development, this model can accelerate with moderate speed, from 0-60 mph in 10 seconds. High performance electric cars from companies like Tesla Motors can go from 0-60 mph in a whiplash-inducing 4 seconds. The trucks can drive roughly 130 miles before needing to recharge, but the company is currently working on an expansion pack that would extend the range to 250 miles.

The cars will sell for about $45,000 -- not a bad price when compared to around $85,000 from some other electric car competitors. According to the website for Phoenix Motorcars, the company specializes in "the mass production of full-function, green electric trucks and SUVs for commercial fleet use."

Charge me up!

The question on everyone's mind about this vehicle is: how do you charge the battery? It's accomplished with an onboard 6.6kW charger that plugs into a 220V wall socket. The battery operates in cold and hot weather and is expected to last more than 12 years. It only costs about a $3.00 to charge the battery, and it takes about six hours to charge. (A range of 130 miles for $3.00 worth of electricity is quite a bargain, considering it would cost about $30.00 or more in gasoline to go the same distance...)

The six hour charging time is typical for electric vehicles. The power is supplied through your household current, so the electricity could be generated by coal, solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear sources, depending on what your electric utility company uses. Off-board charging can be accomplished with a special charger in as little as 10 minutes, and a company called GreenIt is planning the construction of rapid-charging stations for electric cars.

Phoenix Motors is generating a lot of interest from consumers, and may start selling vehicles to the general public in the next two years. Actor and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr., has recently purchased one and sees it as the car of the future. "This electric vehicle is rising from the ashes of the failed electric car industry," said Ed Begley, Jr. "This is a cool vehicle. It is fast, green and attractive."

Phoenix Motors acknowledged their supporter, saying they were "so appreciative to Ed Begley for his tireless efforts in helping to create awareness, not only of this vehicle, but of the larger environmental issues that all of us face," said Dan Elliott, CEO of Phoenix Motorcars. "We're equally as excited to be working with a team of brilliant partners, Altairnano Technologies, Boshart Engineering and UQM Technologies."


The Phoenix Motorcars Vision

Phoenix Motorcars started out as an alternative fuel research company that planned to design commercial products. They hope to eventually produce 20,000 electric vehicles a year, but for now will have to settle with the 500 currently slated for the first production run. The Ontario, California vehicle manufacturer hopes to expand production to more than 6,000 in 2008.

According to Byron Bliss, Vice-President of Sales, Phoenix Motorcars plans to sell fleets of vehicles to school districts and businesses, government agencies and companies, such as public utilities, public transportation providers, and delivery services. Some government agencies already currently use plug-in hybrids.

The car company is planning to follow up the truck model next year with a sport-utility vehicle (SUV) that can go 250 miles on a single charge. The price to consumers will remain about the same. The savings passed along to the environment, however, represents a substantial gain. Clearly, if we are going to sustainably live on this planet while still retaining the luxury of personal transportation, we are going to have to shift to clean, green and energy-efficient vehicles. Phoenix Motorcars hopes to play a significant role in that future, and should they succeed, we will all share in the benefits.

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Phoenix Electrified
By Ron Cogan


You can’t look at Phoenix Motorcars’ electric sport utility truck without think­ing it’s sort of cute. The lines are clean, it has four doors and five-passenger seat­ing, and of course there’s that handy inte­grated pickup bed. Plus – and here’s the clincher – it’s electric.
It’s a given that small inde­pendent manufacturers just don’t have the resources to manufacture high-quality, stamped steel vehicles on a sophisticated chassis. Yet, that’s just what we have here in the form of the Phoenix SUT. There’s a story behind this, as you might expect.

The Phoenix SUT begins life as a Ssangyong Actyon Sports SUT. Never heard of it? That’s no surprise. While Ssangyong is Korea’s fourth largest automaker, its products are not presently sold in this country. The fact that the Actyon is completely unknown in America makes for a pretty exciting EV intro­duction. It presents the look and feel of an all-new, designed-from-the-ground-up dedicated electric vehicle model since no conventionally-powered counterparts are ever seen on American highways.

Phoenix starts with a glider, which means the vehicle is complete but with­out a powertrain or fuel system...just perfect for small-market electric vehicles. This is the way some had always envi­sioned production electric vehicles would be made outside of the major automakers’ camps. In fact, Ford had fleeting plans for a similar program in the early 1990s with a Ford Ranger glider it was prepared to offer EV upfitters.

Motivation is supplied by a liquid-cooled, 100 kW PowerPhase 100 electric traction motor and controller by noted component developer UQM Technologies. Power comes from 900 pounds of Altair NanoSafe lithium titanate batteries. Vehicle integration and testing are by Boshart Engineering.

The powertrain is no slouch, producing over 400 ft-lbs of torque and accelerating this electrified SUT from 0-60 mph in under 10 seconds. It features an electronically governed top speed of 95 mph with a claimed driving range of 100 miles. An integrated on-board charger allows charging in about six hours from a 220-volt outlet. Charging in 10 minutes is said to be possible with a high-power commercial rapid charger, although these are quite costly and there is no network of readily-available rapid chargers around outside of an unrelated test program in Hawaii. Even with its hefty battery pack, the Phoenix SUT still offers a 1,000 pound pay­load capability.

Phoenix is initially selling to fleets because that’s where the math works out. Since it’s a certified EV, the State of California provides some pretty massive incentives...enough to make it possible to sell a vehicle with $75,000 worth of bat­teries for $45,000. Of course, there is an expectation that costs will come down as the project moves along and battery prices diminish.

What’s next for Phoenix? No less than focusing on the hottest topic in the advanced technology vehicle world today – the development of a plug-in hybrid. Working with UQM Technologies, the plan is to add a small internal combustion engine, liquid fuel tank, and presumable a smaller and less expensive battery pack to provide reasonable range on electric power only, with the ability to charge the batteries from a standard outlet. Gasoline-electric hybrid power will provide a driving range limited only by the amount of fuel in the tank.

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With gas prices at $3.29 and climbing, I thought this deserved a bump.

[YoungTulsan]

I really wish American automakers would look into Volkswagen's success with their Turbo Diesel engine.  With decent performance, their 1.9L TDI engine powers Jettas, Passats, Golfs, and maybe Beetles (not sure) at over 40mpg city and 50mpg highway.  It uses Diesel fuel, which at current prices, is a good 50 cents cheaper per gallon.  That is not always the case, but when the Unleaded fuel goes into severe price gouging mode, Diesel tends to be cheaper.  When Unleaded free-falls by a dollar, sometimes Diesel lingers at a more expensive price, but if you are getting 40-50mpg, who really cares?

The TDI engine can also run off of Biodiesel, so if that ever became viable, you'd be set.

I really hope American automakers are at least attempting to develop something like this.  As it stands, I'd love to buy an American made car with such technology, but none exists.  Right now I drive a 4cyl sedan that gets about 22 city/28-30 highway, which seemed fine when gas hit $2, $2.50, and $3.00.  With $4.00 Unleaded seeming a possibility, a 50mpg diesel engine sounds pretty good to me now.

[Rowdy]

Even if you filled up twice a week for an entire year, that still wouldn't cover the additional cost of owning a $45,000 vehicle. Anyone who is watching their fuel consumption obviously wouldn't be driving a V8 around and the cheapest way to watch money is to buy a hybrid for around 23k-30k.

Prices need to drop below 30k for the mainstream to be interested.

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quote:Originally posted by Rowdy

Even if you filled up twice a week for an entire year, that still wouldn't cover the additional cost of owning a $45,000 vehicle. Anyone who is watching their fuel consumption obviously wouldn't be driving a V8 around and the cheapest way to watch money is to buy a hybrid for around 23k-30k.

Prices need to drop below 30k for the mainstream to be interested.

Electric vehicles do not require the maintenance like an infernal destruction engine. No oil changes, no air filters, etc. That amounts to a lot of savings. If these vehicles were mass produced, I think they would probably be in the neighborhood of 30 grand, maybe less. The smaller production numbers increase the cost. I wish Oklahoma would adopt Zero Emission Vehicle incentives like in California.

[Rowdy]

Ok I can understand on agreeing on 30K for one.  But you still do not save enough cash with oil changes and air filters for even ten years if you bought one for the above price.

[Double A]

I wasn't suggesting we would be seeing these all over the place anytime soon. It may be a few years down the road before they become affordable enough for the average person, but sooner than any other zero emission vehicles. If you are lucky enough to live in a city that uses these as fleet vehicles there is a pretty good chance that you would have an opportunity to purchase one of these used for much less when the fleet lease is up. They also have will have  a lower priced SUV on the market in 2009.                                              With all the CRV's driving around I bet these would be hot sellers.                                             BTW, if you have Cox On Demand and would like to see more of this truck it was featured on a episode of Living with Ed(#103), tune in to Cox channel 1 select the free zone, then the cable tv showcase, then hgtv, and then you should find the episode. The episode also features a sweet tour of Jay Leno's garage and car collection. It is available on demand till 7/16.

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McLain Students To Design Solar Recharging Station For Electric Car

Tulsa - Students at McLain High School for Science and Technology have been tapped by a Canadian company to design a solar recharging station for an electric car.

The students are in the Aerospace Applied Science Program at McLain. They've been asked by Green Wheels in Quebec for help in designing the recharging station for the ZENN Electric Car.

Recently, Skip Dunn of Green Wheels' Los Alamos, New Mexico distribution center, made a stop at McLain's aerospace lab, where students spent last school year converting a 1990 Honda Civic to run, powered entirely by the sun.

This coming school year, students will create a charging station for the ZENN that will not only recharge the car's batteries with solar power, but also protect the vehicle from the elements.

ZENN stands for Zero Emission No Noise. The car is a three-door hatchback with a steel-reinforced body that can reach regulated maximum speeds of 25 miles per hour and can go approximately 35 miles per charge.

For more information on the ZENN Car, visit www.zenncars.com.