EV Business

Sherry Boschert has an interesting blog post about Aurica Labs and their bid to take over the NUMMI plant. See: Media Watchdog Just Licking Its Balls The NUMMI plant is near me (in Fremont) and is due to shut down in two weeks as Toyota and GM pull out. It's the only automotive factory west of the Mississippi and there is some local angst over the plant closing. However it's a kind of relic in Silicon Valley as the typical employment here is high tech, not factory workers. Also it's an expensive place to run a factory because of the high land cost and high cost of living.

In any case last week a bunch of noise was going around because of Aurica Labs claiming they would make a bid to take over this plant. Sherry's post lists a litany of "news" sites that simply repeated Aurica's claims -- Motor Trend, Autobloggreen, Green Car Congress, and Gas 2.0

FYI I was on the EVCAST (evcast.org) on Saturday, and we discussed this story. The thing is that the Aurica Motors website looks pretty good except the information is pretty scant and you can't make much of their claim to have an advanced EV design. However once we found the Aurica Labs website - well, that website is a blast from the past with a 1995 style web design. Reading even just a bit of that site made it clear there was next to no credibility to this story, and that Aurica is likely blowing smoke and trying to make some kind of scam.

She pointed to these articles as being properly questioning ...
http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1043313_ev-startup-aurica-motors-dreams-of-keeping-nummi-alive
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2010/03/would-be-ev-makers-plan-to-save-nummi-auto-plant-a-long-shot-at-best.html

Since there are sometimes scams floating around the EV landscape it's useful to look at this one.

First - the Aurica Motors site is very nonspecific while sounding specific.

Second - They made a big claim about a breakthrough controller. While there can be breakthroughs it'd be more believable with some solid information.

Third - The Labs website was all over the place talking about a whole range of unrelated projects. The closest to an EV sedan was an EV race car with odd claims all over the place.

Fourth - The poor design quality of the Labs site is a big red flag. It's style fits someone who doesn't have web skills which would match up with a tech guy developing a design. But it's style is out of place next to the good design sense of the Motors website. Plausibly possibly the guy running the Labs operation found some investors and got money to hire a proper web design shop and that could explain the huge gap in website design quality. It's just a red flag.

Fifth - Uh, I don't remember.

Cross posted from DIY Electric Car. These typically go fast and we give priority on a first come first served basis and will only commit the cells to you upon receipt of payment. Enjoy... Mike

We have finished the bulk of shipping from the current container and filled all of the orders that can be filled from available stock.

Here are the cells in stock that do not match any current orders.

These cells are available for immediate shipping from our warehouse in Lacey Washington.

ThunderSky 60 Ah = 49 cells
ThunderSky 90 Ah = 10 cells
ThunderSky 100 Ah = 14 cells
ThunderSky 160 Ah = 3 cells
ThunderSky 200 Ah = 28 cells

Sky Energy 40 Ah = 42 cells
Sky Energy 60 Ah = 14 cells
Sky Energy 100 Ah = 25 cells
Sky Energy 180 Ah = 94 cells

Contact either Mike Willmon or James Morrison if you are interested.
mike@evcomponents.com
james@evcomponents.com

These will likely go quickly. First come first serve.

Thanks,
James Morrison
EV Components

Fallbrook’s IPO: The Bicycle Tech Maker Looks to Electric Vehicles
http://earth2tech.com/2010/02/18/fallbrooks-ipo-the-bicycle-tech-maker-looks-to-electric-vehicles/

Fallbrook is the maker of the NuVinci CVT hub ... It hasn't been widely used in bicycles. I'd thought it was because of the price but the article implies it's more due to unfortunate choice in manufacturers. In any case they've filed for an IPO. Further they contend the design can be used for more than just bicycles.

e.g. Wind turbines. I talked with a Fallbrook person at Interbike last fall and was told they'd had a spin off company, Viryd Technologies, that specializes in using the CVT in wind turbines.

Timelines: Fallbrook expects production of the N360 for bicycles as well as the NuVinci CVT for small wind turbines to kick off in 2010. It expects to launch production for electric vehicles and other applications in 2011, “using one or more contract manufacturers.”

A small, twin-engined Cessna crashed this morning in an East Palo Alto neighborhood, killing all three passengers on board. According to reports, the plane was owned by Doug Bourn, a senior electrical engineer for Tesla Motors, and all three occupants were high-ranking officials at the electric car company. Authorities have not yet named the deceased.

*UPDATE: Fox News reports Elon Musk was not on the plane

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/02/17/breaking-three-tesla-executives-die-in-palo-alto-plan-crash/

Hi all,

I and a team of students are developing the "Payton Drive" modules I posted information about late last year. Here's a link to the team page: https://sites.google.com/a/uw.edu/e-dubs/home

Here's the original link I posted. Click Here.

Electric Bicycles Gain Traction At Beach
http://cbs2.com/local/electric.bike.newport.2.1470304.html

Maybe this really will be the year electric bicycle sales break out?

Don DiConstanzo (CEO of Pedego) referred to this article on a tidalforce focused mailing list. In his email he claimed that they had a "record sales month" in Jan 2010.

Electric supermotorcycle maker Mission Motors pondering a deal with Chinese motorcycle company ... a real head scratcher that one...

http://jobview.monster.com/GetJob.aspx?JobID=85854152&from=indeed

Company Vectrix
Location New Bedford, MA 02745
Industries Engineering Services
Job Type Full Time Employee
Years of Experience 7+​ to 10 Years
Education Level Bachelor's Degree
Career Level Experienced (Non-Manager)
Salary 75,000.​00 - 100,000.​00 USD /​year

Senior Electrical Engineer
About the Job
Hands on product development engineer experienced with analog & digital circuit design, hardware assembly, testing & troubleshooting. Power electronics design, CANbus & microprocessor experience are pluses.Develop & maintain component & system software in Assembly & C languages. Proficient with OrCAD circuit design suite or equivalent. Ability to document work product in the form of schematics, circuit board layouts, BOM, test procedures & test reports.

Self starter who is comfortable in a small development team environment. Applications include electric vehicle ( EV ) drive train, battery management systems and EV system control. Experience in desgin for electromagnetic compatibility ( EMC ) and testing a plus.

Benefits include HMO, dental disability and life insurance. Partial match 401K and vacation offered. Company is located in the New Bedford Commerce Park. Our mission is the design, development and manufacturing of electric transportation products.

I haven't listened to thos in total yet - but the first five minutes are very insightful and there's another 40 minutes to go. The story he's talking is 'peak oil' but he explains it as an economist.

It's not that we're "running out of oil" but that we're running out of the cheap oil that maintains the current relatively low prices for oil. According to the youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYuLjGQQ-jg) he's written a book, Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller, which predicts $225 per barrel oil by 2012 and with it the end of globalization.

Electric motorcycle firm Current Motor Co. wins startup business competition
http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/electric-motorcycle-firm-current-motor-co-wins-gleq-business-competition/

Current Motor Co., a Scio Township-based startup that's developing electric motorcycles, won the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest's "emerging companies" mid-year competition.

The $5,000 award, announced Thursday night at the Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship event at Ann Arbor's Skyline High School, is a recognition of the company's technology and business strategy.

Peter Scott, chief operating officer of Current Motor, said the firm expects to deliver its first electric motorcycle next week. He said the company is aiming to produce 150 bikes this year and raise $2 million in capital in 2011.

The company's electric motorcycles can travel 80 miles on a single charge of electricity. Prices start at $5,500.
"Our bike requires little maintenance, no gas and (has) zero emissions," Scott said.

...

Seems to me I've heard of this company somewhere....