The Zero-Carbon Car: Building the Car the Auto Industry Can’t Get Right. ISBN 10: 0-9733233-4-5 ISBN 13: 978-0-9733233-4-4 by: William H. Kemp

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Background

The demand for energy in the United States and Canada is insatiable, and it appears no one has learned from the mistakes of the '70s. Look around: sport utility vehicles and minivans abound, with the result that the total number of vehicles plying the worlds’ roads now exceeds 750 million units. While this may be a dizzying number, total volumes are expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050, to 2 billion vehicles.

North Americans will continue to cram ever more cars into bursting urban cores, while the inflationary effects on house prices and the lack of regulation against sprawl will cause people to scurry to distant suburbs and beyond, to seek financial solace.

In the mean time, China, Russia, India and Brazil are all avidly watching American television programs, envying our entitlements, and salivating at their chance to have a slice of the purported “good life”. What better way to emulate the West, than for the Developing World to line up and purchase a shiny new automobile at their coming out party, as way of displaying their new found wealth and personal freedom? No reasonable person would deprive anyone the ability to share in the financial spoils of a burgeoning, globalized economy. Accordingly, the world’s total vehicular production output is expected to reach 70 million units per year by 2010. Even today, China produces 5.4 million units per year and has overtaken Germany for the number three auto manufacturing spot, right after the United States and Japan.

Many people consider China to be the land of the bicycle. While that may appear to be the case to the casual observer, the fact is that China is the world’s third largest automobile manufacturer, producing 5.4 million vehicles in 2006, and growing quickly. If current trends continue, the number of vehicles plying the world’s roads will expand to 2 billion units by 2050.

While these numbers sound very impressive, they are neither sustainable nor possible. Economists and governments take a single-minded approach to ever-expanding economic growth, assuming that natural resource supply and climate change are simple accounting items to be fiddled with at the bottom of a bookkeepers accounting ledger, assuming they are considered at all.

Granted, governments are starting to discuss the issues of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and peak oil, even if the discussion leads to large-scale group denial of the problem or to generate “solutions” such as the Kyoto Protocol, that don’t even come close to dealing with the reality of the situation; a reality that will require a paradigm shift in attitude by all governments of the World.

The Paradigm of Reality Convergence
The uncertainty surrounding the current and future cost and supply of fossil fuels is causing governments, universities, and industry to search for alternate forms of transportation, electrical and heating energy.

Hydrogen, “food-based” biofuels and other exotic technologies make for great media coverage, potentially offering a means of allowing people to continue living their version of the American Dream, consuming goods and energy required to meet their entitlements, comfortable in their faith that technology will find a solution. Not so fast. The problem with, short-term, narrow-thinking political leaders is how they consider the various issues described above in isolation, believing new technologies will magically present themselves and Presto! Problem solved.

In reality, the problem is much more complex, more akin to a chess game where the numerous issues facing society coalesce into a massively compound series of issues, the depth and breadth of which cannot be solved through tinkering with existing programs. In fact, I see the problem to be so profound that only a change in societal thinking will do; segue to the Paradigm of Reality Convergence.

When viewed from the point of view of transportation, Reality Convergence will not allow the continuous expansion of roads, suburbs and related infrastructure. Nor will endless numbers of hydrogen-powered cars ply these roads. Fossil and nuclear fuels needed to make hydrogen may be in reasonable supply for the next few decades and polluting coal longer still, but eventually their supplies will become constrained, assuming that carbon emissions, financial cost and the various converging issues don’t prevent their expanded use in the first place.

In a world of low vehicular density, cheap fossil fuel, and unrestricted carbon emissions, there was a time when personal automotive transportation was a relatively pleasant and cost-effective means of moving from one place to another. As urban vehicular density and fuel costs continue to climb, personal car ownership may well become a liability few people will either want or be able to afford. As the world becomes even more carbon constrained, the picture for the personal automobile becomes bleaker still.

The Zero-Carbon Car will not solve the world’s fuel, transportation, and energy-supply problems; nor will it relieve congested urban streets. What it does attempt to do is to demonstrate that political leaders, particularly in North America, are impossibly ignorant and weak willed when it comes to tackling the multiple converging issues of peak oil, climate change, and the geopolitical and socioeconomic disruption caused by the massive subsidization and consumption of fossil fuels used in the transportation sector of the economy.

During the brief period remaining until the total failure of the personal car and society’s transition to mass transit and improved rail and support logistics systems, there is an opportunity for the automotive industry to develop, and for governments to support, an ultra-efficient, zero-carbon emission automobile, using battery electric and plug-in hybrid technologies, fueled entirely with zero-carbon energy. While General Motors has misstepped with the cancellation of its all-electric EV1 and continues to dream of unattainable hydrogen transport, author William Kemp presents his case for a paradigm shift to carbon-neutral personal transportation using technologies that exist today. Leading a group of enthusiastic engineers, Kemp demonstrates the real future of personal transportation by designing, building, demonstrating, and testing examples of several proposed automotive technologies.

In the second section of The Zero-Carbon Car, design plans and instructions (including an accompanying website complete with hybrid engine management software and support data), are provided for the construction of total electric and zero-carbon plug-in hybrid automobiles. By offering this data, Kemp hopes to encourage others to advance these designs in an effort to demonstrate their viability.

Perhaps this data will help steer the “old 20th-century economy” auto manufacturers and government policy makers towards a cleaner, more sustainable future. After all, the design plans are provided on an open-source, royalty-free basis.

The Zero-Carbon Car
Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 – Personal Transportation in the Third Millennium 11

• The Myth of Infinite Freedom 11
• The Reality Check – 37 kilometers per Day 16
• Long Distance Travel 20
• The Energy Demand of Transportation 23
• The Limits of Roads and Infrastructure 30
• The Obvious Lessons 35

Chapter 2 – A Brief Review of Energy 41
Geopolitics and Oil 44

• Canada to the Rescue? 53
• Mexico Perhaps? 55
• The Persian Gulf Region 56
• China 58
• The World 61

Peak Oil a.k.a. Production Limits 64

• Defining Peak Oil 66
• Understanding the Geophysics of Peak Oil 67
• Tinkering with the Data 71

Summary 74

Chapter 3 – Energy and the Environment 77

• The Chemistry of Smog and Green House Gases 80
• The Issues of Climate Change 85
• The I.P.C.C. Report 86
• Decarbonizing our Energy Supply 91
• A Carbon-Constraining System 96
• The Paradigm of Reality Convergence 100

Chapter 4 – Transportation Systems in a

• Carbon Constrained World 105
• There is no Substitute for Oil 110
• When Oil-based Transportation comes to an End 111
• Moving Ourselves 113
• Why not walk or bicycle? 116 Inner-City Travel 120
• Improved Public Transit 120
• Ultra-Low Fuel Consumption Vehicles 125
• Neighborhood Vehicles 132
• Inter-City Personal Travel and Beyond 138
• Flying and Marine Transport 146
• Logistics and the Movement of Goods 148
• A Sustainable Freight System 155
• Local Transport 157
• Intercity Transport 157
• Marine Transportation 161
• Summary 161

Chapter 5 – The Personal Transportation Appliance 163

• Summarizing the Case for the Zero-Carbon Car 163
• Personal Transportation Technologies and Psychology 167
• Long Life 172 Energy Efficiency (Fuel Economy) 174
• Vehicle Mass 176
• Virtual Upgrading 179
• The Myth of Zero-Emission Vehicles 183
• Summary 184

Chapter 6 – A Closer Look at Advanced

• Automotive Technologies 185
• Hybrid Automobiles 187
• Today’s Hybrid Power Systems 187
• The Nuts and Bolts of Hybrid Technology 189
• “Weak” vs. “Strong” Hybrids 192
• Hybrid Performance 194
• Large Hybrid Vehicles 195
• Hybrid Car Summary 196
• A Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) Primer 199
• The Home-Built BEV 201
• A Few Details of Fred Green’s Car 204
• Comparing BEVs to Internal-Combustion-Powered
• Vehicles 207
• BEV Range 208
• Recharging Time 211
• Operating Cost 211
• A Collage of Battery Electric Vehicles 212
• The ZENN Neighborhood Vehicle 212
• General Motors EV-1 – Advanced before its Time 213
• Myer Motors NMG – Disney on Wheels? 214
• Dancing with the Tango Commuter Car 215
• Tesla Roadster – A Rocket on Wheels 216
• BEV Summary 218
• The Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) 219
• Overview of PHEV Technology and History 219
• PHEV Summary 228
• The Propaganda of Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles 229
• Obstacles on the Road 231
• A Few Facts about Hydrogen Technology 234
• Hydrogen as a Fuel 234
• Hydrogen Storage 238
• Hydrogen Distribution 243
• Fuel Cell Vehicles 245
• Summary 247

Chapter 7 – Introducing the Zero-Carbon Car 251
7.1 Getting the Project Started 251

• The Case for Converting vs. “Scratch Build” 252
• Series vs. Parallel Hybridization 253
• Overview of the Design 255
• The Donor Vehicle 263
• Out with the Old 264

7.2 Battery Technologies: an Overview 267

• The Story of Electrons 267
• Conductors and Insulators 269
• Batteries, Cells and Voltage 271
• Alternating Current 273
• Power, Energy and Efficiency 275
• How Batteries Work 277
• Depth of Discharge 281
• Operating Temperature 282
• Battery Sizing 284
• Hydrogen Gas Production 288
• Safe Installation of Batteries 288
• Battery Installation in the Zero-Carbon Car 289
• The Fine Art of Battery Cable Manufacturing 297
• Battery Charging 302
• Battery Technology Selection 305
• Summary 307

7.3 D.C. Motor and Controller 309

• Electric Motor Overview 309
• Controller Overview 312
• DC Electronic Controllers 314
  
• AC Electronic Controllers 315
• Regenerative Braking 316

7.4 The Liquid Fuel Power Plant 317

• The Fisher Panda Generating Unit 317
• Fitting the Generating Unit into the Zero-Carbon Car 321
• Photographic Collage of the Installation 321

7.5 Engine Management 333

• The Programmable Logic Controller 333
• PLC Structure 335
• PLC Input and Output Configuration 337
• Program Flow 338
• PLC Tutorial 340
• User Touch Screen 344
• Summary 345

7.6 Integrating the Functions 347

• Touch Screen Overview 347
• PLC and Metering Overview 349
• PLC Inputs and Outputs 352
• Battery Low Voltage Detection 352
• Battery Charged Detection 355
• Battery Charging Status and AC Mains Schematic 357
• Battery Box Vent Fan(s) 359
• Battery Charger Cooling Fan(s) 359
• Battery Heating Blankets 359
• Vehicle Charger Status 359
• Automatic Battery Chargers 359
• AC Mains Ground 359
• PHEV Operation 360
• User Display and Operation 365
• Clock Icon 366
• Fan Icon 366
• Garage Door Icon 366
• Home Icon 368
• Generator Icon 368
• Heater Icon 368
• Battery Charger Icon 368
• iPod MP3 Player Icon 368
• Icy Car Icon 368
• Defroster Vent Icon 369
• Empty Gas Tank Icon 369
• Wrench Icon 369

7.7 The Test Drive 371

• Chassis Dynamometer Testing 374
• Reviewing the Results 378
• Summary 382

7.8 Adding Some Bling to the Zero-Carbon Car 383

Chapter 8 – Zero-Carbon Electricity 389

• The North American Electrical Power System 392
• Baseload Generation 394
• Intermediate Generation 395
• Peak Generation 395
• Demand Time Shifting 400
• Zero-Carbon Coal and Fossil Fuels 401
• Moving the Charging Plug around Town 406
• The Value of Zero-Carbon Electricity 410
• Summary 412

Chapter 9 – Zero-Carbon Liquid Fuels 415

• An Introduction to Biofuels 416
• Ethanol from Food – a Non-Starter 416
• Cellulosic Ethanol – the better choice 421
• The Downside of Ethanol 421
• Biodiesel as a Source of Green Fuel 421
• Biodiesel in the Transportation Sector 426
• Biodiesel Composition 429
• The Pros of Biodiesel 434
• Blending 434
• Biodiesel Concentration 435
• Biodegradability and Nontoxicity 437
• High Cetane Value 437
• High Lubricity 437
• Low Emissions 437
• Renewability 438
• Low Sulfur 439
• The Cons of Biodiesel 440
• Oxidation and Bacterial Stability 440
• Nitrogen Oxide Emissions 441
• Cold Flow Issues 442
• OEM Warranty Issues 444
• The Diesel Engine 445
• Engine Technology Overview 448
• Fuel Injection Systems 452
• Basic Fuel Injection 453
• Common Rail Direct Injection 454
• Engine and Vehicle Efficiency 455
• The Biodiesel Production Process 457
• Small-Scale Biodiesel Production System 461
• The WVO Receiver/Dryer 468
• The Biodiesel Reaction Tank 471
• Sodium Methoxide System 471
• Biodiesel Washing System 475
• Biodiesel Drying and Final Filtration 479
  
• Fuel Dispensing and Storage 481
• The Fuel Dispensing Unit 482
• Cold Weather Issues 484
• Blending Biodiesel with Petrodiesel 486
• Summary 487

Chapter 10 – The Unveiling 489

Conclusion 495

Glossary 499

Appendices 503
A. Resource Guide 503
B. Engine Management Software Listing 509
C. Zero-Carbon Car Specifications 519
D. LED Battery Voltage Monitor Schematics 520
E. Battery Voltage Monitor PCB Layout 524

Endnotes 525

Index 536

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