future motoring in the crosshairs

Extract from investment news letter June 27/09.

In the next ten years petrol/electric hybrids will go
the way of their fossil fuel predecessors.The Auto
market will rapidly move to "all electric" cars,and its
going to happen faster than anyone can imagine.

The problem with the petrol/hybrid,is that they are just
that:hybrids.You still have to visit the petrol station,
just not as often.

Passing by the pump permanently....

Fortunately,the Auto industry is hard at work.Coming
right behind the hybrids are PHEVs.These all electric
vehicles have no internal combustion engine.Instead
they sport a large bank of batteries that store power.

Now if you're thinking it will take forever to accelerate
to highway speed,think again:Electric motors have
fantastic torque characteristics that translate into
neck-snapping acceleration when they're integrated into
a drive train.

Electric vehicles will ultimately out-accelerate their
fossil fuel predecessors and leave nothing in the
atmosphere in the process.The driving public won't have
any trouble making the transition from their former
petrol guzzling vehicles.

PHEVs have other advantages as well.Braking can actually
be accomplished in part by turning the motor into a
generator and pumping the generated power into the
battery bank.

This technique-referred to as dynamic braking-puts a
load or drag on the motor generator and slows the
vehicle.Diesel/Electric locomotives have used dynamic
braking for years to help slow down freight and passenger
trains.

While PHEVs are a potential game changing tech up until
this point, and have been essentially relegated to the
Auto development labs/Auto shows.All that is about to
change:Nissan just announced that it will mass produce
PHEVs for sale in 2012.Mitsubishi has unveiled a PHEV,
it comes with a US$48,000 price tag.

There are other PHEVs that will be announced over the
"coming months" as no manufacturer wants to be left out
of the game.

The bottom line is that car buyers in the next few
years will have a number of PHEVs to choose from,with
prices starting in the $20,000 range.This puts them
squarely in the "high volume",mass produced car market.
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Corporations now owned by China have cornered around 95%
of the world's Rare Earth production and RE plays will
have their day in the sun via mass battery production.
However.."not one word"..is ever mentioned in the world
press about where all this extra power will come from
to run these vehicles.[When Patterson's were pricing
Cougar recently ...willing to bet they didn't think of
that either.]

Recent costing by Energex,Qld suggests that upgrading
of the transmission system for air-conditioners alone,
is around $15,000 per household.With mass production
of electric vehicles, and mopeds for city use [power
points in parking bays].. a major rethink by power
companies is on the cards.

With our antiquated power stations [especially Vic]
barely able to cope in peak periods.And with the PHEVs
soon to make their debut,Cougars role in the Grand Plan
of Australia's electric power generation will be an
important one.. supplying power to an energy hungry
society.



HM.