TANGELD, here's something else to celebrate.
Utah firm to unveil electric-powered truck/SUV
Mileage » Provo company says vehicle could get 100 mpg.
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
How does an auto innovator generate enthusiasm among environmentalists for a massive truck or SUV that drinks gasoline like a thirsty camel?
One way is to replace the eight-cylinder power plant with a powerful electric motor assisted by a fuel-sipping four-cylinder engine that makes electricity for the vehicle if its batteries run low.
Raser Technologies, the Provo-based geothermal power development company, will unveil such a vehicle at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, which meets in Detroit later this month.
Raser won't say what the prototype vehicle is until the conference begins. The company's Web site shows it as a Hummer H3. But an artist's drawing suggests the vehicle may be a full-size pickup.
Whatever it is, Raser's claims for the vehicle are jaw-dropping. In its all-electric mode, the vehicle runs up to 40 miles before its three lithium-ion batteries must be recharged. If the truck or SUV goes farther than 40 miles, it makes its own electricity, allowing the vehicle to travel up to 400 miles. Top speed is 100 miles an hour.
A turbine powered by the four-cylinder engine makes the electricity to recharge the batteries while the vehicle is moving. With the engine operating, the vehicle is said to get more than 100 miles per gallon, while emitting few pollutants. To recharge the vehicle overnight, a power cord is simply plugged in.
"Our power train makes a pickup truck greener than a Prius," David
West, vice president of marketing at Raser, said Thursday. Raser isn't an obscure company with outsized ideas and few credentials. Last month, the company began transmitting electricity generated at its new geothermal plant in Millard County to the city of Anaheim in Southern California. It is also developing new geothermal projects in Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon.
It began developing hybrid electric vehicles in 2003, hoping the Army could be persuaded to install electric power trains in their Hummers. With the war in Iraq absorbing most of its budget, the Army lost interest, even though electric motors are more efficient than diesel or gasoline engines and can be as muscular.
Despite the setback, the experience wasn't a waste of time. West said Raser was able to advance its technology to a point that, two years later, the company formed a consortium of technology companies to develop hybrid electric vehicles further. Its partners included Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison, and Austin Energy in Texas. They focused on big vehicles because American consumers prefer pickups and SUVs, West said.
Last year, Pacific Gas and Electric said it would buy two hybrid SUVs from Raser. PG&E thinks the vehicles may solve a problem bedeviling most electric utilities. The company envisions a time when thousands of hybrid vehicles are being recharged overnight, soaking up energy when power plants have plenty of capacity that isn't being used.
"Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are a practical solution to meet the challenges associated with climate change by reducing fuel costs, greenhouse gas emissions and our dependency on petroleum-based fuels," Andrew Tang, senior director of smart energy at PG&E, said at the time.
West said the Raser vehicle will undergo a series of field tests after the conference. Vehicles could be available in showrooms by 2011, if the technology pans out.
Hybrid electric vehicle technology may get a boost from President Barack Obama, who set aside $120 billion in his fiscal 2010 budget for federal subsidies to develop alternative energy sources. As a candidate, he vowed last year to spend $120 billion for federal subsidies to develop alternative energy sources to create 5 million new jobs.
Gasoline prices that reached above $4 a gallon are spurring at least one other Utah company to develop electric vehicles. Earlier this month, Salt Lake City-based Green Start Products Inc. said it plans to build a car it first developed in the 1990s. The company did not put the car into production because U.S. auto companies persuaded a federal appeals court to overturn electric car mandates enacted by the state of California.
West said Raser's technology could be the spark that revives the U.S auto industry.
"This could be a tremendous lead ahead both technically and financially. This could fuel an American vehicle comeback, in our mind. With the stimulus coming from the government, it could accelerate that process," West said.
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The Village Center is under construction now and is slated to open in July. So far I think that they've got Zions Bank, Subway, some kind of gym, a coffee shop, a sports bar and a restaurant leased. They are still looking for a grocer. University Healthcare and eBay will start construction on their buildings soon as well.
Salt Lake City's North Temple TRAX train will glide up the gateway through decorative, colored concrete -- an expensive design decision capital leaders say will pay off by erasing one west-side stigma. 
I may have dipped a bit into our Trax fund 
By having the opportunity to live in this large city with thousands of years of history (unmarked by the automobile) behind it, I could easily see how community infrastructure built around the pedestrian is far superior and more efficient than community infrastructure built around the automobile. People are empowered by infrastructure built around people (obvious); but some people don't seem to get this. Infrastructure built around the automobile is only good for those who have car or can afford one. However, they have to breath the same air as everyone else, so currently it's not even really good for them; and don't forget about road rage, which I think causes short term sociopathic behavior with real consequences. It can also put someone in a pissy mood, which isn't good for building community. Has anyone ever heard of light-rail, street-car, bus, bicycle, or trolley rage?
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