Machines have been in use for centuries to help man to do his work. All these machines needed some form of energy. The nature itself provides different sources of energy which man has already put to different uses.

For example, the kinetic energy from running water is tapped to grind corn and to produce electricity by turning the water wheels of a generator in a hydro power station. Large and small dams all over the world harness the power of running water to produce electricity.

Another natural source of energy is wind. The force of wind is utilized to work water pumps and to produce electricity. Energy from the sun has been traditionally used to do a number of jobs like growing food and drying clothes.

Our modern technology has made it possible to produce electricity from sunlight. Water, wind and sunlight are renewable sources of energy and they are free gifts of nature.

The law of energy states that energy can be converted from one form to another but it cannot be created. According to this law, whatever energy we use to do any work comes from another source.

When we analyze deeper, we find that the sun is the only source of all forms of energy. The fossil fuels which we burn to power automobiles got their energy from the sun. When gasoline in used in an automobile, only a tiny portion of energy stored in the fuel is used to power the vehicle and the rest of the energy in the fuel is wasted in the form of heat, gases and soot.

This fact can be proved if we compare the mass of waste materials present in automobile exhaust and the mass of fuel input. Heat, which is a bye product of burning fuel in an automobile, is put to different uses. In winter, heat from the engine is used to warm the inside of the vehicle and to make the passengers feel comfortable.

There are devices which can tap the heat energy from the vehicle engine to cook food. A turbocharger, which increases the efficiency of a vehicle, is powered by the wasted heat and gases from the vehicles exhaust.

A turbocharger works with the energy wasted by an automobile whereas a supercharger takes a considerable amount of power from the vehicle’s engine. If a turbocharger can be charged with the help of the exhaust fume and heat released by a vehicle’s engine, it sounds absolutely possible to work a generator from the same fumes and heat to produce electricity.

The electricity thus produced can be stored in deep cycle batteries as DC. The exhaust fume will be powerful enough to turn the shaft of the generator. In the olden days, the engine had to work more to supply power to the generator shaft to turn to produce electricity for the headlights on. Using headlights meant more work for the engine and a corresponding increase in fuel consumed.

A study conducted by someone revealed that a country could save substantial amount of fuel if no vehicles were permitted to run at night using headlights. Electricity can only be produced at a cost and if cheap alternatives sources are not discovered, the cost of producing electricity can be much higher than the return from electricity.

Check out the cool video below. It’s one of Detroit Electric early Pure Electric Car. It was made back in the year 1916!

Turn up the volume on the speakers and listen closely to the sound it made when it was taken out for a spin.

Did you know, back in the early days, the target market for Detroit Electric was women drivers? Apparently, women had a tough time manually “crank starting” a car with an internal combustion engine. The pure electric car was a better alternative for them.

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It it really interesting to see the latest development between Detroit Electric JV with Proton. I am proud to see our local car company is taking the initial step to pursue the concept of electric car for the masses.

The current trend is in hybrid electric cars. Most other car manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc are developing and pushing hard on hybrid technology.

I am sure they have a pure electric car (PEC) model in the R&D ready for the next launching phase. That is a wise move because the world has been addicted to fossil fuel for far too long. It will be a matter of time before we shift to a cleaner form of energy for our vehicles.

Are we ready for pure electric cars on the road? The answer is, No! There is one key component still missing in the equation. It is the recharging infrastructure.

Driving a PEC is very different from driving a car driven by an internal combustion engine (ICE). If you run out of gasoline, a gas station is just around the corner for you to fuel up.

If your PEC runs out of electric power in the batteries, you will not be able to find a power outlet to recharge. No doubt modern electric car can recharge in a few hours, but will you be able to find a shop that will allow you to use their electric power?

How would you pay for the power that you consumed?

Therefore, the missing component in the Detroit Electric JV with Proton is the network of charging stations. They can mass produce all the PEC, but without a readily available power outlets to recharge the battery unit, the vehicle is simply not practical.

I have a feeling company such as Better Place will be entering into the picture in the near future.

Better Place already has plan to setup thousands of electric charging station in Australia and many other countries. Their JV with Nissan makes more economic sense.

Here are some news closer to home…my home. As of 30th March 2009, Detroit Electric Holdings Ltd and Proton Holdings Berhad has announced a strategic partnership to mass produce Pure Electric Vehicles. Here’s some history lesson for us.

Detroit Electric was the first company the manufacturer electric car back in the early 1900. The company went bankrupt back during the stock market crash in 1930s.

Recently, the company was resurrected by Mr Albert Lam, the current company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Proton is the first and the largest passenger car manufacturer in Malaysia. It was incorporated back in 1983 with much of the automobile technology from Mitsubishi Motors.

The first car that I own was a Proton Saga. It is a 1.3 liter front wheel drive vehicle. The car was pretty excellent because most of the components were from Japan.

After a few years, Proton started to make the parts locally and thereon, its quality dropped substantially. Nonetheless, it is still one of the cheapest car available in Malaysia. I currently drive a Proton Satria Neo 1.6 liter.

It is very interesting to know Proton is betting most of its future on pure electric car. In the last couple of years, we have seen the company falling from grace after its market shares were eaten up by Malaysia second car manufacturing company, Perodua.

It will be interesting to see the development of electric car for the masses. The current challenge is the lack of funding in the market. Detroit Electric JV with Proton may find it hard to roll out their electric vehicle (EV) without hundred of millions in capital investment.

The bigger challenge is the lack of infrastructure to support the EV such as electric charging stations. To solve that issue, we may have to look for Better Place.