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Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jacq who wrote (4082)	10/1/1999 2:50:00 PM
From: WALT REISCH	Respond to of 8393

Honda Insight Hybrid Earns EPA's Highest Mileage Rating Ever; Does Even Better In Highway Competition October 01, 1999 11:14 DETROIT, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Honda Insight, the first gasoline- electric hybrid powered car to be sold in the U.S., received the highest mileage ratings ever from the Environmental Protection Agency in its annual listing of automotive fuel efficiency released today. The Insight, which goes on sale in December, earned an EPA city rating of 61 miles per gallon and highway rating of 70 mpg, outdistancing several diesel-powered models by more than 20 miles per gallon. In addition to its outstanding mileage rating, the Insight also meets California's stringent Ultra Low Emission Vehicle standard. In a competition completed today and sponsored by American Honda Motor Co., Inc., reporters from several publications drove pre-production versions of the Insight and topped even the EPA's impressive mileage ratings. Reporters first drove four laps around the 7.5-mile oval at the Transportation Research Center near Columbus, Ohio; and then drove the Insight on public roads from Columbus to Detroit, a distance of nearly 200 miles. Points were awarded evenly for miles per gallon and miles per hour in hopes of obtaining a realistic driving experience. The drive included some stop-and-go urban traffic, but was conducted primarily on U.S. Highway 23 and I-75 between Columbus and Detroit. The team from Car and Driver magazine, using "special tactics," averaged 121.7 miles per gallon and nearly 58 miles per hour during the highway portion of the test, and 101.9 miles per gallon on the track test to win the competition. Car and Driver used a specially altered SUV to serve as an aerodynamic wind break for the Insight. Other teams used more conventional drafting techniques to maximize mileage whenever possible on the drive to Detroit. Second place Popular Mechanics magazine averaged 83.4 miles per gallon on the highway at 59 miles per hour, with a track average of 102.2 miles per gallon. The team from Ward's AutoWorld recorded the best track average of 105.9 miles per gallon and the highest highway average speed of 61 miles per hour, while averaging 73 miles per gallon. Honda will present a check for $5,000 to the charity of Car and Driver's choice as the overall winner. Honda also decided to present a $5,000 check to a charity on behalf of Popular Mechanics as "first in class." The Insight features Honda's innovative Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system, combining a 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder gasoline engine with electric motor assist for improved efficiency. The electric motor is powered by a nickel- metal hydride battery pack. The IMA system automatically recharges the battery pack, using energy generated during braking. As a result, the Insight does not require an outside source of electric power and never needs to be plugged in. A two-seat coupe, the Insight has an aluminum body which is about 40 percent lighter than a comparably-sized steel body. Total weight for the vehicle is just 1,887 pounds. The design also provides outstanding safety, meeting all current U.S., European and Japanese standards; and 2003 safety standards for side impact and head-injury protection. Advanced aerodynamic design gives the Insight a coefficient of drag of just 0.25, making it one of the most aerodynamic vehicles in the world. The Insight boasts a comprehensive list of comfort, convenience and safety features including variable assist electric power steering, ABS brakes, power windows, mirrors and door locks, AM/FM stereo-cassette player, an Immobilizer theft-deterrent system, remote keyless entry, electronic instrument display and available automatic air conditioning. It is expected to sell for less than $20,000 at Honda automobile dealers across the U.S. SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc. /CONTACT: Andy Boyd of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., 313-567-7770/ /Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 372013/ (HMC)

To: jacq who wrote (4082)	10/4/1999 11:40:00 AM
From: Ray	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 8393

Hmmm. Is 12% far higher than the Ovonic photovoltaic cells at a stabilized 10%?. I think other things, like cost and a proven high volume manufacturing technique are more important than that efficiency difference. For more information, here is what the was said about this type of thin-film photovoltaic cell in the 30 July issue of Science: Photovoltaic Technology: The Case for Thin-Film Solar Cells A. Shah, 1 P. Torres, 1* R. Tscharner, 1 N. Wyrsch, 1 H. Keppner 2 (Only the one pertinent section is copied below) "Copper indium diselenide and related materials. Copper indium diselenide (CIS) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) are direct-gap polycrystalline semiconductors with very high optical absorption coefficients and are presently being widely studied for application in solar cells, with the corresponding module technology just reaching the stage of pilot production. CIS and CIGS are p-type semiconductors and are always used in a heterojunction structure, mostly with very thin n-type cadmium sulfide (CdS) layers. The efficiency record obtained to date for a small-size (0.449 cm2) laboratory cell is 18.8% (44), which is impressively high for a thin-film (3 æm absorber thickness) polycrystalline solar cell. This is achieved with an effective bandgap of 1.1 to 1.2 eV for the absorber material: By partially substituting gallium for indium in CuInSe2, the bandgap of this semiconductor can be increased, and the PV performance is optimized by increasing Voc. A further degree of freedom is obtained by the partial substitution of S2 for Se2 (45). Other materials-oriented research efforts are directed at replacing the CdS window layer with a cadmium-free material, such as In(OH, S) (46). At present, the efficiencies of CIGS modules (30 cm by 30 cm) with integrated series connection, as fabricated in pilot production lines, are between 9 and 12% (47); this value is substantially lower than the laboratory record. In terms of stability, CIS and CIGS solar cells do not have a problem of light-induced degradation; they generally show a slight increase in Voc and in efficiency during the first hours of operation and can be remarkably stable, as was proven for periods up to 8 years (48). However, they do have a problem of instability in a hot and humid environment (49). It is expected that CIS and CIGS cells should be substantially cheaper than wafer-based crystalline silicon modules (once production can be mastered on a large scale). However, if and when CIS and CIGS solar cell technology reaches a production volume on the scale of a few 100 MWp/year, the availability and the price of indium will become a major issue: The availability of indium in Earth's crust is comparable to that of silver, and because of this relative scarcity, indium has been subject to erratic fluctuations in world market price. For example, a sharp price increase was registered around 1980, when Japanese liquid crystal display manufacturers started using large quantities of this material in their displays (4)."