Saturday, May 22

Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle (EV), also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, is a vehicle which uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. Depending on the type of vehicle, motion may be provided by wheels or propellers driven by rotary motors, or in the case of tracked vehicles, by linear motors. Electric vehicles can include electric cars, electric trains, electric lorries, electric airplanes, electric boats, electric motorcycles and scooters, and electric spacecraft. Nowadays, there is an electric vehicle boom.
Electric vehicles first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for automobile propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. At one time the internal combustion engine (ICE) had completely replaced the electric drive as a propulsion method for automobiles, but electric power has remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types.
Electric vehicles are different from fossil fuel-powered vehicles in that they can receive their power from a wide range of sources, including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewable sources such as tidal power, solar power, and wind power or any combination of those. However it is generated, this energy is then transmitted to the vehicle through use of overhead lines, wireless energy transfer such as inductive charging, or a direct connection through an electrical cable. The electricity may then be stored onboard the vehicle using a battery, flywheel, supercapacitor, or fuel cell. Vehicles making use of engines working on the principle of combustion can usually only derive their energy from a single or a few sources, usually non-renewable fossil fuels. A key advantage of electric or hybrid electric vehicles is their ability to recover braking energy as electricity to be restored to the on-board battery (regenerative braking) or sent back to the grid (V2G). At the beginning of the 21st century, increased concern over the environmental impact of the petroleum-based transportation infrastructure, along with the spectre of peak oil, led to renewed interest in an electric transportation infrastructure. As such, vehicles which can potentially be powered by renewable energy sources, such as hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, are becoming more popular.

History

Electric vehicle model by Ányos Jedlik, an early electric
motor experimenter ( 1828, Hungary) .


           Edison and a 1914 Detroit Electric, model 47 (courtesy of the     National Museum of American History)

An electric vehicle and an antique car on display at a 1912 auto show
Electric motive power started with a small railway operated by a miniature electric motor, built by Thomas Davenport in 1835. In 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of four miles per hour (6 km/h). In England a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of rails as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847.
Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells.
By the 20th century, electric cars and rail transport were commonplace, with commercial electric automobiles having the majority of the market. Over time their general-purpose commercial use reduced to specialist roles, as platform trucks, forklift trucks, tow tractors and urban delivery vehicles, such as the iconic British milk float; for most of the 20th century, the UK was the world's largest user of electric road vehicles.
Electrified trains were used for coal transport, as the motors did not use precious oxygen in the mines. Switzerland's lack of natural fossil resources forced the rapid electrification of their rail network. One of the earliest rechargeable batteries - the nickel-iron battery - was favored by Edison for use in electric cars.
Electric vehicles were among the earliest automobiles, and before the preeminence of light, powerful internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many vehicle land speed and distance records in the early 1900s. They were produced by Baker Electric, Columbia Electric, Detroit Electric, and others, and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles.
In the 1930s, National City Lines, which was a partnership of General Motors, Firestone, and Standard Oil of California purchased many electric tram networks across the country to dismantle them and replace them with GM buses. The partnership was convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of equipment and supplies to their subsidiary companies conspiracy, but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the provision of transportation services. Electric tram line technologies could be used to recharge BEVs and PHEVs on the highway while the user drives, providing virtually unrestricted driving range. The technology is old and well established (see : Conduit current collection, Nickel-iron battery). The infrastructure has not been built.
In January 1990, General Motors' President introduced its EV concept two-seater, the "Impact," at the Los Angeles Auto Show. That September, the California Air Resources Board mandated major-automaker sales of EVs, in phases starting in 1998. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced 1117 EV1s, 800 of which were made available through three-year leases.
Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan and Toyota also produced limited numbers of EVs for California drivers. In 2003, upon the expiration of GM's EV1 leases, GM crushed them. The crushing has variously been attributed to 1) the auto industry's successful federal court challenge to California's zero-emissions vehicle mandate, 2) a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for the few thousands EV1s and 3) the success of the oil and auto industries' media campaign to reduce public acceptance of electric vehicles.

EV1
A movie made on the subject in 2005-2006 was titled Who Killed the Electric Car? and released theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics in 2006. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, oil industry, the U.S. government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers, and each of their roles in limiting the deployment and adoption of this technology.
Honda, Nissan and Toyota also repossessed and crushed most of their EVs, which, like the GM EV1s, had been available only by closed-end lease. After public protests, Toyota sold 200 of its RAV EVs to eager buyers; they now sell, five years later, at over their original forty-thousand-dollar price.
The production of the Citroën Berlingo Electrique stopped in September 2005.
With increasing prices of gasoline, electric vehicles are hitting the mainstream .
Major car makers, such as Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Peugeot-Citroen, VW, Nissan and Mitsubishi Corp., are developing new-generation electric vehicles.

Electricity sources

on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS), called Full Electric Vehicles (FEV). Power storage methods include:
chemical energy stored on the vehicle in on-board batteries: Battery electric vehicle (BEV)
static energy stored on the vehicle in on-board electric double-layer capacitors
kinetic energy storage: flywheels
direct connection to generation plants as is common among electric trains, trolley buses, and trolley trucks (See also : overhead lines, third rail and conduit current collection)
renewable sources such as solar power: solar vehicle
generated on-board using a diesel engine: diesel-electric locomotive
generated on-board using a fuel cell: fuel cell vehicle
generated on-board using nuclear energy: nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers
It is also possible to have hybrid electric vehicles that derives electricity from multiple sources. Such as:
on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS) and a direct continuous connection to land-based generation plants for purposes of on-highway recharging with unrestricted highway range
on-board rechargeable electricity storage system and a fueled propulsion power source (internal combustion engine): plug-in hybrid
Batteries, electric double-layer capacitors and flywheel energy storage are forms of rechargeable on-board electrical storage. By avoiding an intermediate mechanical step, the energy conversion efficiency can be improved over the hybrids already discussed, by avoiding unnecessary energy conversions. Furthermore, electro-chemical batteries conversions are easy to reverse, allowing electrical energy to be stored in chemical form.
Another form of chemical to electrical conversion is fuel cells, projected for future use.
For especially large electric vehicles, such as submarines, the chemical energy of the diesel-electric can be replaced by a nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor usually provides heat, which drives a steam turbine, which drives a generator, which is then fed to the propulsion. See Nuclear Power
A few experimental vehicles, such as some cars and a handful of aircraft use solar panels for electricity.

Traction motor and Energy efficiency
The power of a vehicle electric motor, as in other vehicles, is measured in kilowatts (kW). 100 kW is roughly equivalent to 134 horsepower, although most electric motors deliver full torque over a wide RPM range, so the performance is not equivalent, and far exceeds a 134 horsepower (100 kW) fuel-powered motor, which has a limited torque curve.
Usually, direct current (DC) electricity is fed into a DC/AC inverter where it is converted to alternating current (AC) electricity and this AC electricity is connected to a 3-phase AC motor. For electric trains, DC motors are often used.

Vehicle types
It is generally possible to equip any kind of vehicle with an electric powertrain.
Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle combines a conventional (usually fossil fuel-powered) powertrain with some form of electric propulsion. Common examples include hybrid electric cars such as the Toyota Prius.
[edit]On- and off-road electric vehicles
Electric vehicles are on the road in many functions, including electric cars, electric trolleybuses, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles and scooters, neighborhood electric vehicles, golf carts, milk floats, and forklifts. Off-road vehicles include electrified all-terrain vehicles and tractors.

Railborne electric vehicles
Railway electrification system

The fixed nature of a rail line makes it relatively easy to power electric vehicles through permanent overhead lines or electrified third rails, eliminating the need for heavy onboard batteries. Electric locomotives, electric trams/streetcars/trolleys, electric light rail systems, and electric rapid transit are all in common use today, especially in Europe and Asia.
Since electric trains do not need to carry a heavy internal combustion engine or large batteries, they can have very good power-to-weight ratios. This allows high speed trains such as France's double-deck TGVs to operate at speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph) or higher, and electric locomotives to have a much higher power output than diesel locomotives. In addition they have higher short-term surge power for fast acceleration, and using regenerative braking can put braking power back into the electrical grid rather than wasting it.
Maglev trains are also nearly always electric vehicles.

Airborne electric vehicles
Since the beginning of the era of aviation, electric power for aircraft has received a great deal of experimentation. Currently flying electric aircraft include manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Seaborne electric vehicles
Submarine#Propulsion, Ship#Propulsion_systems, and electric boat
Electric boats were popular around the turn of the 20th century. Interest in quiet and potentially renewable marine transportation has steadily increased since the late 20th century, as solar cells have given motorboats the infinite range of sailboats. Submarines use batteries (charged by diesel or gasoline engines at the surface), nuclear power, or fuel cells  run electric motor driven propellers.
[edit]Spaceborne electric vehicles
Electric power has a long history of use in spacecraft. The power sources used for spacecraft are batteries, solar panels and nuclear power. Current methods of propelling a spacecraft with electricity include the arcjet rocket, the electrostatic ion thruster, the Hall effect thruster, and Field Emission Electric Propulsion. A number of other methods have been proposed, with varying levels of feasibility.

Energy and motors
A trolleybus uses two overhead wires to provide electrical current
supply and return to the power source


An electric bus at Lucerne
Most large electric transport systems are powered by stationary sources of electricity that are directly connected to the vehicles through wires. Electric traction allows the use of regenerative braking, in which the motors are used as brakes and become generators that transform the motion of, usually, a train into electrical power that is then fed back into the lines. This system is particularly advantageous in mountainous operations, as descending vehicles can produce a large portion of the power required for those ascending. This regenerative system is only viable if the system is large enough to utilise the power generated by descending vehicles.
In the systems above motion is provided by a rotary electric motor. However, it is possible to "unroll" the motor to drive directly against a special matched track. These linear motors are used in maglev trains which float above the rails supported by magnetic levitation. This allows for almost no rolling resistance of the vehicle and no mechanical wear and tear of the train or track. In addition to the high-performance control systems needed, switching and curving of the tracks becomes difficult with linear motors, which to date has restricted their operations to high-speed point to point services.

Issues regarding electric vehicles
Energy sources
Although electric vehicles have few direct emissions, all rely on energy created through electricity generation, and will usually emit pollution and generate waste, unless it is generated by renewable source power plants. Since electric vehicles use whatever electricity is delivered by their electrical utility/grid operator, electric vehicles can be made more or less efficient, polluting and expensive to run, by modifying the electrical generating stations. This would be done by an electrical utility under a government energy policy, in a timescale negotiated between utilities and government.
Fossil fuel vehicle efficiency and pollution standards take years to filter through a nation's fleet of vehicles. New efficiency and pollution standards rely on the purchase of new vehicles, often as a the current vehicles already on the road reach their end-of-life. Only a few nations set a retirement age for old vehicles, such as Japan or Singapore, forcing periodic upgrading of all vehicles already on the road.
Electric vehicles will take advantage of whatever environmental gains happen when a renewable energy generation station comes online, a fossil fuel station is decommissioned or upgraded. Conversely, if government policy or economic conditions shifts generators back to use more polluting fossil fuels and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), or more inefficient sources, the reverse can happen. Even in such a situation, electrical vehicles are still more efficient than a comparable amount of fossil fuel vehicles. In areas with a deregulated electrical energy market, an electrical vehicle owner can choose whether to run his electrical vehicle off conventional electrical energy sources, or strictly from renewable electrical energy sources (presumably at an additional cost), pushing other consumers onto conventional sources, and switch at any time between the two.

Issues with batteries
Electric vehicle battery

Old: Banks of conventional lead-acid car batteries are
still commonly used for EV propulsion


75 watt-hour/kilogram lithium ion polymer battery prototypes. Newer Li-poly cells provide up to 130 Wh/kg and last through thousands of charging cycles.



Efficiency
Because of the different methods of charging possible, the emissions produced have been quantified in different ways. Plug-in all-electric and hybrid vehicles also have different consumption characteristics.

Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation from high performance electrical motors has been claimed to be associated with some human ailments, but such claims are largely unsubstantiated except for extremely high exposures. Electric motors can be shielded within a metallic Faraday cage, but this reduces efficiency by adding weight to the vehicle, while it is not conclusive that all electromagnetic radiation can be contained.

Charging
Grid capacity
If a large proportion of private vehicles were to convert to grid electricity it would increase the demand for generation and transmission, and consequent emissions. However, overall energy consumption and emissions would diminish because of the higher efficiency of electric vehicles over the entire cycle. In the USA it has been estimated there is already nearly sufficient existing power plant and transmission infrastructure, assuming that most charging would occur overnight, using the most efficient off-peak base load sources.

Charging stations
Electric vehicles typically charge from conventional power outlets or dedicated charging stations, a process that typically takes hours, but can be done overnight and often gives a charge that is sufficient for normal everyday usage.
One proposed solution for daily recharging is a standardized inductive charging system such as Evatran's Plugless Power. Benefits are the convenience of automatic occurrence with parking over the charge station and minimized cabling and connection infrastructure.
Another proposed solution for the typically less frequent, long distance travel is "rapid charging", such as the Aerovironment PosiCharge line (up to 250 kW) and the Norvik MinitCharge line (up to 300 kW). Ecotality is a manufacturer of Charging Stations and has partnered with Nissan on several installations. Battery replacement is also proposed as an alternative, although no OEM's including Nissan/Renault have any production vehicle plans. Swapping requires standardization across platforms, models and manufacturers. Swapping also requires many times more battery packs to be in the system.
One type of battery "replacement" proposed is much simpler: while the latest generation of vanadium redox battery only has an energy density similar to lead-acid, the charge is stored solely in a vanadium-based electrolyte, which can be pumped out and replaced with charged fluid. The vanadium battery system is also a potential candidate for intermediate energy storage in quick charging stations because of its high power density and extremely good endurance in daily use. System cost however, is still prohibitive. As vanadium battery systems are estimated to range between $350–$600 per kWh, a battery that can service one hundred customers in a 24 hour period at 50 kWh per charge would cost $1.8-$3 million.

Battery swapping
Better Place
There is another way to "refuel" electric vehicles. Instead of recharging them from electric socket, batteries could be mechanically replaced on special stations just in a couple of minutes (battery swapping).
Batteries with greatest energy density such as metal-air fuel cells usually cannot be recharged in purely electric way.Instead some kind of metallurgical process is needed.Such as aluminum smelting and similar.
Silicon-air, Aluminum-air and other metal-air fuel cells look promising candidates for swap batteries. Any source of energy, renewable or non-renewable, could be used to remake used metal-air fuel cells with relatively high efficiency.Investment in infrastructure will be needed.Cost of such batteries could be an issue, although they could be made with replaceable anodes and electrolyte.

Other in-development technologies
Electric double-layer capacitor
Conventional electric double-layer capacitors are being worked to achieve the energy density of lithium ion batteries, offering almost unlimited lifespans and no environmental issues. High-K electric double-layer capacitors, such as EEStor's EESU, could improve lithium ion energy density several times over if they can be produced. Lithium-sulphur batteries offer 250Wh/kg. Sodium-ion batteries promise 400Wh/kg with only minimal expansion/contraction during charge/discharge and a very high surface area.
Safty
The United Nations in Geneva (UNECE) has adopted the first international regulation (Regulation 100) on safety of both fully electric and hybrid electric cars to ensure that cars with a high voltage electric power train, such as hybrid and fully electric vehicles, are as safe as combustion cars. The EU and Japan have already indicated that they intend to incorporate the new UNECE Regulation in their respective rules on technical standards for vehicles.

Disadvantages of electric vehicles
Many electric designs have limited range, due to the low energy density of batteries compared to the fuel of internal combustion engined vehicles. Electric vehicles also often have long recharge times compared to the relatively fast process of refueling a tank. This is further complicated by the current scarcity of public charging stations, although these are far less necessary for electric vehicles in everyday use. "Range anxiety" is coming into use as a label for part of this situation.
Contrary to widespread belief, according to Department of Energy research conducted at Pacific National Laboratory, 84% of existing vehicles could be switched over to plug-in hybrids without requiring any new grid infrastructure. In terms of transportation, the net result would be a 27% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, a slight reduction in nitrous oxide emissions, an increase in particulate matter emissions, the same sulfur dioxide emissions, and the near elimination of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compound emissions. The emissions would be displaced away from street level and have correspondingly less effect on human health.
Electric and hybrid cars are seen as environmentally-friendly. While they do have reduced carbon emissions, the energy they consume is usually produced by means which some believe to be harmful to the environment, such as coal, nuclear, and hydroelectric power. Electric cars may lead consumers to believe that buying such a vehicle is an environmentally-sound choice, whereas the choice that would have nearly zero environmental impact would be to make a lifestyle change in favor of walking, biking or telecommuting. Governments may invest in research and development of electric vehicles with the intention of reducing the impact on the environment where they could instead develop pedestrian-friendly communities.

Heating of electric vehicles
In cold climates considerable energy is needed to heat the interior of the vehicle, and to defrost the windows. With internal combustion engines this heat already exists due to the combustion process (offsetting the greenhouse gases external costs) from the waste heat from the engine cooling circuit. If this is done with battery electric cars, this will require extra energy from the battery or an additional battery and circuit for accessories. Although some heat could be harvested from the motor(s) and battery, however, due to their greater efficiency, there is not as much waste heat available as from a combustion engine.
However when plugged into the grid electric vehicles can be preheated, or cooled, and need little or no energy from the battery, especially for short trips.
Newer designs are focused on using super-insulated cabins which can heat the car using the body heat of the passengers. This is however not enough in colder climates as a driver only delivers approximately 100 W of heating power. A reversible AC-system, cooling the cabin during summer and heating it during winter seems to be the most practical and promising way of solving the thermal management of the EV. Ricardo Arboix  introduced (2008) a new concept based on the principle of combining the thermal-management of the EV-battery with the thermal-management of the cabin using a reversible AC-system. This is done by adding a third heat-exchanger, thermally connected with the battery-core, to the traditional heat pump/air conditioning system used in previous EV-models like the GM EV1 and Toyota RAV4 EV. The concept has proven to bring several benefits such as prolonging the life-span of the battery as well as improving the performance and overall energy-efficiency of the EV .

Advantages of electric vehicles
Mechanical
Electric motors are mechanically very simple.
Electric motors often achieve 90% energy conversion efficiencyover the full range of speeds and power output and can be precisely controlled. They can also be combined with regenerative braking systems that have the ability to convert movement energy back into stored electricity. This can be used to reduce the wear on brake systems (and consequent brake pad dust) and reduce the total energy requirement of a trip. Regenerative braking is especially effective for start-and-stop city use.
They can be finely controlled and provide high torque from rest, unlike internal combustion engines, and do not need multiple gears to match power curves. This removes the need for gearboxes and torque converters.
Electric vehicles provide quiet and smooth operation and consequently have less noise and vibration than internal combustion engines.[26] While this is a desirable attribute, it has also evoked concern that the absence of the usual sounds of an approaching vehicle poses a danger to blind, elderly and very young pedestrians. To mitigate this situation, automakers and individual companies are developing systems that produce warning noises or distinctive sounds when electric vehicles are moving slowly, up to a speed when normal motion and rotation (road, suspension, electric motor, etc.) noises become audible.
[edit]Environmental
Electric vehicles release almost no air pollutants at the place where they are operated. In addition, it is generally easier to build pollution control systems into centralised power stations than retrofit enormous numbers of cars.
Another advantage is that electric vehicles typically have less noise pollution than an internal combustion engine vehicle, whether it is at rest or in motion. Electric vehicles emit no tailpipe CO2 or pollutants such as NOx, NMHC, CO and PM at the point of use.
[edit]Energy resilience
Electricity is a form of energy that remains within the continent where it was produced and can be multi-sourced. As a result it gives the greatest degree of energy resilience .
[edit]Energy efficiency
Electric vehicle 'tank-to-wheels' efficiency is about a factor of 3 higher than internal combustion engine vehicles.

Cost of recharge
The GM Volt will cost "less than purchasing a cup of your favorite coffee" to recharge. The Volt should cost less than 2 cents per mile to drive on electricity, compared with 12 cents a mile on gasoline at a price of $3.60 a gallon. This means a trip from Los Angeles to New York would cost $56 on electricity, and $336 with gasoline. This would be the equivalent to paying 60 cents a gallon of gas.
[edit]Stabilization of the grid
There is potential to allow battery powered electric vehicles to enhance the electric grid response by feeding electricity into the grid during peak air conditioning times (mid-afternoon) while allowing sufficient charge for expected evening use as determined by the vehicle's predicted use profile.
Furthermore, our current electricity infrastructure may need to cope with increasing shares of variable-output power sources such as windmills and PV solar panels. This variability could be addressed by adjusting the speed at which EV batteries are charged, or possibly even discharged.
Some concepts see battery exchanges and battery charging stations, much like gas/petrol stations today. Clearly these will require enormous storage and charging potentials, which could be manipulated to vary the rate of charging, and to output power during shortage periods, much as diesel generators are used for short periods to stabilize some national Grids.

Electric public transit efficiency
Any shift from private to public transport (diesel bus, trolleybus or tram) makes a huge gain in efficiency in terms of individual miles per kWh.
Research shows people do prefer trams, because they are quieter and more comfortable and perceived as having higher status.
People appreciate the way traffic has to part when a tram comes, meaning they can move around cities much more swiftly than in diesel buses or trolley buses.
Therefore, it may be possible to cut liquid fossil fuel consumption in cities through the use of electric trams.
Trams may be the most energy-efficient form of public transportation, with rubber wheeled vehicles using 2/3 more energy than the equivalent tram, and run on electricity rather than fossil fuels.
In terms of NPV, they are also the cheapest - Blackpool trams are still running after 100 years, but combustion buses only last about 15 years.

Incentives and promotion
Further information: Plug-in hybrid
This section requires expansion

United States
Plug-in hybrid vehicle
Electric vehicles in the United States
In 2003 the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated there would be 55,852 Full-electric vehicles (FEV) in 2004, with an annual growth rate of 39.1 % (excluding in this estimation electric hybrids).
The EIA's 2007 Annual Energy Review (AER) estimates the actual number of FEV's on the road in 2004 as 49,536 and a preliminary estimated 2006 number of 53,526.
President Barack Obama has announced $2.4 billion for electric vehicles . $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce highly efficient batteries and their components; up to $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors and other components; and up to $400 million to demonstrate and evaluate Plug-In Hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts—like truck stop charging station, electric rail, and training for technicians to build and repair electric vehicles (greencollar jobs).
Qualifying electric vehicles purchased new are eligible for a one-time federal tax credit that equals 10% of the cost of the vehicle up to $4,000, provided under Section 179A of the Energy Policy Act of 1992; it was extended through 2007 by the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004. A tax deduction of up to $100,000 per location is available for qualified electric vehicle recharging property used in a trade or business.
In 2008, Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums announced a nine-step policy plan for transforming the Bay Area into the "Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the U.S." . Other local and state governments have also expressed interest in electric cars.
In March 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the release of two competitive solicitations for up to $2 billion in federal funding for competitively awarded cost-shared agreements for manufacturing of advanced batteries and related drive components as well as up to $400 million for transportation electrification demonstration and deployment projects. This announcement will also help meet President Barack Obama's goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which passed the Energy and Commerce Committee on May 21, 2009, has extensive provisions for electric cars. The bill calls for all electric utilities to, “develop a plan to support the use of plug-in electric drive vehicles, including heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles”. The bill also provides for “smart grid integration,” allowing for more efficient, effective delivery of electricity to accommodate the additional demands of plug-in electric vehicles. Finally, the bill allows for the Department of Energy to fund projects that support the development of electric vehicle and smart grid technology and infrastructure..
The House of Representatives passed legislation in late 2008, enumerating tax credits ranging from $2500 to $7500 for electric vehicle buyers. The actual credit varies depending on the specified vehicle’s battery capacity. The Chevrolet Volt and the Tesla vehicles are eligible for the full $7500 credit. The bill called for the credit to be applicable for the first 250,000 vehicles sold per manufacturer. The credits were passed in 2008 but went into effect on January 1, 2009, and can be currently used on the Tesla all-electric models. The Volt, plug-in Prius, and other PHEV's and BEV's will also be eligible for the credit when they are released in the coming years. The new credits update incentives introduced in 2006, that offered credits for gas-electric hybrids, "Based on a formula determined by vehicle weight, technology, and fuel economy compared to base year models," which expired after 60,000 units per manufacturer.The new credits will only apply to plug-in EVs and all-electric vehicles.
[edit]European Union
Electrification of transport (electromobility) figures prominently in the Green Car Initiative (GCI), included in the European Economic Recovery Plan. DG TREN is supporting a large European "electromobility" project on electric vehicles and related infrastructure with a total budget of around € 50million as part of the Green Car Initiative.
There are measures to promote efficient vehicles in the Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles and in the Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services.
AVERE has a table summarizing the taxation and incentives for these vehicles in the different European countries, related to state subsidies, reduction of VAT and other taxes, insurance facilities, parking and charging facilities (including free recharging on street or in the parking areas), EV imposed by law and banned circulation for petroleum cars, permission to use bus lanes, free road tax, toll free on highways and exempt from congestion charging free or reduced parking, free charging at charge points, between others . In Denmark petrol cars is taxed 180%+25% however EV cars (max. 2000 kg total weight) is only taxed 25%, free parking in Copenhagen and other cities, free recharging at some parking spaces.

EU member states
Finland
In Finland the prime minister of Finland Mr. Matti Vanhanen has mentioned that he wants to see more electric cars on Finnish roads as soon as possible[48] and with any cost to the governmental car related tax incomes. Charging at home from motor and cabin heating outlets (common in all Nordic countries) has been determined to be a possible load on the grid. If all cars in Finland run totally on electricity, it will add 7-9 TWh annually to the load, which corresponds to 10 % of Finland's annual consumption[50]. On-line route planners like http://www.uppladdning.nu/ list a daily growing number of free charging outlets set up by merchants and private individuals, making it possible to drive an EV for free from Helsinki through Sweden all the way to Copenhagen.

Denmark
Denmark is planning to introduce a greater number of battery driven electric cars on the streets - charged on renewable energy from the country's many windmills - ahead of the UN Climate Summit that is to descend on Copenhagen in December 2009. A great deal of the electricity is generated by windmills.

Germany
“National Electric Mobility Platform” (NEMP) is a German government initiative to develop Germany into a leading market for electric mobility, with about 1 million electric vehicles on its streets by 2020.

Portugal
In Portugal, the government has created a national plan to fund electric mobility. Until 2012, electric vehicles do not pay circulation tax (Imposto Único de Circulação) and are free from taxes on acquisition price (Imposto Sobre Veículos). The first 5000 electric vehicles to be sold in Portugal will receive a 5000€ incentive fund, and the Cash-for-Clunkers program grants an additional 1500€ fund if a internal combustion engine vehicle built before 2000 is delivered when acquiring the new electric vehicle. The government has also linked up with car-makers to further the use of electric cars by investing in setting up electric charging stations across the country (320 slow charge charging points by the end of 2010 and 1350 until the end of 2011) and in raising awareness of the vehicle's benefits. The Portuguese government expects that there will be 160.000 electric vehicles in Portugal in 2020.

Spain
“ Electric vehicles are the future and the driver of the industrial revolution ”
Miguel Sebastian, Spanish Industry Minister
Spain's government aims to have 1 million electric cars on the roads by 2014 as part of a plan to cut energy consumption and dependence on expensive imports, Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian said .
[edit]United Kingdom
In October 2008 UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged £100 million in government money to support electric, hybrid and other more environmentally friendly car projects over a five-year period to help make Britain "the European capital for electric cars" .

China
Renewable energy in China and Automobile industry in China
Many electric vehicle companies are looking to China as the leader of future electric car implementation around the world. In April 2009, Chinese officials announced their plan to make China the world’s largest producer of electric cars. The Renault-Nissan Alliance will work with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MITI) to help set up battery recharging networks throughout the city of Wuhan, the pilot city in the country’s electrical vehicle pilot program. The corporation plans to have electric vehicles on the market by 2011. According to an April 10, 2009 New York Times Article entitled “China Outlines Plans for Making Cars,” auto manufacturers will possess the opportunity to successfully market their cars to Chinese consumers due to the short and slow commutes that characterize Chinese transportation, and Chinese consumers generally diminished experience with high powered gasoline-powered cars, subsequently diminishing the hindering nature of lower powered electric vehicles. Furthermore, in an attempt to design a program with incentives for buyers, MITI intends to give large subsidies to buyers of electric cars; the country has 10 billion Yuan, almost 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, to boost the automotive industry’s efforts towards modernization.



Japan
Japan has a $14,000 electric car subsidy.

Production
Electric vehicles are hitting the mainstream. Automakers are going to showcase at the 2009 Washington Auto Show their commitment to quickly bringing electric hybrid and all-electric vehicles to market as early as 2010 .

World production race
All major carmakers, such as Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Peugeot-Citroen, VW and Mitsubishi Corp., are developing new-generation electric vehicles.[6]. Automakers are in a new race to be the first to market an all-electric car to claim the mantle as the world's greenest automaker .

South Africa
Joule, designed by Cape Town-based Optimal Energy[62], made its debut at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, has a maximum driving range of 300 km. It accommodates two large-cell lithium ion battery packs.


China
Zotye Group
EPower Cars
Guangzhou Langqing Electric Car Co., Ltd.
BYD F6DM (2008)
Nanjing Dongyu Electric Motorcycle&Electric Bicycle
Tradwin Hongkong International(Distributor)

European Union

Cars
Morgan LifeCar (2009+)
Lightning GT (2009+)
Imperia GP (2010), from 70,248€ Excl. VAT, preorders in 2009
eRUF

Commercial
Smith Electric Vehicles Edison Van
Modec Van
Portugal and Spain want to create the first green car in Iberia, hoping to generate 150 million euros worth of investment and 800 new jobs in the region's struggling motor industry. The green car, which could be powered by electricity. The Mobi-green car, as the vehicle is named, is being developed by two automotive research centres in Portugal and Spain using funds from both the public and private sectors.
London, England is at the forefront and a London-based entrepreneur has just unveiled a three-wheeled zero-emission electric vehicle aimed at delivery fleets. The A-Kar is powered by lithium-ion battery cells and takes five hours for a full charge, giving a range of 70 miles and a top speed of 35 mph.
[edit]India
Practically the only EV to have been manufactured for several years is the Indian REVA. It is produced by REVA Electric Car Company Private Ltd. (RECC) in Bangalore, India, a company established in 1994 as a joint venture between the Maini Group India and AEV LLC, California USA. After seven years of R&D, they commercialized the first REVA car in June 2001.
The current version of the REVA is the REVAi. It was first reserved for the Indian market, but it is now distributed in several European countries: UK (by GoinGreen under the name G-Wiz), Cyprus and Greece (by REVA Phaedra Electricity Mobility Ltd., Belgium (by Green Mobil), Norway (by Ole Chr. Bye AS), Iceland (by Perlukafarinn ehf), Spain (by Emovement)and Germany (by Elektro PKW, the REVA is also available in the Republic of Ireland GreenAer. It may be exported to the USA with a speed limiter for use as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV).
In July 2010, the government of Tamil Nadu allocated land in Ranipet to Bavina Cars India for production of electric cars. The plant is set to be operational by 2011.
In addition to Bangalore-based Reva, which currently is the only company actually selling EVs today, electric cars made in India includes:
Mahindra & Mahindra: Four-seat model by 2010
Tata: 2008-2009 (also possibly an air car)
Ajanta Group: clockmaker with plans for low-cost electric vehicle
Tara: Low-cost EV less than a Tata Nano
Hero Electric: 2013 Electric car
With Tata, Ajanta and Tara talking about 'low-cost' cars and "less than a Tata Nano".



United States
Startups are taking the lead in electric vehicles in North America
Myers Motors, a small private company, has created an electric personal Three wheeled car called NMG (No More Gas). This car can take only one passenger, and is being sold in very small numbers in the US only.

2008
eviLightTruck


eviLightTruck
Phoenix SUT
Tesla Roadster
ZAP Xebra
[edit]2009
Aptera type 1e
Fisker Karma
Lightning GT
Miles XS500
[edit]2010
Chevy Volt
Ford Transit Connect Electric
Nissan Leaf
Nissan Nuvu
Smith Ampere
Toyota iQ PHEV
Toyota Prius PHEV
Visionary Vehicles
Zap X
Coda Automotive

2011
Ford Focus RV.
Tesla Model S

Buying and leasing

]U.S. Army
The U.S. Army has announced that it will lease 4,000 Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) within three years. The Army plans to use NEVs at its bases for transporting people around the base, as well as for security patrols and maintenance and delivery services. The Army accepted its first six NEVs at Virginia's Fort Myer in March 2009 and will lease a total of 600 NEVs through the rest of the year, followed by the leasing of 1,600 NEVs for each of the following two years. With a full eight-hour recharge, the NEVs can travel 30 miles (48 km) at a top speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) .

Future

Eliica Battery Electric Car with 370 km/h top speed and 200 km range


The number of US survey respondents willing to pay $4,000 more for a plug-in hybrid car increased from 17% in 2005 to 26% in 2006.
Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the Centre of Automotive Research at the Gelsenkirchen University of Applied Sciences in Germany, said that "by 2025, all passenger cars sold in Europe will be electric or hybrid" electric .
Several startup companies like Tesla Motors, Ronaele Incorporated, Commuter Cars, Phoenix Motorcars, Miles Electric Vehicles, and Aptera Motors will have powerful battery-electric vehicles available to the public in 2008. Battery and energy storage technology is advancing rapidly. The average distance driven by 80% of citizens per day in a car in the US is about 50 miles (US dept of transport, 1991), which fits easily within the current range of the electric car. This range can be improved by technologies such as Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles which are capable of using traditional fuels for unlimited range, rapid charging stations for BEVs, improved energy density batteries, flow batteries, or battery swapping.
In 2006 GM began the development of a plug-in hybrid that will use a lithium-ion battery. The vehicle, initially known as the iCar, is now called the Chevrolet Volt. The basic design was first exhibited January 2007 at the North American International Auto Show. GM is planning to have this EV ready for sale to the public in the latter half of 2010. The car is to have a 40-mile (64 km) range. If the battery capacity falls below 30 percent a small internal combustion engine will kick in to charge the battery on the go. This in effect increases the range of the vehicle, allowing it to be driven until it can be fully charged by plugging it into a standard household AC electrical source.
On October 29, 2007, Shai Agassi launched Project Better Place, a company focused on building massive scale Electric Recharge Grids as infrastructure supporting the deployment of electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) in countries around the world. On January 21, PBP and the Nissan-Renault group signed a MOU - PBP will provide the battery recharging and swapping infrastructure and Renault-Nissan will mass-produce the vehicles.

Improved long term energy storage and nano batteries
There have been several developments which could bring electric vehicles outside their current fields of application, as scooters, golf cars, neighborhood vehicles, in industrial operational yards and indoor operation. First, advances in lithium-based battery technology, in large part driven by the consumer electronics industry, allow full-sized, highway-capable electric vehicles to be propelled as far on a single charge as conventional cars go on a single tank of gasoline. Lithium batteries have been made safe, can be recharged in minutes instead of hours, and now last longer than the typical vehicle. The production cost of these lighter, higher-capacity lithium batteries is gradually decreasing as the technology matures and production volumes increase.
Another development in lithium electrochemical cells has been the STAIR electrochemical battery. This battery could increase the capacity by 10 times compared to other similar electrochemical cells.
[edit]Introduction of battery management and intermediate storage
Another improvement is to decouple the electric motor from the battery through electronic control, employing ultra-capacitors to buffer large but short power demands and regenerative braking energy. The development of new cell types combined with intelligent cell management improved both weak points mentioned above. The cell management involves not only monitoring the health of the cells but also a redundant cell configuration (one more cell than needed). With sophisticated switched wiring it is possible to condition one cell while the rest are on duty.

Faster battery recharging
By soaking the matter found in conventional lithium ion batteries in a special solution, lithium ion batteries were supposedly said to be recharged 100x faster. This test was however done with a especially designed battery with little capacity. Batteries with higher capacity can be recharged 40x faster.[79] The research was conducted by Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of MIT. The researchers believe the solution may appear on the market in 2011.

Electric vehicle organizations
Worldwide
The World Electric Vehicle Association (WEVA), chairman Hisashi Ishitani, formed by:
Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA)
Electric Vehicle Association of Asia Pacific (EVAAP)
European Association for Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (AVERE)
It organizes the EVS (Worldwide International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium).

North America
Panhandle Electric Vehicle Association
Seattle Electric Vehicle Association
Oregon Electric Vehicle Association
Humboldt Electric Vehicle Association
Electric Auto Association of Northern Nevada
NEDRA National Electric Drive Racing Association
The Electric Auto Association (EAA) (North America) and its chapter Plug In America.
Electric Car Society
Project EVIE

Europe
The EAA Europe, the European chapter of the Electric Auto Association and Clean Vehicle Petition
ECars-Now!
The Campaign for Battery Electric Vehicles (UK based)
The Battery Vehicle Society (UK)
Electric Vehicle Cup
Patents

U.S. Patent 1,017,198, E. W. Bender, Electric Motor vehicle
All-Terrain Electric Vehicle (ATEV)
Battery electric vehicle
Battery swapping
BugE
Dual-mode vehicle
Electrathon
Electrical engineering
Electric Vehicle (EV produced in 1899)
Electric Vehicle Company
Electric vehicle conversion
Electric vehicle production
Electric Vehicle Technical Center
Electrification
Electrocar
European Electric Motor Show
Green enterprise
Green racing
Green tuning
Electric vehicles portal
Sustainable development portal
energy portal
Hybrid electric vehicle
Hydrogen vehicle
List of production battery electric vehicles
Low-cost electric vehicle
Magdeburg Environmental Forum
Mitigation of global warming
Motorized bicycle
Nanotechnology battery.
Neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV)
Plug-in vehicle:
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
Project Get Ready
Solar-charged vehicle
Supplemental battery
Tribrid vehicle
Vehicle glider
World car of the year
Patent encumbrance of large automotive NiMH batteries
Source:wikipedia

Dani Pedrosa

Daniel Pedrosa Ramal, (born 29 September 1985 in Sabadell, Spain) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer. Pedrosa grew up in a village near Sabadell called Castellar del Vallès. He is the youngest world champion in 250cc Grands Prix. Pedrosa is 1.58m (5ft 2in) tall and weighs 51 kg (112.4lbs).

Career

[edit]Early days
Dani Pedrosa started riding bikes at the early age of four, when he got his first motorcycle, an Italjet 50, which had side-wheels. His first racing bike was a minibike replica of Kawasaki, which he got at the age of six and which he used to race with his friends. Pedrosa experienced real racing at the age of 9, when he entered the Spanish Minibike Championship and ended his debut season in second place, scoring his first podium finish in the second race of the season. The next year, Pedrosa entered the same championship, but health problems prevented him from improving his results and he ended that season in 3rd position.
[edit]125cc
In 2001, Pedrosa made his World Championship debut in the 125cc class after being selected from the Movistar Activa Cup, a series designed to promote fresh racing talent in Spain, back in 1999. Under the guidance of Alberto Puig, Pedrosa scored two podium finishes in the first season and won his first race the following year, when he finished third in the championship. In 2003, he won five races and won the championship with two rounds remaining, scoring 223 points. In his first championship winning year, Pedrosa scored five victories and six podium finishes. A week after winning the championship, eighteen-year-old Pedrosa broke both of his ankles in a crash during practice at Phillip Island (Australia), ending his season.
[edit]250cc
After winning the 125cc Championship, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class in 2004 without a proper test on the new bike because his ankles were healing during the off-season. Going into the season unprepared, Pedrosa won the first race in South Africa and went on to clinch the 250cc World Championship title, including rookie of the year honours. In his first season in 250cc class, Pedrosa scored 7 victories and 13 podium finishes. Pedrosa decided to stay for one more season in 250cc class, and he won another title, once again with two races remaining in championship. In 2005, Pedrosa won 8 races and scored 14 podium finishes, despite a shoulder injury he sustained in practice session for Japanese Grand Prix.
[edit]MotoGP


Dani Pedrosa on board the Repsol Honda RC211V.


Pedrosa made the move to 990cc MotoGP bikes in 2006, riding for Repsol Honda. Critics said that Pedrosa's tiny stature wasn't strong enough to handle a big, heavy MotoGP bike and successfully race in the premier class. Proving them wrong, he finished second in the opening round at Jerez on March 26, 2006. At his fourth ever MotoGP appearance, on May 14, 2006, during the Chinese Grand Prix race weekend held in Shanghai, he won his first MotoGP race. This win made him the exact equal 2nd youngest winner (tied with the late Norick Abe) in the Premier Class behind Freddie Spencer. He won his second MotoGP race at Donington Park and became a strong candidate for the MotoGP Championship. It was a memorable victory for Dani, who shared the podium first time with Valentino Rossi in 2nd place. He also took 2 pole positions in the first half of the season.
Until the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, Pedrosa was 2nd in the Championship only behind his more experienced team-mate Nicky Hayden. However, he fell heavily during Free Practice and suffered a severe gash to the knee, which practically rendered him immobile. Pedrosa qualified 5th on the grid in that race due to the cancellation of the qualifying session proper due to heavy rainfall. He miraculously managed to finish 3rd in that race, only behind Rossi and Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. However, in the next races, his form dropped and he struggled with the bike, moving him down to 5th place in the MotoGP standings.


His poor performance continued at Estoril. After a promising start, he briefly ran 2nd before being passed by Colin Edwards and then championship leader and teammate Nicky Hayden. On lap 5, he and Hayden were involved in a crash. Pedrosa made a mistake whilst trying to overtake Hayden, slid and crashed out of the race, taking out Hayden on the way. This crash ended his slim chances of winning the championship and also caused Hayden to lose his lead in the championship standings, as Rossi managed to finish 2nd.
However, two weeks later, Hayden recovered to win the championship while Pedrosa managed to finish in 4th place. This result clinched his 5th place in overall standings in his debut season, thus taking the title as Rookie of the Year in MotoGP category, beating fellow rookie and former rival in 250 cc Casey Stoner. At the final (post 2006 season) three day test of 2006 at Jerez Spain, Dani put his 800 cc RC212V at the top of the timesheets (on qualifying tyres) edging out Valentino Rossi by 0.214 seconds. Rossi had been fastest for the first two days of the test. Dani set a time of 1min 39.910 sec around the circuit.
Pedrosa continued to race with Honda in 2007 on their Honda RC212V, the new 800 cc bike. The machine had problems, and Pedrosa was taken out of races by Olivier Jacque and by Randy de Puniet, but he finished the season in second place behind Stoner and ahead of Rossi. He signed a 2-year contract with Repsol Honda for 2008 and 2009.
In 2008 Pedrosa's problems with the RC212V continued when he was injured in the pre-season and missed developmental testing, but started the season well by scoring a podium at the first round. While leading the race and the standings in the German round, he crashed and was injured, keeping him from racing in the following two rounds. Michelin's performance in MotoGP deteriorated, resulting in Pedrosa switching to Bridgestone at the Indianapolis round. He finished third in the standings in 2008.
As in 2008, Pedrosa crashed in the 2009 pre-season and injured himself, keeping him from testing the machine before the start of the season. He placed 11th in the first round, but recovered his fitness in the following rounds. At the fifth round he injured himself again in practice and then fell during the race, putting him 33 points behind the leader.
For 2010, Dani Pedrosa has reverted to number 26—a number he used when he first entered MotoGP—from number 3. He took this decision to please his fans who had asked him to return to the number he had always used.



Injuries
2003 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix (125cc) Double fracture in the talus bone of the left foot and a fracture of the right ankle.
2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (250cc) Fracture of the left humeral head that affected the supraspinal tendon.
2006 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Small fracture of the small left toe and loss of cutaneous matter on the right knee. 5 stitches in that vertical cut.
2007 Turkish motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Thoracic trauma, blow to the left gluteus and neck trauma.
2007 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Post-traumatic arthritis with inflammation to the small toe of the left foot.
2008 Sepang test 2008 (MotoGP) Fracture of the second metacarpal in the right hand, with three diaphyseal fragments, which are the bones that are found in the middle part of the metacarpus.
2008 German motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) General inflammation of the left hand with hematomas in the veins of the extensor tendons. Displaced fracture of the distal phalanx of the left index finger. A sprain of the interphalangeal articulation next to the left middle finger. Fracture of the large bone of the left wrist. Sprain of the lateral external ligament of the right ankle.
2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Capsular hematoma on the left knee that had to be treated two months after.
2009 Qatar test (MotoGP) Fracture of the radius of the left arm and contusion on the left knee that required a skin graft, because the scar re-opened from an operation before Christmas.
2009 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Incomplete fracture of the greater trochanter of the right femur. A fracture without displacement, an injury that requires absolute rest and treatment with painkillers.
2009 December (MotoGP) Underwent an operation to remove a screw from his left wrist.


Career statistics

By Seasons
Seas Class Moto Team Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
2001 125cc Honda RS125R 16 0 2 0 0 100 8th –
2002 125cc Honda RS125R 16 3 9 6 2 243 3rd –
2003 125cc Honda RS125R 14 5 6 3 3 223 1st 1
2004 250cc Honda RS250RW 16 7 13 4 8 317 1st 1
2005 250cc Honda RS250RW 16 8 11 5 7 309 1st 1
2006 MotoGP Honda RC211V Honda-HRC 17 2 8 4 4 215 5th –
2007 MotoGP Honda RC212V Honda-HRC 18 2 8 5 3 242 2nd –
2008 MotoGP Honda RC212V Honda-HRC 17 2 11 2 2 249 3rd –
2009 MotoGP Honda RC212V Honda-HRC 17 2 11 2 5 234 3rd –
2010 MotoGP Honda RC212V Honda-HRC 2 0 1 1 1 29* 3rd* –
Total 149 31 80 33 35 2161 3
* Season in progress.



By class
Class Seas 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Podiums Pole FLap Pts WChmp
125 cc 2001–2003 2001 Japan 2001 Valencia 2002 Dutch 46 8 17 9 5 566 1
250 cc 2004–2005 2004 S. Africa 2004 S. Africa 2004 S. Africa 32 15 24 9 15 626 2
MotoGP 2006–Present 2006 Spain 2006 Spain 2006 China 71 8 39 14 15 969 0
Total 2001–Present 149 31 80 33 35 2161 3



Races by year
(Races in bold indicate pole position)
Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts
2001 125 cc Honda JPN
18 RSA
13 SPA
10 FRA
17 ITA
23 CAT
7 NED
Ret GBR
12 GER
11 CZE
8 POR
5 VAL
3 PAC
3 AUS
7 MAL
4 BRA
Ret 8th 100
2002 125 cc Honda JPN
8 RSA
3 SPA
4 FRA
3 ITA
4 CAT
2 NED
1 GBR
2 GER
7 CZE
2 POR
10 BRA
Ret PAC
1 MAL
3 AUS
5 VAL
1 3rd 243
2003 125 cc Honda JPN
8 RSA
1 SPA
4 FRA
1 ITA
2 CAT
1 NED
8 GBR
Ret GER
4 CZE
1 POR
4 BRA
4 PAC
6 MAL
1 AUS
VAL
1st 223
2004 250 cc Honda RSA
1 SPA
Ret FRA
1 ITA
2 CAT
2 NED
2 BRA
2 GER
1 GBR
1 CZE
3 POR
4 JPN
1 QAT
2 MAL
1 AUS
4 VAL
1 1st 317
2005 250 cc Honda SPA
1 POR
4 CHN
6 FRA
1 ITA
1 CAT
1 NED
2 GBR
4 GER
1 CZE
1 JPN
2 MAL
Ret QAT
4 AUS
1 TUR
2 VAL
1 1st 309
2006 MotoGP Honda SPA
2 QAT
6 TUR
14 CHN
1 FRA
3 ITA
4 CAT
Ret NED
3 GBR
1 GER
4 USA
2 CZE
3 MAL
3 AUS
15 JPN
7 POR
Ret VAL
4 5th 215
2007 MotoGP Honda QAT
3 SPA
2 TUR
Ret CHN
4 FRA
4 ITA
2 CAT
3 GBR
8 NED
4 GER
1 USA
5 CZE
4 RSM
Ret POR
2 JPN
Ret AUS
4 MAL
3 VAL
1 2nd 242
2008 MotoGP Honda QAT
3 SPA
1 POR
2 CHN
2 FRA
4 ITA
3 CAT
1 GBR
3 NED
2 GER
Ret USA
CZE
15 RSM
4 IND
8 JPN
3 AUS
Ret MAL
2 VAL
2 3rd 249
2009 MotoGP Honda QAT
11 JPN
3 SPA
2 FRA
3 ITA
Ret CAT
6 NED
Ret USA
1 GER
3 GBR
9 CZE
2 IND
10 SMR
3 POR
3 AUS
3 MAL
2 VAL
1 3rd 234
2010 MotoGP Honda QAT
7 SPA
2 FRA
ITA
GBR
NED
CAT
GER
USA
CZE
IND
SMR
ARA
JPN
MAL
AUS
POR
VAL
3rd* 29*
* Season in progress.
Source:wikipedia

Jordi Évol

Évol Jordi Requena 1,( Cornella de Llobregat , Barcelona , July 21 in 1974), known as The noisemaker is a comedian and writer of television Spanish . Currently working in the program Buenafuente , presents the Bran , in the TV station La Sexta , and writes a small column in the Catalan daily Mundo Deportivo.

Biography

He was born on July 21 of 1974the municipality of Barcelona in Cornella de Llobregat . Her mother is the Grenadian people of albums. He studied at the school room key Hospitalet de Llobregat and audiovisual communication at the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona . He began working as an announcer at football matches in the program regional Catalunya Carousel of Radio Barcelona , under the command of Manuel Segura. He worked on the news of Telecinco and the Cadena SER , although television was their first contact local television Vilamoura , Vilamoura Television. His career started in 2000the sign as a writer for La Cosa Nostra , a program that Andreu had at the Catalan autonomous network TV3 . Since then it belongs to the staff of The Terrat . He is a collaborator, deputy director and screenwriter of the program of The Sixth Buenafuente and plays one of his most famous, The noisemaker , being well known by the name of this character.
His work in Buenafuente allowed to present a program for the chain, Bran , in which chapters were made as Saved by the campaign , dedicated to the electoral campaign for the 2008 general elections in Spain , or the Church Saved by , Saved by the Euro and Saved by the bulls . With the start of the second season, on October 19, 2008, abandoned its thematic and went on to be issued weekly.
Jordi Évol also works in the newspaper Mundo Deportivo and theatrical works in the whole pack Terrat with Andreu , José Corbacho and Berto Romero , where he monologues on stage and make speeches. Terrat pack toured throughout Spain.




The noisemaker

The noisemaker is the popular character played by Jordi Evol. His first appearance was in the program a thing altra Catalan regional chain TV3 where its popularity led him to parody in a book, " Yo, Follo . This character became one of the best known of the program, even taking his section Follo-nero . In Buenafuente , this character is based on simulating an anonymous person from the public, "the false public voice, a critical spontaneous course of the program and today. At 2008, Jordi Évol also went on to play this character in Saved , a comedy show presented by him in The Sixth.



Interviews
Currently the noisemaker has its own sections within the program Bran , which makes reports and interviews. In other programs, also conducted interviews Évol Jordi playing the noisemaker.



Featured Interviews
On one occasion, the noisemaker done an interview with the then Defence Minister of Spain , Jose Bono , in his own private car, asking for his accent.
In 2005, The journalist interviewed noisemaker Susanna Griso , who pretended to have had romantic relationships, to provide that touch the ear for the information if he wanted a date with him. Journalists Roberto Arce and José Antonio Luque touched the ear on the same information.2
In 2006came to disrupt the gala centennial of the newspaper Mundo Deportivo only to congratulate him on his birthday the Prince of Asturias , Felipe de Borbón , loudly singing "Happy Birthday."
Another joke Jordi Évol The noisemaker was playing in Venezuela in 2007, where he tried to interview the president, Hugo Chavez , and give you a gift. This almost came to cause serious problems with the police Chavez and his government.2
The performance of Jarabe de Palo
In one of his appearances on A thing altra , a gag prepared, Jordi Évol noisemaker stopped playing the live performance of Pau Dones ( Jarabe de Palo ) to argue that he always sang the same. The noisemaker was made famous in this gag, in which he shouted as follows (translated from Catalan):
"What's that? The new disc? It is business as usual, man. I always do the same, forty years doing the same. From La Flaca do nothing, man. "
The scene was repeated in the national zappings. In 2005, already in Antena 3 , Pau Dones visited the program Buenafuente , where the presenter, Andreu Buenafuente , apologized and the apology noisemaker sang a version of La Flaca . Finally embraced and declared a major supporter of the group.



TV

La Cosa Nostra ( 1999), writer and actor.
Altra Cosa A ( 2002), writer and actor.
Buenafuente , deputy director, screenwriter and actor.
Not surti d 'here
Bran ( 2008-), presenter.
Prizes

Turia Awards 2008 : winner of the Egg of Columbus.
Ondas Award 2008 for innovation or quality television by Saved by the Bell.

Garfield

Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield (named after Davis's grandfather); his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie. As of 2007, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals, and held the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip.
Though this is never mentioned in print, Garfield is set in Muncie, Indiana, the home of Jim Davis, according to the television special Garfield Goes Hollywood. Common themes in the strip include Garfield's laziness, obsessive eating, and hatred of Mondays and diets. The strip's focus is mostly on the interactions among Garfield, Jon, and Odie; recurring minor characters appear as well.
Originally created with the intentions to "come up with a good, marketable character," Garfield has become an entire industry, with merchandise earning $750 million to $1 billion annually. In addition to the various merchandise and commercial tie-ins, the strip has spawned several animated television specials, two animated television series, two theatrical feature-length live-action films and three CGI animated direct-to-video movies. Part of the strip's broad appeal is due to its lack of social or political commentary; though this was Davis's original intention, he also admitted that his "grasp of politics isn't strong," remarking that, for many years, he thought "OPEC was a denture adhesive."


History

In the 1970s the comic strip artist Jim Davis, authored a strip, Gnorm Gnat, which met with mostly negative reviews. One editor said that "his art was good, his gags were great," but "nobody can identify with bugs." Davis took his advice and created a new strip with a cat as its main character. The strip originally consisted of four main characters. Garfield, the titular character, was based on the cats Davis was around growing up; he took his name and personality from Davis's grandfather James A. Garfield Davis, who was, in Davis's words, "a large cantankerous man". Jon Arbuckle came from a coffee commercial from the 1950s, and Odie came from a radio advertisement Davis had written for Oldsmobile-Cadillac. The fourth character, Lyman, was Odie's original owner; he was written in to give Jon someone to talk with. Davis later realized that Garfield and Jon could "communicate nonverbally", and Lyman was written out. The strip was originally rejected by King Features Syndicate and Chicago Tribune-New York News; United Feature Syndicate, however, accepted it in 1978. It debuted in 41 newspapers on June 19 of that year. In 1994, Davis's company, Paws, Inc., purchased all rights to the strips from 1978-1993 from United Feature. The strip is currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, while rights for the strip remain with Paws.


The appearance of the characters gradually changed over time".
 The left panel is taken from a 1980 strip;
right is from a 1990 strip.

Garfield quickly became a commercial success. In 1981, less than three years after its release, the strip appeared in 850 newspapers and accumulated over $15 million in merchandise. To manage the merchandise, Davis founded Paws, Inc. By 2002, Garfield became the world's most syndicated strip, appearing in 2,570 newspapers with 263 million readers worldwide; by 2004, Garfield appeared in nearly 2,600 newspapers and sold from $750 million to $1 billion worth of merchandise in 111 countries.
As it progressed, the strip underwent stylistic changes. The appearance of Garfield was probably the most notable; he underwent a "Darwinian evolution" in which he began walking on his hind legs, "slimmed down", and "stopped looking [...] through squinty little eyes". His evolution, according to Davis, was to make it easier to "push Odie off the table" or "reach for a piece of pie".
Davis is no longer the sole artist of Garfield. Though he still writes the stories and rough sketches, other artists handle the inking, coloring, and lettering. Davis otherwise spends most of his time managing the business and merchandising of Garfield.




Marketing

Garfield merchandise and Garfield statues
Garfield was originally created by Davis with the intention to come up with a "good, marketable character". Now the world's most syndicated comic strip, Garfield has spawned a "profusion" of merchandise including clothing, toys, games, Caribbean cruises, credit cards, and related media. Garfield merchandise consists of a variety of toys, dolls, and DVDs of the movies or the TV series.



Media

Feature films
Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
Garfield: The Movie was the strip's first feature film. Released on June 11, 2004, the movie followed Garfield's quest to save the newly-adopted Odie from a TV pet-show host. While some critics lauded the casting of Bill Murray as the title character, Garfield: The Movie met with mostly negative reviews: Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times called it "soulless excuse for entertainment", while Desson Thomson of The Washington Post said of the film "There's nothing to recommend about this film except its sheer innocuousness". The film garnered a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while Yahoo! Movies gave the film a C- grade. The film's sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), did not perform any better in terms of critical reception, gathering an 11% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a C- grade from Yahoo! Movies. In 2007, the CGI movie Garfield Gets Real was released.




Internet
Garfield.com is the strip's official website, containing archives of past strips along with games and an online store. Jim Davis has also collaborated with Ball State University and Pearson Digital Learning to create Professor Garfield, a site with educational games focusing on math and reading skills and with Children's Technology Group to create MindWalker, a web browser that allows parents to limit the websites their children can view to a pre-set list.
A variety of edited Garfield strips have been made available on the Internet, some hosted on their own unofficial, dedicated sites. Dating from 2005, a site called the "Garfield Randomizer" created a three-panel strip using panels from previous Garfield strips. It was eventually shut down. Another approach, known as "Silent Garfield", involves removing Garfield's thought balloons from the strips. Some examples date from 2006. A webcomic called Arbuckle does the above but also redraws the originals in a different art style. The Arbuckle website creator writes: "'Garfield' changes from being a comic about a sassy, corpulent feline, and becomes a compelling picture of a lonely, pathetic, delusional man who talks to his pets. Consider that Jon, according to Garfield canon, cannot hear his cat's thoughts. This is the world as he sees it. This is his story". Another variation along the same lines, called "Realfield" or "Realistic Garfield", is to redraw Garfield as a real cat as well as removing his thought balloons. Still another approach to editing the strips involves removing Garfield and other main characters from the originals completely, leaving Jon talking to himself. While strips in this vein can be found online as early as 2006,the 2008 site Garfield Minus Garfield by Dan Walsh received enough online attention to be covered by news media. Reception was largely positive: at its peak, the site received as many as 300,000 hits per day. Fans connected with Jon's "loneliness and desperation" and found his "crazy antics" humorous; Jim Davis himself called Walsh's strips an "inspired thing to do" and said that "some of [the strips] work better [than the originals]". Ballantine Books, which publishes the Garfield books, released a volume of Garfield Minus Garfield strips on October 28, 2008. The volume retains Davis as author and features a foreword by Walsh.



Television
From 1982 to 1991, twelve primetime Garfield cartoon specials and one hour-long primetime documentary celebrating the character's 10th anniversary were aired; Lorenzo Music voiced Garfield in all of them. A television cartoon show, Garfield and Friends aired for seven seasons from 1988 to 1994; this adaption also starred Music as the voice of Garfield. The Garfield Show, a CGI series, started production in 2008 to coincide with the strip's 30th anniversary. It premiered in France in December 2008 and made its US debut on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2009.



Video games
Garfield: Big Fat Hairy Deal
Garfield: Big Fat Hairy Deal' is a 1987 computer game for the Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Amiga based on the comic strip. Sega also made video games based on Garfield for the Genesis and Windows 3.1 computers, as well as other companies make games, such as A Tale of Two Kitties for the DS, published by Game Factory.




Stage
Joseph Papp, composer of A Chorus Line, discussed making a Garfield stage musical, but due to some complications, it never got off ground. A full-length stage musical, titled "Garfield Live", was planned to kick off its USA tour in September 2010, but got moved to January 18, 2011, when it will have its world premiere in Muncie, IN. The book will be written by Jim Davis, with music and lyrics by Michael Dansicker and Bill Meade, and it will be booked by AWA Touring Services. However, no other cast or crew has been announced. The opening song, "Cattitude" can be heard on the national tour's website, along with two more, "On the Fence," and "Going Home!". When the North-American tour concludes in 2012, it will tour throughout Asia. After that, there are high hopes that "Garfield Live" will be licensed to high schools and regional theaters.



Main characters

Through the Garfield strips, there have been many additional characters,
 but the three main ones are described here.

Garfield

First appearance: June 19, 1978
I'm not overweight, I'm undertall.
Garfield At Large: His First Book (1980)
Garfield is an orange tabby cat born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant (later revealed in the television special Garfield: His 9 Lives to be Mama Leoni's Italian Restaurant) and immediately ate all the pasta and lasagna in sight, thus developing a love and obsession for lasagna. Gags in the strips commonly deal with Garfield's obesity (in one strip, Jon jokes, "I wouldn't say Garfield is fat, but the last time he got on a Ferris wheel, the two guys on top starved to death"),and his hatred of exercise (or any form of work; he is known for saying breathing is exercise.) In addition to being portrayed as lazy and fat, Garfield is also pessimistic, sadistic, cynical, sarcastic, sardonic and a bit obnoxious. He enjoys destroying things, mauling the mailman, tormenting Odie, kicking Odie off the table; he also makes snide comments, usually about Jon's inability to get a date (in one strip, when Jon bemoans the fact that no one will go out with him on New Year's, Garfield replies, "Don't feel bad Jon. They wouldn't go out with you even if it weren't New Year's.") Though Garfield can be very cynical, he does have a soft side for his teddy bear, Pooky, food and sleep, but one Christmas he says "they say I have to get up early, be nice to people, skip breakfast...I wish it would never end."



Jon Arbuckle

First appearance: June 19, 1978
Jon: Here's my sixth-grade report card. My parents were so proud. Garfield, reading the report card: "Jon has not shoved any crayons up his nose this term."
Garfield (1996)
Jon (Jonathan Q. Arbuckle) is Garfield's owner, usually depicted as an awkward clumsy geek who has trouble finding a date. Jon also had a crush on Liz (Garfield's veterinarian) and is currently dating her. Jon loves (or occasionally hates) Garfield and all cats. Many gags focus on this; his inability to get a date is usually attributed to his lack of social skills, his poor taste in clothes (Garfield remarked in one strip after seeing his closet that "two hundred moths committed suicide"; in another, the "geek police" ordered Jon to "throw out his tie"), and his eccentric interests which range from stamp collecting to measuring the growth of his toenails to watching movies with "polka ninjas". Other strips portray him as having a lack of intelligence (he is seen reading a pop-up book in one strip).Jon was born on a farm that apparently contained few amenities; in one strip, his father, upon seeing indoor plumbing, remarks, "Woo-ha! Ain't science something?"Jon occasionally visits his family (consisting of his mother, father, brother and grandma) at their farm.




Odie

First appearance: August 8, 1978
Jon: I think I'm having some kind of identity crisis. Garfield, walking past Odie who is lying in a kitchen drawer: He thinks he's having an identity crisis....Odie thinks he's a potato peeler.
Garfield (1991)
Odie, a yellow, long-eared beagle who drools and walks on all four legs, was originally owned by Jon’s friend Lyman, though Jon adopted him after Lyman was written out of the strip. Odie is mostly portrayed as naïve and unintelligent, although in one strip when Garfield and Jon are out of the house, Odie is seen reading War and Peace and watching a television program, An Evening With Mozart.[46] Odie is often subjected to physical abuse by Garfield (a running gag in the strip is Garfield kicking, pushing, or tricking Odie off the coffee table). Odie can show signs of being smart (such as holding a heavy rock while standing at the end of the table, which prevents Garfield from kicking him off, in fact Garfield hurts his foot. Also, he is seen solving Jon's sudoku puzzle). Odie is also famous for his huge, slobbering tongue. (One quote from Garfield after seeing Odie's tongue: "Is there any wonder why there's no room in his head for a brain?" .) His tongue is also apparently connected to his tail, because in another strip, Garfield pulls Odie's tail and eventually pulls out his tongue.




Recurring subjects and themes

Many of the gags focus on Garfield's obsessive eating and obesity; his hate of Mondays, diets, and any form of exertion; and his abuse of Odie and Jon. Though he will eat nearly anything (with the exception of raisins), Garfield is particularly fond of lasagna; he also enjoys eating Jon's houseplants and other pets (mainly birds and fish). He also has odd relationships with household pests; Garfield generally spares mice, and even cooperates with them to cause mischief (much to Jon's chagrin), but doesn't mind swatting spiders. Other gags focused on Jon's poor social skills and inability to get a date; before he started dating Liz, he often tried to get dates, usually without success (in one strip, after failing to get a date with "Nancy", he tried getting a date with her mother and grandmother; he ended up getting "shot down by three generations".) When he does get a date, it usually goes awry; Jon's dates have slashed his tires, been tranquilized, and called the police when he stuck carrots in his ears.
Garfield's world has specific locations that appear normally on the comic strips, like the Vet’s office, a place he loathes. Irma’s Diner is another occasional setting. Irma is a chirpy but slow-witted and unattractive waitress/manager, and one of Jon’s few friends. The terrible food is the center of most of the jokes, along with the poor management. Jon periodically visits his parents and brother on the farm. This results in week-long comical displays of stupidity by Jon and his family, and their interactions. There is a comic strip where Jon's brother Doc Boy is watching two socks in the dryer spinning and Doc Boy calls it entertainment. On the farm, Jon's mother will cook huge dinners; Garfield hugs her for this. Jon has a grandmother who in a strip kicked Odie and Garfield hugged her. Jon's parents once visited Jon, Garfield, and Odie in the city. Jon's father drove into town on his tractor (which he double-parked) and brought a rooster to wake him up. As Garfield has a love for food, they will often eat out at Restaurants. Most trips end up embarrassing because Garfield will pig out, or Jon will do something stupid, including wearing an ugly shirt, which happened one night when he took Liz on a date. When Jon does take Liz on a date, Garfield always tags along, and he once filled up on bread. Frequently, the characters break the fourth wall, mostly to explain something to the readers, talk about a subject that often sets up the strip's punchline (like Jon claiming that pets are good for exercise right before he finds Garfield in the kitchen and chases him out), or give a mere glare when a character is belittled or not impressed. Sometimes, this theme revolves around the conventions of the strip; for example, in one strip, Garfield catches a cold and complains about it, noting, "Eben my thoughts are stuffed ub."



Short storylines
Garfield often engages in one- to two-week-long interactions with a minor character, event, or thing, such as Nermal, Arlene, the mailman, alarm clocks, a talking scale, the TV, Pooky, spiders, mice, balls of yarn, dieting, shedding, pie throwing, fishing, vacations, etc.
Other unique themes are things like “Garfield’s Believe It or Don’t,” “Garfield’s Law,” “Garfield’s History of Dogs,” and “Garfield’s History of Cats,”which show science, history and the world from Garfield’s point of view. Another particular theme is the “National Fat Week,” where Garfield spends the week making fun of skinny people. Also, there was a time when Garfield caught Odie eating Garfield’s food, so Garfield “kicked Odie into next week.” Soon, Garfield realizes that “Lunch isn’t the same without Odie. He always slips up behind me, barks loudly and makes me fall into my food,” with the result of Garfield falling into his food by himself. Soon after, Garfield is lying in his bed with a “nagging feeling I'm forgetting something,” with Odie landing on Garfield in the next panel. Ever since Jon and Liz began to go out more frequently, Jon has started hiring pet sitters to look after Garfield and Odie, though they don't always work out. Two particular examples are Lillian, an eccentric old lady with odd quirks, and Greta, a muscle bound woman who was hired to look after the pets during New Years. Most of December is spent preparing for Christmas, with a predictable focus on presents. Another example is "Splut Week", when Garfield tries to avoid pies called spluts that are thrown at him.
Every week before June 19, the strip focuses on Garfield's birthday, which he dreads because of his fear of getting older. This started happening after his sixth birthday. However, before his 29th birthday, Liz put Garfield on a diet. On June 19, 2007, Garfield was given the greatest birthday present: “I’M OFF MY DIET!” Occasionally the strip celebrates Halloween as well with scary-themed jokes, such as mask gags. There are also seasonal jokes, with snow-related gags common in January or February and beach or heat themed jokes in the summer.

Right panel of Oct 27, 1989 strip.
One storyline, which ran the week before Halloween in 1989 (Oct 23 to [Oct 28), is unique among Garfield strips in that it is not meant to be humorous. It depicts Garfield awakening in a future in which the house is abandoned and he no longer exists. In tone and imagery the storyline for this series of strips is very similar to the animation segment for Valse Triste from Allegro non troppo, which depicts a ghostly cat roaming around the ruins of the home it once inhabited. In Garfield’s Twentieth Anniversary Collection, in which the strips are reprinted, Jim Davis discusses the genesis for this series of strips. His caption, in its entirety states:
During a writing session for Halloween, I got the idea for this decidedly different series of strips. I wanted to scare people. And what do people fear most? Why, being alone. We carried out the concept to its logical conclusion and got a lot of responses from readers. Reaction ranged from 'Right on!' to 'This isn't a trend, is it?'

One of the recurring storylines involve Garfield getting lost or running away. The longest one of these lasted for over a month (in 1986 August 25 to September 28); it began with Jon telling Garfield to go get the newspaper. Garfield walks outside to get it, but speculates about what will happen if he wanders off - and decides to find out. Jon notices Garfield has been gone too long, so he sends Odie out to find him. He quickly realizes his mistake (Odie, being not too bright, also gets lost). Jon starts to get lonely, so he offers a reward for the return of Garfield and Odie. He is not descriptive, so animals including an elephant, monkeys, a seal, a snake, a kangaroo & joey, and turtles are brought to Jon’s house for the reward. After a series of events, including Odie being adopted by a small girl, both pets meeting up at a circus that they briefly joined, and both going to a pet shop, Garfield and Odie make it back home.
Another story involved Jon going away on a business trip around Christmas time, leaving Garfield a week's worth of food which he devoured instantly, so Garfield leaves his house and gets locked out. He then reunites with his mother, and eventually makes it back home in the snow on Christmas Eve. Part of this storyline was taken from the 1983 Emmy-winning special Garfield on the Town.
[edit]Paws, Inc.
Paws, Inc. was founded in 1981 by Jim Davis to support the Garfield comic strip and its licensing. It is located in Muncie, Indiana and has a staff of nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators. In 1994, the company purchased all rights to the Garfield comic strips from 1978-1993 from United Feature Syndicate. However, the original black and white daily strips and original color Sunday strips remain copyrighted to United Feature Syndicate. The full color daily strips and recolored Sunday strips are copyrighted to Paws as they are considered a different product. The strip is currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, however, rights for the strip remain with Paws, Inc.

(source:wikipedia)