Hybrid News

Considering the two fledgling automaker’s past history, it’s not terribly surprising that Henrik Fisker would want to distance his company from Tesla Motors. Recall that Fisker had originally been tasked with penning the design for the Tesla S electric sedan but later unveiled the Karma after being dismissed by the Silicon Valley automaker. There was a lawsuit, which was ruled in Fisker’s favor by an arbitration court.

Speaking at a meeting of the Western Automotive Journalists Assoction, Fisker said, “The full-electric car [like the Tesla Roadster] is a niche market. Plug-in hybrids have a much bigger market.” Of course, not everyone agrees that PHEVs are the way to go. Fisker goes on to say that his company’s latest business plan will lead to profits at just 5,000 annual sales, though the goal remains 15,000 sales per year.

What about the Chevy Volt, which uses a similar range-extended electric architecture as the Fisker Karma? Somewhat disparingly, Fisker suggests that GM’s future EV won’t really be competition for the Fisker, saying only, “It’s a Chevy.” He’s got a point, though, as the Volt is likely to cost about half what Fisker plans to ask for the Karma and surely won’t fit into the same luxury category as Fisker’s green machine.

[Source: Hybrid Cars]

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid

Henrik Fisker distances his company from Tesla, GM originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

The popularity of BMW’s MINI E test program in the United States has evidently prompted the company to expand production beyond the original 500 cars and add a smaller test fleet in Europe. The original plan, as announced last fall, was for 500 of the battery-powered MINIs to be made available in the U.S. and split between Southern California and the New York/New Jersey area. According to MINI USA spokeswoman Nathalie Bauters, there will be 450 of the cars in the U.S. with an additional 105 cars in Europe. Of the European fleet, 50 will go to the German capitol of Berlin, 40 to the British capitol in London and the last 15 will be used in and around Münich, hometown to BMW. That makes a total of 555 electric MINIs in a year-long (and controversial) field test. In all likelihood we will be hearing something about the next phase of BMW’s electrification plans within the next 12 months, possibly at the LA Auto Show this fall where we first saw the MINI E last year.

[Source: BMW, Bigblogg.Motoring]

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, BMW, MINI

BMW building more MINI Es for European testing originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Now that hybrid cars have taken the top sales spots in Japan for the last few months, that country’s Transport Ministry is reportedly launching an investigation to determine if it’s wise to require hybrid automobiles to emit an artificial sound when operating with the internal combustion switched off. The thinking is that hybrids may be more dangerous to the blind due to their quiet operation under electric power.

According to an unnamed official, the government’s 13-member panel - consisting of a diverse group of scholars, vision-impaired groups, consumers, police and automobile industry officials - “decided to consider introducing a sound-making function” on all hybrids at its first meeting on Thursday, July 2. The panel hasn’t yet decided what sound hybrids should make. We’ll cast our unofficial vote in the direction of cowbells.

The issue is well-known in America, where the government has launched Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Acts in each of the last two years to study the supposed problem. Naturally, there is some opposition to artificial noise generators on hybrids. “On the other hand, we should pay attention to residents (along roads) as hybrids are excellent in reducing noise,” added the Transport Ministry official.

[Source: AFP via Google]

Filed under: Hybrid, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, Japan

REPORT: Japan could require hybrids to emit sound originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

The British Department of Transport has announced a new £30 million fund to help bus operators purchase low-carbon vehicles, like the new GM-Allison Two-mode hybrid system (pictured). A Low Carbon Emission Bus (LCEB) is defined as one that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to a current Euro 3 diesel bus of the same total passenger capacity. These buses should also deliver at least Euro V emission standards. The fund also welcomes EV buses, but thus far, few options are available. The fund will be distributed on a very granular scale by giving operators 6 pence for each kilometer operated with such vehicles. Getting more LCEBs on the road is important because, despite improvements in fuel efficiency in bus technology, the Department of Transport found that CO₂ emissions from buses have increased significantly over the last 10 years.

[Source: Department of Transport]

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, Legislation and Policy, UK

UK funds Low-Carbon Buses with £30 million originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Xavier Navarro

Original post by Green Lantern

Back in early April at the Denver International Auto Show, Lightning Hybrids’ showed off its new biodiesel-powered hydraulic-hybrid LH4, the design of which was inspired by the classic 1963 Split-Window Corvette. Although the team had to scramble to get the prototype together in time for its unveiling, things have now settled down a bit and Lightning has managed to get the vehicle in running condition. Assuming everything goes to plan, the car - supposedly capable of hitting sixty mph in around six seconds and managing 100 miles per gallon - will be entered in the Auto X Prize competition.

Lightning Hybrids also plans to produce a three-wheeled vehicle using similar technology, appropriately called the LH3, as well as hydraulic-hybrid retrofit kits for everything from midsize sedans to fullsize pickups. Before any of that can happen, though, the group is seeking an investment of $5 million - surely not an easy task in this weakened economy. Click past the break for a short video of the Lightning LH4′s maiden voyage.

[Source: Lightning Hybrids via Wired]

Continue reading VIDEO: Lightning Hybrids′ L˔ hits the road

Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Automotive X-Prize

VIDEO: Lightning Hybrids′ LH4 hits the road originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Original post by thedaddycat

Art may be the last thing in the world the average person thinks about when sitting idle in a major traffic jam, but Spanish artist Maider López apparently sees things the normal person doesn’t. López put a call out way back in 2005 to anyone willing to intentionally sit in the largest possible non-moving traffic jam, and she got more than 400 responses from willing participants in 160 individual automobiles.

That conglomeration of cars and trucks all convened to purposely clog up some twisty roads in the Aralar Mountains in Spain, and the predictable results were caught on film for the Auto. Dream and Material exhibition at the Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain. According to the artist, this traffic jam illustrate the automobile’s impact on the landscape. We’ll take her word for it.

[Source: Inhabitat]

Filed under: Etc., Green Daily, Europe/EU

It’s Friday: Spanish artist creates staged traffic jam originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

The Dutch website dedicated to electric and hybrid automobiles, ZERAuto, has been conducting a poll, asking its visitors to rank their favorite ride and offering 12 very nice entrants to choose from. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Netherlands-based DuraCar Quicc! Diva grabbed the top spot and now proudly sports the “Car of the Future” crown, even though it had competitors like the Tesla Roadster and the Pininfarina B0 BlueCar. Putting aside possible nationalistic motivations, it seems likely that the practical Dutch see the Quicc! Diva as a stylish yet pragmatic way of moving themselves and their stuff around the narrow streets of their city centers. The Chevy Volt, which had occupied the top spot, was deposed to 2nd place; the Th!nk City was also a bridegroom.

The honor did not go unnoticed by certain politicians and yesterday the Minister of Economic Affairs, Maria van der Hoeven, presented DuraCar CEO Steen Wim Bakker with a certificate denoting the accolade. Although the company recently declared bankruptcy, as did their intended builder Karmann, they plan on making a comeback and begin producing 25 cars a day in Q3 of 2010, more than a year behind schedule. For their part, Karmann may also be a zombie phoenix. It’s been reported that they’ve landed a £10 million ($14 million) model-development contract from Volkswagen which will help them restructure and allow them to focus on electric cars. Hit the break for a Google translated press release as well as a bonus video of the Diva struttin’ her stuff.

[Source: ZERAuto / Bloomberg]

Continue reading Quicc! Diva wins “Car of the Future″

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants, Lightweight, Europe/EU

Quicc! Diva wins “Car of the Future″ originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

If an engine is not being fed any fuel and the crankshaft is not rotating, is it running? Of course not. But would you say it is stopped or paused? Both, it makes no difference. It’s simply a semantic distinction with no difference in real meaning. Mazda has introduced a new kind of automatic start-stop system on the 2010 Mazda3 called i-Stop. Until now, such systems primarily consisted of using either a beefed up starter motor or an alternator integrated with starter motor functionality to restart the engine. These units have to be more robust in order to withstand the greater number of engine start cycles that are required compared to traditional engines.

Mazda’s system takes advantage of direct injection and a crank position sensor to re-start the engine without a stronger starter. The engine is stopped/paused with one of the pistons in the middle of its power stroke. During re-start, fuel is sprayed directly into the cylinder and then ignited. The force of the expanding and combusting fuel pushes the piston down, taking the load off the starter. Thus, the engine can re-start more quickly and smoothly.
Gizmag calls this pausing the engine rather than stopping it, but Mazda never uses that term in any of its press materials. Currently the i-Stop system is not available on the U.S. market 3, but it will likely arrive eventually.

[Sources: Gizmag, Mazda]

Continue reading Stop? Pause? A distinction without a difference with Mazda iStop

Filed under: MPG, Mazda

Stop? Pause? A distinction without a difference with Mazda iStop originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Chrysler has made a big deal in the past about its long history selling GEM electric cars, and there are tens of thousands of them on the roads today. Of course, the EVs that Chrysler has been selling since 2000 (when DaimlerChrysler purchased GEM) are all NEVs - expensive, slow electric vehicles that aren’t selling well these days. With Chrysler’s recent emergence from bankruptcy, the company is still looking to cut losses wherever possible. Letting some GEM dealers go is one option.

Last month, Chrysler axed almost 800 Chrysler dealerships. According to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing, the company now wants to eliminate 64 of 150 low-performing GEM dealers as well. Chrysler attorney Corinne Ball wrote in the filing that Chrysler has “determined that the GEM dealership agreements are neither necessary nor valuable to their estates and should be rejected.”

The newest addition to the GEM lineup was to be the Peapod (pictured), but Chrysler announced recently that it would release this car under its own brand name, Peapod Mobility.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Chrysler, GEM, Green Daily, NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle)

Chrysler pushing to dramatically cut GEM dealer network originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Original post by Jeffs12340

The Smart ForTwo isn′t for shy people. Even though Smart USA has sold about 30,000 of these tiny two-seaters in the U.S., the little rollerskate attracts a lot of attention. On the road or in a parking lot, the ForTwo is a conversation piece, and people will come up and talk to you. Some will tell you about the Smart they saw in Europe. Others will ask if it has the guts to make it onto the highway. Most will assume it gets great gas mileage (it doesn′t). But one thing’s for certain, during our week with the ForTwo, there was a 100-percent conversation rate wherever we went. Anthropophobes, be warned.

Follow the jump to see what it’s like to spend wheel time with a Smart ForTwo Cabriolet.

Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sebastian Blanco / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Review: 2009 Smart ForTwo - Undone by a Dud of a Tranny

Filed under: MPG, SMART, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, In The AutoblogGreen Garage, Green Daily

Review: 2009 Smart ForTwo - Undone by a Dud of a Tranny originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is taking place this weekend in the UK and electric vehicles will again be represented. Last year, a Tesla Roadster made its debut in the hillclimb race and this year there will be 13 electrics on hand. Elektromotive will be trying to ensure that they stay in running order by supplying four of its Elektrobay charging stations. The Elektrobays are the most commonly used public charging stations in the UK.

The chargers will be set up near the Elektromotive display along with the booths for the EVs. Among the battery-powered vehicles at Goodwood will be the Brabus Tesla Roadster, the Frazer Nash Namir and the eRuf Greenster. The ElektroBay provides a 13 amp, 240V charge to help keep the batteries juiced. Many more Elektrobays are expected to be installed over the next year as part of a new EV test program announced by the Technology Strategy Board last week.

[Source: Elektromotive]

Continue reading Elektrobay charging stations will power EVs at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, UK

Elektrobay charging stations will power EVs at Goodwood Festival of Speed originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Original post by Diesel

The low price Czech-based division of the Volkswagen group, Skoda, has started producing a revised version of its 1.2-liter three cylinder engine. The powerplant is debuting in the Fabia but will soon spread to its platform-mates within the group, the VW Polo, Seat Ibiza and possibly even the upcoming Audi A1.

Changes to the engine include refinements like a cogged belt to drive the camshafts in place of the old timing chain and a lighter crankshaft. The reduced weight will help the triple run smoother and reduce fuel consumption. The three cylinder is built at the Škoda plant in Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Republic. The factory produced over 270,000 of the engines in 2008. The revised engine will be applied to other VW Group models over the next year.

[Source: GermanCarScene]

Filed under: MPG, Volkswagen

Skoda introduces new 1.2L three cylinder, coming to a VW soon originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Original post by haroldo

Back in February, the UK-based Lightning Car Company announced that it still intends to begin building and selling its Lightning GT by 2010. The £120,000 electric sportscar will be powered by one 120kW electric motor per wheel - assuming the fledgling automaker is still able to use hub motors from bankrupt PML Flightlink - that will get their electrons from 36kW of Altairnano NanoSafe lithium titanite batteries. According to its maker, the car should be able to accelerate its carbon fiber and Kevlar self to 60 mph in just four seconds and sport a range of up to 180 miles.

Despite the fact that the company has yet to ship its first automobile, Lightning Car Company chairman Ian Sanderson has said the company intends to also offer “a high-end chauffeur-driven car with electric power.” Also on the menu will be an SUV and a smaller sportscar, all powered by variations of the GT’s electric drivetrain. Ambitious, no?

[Source: Autocar]

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, UK

Lightning Car Company plans three more electric cars originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

The U.S. Department of Transportation and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) are hard at work developing new ways to make the air conditioners more efficient and reduce the interior tempteratures in our cars and trucks. What’s the big deal? Apparently, a whopping seven billion gallons of gasoline are used each and every year in the United States alone to run automotive AC units, which represents 5.5-percent of the country’s fuel use. Burning that fuel emits more than 58 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Surely, then, anything that can be done to make air conditioners more effective is worth looking into, and the NREL has a helper called ADAM. The 160-pound Advanced Automotive Mannequin features 120 sensing zones and is used to effectively monitor the ambient and surface temperatures inside a car, among other things. The end result of the organization’s findings could be a savings of some three billion gallons of gasoline per year. That’s hot stuff.

[Source: Wired]

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Etc., Green Daily, USA

Efficient air conditioning could potentially save billions of gallons of gas originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

in an op-ed piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute actually starts to make some decent points about fuel taxation and fuel economy rules. Unfortunately, he undermines himself with some blatant errors and misinformation. In discussing how Detroit automakers will deal with new fuel efficiency requirements, he makes the all-too-common mistake of referring to Ford’s hybrid system as licensed from Toyota.

The reality is that Ford independently developed its own hybrid system at the same time Toyota was doing its own. The basic architecture of both systems is the same and both are based on the concepts developed and patented by TRW engineers in the late 1960s. When Ford introduced the Escape Hybrid, Toyota went after the Blue Oval for infringing on its patents. Ford had patents of its own on the technology that Toyota was using. Eventually, the two companies reached a cross-licensing agreement that gives both companies the right to build their own systems. Such cross-licensing agreements are common in these kinds of cases, but Ford did not use the Toyota hybrid system. The only other company that uses Toyota’s system is Nissan for its Altima hybrid, and they actually buy hardware from Toyota. We continue deconstructing Reynolds’ arguments after the jump

[Source: Wall Street Journal]
Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading EDITORIAL: Attention Wall Street Journal - Ford does not use Toyota’s hybrid system!

Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Ford, GM, Legislation and Policy

EDITORIAL: Attention Wall Street Journal - Ford does not use Toyota’s hybrid system! originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid