Hybrid News

Filed under: Diesel, Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, PSA, Citroen, Peugeot, Green Daily

Citroën and Peugeot have been putting out small, efficient vehicles for many years. At this weekend’s H2Roma, the PSA group will talk about the green vehicles it hopes to bring to market in the future. H2Roma is an annual sustainable mobility and the PSA group’s press release announcing its participation (pasted in full after the jump) gives us a compact rundown on how the companies will make future cars even cleaner. Check out the list:

• Continued improvement of gasoline and diesel powered internal combustion engines
• Second generation micro-hybrid technology on all cars by 2010
• Full diesel hybrid technology in 2011
• Preparation for the future Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV)

They just get better as you move down the list, don’t they? Lots of potential problems to actually achieving these goals, but the diesel hybrid goal is the one I’m most excited about for my new car. Too bad we probably won’t see diesel hybrids in the U.S. anytime soon.

[Source: PSA Peugeot Citroen]

Continue reading H2Roma: PSA lays out green car future strategy

˒Roma: PSA lays out green car future strategy originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Diesel, Etc., Audi

Along with Autoblog lensman Drew Phillips, we did the last leg of the Audi Mileage Marathon in Car #5: an Audi Q7 fitted with a 3.0-liter TDI. Our route lasted four days and took us from Las Vegas to Mammoth Lakes, CA, to Monterey for the final ALMS race at Laguna Seca, and then to Los Angeles. Unlike almost every other group there, we weren’t trying to set any mileage records, we wanted to see how the Q would do when driven like we normally drive. After four days of drinking the oil-burning Kool-Aid and hauling ourselves through the Western hinterlands, our verdict: the 3.0 TDI is a fabulous engine, and you’d be crazy not to get it in the ̱ if you’re in the market. Follow the jump for the full story, and check out the gallery of high-res images below.

Continue reading The Last Days of the Audi Mileage Marathon: Vegas to LA

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Original post by Jonathon Ramsey

Filed under: Diesel, Mercedes Benz, North America

Mercedes made a big red, white and blue balloon-y smash with their BlueTEC SUVs at the New York Auto Show earlier this year and the vehicles are in American showrooms now. In the Great White North, Mercedes-Benz Canada has just launched a new BlueTEC microsite to introduce Canadian car buyers to the clean diesel technology. If you click over, you’ll find videos of how the BlueTEC system works (converts most NOx emissions to water and “harmless nitrogen″!), a convenient link to book a test drive and a list of which models Canadian customers can get with BlueTEC. The flash-heavy microsite does not mention - at least, not anywhere that I could find - the little detail that these vehicles won’t start if the urea tank is empty.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz Canada, eMercedesBenz]

Continue reading BlueTEC microsite now available from Mercedes-Benz Canada

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Diesel, Manufacturing/Plants, Volkswagen

Volkswagen of America CEO Stefan Jacoby spoke at a Clean Energy Technology summit in Chattanooga, TN this week about plans for the company’s new factory there. Jacoby announced that the new mid-sized car that will be built there will include an optional clean diesel engine. The new car will replace the current Passat and be specifically targeted to the North American market when the plant comes online by 2011. Jacoby didn’t reveal any specifics about which TDI engine would be used, but the current European market Passat is equipped with the same 2.0L engine that is in the recently introduced Jetta TDI.

The VW executive also emphasized that the plant will be designed from the start to minimize resource use and environmental impact. VW will build a wetland area adjacent to the factory to help control flooding. Inside, the climate control system will use new greener refrigerants and reuse and recycling practices will be maximized.

[Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, Ford

It looks like small cars aren′t the only segment where Ford has no confidence in diesel engines. When Ford announced its redesigned 𑈆 pickup trucks early this year the company indicated that a new light duty diesel engine would join the lineup in 2010. The company even showed off the new 4.4L ͤ at a dealer meeting in April of this year. It now appears that the engine won′t be coming in 2010 and in fact it may never happen. Ford officials have confirmed to Mike Levine at PickupTrucks.com that the program has been put on hold and may be canceled entirely. Separately, another supplier source has confirmed the same information to ABG. Ford was already pretty close to completing development of the new engine, but has stopped short of actually tooling up the factory to build them. Instead, Ford has decided to refocus its efforts on the EcoBoost (gasoline turbocharged direct injection) engines that will debut in the trucks in 2010. A 3.5L EcoBoost V6 makes similar power and low end torque to a diesel at a much lower cost. The EcoBoost engines provide about a 15-20 percent boost in fuel efficiency, compared to the 5.4L V8, which is less than the 20-30 percent that might be possible with the diesel, but the cost makes up the difference for most buyers. According to Mike, GM remains committed to its new 4.5L diesel but all future programs are up in the air.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, Mercedes Benz

It′ll be a long, long while (if ever) before the diesel market in the U.S. is anywhere near as big as it is in Europe, but if the European automakers have their way, we’ll all be at least test driving oil burners sooner rather than later. As the Audi Mileage Marathon shows, diesel vehicles are a solid way to travel and the diesel push continues with the Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC diesels that are arriving at dealers nationwide this week.

Introduced in New York earlier this year, the three SUVs - the ML320, GL320 and R320 - feature MB’s 50-state BlueTEC clean-diesel technology. While these vehicles are not cheap, the IRS saw fit to grant them tax credits of up to $1,800 for having “Advanced Lean Burn Technology.” Mercedes announced that 750 BlueTEC vehicles are now in dealer hands. If you’re interested in taking a test drive in one of these, there’s good reason to: Mercedes-Benz USA will give $100 to The Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program in each tester’s name.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz USA]

Continue reading Hey Audi, don′t leave us behind. Benz clean diesels in showrooms this week

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Diesel, Ford

Denise McCluggage has been writing about the auto industry for a long time. She’s known most of the people in the business over the last several decades and she has earned a lot of respect for her opinions. In her latest column in AutoWeek, McCluggage lays into Ford’s president of the Americas Mark Fields on the subject of diesels. While the big three German automakers are diving headlong into clean diesel technology for the US market and even Honda is bringing its first diesels here in 2009, Ford is sitting back and waiting. Actually the Dearborn brand is actively shying away from diesel. McCluggage opens her article by calling Fields a “wuss” for relying solely on what customer surveys say about diesel.

The problem is focus groups are notoriously unreliable when people are asked about things they know nothing about, especially when it comes to cars and design. Americans that have an opinion on diesel typically have a bad one because of their exposure to noisy, smoky trucks. In my own experience whenever people are exposed to modern diesels they are shocked at how quiet, clean and powerful they are. McCluggage calls on Ford to show some cajones and bring diesel cars like the Fiesta to the US market. I concur and say the same to GM and Chrysler. Oh the hat that she was wearing at the start of the Audi Mileage Marathon? It says “Torque and Range” referring to diesel engines.

[Source: AutoWeek]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, Hybrid, Mercedes Benz

AMG is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz that transforms mainstream models into super performing beasts. As such it has never been known as a champion of efficiency, but this is about to change. AMG chief Volker Mornhinweg recently spoke to Britain’s CAR about future products that are being developed or considered. AMG has clearly demonstrated that it knows how to extract extraordinary amounts of power form Mercedes engines. Given the reality of fuel prices and emissions requirements, ever increasing power is no longer a suitable path. However, AMG wouldn’t be what it is without performance so the engineers will seek new directions that require less power and consumption. That means lighter weight materials for new models so that smaller engines can be used. The AMG engineers will also move beyond straight gasoline internal combustion power. In the next few years, AMG will introduce a model using the new mild hybrid system that debuts in the S400 BlueHybrid next year. That model should beat the current AMG 6.2L ͤ by 30 percent in fuel economy but have similar performance. Diesel will also be part of the picture although the focus for AMG will be higher performance diesels than Mercedes currently sells. A twin turbocharged version of the 3.0L ͢ diesel used through much of the current lineup could rival the BMW dual turbo six that is used in the 335d and 535d.

[Source: CAR]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, MPG, Audi

Day two of the mileage marathon saw a significantly longer drive than the first day, combined with less traffic. Since the route was predominantly highway cruising, the diesels were truly in their element even going through the mountains of western Pennsylvania. Virtually everyone’s mileage numbers went up during the run to Cleveland and judging by some of the comments on my post at Autoblog, a number of readers actually spotted our caravan on the road, particularly as we were leaving the D.C. area. Amongst the Q7s the top number jumped to 33.1 mpg while my partner and I stretched our example up to 30.2 mpg.

In the A4 group, my friend Lou Ann Hammond saw a significant jump that surprisingly might be partly attributable to her guest co-driver. On Monday Lou Ann had the highest average speed at 51 mph but the second lowest mileage in the A4 group at 34.6 mpg. Tuesday, they brought in a ringer with Audi ALMS driver Emmanuelle Pirro. Pirro explained that in endurance racing, it’s critical to get the greatest number of laps between fuel stops to minimize the amount of time sitting still in the pits. With Pirro aboard, the A4’s average speed climbed to 53 mph, but the mileage climbed to 41.3 mpg! The smoothness that comes from years of experience hustling cars around tracks like Le Mans and Road Atlanta clearly paid off. Driving solo, Todd Kaho got his A4 up 44.2 mpg. Among the Q5s, numbers ranged from 29.5 to 35.9 mpg while the McLeod/McCluggage team squeezed their A3 out to 50.6 mpg.

Leg 1 ends in Chicago where most of current crew will rotate out to be replaced by the next group that will head to Denver.

Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, Green Daily

Photo by Kevindooley. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

If your child rides the bus to school in New York City, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) would like you to know that he or she is being exposed to “harmful pollution levels″ during the daily ride. The EDF issued a report yesterday that calls on the NYC Department of Education to cut diesel soot pollution by 90 percent and suggests using diesel retrofit technologies to do so. On top of that, EDF recommends retiring the buses three years sooner than is now standard. And, if the Department does so, EDF says, it “could be using the largest, cleanest school bus fleet in the country within just a few years.” It certainly will take a while to do so, because there are more than 7,000 public school buses in the city. A few other options from the ABG archives:

• Plug-in hybrid school bus
• Biofuel-powered school bus
• Using a diesel particulate filter

[Source: Environmental Defense Fund]

Continue reading EDF calls for 90 percent reduction in NYC school bus soot pollution

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Diesel, Nissan, Japan

If you happen to live in Japan, your choices for buying a diesel car are quite meager. Until a new model goes on sale on September 18, there is only one diesel car available: the Mercedes E320 CDI. The model in question is a Nissan X-Trail GT20, codenamed M94, which gets a Renault-derived 2.0-liter dCi diesel engine, which was announced last year and was used for the G8 summit last June. This engine gets 30 percent better mileage than the standard 2.5-liter gasoline version while offering the same power and torque as the 3.5-liter ͢. The powertrain is also fully compliant with Japan’s new anti-pollution legislation which becomes mandatory in October 2009. As with most other new diesels, the ̋R uses a high pressure (1,600 bar) common rail injection system with piezo-electric injectors. The exhaust after-treatment system consists of a lean NOx trap and diesel particulate filter. Volkswagen, Honda, Mitsubishi and Subaru expect to have diesel vehicles available next year as well.

[Source: Le Blog Auto]

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Original post by Xavier Navarro

Filed under: Diesel

One of the keys to making modern diesel engines so powerful and low in emissions has been high pressure common rail fuel injection systems. Vince Piacenti is a senior manager for common rail fuel systems at Bosch. The supplier has put up some vids on YouTube that discuss diesel technology, and Piacenti describes some of the development tools his team uses. Creating injectors that can precisely meter fuel at nearly 30,000 psi and last for the life of the engine is no trivial matter.

In order to get the new exhaust after-treatment systems to work, the injection system has to be able to quickly adjust the fuel flow to manage the regeneration of the diesel particulate filter. The ability to execute up to seven fuel pulses per power cycle helps to spread the expansion pressure, and combustion temperature. This makes operation quieter and smoother while reducing NOx production. Check out the video of Vince’s lab tour after the jump.

[Source: YouTube, Bosch]

Continue reading VIDEO: Bosch engineer discusses diesel fuel system design

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, HCCI

In the wake of a new lithium ion battery joint venture, Bernd Bohr, CEO of Bosch is not concerned that automakers will try to keep battery production in house. In an interview with German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Bohr was asked about the fact that several automakers including Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan are involved in their own joint ventures for lithium batteries. Bosch is investing $300-400 million in a venture with Samsung to produce automotive lithium batteries. Bohr feels it will take 10-15 years for lithium batteries to become dominant so the company still has the opportunity to come to the forefront of the technology and play a leading role. While the Samsung will start with Korean production Bohr intends to eventually expand to other locations as well. By the time lithium batteries become mainstream in electric vehicles, Bohr expects the energy density to increase by a factor of 3-5 times. With Bosch’s experience in power tools and appliances the company already has plenty of in-house motor technology that they are now applying to hybrid and electric drive systems. By 2015 Bohr expects hybrids to account for about 2.5-3 million vehicles annually with another 800,000 battery electrics.

Before electrics take over the world though, Bohr expects diesel engines to pick up another five points of market share taking 28 percent of the global market by mid-decade. In spite of elevated diesel prices right now, Bohr believes that diesel will be the only way to meet coming C̘ emissions standards and taxes in the near to mid-term. According to Bohr investments are being made to increase diesel refining capacity that will alleviate the price pressures by 2010. Bohr mentioned that HCCI engines could appear in production before 2015 which will also help reduce consumption and emissions. Bosch is also focusing on large volumes of the most cost-effective methods such as auto start-stop systems which are expected to be on 50 percent of European cars by 2012.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Diesel, MPG, Ford, European Union, UK

Ford has everything ready to start selling the new Fiesta in Europe next Fall. Prices start at &euro11,700 for gasoline variants, and &euro13,700 for diesels (prices shown are for the French market). If you want 5 doors instead of 3, you have to add &euro500 to the sticker price. Six different trims(Ambiente, Trend, ECOnetic, Ghia, Titanium and Sport, or Zetec S in the UK) and six powerplants (4 gasoline and 2 diesel) will be available.

All gasoline engines produce CO₂ under 140 g/km and start with two 1.25L options, with 60 or 82 hp. An available 1.4L is good for 96 hp. All three have emissions ratings under 135 g/km. The sportiest version has a brand new 1.6L four-cylinder rated at 118 hp that achieves 41.6 mpg (US), while keeping CO₂ emissions at 139 g/km. Regarding diesels, there’s a 1.4L good for 68 hp as well as a 1.6L with 90 hp, producing CO₂ under 110 g/km. The ECOnetic version further improves the car’s consumption level to 62.5 mpg (U.S.) and boasts CO₂ emissions of 98 g/km.

[Source: Autoplus]

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Original post by Xavier Navarro

Filed under: Diesel, Mitsubishi, Frankfurt Motor Show, European Union, UK

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Concept-cX

Mitsubishi wanted the world to see that it had plenty of green intentions at least year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Thankfully, those hopes and dreams appear to be turning into reality, as the Concept-cX crossover has now been approved for production. As was initially shown in the concept vehicle, a brand-spankin’ new 1.8 liter clean turbodiesel engine will make its debut in the new crossover. From there the power will be sent through a dual clutch SST transmission and the all-wheel-drive system lifted from the latest Lancer Evolution. Of course, to meet the future Euro-V emissions regulations, a diesel particulate filter is fitted to clean up the exhaust stream.
The new cX should fit well into Mitsubishi’s product portfolio, right under the current Outlander in both size and price. We can’t say for certain, but considering that the two vehicles share a platform, we can reasonably expect to see this same drivetrain mounted in the even friendlier Lancer platform in the future. We can only hope that the cX and its diesel engine will make its way stateside.

[Source: Car Central]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski