Hybrid News

Filed under: Etc., AutoblogGreen Exclusive

As I spent several days in Los Angeles, CA last week I came to several realizations. First I never want to live there. While air quality has dramatically improved since the 1960s, the geography of the region means that it will never be as good as other places. Since the 1960s, California politicians and regulators have continually tightened emissions standards to the point where more than 99 percent of the pollution produced by cars and trucks in those days has been eliminated, and yet they want to go further.

Now they want to regulate CO₂ which is a de facto way of limiting fuel consumption. While I am all for reducing consumption of fossil fuels, the reality is that cars and trucks last a long time. If, starting today, every car sold in California had zero emissions, it would still take more than 20 years to turn over the entire vehicle fleet. Actually given the current economic situation and rate of car sales it would probably take a lot longer than that. For the foreseeable future, people will be keeping their cars even longer, meaning that if we want to reduce emissions we have to find another way. Fortunately there is one. Read on after the jump to find out.

Continue reading Editorial: A simple way to reduce SoCal pollution and fuel consumption

Editorial: A simple way to reduce SoCal pollution and fuel consumption originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Etc., AutoblogGreen Exclusive, LA Auto Show

The Los Angeles Auto Show starts bright and early Wednesday morning and we’re packing our bags to be in LA to cover all that’s green and cool this year. As we mentioned a while ago, AutoblogGreen has gotten into the Twitter habit, and we′ll be chirping away when we get to the big event about our new galleries and updates - we′ll certainly tweet if we get to see this car. We’re really loooking forward to more information on the MINI E, the new Ford hybrids and, hopefully, the Scion iQ. We have a few surprises lined up for you. We’ll naturally be bringing you all the goods here on the site, but there’ll be tweets coming as well. Head on over to Twitter and follow us to be the first to know what we’re seeing and what’s being unveiled. Also, the URL that displays nothing but posts from the show is here. Stay oh-so-closely tuned.

Got Twitter? Follow AutoblogGreen at the La Auto Show this week originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM

According to a Reuters report, General Motors has chosen Troy, MI-based Compact Power Inc. as the supplier of battery packs for the initial production run of Chevrolet Volts. Compact Power is a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate LG Chem and was one of two groups that were awarded development contracts for the Volt in June 2007. The other contract went to a partnership of Continental and A123 Systems. CPI has been rumored to have won the production contract for some time and GM acknowledged in late summer that a decision had been made. An official announcement is not expected until some time in November, perhaps at the Los Angeles Auto Show. While a technical decision has been made, GM and CPI still have to settle the commercial details including how the carmaker and supplier will split warranty costs. CPI has been considered to be in the lead since very early on when they delivered their first prototype battery packs almost two months before Continental/A123. When we spoke to Bob Lutz back in June he said although one supplier was in the lead, both companies were continuing to work on packs in the hope of accelerating the learning process.

[Source: Reuters]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Pacific Region, Holden

It sounds as if the Australian market will be the third - behind the United States and Europe - to get a version of the Chevy Volt. In Europe, the Volt will be sold as either an Opel or a Vauxhall and in Australia it will be known as a Holden. The Volt, in its current Chevrolet guise, was shipped to Sydney for the Motor Show, which is where the announcement was made that it would make the trip to Australia by 2012.

The Holden Volt will join the Toyota Camry hybrid and the Honda Insight as fuel-saving cars with internal combustion engines that use an electric motor to achieve their fuel efficiency. Unlike its two rivals, the Volt will use only its electric motor to power the wheels, with the engine used solely to charge the batteries when needed. Officials from Holden say that the Volt will go for 60 kilometers before a single drop of petroleum is used. Hey, that’s about 40 miles. Imagine that.

[Source: The Age]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hyundai, Pacific Region

Hyundai plans to be the first automaker to offer plug-in electric cars in New Zealand. The Korean automaker will be working with its local distributor in New Zealand to retrofit the subcompact Getz to run on batteries. The complete cars will be shipped to New Zealand as usual where the conventional powertrains will be removed. An electric motor, batteries and electronics will be installed to give the electric Getz a range of about 75 miles on a charge and a 75 mph top speed. A quick charge is expected to give another 50 miles of range. At this point not a lot of technical detail is available on the car nor is pricing. Hyundai is expecting to offer about 200 Getz EVs annually starting in November. Thanks to Paul for the tip!

[Source: Scoop.co.nz]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Etc., USA

By the time I was old enough to care, pedal cars were decidedly out of favor. Instead, the venerable Power Wheels electric riders had a firm grasp on this particular youth’s fantasies. It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I realized the merits of pedaling for myself, and by then I was on two wheels. Now, though, I can look at the old pedal cars that were popular when my parents were kids and appreciate them, especially the kind seen in the gallery below, which will be auctioned off by RM along with the AACA (Antique Automobile Club of America) alongside the Kruse Hershey Auction in Pennsylvania. There are eleven self-powered cars in total and we have pics of six of them, each built atop the bones of a classic replica. Take a good look at some of the craftsmanship that went into these little machines. It’s hard not to be impressed.

[Source: Hemmings Auto Blogs]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Diesel, Etc., Ford, Germany

Thanks to its widespread use and low emissions, the Ford ECOnetic lineup of cars, which are focused on low CO₂ emissions, got an OekoGlobe 2008 award in Germany. The award, given in the category of “mass produced car,” was designed by environmental artist HA Schult. The ceremony took place at the DEVK insurance building in Cologne, Germany. Ford started its lineup of ECOnetic cars last February and the name is derived from ECOlogy and kiNETIC, the design theme that Ford is using for its latest creations. The first model to spot this label was the Focus, with a 1.6-liter diesel engine, a diesel particulate filter (DPF), fuel consumption of 4.3 l/100 km (55 mpg U.S.) and CO₂ emissions of 115 g/km. There’s also a Ford Mondeo ECOnetic that emits 139 g/km and an upcoming Fiesta spotting 98 g/km. This is not the first time Ford has won this award; last year the company won thanks to its flex-fuel powertrains.

[Source: Ford Germany]

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Original post by Xavier Navarro

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid

Today is the last day of the exciting convention, Plug-In 2008: A Short Drive to Tomorrow, here in San Jose, CA. While I haven’t had much chance to post during this time, I have been able to film several interesting presentations and interviews. These video segments will be made available on AutoBlogGreen in the very near future.

What I found that made this conference unique, in addition to being the first such convergence dedicated to plug-in hybrid technology, was the bridging of the tech community in Silicon Valley with the plug-in hybrid industry. On Tuesday, Andy Grove (Former Chairman & CEO of Intel Corporation) gave a luncheon speech that drew parallels between the eary days of the microprocessor industry and the current experiences of the plug-in hybrid field. He called for a grand vision - a commitment from those in the policy realm, industry, and research community to facilitate the production 10 million plug-in hybrid cars by 2012.

Dr. Andy Frank (U.C. Davis) provided a counterpoint in perspective during Wednesday’s luncheon speech. Dr. Frank has spent the last forty years of his research endeavors dedicated to the development of plug-in hybrid technology. While he mentioned that the field has made considerable progress during this time, he sadly lamented that there are only about 200 plug-in hybrid vehicles in existence globally today (five of which are his). Dr. Frank remained optimistic, however, and stressed the need for faster progress in the field.

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Original post by Shannon Arvizu

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Hybrid, USA

Lithium Technology Corporation (LTC) has announced that is going to supply about $4.7 million worth of batteries for hybrid bus application in a joint program with Kettering University and Transportation Techniques LLC (TransTeq).

These batteries will be used to develop a hybrid bus program in Flint, Michigan. While a hybrid bus already saves 15 to 20 percent fuel compared to regular buses, TransTeq’s hybrid technology with LTC′s batteries provide an additional improvement of 15 to 20 percent, adding up to a potential 40 percent savings. The model will also be able to run in an EV-mode only in of cities where combustion engines are not allowed (or will not be allowed in the future).

The whole project is aimed not only to provide cleaner mass transit systems but to revitalize a segment of Michigan’s economy. The hybrid bus program is headed by Professor Mohamed El Sayed of Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute). The MTA (Mass Transport Authority in Flint) will provide the vehicles and facilities for carrying out the technology demonstration. The integration and the production of vehicles will be done by TransTeq and will be based on progress milestones. At a later stage, discussions will be held between Kettering University, Michigan-based GR Investment Group (TransTeq’s parent company), and LTC for the production of the batteries in the State of Michigan.

Related:

• Mercedes diesel-electric hybrid Citaro bus wins Dekra award
• Azure Dynamics series hybrid bus completes US government tests
• DC Auto Show: 1,732 more orders for GM Hybrid buses

[Source: Lithium Technologies]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Xavier Navarro

Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA

This is not the first time that the topic of hot gas has appeared on our pages, and it;s not likely to be the last either. The problem, depending on who’s side your own, is that gas expands as it increases in temperature. In summer months, it is possible that consumers are getting less gas in their tanks than they are paying for. Before all of the lawsuits were compiled into one class-action suit, there were privately filed suits in 26 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam. The now-single-suit claims that gas is, on average, 10 degrees hotter than the 60 degrees that gas companies calibrate their pumps at. Not only that, but consumers also claim that the gas companies make extra money by adjusting their numbers when it comes time to pay government taxes, but not when it comes time to charge consumers.

There are good arguments on both sides of this issue, and the gas companies claim they are just following procedures which are required by law. No decisions have been made regarding this issue in court, but U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil has ruled that the lawsuit shall proceed on its way to trial.

[Source: MSNBC]

 

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Legislation and Policy, USA

If the goal is to incentivize people to use less petroleum does it really make sense to reduce the cost of that commodity? You have to give the Bush administration credit for consistency, at least, when it comes to wrongheaded thinking. The latest example of dubious policy directions comes from Transportation Secretary Mary Peters who is proposing that taxes on gasoline should be lowered and replaced by tolls or congestion charges. The problem with this idea is that unless the fees are tied to fuel consumption, a large incentive to reducing petroleum use is eliminated.

With a requirement for automakers to meet a 35 mpg standard now law, there needs to be a reason for people to buy smaller, more efficient engines. When gas prices go up people buy those more efficient cars. Shifting from fuel taxes to road taxes will be counterproductive. Peters argues that higher gas taxes won’t be accepted by people because they don’t trust the money to be spent efficiently. However, just because the basis for taxation is changed will not change the way people think about how the money is spent. With tolls that don’t discriminate against thirstier vehicles, what they drive will make no difference to commuters. Unless they feel the pain at the pump when they fill up, people tend to go for the most car they can afford. This plan is just plain stupid.

[Source: Seattle Times, via TTAC]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Ethanol, Cadillac, LA Auto Show, On Two Wheels

There was a time not too long ago that Lincoln and Cadillac fought over the high-end auto market in the United States. These days, the field is pretty much wild open for Caddy, though Lincoln still sells some nice vehicles. A few years ago, Lincoln commissioned the boys from Orange County to build a chopper commemorating the beginning of production of the Mark LT pickup. Cadillac apparently had to keep up, so the company will be showing off a new chopper at the upcoming LA Auto Show. This will actually be Cadillac’s second commissioned bike, but this one is a bit special, as it’s been designed to run on ethanol and will supposedly represent GM’s “strength in science and technology.” With all due respect to the builders of the bike, there’s not a whole lot that’s technologically advanced in a chopper built with a big fat rear tire and an air-cooled V-Twin, even one that has been jetted properly for alcohol fuel. Still, the machine should make a wee bit more power running on ethanol, and we look forward to seeing the new Cadillac bike in LA.

[Source: D Business via Autoblog]

 

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: SMART, Volkswagen, Green Daily, UK, USA

We’re not going to comment regarding the capabilities of Best Buy’s Geek Squad, the team of technology-savvy guys and gals working at the big box retailer which makes house calls to fix computers and the like. We will say, though, that their choice for the geeky-team-vehicle of a black and white Volkswagen Beetle (the new one, not its elder) seems fitting. Here’s a topic or conversation, though: Could they find a geekier vehicle? Well, some people seem to think of the smart fortwo is a chick car, though that theory seems to have been mostly debunked. Would the smart be a better fit for the Nerd-Herd Geek Squad? If you think so, perhaps you’ll be happy to find that the diminutive smart is actually in use as the nerd-mobile of choice in the UK. I don’t know about you, but if I were a geek (watch it, buddy!), I’d rather be seen in a smart. Just saying…

[Sources: Best Buy U.K. and The Scooter Scoop]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski