Hybrid News

Filed under: MPG, Green Daily, India

Two updates on the Tata Nano, aka the world’s cheapest car.

First, the Indian minicar will have its body structure built by the Caparo Group at a plant in Singur that is next to the manufacturing plant that will build the Nano. Caparo will make 60 percent of the assemblies, and Tata will take care of the rest. The contract was finalized Friday and production will start in six months, an awfully quick turnaround.

Second, Reuters is reporting that the Nano will be coming to European market in four years. That model will be an updated version that “will meet the Euro 5 emission regulations and the crash standards in Europe,” Girish Wagh, the head of Tata’s compact car business to the German magazine Focus. One incredible upgrade: reducing gasoline usage from the current five liters per 100 km (47 mpg U.S.) to three (78 mpg).

Related:

• If successful, the Tata Nano will likely push up gas prices
• Videos: Ratan Tata responds to ctiticisms of the Nano’s safety, emissions
• Here’s the $2,500 Tata Nano, the Indian peoples car

[Source: Hindu.com, Reuters]

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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 Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in

According to Climate Change Corp, the Air Car will be released this year thanks to a $30,000,000 investment from Tata. Months ago, we told you about reports in The Age newspaper and BBC News that MDI, Moteur Development International, said the car would be released in 2008. We dialed back our enthusiasm when we read in an Indian paper that Tata said the car sill required two years’ work. Fears concerning a delay were confirmed when Oil Drum asked MDI about these concerns and it stated a release this year was dependent on investment. That money has now been promised.

Tata has invested in the Air Car before, and the company is not officially saying whether the investment pushed up the Air Car’s release date. MDI spokesperson Alan Zaire does say there is “no shortcoming in technology” and that the company has “resolved [its] financial problems.” So, look for the Air Car to be launched in France late 2008 or early 2009, with an exclusive release in India by Tata (maybe based on Tata’s hatchback). The cars are powered by compressed air, have a top speed of 68mph, a 125-mile range and will fill up in minutes at a cost of $2. Thanks for the tip, Steve!

[Source: ClimateChangeCorp]

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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 Lascelles Linton

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Natural Gas, India

Motorcycle, scooter and moped manufacturers in India are worried. Since Tata announced their ultra-cheap Nano, the two-wheeled industry is abuzz with worry that the populace will quickly abandon their old single-track vehicles for the safety and convenience of a four-wheeler if the price points get too close. This is a rational concern, and it is exactly why Tata’s created the Nano in the first place.

In an effort to persuade buyers to stick with their bikes, the major manufacturers in India, including Bajaj, Honda and Kinetic, are all working on natural gas options for their various offerings. According to this article, each of these companies has contacted Energtek, a leader in absorbed natural gas (ANG) technology for help in implementing the conversion process. The advantages to using the ANG lie primarily with price, however there are also eco-benefits to be had, as natural gas burns cleaner than other fossil-fuels. We have to wonder, though, what would stop companies like Tata from using similar technology in their low-priced automobiles.

Related:

• VIDEO: Live reveal of the $2,500 Tata Nano
• Here’s the $2,500 Tata Nano, the Indian peoples car

[Source: Red Orbit]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Chevrolet, GM, China

We told you recently about a car looking very much like last year’s Chevy Beat concept being spotted testing in China. We still don’t know if that car was actually a GM prototype or copy from one of the countless Chinese automakers who have no qualms about using the design departments of other, more established automakers to produce their wares. However, earlier this week Automotive news reported that GM is actively working through their Chinese operations to develop a much lower cost car for developing markets. While the Tata Nano is obviously a stimulus to develop a cheap entry level product, GM is apparently unlikely to go quite as cheap as Tata’s $2,500 entry price. The current Chevy Spark (the “design” inspiration for the Chery QQ) sells for $5,650 in China right now and engineers at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. have been tasked with cutting the production cost of the next generation model by half. That car, built on the same Global minicar platform, as the Beat is expected to debut in late 2009.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req′d]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, India

The Tata Nano made headlines as the world’s least expensive new car and it’s now facing a new challenger that’s battery powered. The Ajanta Group is better known for making clocks but they also build electric scooters and bikes. The Gujarat-based Ajanta wants to get into the car business with an electric vehicle that’s cheaper than the Nano. Ajanta group director Jaysukh Patel seems to think they can just transfer their electric bike technology to a car and produce 70 percent of the parts in-house, saving money. That seems a little unrealistic - even in India - unless what they are planning is closer to a neighborhood electric vehicle than a real car. For a price under $2,500 the car will almost certainly be relegated to lead acid batteries and very short range. It will be interesting to see how Ajanta’s new EV compares to the Reva G-Wiz which is also built in India.

[Source: Times of India]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Etc., India

In what might be the most perfectest (work with me here) odd couple match-up since chocolate and peanut butter, Pininfarina, car designer extraordinaire and builder of the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Sintesi concept car (silver automotive object dart pictured above), with minority participation from Tata Motors, maker of the ultra-cheap Nano (red contraption also pictured above) plan to open a research, design and engineering center in India later this year.

Just as it’s no secret that the Italian design house has been making deals of late in an effort to shore up its finances, it’s equally as obvious that Tata Motors, a company which began its life in 1945 making train locomotives, could use a hand in the aesthetics department. Not only could future iterations of the Nano benefit from the deal (Lambo doors anyone?) but seeing as how Tata is in the process of buying upscale British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, such a deal may be necessary for its future success.

We here at AutoblogGreen cannot help but wonder if Pininfarina might be able to use the relationship to take advantage of Tata’s forté of low-cost manufacturing vis-a-vis its electric car program with battery supplier, Bolloré. If you prefer to eschew speculation, hit the jump for “just the facts″ as contained in the press release from Pininfarina.

Press release

Tata has expressed interest in participating Pininfarina’s planned capital increase

Turin April 24th, 2008 - Pininfarina intends to establish a Research, Design and Engineering Centre in Pune, India within the end of 2008. Pininfarina and Tata have signed a Letter of Intent wherein Tata will support this Centre in India with contracts and participate with a minority interest. Pininfarina will be the majority shareholder with management responsibility.

“This agreement witnesses the great attention Pininfarina is dedicating to an emerging and highly developing market such as the Indian one”- declares Andrea Pininfarina, Chairman and CEO of Pininfarina S.p.A.- “Thanks to our partner, one of the worldwide major automotive manufacturers with strong roots on the Indian market, we will reach a higher excellence level in the design and engineering sectors”.

The Centre - that will be able to provide its services also to other Indian and international automotive manufacturers - enlarges the Pininfarina offer of services to the OEMs, thus strengthening the engineering best cost services developed since 2005 with Pininfarina’s Moroccan engineering centre. This investment also highlights Pininfarina’s strong desire to work with new and significant players in the world motor vehicle industry, as well as with established players, looking to improve its competitive position.

To further reinforce the strategic tie between Tata Group and Pininfarina Group Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Industries Limited, has expressed interest in the Tata Companies participating Pininfarina’s planned capital increase with the subscription of a portion of the options that will be assigned to the Pininfarina family.

[Source: Pininfarina via The Economic Times]

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants, Fiat

According to our list of the cheapest cars in the world, Fiat already offers the ninth least expensive car available: the Palio. It seems as if that might be the cheapest vehicle which Fiat would be interested in placing its name on, as reports are coming in which indicate that the company is considering a new brand for the further development of low-cost cars. Already, Fiat’s competitor Renault has announced that it intends to continue operating in the cheap-car segment that it competes in already with the Logan. Bajaj is said to be working with Renault on its upcoming $2,500 Nano challenger.

So far, there has been no indication on whether the new brand will be a resurrection of a previous marque owned by Fiat or something completely different. Though the new low-cost vehicle would seem to be in direct competition with the Tata Nano, Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne indicates that the two brands, which already cooperate in other ways, might be working together on the project.

[Sources: Automotive News Europe - sub. req’d, Reuters]

 

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: MPG, Lightweight

Click on the photo to watch the BBC video of the Nano engineers

When you set out to produce a car at one-third the cost of anything else on the market, a lot things invariably need to be left behind. Creating a car like the Tata Nano requires taking a complete top down look at every system in the car. Every component needs to be analyzed to make sure it’s really needed. For example, instead of the usual four or five lugs, the wheels of the Nano use only three. Given the low power and light weight, this is sufficient. Not only does it reduce the part count, it also reduces the time required to assemble the car. Other examples of parts reduction and simplification appear in the door handle mechanism which now has half the number of parts. Of course all this simplification runs the risk of reducing reliability and durability. Only time will tell if the Tata engineers have gone too far. For more, watch as the BBC takes a look at how Tata created the Nano.

[Source: BBC, thanks to Misha for the tip!]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Automotive X-Prize

A month ago, Tata Motors announced they would be entering two vehicles in the Automotive X Prize. The company’s involvement with the 100 mpge challenge has now deepened as Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Sons (which owns Tata Motors, the maker of the Tata Nano, among other companies) has become a member of the X Prize Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The President of BT Americas, Michael Boustridge, also joined the Board. The Board and the X Prize Foundation are in charge of more than just the Progressive Automotive X Prize, as the X Prize’s “Revolution through Competition” model is also trying to find new ways to get back to the moon among other endeavors. Bios of both new Board members are available after the break.

Press Release:

Business Icon Ratan Tata and IT Services Leader Michael Boustridge Join X PRIZE Foundation Board of Trustees

Tata and Boustridge Bring International Business Savvy to Prestigious X PRIZE Board

SANTA MONICA, CA–(Marketwire - June 12, 2008) -

X PRIZE Foundation
The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit that attempts to solve the grand challenges of our time by offering incentive prizes of $10M or more, today announced the appointment of Ratan Tata and Michael Boustridge to its Board of Trustees. Tata is the Chairman of Tata Sons, holding company of the Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate. Michael Boustridge is the President of BT Americas, a high-growth region of BT Global Services.

Tata and Boustridge will join a world-class Board of Trustees that includes industry leaders and luminaries such as inventor Dean Kamen, geneticist J. Craig Venter, PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, futurist and author Ray Kurzweil, first female private space explorer Anousheh Ansari, Google co-founder Larry Page, and publisher Arianna Huffington. The Board’s guidance is essential to exploring new industries where the X PRIZE Foundation can have a significant impact by creating innovative, high-profile competitions that motivate individuals across all boundaries to solve grand challenges. The Foundation’s motto is “Revolution through Competition.”

“I have been an admirer of the goals set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has inspired far-reaching breakthroughs in technology that ordinarily would not have been achieved. I look forward to participating in the process of breaking new frontiers in the future with the X PRIZE Foundation, which will have an impact on the way we live in future generations,” said Tata.

“Fostering innovation and collaboration to allow people to thrive in our changing world is very much in keeping with BT’s culture,” said Boustridge. “I look forward to extending X PRIZE’s ability to promote true innovation to challenge the many significant issues the world faces today.”

“I am pleased and honored to welcome Ratan Tata and Michael Boustridge to the X PRIZE Foundation Board of Trustees,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO, X PRIZE Foundation. “They are renowned global leaders whose guidance will help us keep our vision and mission global.”

ABOUT RATAN TATA

Heading the Tata Group since 1991, Ratan Tata is the Chairman of Tata Sons, holding company of the Tata Group and major Group companies including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power and more. He is also Chairman of two of the largest private sector promoted philanthropic trusts in India. During his tenure, the Group has further expanded its global reach, with its revenues growing over eleven-fold to around $70B, after the most recent acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover. Mr. Tata joined the Tata Group in December 1962. After serving in various companies, he was appointed the Director-in-Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco) in 1971. In 1981, he was named Chairman of Tata Industries, the Group’s other holding company, which he was responsible for transforming into the Group’s strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in high-technology businesses. He is associated with many organizations in India and abroad in varying capacities, some of which are the government of India’s Investment Commission, the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry, South Africa’s International Investment Council, several prestigious universities and several philanthropies. Mr. Tata received a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from Cornell University in 1962, and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975. The government of India honored Mr. Tata with one of its highest civilian awards, the Padma Vibhushan, this year.

ABOUT MICHAEL BOUSTRIDGE

Michael Boustridge is President, BT Americas, one of BT Global Services’ four regions. BT Global Services helps multi-site organizations master the complexity of business communication by providing and managing networking solutions so customers can focus on their mission critical and core business operations. BT offers global multinational enterprises a broad range of professional services consulting and innovative IT network-centric solutions, including high performance networking, applications management, outsourcing and managed services, and business transformation. The organization employs some 30,000 people in 70 countries and delivers services in 170 countries. Michael joined BT Global Services in April 2007, assuming responsibility for all aspects of BT’s operations and performance in the United States and Canada. He also manages BT Professional Services and BT Global Financial Services globally and has a coordinating role within BT’s Asia Pacific region. Prior to this appointment, Boustridge was Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at EDS, where he was instrumental in achieving the company’s highest total contract value for new business signings in five years. A native New Zealander, Boustridge joined EDS in 1996 from Hitachi Data Systems and worked at IBM earlier in his career.

ABOUT THE X PRIZE FOUNDATION

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured world headlines when Burt Rutan, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private vehicle to space to win the $10M Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since launched the $10M Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10M Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation is creating prizes in five areas: Exploration (Space and Underwater), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org

[Source: X Prize Foundation]

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: MPG, Jaguar, Land Rover

Now that Jaguar and Land Rover are no longer part of the Ford family, they can’t rely on the engineers in Dearborn to provide them with technology they need to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. The new owners from Tata also don’t have that expertise in house. With CO₂ emissions limits coming to Europe, Jaguar and Land Rover are in the process of hiring 600 people, many of whom will be engineers with the knowledge required to develop hybrid and electric drive systems as well as other new powertrain technology. The Land Rover LR2/Freelander will get a start-stop system this fall and a production version of the LRX concept is expected to debut in the next couple of years. Jaguar so far hasn’t implemented any of these types of systems in its cars, although European models do offer diesel engines.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req’d]

 

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

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

Way back in January, rumors began swirling regarding a potential tie-up between Chrysler’s GEM and India’s Tata Motors. The rumored love-child was an electric version of the delivery truck known in India as the Tata Ace. Now, we have a potential price for the unit, and it sounds almost too good to be true. According to Auto Observer, the electric Ace could sell for as little as $5,000 and would meet all necessary safety regulations in the United States. We′d imagine that this vehicle would be classified as a NEV, which would limit it to twenty-five miles per hour and operation on streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less.

No details are available regarding what kind of batteries or range are available. We can see a small delivery vehicle which uses no gasoline going over rather well in dense urban areas. Sales possibilities exist in both the U.S. market as well as in India.

[Source: Auto Observer]

 

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski