Kia Motors is premiering a very special version of the Kia Rio Hybrid sedan at the 77th Geneva Motor Show,...
Global cumulative sales of Toyota hybrid vehicles reached 891,175 units as of the end of January 2007.
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Toyota unveiled Hybrid X to the world yesterday, at the Geneva Motor Show. The Hybrid X Concept Car is the...
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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Hydrogen, BMW, GM, Honda
"Hydrogen: Here And Now!" This is theme of the upcoming Hydrogen Expo in San Antonio, Texas, to be held March 19-21. The question is, should it be "Hydrogen: Here And Now? And, if not now, when?" To get a sneak peek at the possible answers to these questions, perhaps you should attend the expo. At the very least, you will have a chance to sit behind the wheel and even drive one of the fuel cell vehicles that will be there, including the BMW Hydrogen 7.
In addition to the cars, there will be examples of hydrogen fueling for your home, your portable electronics and generators. Will any of these technologies become commonplace in the future? Nobody really knows for sure. Judging from comments on our site, there are doubters. However, there are some very smart people working on how to make the "hydrogen economy" a reality. Why not go to the expo and find out yourself?
[Source: Hydrogen Expo via Earthtoys]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Subaru, Geneva Motor Show
AutoblogGreen readers are no strangers to the R1e (see this previous post, which garnered some good comments), but I think most of the world is fairly unfamiliar with this tiny all-electric car. This may change, though, if Subaru comes through and makes the R1e widely available as a small, zero-emission commuter vehicle, either in Japan or the UK.
All that Subaru is saying on its official media website is the following [FHI is Fuji Heavy Industries, which owns Subaru]:
At present, ten units of the Subaru R1e electric vehicle are used for daily business operations by The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (TEPCO), Subaru's joint development partner, for road-testing with an eye to a market debut down the road. FHI intends to commercialize the Subaru R1e as a short-distance commuter car based on the Subaru R1 minivehicle currently available on the Japanese market.
A TEPCO-developed high-speed charger that will charge 80% in no more than 15 minutes will be also showcased.
The Newspress staff is on site in Geneva and, in a story on Subaru's revival of the Justy program later this year (more on that in a bit), once again brings up the possibility of the R1e being on dealer lots, but don't seem to have found any fresh information. They claim that the R1e is "already in production and 30 cars are being used in an experimental EV scheme in Tokyo." Currently, Subaru doesn't have many low-carbon emission vehicles for sale in this range, and with the exemption from the London congestion charge, an R1e could find a willing audience in the UK.
Now, about the Justy small car program. Newspress says that since Subaru and Toyota are in a new relationship (Toyota bought GM's Subaru stake), a new Justy based on the Daihatsu Sirion city car is in the works (Daihatsu is also effectively part of the Toyota group). Newspress says the Justy will be restyled with a Subaru "face", but will essentially be the same as the Sirion.
Related:
[Source: Newspress, Subaru]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Solar, Zap
ZAP, which stands for Zero Air Pollution, was at the Chicago Auto Show which we were at, and we took pictures of the three-wheeled cars and trucks that they have to offer. At that time, their website showed that a solar option would be coming soon. Come it did; adding a solar panel to the roof adds roughly $2,000 to the price of the vehicle. The vehicle is called the ZAP Xebra Xero. No solid data exists on how long it may take to charge the batteries completely with the solar unit on the vehicles roof, which would depend on the amount of sun available and the angle at which the panel were pointed anyway. However, ZAP is claiming that the car can operate for short distances on power from the solar panel only. Again, just how long and how fast is debatable. Is the solar panel worth the price? Well, that would depend on the type of trip you are most likely to use the vehicle for. If you will use it rarely, so it has time to charge via the sun in between trips, it may work out great. Perhaps some real-world testing of the vehicle will give the rest of us some "live data" to consider.
In my opinion, it's a good first step. The days of masses of vehicles running solely on solar power are likely a ways off still. But, if there are some early adopters of the technology, and as the efficiency of the panels and individual cells increases, who knows? I for one would love never having to plug in an electric car, or fill the vehicles tank with fuel. Solar power truly is one of the cleanest forms of power you or I are likely to find.
Related:
[Source: ZAP via The Auto Channel]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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Filed under: Hybrid
Until recently, Europeans have been only lukewarm towards hybrids, instead preferring to drive diesel engine vehicles, which dominate up to eighty percent of the market in some areas. However, a new survey commissioned by Continental, seems to indicate that may be changing. According to the survey, one quarter of German drivers are considering purchasing hybrids. The main reason given is the fuel economy savings, with environmental concerns being less important. Continental Chairman Karl-Thomas Neumann, is projecting that hybrid sales will grow to over two million vehicles a year after 2012. Of course having heard of hybrids and actually understanding what it means are very different things. In the survey, three quarters of the 1,000 drivers surveyed had heard of hybrids, but only a third could even remotely describe how it works or what it does. Conti of course has a vested interest in promoting hybrids since they are partnered with ZF to supply components for hybrids, including electronic brake systems. The press release from Conti is after the jump.
[Source: Continental]
Continental study
One out of Four German Motorists Thinking about Buying a Hybrid Vehicle
- Economic considerations in forefront - International automotive supplier
- Continental presents representative opinion poll - Well poised for boom
"There definitely is a market. And it is steadily growing. We're bringing the right products at the right time," notes Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, chairman of the management board of Continental's Automotive Systems division and member of the Executive Board of Continen¬tal AG. "International market studies forecast rapid growth to two million hybrid vehicles and more annually after 2012. We shall be participating in this boom insofar as, together with our cooperation partner ZF Friedrichshafen AG, we can offer complete solutions up to and in¬cluding electric brakes and the related software integration from just one source."
At the end of last year - and thus before the current discussion about CO2 pollution got under way - the opinion research institute TNS/Infratest, at Continental AG's request, surveyed 1,000 German motorists on the topic of hybrid drive technology. More than three-fourths of those interviewed had already heard about this technology, although only a third was capa¬ble of coming anywhere near describing it. On the whole, women are less knowledgeable of the details, although once they are explained to them they are much more open to the idea.
90 percent of those surveyed assume that fuel consumption will be less than with conventional drive technologies. The anticipated fuel savings work out, on average, to around 25 percent. Two thirds of those responding reckon with a higher initial outlay - in the order of EUR3,919 on average - than for a car with a conventional drive system. Half of the motorists cited as "interesting" a hybrid system with lower fuel consumption and better acceleration. For such a hybrid, those surveyed would be prepared to shell out an extra EUR2,805 on average.
Neumann pointed out that with a modular system for power electronics, Continental's Auto¬motive Systems division creates synergies between hybrid systems of different performance classes. The special component system enables the auto industry to market hybrids of vary¬ing sizes and performance levels with no loss of time and at attractive prices.
In closing he let it be known that Continental has commissioned TNS/Infratest to conduct a repetition of the survey. The comparative data so obtained will bring to light any shifts in opinion topography as may have triggered by the discussion on climatic change and CO2 emissions that has come up since the initial survey data was gathered. The automotive sup¬plier will present the latest results in May.
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I've got to hand it to Toyota, if anyone in the world who holds a bit of power buys a Prius or two, the company lets the world know. Take, for example, workers at Premiere Polish Co Ltd., the Hertfordshire constables, or employees of FOCUS International, all of who now drive Priuses. The latest addition to the PR-Prius roster is the Mayor of Richmond upon Thames (a London borough) who turned in his Daimler DS420 4.0-litre limo for the world's most popular hybrid.
The switch by Mayor Cllr Bill Treble is in keeping with his CO2-lowering policies. Residents of Richmond upon Thames with high-polluting vehicles pay up to £300 to park in some areas, and people with more than one car pay more. If you have a hybrid or other low-emission vehicle, you get a reduction in parking fees of up to 50 percent.
Here's a thought: did you or anyone you know recently buy a Prius? Do they have some clout in the community? Can you get Toyota to send out a press release on your behalf? It'd be awful sweet if you could...
[Source: Toyota]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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Filed under: Biodiesel
Oil giant Chevron has invested in a new 20-million gallon per year / 75.7 million litre per year soybean oil biodiesel production plant in Galveston, Texas. Plans are already underway however to increase production initially to 60 million gallons and then 110 million gallons over the next year.
Chevron owns 22 percent of the $10 million plant which is run by BioSelect Fuels. BioSelect has said that to be successful in the long-term, the plant will have to move away from expensive food crop feedstocks to cheaper nonfood crops with higher energy potential, such as castor beans or Chinese tallow trees.
Analysis: It's good to see big oil have a go with biofuels. A new biodiesel plant is a whole lot cheaper than developing a new oil field (are there any new oil fields left?), the trick, as always, is to get the feedstock for the right price.
Related:
- Interview with Emily Horgan, Director of the Greaseball Challenge, part one
- ABG POLL RESULTS: Best way to spend the DOE's money
- Biomass-to-liquids synthetic SunDiesel to launch in Europe this year
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants, Volkswagen
In an earlier post, we brought you VW CEO Martin Winterkorn's response to critics, including the German President himself, that VW, along with the rest of the German auto manufacturers, are not doing enough to help the environment. It is not hard to see why some people feel this way, with VW owning Lamborghini, Bugatti and Audi, who recently released their new R8 sports car. VW is partly owned by Porsche, which does not have a long history of producing exceptionally fuel efficient cars either. As the interviewer points out, Audi, BMW and Mercedes have been in an ongoing race to produce the fastest, most powerful cars in each of their respective classes, and they do not appear to be slowing down any time soon.
So, what is VW to do? For one, they will release a hybrid model starting in 2008, according to Winterkorn. But, also of interest is another possibility that the CEO mentions in the article. Will VW release a turbocharged twin-cylinder car smaller and more affordable than their current small car, the Fox? Winterkorn says that they just may. Here are his own words:
Winterkorn: When I took this position here in Wolfsburg in January, the first thing I did was to launch the development of a very small model, smaller than the Fox. It will be economical, suitable for daily use and affordable. And it will also make do with smaller engines. Two-cylinder engines with turbochargers could be an option.
SPIEGEL: When might such a Volkswagen become available?
Winterkorn: We are thinking about 2009. The sooner the better. There is great demand for this type of car in Western Europe, where it can provide mobility in big cities. But there is also considerable demand for a small Volkswagen in the emerging markets. In Russia, India and China, for example, we need cars that sell for €5,000 or €6,000.
Intriguing, no? We've heard of this before (see related posts below), but how exactly will VW offer a car to compete with SMART? And what are the chances the car will make it to America? If the past is any indication, not very likely. But, I am anxious to hear any more information along this front.
Related:
- VW's hybrids, German cars and CO2 emissions, and follow-up on the new Fox
- VW to develop a challenger for the Smart ForTwo
[Source: Spiegel]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
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