Honda announces Insight’s US prices while Mitsubishi shows Drive@Earth
Mar 12, 2009 Uncategorized
Barely a month after Honda put the Insight hybrid on road in Japan, it has announced official prices and trims for the US market. Prices start from $19,800 in base LX trim and goes upto $23100, for which you will get goodies like integrated GPS in dash and steering-mounted paddleshift gearchange. The prices confirm Honda’s claim as the Insight being the cheapest hybrid on sale, with the Prius starting prices being $2k more.
Meanwhile Mitsubishi has released ads of its iMiEV electric vehicles, of which, it showed off a couple of newer variants in the recent Geneva Motor Show. The ads are tagged as Drive@Earth campaign and highlisghts that the car has zero carbon emissions while driving.
[More videos follow] Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Green Cars, Honda Insight, Hybrids, Toyota Prius
Sales of electric cars plummet in US and UK
Dec 6, 2008 Auto Tech
While the worldwide economic downturn has badly affected auto sales, the electric cars market has seen perilous falls in UK as well as US.
EPower, a retailer selling electric cars in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, has only sold two cars in the past three months. MCEV, the largest electric car dealer in the Pacific Northwest, has seen sales decline to 1-2 vehicles a month, down 80% from earlier this year. Even corporate and government sales — which make up a large percentage of MCEV’s revenue — are also being impacted.
UK sales of electric cars have dropped 58 percent this year. For the first ten months of 2008, a total of only 156 vehicles were sold in the country — nearly all of those confined to London itself. The announcement came just two days after the nation’s Committee on Climate Change predicted electric car sales would increase substantially this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Green Automobiles, Green Cars, UK, US
First MINI-E unveiled in NY
Nov 19, 2008 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
MINI E
Today BMW took the wraps off the first “production” MINI E, 1st of a run of 500 that will be leased to customers in the southern California and metro New York areas starting in January. The Mini E is the all electric version of the hugely popular Mini Cooper small car.
The MINI E uses a single speed gearbox with its 150 kW electric motor from AC Propulsion. That motor is enough to push the 3,230 lb MINI to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds. The Mini-E weighs in at 660 lbs more than the conventionally fueled Mini Cooper. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: BMW, electric cars, Green Cars, MINI E
New spoiler promises increased efficiency for minivans and SUVs
Nov 13, 2008 Auto Tech
A team of researchers has used the principles of fluid dynamics and numerical simulation to design a new rear spoiler for slab-backed vehicles (like minivans and SUVs) that can reduce drag and lift significantly.
In a paper published in the International Journal of Vehicle Design, the team reports that the aerodynamic drag and lift on a mini-van moving at 108 kph (67 mph) are reduced by 5% and more than 100%, respectively, when the new spoiler is attached to it.
With as much as 65% of the power required for ground vehicles to travel on a highway at 70 miles per hour is being consumed due to aerodynamic drag, the reductions from the spoiler could increase fuel economy by up to several miles per gallon, the researchers say. Drag is the force that works in the direction opposite to motion of vehicle and lift is the vertical force.
Conventional spoilers resemble an inverted plane wing and generally work by increasing the downward force on the back of the vehicle as well as improving the flow of air across the bluff rear. The new rear spoiler resembles a wave in profile rather than a wing.
Makes one wonder what the CFD boffins employed by big automakers making SUVs and vans been doing all these years. Why did it take a university team to come up with a result that affects them so directly! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aerodynamics, CFD, Green Cars
Hypermiling: Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2008
Nov 11, 2008 Stars, Policy and Finance
Word of the Year
Hypermiling has become the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2008! All the more evidence that green is going mainstream. This comes after “carbon neutral” became the Word of the year in 2006.
First coined in 2004, the word has taken just four years to win the award, thanks largely due to the recent high gas prices worldwide. Just what is hypermiling? Well, now that it’s officially Oxford’s Word of the Year, let’s ask them.
“Hypermiling” or “to hypermile” is to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. Rather than aiming for good mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon.”
The practice may be controversial, especially a few of the extreme tactics like overinflatings tyres or riding the “drafts” of big trucks, but word is here to stay. Read more at the Oxford University Press blog and here.
Tags: Green Automobiles, Green Cars, Hypermiling, Oxford University Press
Tesla in fresh soup
Nov 2, 2008 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Tesla Roadster
Reacting to rumors that it has ‘only’ $9 million in its bank and may not be able to deliver the cars it has taken deposits for, Tesla Motors expects to close a financing round of over $20 million from existing investors as soon as next week to bolster its finances, said Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of the electric car start-up, who also said that he will personally guarantee the delivery of the cars for which deposits have been paid.
The bad news from Tesla Motors just keeps coming! It has been only a couple of weeks since Tesla failed to secure a $100-million investment round due to turbulent financial markets, Musk fired the CEO and cut 24 percent of the company’s work force and delayed development work on a battery-powered electric sedan, known internally as the “Model S.” Many exisiting Tesla Roadster owner have also detected a problem where the car continues to discharge even when parked. Read these issues here.
Musk, a billionaire co-founder PayPal, said he would personally ensure that the San Jose, California company would have enough cash to deliver all of its orders for the $109,000 Tesla Roadster, the first battery powered sports car. Tesla has delivered less than 50 Roadsters despite having taken over 1,200 orders with millions of dollars in deposits. Question is howlong can Tesla go on like this, with so many competitors suddenly sprouting in the electric vehicles market, some with deep pockets like BMW’s Mini or GE-TH!INK collaboration.
In addition to the new financing round from investors, Tesla also expects to secure another $200 million in still-pending loans from the U.S. Department of Energy. Read the full Reuters report here.
Tags: electric cars, Green Cars, Tesla Motors
More of GE Ecomagination — electric car for 2009
Oct 31, 2008 Auto Tech
Th!nk`
GE has aggressive plans for the electric vehicle. It has upped its stake in A123 Batteries with a $30 million investment and now plans to partner T!ink Global, which is debuting a small plug-in car in 2009
TH!NK GLOBAL is the new owner of the electric car producer TH!NK. Formerly part of the Ford Motor Company, TH!NK was taken over by a group of Norwegian investors in March 2006.
The car has a top speed of 65 MPH (~100 KM) and a range of about 110 miles (170 kms). With a target price of $30000, it may become a surprise hit, with its cute looks! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: electric cars, GE, Green Cars, Th!nk
An electric bike — affordable yet drool cool!
Oct 24, 2008 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Electric Bike - ubercool!
An Oakland (US) based company called Electric Motorsports has unveiled an electric bikes called GPR-S. Boasting a 60-70 mph (100-120 kmph)top speed and 35-60 mile (55-100 km) range at an affordable $8,000, it could just be the eco-bikers’ weapon of choice.
The bike can charge in about four hours, or 1.5 hours with an optional charger. Even better, the bike is modular in nature. In simpler words, a user could buy the bike with an efficient battery and engine build today, and when the next cycle of improved batteries is released, he’ll be able to swap in the new one without investing in a new one.
I can think of adding an faux-enginenote generator which can play the engine notes of a Harley or a Bullet or a Ducati Desmo, depending on your mood, as you bring out the riding gear, ready to literally electrify the streets! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: electric bike, electric car, Green Cars, Green Technology
Elon Musk of Tesla Motors speaks at the Dow Jones conference
Oct 22, 2008 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Tesla Roadster
At the ongoing Dow Jone Alternative Energy Conference in California, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla was a keynote spaker. He spoke about the recent layoffs, a delay of the company’s next-generation vehicle, and that he would be taking over as CEO.
Musk apoke about how to move into working on the Model S, Musk says Tesla would have had to raise $100 million. The recent market conditions meant that the money would ave come at very unfavourable terms. So Musk backed off.Now, Tesla is waiting for a loan guarantee to come from the Department of Energy, which is contingent on Tesla completing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of its plant in San Jose. Tesla hopes to finish the EIA by second quarter 2009, which would delay the next-gen Model S by about six months, Musk estimates. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Dow Jones, Elon Musk, Green Cars, Green Technologies, Tesla Motors
Freescale’s new chip claims 10 times perfomance improvement - to help make greener cars
Oct 21, 2008 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Freescale
Freescale Semiconductors released its MPC5674F chip, that it claims to provide about 10 times today’s conventional engine controllers. The company hopes that this will allow tuning engines for improved fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions, without sacrificing performance.
The 264MHz chip will be suited for all green engine designs: common rail diesel injection systems, gasoline direct injection engines, homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) systems and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cars, Green Cars, Green Technology, low emission