A nice example of how your car engine works. It is amazing that this process goes on thousands of times a minute without any interference (usually). The amount of engineering is quite amazing and something we take for granted to just work every time we turn the key.
GM is getting ready to launch the Volt, it’s electric hybrid, and has chosen San Francisco and Washington D.C to be the first live test beds. They are working with the local municipalities to provide incentives to use the electric car and build up the infrastructure to support the extra electrical load. Both areas were selected based upon how much interest there were for the plug-in type of electric vehicle. GM expects some user frustration due to the lack of public charging facilities in the infancy of electric cars. However, there is a decent tax credit of up to $7500 for purchasers of electric cars depending on the size of the battery and the GM Volt is expected to fetch the entire amount.
Full Article: Yahoo!
BMW’s electric Mini has been spotted tooling around the streets of Munich sans CO2 burping tailpipe and “Hybrid Erprobungsfahrzeug” (Hybrid Test Vehicle) tattooed on its back. Car magazine expects the Mini to debut in November at the Los Angeles Motor Show. This goes along the reports in March that BMW was expected to bring electric Minis in 2009. 500 of these are supposed to be produced and leased out next year, but mostly in California. The rest of us will have to wait. Just recently the Mini has really caught my eye for its sporty look and decent gas mileage. By the time I am ready to purchase a new car I hope BMW has developed more of these electric Minis and with a decent range.
Full Article: Register Hardware
BMW has announced plans to sell all-electric versions of its popular Mini car in the U.S., starting from summer 2009.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mini USA Vice President, Jim McDowell, said that the company is still deciding whether to sell or lease the vehicles. He remained tight-lipped over exactly where in the country the cars will be available, and declined to comment on other aspects, such as range, power, charging time and price.
Commenting on the trend for U.S. buyers to move towards smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, he said, “The world is moving in our direction. The overall market is down 10 percent, but small car sales are up 11 percent. People are trading in Ford F-150’s and Hummer’s for Mini’s.”
Full Article: Gas2
Well, it is a start. The original rumor was that these would only be offered in California which would be quite unfair to potential buyers from all over the country. Hopefully, they will sell these 500 quickly and send more. I’ve never been an owner of a small vechicle, but if these electric cars were more mainstream I would be very willing to give them a try. Someone has got to make the first move; it is good to see BMW stand up. The Chevy Volt and Telsa Roadster also look promising.
Toyota has announced that starting in 2010 that it will begin building the Pruis, for the first time outside of Japan, in Mississippi at the plant in Blue Springs. The original purpose of the plant was to build the Highlander crossover, but high gas prices have cause a drop in the demand for trucks and SUVs. Toyota will suspend the production of the Sequoia SUV along with its V8 engine for about three months. After that the product lines will be shuffled around as Toyota repurposes its plants to adjust to the change in demand.
Full Article: AutoBlogGreen
Tesla Motors has just announced the Model S which is a $60k all electric powered, five passenger sedan. Telsa says that the car will manage 225 miles on a single charge. They also say it will produce the vehicles in a brand new manufacturing plant it is opening in Northern California. In a separate article they have announced another car, the Elon Musk, which will be an all electric car for under $30k. They plan on having these on the road within four years.
So you’re excited about the 2010 Prius with its modest mileage gains. Or maybe you really want a Chevy Volt with a 40-mile all-electric range.
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VW has been talking for a long time about its L1 concept, so called because it uses a measly 1 liter of gasoline to go 100 km. For us Americans, that translates to about 230 miles per gallon.
Of course, the amazing mileage comes at a price. The car is tiny, more of a toboggan than a car. The single passenger actually sits behind the driver, like in a small airplane.
The tiny engine will only get the car up to about 75 mph and, as such, VW doesn’t expect to sell a lot of these vehicles. Safety concerns might also keep the car from being a best seller. But, since it does have four wheels, it will have to meet all of the normal safety regulations for cars.
VW will continue to release details on the car, but it is firm that this vehicle will be produced by 2010. And, in terms of pure efficiency, its only real competitor will be the 300-mpg Aptera.
Source: Yahoo!
It is nice to see automakers stepping up to the plate in response to higher gas prices as well as the Green movement. Automakers have claimed in the past that they could not deliver vehicles that were highly fuel efficient, but now we can see that if they are pressured to do so, they can do it. The market just never demanded these sort of vehicles since energy costs were so low and there wasn’t much concern about the environmental impact.
The article contends that consumers aren’t likely to buy this vehicle, however I think it will catch on. Right now I estimate that I spend roughly $2000 a year on gas at the current price that hovers around $4.00 per gallon. This car gets ten times better mileage than mine does, so I would expect to pay around $200. It is worth it to me to save a considerable amount of money each year. Yes, it doesn’t fit everyone’s needs such as families since it is a one passenger car, but at least we know it is possible.