Phoenix Motorcars PHEV? - Click above for image gallery
Years ago, in 2007, Phoenix said it would build a plug-in hybrid vehicle with UQM Technologies, but with all of the trouble Phoenix has been through since then, we thought the project died out. When Phoenix rose from the ashes of bankruptcy earlier this summer, Bryon Bliss, Phoenix Motorcars' vice president of sales and marketing, told AutoblogGreen that the company's sole focus was on an all-electric sports utility truck. The plug-in powerplant - and the SUV version Phoenix was talking about in the past were done. Bliss said in June:
The SUV was always more of a consumer product. As we are delaying a consumer launch we are choosing to direct focus on the available product, the Phoenix SUT.
But, AutoblogGreen reader Scott L. sent us an email this week saying the following:
I have pictures taken 8/31/10 in Rancho Cucamunga of the underside of Phoenix Motorcars vehicle showing a muffler for an ICE.
We've looked the pictures over and this does appear to be the case. A few things could be going on here. This might, indeed, be a mule for plug-in hybrid development. Or, since Phoenix uses bodies from SsangYong (the SUV seen above is the SsangYong Actyon), the exhaust might just be a remnant of its ICE past. In any case, we've asked Phoenix for clarification and we'll update this post once we hear back. Thanks, Scott!
Given that the traditional four-stroke Otto-cycle engine piston engine only has a thermal efficiency of 25-30 percent, there is clearly still plenty of room for improvement. While most of the green automobile attention in recent years has been focused on electrification, liquid fuels still have about 100 times the energy density of today's best lithium-ion batteries, a difference that probably won't change significantly any time in the near future.
With that in mind, there is still plenty of effort being expended on improving the humble internal combustion engine. These efforts range from completely different architectures like EcoMotors' opposed piston opposed cylinder (OPOC) to new combustion processes such as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI). One of the more interesting combustion-related developments comes from a California-based startup known as Transonic Combustion. In 2007, the company was claiming it could get an ICE vehicle to 100 miles per gallon. A lot has happened since then, and we finally have a better idea what the company's technology is. We sat down with CEO Brian Ahlborn to learn more about what the company is working on, and you can read all about it after the jump.
Ford Fusion hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery
Earlier this week, we noted a story from the Federal Times that described the General Services Administration's (GSA) decision to buy thousands of new hybrid vehicles for the U.S. government fleet as a pricey endeavor that was unlikely to be repeated. Turns out, this isn't an accurate way to describe the situation at all.
Here's the deal. The GSA bought 5,600 hybrids with money from the Recovery Act and some of the GSA's own funds with the Recovery Act providing "the lion's share" of the funds, Sara Merriam, the GSA's press secretary, told AutoblogGreen. Most importantly, the recovery act was an infusion of funds to get the ball rolling, not the end of a hybrid purchase policy.
Merriam said the Federal Times piece mischaracterized the GSA's intent to not buy more hybrids in the future based on an average price for a hybrid being $11,214 more than a conventional model. Merriam said that such a focus on upfront cost discrepancies between hybrid and standard ICE models was the wrong way to look at the issue:
The bigger argument to make is that we need to be careful to not only talk about the up-front cost, but to really look at the incremental costs. How much are we saving on fuel, each year? How much are we getting back for the car?
Say the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - which, for some strange reason, administers the feds' Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program - wanted to know what the true costs would be of virtually every ICE fuel-saving technology. What would it do?
If NHTSA folks were smarter than your average overpaid government bureaucrats, they might commission the National Research Council (NRC) to assemble a group of actual experts to study available technologies and compare costs vs. effectiveness. And, amazingly, they did.
The resulting three-year study, "Assessing Fuel Economy Technologies for Light Duty Vehicles," provides educated estimates of fuel consumption benefits vs. costs for 40-some technologies that are commercially available and implementable within five years. It was released this June, and - because one distinguished member of NRC's study committee was Dr. Jay Baron, president and CEO of the Ann Arbor, Mich. Center for Automotive Research (CAR) - a one-page preview was available at CAR's August Management Briefing Seminars (this post continues after the jump).
Late last week we heard a report from Quebec that Honda Canada would be discontinuing the Insight and Civic hybrid for the 2011 model year due to poor sales. We've now received a clarification from Honda Canada spokesman Richard Jacobs, who told AutoblogGreen that the two hybrids have not, in fact, been discontinued. According to Jacobs, Canadian dealers currently have a six-month supply of the Insight and Civic, so Honda hasn't ordered any new cars from the factories in Japan. "Honda Canada will listen to the voice of our customers and will bring the products they want," Jacobs said. Both hybrids will remain available and Honda will be monitoring inventories and customer demand to determine when to order more units. Perhaps the launch of the CR-Z will get customers to reconsider its siblings as well.
2010 Plug-in Prius Prototypes - Click above for high-res image gallery
Great start, but long road ahead
I just returned from the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars in beautiful Traverse City, MI, and don't have much electric vehicle (EV) news to report from there. Instead, the seminars were focused on getting more diesels into the U.S. and increasing the efficiency of liquid-fueled vehicles.
The Advanced Powertrain Forum session, for example, was led off by Ford global powertrain engineering VP Barb Samardzich, who talked mostly about power and torque upgrades for Ford's new heavy-duty diesel V8...important to work-truck customers, not so much to the rest of us. She was followed by Dr. Johannes-Joerg Rueger, senior engineering VP, diesel systems, Robert Bosch LLC, who touted increasing acceptance of U.S. buyers to diesel cars.
Then came Larry Nitz, General Motors' hybrid and powertrain engineering executive director, and Justin Ward, Toyota's advanced powertrain program manager. Both offered predictions of the next 20 years of automotive powertrain segmentation, and both showed the internal combustion engine continuing to dominate, but its share gradually diminishing as gas/electric hybrids (HEV) and range extender (EREV), battery (BEV) and fuel cell FCEVs slowly grow.
Nitz pointed out that the last 37 years have seen vehicle fuel efficiency improve 180 percent for cars and 90 percent for trucks. He said that while the cost of EV batteries will come down and their energy density will increase over time, they will still carry only a tiny fraction of the energy of a tank of liquid fuel of equivalent size and weight. Ward talked at length about Toyota's soon-to-come plug-in hybrid Prius (above), which (because, like the Chevrolet Volt, it will operate for some miles on electric energy alone) will deliver better overall fuel economy than today's Prius. (this post continues after the break)
Chevrolet Volt - Click above for high-res image gallery
It was amazing to be among so many plug-in vehicle fans, engineers and stakeholders last week at the Plug-In 2010 conference when General Motors announced that the Chevy Volt would come with a $41,000 MSRP ($33,500 after federal tax incentives). One benefit was being able to ask GM for more information about the price, another was getting reactions from those fans, engineers and stakeholders about that price. Since literally no one wanted to (or could) go on record, we'll wrap their thoughts into a generalized paragraph or two.
Universally, the first reaction was that $41,000 is too high, but maybe that's a reaction from the bar for plug-in vehicle pricing being set too low by the Nissan Leaf. With the Volt's pricing structure set the way it is - $41,000 to buy, $350 a month to lease - GM is really pushing people to choose the lease option. Of course, this then begs the question of what does GM do in three years when the leases are up? Does it take all the cars back? Sure, some will be worth analyzing to see how the battery packs held up, but not thousands upon thousands of units. Will GM want to take the used Volts back and upgrade them or maybe sell the packs for use as stationary storage somewhere? Nobody knew the answers, but these were the questions they were wondering aloud.
We also heard one person describe the sell/lease price as an example of GM really trying to have it both ways. The people pushing to make the car cheaper got their way with the lease price - it's the same as the Leaf! - while the people who don't want the car to lose too much money got their way with the MSRP. In the end, this all felt like a very "GM" thing to do to a lot of industry observers and participants. Feel free to chime in and tell us if you agree.
Bright Idea PHEV van - Click above for high-res image gallery
Following today's announcement that GM Venture would invest money into Indiana-based start-up Bright Automotive, we got a few more details about the partnership and the vehicle from Bright Automotive chairman and CEO Reuben Munger and General Motors Ventures President John Lauckner in a conference call. For the number-hungry out there, we learned that GM's investment totals $5 million and that Bright expects the Idea plug-in hybrid delivery van to get about 38 miles electric of range on the LA92 drive cycle, and then around 350 more miles in hybrid mode. The through-the-road hybrid set-up will use a GM engine and transmission powering the front wheels, while an independent electric system with a "relatively small" battery pack moves the rear wheels.
If those range numbers remind you a bit of the Chevrolet Volt, you're not wrong. But don't expect to see the Bright powertrain make its way into any other GM platforms. Bright and GM representatives called the Idea plug-in hybrid powertrain a "market-appropriate" application as it offers 4WD capability at a "very cost effective" price. How much, exactly? The companies have had a lot of conversations with customers about pricing the vehicle, but are not yet ready to discuss the final price just yet.
GM's monetary approval of the Idea could be good news for Anderson, IN, where Bright envisions the creation of 1,000 direct jobs and around 5,000 indirect jobs in the supplier system. The Idea PHEV has been in development for years, but we now have a new target date for full market availability of, probably, 2013 or 2014. Bright and GM think waiting a bit more to get the van on the road won't hurt them, since the market for this kind of vehicle is 900,000 units per year in America; Bright's full production capacity is expected to be 50,000 units annually.
No one would say how much of Bright GM will get for its $5 million, just that GM would get a "minority percentage" stake in Bright. It's also unknown at this time if the Idea will be sold at GM dealers, but the new partners were quick to point out that the Idea is more cost competitive than the Transit Connect and has more utility than an all-electric delivery van.
Arcimoto Pulse - Click above for high-res image gallery
One of the few passenger vehicles on the floor of the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA - actually, the only one - that we hadn't yet seen in the metal was the Arcimoto Pulse, which we first met digitally last fall. The Pulse is a battery-powered three-wheeler that uses ten 12V lead acid batteries to go up to 40 miles per charge. Pulse's Eric Fritz told AutoblogGreen that longer-range versions with lithium-ion batteries and can go either 80 or 160 miles will be available in the future, but he's busy getting the base model ready for now. Prices for those premium models hasn't been set, but you'll be able to get the lead acid version for $17,500 when it goes on sale either late this year or early next year. Fritz said Arcimoto has gotten 25 pre-order deposits (for $500 each) and has a list with another hundred-plus interested people.
The vehicle we saw was the third-generation prototype; the fourth was being tested on the streets last weekend. Fritz said he expects there to be one more prototype built before production begins. Overall, the Pulse has been in development for two-and-a-half years, and it's been a self-funded affair thus far. One reason to be at the conference, Fritz said, was that Arcimoto is actively looking for funding.
The Pulse was part of the Drive Oregon booth, which also featured the Barefoot Motors ATV and vehicle chargers from Shorepower and OP Connect. With some strong local support for plug-in vehicles, there's a lot of home-grown plug-in work going on in Oregon.
Bill Nye, "The Science Guy," Jessie Deeter, the producer of Who Killed The Electric Car? and Revenge of the Electric Car, and our own Chelsea Sexton took to the stage at the close of public night at the Plug-in 2010 Conference. With this line-up, it was more than 66 percent the same as last year, when Nye, Sexton and Electric Car director Chris Paine answered audience questions. Given the "preaching to the choir," audience-led nature of the event, we thought there would probably be a lot of readers who would want to "attend," digitally, so we're posting an audio recording of the entire two-hour event after the jump. What does it contain?
How about a short preview (verbal, not video) of Revenge of the Electric Car? Deeter said that the film will focus on three main stories: General Motors and the Chevrolet Volt, Tesla Motors, Nissan and the Leaf and electric car mechanic Gadget. How about the panelists' predictions of the percentage of new cars that are plug-ins by 2020? Nye said he doesn't think it'll be 10 percent, Sexton said it'll totally be determined by how many the OEMs are willing to build. How about lots of disparaging comments about adding sound to silent electric cars? How about Nye calling lithium supply worries the "reddest of herrings"? How about one member of the audience proudly saying he's been driving an EV1 since 1998, and Nye replying, "You must be exhausted"? Zing! All these classics and more await you after the jump.
Following yesterday's big announcement, readers got a chance to ask Tony DiSalle, product marketing director for the Chevy Volt, some questions about the car's brand new $41,000 price tag ($33,500 after tax rebates). Since DiSalle was here at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA, we thought we'd pose a few of our own.
We started with what, exactly, Chevy dealers will be able to do with this price. After all, the $41,000 is just the manufacturer's suggested retail price. DiSalle said:
We have messaged to the dealers to do the right thing relative to the price, to not mark it up. At the end of the day, they are independent businesses. That's why you call it manufacturer's suggested retail price. A good dealer will do the right thing for the customer because they want to ensure long-term business and, quite frankly, a lot of these customers haven't been into Chevrolet showrooms. We're also noting that, especially the early adopters will be very vocal about what price the dealer was asking them to pay and that word will spread instantly. Dealers need to know word will get out if they try to gross it up.
General Motors know this about Volt enthusiasts because it has 70,000 of them registered on a list. GM polled them in late spring and discovered 75 percent don't have a single GM product in their household. More recently, GM asked other questions and discovered that around 70 percent intend to buy a Volt and that they're not just along for the ride and to get information.
Back in March 2009, GM's executive director of global engineering, Bob Kruse, said that the Volt's price would be based, in part, on the price of gas in November 2010. DiSalle would not reveal when the Volt's price was actually decided but did say they considered the price of oil played a role. "We comprehended every value we could think of. Was that a determining factor? No, it wasn't," he said.
It shouldn't be a surprise that, at a conference called Plug-In 2010, we can find a bunch of plug-in vehicle charger companies. Schneider Electric is here in San Jose, CA and wants to be known not for wireless charging or having a stylish home unit but for being your one-stop shop for "electric vehicle charging solutions." Rich Korthauer, Schneider's business director of final distribution, said the company has a presence in most American homes (go ahead, check the name on your circuit breaker. There's a better-than-70 percent chance it's a Schneider box) and is a global company with a lot of potential to bring electric-vehicle chargers to a lot of people.
Korthauer showed off a bunch of its Square D smart charging stations to the media, including Level 1 and 2 standard home chargers, a cheaper, economically-priced home charger and a number of Level 2 chargers designed for use in commercial parking lots. Level 3 fast chargers are also part of the portfolio. Schneider is a big electronics company, but has only recently gotten into the EV space: it announced a partnership with Parkeon last month, "to provide local authority clients with a unique solution to manage urban parking facilities integrated with an electrical vehicle charging infrastructure" and has 135 chargers in use as part of a trial in Strasbourg, France with EDF and Toyota. One thing the company has learned: as Coulomb explained last year, charger companies can't actually sell electricity in the U.S. Instead, Schneider plans to get people to pay to park in the space near the charger and will then charge up for "free."
Blink Charger - Click above for high-res image gallery
With the technology inside of the next generation of electric vehicle chargers standardized, one way charging companies can differentiate themselves from the herd is by unveiling interesting designs. Ttackhat's the tack that GE used recently with the WattStation and it's also what Ecotality did with the just-unveiled Blink charging stations. During the Plug-In 2010 Conference in San Jose, CA , Ecotality made sure to point out the two-part, two-tone look of the Blink units, emphasizing that the design is meant to be timeless and therefore useable into the 2nd or 3rd generation. The Blink has simple colors - black and white - and shapes - round and rectangular - while the circular cord holder is intended to remind the user of hanging up a garden hose. The Blink will be available in both home and commercial charging versions and were designed by Frog Design.
Usability, too, is meant to be slick. The cord is flexible even at low temperatures. The small touch screen can be used to set charge times and the whole unit is connected and so can talk to the smart grid. Ecotality has big hopes for the Blink, as made clear with the phrase uttered during the press conference: "Every day, you blink 20,000 times. A year from now, there will be 20,000 Blink chargers installed nationwide."
Following his announcement of the Nissan Leaf's 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty during the plenary session at the Plug-In 2010 Conference this morning, Nissan North America's executive vice president Carlos Tavares spent some time with reporters answering our questions about just what this means for Nissan and Leaf buyers. We asked the first question that came to our mind when the warranty details (such as they are at this point) were revealed, namely, how much more might this cost Nissan than General Motor's apparently identical warranty for the Chevrolet Volt. The two companies are most certainly fighting for some of the same customers and warranty is one way to take the lead. In fact, GM's Volt Vehicle Line Director, Tony Posawatz, told Green Car Advisor last night, before Nissan made its announcement:
I just want to know who's going to pay for the Leaf battery when it needs to be replaced. Is that in the price or not? I don't know how long those batteries are going to last and you've got to factor that in.
But, even with the same marquee numbers, these two warranties are quite different, and from the outside, it looks like Nissan is taking a bigger risk here. After all, the Leaf has a 24 kWh battery pack compared to the Volt's 16 kWh. Also, the Leaf uses more of its battery than the Volt will, and every mile in a Leaf will be battery-powered, which is not the case in a Volt. So, without question, the Leaf battery will work more. Is Tavares worried that offering the same warranty as the Volt will cause a problem for Nissan? Not in the least.
The number one driver for this decision was the market research we have done, where we ask the consumer what were their expectations and they came up with this number. We believe, by the way, that those expectations may be different market by market, but it clearly came up here in the U.S. that that was what they expected. It happens to be the same number that other competitors are announcing, and we have no problem with that.
We are working on this technology for a long, long time. Since 1992, Nissan has been accumulating enormous knowledge and skills on battery technology. We brought this technology to the market because we considered that we have achieved a level of technology that was in-line with market expectations. So we are very comfortable with this number.
What are the actual battery degradation levels that will trigger a warranty replacement? Tavares said it's too early to announce those details right now, which gives us another chance to say, "stay tuned."
One final note about the Leaf and battery swapping. A journalist asked about this technology, and Tavares said something that we don't want to read too much into, but wanted to pass along exactly as he said it: ""The Leaf is not capable, here in the U.S., to have this functionality." Make of that what you will.
TW4XP at the Automotive X-Prize - Click above for high-res image gallery
TW4XP may not be the catchiest name in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize line-up, but this unusual-looking battery-powered three wheeler does have staying power. As one of only eleven vehicles left in the competition - and one of only six in the Alternative Side-by-Side category (the others are the Aptera 2e, Li-ion Motors' Wave II, the RaceAbout, Western Washington University's Viking 45 and the Zap Alias) - the TW4XP still has a chance to drive away with the $2.5 million prize.
TW4XP hails from Germany, and the car was built just for this competition. The name stands for "three wheeler for X-Prize," after all. We talked with Matt Childress, an American team member, who said that even with the team's singular focus, it's been a tough competition. This past week, during the Finals Stage, they had a problem with the X-Prize's communication system that was connected to the TW4XP to relay data to the judges. The problem was serious; it immobilized the car. Once the telematics device was disconnected, the car operated just fine and the team was allowed to continue. "We are the team with nine lives," Childress said. The biggest challenge for the vehicle-to-grid capable TW4XP is the range test, which Childress said "is always a problem with electric vehicles."
Childress has a long-standing connection to the people who are running the TW4XP in competition sine they're also behind the Twike, a human-electric hybrid that is available in Europe. There are two Twike models, the Easy and Active, and neither one is cheap - prices range from 20,000 to 40,000 Euros, depending on battery size - but almost 1,000 have been sold since they went on sale in 1996. You can read more in this PDF. Childress has been using a Twike as his daily driver for the past few years, and said there are around 20 in the U.S.
Whether or not TW4XP wins the Side-by-Side class, the team plans to bring something to market based on the vehicle, maybe with a partly-removeable powertrain. The idea here is that, if the pedal-power hybrid setup from the Twike makes the jump to the TW4XP, it could maybe be taken out so people can use it as an exercise device in their home. So, instead of driving your car to the gym and then going on the exercise bike, you have your gym with you.
There's a video about the TW4XP team at the X-Prize after the jump. You can also follow the TW4XP blog here.
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Phoenix, Spy Shots
But, AutoblogGreen reader Scott L. sent us an email this week saying the following:
We've looked the pictures over and this does appear to be the case. A few things could be going on here. This might, indeed, be a mule for plug-in hybrid development. Or, since Phoenix uses bodies from SsangYong (the SUV seen above is the SsangYong Actyon), the exhaust might just be a remnant of its ICE past. In any case, we've asked Phoenix for clarification and we'll update this post once we hear back. Thanks, Scott!
Gallery: Phoenix PHEV?
Spyshots: Is Phoenix Motorcars still working on a plug-in hybrid? originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Emerging Technologies, MPG, AutoblogGreen Q & A, AutoblogGreen Exclusive
Given that the traditional four-stroke Otto-cycle engine piston engine only has a thermal efficiency of 25-30 percent, there is clearly still plenty of room for improvement. While most of the green automobile attention in recent years has been focused on electrification, liquid fuels still have about 100 times the energy density of today's best lithium-ion batteries, a difference that probably won't change significantly any time in the near future.
With that in mind, there is still plenty of effort being expended on improving the humble internal combustion engine. These efforts range from completely different architectures like EcoMotors' opposed piston opposed cylinder (OPOC) to new combustion processes such as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI). One of the more interesting combustion-related developments comes from a California-based startup known as Transonic Combustion. In 2007, the company was claiming it could get an ICE vehicle to 100 miles per gallon. A lot has happened since then, and we finally have a better idea what the company's technology is. We sat down with CEO Brian Ahlborn to learn more about what the company is working on, and you can read all about it after the jump.
Gallery: Transonic Combustion
Continue reading AutoblogGreen Q&A with Transonic Combustion: Can supercritical fluids give a 30% mpg boost?
AutoblogGreen Q&A with Transonic Combustion: Can supercritical fluids give a 30% mpg boost? originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy, USA
Earlier this week, we noted a story from the Federal Times that described the General Services Administration's (GSA) decision to buy thousands of new hybrid vehicles for the U.S. government fleet as a pricey endeavor that was unlikely to be repeated. Turns out, this isn't an accurate way to describe the situation at all.
Here's the deal. The GSA bought 5,600 hybrids with money from the Recovery Act and some of the GSA's own funds with the Recovery Act providing "the lion's share" of the funds, Sara Merriam, the GSA's press secretary, told AutoblogGreen. Most importantly, the recovery act was an infusion of funds to get the ball rolling, not the end of a hybrid purchase policy.
Merriam said the Federal Times piece mischaracterized the GSA's intent to not buy more hybrids in the future based on an average price for a hybrid being $11,214 more than a conventional model. Merriam said that such a focus on upfront cost discrepancies between hybrid and standard ICE models was the wrong way to look at the issue:
Find out all the details after the jump.
Gallery: Ford Fusion hybrid
[Source: GSA]
Continue reading GSA clarifies that it will buy more hybrids in the future, says costs are worth it
GSA clarifies that it will buy more hybrids in the future, says costs are worth it originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Emerging Technologies, Hybrid, MPG, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, At Witz End
Some surprises arise from three-year NRC studySay the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - which, for some strange reason, administers the feds' Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program - wanted to know what the true costs would be of virtually every ICE fuel-saving technology. What would it do?
If NHTSA folks were smarter than your average overpaid government bureaucrats, they might commission the National Research Council (NRC) to assemble a group of actual experts to study available technologies and compare costs vs. effectiveness. And, amazingly, they did.
The resulting three-year study, "Assessing Fuel Economy Technologies for Light Duty Vehicles," provides educated estimates of fuel consumption benefits vs. costs for 40-some technologies that are commercially available and implementable within five years. It was released this June, and - because one distinguished member of NRC's study committee was Dr. Jay Baron, president and CEO of the Ann Arbor, Mich. Center for Automotive Research (CAR) - a one-page preview was available at CAR's August Management Briefing Seminars (this post continues after the jump).
Continue reading At Witz' End - Comparing costs and benefits of fuel-saving technologies
At Witz' End - Comparing costs and benefits of fuel-saving technologies originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: Hybrid, Honda, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, North America
Late last week we heard a report from Quebec that Honda Canada would be discontinuing the Insight and Civic hybrid for the 2011 model year due to poor sales. We've now received a clarification from Honda Canada spokesman Richard Jacobs, who told AutoblogGreen that the two hybrids have not, in fact, been discontinued. According to Jacobs, Canadian dealers currently have a six-month supply of the Insight and Civic, so Honda hasn't ordered any new cars from the factories in Japan.
"Honda Canada will listen to the voice of our customers and will bring the products they want," Jacobs said. Both hybrids will remain available and Honda will be monitoring inventories and customer demand to determine when to order more units. Perhaps the launch of the CR-Z will get customers to reconsider its siblings as well.
Gallery: ABG Garage: 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid
Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight
[Source: Honda Canada]
Update: Honda Canada not canceling Insight, Civic hybrids, will order as needed originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, At Witz End
I just returned from the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars in beautiful Traverse City, MI, and don't have much electric vehicle (EV) news to report from there. Instead, the seminars were focused on getting more diesels into the U.S. and increasing the efficiency of liquid-fueled vehicles.
The Advanced Powertrain Forum session, for example, was led off by Ford global powertrain engineering VP Barb Samardzich, who talked mostly about power and torque upgrades for Ford's new heavy-duty diesel V8...important to work-truck customers, not so much to the rest of us. She was followed by Dr. Johannes-Joerg Rueger, senior engineering VP, diesel systems, Robert Bosch LLC, who touted increasing acceptance of U.S. buyers to diesel cars.
Then came Larry Nitz, General Motors' hybrid and powertrain engineering executive director, and Justin Ward, Toyota's advanced powertrain program manager. Both offered predictions of the next 20 years of automotive powertrain segmentation, and both showed the internal combustion engine continuing to dominate, but its share gradually diminishing as gas/electric hybrids (HEV) and range extender (EREV), battery (BEV) and fuel cell FCEVs slowly grow.
Nitz pointed out that the last 37 years have seen vehicle fuel efficiency improve 180 percent for cars and 90 percent for trucks. He said that while the cost of EV batteries will come down and their energy density will increase over time, they will still carry only a tiny fraction of the energy of a tank of liquid fuel of equivalent size and weight. Ward talked at length about Toyota's soon-to-come plug-in hybrid Prius (above), which (because, like the Chevrolet Volt, it will operate for some miles on electric energy alone) will deliver better overall fuel economy than today's Prius. (this post continues after the break)
Continue reading At Witz' End - Electric vehicle progress, prospects and challenges
At Witz' End - Electric vehicle progress, prospects and challenges originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Green Daily, Plug In Conference
It was amazing to be among so many plug-in vehicle fans, engineers and stakeholders last week at the Plug-In 2010 conference when General Motors announced that the Chevy Volt would come with a $41,000 MSRP ($33,500 after federal tax incentives). One benefit was being able to ask GM for more information about the price, another was getting reactions from those fans, engineers and stakeholders about that price. Since literally no one wanted to (or could) go on record, we'll wrap their thoughts into a generalized paragraph or two.
Universally, the first reaction was that $41,000 is too high, but maybe that's a reaction from the bar for plug-in vehicle pricing being set too low by the Nissan Leaf. With the Volt's pricing structure set the way it is - $41,000 to buy, $350 a month to lease - GM is really pushing people to choose the lease option. Of course, this then begs the question of what does GM do in three years when the leases are up? Does it take all the cars back? Sure, some will be worth analyzing to see how the battery packs held up, but not thousands upon thousands of units. Will GM want to take the used Volts back and upgrade them or maybe sell the packs for use as stationary storage somewhere? Nobody knew the answers, but these were the questions they were wondering aloud.
We also heard one person describe the sell/lease price as an example of GM really trying to have it both ways. The people pushing to make the car cheaper got their way with the lease price - it's the same as the Leaf! - while the people who don't want the car to lose too much money got their way with the MSRP. In the end, this all felt like a very "GM" thing to do to a lot of industry observers and participants. Feel free to chime in and tell us if you agree.
Plug-In 2010: Stakeholder, industry reactions to GM's Volt pricing strategy - it's a lease thing originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, GM, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Bright Automotive
Following today's announcement that GM Venture would invest money into Indiana-based start-up Bright Automotive, we got a few more details about the partnership and the vehicle from Bright Automotive chairman and CEO Reuben Munger and General Motors Ventures President John Lauckner in a conference call. For the number-hungry out there, we learned that GM's investment totals $5 million and that Bright expects the Idea plug-in hybrid delivery van to get about 38 miles electric of range on the LA92 drive cycle, and then around 350 more miles in hybrid mode. The through-the-road hybrid set-up will use a GM engine and transmission powering the front wheels, while an independent electric system with a "relatively small" battery pack moves the rear wheels.
If those range numbers remind you a bit of the Chevrolet Volt, you're not wrong. But don't expect to see the Bright powertrain make its way into any other GM platforms. Bright and GM representatives called the Idea plug-in hybrid powertrain a "market-appropriate" application as it offers 4WD capability at a "very cost effective" price. How much, exactly? The companies have had a lot of conversations with customers about pricing the vehicle, but are not yet ready to discuss the final price just yet.
GM's monetary approval of the Idea could be good news for Anderson, IN, where Bright envisions the creation of 1,000 direct jobs and around 5,000 indirect jobs in the supplier system. The Idea PHEV has been in development for years, but we now have a new target date for full market availability of, probably, 2013 or 2014. Bright and GM think waiting a bit more to get the van on the road won't hurt them, since the market for this kind of vehicle is 900,000 units per year in America; Bright's full production capacity is expected to be 50,000 units annually.
No one would say how much of Bright GM will get for its $5 million, just that GM would get a "minority percentage" stake in Bright. It's also unknown at this time if the Idea will be sold at GM dealers, but the new partners were quick to point out that the Idea is more cost competitive than the Transit Connect and has more utility than an all-electric delivery van.
GM, Bright Automotive talk details about $5m investment, Idea van partnership originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, On Two Wheels, Plug In Conference
One of the few passenger vehicles on the floor of the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA - actually, the only one - that we hadn't yet seen in the metal was the Arcimoto Pulse, which we first met digitally last fall. The Pulse is a battery-powered three-wheeler that uses ten 12V lead acid batteries to go up to 40 miles per charge. Pulse's Eric Fritz told AutoblogGreen that longer-range versions with lithium-ion batteries and can go either 80 or 160 miles will be available in the future, but he's busy getting the base model ready for now. Prices for those premium models hasn't been set, but you'll be able to get the lead acid version for $17,500 when it goes on sale either late this year or early next year. Fritz said Arcimoto has gotten 25 pre-order deposits (for $500 each) and has a list with another hundred-plus interested people.
The vehicle we saw was the third-generation prototype; the fourth was being tested on the streets last weekend. Fritz said he expects there to be one more prototype built before production begins. Overall, the Pulse has been in development for two-and-a-half years, and it's been a self-funded affair thus far. One reason to be at the conference, Fritz said, was that Arcimoto is actively looking for funding.
The Pulse was part of the Drive Oregon booth, which also featured the Barefoot Motors ATV and vehicle chargers from Shorepower and OP Connect. With some strong local support for plug-in vehicles, there's a lot of home-grown plug-in work going on in Oregon.
Gallery: Plug-In 2010: Arcimoto Pulse and Barefoot Motors ATV
Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Plug-In 2010: Drive Oregon chills with Arcimoto Pulse, Barefoot Motors ATV originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Plug In Conference
How about a short preview (verbal, not video) of Revenge of the Electric Car? Deeter said that the film will focus on three main stories: General Motors and the Chevrolet Volt, Tesla Motors, Nissan and the Leaf and electric car mechanic Gadget. How about the panelists' predictions of the percentage of new cars that are plug-ins by 2020? Nye said he doesn't think it'll be 10 percent, Sexton said it'll totally be determined by how many the OEMs are willing to build. How about lots of disparaging comments about adding sound to silent electric cars? How about Nye calling lithium supply worries the "reddest of herrings"? How about one member of the audience proudly saying he's been driving an EV1 since 1998, and Nye replying, "You must be exhausted"? Zing! All these classics and more await you after the jump.
Continue reading Plug-In 2010: Bill Nye, Chelsea Sexton return for public night panel
Plug-In 2010: Bill Nye, Chelsea Sexton return for public night panel originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Plug In Conference
Following yesterday's big announcement, readers got a chance to ask Tony DiSalle, product marketing director for the Chevy Volt, some questions about the car's brand new $41,000 price tag ($33,500 after tax rebates). Since DiSalle was here at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA, we thought we'd pose a few of our own.
We started with what, exactly, Chevy dealers will be able to do with this price. After all, the $41,000 is just the manufacturer's suggested retail price. DiSalle said:
General Motors know this about Volt enthusiasts because it has 70,000 of them registered on a list. GM polled them in late spring and discovered 75 percent don't have a single GM product in their household. More recently, GM asked other questions and discovered that around 70 percent intend to buy a Volt and that they're not just along for the ride and to get information.
Back in March 2009, GM's executive director of global engineering, Bob Kruse, said that the Volt's price would be based, in part, on the price of gas in November 2010. DiSalle would not reveal when the Volt's price was actually decided but did say they considered the price of oil played a role. "We comprehended every value we could think of. Was that a determining factor? No, it wasn't," he said.
(this post continues after the jump)
Continue reading Plug-in 2010: GM talks details about the Volt's $41,000 price tag
Plug-in 2010: GM talks details about the Volt's $41,000 price tag originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Plug In Conference
It shouldn't be a surprise that, at a conference called Plug-In 2010, we can find a bunch of plug-in vehicle charger companies. Schneider Electric is here in San Jose, CA and wants to be known not for wireless charging or having a stylish home unit but for being your one-stop shop for "electric vehicle charging solutions." Rich Korthauer, Schneider's business director of final distribution, said the company has a presence in most American homes (go ahead, check the name on your circuit breaker. There's a better-than-70 percent chance it's a Schneider box) and is a global company with a lot of potential to bring electric-vehicle chargers to a lot of people.
Korthauer showed off a bunch of its Square D smart charging stations to the media, including Level 1 and 2 standard home chargers, a cheaper, economically-priced home charger and a number of Level 2 chargers designed for use in commercial parking lots. Level 3 fast chargers are also part of the portfolio. Schneider is a big electronics company, but has only recently gotten into the EV space: it announced a partnership with Parkeon last month, "to provide local authority clients with a unique solution to manage urban parking facilities integrated with an electrical vehicle charging infrastructure" and has 135 chargers in use as part of a trial in Strasbourg, France with EDF and Toyota. One thing the company has learned: as Coulomb explained last year, charger companies can't actually sell electricity in the U.S. Instead, Schneider plans to get people to pay to park in the space near the charger and will then charge up for "free."
Gallery: Schneider Electric
Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Schneider]
Continue reading Plug-in 2010: Schneider Electric wants to be your full-service charger provider
Plug-in 2010: Schneider Electric wants to be your full-service charger provider originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Plug In Conference
With the technology inside of the next generation of electric vehicle chargers standardized, one way charging companies can differentiate themselves from the herd is by unveiling interesting designs. Ttackhat's the tack that GE used recently with the WattStation and it's also what Ecotality did with the just-unveiled Blink charging stations. During the Plug-In 2010 Conference in San Jose, CA , Ecotality made sure to point out the two-part, two-tone look of the Blink units, emphasizing that the design is meant to be timeless and therefore useable into the 2nd or 3rd generation. The Blink has simple colors - black and white - and shapes - round and rectangular - while the circular cord holder is intended to remind the user of hanging up a garden hose. The Blink will be available in both home and commercial charging versions and were designed by Frog Design.
Usability, too, is meant to be slick. The cord is flexible even at low temperatures. The small touch screen can be used to set charge times and the whole unit is connected and so can talk to the smart grid. Ecotality has big hopes for the Blink, as made clear with the phrase uttered during the press conference: "Every day, you blink 20,000 times. A year from now, there will be 20,000 Blink chargers installed nationwide."
Gallery: Blink Charger
Continue reading Plug-in 2010: Blink chargers mix classic style with today's technology
Plug-in 2010: Blink chargers mix classic style with today's technology originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Plug In Conference
Following his announcement of the Nissan Leaf's 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty during the plenary session at the Plug-In 2010 Conference this morning, Nissan North America's executive vice president Carlos Tavares spent some time with reporters answering our questions about just what this means for Nissan and Leaf buyers. We asked the first question that came to our mind when the warranty details (such as they are at this point) were revealed, namely, how much more might this cost Nissan than General Motor's apparently identical warranty for the Chevrolet Volt. The two companies are most certainly fighting for some of the same customers and warranty is one way to take the lead. In fact, GM's Volt Vehicle Line Director, Tony Posawatz, told Green Car Advisor last night, before Nissan made its announcement:
But, even with the same marquee numbers, these two warranties are quite different, and from the outside, it looks like Nissan is taking a bigger risk here. After all, the Leaf has a 24 kWh battery pack compared to the Volt's 16 kWh. Also, the Leaf uses more of its battery than the Volt will, and every mile in a Leaf will be battery-powered, which is not the case in a Volt. So, without question, the Leaf battery will work more. Is Tavares worried that offering the same warranty as the Volt will cause a problem for Nissan? Not in the least.What are the actual battery degradation levels that will trigger a warranty replacement? Tavares said it's too early to announce those details right now, which gives us another chance to say, "stay tuned."
One final note about the Leaf and battery swapping. A journalist asked about this technology, and Tavares said something that we don't want to read too much into, but wanted to pass along exactly as he said it: ""The Leaf is not capable, here in the U.S., to have this functionality." Make of that what you will.
Plug-in 2010: Nissan says "we are very comfortable" with Leaf battery warranty level originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFiled under: AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Automotive X-Prize
TW4XP may not be the catchiest name in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize line-up, but this unusual-looking battery-powered three wheeler does have staying power. As one of only eleven vehicles left in the competition - and one of only six in the Alternative Side-by-Side category (the others are the Aptera 2e, Li-ion Motors' Wave II, the RaceAbout, Western Washington University's Viking 45 and the Zap Alias) - the TW4XP still has a chance to drive away with the $2.5 million prize.
TW4XP hails from Germany, and the car was built just for this competition. The name stands for "three wheeler for X-Prize," after all. We talked with Matt Childress, an American team member, who said that even with the team's singular focus, it's been a tough competition. This past week, during the Finals Stage, they had a problem with the X-Prize's communication system that was connected to the TW4XP to relay data to the judges. The problem was serious; it immobilized the car. Once the telematics device was disconnected, the car operated just fine and the team was allowed to continue. "We are the team with nine lives," Childress said. The biggest challenge for the vehicle-to-grid capable TW4XP is the range test, which Childress said "is always a problem with electric vehicles."
Childress has a long-standing connection to the people who are running the TW4XP in competition sine they're also behind the Twike, a human-electric hybrid that is available in Europe. There are two Twike models, the Easy and Active, and neither one is cheap - prices range from 20,000 to 40,000 Euros, depending on battery size - but almost 1,000 have been sold since they went on sale in 1996. You can read more in this PDF. Childress has been using a Twike as his daily driver for the past few years, and said there are around 20 in the U.S.
Whether or not TW4XP wins the Side-by-Side class, the team plans to bring something to market based on the vehicle, maybe with a partly-removeable powertrain. The idea here is that, if the pedal-power hybrid setup from the Twike makes the jump to the TW4XP, it could maybe be taken out so people can use it as an exercise device in their home. So, instead of driving your car to the gym and then going on the exercise bike, you have your gym with you.
There's a video about the TW4XP team at the X-Prize after the jump. You can also follow the TW4XP blog here.
Gallery: Automotive X-Prize: Twike / TW4XP
Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading Automotive X-Prize: TW4XP evolves human-hybrid Twike three-wheeler for competition
Automotive X-Prize: TW4XP evolves human-hybrid Twike three-wheeler for competition originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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