Frazer-Nash Rises From The Ashes With A Tiger

The vehicle has a top speed of more than 187 mph, a fuel economy of better than 90 miles per gallon and will go from 0 to 60 in just 3.5 seconds. With a truly European flair, the vehicle features an 814 cc engine and four electric motors. The engine charges a lithium polymer cell in the vehicle and the hybrid system has a combined output of 370-hp.

The drive train was designed by Frazer-Nash, which is now a division of Kamkorp. The interior is designed with British luxury in mind. The vehicle was built in Turin at Italdesign's design and engineering center. The body is made from carbon fiber and weighs less than 250 pounds. Its design was inspired by the Frazer-Nash company's diamond-shaped logo.

Frazer-Nash hasn't built a vehicle in more than 50 years. The company spends most of its time these days designing hybrid drive trains for cars and mass transit systems. Despite the welcoming the car received in Geneva, don't expect Frazer-Nash dealerships to start popping up like McDonald's, The company has no plans to mass produce the vehicle.

Photo: Courtesy of Italdesign

Hydraulic Biodiesel Hybrid To Debut At Denver Auto Show

The three-door vehicle is powered by a 240-hp biodiesel hydraulic drive train and also features cameras in place of side view mirrors to increase efficiency and decrease drag. The LH4 has no conventional transmission, which makes the car lighter and more fuel-efficient. The company also says that the vehicle recaptures 100 percent of the energy lost when braking.

Lightning Hybrids is working on the development of a three-wheeled vehicle that uses the same drive train, and will create a retrofit kit that makes the drivetrain available to other vehicles. Once in production, the vehicle will sell for between $39,000 and $59,000. The cars and retrofit kits are expected to be available in mid-2010.

Photo Credit: Lightning Hybrids

Wow!

Despite the glum predictions, Toyota says it still expects to sell about 67,000 hybrid vehicles, a 15 percent increase over 2008 sales figures. The company also says it believes it can meet its 2010 sales goal of 400,000 units of the new Prius in 2010. Toyota also uncovered the RX450h Lexus hybrid, which it plans to sell in Europe in 2010.

Slow sales haven't stopped the competition, however. Nissan introduced a diesel-electric concept that sports a look reminiscent of the Fisker Karma or Tesla Roadster. The Essence two-seat luxury hybrid sedan features a 434hp, 3.7L diesel engine coupled with a 158hp electric motor. The company hasn't said whether it plans to put the vehicle in production, but did announce plans to study the construction of a lithium-ion battery plant in Portugal, leaving many to speculate that a production version of the Essence will see the light of day.

Last year, the national government in Portugal announced plans to build a nationwide charging network for plug-in electric vehicle as part of its plans to reduce CO2 emissions. Renault-Nissan will begin selling electric vehicles in Portugal in 2011, and also has zero-emission plans in Denmark, Monaco, Yokahama, Japan, Tennessee, Oregon and California.

PSA Peugeot Citroën Will Make Mini Cars

Daimler plans to produce an all-electric version of the SmartForTwo and Volkswagen will produce the Audi Up!, an all-electric mini car with a top speed of about 80 miles per hour and a range of about 60 miles. Renault has a small electric vehicle in development for sale in 2011. Toyota has also announced the development of a short-range all-electric vehicle for the 2012 model year.

The development of small electric vehicles is in response to both perceived consumer demand and the technological realities of current battery capabilities. EV batteries perform better in smaller vehicles. It's not surprising that most of the smaller EVs are initially destined for the European market, where consumers are more likely to make short trips and less likely to want larger vehicles. The companies have not yet indicated whether any of these vehicles will be available for sale to the North American market.

Small EVs or city cars may have a passenger capacity of only two or three adults, but are likely to be less expensive than gas-electric or diesel-electric hybrids. Whether electric cars will be cleaner than hybrids remains to be seen, since power-plant emissions must be taken into consideration when determining the carbon footprint of a PHEV. However, all-electric vehicles that have a gasoline generator on board used only for battery recharging will produce lower carbon emissions than gas-electric hybrids.

Photo Credit: Mitsubishi Motor Sales Of America

New Hybrid Technology May Cut Fuel Consumption In Half

Artemis Intelligent Power has converted a BMW 530 sedan to demonstrate the system. The computer-controlled hydraulic transmission system outperforms other hydraulic hybrid designs. Under test conditions in Europe, the modified BMW 530 used 52.7 percent less fuel than a regular gasoline-powered BMW530i. The system was also tested in the US under more aggressive test circumstances. In addition to a significant reduction in gasoline consumption, the modified prototype reduces carbon emissions by 30 percent.

In the US, the system achieved a reduction in fuel consumption of one-third, which compares favorably to the Toyota Prius and other highly fuel-efficent hybrids. The engineers at Artemis Intelligent Power are confident that the technology will be widely adopted in the next decade because it is cheaper to produce than current hybrid electric drive trains, and could eliminate the "hybrid premium" that currently prevents more drivers from adopting the technology. The company has already licensed the technology to commercial partners, including Bosch-Rexroth.

Photo Credit: Artemis Intelligent Power

Kia Will Introduce Hybrids, Stop-Start in Geneva

The ISG (Idle Stop&Go) automatically switches the vehicle's gasoline-engine off when the vehicle is idling. The ISG will offer a choice of a 1.4L or 1.6L engine, in three different body styles, including a hatchback, a sport wagon and a three-door sedan. Billed as a family vehicle, the emphasis of the ISG will be on passenger comfort and fuel economy. According to the company, the stop-start technology will improve fuel economy by 15% over similar vehicles without the same technology.

Kia will also display its prototype hybrid fleet. The vehicles will be produced for testing in the European market. The basic hybrid powertrain includes a 1.6L gasoline engine combined with a 15kW electric motor, a continuously variable transmission and Kia's ISG system. According to the company, the hybrid prototypes can go from 0-60 in a stately 11.8 seconds and achieves nearly 50 mpg. In addition, the CO2 emissions for the prototypes are measured at 109g/km, a reduction of 25% from the company's conventional 1.6L gasoline engine.

Photo Credit: Kia Motors

Aptera Close To Starting Production On EV

The Aptera 2e is a three-wheeled creature that seats just two passengers, and according to the company, will get more than 100 mpg and the company says the hybrid version, the Aptera 2h - available sometime in 2010 - will average more than 300 mpg. The company, whose assembly plant is in Vista, CA, will start cranking out vehicles with a very distinct profile in the fourth quarter of 2009. The vehicles will range in price from $25,000 to $40,000.

The company says that it has taken reservations for more than 4,000 vehicles to date and expects the Aptera to appeal mostly to tech-savvy men who are looking for a second or third vehicle. Initially, the company expects to produce about 10,000 vehicles per year and has plans to step up production to 100,000 units in the next two years.

Aptera is being fronted by Idealab, Esenjay Petroleum and Google.org, but its three-wheel design excludes it from eligibility for interest loans from the federal government for fuel-efficient cars. No matter, the company says; it has plenty of cash to fulfill its Q4 production. Aptera is still taking reservations for vehicles. To reserve an Aptera, visit the company Web site. You'll need to put down a $500 refundable deposit and be prepared to wait.

Now for the bad news: you can't buy an Aptera 2e unless you live in California. The company is working to get sales restrictions in other states lifted but has no timetable for expanded sales.

Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of Aptera

Pneumatic Hybrid Eliminates Need For Batteries, Motors

While the designs still have major drawbacks – compressed air has a relatively low energy density, and the pneumatic engines are not very efficient – the new design uses automated controls to improve the overall fuel economy of the engine. With the new hybrid design, regenerative braking doesn't play as large a role in recapturing wasted energy, though it is still incorporated into the system. The design does use pneumatics to improve the efficiency of the gasoline engine.

The design calls for a very small gasoline engine – 750-ml – which is used to provide power to the vehicle at cruising speed. Compressed air used for acceleration in a process called supercharging. Supercharging burns more fuel than normal during the acceleration phase and according to the designer, is free from the lag drivers typically experience with a turbocharger. The system also features a stop-start mechanism that cuts the gasoline engine when the vehicle is idling.

Guzzella will show his design at the Society For Automotive Engineer's Congress in April 2009. Most of his efficiency figures come from computer modeling, and he will continue to tweak the model to achieve greater efficiencies. He has built a basic, functional prototype of the system as well. One of the major advantages of Guzzella's design is that it does not require major modifications to a conventional gasoline-powered drive train. While it's not precisely a drop-in substitution, the design does lend itself easily to conversion.

Source: Technology Review
Photo Credit: Lucas Pettinati, via Flickr

Following that, the industry says, companies should turn to development of biofuels, and EV development should wait until those options have been completely explored. Based on the overall bottom-line of a conventional vehicle, the industry executives say that consumers will get a better deal by buying cars that are more efficient and cleaner-burning than they will by switching to an electric vehicle.

This debate makes Texas a state divided. On one hand, Texas is home to many local oil producers that would clearly suffer if oil consumption decreased. On the other hand, it also wants to be at the forefront of the alternative energy movement. Last week, Texas governor Rick Perry said that he would support a state tax credit of $5,000 for buyers of plug-in electric vehicles in certain Texas cities that have run afoul of the EPA's air quality regulations. Those tax credits could combine with federal tax credits on PHEVs that would slice another $7,500 off of the price tag.

The big concern in Texas (and other states) is that a large-scale switch to PHEVs would substantially increase the demand for electricity from the grid. Most electrical power plants are coal-fired, which means that gains made at the tailpipe in terms of emissions are offset by the added emissions from coal-fired electricity plants. Analysis shows that in this scenario, the CO2 reductions would be modest at best.

Texas also has a fledgling wind-power industry, but has no practical transmission system to take the converted power to the grid. Perry's plan would put the state's dollars into building a transmission system that could allow the state to make effective use of alternative energy generation, and potentially extend the emissions gains made by PHEVs.

In the short term, multiple alternative energy sources should be developed and considered. Competitive technologies often produce the best possible outcomes because they spur the development of newer, cleaner and more efficient methods of achieving the same end. The bottom-line cost of a new technology is only an immediate or intermediate concern. Once a technology is deemed reliable, and can be mass-produced or supported in sufficient quantity to meet demand, the issue of increased costs may drop out altogether.

Ford's Battery-Electric Sedan For 2011

Put that all aside. Ford announced last month that its PHEV program had been green-lighted and the company will bring a plug-in platform to market in 2012. Ford has been testing a plug-in Escape hybrid in California with Southern California Edison and plans to bring a battery-electric commercial van, a battery-electric sedan and a PHEV to market in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. The PHEV is expected to delivery a 30-mile all-electric range before turning to an on-board gas generator for additional power. Ford says the initial production run of the Escape-based PHEV will be about 5,000 vehicles. The test vehicles average about 120 miles per gallon in city driving conditions.

Ford announced that Johnson Controls-Saft will provide the Li-ion battery system for the PHEV. The battery system includes the cells, as well as the electronic controls needed to regulate charging and discharging. The battery will be manufactured in France, but Johnson Controls-Saft has indicated that it plans to move production to the United States at a later date.

Ford has also announced that it plans to expand its utility testing program to seven additional electricity providers through a previously announced partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute. Expanded testing will take place with utilities in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio. The purpose of the testing is to examine regional charging and performance differences, and the impact of the vehicles on the existing electrical grids.