AMP, the EV company best know for it’s Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky conversions, is moving on up in the world… up in size that is. The company has just announced that it will be converting the mid-size Chevy Equinox crossovers to fully electric cars with a 150 mile range, a 0-60 mph time of 8 seconds, and a top speed of 90 mph.
Using a car that still exists for an EV conversion sure seems like a better bet to me.
Toyota has been playing a three-pronged strategy to get the ball rolling again after such a dismal few months by simultaneously launching a major mea culpa with the politicians and public, providing huge incentives for potential customers, and accelerating the announcement of new products to fuel excitement.
After seeing some congressional testimony and watching Toyota execs respond to issues over the last few months, I can’t say that Toyota is doing a very good job with the groveling. But, given that you can find some of the best deals ever for getting yourself in a Prius right now (how does $249 per month for a 3 year lease sound?) and reportedly more and deeper deals on the way, it seems the huge incentives strategy is in full effect.
And in terms of new product announcements, Toyota has been dropping a slew of them which clearly lay out Toyota’s accelerating pace of hybrid deployment including a Hybrid RAV4, a sports coupe to compete with the Honda CR-Z, a larger Prius-based car, and the Lexus CT 200h compact hybrid hatchback. Also rumored is a rear wheel drive Lexus-based hybrid sports car.
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In an attempt to “allow even more people to experience what the Tesla Roadster has to offer” and to get ready for the “springtime Roadster rush,” Tesla has just announced a brand new lease option for the already iconic electric car.
The lease will run for 3 years/30,000 miles, includes access to Tesla’s Rangers mobile service team, and starts at $1,658 per month for the base model. Of course, you also have to plunk down $12,453 just to get the lease started. Wow! Let me just sell my house and I’ll be right over.
In an attempt to “allow even more people to experience what the Tesla Roadster has to offer” and to get ready for the “springtime Roadster rush,” Tesla has just announced a brand new lease option for the already iconic electric car.
The lease will run for 3 years/30,000 miles, includes access to Tesla’s Rangers mobile service team, and starts at $1,658 per month for the base model. Of course, you also have to plunk down $12,453 just to get the lease started. Wow! Let me just sell my house and I’ll be right over.
Even though its official launch is next week at the Geneva Auto Show, VW has just announced that their brand new Touareg hybrid SUV is available for German customers to order right now… for the paltry sum of 73,500 Euros (roughly $100,000). Holy hell. That’s just about $27,000 more than the lowest base price of a non-hybrid version of the Touareg in Germany.
I don’t know, would you rather own a Tesla Roadster or a VW Touareg hybrid? Craziness.
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Even though its official launch is next week at the Geneva Auto Show, VW has just announced that their brand new Touareg hybrid SUV is available for German customers to order right now… for the paltry sum of 73,500 Euros (roughly $100,000). Holy hell. That’s just about $27,000 more than the lowest base price of a non-hybrid version of the Touareg in Germany.
I don’t know, would you rather own a Tesla Roadster or a VW Touareg hybrid? Craziness.
In true modern internet style, pictures of Lexus’ brand-spanking-new compact hybrid 4-door hatchback appear to have leaked out ahead of its official debut in Geneva next week… there is no such thing as surprise car launches anymore.
Building on the LF-Ch concept shown at the Frankfurt Auto Show last year (and then dragged from auto show to auto show), the Lexus CT 200h, although moderately toned down, appears to have not strayed far from that car’s original styling cues.
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In true modern internet style, pictures of Lexus’ brand-spanking-new compact hybrid 4-door hatchback appear to have leaked out ahead of its official debut in Geneva next week… there is no such thing as surprise car launches anymore.
Building on the LF-Ch concept shown at the Frankfurt Auto Show last year (and then dragged from auto show to auto show), the Lexus CT 200h, although moderately toned down, appears to have not strayed far from that car’s original styling cues.
Like many guys, when I was about 13 or 14 I was into drawing the cars of the future. To my hormonal and inexperienced cauldron of a prepubescent brain, the cars I drew were clearly superior to the dull people-movers that adults seemed to appreciate. But in reality, the cars I imagined we’d all be driving when I got to be 30 looked more like they plopped right out of an episode of Robotech than something anyone other than a prepubescent teenager could take seriously.
Which is why, when I saw the pics for Honda’s newly unveiled 3R-C EV, I thought, “Wow! That is something my 13 year old self would have thought was totally wicked!”
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Like many guys, when I was about 13 or 14 I was into drawing the cars of the future. To my hormonal and inexperienced cauldron of a prepubescent brain, the cars I drew were clearly superior to the dull people-movers that adults seemed to appreciate. But in reality, the cars I imagined we’d all be driving when I got to be 30 looked more like they plopped right out of an episode of Robotech than something anyone other than a prepubescent teenager could take seriously.
Which is why, when I saw the pics for Honda’s newly unveiled 3R-C EV, I thought, “Wow! That is something my 13 year old self would have thought was totally wicked!”
Most of us remember the original Honda Insight as that tiny, quirky car that got 70 mpg long before phrases like “peak oil” and “smart grids” had really entered our collective vocabulary. At the time it was introduced, major debates on climate change hadn’t even started. In that sense, the original Insight was far ahead of its time… so much so that you could say it missed the target by about 8 years. And after Toyota introduced the Prius, Honda was relegated to playing the hybrid bit part.
This summer the popular Fiat 500 subcompact will have a new, tiny engine option… and it will be the smallest displacement gasoline engine available in any car in Europe—a 900cc, turbocharged 2-cylinder with 85 horsepower. By taking the current trend of engine downsizing, and then spitting on its tired carcass as it passes it on the first lap, Fiat is hoping to take fuel economy and CO2 emissions to new levels.
But—as is often muttered by Americans in the know after these sort of announcements—the engine will likely only be available in Europe, even with rumors of the 500 eventually making it to U.S. shores. I like to think of the vehicle fuel efficiency Europe-US divide like that “in bed” game we’ve all played with fortune cookies; but instead of adding “in bed” to the end of the sentence add “only in Europe.”
This morning I wrote a piece about how GM is lamenting the lack of E85 fueling stations in the United States. But the other interesting tidbit of information in there was a simple statement by GM’s Tony Posawat that the generator in the upcoming Chevy Volt extended range electric vehicle would not support E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline) initially.
This came as a shock to me, especially considering that of all the car makers, GM has invested the most time and resources to make a huge portion of their vehicles flex-fuel E85 capable. It was also quite a strange statement because as recently as last October GM was proudly touting the fact that their Flint, MI, assembly plant would be building the Volt’s “flex-fuel 1.4 liter” engine.
I couldn’t accept the announcement at face value, so I decided to contact not one, not two, but three GM representatives to hear for myself that GM would not support E85 in the Volt initially.
As it turns out, it’s true. And I’m bummed.
According to reports, three mid-level engineers for Tesla Motors have died in a fiery plane crash over Palo Alto, CA, this morning. Although names have not officially been released yet, witnesses say that the plane was owned by Doug Bourn, a senior electrical engineer for Tesla. Apparently the plane crashed right in to a residential neighborhood on top of a daycare facility. No other injuries have been reported, although some houses have been damaged.
At the Renewable Fuels Association conference in Florida, GM’s Vice Chairman for Global Product Development, Tom Stephens, said that GM is investing significant amounts of money into making their vehicles compatible with high blends of ethanol in the U.S. market, but that the large majority of those vehicles won’t be able to take advantage of their flex-fuel capability because the ethanol fueling infrastructure in the U.S. is drastically lagging.
While I was grumbling about the dearth of green automobiles and related green happenings at last week’s Chicago Auto Show, Ford—who stole the show with the most exciting green car announcements including a natural gas Transit Connect Taxi and a 30 MPG Ford Edge—provided me with an opportunity to be one of the first of the media to drive the upcoming Transit Connect Electric.
It’s been a whirlwind of a three month tour for the upcoming Nissan LEAF electric car. After kicking things off last November in Los Angeles, the LEAF and its accompanying drivable test mule made 63 stops in 24 cities, finally ending up at an appearance in New York City last week.
Nissan says the tour covered 10,000 miles and gave more than 100,000 people the ability to see and learn about the car–and electric vehicles in general.
For green car nuts like myself, the 2010 Chicago Auto Show was a little bit dull this year. Ford really was the only auto manufacturer with anything of note, showing off its electric and CNG versions of the 2011 Ford Transit Connect and a version the 2011 Ford Edge with an EcoBoost engine. In fact, in my eyes Ford stole the show.
But there was one more little nugget to pop out of Chicago this year: the Kia Ray plug-in hybrid concept. Representing Kia’s first foray into the world of plug-in hybrid design, the Ray concept is really nothing more than a showpiece at this point. And it’s a kind of strange looking one at that.
As Kia’s U.S. based design team took the stage to talk about the Ray, we heard nothing of real substance surrounding its performance or fuel efficiency. We did, however, hear lots about its “airy design” and its “smooth, flowing lines.” Sometimes the unveiling of concept cars can be so frustrating. Yet at a show where the other “concept” cars included an upcoming version of Honda’s Odyssey minivan, the Ray certainly took the cake for being the most flashy concept to debut in Chicago.
Whether it’s an attractive flashy car is up for debate, however.
The front is somewhat enticing, yet when you get around to the back everything seems to go horribly wrong. The front looks active and sleek… even a bit happy. But the rear end looks like droopy dog on a bad day. The unbroken thick black line resembles a piece of tar melting over a white rock in the summer sun. Anyway, all that doesn’t really matter. Concept designs never make it to the production level, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
But wait, Kia also announced in Chicago that they will be debuting their first production-intent hybrid model at another upcoming as-yet-to-be-announced auto show this year, and that the design of the Ray was “closer than we think.” Uh. I sure as hell hope not. At the very least, I hope they ditch any thought of including anything resembling the Ray’s rear end.
In the press release, Kia says that the Ray is designed “to reach driving distances of more than 50 miles using its electric motor on a single charge, and has a fuel economy rating of more than 202 miles per gallon, and has a total range of 746 miles.” It sure is easy to write that all down when all you have is a fiberglass model. I guess we have to wait and see if Kia can actually deliver on those claims.
But kudos to Kia for their presentation. They had some crazy sock monkey and orange condom-like creatures on hand to show off the Ray (the creatures are from Kia’s new new advertising campaign that debuted during the Super Bowl). There was also a live band rocking the largely tie-encumbered crowd with funkily rearranged hip-hop and classic rock tunes. Plus there was the free beer from the “Kia Kegger” booths; happily served in “fully compostable” glasses. Anyone hazard to guess how many of those glasses actually made it to the compost? Anyway, the beer certainly helped to make the whole crazy mismatched ensemble more bearable—so thanks for thinking ahead Kia!
Check out the Ray gallery below and decide for yourself if it’s ugly, sexy, or somewhere in the realm of indescribable.
At the 2010 Chicago Auto Show today Ford revealed its 2011 Edge crossover. In addition to a facelift and some new interior technology, Ford’s next iteration of the popular Edge will get one green tweak that is beginning to spread across all of Ford’s lineup: an EcoBoost engine.
Ford only just started its rollout of EcoBoost engine technology last year on four vehicles—the Ford Taurus SHO, Ford Flex, Lincoln MKS, and Lincoln MKT—but that was just the beginning. The company has set its sights on making EcoBoost available in 90% of its vehicles by 2013.
Using a combination of turbocharging and specially engineered direct injection, EcoBoost provides a base 10% increase in fuel efficiency and lowered emissions over a comparably sized conventional engined vehicle. In the case of the 2011 Edge, Ford will have 3 engine options: a 3.5 liter V-6 rated at 27 MPG highway (pretty damn good just by itself), a 3.7 liter V-6 “sport” engine, and the 2.0 liter turbocharged I-4 EcoBoost.
Although Ford hasn’t officially released fuel economy numbers for the 2011 EcoBoost Edge yet, they certainly have dropped a lot of hints in their press kit, saying, “With the introduction of the 2.0-liter EcoBoost I-4, fuel economy on the new Edge will be 30 percent better than it was in 2006. Plus, Ford’s newest EcoBoost engine will deliver on the promise of 15 percent fuel economy improvements versus the Edge’s current 3.5-liter V-6 engine while offering the performance feel of a six-cylinder.”
Given that the current 3.5 liter V-6 in the 2010 Edge returns an EPA estimated 18 MPG city and 25 MPG highway, add 15% to that and you’ve got 21 MPG city and 30 MPG highway. I know what you’re thinking, those aren’t great numbers, but for a people-mover family SUV, 30 MPG on the highway without the added cost premium of a hybrid system is no small feat and worthy of some serious cred.
Does a 30 MPG people-mover family vehicle for around $30,000 sound good to you? It sure does to me.
Source: Ford | Image Credit: Ford
Just ahead of their official launch at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, Ford has released more details on the upcoming all-electric and natural gas versions of their popular commercial fleet and utility van, the Transit Connect.
Since its U.S. introduction at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, the Transit Connect has garnered significant praise from the media for its fuel efficiency and versatility. In fact, just last month the Transit won the 2010 North American Truck of the Year honors at the Detroit Auto Show.
In an effort to maintain the positive momentum, Ford is adding some significant revisions to the Transit Connect lineup for the 2011 model year by adding an all-electric version as well as a compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) capable Taxi version.
The Transit Connect Electric is targeted at commercial and fleet customers with a set daily route or who drive predictable distances and have a central location for daily recharging. Ford has been working with Detroit-based Azure Dynamics to fit the Transit with Azure’s Force Drive battery electric powertrain and a Johnson Controls-Saft lithium-ion battery stack. Ford is targeting a range of about 80 miles for the Transit EV on a full charge of its 28 kWh battery. The battery can be recharged in 6-8 hours on a 240V outlet or longer on a 120V outlet. The vehicle has a top speed of 75 mph, making it fully highway legal.
The electric Transit is the first product in Ford’s upcoming electric vehicle line up and is set to go into production in late 2010. The Transit EV will be followed by an electric Focus in 2011 and an as-yet-unannounced plug-in hybrid in 2012.
New for the 2011 model year, Ford is also introducing a Taxi version of the transit connect with an engine prep package that will allow owners/operators to convert the vehicle to run on CNG or LPG. According to Ford, a conversion to CNG will reduce emissions by 30-40% and will result in significantly lower cost of operation due to the low cost of CNG in the U.S. as well as reduced wear and tear on the engine. Also, almost 90% of all CNG sold in the U.S. is derived from domestic sources, so there’s the added benefit of stopping that flow of money to organizations that don’t have our best interests in mind.
The Transit Connect Taxi will go into production in early 2011.
Source: Ford | Image Credits: Ford
