This guy spent $3000 and did it himself to soup up his Prius and get 100 miles per the gallon. (There’s a more expensive conversion with neat little lithium ion batteries available for considerably more bucks.) I think the gentleman in the video is probably the cool older guy on the block who can fix anything with bailing wire and duct tape, but still — food for thought.
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by Shorty
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At the same time that Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe was announcing lowered sales forecasts for the automotive giant through 2009, he also released info that fleet testing for the Plug-in Prius has been moved up a year. No doubt, the two are related. Even though Toyota is still locked in a race with General Motors to be the largest automotive manufacturer in the world, they’re feeling the effects of lowered U.S. sales where the company emphasized trucks and SUVs. In our new reality of high gas prices and growing environmentalism, those form factors are not just unpopular, they’re too darn expensive to feed.
The first official announcement of a plug-in Prius came at this year’s Detroit Auto Show where Watanabe said they were to be delivered to government and commercial fleets in 2010 to be field tested. Now the target date is early 2009 with the hope of having several hundred on the road by the end of the year. Still no word on a retail time table, a decision dependent on safety and reliability assessments of the lithium ion batteries. There’s every indication, however, that Toyota is fast-tracking their plug-in as part of an overall shifting of corporate footing to get beyond their current earnings challenges.
That’s actually a win/win for everyone. With the presidential candidates (or at least one of them) ready to talk turkey about ending American oil dependence, it’s time for carmakers to put up the goods to help make that a reality. The Prius has been the darling of the hybrid world and is in prime position to become the first widely adopted plug-in.
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by Shorty
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Word has it that Hyundai will be bringing a five-door hatchback, the i10, made in Chennai, India, stateside to go head-to-head with the Smart ForTwo and the Honda Fit. Reportedly the i10, onsale since last October in some 70 countries, gets 56 miles to the gallon. Size-wise it falls right in between its two main competitors at 140 inches in length. That comes out to 21 inches less than the Fit and 34 more than the ForTwo.
Just this past weekend I drove alongside a ForTwo on the highway for the first time. Although a friend of mine refers to the tiny, efficient, and thoroughly cute Smart cars as rolling death traps, it looked more substantial than I thought it might and did an admirable job of zipping around other cars on the road. Obviously the little darling has some get up and go and the fellow behind the wheel looked like he was having fun, smiling and waving at the folks openly staring at his car — me included — when we should have been watching the road.
The announcement that the i10 is headed this way is further proof that we all better get used to seeing, driving near, and perhaps piloting, cars that seem down right diminutive next to SUVs and pickups. The i10 has a 1.2-liter engine that has more oompf than the Smart. The Hyundai will be outfitted with a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic giving it a weight range of 1,892 lbs. to 2,094 lbs. (The Fit weights 2,432 and the Smart 1,808.) Look for keyless entry, anti-lock brakes, dual airbags, and fog lamps standard on the i10 with a price starting at $7,800 and going up to $11,200.
As for the redesigned 2009 Honda Fit, they’ll be in dealerships by next Tuesday, August 26, way ahead of the original October arrival date. The first seven months of this year Fit sales zoomed up 72.9 percent for 52,053 units, so there’s every reason to believe the 2009s will do well. Honda is planning on sending over between 80,000 and 90,000 units. With a base sticker of $15,220 and mileage of 35 highway and 28 city, the Fit is a good antidote for pain at the pump. (Alas, however, the Fit hybrid is not scheduled to make it to our fair shores.)
Posted on August 26th, 2008 by Shorty
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I don’t think anyone can argue that we are seeing a rapid globalization of the automotive industry. With few efficient models on hand to offer Americans suffering from high gas prices, car-makers are bringing previously European-only models to the U.S. and the door is open for makers from China and India to get a foot into the North American marketplace.
If you know anything about farm machinery and heavy equipment, you know the name Mahindra. Now the company is at work on a zero-emission vehicle as well as moving ahead with bringing diesel and hybrid trucks and SUVs to America. Rumor has it the new EV would be a four-seater, designed primarily to go head to head with the Reva G-Wiz, *the* electric car in the Indian market. If the rumored EV did well in its own backyard, Mahindra would begin exporting to other countries with the U.S. on the list of potential recipients.
With American automakers scrambling to ditch the truck/SUV mindset in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient variants — and with foreign companies surging ahead in that field (think Honda Fit, Smart ForTwo, and the new Hyundai i10, which is incidentally made in India) — thinking outside the box is becoming standard operating procedure. Concern over the environment on top of spiraling gasoline prices is the best possible time for alternative fuel vehicles. Add the Mahindra to the list of models to watch.
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by Shorty
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I just returned from a week in San Francisco (and let me just say that Mark Twain was right about the summer weather there), where I kept seeing these cute, tiny yellow cars populated by one or two helmeted tourists, and sharing audio GPS with passers by. I was curious, of course, so I looked them up.
What I was seeing were GoCars. They’re tiny rentals available to licensed drivers aged 18 or over, and, according to their marketing material:
GoCar Rentals is the first company in the world offering computer guided talking tour car. The GoCar is ideal to explore everything that San Francisco has to offer. Approved for use on city streets, the GoCar is simple to operate and its small size makes parking a breeze.
The cars are controlled by a handlebar system, and come with a talking GPS that not only tells the driver where to turn, change lanes, etc, but also provides information on nearby landmarks and tourist attractions. The programmed tour takes about two hours, beginning at Hyde St., near Fisherman’s Wharf, and looping through the Marina, Golden Gate Park, and down the crooked section of Lombard Street.
GoCar tours are also available in San Diego, Miami, Barcelona and Lisbon.
For more information, visit their website, at GoCarTours.com.
Posted on August 13th, 2008 by QueenMab
Filed under: public service, lifestyle, buzz | No Comments »
Yesterday while I was on the exercise bike I was reading Ghost Hunting by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the guys from the Ghost Hunters show. In the chapter on the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, the text explained that the guy who built the place was one of the Stanley brothers responsible for the famous Stanley Steamer automobiles, a popular model done in by the arrival of internal combustion engines.
This morning, when I finally got around to reading this CNN article, “106 mpg ‘Air Car’ Creates Buzz, Questions,” ole Mr. Stanley came to mind. Do we once again live in the age of experimental vehicles, or what? Click on over and you’ll read the tale of a compressed air car, a fuel-efficient marvel based on technology developed in 1991 by a French guy. The short version is that the concept is like an old-fashioned locomotive. Compressed air, not steam, moves pistons in the engine.
A six-seat version is planned for the American market and promises speeds of 90 mph with a range of 800 miles. Tanks of compressed air will be placed under the floor and there will be an eight-gallon fuel tank. It’s an interesting concept, yet another alternative take on propulsion spurred forward by alarmingly high gasoline and growing environmentalism. Will it ever see fruition? Only time will tell, but if one of the ghosts at the Stanley Hotel is the man himself, he may be smiling as he goes about his ectoplasmic business.
Posted on August 9th, 2008 by Shorty
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Controversies notwithstanding, the Olympics are gearing up and they’re doing so with a green presence courtesy of Volkswagen. The Beijing Olympics will make use of a fleet of 5,000 green cars made by official sponsor VW. They’re using the following models:
- Magotan 2.0 TDI
- Magotan BlueMotion
- Sagitar 2.0 TDI
- Touran EcoFuel
- Tiguan 2.0 TDI
Essentially the Magotan is a version of the Passat while the Sagitar is really a Jetta. The vehicles will be painted with symbols representing mobility, wind, and street in combination.
While I want to see the games come off without a hitch, the irony of one of the most polluted countries in the world using a fleet of eco friendly vehicles . . . well, drop of water in the ocean, you know?
A little closer to home, AutoBlogGreen has a report on Jamie Lee Curtis taking delivery of her Honda FCX Clarity complete with pix. (Personally I’m loving that dark maroon paint job.) According to the article, Curtis and her husband Christopher Guest are only the second Southern California couple to get their hands on the cutting edge hydrogen-powered sedans. The vehicles are lease jobs and you can’t get them anywhere but California and Japan, but hey, it’s a start, right?
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Shorty
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You may know that when car-makers want to set records and get a reputation for fast performance they go to the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Nissan recently ran its X-Trail fuel cell vehicle there, the first FCV to record a lap on the famous track. The course was wet, but the 1.3 million euro prototype ran well on standard street tires and posted a time of 11:58 minutes on the 208 kilometer course.
Frank Eickhold, a member of the Nissan 24 Hours Nurburgring race team, drove the vehicle and said he was surprised at the comfort level of the car. Had the course not been wet, Eickhold said he could have gotten better momentum off the curves and that would have shaved at least 40 seconds off the final time.
The X-Trail FCV seats five and runs with near complete silence while producing no emissions. It’s been undergoing real-world trials in both California and Japan since 2006 and has a recorded top speed of 150 km/h with a range of 500 km. The maximum power from the electric motors is 90kW with torque at 280Nm. It uses compact lithium-ion batteries with thin laminated cells designed by Nissan.
Certainly the run at the Nurburgring is a significant proof of the vehicle’s capabilities. By the time Nissan hopes to put it in production in 2015 they hope to have lowered production costs, which are currently steep due to the precious metals, principally platinum, used in the catalyst. Production of the vehicle is part of the Nissan Green Program 2010 aimed at CO2 reduction around the world.
Posted on July 31st, 2008 by Shorty
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Hat tip to Engadget for this one. Audi is rumored to be working on a system that will tell drivers “how fast to drive to catch a green light.” Traffic signals in Ingolstadt, Germany have been configured with sensors that send information to allow traffic patterns to shift around for “optimum light switching.” The idea appears to be to get on top of time and fuel wasted in idling, which causes pollution and contributes to incidents of road rage. (You know, the guy who is sitting on his horn if you don’t move the nanosecond the light changes?)
Obviously this is just another aspect of the kind of vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication research that is fueling projects like the joint venture between Carnegie Mellon and GM to create driverless technology, a kind of automotive autopilot. Systems already in place that fit this mode of networked car control strategy include:
- Lexus Intelligent Park Assist
- Mercedes-Benz Attention Assist
- Volvo Blind Spot Information System
- Nissan Around View Monitor System
- Mercedes Night Vision Assist
VW’s Pyrobrake was developed along the same line of thought since it uses sensors to detect an unavoidable collision and triggers a brake piston that applies almost 1500 psi of force in 80 milliseconds, making it faster than any Brake Assist system out there.
And to think we were excited at the idea of hard drives in the car to hold more MP3 tracks!
Posted on July 29th, 2008 by Shorty
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Finally! Some word on the merger of Sirius and XM. Federal regulators have reached conditional approval of Sirius’ purchase of XM, mainly since both companies are ready to shell out millions to make charges of past rule breaking go bye-bye. (Read “voluntary contributions” to the U.S. Treasury totaling about $19 million combined.)
The five-member Federal Communications Commission, with three Republicans on board have, according to Automotive News, “agreed in principle to vote in favor letting the deal proceed as long as the companies agree to conditions to protect consumers and settle the FCC enforcement matters, a source familiar with the agency review said on Thursday.”
So, assuming it all goes forward, that’s the last hurdle in the regulatory circus. Remember, this all started in February 2007. Never let it be said the federal government acts in haste. Even though the traditional radio industry is up in arms that the deal is anti-competitive, the resulting programming ought to be darned interesting. I mean really, Oprah and Howard Stern on the same network? How’s that for something to take your attention off the road?
Posted on July 24th, 2008 by Shorty
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