AutoblogGreen

At the beginning of this year, Jaguar revamped its powertrain lineup, including the engines in the still fresh XF and the XK. The new direct injected gas V8 and up-rated diesel V6 provide improved efficiency and more power, especially in the case of the diesel. The 3.0L is now available in two flavors, 237 hp and 271 hp for the XF S. The crew at What Car? in the UK have had a chance to try out the XF S and, unsurprisingly, were impressed. The compression ignition XF is rated at 35 mpg (U.S.) with CO₂ of just 179 g/km; very impressive for a luxury sports sedan like the XF. The new engines have better low end responsiveness than their predecessors as well as being quieter. Hopefully the success of the new diesels from German competitors will cause Jaguar to see fit to let us have a crack at the new models. We're not holding our breath though.


[Source: What Car?]

One thing that we haven't seen from any of the startup green car makers to date is traditional television advertising. That's partly because most of these companies are operating on minimal budgets and what money they do have is being dedicated to trying to get their vehicles on the road. Fisker Automotive is a different case. With a star designer at the helm and venture capital cash in the bank (for now at least), the fledgling manufacturer has begun running its first TV spots. The initial ads appeared on local Los Angeles stations last week. If a company like Fisker is going to advertise, LA would be the place to do it. The area is home to large numbers of high dollar, high performance cars and plenty of environmentally aware people with money (or it did until about six months ago). These are precisely the people to whom a car like the Karma would appeal. With a goal of 15,000 sales a year, Fisker is going to have its work cut out finding buyers in in this economy. Watch the ad after the jump.



[Source: YouTube]

Read more →

Nissan will be showing off the second-generation version of its electric Cube this weekend at the Kanagawa EV Festa 2009. Nissan showed a concept called the Denki Cube at last year's New York Auto Show and then showed the EV-02 (right) later in the year. The festival this weekend will be the first time that Nissan offers public rides in the prototype EV.

Nissan has committed to introducing an electric vehicle next year, but it has also said that the production version will not be based on the Cube. The current version of the prototype is propelled by an 80 kW electric motor and matching inverter. Nissan has a joint venture with NEC to produce lithium ion batteries. The flat prismatic cells are arranged into a pack that is mounted under the floor. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Yokohama Akarenga Park in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan it might be worth checking out the festival.

[Source: Nissan]

Read more →

Texas State Senator John Carona has recently introduced Senate Bill 506, which would allow lane splitting in Texas. For those unaware, lane splitting is the practice of riding in between slow moving automotive traffic on a motorcycle. Right now, California is the only state that allows motorcycles to split lanes... legally.

While it may sound like a dangerous practice, studies have shown that rear-end motorcycle accidents in California are about 30 percent lower than in other states that have year-round riding seasons. The practice is also legal in many other countries, including much of Europe and all of Japan. Other benefits include reduced congestion and lowered vehicle emissions and fuel usage.

If passed, riders and their passengers would need to be wearing helmets and would only be allowed to travel 5 miles per hour faster than the rest of traffic. Additionally, the practice would not be allowed at speeds of over 20 mph.

[Source: KUHF radio via The Kneeslider | Photo: akeg]

Aptera wants a piece of the $25 Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program loan pie. Unfortunately for the California startup they can't have any because the program is companies making high efficiency "cars." That means vehicles that pass all federal motor vehicle safety standards. The tear drop shaped Aptera may have very low drag and be very light weight, but, as we mentioned yesterday, it only has three wheels and does not meet all the safety requirements put on a car and is thus classified as a motorcycle (albeit a full bodied one) just like the Zap Xebra and other startups.

Aptera protests that they followed this three-wheeled route to optimize the efficiency of its vehicle. That may well be true, but a big piece of that has to do with keeping weight and cost down by not meeting all the FMVSS requirements. There i,s of course, no technological reason that a three-wheeled vehicle could not meet the safety rules, but that would add a lot of weight, thus negating much of the benefit of the current vehicle. Should an exception be made for vehicles like the Aptera to be eligible for the loans? If so then perhaps we should just abandon all the safety rules, since they are a major part of why modern cars are so heavy.

Consumers have come to expect a certain level of protection in modern cars. They need to understand that just because a vehicle may have a full body, it may not be made to the same standards. If people are good with that, then grant Aptera's request and amend the rules for the loan program. If people are not prepared to accept a lower standard of safety, you know the answer.


[Source: Aptera]

Read more →

If you're at all familiar with the hardcore environmentalist mindset, then you know that there is really no limit to how far you can take thinking about your impact on the world. Locavore, the 2007 New Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year, for example, means someone who only (or mostly) eats food that comes from local sources. Well, we might soon be having the same sort of discussion about where we get our energy from, based on the thinking behind this WorldChanging post.

When people talk about eating more eco-friendly one big question is: "Do I eat organic food that was shipped thousands of miles or eat something less environmentally-friendly but was grown right around the corner?" The same question can be applied to energy. Does it make sense to move clean energy around on the grid or do we want to be, in WorldChanging's word, "Locavolts"? Local, clean energy would be the best, but that's not always an option. So, what would you prefer to use to power up your electric car or plug-in hybrid?

[Source: WorldChanging]

Officials from the National Biodiesel Board are meeting with the USDA and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack over the California Air Resources Board's proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the ramifications that the legislation would have on the biodiesel industry. Biofuel proponents have been concerned about the EPA's latest proposed Renewable Fuels Standard and the way it would calculate greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of biodiesel produced from vegetable oils.

Apparently, the NBB is pleased with the progress that's been made so far, saying, "Implementation of a workable RFS-2 program is consistent with a national energy strategy that values the replacement of petroleum diesel with domestically-produced low carbon fuel. Secretary Vilsack clearly understands this, and the U.S. biodiesel industry applauds his leadership on this important issue." So, all systems go for soy?

[Source: Domestic Fuel]

"A small and humble beginning."

That was how Th!nk CEO Richard Canny described his company's proposed expansion to America. It certainly wasn't a big, flashy roll-out in Ann Arbor this morning, but Canny and Th!nk North America CTO Jim Lyons made the most of a drab conference room to sell the assembled journalists on the potential of this sub-$20,000 electric car (that price comes with a big qualifier) in the U.S. market.

One thing that both Canny and Lyons repeatedly mentioned was that electric cars don't need to be figured out; a lot of them just need to be built so that they're cheaper. Lyons said that most estimates put the near-future cost for battery manufacturing at $250-300 per kWh once economies of scale are ramped up. For Th!nk, which hopes to begin fleet operations in 2010, followed by a full retail launch in 2011, that means they can sell their car for under $20,000 and lease the battery to the user for $80-90 a month. "There is no technology risk left in electric vehicles," Canny said. "This is a technology that is here, it's stable, it's available. What it lacks is scale."

We've got all the details about Th!nk's expansion to America after the jump. You can also listen to the presentation here (57 min):



(You can also download the 79 MB audio MP3 file from here)

Read more →

This week, Congress and President Obama have approved a bill that includes a June 30th deadline for the EPA to decide whether or not to allow California the right to enact its own greenhouse gas rules. Earlier this year, President Obama directed the EPA to reconsider California's request for a waiver that would allow it to regulate gases like carbon dioxide, which is widely seen as a way for the state to set its own fuel efficiency requirements.

Automakers, as represented by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, have said that they would greatly prefer a single countrywide standard. That may still happen, as proponents of the legislation have said they will support a national standard as long as it is as tough or tougher than the regulations proposed by California and that the state still retain the power to rewrite the rules in the future.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
Photo by Clinton Steeds. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Ford plans to use the Leipzig Motor Show to unveil a new version of the super popular Mondeo capable of running on gasoline, ethanol or liquified petroleum gas. As a flex-fuel car, a computer can detect what concentrations of gas or ethanol are pumped into the tank and can adjust the engine's operation accordingly. The tri-fuel-capable car will use a 2.0L Duratec four cylinder engine that puts out 145 horsepower on either gasoline or ethanol or 141 horses on LPG.

There are dual tanks in this vehicle, so the total range when both tanks are filled is nearly 800 miles, depending on which bodystyle is chosen (the wagon has a smaller LPG tank). Sales are expected to commence in Europe in April with a starting price of €27,500. Not that it matters, since the car's not coming to America and the conversion rates are never proper indicators, but that equals $35,150 in the U.S.

[Source: Carscoop]