SalvaEco

Filed under: Hybrid, MPG

We’ve all know for some time that the EPA was revising the way they calculate the fuel economy ratings for new vehicles to hopefully make them more representative of real world driving. Well the new updated numbers are finally available at FuelEconomy.gov. As expected most numbers are down by 2-3mpg although some take a bigger hit, particularly some of the higher-rated hybrids.

For example the Prius drops from 60/51/55mpg city/hwy/combined down to 48/45/46mpg. Similarly the Honda Civic hybrid goes from 49/51/50 mpg to 40/45/42 mpg. Not all hybrids dropped as severely with the 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid went from 36/31/34 to 31/29/30 mpg. Since all hybrids are highly dependent on control strategies that are defined by software, they can be tuned to perform their best on specific circumstances.

What this seems to indicate is that Toyota and Honda tuned their strategies to work best on the EPA test cycles to the detriment of real world performance. On the other hand, Ford seems to have tuned their system to provide the best efficiency to the driver. That’s not to say that the Toyota and Honda don’t still provide outstanding efficiency, because they do. It’s just that the previously published numbers are artificially inflated, perhaps in an attempt to get bragging rights. I’ll have more to say on this subject in a piece following my upcoming review of the 2008 Escape Hybrid in a few days.

[Source: Environmental Protection Agency]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Phoenix

AeroVironment, a company that helps build drones (unpiloted flying machines) for the U.S. military as well as earlier work on vehicles like the Sunraycer and the GM Impact, announced today that its ten-minute recharge demonstration of an Altair Nanotechnologies 35kWh battery pack was successful, and restored enough power to drive the car for two hours at 60 mph. The demo was performed for folks from California Air Resources Board (CARB) at AeroVironment’s Monrovia, California Energy Technology Center.

AeroVironment used a 250kW, grid-connected AV advanced battery charger for the demo. AV says that its earlier tests of Altair’s batteries demonstrate “that such battery packs can sustain several cycles per day of ten minute charging and two hour discharging. Each cycle is equivalent to an electric vehicle traveling for two hours at 60 miles per hour.”

So, how is this news? Altair’s CEO, Alan Gotcher, has been telling us and others about the capabilities his batteries have for quite some time. AV calls the demo a “milestone,” so that sounds like it means either this is the first time someone other than Altair has been able to verify Altair’s claims, or it’s the first time a group like CARB was on hand to see the quick charge in action. Either way, it’s another step forward for these batteries and the Phoenix vehicles they’re destined for.

Related:

• Berko throws cold water on Altair Nanotechnologies as an investment
• Phoenix makes $2.2 million order for Altair’s NanoSafe battery packs
• AutoblogGreen Q&A: AltairNano CEO Alan Gotcher

[Source: AeroVironmental]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Phoenix

AeroVironment, a company that helps build drones (unpiloted flying machines) for the U.S. military as well as earlier work on vehicles like the Sunraycer and the GM Impact, announced today that its ten-minute recharge demonstration of an Altair Nanotechnologies 35kWh battery pack was successful, and restored enough power to drive the car for two hours at 60 mph. The demo was performed for folks from California Air Resources Board (CARB) at AeroVironment’s Monrovia, California Energy Technology Center.

AeroVironment used a 250kW, grid-connected AV advanced battery charger for the demo. AV says that its earlier tests of Altair’s batteries demonstrate “that such battery packs can sustain several cycles per day of ten minute charging and two hour discharging. Each cycle is equivalent to an electric vehicle traveling for two hours at 60 miles per hour.”

So, how is this news? Altair’s CEO, Alan Gotcher, has been telling us and others about the capabilities his batteries have for quite some time. AV calls the demo a “milestone,” so that sounds like it means either this is the first time someone other than Altair has been able to verify Altair’s claims, or it’s the first time a group like CARB was on hand to see the quick charge in action. Either way, it’s another step forward for these batteries and the Phoenix vehicles they’re destined for.

Related:

• Berko throws cold water on Altair Nanotechnologies as an investment
• Phoenix makes $2.2 million order for Altair’s NanoSafe battery packs
• AutoblogGreen Q&A: AltairNano CEO Alan Gotcher

[Source: AeroVironmental]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Posted by Dave (live from the International Whaling Commission in Anchorage, Alaska)

As I write from the IWC’s meeting room, the meeting has gotten bogged down in discussions about Greenland subsistence quotas and procedures about how the Scientific Committee. Riveting stuff.

Earlier, the proposal by Brazil and Argentina for a Southern Atlantic Whale Sanctuary was sadly defeated – it needed a 3/4 majority to pass, and managed to secure 60%. Milko, our Latin American campaigner is confident that the sanctuary will be adopted by next year’s meeting.

Curiously, Guatemala, a country that had earlier associated itself with the sanctuary, abstained – which was very unhelpful. It’s hard to know why – according to Milko, there had been great media coverage in Guatemala about how the country was now supporting the conservation of whales – but perhaps they’re leaning back towards the pro-whaling side?

Continue reading The Southern Atlantic Whale Sanctuary – not this time round…

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, On Two Wheels

The strange, peculiar bike-looking thing you see above, will outsell by three times even the most optimistic sales projections of cars in China this year. It in fact accounts for a third of all electric vehicle sales. Yes, the electric bike has rapidly become one of the most popular modes of transportation in China in the past few years.

The reason for this is ease of use, low sale price and high savings. For the most part, people in sprawling cities do not need to travel very far, so this has been a boon to Chinese urbanites. They have been on the rise from selling 7.5 million units last year to a projected over 10 million this year. A former R&D leader for GM says that this is “the dawn of a new era in electric bicycles,” according to Peter Fairley writing in Spectrum.

Still, is America ready to lose a couple wheels? While they can be a lot of fun making speeds of 20 kph or more, Ed Benjamin, vice president of the Light Transport Division at electric-propulsion-technology firm WaveCrest Laboratories LLC, in Dulles, Va., says we don’t know yet what we’re going to do with them. Read the article at the read link.

[Source: Peter Fairley / Spectrum; Thanks for the tip, Kert!]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Off The Grid Homes
We Want Solutions!
Global Peace Index – The Texture of Peace
Ban Considered On Organic Food Brought In By Air
Can Nanotechnology Be Good For Climate?

(more)

(Posted by David Zaks in News and Views at 8:13 PM)

Posted by Dave (live from the International Whaling Commission in Anchorage, Alaska)

Well, it’s all gone weird here – a resolution, proposed by New Zealand, and backed up a plethora of other countries, for Japan to stop its lethal research in the Southern Ocean has been passed by the IWC. Of course, Greenpeace supports this!

Continue reading Our reaction to the JARPA resolution: Japan’s whaling censured…

Filed under: Etc., MPG

I am sure that you have seen various gadgets being sold that claim to increase your fuel mileage. I won’t mention any names, but some of them make rather dubious-sounding claims which have never been verified, yet they remain on the market. Some of them have even been tested by the EPA, and have not fared well. This turns out to be nothing new, as you can see from this test that was run all the way back in 1968. Here are the gadgets in question:

• THE GT ENERGY CHAMBER
• THE GAS-O-MISER
• OCTA-GANE
• ECON-O-MISER
• FIRE INJECTORS
• SOLAR VOLT SUPERCHARGER
• GANE AIR FLOW NEEDLES
• GAS SAVER CHAMBER

So, did any of them work? I guess you’ll need to read the article, now won’t you? But, you can probably guess the answer anyway!

[Source: The Olds Zone via Jalopnik]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Hybrid, MPG, Volkswagen

Aside from diesels and their new direct injected gasoline TSI engines, Volkswagen hasn’t exactly been on the cutting edge of alternative powertrains and even the diesels are using BlueTec emission controls licensed from Mercedes-Benz. To date VW hasn’t shown any hybrids, electric vehicles, fuel cells or other advanced vehicles that are destined for production. They are apparently planning a hybrid version of the Touareg but the TSI and DSG gearboxes are the limit for now.

So in lieu of actual new alternative products they are embarking on an advertising campaign in Germany to promote their green credentials such as they are. The thought is that they haven’t adequately promoted the efforts they have made such as the lat 3L Lupo which was canceled after several years of poor sales. The new campaign will feature VWs in nature such as a red ladybug Beetle and will also emphasize technologies like TDI, TSI and DSG. They will also connect the ads to the upcoming launch of the Passat BlueMotion.

[Source: Just-Auto – Sub. req’d]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Hybrid, MPG, Volkswagen

Aside from diesels and their new direct injected gasoline TSI engines, Volkswagen hasn’t exactly been on the cutting edge of alternative powertrains and even the diesels are using BlueTec emission controls licensed from Mercedes-Benz. To date VW hasn’t shown any hybrids, electric vehicles, fuel cells or other advanced vehicles that are destined for production. They are apparently planning a hybrid version of the Touareg but the TSI and DSG gearboxes are the limit for now.

So in lieu of actual new alternative products they are embarking on an advertising campaign in Germany to promote their green credentials such as they are. The thought is that they haven’t adequately promoted the efforts they have made such as the lat 3L Lupo which was canceled after several years of poor sales. The new campaign will feature VWs in nature such as a red ladybug Beetle and will also emphasize technologies like TDI, TSI and DSG. They will also connect the ads to the upcoming launch of the Passat BlueMotion.

[Source: Just-Auto – Sub. req’d]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.