Greenlings: How power-split parallel hybrids work
Over the past decade, if there is one word that has become synonymous with green motoring it is hybrid. Ever since Toyota launched the first modern commercially viable hybrid with the original Prius (above) in 1997, over one million of them have hit the roads. Of course, as is so often the case, this overnight sensation was anything but. In fact, the technology was nearly a century in the making. The first known hybrid was developed by the original Ferdinand Porsche back around the beginning of the twentieth century. The hybrid, as we mostly know it today, was actually developed and patented by engineers at TRW in the late 1960s. While most people have by now heard of hybrids and know that they can improve efficiency, few understand how they work. Since the debut of the Prius, most automakers have been working on hybrids and have developed their own variations in an attempt to reduce the cost and/or improve the efficiency. Let’s start (after the jump) with a look the power-split parallel hybrid as popularized by Toyota and Ford. Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius Continue reading Greenlings: How power-split parallel hybrids work Auto Blog: Hybrid , GM , Mercedes Benz , Toyota , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily Greenlings: How power-split parallel hybrids work originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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Geneva 2009: Top ten diesels you can’t get in America!
One of the first things you notice when you start wandering around the Geneva Motor Show is that virtually every major automaker offers diesel engines. Lots of them. Many of them are even in cars that we can get in the U.S. market but only with gasoline engines. As our regular readers know, I’m a fan of modern diesel engines. Being in Geneva gives me a chance to present, in no particular order, 10 examples of cars available in the U.S. (or available soon) that could really benefit from having a diesel option. All the mileage figures have been converted to U.S. mpg. No need to use glowplugs, let’s just get started . Auto Blog: Diesel , Geneva Motor Show Geneva 2009: Top ten diesels you can’t get in America! originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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Geneva 2009: Euro-spec Tata Nano (it’s bigger!) and all-electric Indica
Click on image to see the three upcoming Tata Euro-spec models As we reported, Tata has an Euro-spec Nano on the works . The changes from the Indian version include adding an all-aluminium I3 MPFI engine with a 5-speed automatic transmission and electric power steering. The engine should address all the concerns about Tata’s green credentials, as it will be Euro V compliant and have emissions under the 100 g/km of CO 2 mark. The Nano Europa will also include significant security equipment like ABS, ESP (Electronic Stability Program) and airbags. There’s also a change in size, as the Nano Europa has a slightly longer wheelbase of 2.28 meters. Tata’s all-electric Indica, which was also shown during the SIAM Expo , uses polymer lithium batteries that are expected to offer a range of 200 km (120 mi) and a 0-to-60 km/h (0 to 40 mph) time of less than 10 seconds. The model was adapted by Miljo Grenland/Innovasjon of Norway, where Tata UK’s owns 70 percent of the shares. Tata will also include a third model, called Prima, in its future European lineup. Gallery: Future European Tata Models [Source: Tata] Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Europe/EU , Tata Geneva 2009: Euro-spec Tata Nano (it’s bigger!) and all-electric Indica originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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Geneva 2009: Euro-spec Tata Nano (it’s bigger!) and all-electric Indica
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Leave a commentAuto X Prize deadline has passed; thoughts on the purse split
The Automotive X Prize’s deadline for registration has passed and now we get to wait and see just who’s going to be actually participating in the upcoming high-mileage competition. The organizers say that the last few days and hours before the deadline were “an absolute firestorm of phone calls, emails, and overnight packages.” From the looks of it, there might be 100 teams actually registered (40 already committed and then more than 50 applications that arrived in the last week), but somewhere between 60 and 70 is much more likely. We’ll have to wait for the staff to go through the papers and see if everything was submitted correctly before we get a complete list of all the teams released. One other bit of information that the X Prize organizers have shared on their blog is the reasoning for changing the $10 million prize purse from a 3-to-1 split between mainstream and alternative classes to a $5 million mainstream prize and two alternative class winners – one for a vehicle with side-by-side seating and one for a vehicle with tandem seating – who will each split the other $5 million. Details available here . [Source: Auto X Prize ] Auto Blog: Green Daily , Automotive X-Prize Auto X Prize deadline has passed; thoughts on the purse split originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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Posted in Auto Green | a-3-to-1-split, a-complete-list, america, europetata, featured, green-daily, last, regular | Leave a commentPrius 2010 detail overload: will get 49 mpg highway rating; 100,000 sales predicted for 2009
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2010 Toyota Prius There are reasons that the Toyota Prius is the best-selling hybird car in the world. It’s simple to use, gets better mileage than pretty much anything easily available, and you can turn it into a shuttlecraft if you want to. But, all that ease-of-use hides a lot of serious technical work. During a media event in Napa, California last week, Toyota gave us the details of just what and how the third-generation Prius came about after four-and-a-half years of work and literally thousands of meetings. In fact, Prius chief engineer Akihiko Otsuka joked that TMC doesn’t stand for Toyota Motor Company but Toyota Meeting Company. An old chestnut of a joke, perhaps, but totally true in this situation. Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of the Toyota Division, told us that the official mileage rating for the 2010 Prius is 50 mpg city, 49 mpg highway. We already knew about the 50 mpg combined number from the Detroit unveiling, but those almost identical city/highway numbers are new. The difference between the city and highway ratings was something that current Prius owners wanted to see improved in this new model Carter said. There was a three-mpg difference in the second generation models; seven in the first. Production of the new Prius will begin in late-April and the first vehicles will arrive in late spring. Toyota is predicting that around 100,000 3rd-gen units will be sold in 2009; 180,000 in the full calendar year after that. That’s their forecast, but they will adjust building rate to the demand. A necessary decision considering the current economy. Toyota is confident there is demand for the new Prius, and believes the Prius could have a seven percent share of the midsize vehicle segment. One important factor will be pricing (and Insight competition ), which Toyota will announce much closer to launch. The new Prius won’t go on sale for another few months, but if you’re curious about what you’ll get when it becomes available, come with us after the jump. Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius Continue reading Prius 2010 detail overload: will get 49 mpg highway rating; 100,000 sales predicted for 2009 Auto Blog: Hybrid , Toyota , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily Prius 2010 detail overload: will get 49 mpg highway rating; 100,000 sales predicted for 2009 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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First Drive: 2009 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid
Click above for high-res gallery of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra Hybrid The more things change, the more they stay the same. Once again, this time-honored dictum is proving true as pickup trucks regain their rightful place at the top of the U.S. sales charts following a precipitous fall from grace last summer. As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, the cost of gasoline has dropped to a more manageable level, with an average gallon of regular-grade fuel going for half the price it was less than a year ago. So is it back to business as usual? Not quite. As we found out (again) in 2008, the volatile nature of gasoline stocks means that the market price for a barrel of crude can and will change on a whim. Does anyone really think fuel is going to stay cheaper than bottled water forever? Not likely. However, America’s love affair with the pickup truck will continue to burn bright even though the status quo is changing. All vehicles, regardless of type, must travel more miles on each gallon of gasoline. Enter GM’s latest duo of fuel-saving pickups: the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra Hybrids. Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra Hybrids Photos Copyright (C)2009 Jeremy Korzeniewski / Weblogs, Inc. Continue reading First Drive: 2009 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid Auto Blog: Hybrid , Chevrolet , GM , GMC , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , First Drive First Drive: 2009 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green
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Washington 2009: Riding in the Chrysler EVs [w/VIDEO]
Auto Blog: EV/Plug-in , Chrysler , Dodge , Jeep , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily , Washington DC Auto Show Click above and scroll down to watch the video People are rightly skeptical about whether or not the Chrysler electric vehicles will ever make it to market. For now, all we can say for sure is that some of Chrysler’s EV prototypes can go for a spin around the Washington DC Convention Center. We were able to go for a ride in the Dodge EV and the Jeep ER-EV with Crysler’s Douglas Quigley, executive of product engineering for ENVI (the Chrysler electric vehicle “start up” ) when we were in town last week, and you can see our video of the rides (no drives yet, sadly) after the jump. Quigley said that it is not Chrysler’s intention to sell 100,000 of the Dodge EVs a year. You can roll your own joke about that, but his explanation was that the battery pack that is good for 150 miles will be expensive and therefore the target audience is someone who wants to cruise through the city or on the track for a few hours on the weekend. He’s got a lot more to say about these two vehicles in the video, including how they’re being used for testing in Arizona, what might make it into a possible production version and how fun it is to drive the Lotus Europa-based Dodge EV. Continue reading Washington 2009: Riding in the Chrysler EVs [w/VIDEO] Washington 2009: Riding in the Chrysler EVs [w/VIDEO] originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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Posted in Auto Green | chinese, chrysler, daily, dodge, dodgeev, electric dodge, entirely, envi, featured, fifth gear, jeep ev, jeep re-ev, jeepev, latin-america, lotus europa | Leave a commentYou want it ? Top Ten missed eco-car production deadlines
Auto Blog: Diesel , EV/Plug-in , Hybrid , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily Production delays are common in the automotive world. Just because we understand (to a degree) the complexities of bringing a car to market doesn’t mean we like them. In the green car space, especially, a lot of promises are made and then not delivered on. Looking through the AutoblogGreen archives, we found a lot of posts that listed when a new vehicle or technology was going to be on the market – and realized that those deadlines had not been met. Whether because of technical problems, protests, off-base financial predictions or a host of other reasons, stuff happens. What doesn’t always happen is a look back to see who was saying what. Everyone from the biggest OEM to the small start-ups has been guilty of delaying something here and there. We wish them no further delays, we just wanted to take stock of where we’ve been – and hopefully get a better idea of where we might be headed. If you’re a jaded “heard-all-the-hype-before” kind of person, this is your list. If you’re just learning about these vehicles and are trying to understand why a company can announce one thing and then later say another, click the links in each caption to Car Blog Greenmore about what happened. Ready? Take a look . Photo (unmixed) by fotologic . Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0 . You want it when ? Top Ten missed eco-car production deadlines originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green|Car Blog Green
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