Gas 2.0 |
- Nissan Global EV Chief: Battery Swapping Likely Won’t Work in U.S.
- AgriPlas Puts Wheat Straw Plastic in Ford Flex
- Toyota Releases Aerius Prius Body Kit
- Study: 14 Million Plug-In Electric Cars on US Roads by 2020
| Nissan Global EV Chief: Battery Swapping Likely Won’t Work in U.S. Posted: 17 Nov 2009 11:43 AM PST
Editor’s Note: This is part one of an exclusive sit down I had with Hideaki Watanabe, Nissan’s Division Manager of their Global Zero Emission Business Unit, at last week’s U.S. debut of the LEAF in Los Angeles. Part two will be devoted battery leasing, part three to the quietness and safety of EVs, and part four to the different zero emissions directions of Renault and Nissan within their alliance. The Renault-Nissan Alliance’s strategy regarding battery swapping has been somewhat unclear to the public as of late. On the one hand, Renault has partnered with battery swapping stars Better Place in Israel to develop a purpose built car for the Israeli battery swapping market. On the other hand, Nissan has largely ignored other battery swapping markets and has remained quite non-committal in those areas. In a rather open conversation with me, Hideaki Watanabe, Nissan’s Division Manager of the Global Zero Emission Business Unit, explained why. |
| AgriPlas Puts Wheat Straw Plastic in Ford Flex Posted: 17 Nov 2009 08:51 AM PST
It certainly is the dawning of a new era in automotive technology when the tiger in your tank becomes a moldy relic of bygone ad campaigns while the humble leftovers from harvested wheat get awards for new sustainable thinking. A. Schulman, Inc.’s AgriPlas wheat straw fiber has just been named a Blue Ribbon Finalist in Environmental Innovation by the Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers, for its application in the Ford Flex crossover vehicle. AgriPlas’s contribution to the Flex is an injection-molded storage bin and inner lid made of polypropylene and a bio-filler made of wheat straw. Though the application is modest in scope, a spokesperson for Ford’s Plastics Research division sees it as a litmus test of things to come, in terms of increasing fuel efficiency by decreasing vehicle weight. |
| Toyota Releases Aerius Prius Body Kit Posted: 17 Nov 2009 08:45 AM PST
I’ve always found most body kits to be silly. Side skirts, fender flares, and front splitters usually do little more than add weight and make a slow car look like it’s trying too hard to go fast. But every now and then a good, clean body kit can improve the appearance of a car, and if done right, even improve its aerodynamic properties. Hybrids seem to be especially popular to make body kits for recently, with both the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion Hybrid receiving different takes on body enhancements. Toyota is taking the game a step further with its Aerius body kit which offers subtle improvements to the exterior without negatively affecting the drag coefficient. |
| Study: 14 Million Plug-In Electric Cars on US Roads by 2020 Posted: 17 Nov 2009 03:18 AM PST
A remarkable new study predicts that at least 14 million electric cars will be zooming around the US by 2020, and reckons that EVs could account for a startling 75 percent of all light-duty miles driven by 2040. The ambitious claims form part of an in-depth study, called the Electrification Roadmap, backed by a coalition of business leaders including Nissan, FedEx, Coda Automotive and Coulomb Technologies. |
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