Gas 2.0

Protoscar Lampo 2 EV: Fast, Ugly, And Awkwardly Named
Bad Press May be Good For Toyota Prius Sales
European Honda CR-Z Hybrid Gets Better Gas Mileage, Two Extra Seats
Chicago Gets First Wind-Powered EV Charging Station

Protoscar Lampo 2 EV: Fast, Ugly, And Awkwardly Named

Posted: 08 Feb 2010 03:28 PM PST

For many years, electric cars didn’t look so much like cars, as they did… well… they didn’t much look like anything anyone would want to drive. I never understood half-covering the rear-wheels (that has never been cool) or the funky lines and shapes electric cars inevitably filled out. And so, in recent years, electric cars have begun to look more like… well… cars. Whether or not this is a good thing is up to you, but Protoscar apparently thinks electric cars should look funky.

Hence the undramatic unveiling of the Protoscar Lampo 2. An awkward name for an awkward car that actually has some impressive features, like a ten-minute charge good for about 60 miles and a 0-62 mph time of under 5 seconds.

So why the horrid name?

I haven’t heard much of the Lampo 2 (I keep thinking of National Lampoon for some reason) but the car will come out guns a-blazin’ during the Geneva Auto Show. But beneath the awkward looks and silly name is a car with a performance pedigree. The Lampo 2 is based on the outgoing Kappa platform from GM. This is the same platform that underpinned the attractive but undersold Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky, which makes me wonder how exactly Protoscar plans on keeping this car in production… and how they managed to make it so ugly.

Ok, I’ve gotten a little too hung up on the looks. A neat feature of the Lampo 2 is that each axle has its own motor driving two wheels; in essence, all-wheel drive. While the Lampo 2 weighs in at a hefty 3,400 pounds, it also manages to make 408 horsepower and 472 ft-lbs of torque. That gives it a sub-5 second 0-62 mph speed, as well as the ability to top out at 124 mph. It has a supposed range of about 120 miles, and an off-board charging system can deliver an extra 60 miles in just ten minutes. No word on pricing, probably not until the “official” unveil.

Give it a new name, more aggressive looks, and an affordable (at least compared to Tesla) price, and we’ll talk. Maybe. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Source: Protoscar

Bad Press May be Good For Toyota Prius Sales

Posted: 08 Feb 2010 02:33 PM PST

According to Edmunds.com’s Green Car Advisor blog, ever since the news about potential Prius braking problems broke in the mainstream media, shopper interest in the Prius on Edmunds.com has risen significantly. “Both consideration and purchase intent for the Prius have risen about 10 percent among car shoppers doing research on Edmunds.com since the Prius brake story became news earlier this week,” said John O’Dell in a post on Green Car Advisor.

Edmunds.com’s CEO, Jeremy Anwyl, speculated that the increased interest is due to bargain hunters hoping to cash in on an opportunity for a better price due to incentives or “distress sales.”

Whether or not this “increased interest” actually leads to increased sales of the Prius remains to be seen. As Anwyl points out, “We saw the same reaction from consumers when Chrysler and General Motors declared bankruptcy.” So far that increased interest hasn’t resulted in any increased sales for those two companies. But with Toyota, it’s a bit of a different story. Hundreds of thousands of people still trust in Toyota’s overall quality and wouldn’t bat an eye at a chance to scoop up a deal on a Prius.

What do you think, are any of you looking to cash in on Toyota’s current bad press?

Source: Green Car Advisor | Image Credit: Toyota

European Honda CR-Z Hybrid Gets Better Gas Mileage, Two Extra Seats

Posted: 08 Feb 2010 01:56 PM PST

For me, the biggest letdown in recent memory was the Honda CR-Z. Touted as a spiritual successor of the CR-X, the CR-Z managed to get it all wrong. Whereas the original CR-X was lightweight, sporty, and frugal with its fuel, the CRZ is underwhelming at best. The hybrid manages to get just 37 mpg in a two-seater that has a combined horsepower output of just 122 ponies in a 3,000 pound package. Like I said, underwhelming, at least in the Americanized version.

But Europe is also getting the CR-Z. Strangely enough, their version gets two extra (albeit small) seats, converting the CR-Z into a more practical 2+2 for people with small children or petite friends. But what really got me is that the European CRZ gets much better gas mileage… 47 mpg, in fact. How did that happen?

For clarification, that is 47 mpg on the US cycle. In European cycle, the estimate is 56.4 mpg.

I don’t know how this happened. The European CR-Z has the same 122 horsepower, 1.5 liter engine as the American version, plus the added weight from two extra seats. In my mind that means it must come down to weight and safety. In Europe, small cars are the norm, and rarely do they have to go head-to-head with an over-sized SUV. Therefore, maybe (pure speculation on my part here people) the European version of the CR-Z may not have the same safety or rigidity necessary for cars in the US, thus cutting down on weight.

The US and European tests are similar, but not identical, and the vehicles are built to different standards (like Ford cannot import its Ka to the US for being too small). But even so, the CR-Z would have to shed a lot of weight to gain 10 mpg over the US version with 37 mpg on the highway (that that is with the CVT automatic… opt for the manual, and the CRZ gets just 33 mpg on the highway).

The 56.4 MPG rating in Europe translates to 46.9 mpg in the US, which would put it in the top-tier of efficient hybrids on the market. But in Europe, which has access to vehicles which routinely get 60+ mpg on the US cycle, it is merely a middle-ground hybrid coupe. I can’t help but feel shafted… I even seriously considered the CR-Z as a hybrid I could one day live with. Not anymore.

If someone from Honda reads this, please, give me a straight answer. Barring that, maybe someone who makes it to the Geneva Auto Show, where the Euro-CR-Z will be “officially” unveiled, can ask them what gives.

Otherwise I can only conclude that Honda likes Europe better than the US. And that hurts my feelings.

Source: Carscoop | Image: Honda

Chicago Gets First Wind-Powered EV Charging Station

Posted: 08 Feb 2010 01:49 PM PST

Last summer Chicago upped the ante on next generation EV charging stations with the nation’s first solar powered one, and now they’ve done it again, but this time with wind. For a town known as the windy city, it only seems to make sense, but how they decided to go after solar before wind is beyond me.

The players this time around are the same as the ones who made the solar deal go through: Coulomb Technologies has again supplied the charging equipment through their Midwest distributor Carbon Day Automotive. The station is located in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park and the wind power comes from a law firm that has partnered with MC Squared Energy Services to get all of their energy from wind.

Hal Emalfarb, one of the partners at the law firm who also drives a plug-in Prius conversion, said “By integrating renewable energy, in this case, the prairie winds of Illinois, to power our office and our cars, we have seamlessly accomplished the goal of a cleaner grid that leads to a reduction of greenhouse gases.”

Good on the windy city for taking the bull by the horns—or the wind tower by the blades, in this case.

Source: Green Car Advisor | Image Credit: Coulomb Technologies