Gas 2.0 |
- Aston Martin Expects Cygnet Minicar to Help Boost Sales 30%
- By 2015 Mazda Cars Will No Longer Idle
- Axial Flux Electric Motor May Not Take You Back to the Future, But How’s 0-60 in Under 3 Seconds?
- GM Unveils Trio of Two-Wheel Electric… Egg Pods
- Supercar Legend McLaren Will Concentrate on Efficient Cars and Hybrids
- Cargo Ships Avoiding Cleaner Fuel By Choosing Dangerous Routes
| Aston Martin Expects Cygnet Minicar to Help Boost Sales 30% Posted: 24 Mar 2010 12:07 PM PDT
Luxury and supercar makers the world round are trying to find ways to remain relevant in a world ever more obsessed with going green. Ignore, for a moment, that all the luxury and supercars sold each year make up an insignificant fraction of all cars sold worldwide and that somebody who has $300K to plunk down on a car likely doesn’t worry about how fuel-efficient their new car is. The fact of the matter is, in the wake of the econopocalypse, luxury and supercar makers have faced some of the worst sales numbers ever and even their largely real-world insulated clientele are starting to show a preference for sustainable technologies. |
| By 2015 Mazda Cars Will No Longer Idle Posted: 24 Mar 2010 11:37 AM PDT
I’ve brought up the subject of idling cars a few times before on this blog. Ford says letting your car idle and warm up reduces emissions, while a county in England wants to make it illegal to leave a car idling (except in certain cases). It is a case for contention among environmentalists and automakers, though for sure idling in bumper-to-bumper traffic does nobody any good. Which makes one wonder why we don’t have more instances of stop-start engine technology here in the U.S. Turns out we might have it fairly soon. Mazda is pledging to bring its stop-start anti-idling technology to all of its cars by 2015… despite EPA regulations that discourage such technology. Aren’t they supposed to be on our side? |
| Axial Flux Electric Motor May Not Take You Back to the Future, But How’s 0-60 in Under 3 Seconds? Posted: 24 Mar 2010 11:19 AM PDT
This ain’t yo daddy’s Flux Capacitor. A “stealthy” (read: “completely unheard of” — stealthy would imply actively trying to stay under the radar) itty-bitty start-up company from down under has come up with an in-wheel electric motor that might just make electric cars the outright kings of speed. The “Axial Flux 3-Phase AC Induction Wheel Motor,” as Evans Electric calls it, not only has an important sounding name, its inventors are coming up with some pretty ballsy claims that cars equipped with them could get from 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds. That’s the kind of acceleration that could, quite literally, rip your eyeballs from their all-important perch in front of your brain. |
| GM Unveils Trio of Two-Wheel Electric… Egg Pods Posted: 24 Mar 2010 09:55 AM PDT
Last year, just prior to declaring bankruptcy, GM debuted its Project P.U.M.A., a Segway-like device that moves about on two wheels controlled by the body movements of the driver. But unlike the Segway, you sat in the P.U.M.A.. While it didn’t save GM from bankruptcy, the idea apparently held some weight with the designers, who have unleashed a second salvo of these odd pods. The Jiao, Miao, and Xiao pods, unveiled in Shanghai this morning, have each been designed on a different continent. They are supposed to be a clean, efficient, high-tech alternatives for congested city travel. But would anyone actually buy one? |
| Supercar Legend McLaren Will Concentrate on Efficient Cars and Hybrids Posted: 24 Mar 2010 09:02 AM PDT
2010 could go down as the year of the green supercar… prototype. Most every high-end automaker has either rolled out a hybrid concept, like the Porsche 918 and Ferrari KERS hybrid, or at least plans for some kind of more fuel-efficient supercar. Well now you can add McLaren to that list. The famous maker of the once world’s fastest supercar, the McLaren F1, is pledging to produce the least carbon emissions per horsepower of any other car for sale anywhere. |
| Cargo Ships Avoiding Cleaner Fuel By Choosing Dangerous Routes Posted: 24 Mar 2010 08:55 AM PDT
Big cargo ships are some of the heaviest polluters on the planet. They might also be one of the most efficient forms of transporting goods — and a large reason why we Americans are able to purchase so much from so far away for comparatively little money. In an effort to curb the harmful emissions spewed by these big ships along the heavily populated coastline of California, the California Air Resource Board (CARB) has required all ships coming within 24 nautical miles of the coast to use cleaner burning fuel. But rather than make the switch, many ships are simply choosing a more crowded naval route that runs through the heart of a Navy weapons testing ground. |
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