Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Toronto Readies Garbage Trucks That Run on Waste

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 03:35 PM PST

For years now, many landfills from California to the Great Lakes have been collecting the natural methane biogas and using them to power homes and facilities. Now Toronto is readying its firstbiogas-capable garbage truck.

These new trucks will be equipped with a Cummins Westport ISL G engine. Now if you know engines, you've heard of Cummins. These badboys can run on natural gas or even biogas collected from local landfills around Toronto, and they make a ton of torque to haul all that waste far from your doorstep. Currently, this is a pilot program, part of Toronto's Green Fleet Plan, and they have purchased just one truck. If the pilot program works out, they could buy several more.

Eventually, these trucks might even run on the organic waste they pick up from their stops around the city, sort of like the Mr. Fusion machine that powers the DeLorean from Back to the Future. The trucks have to prove themselves worthy though, as currently the methane is simply flared off. Another option is to sell the methane back to the natural gas company to offset heat used by government buildings. I like the garbage truck idea better, and I hope it works out for Toronto.

Source: Clean Break | City of Toronto

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

First Pictures of U.S.-Spec Mitsubishi i-MiEV

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 02:35 PM PST

Historically, Americans haven’t been all that fond of small cars. So how do you sell a small car in America? Make it bigger! At least that is what Mitsubishi will do for its U.S.-spec i-MiEV electric car.

Ok, that isn't exactly a fair assertion of American cars. After all, the Corvette isn't that big, and when the Mustang came out it was fairly compact too. So Americans do like compact cars…sometimes. In the case of the i-MiEV though, Mitsubishi thought it wise to give U.S. consumers a big more wiggle room. These are the first pictures of the U.S.-spec i-MiEV, which will debut at the L.A. Auto Show later this month.

Compared with the Japanese and European-spec cars, the U.S. i-MiEV is 11.2 inches longer, 4.3 inches wider, and just 0.2 inches taller. It will also come with more features standard like stability control and a tire pressure monitoring system. With a targeted price of below $30,000, the i-MiEV will have a range of somewhere between 80 and 100 miles, depending on the size of the battery pack.

The i-MiEV seems destined for fleet consumers at first when it goes on sale sometime in 2011 in the U.S. Did Mitsubishi really have to make the i-MiEV bigger though, or is this just their way of telling us we have to lose a few pounds?

Source: Mitsubishi

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

Like Gas 2.0 on Facebook!

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 01:10 PM PST

The title just about says it all. Want a direct link to our Facebook page? Click this post for a shortcut to alternative fuel nirvana.

Yes, it is true, Gas 2.0 is now on Facebook. Actually, we’ve been on there since September, but we’re ninjas so nobody really noticed. So do yourselves (and me!) a favor and Like us, get your mom and dad and siblings and all those friends you haven’t talked to in years to Like us too. If Facebook ain’t your thing though, you can follow us on Twitter too, which is like Facebook if you took away everything but Status Updates.

Tesla Loses $34.9 Million This Quarter, That’s OK

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 12:27 PM PST

There is a pretty good reason electric car companies have had only limited success so far. Starting a car company is tough. Just ask Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. The electric-roadster maker lost almost $35 million this quarter.

Tesla released its financial statements, which show the company is investing heavily in research and development, while at the same time showing a drop in revenue from roadster sales. The company lost almost 8 times as much money as it did a year ago, with costs skyrocketing from $4.6 million to $34.9 million. That’s a lot of money to lose in three months, and it comes most from research and development and administrative costs. The company is growing, and that costs money. If you want to one day be a national brand, it is going to cost a lot of money.

If Tesla keeps hemmoraging money at this rate, it'd burn through its cash reserves by next summer as they have just over $96 million on hand. Then again, Musk has said the company will continue to lose money through 2012. With a $60 million investment from Toyota and and a recent $30 million infusion fromPanasoic don't expect Tesla to just disappear. Even if they keep losing money at this rate, they still owe Toyota an electric Rav4. You have to spend money to make money, and the Model S sedan is costing a lot of money to bring to market.

I’m still waiting for the Model S sedan, because it could be a game changer. It also could be late to the party, as the big automakers are launching their own lines of electric cars in coming months. Any lead Tesla might have had will evaporate once the Volt and Leaf hit showrooms, followed by a bevy of other automakers. Tesla will be the one playing catch-up then.

Source: VentureBeat

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

VW Planning Electric Golf for 2014

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 08:27 AM PST

I’ve got a lot of friends who are fans of V-Dubs, especially the old, boxy ones. I’ve always liked the Rabbit/Golf myself, and now Volkswagen is reportedly bringing an all-electric Golf to market sometime in 2014.

Volkswagen has made it clear in no uncertain terms that they want to take over the world, and the Golf hatchback will situate well into those plans. I have a lot of friends with Golfs, and they love those cars (which could be why it is the most popular car in Europe ever). I think an electric Golf, with its practical hatchback body yet distinct looks, would sell like hotcakes. VW agrees, and they've even offered up some details on how this electric Golf will function.

Slated to hit showrooms sometime in 2014, the electric Golf would actually be called the "Golf blue e-motion." The electric motor would have a maximum power of 115 horsepower, while a constant stream of 69 horsepower would be provided for cruising. Not a ton of horsepower, true, but the E-Golf would also have almost 200 ft-lbs of torque available at 0 RPM, which means launching from a stop light would be bunches of fun.

The battery pack in the E-Golf would have about 26.5 kWh of juice, which is slightly more than the Nissan Leaf's 24 kWh pack. VW says that right now, the E-Golf would be good for about 90 miles of driving, though by 2014 new battery technology should increase that range to somewhere over 100 miles. The E-Golf will even have a "Range+" driving mode, which limits power to just 50 kW (maximum is 85 kW) and deactivates the air conditioning, adding a few miles of range. "Comfort+" mode allows you to use all 85 kW of power, while "Normal" limits power to 65 kW and top speed to around 70 mph.

Again though, this car isn't slated to come out for another four years, and in that time a lot can change, hopefully for the better. With Volkswagen planning to sell 10,000 electric cars a year in China alone, they seem pretty committed to getting electric vehicles on the road sooner rather than later.

Source: Green Car Advisor

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
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