Thursday, November 18, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Nissan Ellure Concept At L.A. Auto Show

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 03:32 PM PST

While Nissan's efforts with the all-electric Leaf are making waves in the automotive world, the Japanese automaker hasn't halted its efforts at one electric car. At the L.A. Auto Show they introduced the world to the Ellure Hybrid concept.

Nissan says that this is a re-imagining of the sedan, and while it has plenty of futuristic features, it also looks like a car that could conceivably be on the road in the next year or so. Power comes from a 2.5 liter four-cylinder supercharged engine driving the front wheels. A 25-kilowatt electric motor sits between the engine and CVT automatic transmission, pumping up the MPG's.

Alas, this is just a concept car for now, and Nissan doesn’t have any plans to actually produce it despite it looking ready for production. But if Nissan were to produce a car similar to this, I'd have a very hard time saying no.

Source: Nissan

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.

Chevrolet Investing $40 Million to in Clean Energy in 2011

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 01:51 PM PST

While GM has enjoyed a wealth of goodwill lately from the Chevrolet Volt and today's IPO (which closed at $34.19). Today they announced that they will take $40 million from Chevy's marketing budget and invest it in clean energy.

The goal of this $40 million investment, which comes right out of Chevrolet's advertising budget, is to reduce carbon emissions by 8 million metric tons through 2011. That would be the equivalent of taking about 1.9 million cars off the road, or the emissions from over 970,000 U.S. homes.

This investment will cover multiple areas, including;

  • Providing energy efficient technology such as smart energy sensors and solar panels to schools and other community-based facilities in need of upgrades to decrease carbon dioxide emissions and reduce heating bills.
  • Supporting wind farms and solar projects that deliver renewable energy to the grid and also help family farms increase their revenues per acre.
  • Capturing flammable methane from community landfills that delivers clean energy to the grid and improves local air quality and safety.
  • Contributing to forestry projects throughout America.

They say you can't buy good publicity, but I'd beg to differ. While $40 million may be a drop in the bucket compared to their last quarter profit of over $2 billion, it isn't exactly a negligible sum either. Every little bit helps, right?

Source: GM

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.

College Students Finish Epic 16,000 Mile Journey in Electric Car

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 11:34 AM PST

11 students and teachers from the Imperial College of London just finished a 16,000 mile "race" down the Pan-American highway in an electric car. Who says college kids are lazy?

It has taken 70 days just to drive the SRZero electric sports car (that looks more like a serious race car) from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay to the southern-most city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina. They have stumbled along the way, breaking their shock absorbers in Argentina and crashing in Ecuador. They have detailed every step and misstep of their journey at their blog.

It is pretty much the world's ,most epic sustainable road trip, 250 miles at a time. Actually based on the fastest production car in the world, the SR8, the SRZero uses two Evo-electric motors, and the 56 kWh battery pack can put as much as 400 horsepower to the ground. Not too shabby eh? It can get a full charge in about 6 hours (dependent on the voltage) and a few days they managed to get in a mid-day charge, allowing the driver and co-driver to go up to 500 miles a day.

Just yesterday they pulled into Ushuaia, having driven for 70 days and been delayed a few times by various mishaps. I wonder what is next for these wunderkind?

Source: Racing Green Endurance

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.

Toyota/Tesla Lift Curtain on Electric Rav4

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 09:19 AM PST

Ever since Toyota announced a joint partnership with Tesla Motors, there has been a lot of talk about a new generation of electric Rav4's. Well here it is, with a 100 mile range and a planned 2012 launch.

This is in fact the second generation of electric Toyota Rav4's. The first generation, produced from 1998 to 2003, were sold and tested primarily in California. Toyota sold or leased almost 1,484 of these cars, and 746 of them are still on the road today. Toyota and Tesla will create a fleet of 35 of these "Phase Zero" electric Rav4's for testing, and plans to roll these cars out to a select few states that have adopted California’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate, starting in 2012

Their goal is to create an electric Rav4 that can go 100 miles on a single charge without sacrificing passenger or cargo space. To that end, they have succeeded, and claim to have built an electric vehicle that operates much like its gasoline counterpart. Acceleration is similar to that of a V6 Rav4, and while it weighs 220 pounds more, handling is about the same as well. Toyota wasn't specific on the size of the battery pack, saying only that it was in the mid 30's kilowatt hours. This is the same type of lithium-ion battery pack used to power the Tesla Roadster.

To help distinguish the EV Rav4, it gets special badges and a unique front fascia, grille, and fog lamps. I kind of like the look, but what do you all think?

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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