Gas 2.0 |
- Ford Lifts the Veil on Ford Focus Electric
- HondaJet, A Lighter Kind of Airplane, Makes Maiden Voyage
- Toyota Prius: Cleaner than Sheep Flatulence?
| Ford Lifts the Veil on Ford Focus Electric Posted: 07 Jan 2011 01:24 PM PST
The 2012 Focus Electric is the vanguard of Ford's electric car rollout, with five "electrified" models set to hit the market by 2013. I'm banking on a Focus hybrid, plug-in hybrid Focus, and probably an electric version of the Transit Connect as well. While the Blue Oval neglects to say what the range is, they do provide some interesting tidbits. From a 240-volt charger, the Focus Electric takes just three to four hours to fully charge. That's about half the time it takes the Nissan Leaf, and Ford claims the Focus will have a range comparable to its main competition. Not wanting to leave Chevy out, Ford also claims the Focus Electric will offer a better miles-per-gallon equivalent than the Volt. Then theres MyFord Touch, and MyFord Mobile, which lets electric car drivers hook up to the cheapest utility rates for charging and allows for monitoring of the car's battery level via a smart phone app and website. That'll make life all the easier for future electric car users. The Focus Electric is also getting absolutely loaded with high-end standard features, from 17-inch aluminum wheels to push button start and a navigation system. A next-generation SmartGauge determines how efficiently you're driving via butterflies. The more butterflies, the more efficient you are driving, Apparently the designers were inspired by the "butterfly effect," where a seemingly-small action can have much-larger impact, in this case, driving an electric car towards the goal of reducing emissions. Of course, both the Volt and Leaf offer a lot in the way of standard features and their own take on the gauge to help make their higher-than-normal prices easier to swallow. Ford didn't mention a price point, but it will probably be in the $30,000 to $40,000 neighborhood (pre-tax credit). Without knowing more detailed specs on the battery, it's hard to make a fair comparison, but I'm sure Ford is looking to be a contender. Since we can’t compare stats, lets be shallow and compare looks. I think the 2012 Focus Electric looks better than the Nissan Leaf, but not quite as good as the Chevy Volt. How does it stack up for you? Source: Ford 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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| HondaJet, A Lighter Kind of Airplane, Makes Maiden Voyage Posted: 07 Jan 2011 11:46 AM PST
The super-light plane is made from composite materials, a combination of carbon fiber (often used in sports cars) and resin that is found in kit-planes, but not larger craft like the HondaJet. The use of this composite material also allows for a unique shape that reduces drag, increases speed, saves fuel, and makes the plane quieter. It's a win-win-win-win situation…if you can afford a plane in the first place. The use of these materials jacks the price of automobiles up by tens of thousands of dollars, so I can only imagine how much it adds to the price of an airplane. With the price of jet fuel though, using 20% less fuel-per-flight could add up to substantial savings over the life of the plane. It also means less of that heavy fuel to lug over long distances, saving even more weight. Jet planes require a lot of jet fuel, and it can add a huge amount of weight. Larger aircraft can carry upwards of 30 tons of fuel for a cross-country flight. The HondaJet doesn’t carry close to that much, but carry less fuel makes the plane even more efficient. Many air travel companies have taken to cutting back on extra fuel to save weight, and thus save on the extra weight. Sure, it saves weight and uses less fuel, but you can’t exactly pull over mid-flight to refuel if you suddenly need to go somewhere else. So all this fuel efficiency comes at the price of speed, right? Wrong. By mounting the engines on the top of the wing rather than the bottom, the plane produces less drag, allowing for a higher top speed. The HondaJet can fly about 50 mph faster than comparable jets, with a top speed of about 485 mph. Another benefit of this unique design is less noise, making the plane about 20 dB quieter. To the human ear, that would sound about four times quieter than your standard jet. Not too shabby, eh? The plane has just completed its maiden flight, and goes on sale sometime next year. If Honda can prove this plane to be financially viable, I wouldn't be surprised to see other companies following suit. Will we all be flying in carbon fiber planes in the future? Source: Technology Review 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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| Toyota Prius: Cleaner than Sheep Flatulence? Posted: 07 Jan 2011 06:38 AM PST
Say what? Yes, sheep's butt. This advertisement places both the Prius, and a sheep (representing livestock, I suppose) on an emissions scale. The Prius lands a "2" on the scale, whereas the sheep's butt scores a "5." Now usually, I am very skeptical of advertising using scales such as this, as I was taught just how easy it is to manipulate such information. I'm also no big fan of the Toyota Prius, but in this case, all I can do is smile and nod. Why, you ask? I'm a car lover, and I feel like automobiles, as a whole, get a bad rap for emissions when there are so many other forms of emissions, from the air we exhale to, well, sheep's butts. In fact, as much as 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from cattle. So even as we clean up emissions from our automobiles, we still have to do something about the cattle farts (actually, it's mostly burps. Who knew?) My solution? Eat more meat. Source: Toyota via CopyRanter 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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