Monday, May 23, 2011

New posts from Gas 2.0!

New posts from Gas 2.0!

Fiat Unveils 57 MPG New TwinAir Eco-trim

Posted: 23 May 2011 01:52 PM PDT

Watch out, everyone. Italian automaker Fiat will be launching yet another trim option for its darling 500 model this summer- albeit only in the UK, for now.

The 500 TwinAir and TwinAir Plus are named after the TwinAir, Fiat’s 0.9 liter two-cylinder engine turbocharged for efficiency and power. It also features Fiat’s award-winning MultiAir technology (Fiat’s electronic inlet valve control system), which has been shown to boost power by 10% and torque by 15% to 85 hp at 6000 rpm and torque to 107 lb-ft at 1900 rpm. The little Fiat tops out at 108 miles per hour.

The Efficiency Skinny:

Fuel consumption is optimistically rated at 57 miles per gallon by the automaker (47 mpg on the U.S. testing cycle), but, according to some accounts, the little Cinquecento falls short. If you’re looking for good gas mileage, perhaps you should be content to wait for the 500 EV’s eventual 2013 debut, if you can swing it.

These newer Fiats do produce very low CO2 emissions, however, meeting the 2014 EU6 standards for pollutants…and the aesthetic options? Very cute: chrome-tipped exhaust, piano black roof, satin chrome finished dashboard and grille, black alloy wheels, and part leather sports seats. Additional features include start-stop technology, brake assist, fog lights, and hill holder systems, depending on the version. The Fiat TwinAir is estimated to be priced at £11,500 ($18,700 USD, if it ever comes Stateside).

Source: Fiat via Inhabitat

VW / Audi Announce eGas Plans for New, CNG A3

Posted: 23 May 2011 10:09 AM PDT

Volkswagen’s Audi group has high hopes for its upcoming eGas fleet:  nothing short of delivering the cleanest, carbon-neutralyest line of cars built anywhere on the planet – and they plan to do it with compressed natural gas (CNG).

Natural-gas-powered cars are a tricky sort of thing, politically, to get behind.  Granted, CNG burns cleanly, delivers excellent performance, is readily available, and a gigantic national infrastructure for its distribution to consumers already exists (just flick on your gas stove if you don’t believe me), but the actual getting of the CNG is getting pretty controversial.  The biggest problem with sourcing CNG is the “fracking” part of extraction.  Hydraulic fracking has been linked with earthquakes, fish kills, and (generally speaking) has a reputation only slightly better than Adolf Hitler’s.

So, how do Audi’s marketers plan to make this (potential) PR disaster go away?  By not extracting CNG at all.

Audi plans to fuel its cars with something it calls “eGas”, a synthetic methane produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity.  Audi’s eGas project engineers hope their work (now 3 years in) will help the company to achieve a more neutral CO2 “balance” across the life-span of their vehicles.

That’s an admirable goal, and one that Audi is improving their odds of successfully meeting through the construction of offshore wind turbines in the North Sea, which will generate the clean power needed to produce and charge the company’s upcoming electric e-tron models, while using the remaining green power to produce the eGas that will fuel its CNG line.

What do you think, readers?  Does this tech mean the end of fracking and the dawn of a new, CNG-fueled tomorrow … or is it just a PR push to keep Audi in the news ahead of Mercedes’ new diesel hybrids?  Let us know what you think, in the comments!

Sources:  Green Car Congress, Planetsave.

High Gas Prices Influence 75% of New Home Buyers

Posted: 23 May 2011 06:27 AM PDT

The price of gas is changing the way people drive, and also the way the choose their homes, if the results of a survey by Coldwell Banker are to be believed … and since I love numbers that back up my stories, I’ve decided to believe them!

In the interest of “professional journalism”  (that’s right – I’m a professional journalist) (Since when? -Ed.) here are some of the numbers I’ve decided to believe:  77% of the real estate professionals polled said that the recent surge in US gas prices has already begun to influence their clients’ choices home-buying decisions, with up to 45% of their clients moving into homes that are closer to shops and services specifically because of rising fuel costs.

Remarkably, this fuel-fuelled decision making is limited to the realtors’ clients:  nearly-unanimous 93% of the realtors polled said that if gas prices continue to rise (as many believe they will, heading into summer) they might consider housing changes to shorten their own commutes!

Does this mean that, as we’ve previously said here on Gas 2.0, the upscale suburbs of today will become the abandoned slums of the future?

With the reports like this one coming in from “the front lines” of the housing market jiving as well as they do with city planning journals and university studies predicting the demise of car-dependent suburban lifestyles, I think the answer is definitely:  maybe!

Getting a bit further into the numbers, the Coldwell Banker study found that, of the 56% of real estate professionals who said that more home buyers are interested in urban situations, 93% said that shorter commutes played a decision-making, role and 81% said that a desire to reduce fuel spending was a significant factor.

That’s a lot of numerical information to chew on, sure, but the numbers are delivering the same message that has been the driving force behind Gas 2.0 since 2007:  this is a rapidly changing world that is coming to terms with its oil addiction.

What about you, dear readers?  Have you parked the Volkswagen and started commuting by rail (like me!)?  Or are you commuting by scooter, instead (like me, when I missed my train!)?  We’d love to hear about how you’re all adjusting to the new realities of $4 (plus!) gallon gas, so let us know!

Source:  Coldwell Banker, via Motor Authority.
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