Filed under: Diesel, Audi, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, In The AutoblogGreen Garage
In spite of some recent hiccups with plans by other manufacturers to introduce new diesel models in the U.S. market (see here), Audi is one company that at least publicly remains fully committed to oil burners. During the recently completed Audi Mileage Marathon, the company brought over examples of most of its lineup powered by diesel engines including the TT TDI. One of the few diesel models that was not included was the A5 TDI. The A5 debuted in 2007 as a coupe built on the company's new B8 platform which also forms the basis of the 2009 A4 sedan.
The A5 TDI is unfortunately not yet available in the U.S. market so we got our example courtesy of Honeywell. Honeywell's Garret division is one of the largest manufacturers of turbochargers which of course are a critical part of any modern diesel engine. Earlier this year we also tested a BMW X5 diesel and an Audi Q7 4.2 TDI from Honeywell's fleet. Like the A4s, Q5s and Q7s that participated in the marathon, this A5 came to us powered by a 3.0L V6 diesel. Read on after the jump to find out how voluptuous body work, high performance and fuel economy get along.
Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading In the AutoblogGreen Garage: Audi A5 3.0 TDI 6MT
In the AutoblogGreen Garage: Audi A5 3.0 TDI 6MT originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: MPG, Dodge, Ford, USA
The American buying public may have a very short attention span. Could it be that memories of the record high gas prices of a few months back have already faded away into oblivion? The answer is a definite maybe, as full-size pickups and SUV sales have rebounded a bit from their historic lows, but are still nowhere near where they were a year or two ago. What's more, automakers seem to believe that fuel prices are set to stay high and the current lowered prices are an illusion. So, don't expect the big truck-producing Detroit 3 and Toyota to begin ramping production back up, despite the slight sales increases.
The introduction of the new Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram for 2009 will likely keep sales of big trucks improving for the next couple of months at least. Both automakers have made some improvements in the name of fuel efficiency, with Ford going so far as to introduce a specific SFE model that features gas-saving tweaks. Still, buyers who need the utility of a truck will buy one, and the rest of the market will probably continue to shift towards smaller and more efficient cars and crossovers.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
As gas prices fluctuate, so do pickup and SUV sales originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Austin Alt Car Expo
The last in our series of reports from the discussion panels from last week's Austin Alt Car expo focuses on the panel that had the broadest possible appeal: an overview of plug-in hybrids. Taking place on the Saturday, and therefore more accessible to the working public, the free-form panel featured Ron Johnston-Rodriguez of PluginCenter.com and the Port of Chelan County in Washington State, and Chelsea Sexton of Plug-In America. Austan Librach, who works for Austin Energy and Plug-in Partners (well, he used to work for PiP), moderated.
Continue reading Austin Alt Car: panel looks at the future of plug-in hybrids
Austin Alt Car: panel looks at the future of plug-in hybrids originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Chevrolet, GM, GMC
It looks like the theory behind the creation of full-size hybrid SUVs may not hold water, at least from a marketing perspective. Certainly adding a hybrid drivetrain to a big truck will save more gas for a given number of miles driven than doing the same to a smaller more efficient car. At the same time these vehicles will still use more fuel than a smaller vehicle even at the higher mileage levels they achieve. The pitch from automakers like GM and Chrysler was that some people still need the capabilities that are offered by these vehicles such as the people towing boats on a regular basis.
However, the reality is that a combination of factors ranging from high fuel prices (at least they were high through most of the summer of 2008), increasingly restrictive credit and leasing terms and collapsing real estate values have made buyers re-evaluate their real needs in a vehicle. For those that are still able to afford new vehicles, "needs" increasingly means a smaller, more-efficient vehicle rather than a hybrid SUV. GM and Chrysler have seen the writing on the wall and the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen received their execution orders last week. We heard earlier this year that GM had put the development of the next generation full-size trucks on hold for at least a year. Now Inside Line is reporting that, as far back as last May, the SUVs may have been killed entirely. It's unclear what this means for the current vehicles, but if sales don't start to at least stabilize soon, they may face the same fate as the Chryslers and die before reaching the end of their planned life cycle in 2011. Whether they live on or die sooner, they will likely be effectively replaced by the Lambda crossovers, the Acadia, Outlook, Traverse and Enclave.
[Source: Inside Line]
Hybrid tech won't save the full size SUV as new Tahoe/Yukon cancelled originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Austin Alt Car Expo
As I said earlier, the panels at the Austin Alt Car expo were heavily focused on plug-in vehicles. The last discussion on Friday continued the trend and was called "Future Prospects for Plug-in Hybrids" and the participants acknowledged that their presentations were treading over some of the same ground that earlier panelists had covered. Still, Mark Duvall of EPRI and Susan Zielinski of CARSS did add a few new tidbits to the discussion and if you're a PHEV fanatic, you'll find something in the write-up and audio included after the break that'll be of interest.
Continue reading Austin Alt Car: Future Prospects for Plug-in Hybrids
Austin Alt Car: Future Prospects for Plug-in Hybrids originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ZAP Gets Approved for UK Roads
ZAP Gets Approved for UK Roads
London is one of the best cities for adopting electric vehicles and soon Londoners will have the option to purchase a Xebra, the 3 wheel ZAP car that is currently being sold in the US. According to a post on Autoblog Green the Xebra has been approved for UK roads by the UK's Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).ZAP describes the Xebra as a "city car". Like other electric vehicles the Xebra is not intended for motorways. But in a city like London the Xebra might be the perfect way to fight global warming and rising gas prices. According to ZAP the Xebra cost just 2 cents to operate per mile, which is about 1/5 of the cost of a gas car.
ZAP's biggest compeditor will be the Indian built Gwiz which is being sold in London by Goinggreen. The Gwiz has just been updated to a better model that increase the top speed to 50 MPH and improves the rang. The vehicle has also benifited from help from Lotus Enginering to improve the safety of the vehicle.
The New Big is Small and "Hypermilling"
The New Big is Small and "Hypermilling"
High price of oil and increading environmental awareness is leading to more consumers searching for smaller more fuel efficeint cars. The Toyota Prius is the most fuel effecient hybrid sold in the United States, acheiving an average fuel economy of 45 miles per gallon, although some Prius owners have been able to use a technique known as hypermilling to increase their fuel economy wellbeyondthe EPA rating. According to Wikipedia hypermilling is not a new thing and goes back to events such as the Mobil Gas Run in 1936. The term hypermilling was coined by WaignGerdes who uses his technique to achieve double the EPA fuel economy and notonly in hybrid vehicles. Some of the techniques he employs are selfexplanatorysuch as turn the engine off and not speeding into stop lights. Other techniques are moretechnicalsuch as using the lightest weight oil which Gerdes explains"allows for better kinematic viscosity, which means that it's easier to pump oil through the engine, and the engine moves against itself easier.". Other techniques are for more advanced drivers and should notnecessarilybe used because they can be dangerous if performed incorrectly.
In the past purchasing a Prius might not havenecessarilybeen the most economical decisions, but with gas prices near $5 per gallon in California the extra cost of buying a hybrid no longer seams like a barrier to buying a Prius. Still, the likes of Toyota, Honda, Nissan,Hyundaiand even Ford and GM are producing vehicles that get around 35 MPG highway or better that cost significantly less than a Prius. And nowVolkswagenis getting ready to sell the Jetta TDIdieselin the US, which will get even better fuel economy then most subcompact vehicles. Probably the most successful of these subcompacts is the Toyota Yaris, that starts at about $12,000 and sports an EPA of 40 miles per gallon highway. Honda and Nissan have also got on the subcompact banwagon and each have their own subcompact vehicle. Nissan is offering many features on their Versa that is not usually available on a car in its class. For example a CVT transmition, bluetooth, and an auxilary jack for an iPod or MP3 players, so you can listen to your tunes while you drive.
While I am still in favor of plug-in hybrids and electric cars, I am happy any time the major car companies do anything to improve fuel economy. Even GM, once the biggest car company in the world, they were recently surpassed by Toyota, is figuring out that fuel effecient cars sell. Evidence of this comes from GM's recent decision to bring the Pontiac's subcompact vehicle known as the Wave in Canada to the US market as the Pontiac G3. Although the G3 EPA fuel economy has not been posted it is likely to get a combined fuel economy of close to 30 MPG. Although this is not great by any stretch of the imagination this is still more fuelefficientthan many cars on the road today and since the G3 is an affordable car this could help to get a fuelefficientmodel in the hands of people who normally would have to buy a more gas demanding option.
If you have been reading Autoblog Green you probably have heard a lot about a car called the Chevy Volt that the company claims will be capable of going 40 miles per charge. Although the road to get the Volt from concept to production has been met with many challenges and a production Volt has yet to be produced, GM has stated that the Volt is not justmerrilya concept that will never see the light of day but a Vehicle that must get produced if GM ever hopes to get back on track.
Finally I would like to say that I am very excited about the new technoly that is being developed by many different companies that is helping to make transportation more fuel effecient. Another important point is that it will take about 20 years to replace 50% of cars on the road with alternative fuel vehicles, which means that we do not have time to wait. We need to start untilizing technology today such as electric cars and plug-hybrids, which I believe are the cars of the future. Another interesting concept that I have seen posted on autoblog green is a solar Prius that according to the company that has designed the prototype, can increase fuel economy up to 17%
Week 10
Week 10
Wow. It is hard to believe that my WLE is coming to a close. Working at ZAP has been a great experience for me. I have learned a lot and seen a lot. There are many lessons that I have taken away from my experience at ZAP. I have learned what it is like to work on the cutting edge. I have learned the challenges of selling a product in a small unique niche. I realize that when you are promoting a product that is different from the norm one of the best ways to make customers comfortable is to explain how the product is not different. For example a Xebra has turn signals, a steering wheel, brake, accelerator, windshield wipers, and even a radio. These features make the Xebra seam more like a car, and less like some strange electric vehicle with only 3 wheels. Brian also taught me about sizzle. For example the sizzle of an electric car is that it is an extremely green vehicle and you will be cool in a Xebra because it is quite, zero emissions, and burns no gas. When you are driving inside a Xebra you will get attention like you are a hollywood starlet.
ZAP has stretch my imagination about what can be done. A lot of people talk about global warming and how it is harming the planet, or go to peace rallies and demand that our troops be brought home, but few people actually do anything about it. ZAP on the other hand is promoting the solution instead of pointing negative fingers or complaining about the situation. Even though some people might think that a Xebra is a joke, ZAP is the only auto company that provides consumers with low priced all electric cars capable of keeping up with brisk city traffic. I think that it is very inspirational to work at a company that is being a leader in advance performance and fuel efficient technology.
I think that what I can take away from ZAP is that if you have an idea about how to make the world a better place than by all means pursue it. Even if people think that you are crazy, it is better to try then never try at all. I remember I saw an ad and it said "sometimes the biggest risk is not taking one" Where would the Unite States be if we did not take any risks? Sometimes in order to make big gains you have to take big risks. In our economics class we learned that the bigger the risk you take on a stock the higher you can lose or gain. Obviously taking big risks all the time is a bad idea, but never taken any risks at all can sometimes be even worse.
Week 8
Week 8
I have sceduled a date to give my pitch to Envision Schools. I talked to Bob Lenz and I will be doing my pressentation on Monday May 21, at 2 PM. I will be going with Brain, the fleet manager at ZAP. I think that it is very cool that I will be bring a Xebra to the pressentation, so Envision will be able to see the vehicle and if we have time take it for a test drive.I am very excited to deliver my pitch. MSAT has prepared me for public speeking by deliver pressentations for multiple projects. Now I get to put this experience into practive. I will be majoring in communications next year, and I think that this will be a preview for some of the skills that I will be studying.
Since I am deliver a pitch for my pressentation I will probably not talk about any conclusion from my WLE, so I will talk about those now. ZAP is an exciting company to work at because there is lots going on. If you do not like lots of havoc then you probably would not like ZAP, however if you like working on the cutting edge then this is a cool place. Selling electric cars is probably harder than selling a standard gas car because people have lots of conception about electric cars that you have to overcome. But, if you can convince people that electric cars are fun to drive, and that being green is hip, then people are more willing to accept electric cars.
Gas Prices Across the Country
Gas Prices Across the Country
Here is a cool map that shows you gas prices across the country at a glance. Areas are color coded by area, like a weather map. The link is below.http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx
Week 7
Week 7
I think that I am going to go through the steps to make a sale of a Xebra. Garry Starr suggested this idea to Mr. Wells and Mr. Wells thought that this was an excellent idea. I agree that this would be a great way for me to learn about the sales process and all the steps required to make it happen. I have experience selling iBook notebooks from my eBay business, so I know some of the things that are required to make a successful sale. Selling a Xebra is different than selling an iBook, but I think that there are some similarities. For example, you need to make a good pitch, regardless of what the product is. On eBay you make the pitch when you write your ad and format it, with a Xebra the pitch will probably be made orally, so there will be slightly different skills involved.I have not set a date yet for when I will do my presentation or a place where it will take place. I think that I could probably do my presentation at ZAP headquarters in Santa Rosa, in the small conference room. ZAP probably has a projector, but I would need to ask if I could borrow it and make sure it will work with the computer that I want to run my presentation from. My presentation will probably be about what I learned through going through the sales process and there is even a chance that I might do my presentation at MSAT and organize the school to plant a tree. I could deliver my Keynote at the same time.
WLE Week 6
WLE Week 6
At my WLE I have demonstrated my ability to communicate effectively. I have recently began writing an article about plug-in hybrids and electric cars. Since ZAP does not always have things for me to do many times I have to come up with what I want to accomplish while I am at ZAP. I have worked on making a video to tell people more about ZAP and the products that they produce. When you are at a company like ZAP you have to be resourceful. ZAP is a pioneering company and there is a lot of things going on, so I have to think of project to do on my own. You have to be proactive and tell them what you want to do. I did an interview with Garry Starr, who co-founded ZAP is 1994. Before I interview him I came up with questions. I had to think critically about what I wanted to ask him. I thought that the interview was very informative and helped me to better understand what ZAP is all about. Garry told me there are two things you can do to help the environment, drive an electric car and plants trees. ZAP sells electric cars but if you can not buy a car, ZAP has a program to plant tress. A $25 donation will plant 100 trees and ZAP wants to plant 1 million trees by 2010.WLE Week 4
WLE Week 4
Years before reaching the classroom, the small child of our time is engaged in data-processing on a large scale. Our schools are still arranged on the assumption that serious information is not available until the student reaches the classroom. For the child who lives in an environment constituted by information, such educational assumptions are unrealistic. Today the child, swamped by information overload, desperately needs to be taught the means of pattern-recognition for the sake of intellectual survival. Pattern-recognition is the role of the researcher and the explorer. Thus today's young children could recover high motivation in the learning process only if permitted to tackle their environment on a discovery basis.-- Marshall McLuhan, 1970
I beleive that Marshal Mcluhan has correctly analyzed that culture, society, and era can be understood through the media in which they are communicated. This makes sense because it takes different skills to be able to understand messages that are pressented useing different forms of communications. For example reading a text book takes a different skill set then watching a movie.Â
WLE Week 3
WLE Week 3
I have worked for 24 hours, so far.During my day at my WLE I spent most of the time at ZAP's factory. I got to test drive one of the Xebras. I spent the rest of the time reading some literature about electric car conversions and also the binder that ZAP gives to prospective dealers. At the end of the day I got to see some of the work they do on the electric cars. Currently my mentor is Robin, however Keith overseees what happens at the factory, so he sort of acted as my mentor while I was there. At this point I think what is working well is that I am learning new things about ZAP. What is difficult is that sometimes there isn't a lot to do. I began working on a video, and I have gottten some footage and done a bit of editing on it. For lunch I am eating at the mall, which is literally just across the street from ZAP's head quanters. I am driving to my internship. It's a bet of a drive, but it is very senic, which makes it nice.
WLE Week 2
WLE Week 2
Wednesday, March 21, 2007, I have worked 16 hrs.Although few people have probably heard of ZAP, they are a larger company then most people probably would expect for a start up electric car company. Therefore ZAP occupies a three story building in down town Santa Rosa. As you move up the floors you also move up the hierarchy of the company. My mentor is on the first floor, so his boss works on the second floor. Right now things are pretty chaotic with ZAP. The company is expanding quickly and experiencing some growing pains. Unfortunately Mondays is the day ZAP catches up on work from the previous week, so there is not a lot of new work for me to do. I am hoping that I can work on my project for most of the time I am at ZAP. Philip Tarazi, my old mentor, showed me an 8 minute overview he made for dealers. I am hoping to make a similar video, however I also want to focus on the top reasons for buying an electric vehicle and show how electric cars can benefit certain types of businesses, and the advantage of ZAP's vehicles in certain applications compared to their gas counterparts.
WLE Week 1
WLE Week 1
Monday, March 12, 2007, I have worked 8 hrs.As I drove up to ZAP, on both sides of the highway, I saw lush green cow pastures and spectacular views of hills in the distance. When I got to ZAP I found out that Philip, the guy who I made telephone calls for when I did my shadow had put in the forms to resign in two weeks, so my new mentor is going to be Robin, who I first talked to when I called ZAP. Today Robin and I spend the whole day entering in orders that the accounting had deleted. It was very tidies work, because we had to look through all the orders and find the ones that were for repair parts covered under the warranty. Robin is in charge of the customer warranties at ZAP and he was pretty mad at the accounting for deleting all of his orders. Robin told me that ZAP is still a young company and is going through growing pains, but it is still a very cool company to work for. He said that he would show me their factory and he might even be able to let me test drive and work on a few cars. ZAP also has a video team and so I may be able to work with them on my video. At first when I arrived I didn't know how well this was going to go, but now I think that this is going to be pretty awesome WLE. There is also a possibility that I could get a summer job at ZAP, and I just had an idea for a ZAP related business, but if I share it with you my idea might get out.
Electric Cars Lighting Up Again
Electric Cars Lighting Up Again
"There's no question" that success is within reach, says Dick Messer, director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, which has chronicled the attempts at electric car production through the years....The company (Tesla Motors) says its sophisticated lithium-ion battery will allow a range of 250 miles on a single charge and a top speed of 130 mph (refering to the company's high performace $100,000 sports car).
...At the other end of the performance and price spectrum is Zap, specialized-auto importer, that last month started selling a three-wheel electric "city car" imported from China, called Xebra. The company says their Xebra is capable of a top speed of 40 mph, and will have a target price of just under $10,000.
Summary made with Apple's Safari Summarize. Full article here
Electric Drive Vehicles Benefits for the Environment
Electric Drive Vehicles Benefits for the Environment
Environmental Benefits
Though conventional gasoline vehicles are becoming cleaner and other alternative fuel vehicles can alleviate air pollution, electric drive vehicles hold the promise of the greatest air quality benefits of any available technology. EDVs are unique in that they produce no operating emissions; the only emissions associated with these EDVs come from the power plants that generate the electricity for battery charging and the plants that produce the hydrogen for consumption in fuel cell vehicles.
Even compared to today's gasoline vehicles EDVs or BEVs offer exceptional air quality benefits. In the company's service territory, driving an EDV instead of a gasoline powered vehicle would reduce emissions of reactive organic gases (ROG) and nitrogen oxides (NO) - the precursors to smog, a serious health hazard, would drop. Carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas associated with global warming.
Driving BEVs and HEVs would also decrease pollution to oceans, rivers, and ground water that is caused from petroleum, gasoline, and motor oil spills. Relief from urban noise pollution is another benefit, as electric motors are quiet as well as clean.
From: http://www.pge.com/about_us/environment/electric_vehicles/
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