Recently in Hybrid Category

I'm reading Fisker to Buy Delaware GM Plant for Plug-In Hybrid Production and it all sounds great on the surface.

Fisker Automotive is buying an old GM factory in Delaware and it will employ 2,000 workers plus supplier jobs. The family-oriented, plug-in hybrid sedan will sell for $39K after a tax credit which could be $7,500?

The catch of a tax credit is that you have to float the amount until the tax check comes. So really you are buying (borrowing for with interest) a $45K family sedan and getting a refund later.

Funding for the deal will come from a conditional loan of $528.7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.

That's taxpayer money going into a technology laden, hardware heavy vehicle that will compete with the other hybrids with proven track records that weren't subsidized.

If it's a plug-in hybrid then it will compete with the Chevy (vaporware) Volt which will sell in the $40K range and also pull more from the electrical grid than deserts in the Middle East.

Reality check.

People who pay taxes in this country are competing with India and China in a global economy. We are competing with people who ride scooters to work and exist on a much lower standard of living. We haven't gotten this concept yet, but it's evident in the slow job growth and eroding standard of living for the average US worker.

We need to be lean and create lean ideas for conserving resources, not convoluted tax programs for high tech limited production luxury cars.

Give me algae gasoline, give me clean diesel, give me a plug-in hybrid car if I live in Quebec where 90+% of the electric is generated by hydro.

Just give me some simple energy solutions for my tax dollar that will look ahead 30 years.

I received an HCH Class Action Settlement for my 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid (True vs. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. ) last night.

Fortunately for Honda, the settlement includes rebates for new vehicles. I get $100 cash back and a video to train me how to best use my gas and brake pedal.

The lawsuit revolves around EPA mileage estimates for Honda's hybrids and the lower than expected mileage figures some people got from their Honda hybrids.

I suggest Honda use a disclaimer sticker.

Failure to use common sense may result in lower than expected mileage figures.

Smashing the gas pedal (combining the use of electric and electric motors without the use of cylinder deactivation) and smashing the brake (not using regenerative braking) will result in lower than expected economy.

Accessories, like air-conditioning, use energy. When you shut them off you use less energy.

Very cold days and very warm days take more energy to keep you comfortable and move your vehicle.

Some days I can get over 50 mpg and some days it may be as low as 40 mpg.

All vehicle manufactures use EPA standards for fuel economy. It is the competitive benchmark for selling a car in the United States. It makes no more sense for Honda to post figures lower than the EPA testing procedure than it would be for Toyota.

Honda can keep my $100 and put it towards research and development. I am happy that there was a car on the market in 2005 (or 1999 with the Insight) with the potential of 50 mpg.

Perhaps it would be more beneficial to force the mindless, lawsuit money train toward adopting a universal standard that more accurately reflects the cost of driving. This would actually help all consumers.

It will be interesting to watch what happens when vehicles with an even greater variability of mileage like the Chevy Volt (230 mpg) or a totally electric car like the Nissan LEAF come on the scene with the same aging EPA standard.

...but don't look for this Ford Fiesta ECOnetic model in the US as clean diesel doesn't seem to fly here.

The Australian press is buzzing with talk about the little car from a U.S. based company that beats the Prius in price and fuel economy.

How refreshing.

BMW, Mini, Audi and Volvo have special frugal models that use similar fuel-saving technology, but Ford hits the low price point.

According to the story, the car has been immensely popular in Europe, where fuel taxes promote small car use.

The U.S. Fiesta is expected to arrive in her late this year

Volvo Car Corporation is sending a demonstration fleet of the new plug-in hybrid cars this summer, which feature two charging ports. newsoxy.com

Jim Buvalic is a hybrid transmission systems engineer at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., who worked on the development of the Fusion Hybrid. He gives a Q&A about what where they gained efficiency designing the Ford Fusion Hybrid. auto.theglobeandmail.com

Buvalic says that it's a "total systems approach" but that regenerative braking gives the total boost in fuel economy.

Regenerative braking is also the single most driver controllable element of driving a hybrid.

Long slow stops.

The longer your brake pads last, the more you have mastered this skill. I have 80,000 miles on the original brakes of a 2005 Civic Hybrid. I predict that I may squeeze another 8,000 miles out of the original front brake pads.

The Fusion Hybrid 1,000-Mile Challenge team took turns driving several routes in and around Washington D.C. over the course of approximately three days and nights this weekend. The results were beyond expectations.

The route involved elevation changes, and ranged from the relatively open George Washington Parkway to a 3-mile stretch in the heart of the city that is clogged with roughly 30 traffic signals.

"The Fusion Hybrid works brilliantly," Gerdes said. "When you don't need acceleration power while driving around town, the gas engine shuts down seamlessly. There's not another hybrid drivetrain in the world that does that as effectively. The Fusion engineering team really knocked it out of the park."

cleanmpg.com

Wayne Gerdes, an engineer from Illinois who coined the term "hypermiling" to describe the mileage-maximizing techniques

Exciting: A two-mode competitive hybrid product from a U.S. based automaker that is getting great reviews and is surpassing real world testing.

A video of the event.

The daily voice of the Obama campaign, manager and adviser David Plouffe slipped into history after the election.

He recently purchased a Ford Fusion Hybrid (41 mpg city and 36 mpg) in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. usnews.com

As alternative engine technology matures, manufacturers jockey for position and price.

Honda decides to cancel diesels for their larger platforms and evolve their gasoline hybrid offers into the larger cars. The price of the new low cost Honda Insight will not chase Toyota lowering the price of a Prius. automobilemag.com Consumers win with two low cost hybrid offerings.

Volkswagen has revealed its new Golf GTD, a sporty diesel version of the Golf. autoweek.com I recall a friend stuffing a diesel into a sporty 80's vintage VW GTI and thinking that I wanted one. Unlike the 80's a modern diesel has gobs of low end power, runs clean and would be alot of fun. Consider the premium cost of diesel fuel over gasoline before determining the dollars saved.

Chrysler LLC on Monday named U.S. based A123 Systems as the supplier of batteries for its first electric vehicles slated for debut in showrooms 2010. reuters Chrysler's plan like General Motor's Volt Electric car will use an efficient fossil fueled motor to charge batteries that will run an electric motor(s).

The electricTransit Connect (commercial truck) will be Ford's first full-electric vehicle and will be followed in 2011 by a 5-passenger car that will travel up to 120 miles per charge, according to Ford. Further details on that vehicle are unknown, but Ford is has been testing a fleet of Focus compact sedans that use an electric powertrain built by Magna International of Canada. foxnews

AT&T to add 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles

In the York area, these vehicles would help service cell phone sites and the miles of fiber optics making up AT&T's massive telecom network.

• Largest U.S. corporate commitment to Compressed Natural Gas vehicles to date.
• Saves 49 million gallons of gasoline
• Reduces carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons
• Removes the emissions fo 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles for a year

Source: AT&T

One of the primary benefactors of this expenditure will be Ford and other companies who choose to innovate.

The company will initially buy the trucks from Ford and have them converted by other firms to run on natural gas. It also plans to push for 40 new natural-gas fueling stations to be built in the states where it operates.

AT&T said it planned to replace 7,100 passenger cars over the next decade with hybrids or other advanced-technology vehicles, depending on when such technology becomes available.

Ford has said it would double its hybrid production this year, with the Fusion and Milan sedans joining the Escape and Mariner SUVs in its hybrid lineup.

Detroit Free Press

Piaggio Group Americas, the maker of the Piaggio and Vespa brands of motor scooters will be marketing a plug-in hybrid scooter.

The three-wheel scooter can travel 40 miles on just the battery, and get up to 141 miles per gallon overall, which would make it one of the most fuel efficient vehicles ever made.

foxnews.com

Toyota has officially reported that the 2010 Toyota Prius will get 50mpg in combined use.

Some of the tricks Toyota is using to squeeze some more miles include an electric engine coolant pump, a lighter transaxle, and a new exhaust gas recirculation system.

The engine is actually larger than the older model allowing it to get better mileage on the highway because a larger engine can translate into more torque and lower engine speeds with less fuel needed.

nyt.com/auto

Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. andWuxi Angell Autocycle Co., Ltd, will debut three hybrid motorcycles at Dealer Expo 2009 from February 13 to February 16, 2009 in Indianapolis, IN.

All three models are equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack (48V rated voltage and 15 amp hour rated capacity) developed by the Company. The computerized control puts the motorcycle on pure-electric drive at low speed, and switches to the gasoline engine at high speed while recharging the batteries. The new design greatly increases total driving distance and optimizes the use of electric power to achieve 35% pollution reduction and a 20% increase in fuel efficiency, compared to comparable gasoline motorcycle engines. msnbc.msn.com

OK, let's just get it out there: The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid is the best gasoline-electric hybrid yet.

What makes it (Ford Fusion Hybrid) best is a top-drawer blend of an already very good midsize sedan with the industry's smoothest, best-integrated gas-electric power system. It's so well-done that you have to look to the $107,000 Lexus LS 600h hybrid to come close. usatoday.com/money

The journalist tester got 40 mpg in a series of short trips out of a car that weighs 3,720 lbs and says Ford has mastered removing the engine start-up "shutter" usually associated with this type of hybrid power plant.

It's interesting to read the heated reader replies from this story. It's a lesson of just how long it takes a car company to build and destroy perceptions. Big deal!!!!I have a Honda Civic Hybrid and I get 50mpg. Having the experience of owning a 1997 Taurus and a 1998 Camry and watching their depreciation,...Let's stick to the facts. Get Consumers Reports...

I have driven a normally powered Ford Fusion and was nicely surprised at the feel and fit. It feels and looks more European than Ford sedans of old and I am a Civic Hybrid, former VW TDI and BMW bike owner.

The car is bigger and heavier than a Honda Civic Hybrid so the mileage is in line or better than the competition. Consumer Reports now says that Fords are equal to Honda in reliability.

Fusion Hybrids are also eligible for a tax credit until the end of March.

Time will tell if reality will change perceptions, but the facts are stacking in Ford's favor as well as a projection I have that Americans will begin to make a concerted effort to start coming home to spend their dollars where it will do the most good for their own future.

Even if the Fusion Hybrid is assembled in Mexico; at least it's a North American country that shares our border and it isn't a communist, currency manipulator. It is a noble effort by an American automobile company to use brain power to harness new technology to offer the American car market with an efficient, well designed hybrid car.

Save $2 on $8 tickets online. Want to be even more cheap? They stop charging for parking a couple hours before the show closes. The show continues at the PA Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg through Sunday until 9pm each day.

The word "Hybrid" is plastered on many vehicles at the annual show.

There are green hybrid logos, leaves sprouting out of logos and green signs on the carpet. The same technologies as in previous years, but in more models.General Motors has their mild hybrid (a couple mpg more for a small price) on display in the new Malibu.

The GM 2-mode hybrid, that shares engineering with Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, is on display. The electric/gasoline hybrid will be available in the Tahoe SUV and Silverado Pickup.

Ford has an interesting cut-a-way of their EcoBoost engine that is a direct injection gasoline engine boosted with turbo that promises a 20% increase in economy.

The Ford Fusion Hybrid is on display. It shares mechanical concepts with the Escape Hybrid and takes on the Toyota Camry Hybrid.

A small SUV/crossover from KIA with a small, 4-cyl common rail diesel engine (CRDi) that is European/Asian? spec that we won't get here, but you can see under the hood.

BMW features a full-size SUV with a new clean diesel that gets 26 mpg.

The weird award goes to the Nissan Cube. A boxy little, yet marshmallow looking car.

Baltimore Boat Show at the Baltimore Convention Center
Wednesday, January 21 through Sunday, January 25, 2009.

The Green Boating Zone will feature eco-friendly boats and accessories, including hybrid boats and products that reduce water and air pollutants.

Featured manufactuer Torqeedo, was awarded start-up company of the year, producing ultra-lightweight, foldable, strong electric outboard motors.

Torqeedo produces lithium-manganese battery systems which allow increased energy density over heavy lead batteries and improved cold operating performance. The batteries also aren't subject to memory effect and according to the manufacturer are more resistant to a reduction of charge capacity over time.

Read on for Baltimore Boat Show schedule.

Honda Motor Co will begin selling the Insight, the first of its next generation low-cost hybrid cars, in Japan in February, followed by launches in Europe and the United States in March and April.

The model on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week has listed mileage of 40 miles per gallon in city driving and 43 mpg on the highway.

But Yasunari Seki, the Insight's chief engineer, said it has proven potential of as much as 72 mpg, or about 30 km/litre, aided by an "eco-lamp" color meter that goes from shades of blue to green to prompt fuel-efficient driving.

"We had a contest for journalists test-driving it on a course last month and the winner got 72 mpg," Seki told Reuters ahead of the auto show, which opened to the press on Sunday. reuters

The car will arrive here this Spring.

The star of "Revolutionary Road" recently traded in his Toyota Prius hybrid for a $147,000 Tesla Roadster, the first high-performance electric car. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Leonardo DiCaprio also talked up his passion for eco-causes, and his first sports car. "It's scarily fast and it all happens with the flip of a switch, unlike a piston-driven engine that needs to build up momentum." chicagotribune.com

Greenmesh has been sitting dormant for a few days as my mind shuffles trends of environment, the economy, leadership and world peace - my eyes have glazed over a bit.

Maybe a quick ride in a fast car (motorcycle) would provide some inspiration.

Leo's all electric powered car is all torque from the start. Think of squeezing the trigger of an electric drill.

Gasoline engines build horsepower with their mechanical parts gaining momentum by burning fuel over a given duration. The instant torque of an electric motor must be built over time with a gasoline engine burning fuel until it reaches its potential. There are many factors that effect efficiency when a gasoline engine turns power into fuel.

The gasoline/electric hybrid tries to minimize the loss of energy transformation that occurs in a gasoline engine by trapping energy in the batteries when the gasoline engine is most efficient and when energy would normally be lost through braking.

Leo's Tesla would be very eco-conscious if charged by wind or water... but plugging into a power grid charged by an aging coal fired plant yields the opposite result.

A few gallons less a year controlled by OPEC and speculated on by the free-market is always a good thing for the consumer.

Ford has added the tweaked power train from the Escape Hybrid to the Fusion/Milan sedans.

How about 39 mpg city and a light foot bringing in 47 mpg. Ford happily notes that is at least 6 m.p.g. better than the arch rival Toyota Camry Hybrid. nyt.com

Giant Bicycle, Inc., of Newbury Park, CA, has called it's battery/motor assisted bicycle "hybrid" because unlike a vehicle solely propelled by an electric motor, the Giant Hybrid is designed to sense when you need some help and provide stored electrical energy.

The concept enhances the nature of riding a bike without taking over and making you totally lazy.

The unit uses two Lithium Ion batteries that can get you up to 70 miles.

Think gas free commuter when you might consider a scooter.

Nice review in wired.com 11/08

The federal tax credit to spur demand and development of hybrids is dwindling. The credit was tied to the number of units sold by a given manufacturer. The credit on Toyota's Prius (46 mpg) ran out last year. Now the federal government is phasing out the same incentives on Honda's Civic Hybrid (42 mpg).

Hybrid tax incentives start to go away when a car maker sells its 60,000th alternative-fuel vehicle.

Manufacturers currently offering full tax credits for their hybrids include:

• GM's 2008 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid


• Ford's 2009 Escape/Mercury Mariner Hybrid


• Nissan Motor Co.'s Altima Hybrid

The article notes that these hybrids get between 27-34 mpg.

It would still take about nine and a half years to recoup the Altima hybrid's premium at the pump. But that time frame would balloon to16 years without the tax credit. With gas at $4 a gallon, it would take about seven years.

wsj.com

So with gas currently at $2 a gallon, buying a hybrid (with the surcharge) without the tax credit, the pay back may exceed the life of the car. We all know gas won't be $2 for the next decade.

When I bought my Civic Hybrid in 2004, there was a four digit federal tax incentive. Since I have owned the car and driven it 71,000 miles there have been no repairs other than oil changes and filters. Over the past four years gasoline has gone from $2 to $4 and back again. I consistently get 45 mpg, with spikes above 50 on long trips.

With my factors considered to date, the hybrid has saved me money, reduced the trade deficit a couple dollars and deprived a few oil producing entities a few dollars of profit.

As cars evolve from simple gasoline engines, to hybrids, to plug-in hybrids calculating real world mileage gets more difficult to estimate. The extremes and disgruntled customers will also become more obvious.

My neighbor jokes that his Chevy pick-up gets 11 mpg whether he is going uphill, downhill, or pulling a few thousand pounds. It's a simple large displacement V-8 that doesn't have to work very hard and breaths a continuous hefty mixture of fuel.

General Motors Corp. said Friday that it had reached a preliminary agreement that cleared the way for U.S. regulators to certify the Chevrolet Volt as the first 100 mpg car. But the Environmental Protection Agency said testing guidelines hadn't been finalized. latimes.com/business

After about 20 years of using the same calculating process, in 2008 the EPA began using new testing methods, which EPA finalized in December 2006. Previous to this, hybrids were tested under old methods. While it was legal and prudent marketing to say a Toyota Prius attained 60 mpg and a Civic Hybrid 51, it wasn't realistic, which left some customers angry at the discrepancy.

Plug-in hybrids will offer a whole new chapter in EPA estimates verses consumer expectations. The numbers will be wild...

Toyota will unveil a compressed natural gas (CNG) hybrid Camry at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.

Honda currently has the only CNG vehicle available in the U.S.

Wired reports that Honda will unveil a new dedicated hybrid today that hits the 60 mpg mark and sell for $19,000.

While hybrids have tended to go upscale in price and equipment or relegated to high end SUV's, this market niche has more of a global vision aimed at neutralizing a price difference between a hybrid and traditional gas powered car.

Look for the car to go on sale next Spring.

J R writes greenmesh:

When looking for hybrid mileage information, ask what MPG is in Winter. My 3 year old (Toyota) Highlander gets 28-30 in Summer, but drops to 21-23 in Winter because the gas engine must run more often to provide heat for passengers. It was better the first Winter but refineries were forced to change additives and that made MPG worse.

The new federal mileage stickers (in effect after this vehicle was purchased) are a more realistic assessment of hybrid mileage. Everyone knew a Toyota Prius didn't get 60 mpg, but that was the law and the number was legal and every other manufacturer used the same standardized testing.

Ethanol reduces mileage. I have given up trying to fill up with pure gasoline because that option just doesn't seem to exist in the York area anymore. Every pump seems to sport the 10% mix with sayings like "enriched with ethanol" and pictures of corn stalks.

Corn based ethanol is a counterproductive alternative form of energy helping to increase food prices and lowering the national fleet fuel efficiency. Compared to gasoline and diesel, the gas mileage in ethanol is the least. Ethanol yields about 30% less gas mileage than gasoline. The stuff even takes more energy to produce from field to consumer than it is worth. Ask our politicians why they love it so much.

My neighbor Chuck says his Chevy pickup with a 6 liter V-8 gets 11 mpg whether he runs it hard or takes it easy. It's basically a simple, large displacement energy converter that doesn't strain or change it's operating function to adjust for load.

Hybrids use several tools to squeeze mileage out of a gallon of gas so mileage can vary widely.

Some domestic hybrid vehicles I would love to see:

• A 4-cyl Jeep Wrangler hybrid, the size it was before it started to look like a mini Hummer.


• A 4-cyl Ford Ranger hybrid pickup. Give us a box to move things that gets good mileage.


• Anything that gets 50 mpg

Honda, who is probably wishing they had a few 60+ mpg hybrid Honda Insight's (built from 1999-2006) to sell will introduce a new $19K dedicated hybrid car that looks very much like a Toyota Prius and is expected to get 60 mpg. Cheaper to buy and more miles per gallon than a current Prius.

Honda is going to execute this by using platform parts from the tiny Honda Fit with a smaller Integrated Motor Assist engine assembly than is in the current Civic Hybrid.

I always wonder why cars like The Honda Fit (28 city/34 highway mpg) and the Smart car (33 mpg city and 40 mpg) don't get better mileage. If a Chevy Impala can get 30 on the highway, why can't a super tiny car get better mileage than 34. I could get 30 mpg out of a 6-cyl 1968 Plymouth Valiant built 40 years ago and it was a crude, clumsy chunk of car.

The Prius itself, around for a decade, will morph into a bigger, more powerful car yet promises a few more mpg than the current Prius.

Something dopey happens to small, efficient cars on long production runs. They often get larger and dumber. Lets hope Toyota doesn't wreck a good thing.

GM and Chrysler...

My Ross bicycle had some cool engine noises. On a normal day, two cards attached with wooden clothespins made it a "two-cylinder". When I was in the mood for more power, I attached four. Using six cards usually resulted in complete "engine" failure with cards and pins flying all over the place.

A study at the University of California found that blindfolded volunteers could hear a petrol or diesel car from 36ft away, but they did not hear a Prius until it was just 11ft from them.

The engine sound is played through a waterproof loudspeaker next to the car's radiator, with the pitch and frequency helping to identify the vehicle's distance and speed.

The front-facing speakers mean that once the car has passed, the sound is no longer heard.

The system will operate all the time in electric-only vehicles, but in hybrids, it only operates when the car is using electric power.
www.telegraph.co.uk

As many Harley-Davidson riders with screaming eagle after market exhaust pipes will tell you, loud pipes save lives.

Volkswagen AG. has started testing a new electricity-powered car engine and expects to launch the first cars fitted with it by 2010, chief executive Martin Winterkorn said.

VW said the technology allows cars to run on purely electricity powered engine for a distance of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles). hemscott.com

"While the e-motor on a typical hybrid model just supplements the combustion engine, the exact opposite is true on Twin Drive," Winterkorn said during the car's unveiling in Berlin. "Here the diesel or gasoline engine supplements the e-motor." Start-stop technology will save power and regenerative braking will help generate it. wired.com

It has a 100 cc engine, zips smoothly through traffic, can cruise up to 55mph, gets close to 100 mpg and has a price point under $3000. It has the support network of Harley dealerships in most every major town and people want to buy it because it's a domestically produced scooter that is designed by us to help us get ourselves out of a fuel crisis.

Ok, I know this doesn't exist and people will tell me labor costs are too high here to build something that cheap and it doesn't fit the Harley image... but Harley has made everything from golf carts to bomb casings and Holiday Rambler recreational vehicles.

A flag waving on a domestically produced, super-economy machine would bring a new found smile to many.

Toyota has developed a new fuel cell hybrid, powered by hydrogen, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said today.

The improved model's maximum cruising range is 516 miles compared with 205 miles. Fuel efficiency in the FCHV-adv was improved 25 percent. The new fuel cell vehicle can also start and run in temperatures as low as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold temperatures are a big technological hurdle for fuel cells.

The vehicle will be available for leasing in Japan later this year. Rival Honda Motor Co.'s revamped fuel cell vehicle for leasing in California is rolling off a Japanese factory floor later this month.
(AP)

The internal combustion engine driving your car is a pretty inefficient method of converting energy into motion. Friction from air resistance and motion along with heat dissipated from burning fuel all take your money in exchange for nothing. That car heater sure feels great in January, but most of the time that engine heat is lost to the atmosphere while we all do our part heating the outdoors.

Loughborough University and the University of Sussex, both in the UK, has concluded that using waste heat from light-duty vehicle engines in a steam power cycle could deliver fuel economy advantages of between 6.3% and 31.7% greencarcongress.com

The idea of pushing energy into water and creating steam is nothing new. Railroads built this nation with the steam engine, however paying a premium for energy has reawakened this old trick.

Clean Power Technologies claims to have successfully achieved a 40% reduction in vehicle fuel consumption.

Other uses for exhaust energy recovery is truck refrigeration. Traditionally, a small combustion engine uses fuel to cool the trailer during transport. A steam hybrid system would take wasted heat from exhaust gas and created steam that would power refrigeration.

Abdul Mitha, CEO, and Mike Burns, CTO, of CPT demonstrated a steam engine running on the free energy recovered from the exhaust of a Caterpillar truck engine and explained the 80% fuel savings achievable in refrigerated trailer applications. tradingmarkets.com