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New Mercedes-Benz C-Class drops weight, adds new engines, diesel hybrid, w/ plug-in to come; up to 20% cut in fuel consumption

EIA: light duty vehicle energy consumption to drop 25% by 2040; increased oil production, vehicle efficiency reduce US oil and liquid imports | Main | GM investing nearly $1.3B in 5 US plants; supporting new V6, 10-speed transmission » Print this post New Mercedes-Benz C-Class drops weight, adds new engines, diesel hybrid, w/ plug-in to come; up to 20% cut in fuel consumption 13C1007_002 The new C-Class. Click to enlarge. Mercedes-Benz has launched its new C-Class, featuring a lightweight design concept with weight savings of up to 100 kg (220 lbs); excellent aerodynamics; and new, economical engines along with a hybrid model. The C-Class is the top-selling model series from Mercedes-Benz; sales of the preceding model, which was launched in 2007, total more than 2.4 million. Ordering for the C-Class sedan have begun in Europe, with the model range initially comprising the C180, the C200; and the diesel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US PIRG report finds reduced driving and rates of car commuting in most populous US urbanized areas

t US PIRG report finds reduced driving and rates of car commuting in most populous US urbanized areas VMT per capita has declined across the US (2006 to 2011). States with shading are missing reliable data for all or part of an urbanized area, and ‘X’s denote the location of excluded urbanized areas. Source: US PIRG. Click to enlarge. A new report by the US PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group details reduced driving miles and rates of car commuting in the US’ most populous urbanized areas, as well as greater use of public transit and biking in most cities. The average American drives 7.6% fewer miles today than when per-capita driving peaked in 2004. The report, […]

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Vehicle innovators face fight to win hearts and minds

Ahead of the game: the BMW i3 electric vehicle, made from carbon fibre, is unveiled in London When the most sought-after $1m supercars are hybrids, when hatchbacks are being made from carbon fibre and when manufacturers are promising volume vehicles that can drive themselves, it is clear the world’s car factories and showrooms are geared up for change. Driven by regulations and shifting customer demands, carmakers are pushing the boundaries of how we drive, fuel and interact with cars. Tomorrow’s vehicles will be less polluting, lighter and safer. They will be more intelligent and better connected – less of a petrolhead’s toy and more of an extension of the office or living room. Vehicle sales When this summer BMW launched its i3 model – an electric car made from carbon fibre in a factory powered by wind turbines – Ian Robertson, the carmaker’s head […]

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China’s World: Why the Electric-Car Market Is Low Wattage

Even for a foreign visitor to Shanghai, renting an electric car is easy. All that’s required is a valid driver’s license and a passport. And it’s surprisingly cheap: eHi Car Service Ltd. charges the equivalent of just $25 a day for a Chinese-built Roewe with a range of about 90 kilometers. But having completed the paperwork, picked up the keys and eased silently into Shanghai’s chaotic traffic, the first-time electric car driver in the city quickly notices that nobody else appears to be driving one. In fact, there are at most 500 electric cars in Shanghai out of a total of about one million passenger vehicles, according to Zhang Dawei, the founder of EV Buy, a Shanghai company that sources and services electric cars for individuals and corporate users. In fairness, electric cars have met consumer resistance everywhere, not just in China. Carmakers around the world have struggled to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China's World: Why the Electric-Car Market Is Low Wattage

Even for a foreign visitor to Shanghai, renting an electric car is easy. All that’s required is a valid driver’s license and a passport. And it’s surprisingly cheap: eHi Car Service Ltd. charges the equivalent of just $25 a day for a Chinese-built Roewe with a range of about 90 kilometers. But having completed the paperwork, picked up the keys and eased silently into Shanghai’s chaotic traffic, the first-time electric car driver in the city quickly notices that nobody else appears to be driving one. In fact, there are at most 500 electric cars in Shanghai out of a total of about one million passenger vehicles, according to Zhang Dawei, the founder of EV Buy, a Shanghai company that sources and services electric cars for individuals and corporate users. In fairness, electric cars have met consumer resistance everywhere, not just in China. Carmakers around the world have struggled to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Auto sales boom spawns a used car market in China

As car enthusiasts converge on the annual Guangzhou auto show, few have anything except a shiny new set of wheels in mind. But explosive growth that transformed China into the world’s largest auto market is also giving life to a new industry here: used cars. Chinese started buying new cars in huge numbers about four years ago, about the average length of time analysts say drivers will stick with a vehicle before trading it in for a fresh model. The secondhand market is already taking off, with sales growth last year outpacing that for new vehicles. By volume it is still dwarfed by new cars, which outsold used vehicles three to one. In countries such as the U.S., that ratio is reversed, highlighting the secondhand market’s vast potential to make car ownership affordable for millions more Chinese. The challenge in China is to […]

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Euro Parliament Transport Committee backs draft directive mandating expansion of alternative fuel stations

Euro Parliament Transport Committee backs draft directive mandating expansion of alternative fuel stations; grandfathering CHAdeMO Altfuelstations Minimum number of publicly-accessible recharging points for electric vehicles in each member state. Click to enlarge. EU member states would have to ensure that specified numbers of publicly-available electric vehicle recharging points and hydrogen and natural gas stations are built by 2020, under a draft directive endorsed by the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament on Tuesday. The draft rules aim to reduce dependence on oil and boost take-up of alternative fuels, so as to help achieve a 60% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 2050. Private sector players should play a leading role in developing this infrastructure, but member states should provide tax and public procurement incentives for them to do so, say the members of Parliament (MEPs). The directive specifies that: A minimum number of recharging points […]

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Volkswagen combines XL1 powertrain with up! for the twin up! concept plug-in diesel hybrid; 214 mpg

Volkswagen combines XL1 powertrain with up! for the twin up! concept plug-in diesel hybrid; 214 mpg DB2013AL12826_small Introducing the twin up! Click to enlarge. Volkswagen presented the twin up! concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show. Equipped with a plug-in hybrid system from the super-efficient XL1 ( earlier post ), the four-seater based on the up! city car achieves combined fuel consumption of 1.1 liters per 100 km (214 mpg US ) (NEDC), with corresponding CO 2 emissions of 27 g/km. All new Volkswagen vehicles are configured to accept alternative drive systems as well as conventional ones, making installation of the compact XL1 plug-in hybrid system in the twin up! relatively easy. The only modification made in the production version was to lengthen the up!’s extremely short front overhang by 30 mm. The drive unit of the twin up! (system power: 55 kW) is mounted at the front of […]

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NASA, Boeing finish tests of 757 vertical tail with active flow control technology

« Coca-Cola Company and Ford unveil Ford Fusion Energi with PlantBottle Technology interior | Main Print this post NASA, Boeing finish tests of 757 vertical tail with active flow control technology Aircraft_tail_600 The full-sized test tail modified and equipped with sweeping jet actuators. (Image credit: NASA Ames Research Center) Click to enlarge. NASA’s Ames Research Center and NASA’s Langley Research Center, in partnership with The Boeing Co., have completed wind tunnel testing of a full-scale Boeing 757 vertical tail model equipped with active flow control (AFC) technology. The project is one of eight large-scale integrated technology demonstrations that are part of NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project. ( Earlier post .) Active flow control involves the manipulation of a flow field—through the addition of energy—to improve the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft structure. Active flow control can enable the design of simpler, smaller and more aerodynamically efficient structures that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple