Tag Archives: hybrid
The unveiling of the new Tesla Model S seems to have signalled the beginning of a new round of electric and hybrid vehicle announcements. The Tesla Model S is an electric sedan that Tesla says will carry seven passengers and provide more cargo space than any other sedan currently on the market. The reason for the large cargo space is the lack of gears and the location of the battery pack under the floor, leaving space under the bonnet. The battery pack is designed to be swapped in less time than it would take to fill a petrol tank. Alternatively, … Continue Reading
The Chery Automobile Co., China’s largest maker of own-brand cars, has unveiled its first plug-in hybrid. Chery claims that its S18 can travel 150 kilometres using just its batteries – compared with 64 kilometres claimed for General Motors’ Chevy Volt, due to go on sale next year. The S18 can be fully charged in as little as four hours and be 80 percent powered via a quick charge at a specialist station in 30 minutes. Chery will be China’s second mass manufacturer of plug-in hybrid cars, following BYD Electronics which already has a model on sale. BYD’s F3 DM can … Continue Reading
Coca-Cola Enterprises (US) has announced that it is more than doubling the size of its hybrid electric delivery fleet, Coca-Cola will have the largest hybrid delivery fleet in North America with 327 hybrid trucks on the road. The new hybrid trucks will be comparable in capacity to the company’s current large delivery trucks, with a gross weight of about 25 tonnes. But they will consume 30% less fuel. Meanwhile, the US Arrmy has announced that it will lease 4,000 electric vehicles. The electric vehicles will be used in non-tactical roles on Army bases for passenger transport, security patrol, and maintenance … Continue Reading
John Sweeney, a Harvard, Massachusetts electrical engineer used his Toyota Prius to power part of his house during a three-day blackout last month. Mr Sweeney used an inverter to convert direct current from the car battery to 120-volt alternating current for the refrigerator, freezer, the fan for a wood stove, television and some lights. He ran the car for a few minutes every half an hour and “burned about five gallons (19 litres) of gas”. While knowing that you can use a car as an emergency generator might enhance its appeal enormously, especially when the reliability of the electricity grid … Continue Reading
Italian manufacturer Piaggio (the maker of Vespa motor scooters) has unveiled a plug-in hybrid three-wheeler scooter that it says will be on the road next year. Ppiaggio’s MP3 Hybrid combines a 125-cc petrol engine with an electric motor in an easy-to-ride three-wheeler that reportedly can do zero to 100 kilometres per hour in around 5 seconds. The scooter can run in a fully electric mode or in one of three hybrid modes designed to maximize performance, maximize fuel economy or recharge the batteries quickly. The MP3 Hybrid will charge in as little as three hours when plugged into a standard … Continue Reading
Hyundai Motor has announced that it plans to commercially produce its first hydrogen fuel-cell car starting in 2012. The fuel-cell vehicle would come three years after Hyundai introduces its first petrol-electric hybrid Avante compact car in 2009. Hyundai has previously announced that a lithium-ion powered hybrid version of the Sonata sedan is planned for the United States market in 2010 and a hybrid version of its compact Avante sedan will be on sale in 2009, but the Avante will not be available in the U.S. The company has already produced about 2,800 of the compact Avante hybrids as part of … Continue Reading
The Economist magazine has published an article in which it claims that a consensus has emerged among motor vehicle manufacturers about how the industry will move to zero-emission vehicles. Late last year, American carmakers were arguing that it was not possible to achieve a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon (6.7 litres per 100 kilometres) by 2020 and European manufacturers were claiming that complying with a requirement to produce less than 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre was impossible. Within just eighteen months a consensus has developed that future vehicles will be electric and that hybrids will be … Continue Reading
New York’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, announced yesterday that all of New York’s famous yellow cabs will be hybrids (or better if the technology is available) by 2012. In December, the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission agreed that, from October this year, new taxis would be hybrids. Negotiations with manufacturers have now made it possible to convert the existing fleet more quickly than expected. The taxi fleet is now being converted at the rate of 300 vehicles a month. The majority of the new vehicles are being supplied by Nissan with the remainder from Ford and Chevrolet. On average, the … Continue Reading
Mazda Corporation has announced that it will begin testing the world’s first hydrogen hybrid cars with a dual-fuel system, enabling the use of either hydrogen or petrol, on public roads in Japan this year. Mazda will display its Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid minivan and RX-8 Hydrogen RE at the G8 Hoddaido Toyako Summit in July. The next step will be commercial leasing in Japan during this fiscal year. Mazda claims that the hybrid system will give the minivan a range of 200 kilometres using hydrogen fuel. The vehicle will also incorporate plant-derived materials in its interior plastics and seat covers.
Toyota President, Katsuaki Watanabe, has announced in Detroit that his company will market plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2010. Watanabe said that the new hybrid would be larger than the Prius and probably built in Japan. "If I say any more than that the engineers will be mad at me. But I am the president," he said. Only about 400 vehicles will be produced in 2010 but Toyata has already begun preparing for the construction of a factory to mass-produce the lithium-ion batteries for its plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles. Toyota plans to have the capacity to produce 600,000 battery units … Continue Reading
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Renewables News- Vic Council Approves Wind Farm with Community SharesBuloke Shire has approved a planning permit for a five-turbine wind farm spanning 5.t hectares at Coonooer Bridge, west of Bendigo..It is the first wind farm planning permit approved since 2011 when the Victorian Government introduced tough planning laws that … Continue Reading → […]
- NZ Electricity Co Offers Solar PV with BatteryVector Limited, the largest electricity and gas distribution company in New Zealand, is offerring a "home solar power solution", incorporating intelligent battery storage into a traditional solar PV system. In the introductory phase of the programme, a limited number of … Continue Reading → […]
- Sydney City Revises Trigen Power PlanThe City of Sydney has decided not to pursue its plan for a trigeneation power precinct at Green Square at this time but has re-affirmed its commitment to cutting carbon emissions using trigeneration, among other technologies, The decision to halt … Continue Reading → […]
- Vic Council Approves Wind Farm with Community Shares
