Hybrids
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At the moment almost all electric cars use battery technology, which has its share of drawbacks ranging from heavy weight to charge degradation after multiple recharge cycles. But a secretive Canadian company called EEStor is working on using high-energy capacitors to replace cumbersome batteries and do away with many of their problems. A capacitor allows you to charge your car in minutes by plugging it in to mains power, has no power loss after time, and none of the exploding battery fears that have surrounded everything from mobile phones to laptops. EEStor is claiming its technology could...
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Toyota increases Prius production by 50%You can expect to see a lot more Priuses (Priii?) driving around next year as Toyota has announced it will increase production by 50% to bring them to 300,000 units. The Prius has been a poster child for hybrid cars around the world, and Toyota is doing all it can to keep up with production. Plants...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Loss of hybrid tax breaks may hurt Toyota
It seems that the old saying “no good deed goes unpunished” is true, at least in the case of Toyota, whose hybrid vehicles have been a massive sales success. Most hybrids are subsidised by federal tax breaks that can go up to $3150 in the case of the Prius. The problem for Toyota is...
Siddarth Raja -
BMW introduces Hydrogen 7
BMW has officially introduced the world’s first hydrogen powered production car to the market. The car of choice is BMW’s luxury seven-seater saloon and will be built in limited numbers for select customers in key US and European markets. To overcome the obvious problem of the lack of...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
BMW to release 7-series hydrogen cars
BMW is prepping a fleet of hydrogen capable 7-series limousines to go on sale in 2007. In 2000, BMW showed off its first 7-series concept using a zero-emission system called CleanEnergy that allows the cars to use either hydrogen or petrol. The V12 engine is expected to develop 231hp and can switch...
Ralph Hanson -
80mpg hybrid Mini with 640bhp
A small UK firm has created the world’s first hybrid Mini in the form of the PML Mini QED. The unique green machine is powered by four electric motors, one in every wheel, each with 160bhp (120kW) - 640bhp (480kW) in total. Unlike conventional hybrids, this version uses a small gasoline...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Formula One is already set for some drastic changes regarding its engine technology as outlined in our earlier post. The latest rumour is that one day the high-revving, naturally aspirated V8s will be replaced by either fuel cell or hybrid powerplants. We’ve already had comments from FIA president Max Moseley expressing his interest towards the green technology. A further sign of things to come is the announcement that two automotive tech companies, N.Technology S.p.a. and Tatuus s.r.l., are planning a partnership to develop the world’s first hybrid F1 car to compete in an all new...
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EVette electric car
With the ensuing world price of oil inevitably rising it’s only a matter of time before the popularity of electric vehicles really take on. We already have a production electric car in the form of the Tesla roadster but the latest trend is the innovative designs that are cropping up in...
Alex Kaufmann -
E85 powered hybrid rally car
Motorsport Development UK in conjunction with Oaktec partners, Paul Andrews and Bill Meeson, has entered the first-ever E85 bio-ethanol fuelled Hybrid car into the Formula 1000 Rally Championship. The rally version of the Honda Insight runs the regular 1-litre 3 cylinder engine with VTEC, which...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Move over Prius, Iran's building its own hybrid
Iran’s largest auto manufacturer, Khodro, is well underway developing a hybrid petrol-electric vehicle in an attempt to reduce emission levels for cars in that region. Spurred on by the Iran government, Khodro plans to manufacture around 100,000 vehicles based on a number of existing models...
Ralph Hanson -
Round the world in a hybrid
Just to prove to the buying public that alternative fuel powered vehicles are truly a worthy option compared with regular petrol powered autos, organisers have created the first ever around-the-world race to prove the viability of the latest sustainable automotive technology. The cars will travel a...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Automotive X Prize On The Way
The foundation that was made famous for giving away $10 million to build a reusable spacecraft has now turned its attention to the automotive space. The X Prize foundation wants to motivate groups to build a “mass-marketable” 250 mpg vehicle and be eligible for a prize pool of up to $25...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lately there have been many well documented cases of notebook computers exploding. These computers use Lithium-Ion batteries, the exact same technology used in batteries in many electric cars. MIT’s Technology Review puts forward the question: If one battery exploding in a laptop can cause so much damage, what sort of destruction can be caused if the 6831 batteries in the Tesla Roadster explode due to overheating or being in an accident? It’s a legitimate question, and one that Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard does well to answer. Apparently there are a number of safeguards for this...
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Meet the Nice Mega-City
With the previous announcement of the Tesla supercar and now the more pedestrian, Nice Mega-City, the wave of full-electric cars is truly upon us. Top speed of the Mega-City is only 65 km/h (40 mph), thus the car will remain a strict city-only runabout, that and the fact that its range is only...
Siddarth Raja
