The growing list of part- or pure-electric cars to be displayed at next week’s Frankfurt Auto Show establishes a new litmus test for green cars at auto shows: Cars without plugs are behind the times.
The 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show won’t start until September 17, but Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company is already establishing itself as the company with perhaps the boldest vision for a green car future. Vehicles with Hyundai and Kia badges on display in Frankfurt will include hybrid city cars, a hybrid crossover SUV concept, an all-electric city car, a plug-in hybrid, diesel vehicles with micro-hybrid stop-start technology, and mid-size lithium-battery-powered sedans running on liquid petroleum gas.
China is its tightening grip on its rare earth metals, which may derail production of hybrid and electric cars, according to The New York Times and Bloomberg. But auto industry and metals experts believe hybrid production will continue with minimal delay because new North American production of rare earth metals will come on board, and auto engineers will develop alternative approaches.
Major car companies are working on ways that plug-in cars will communicate with the electric grid. Ford, Nissan and Volvo have displayed their visions. We spoke with Greg Frenette, Ford manager of battery electric vehicle applications, to learn which driver controls are essential and feasible—and which charging technologies are more fantasy than reality.
“It’s the sports car of the future, the way BMW imagines it.” That’s how Adrian van Hooydonk, director of BMW’s group design, describes the “BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics” two-door concept vehicle to be unveiled at the upcoming Frankfurt Auto Show. Think of it as a showcase of the many fuel-efficient technologies that BMW has in various stages of development.
As automakers race toward bringing hybrid and electric cars into the mainstream, environmentalists worry about the ability to properly recycle the batteries that power those cars. Most industry analysts believe that we are a decade or more away from needing to recycle nickel or lithium auto batteries in significant volumes. Yet, the first lithium battery recycling plants are already being established.
It appears that every automaker in the world has caught electric car fever, save one: Toyota, the one best known for green cars. In an exclusive interview with HybridCars.com, Toyota product planners explain the company's position on electric cars.
General Motors announced today that it has canceled plans for a Buick plug-in hybrid crossover.
Ford Motor Company has developed an intelligent charging system that previews how its production vehicles will interact with the grid. The unnamed system enables all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners to restrict charging to when electricity prices fall below a certain threshold, or even "when the grid is using only renewable energy such as wind or solar power," according to Ford.
Plugging cars into the grid is quickly moving from concept to reality—and the auto and electric utility industries are frantically trying to make it a success. That’s the main theme of Plug-in 2009, a conference taking place from Aug. 10 - 13 in Long Beach, Calif. Many questions remain, such as the kind of charging equipment that carmakers will offer with their plug-in cars, and how to streamline the installation process.
