Yesterday Toyota announced the Prius c hybrid would range from suggested prices of $18,950 to $23,230 for one of its four trim levels.
Based on the Yaris platform, the smallest “city” version of the Prius is receiving high praise for its fun potential, frugality, and enough available accessories to endear it to Gen Y buyers – not to mention anyone who wants a small, inexpensive, efficient car.
Due for first deliveries next month, the vehicle gets 46 mpg highway, 53 mpg city, 50 mpg combined according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Although for the better part of a decade the Honda Civic Natural Gas was ranked the greenest car on the road by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), this year it was upstaged by a new contender, Mitsubishi’s all-electric i.
On ACEEE's 2012 Greenest Vehicle List, the Mitsubishi – still known in other markets as the i-MiEV – scored a total of 58 points, placing it ahead of the Civic Natural Gas, which had won the category the previous eight years in a row. The Civic tied for second place with Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, followed by the Toyota Prius Liftback and Smart ForTwo.
A new study by MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics has shown that by adopting electrically propelled vehicles, regional transportation fleets could potentially realize operational cost savings of 9 to 12 percent over diesel trucks.
Researchers based their “model costs” on a fleet of 250 trucks operated by office supplier Staples, and the utility company ISO New England. Data was collected using scenarios in which these vehicles relied on one of three different power sources: electric, gas/electric hybrid and diesel.
As it attempts to address ever-tightening fuel and emissions standards, while striving to maintain competitive vehicle sticker prices, General Motors is adding its (relatively) low cost eAssist mild Hybrid technology to more vehicles.
The latest edition is the 2013 Buick Regal, which will feature the technology as standard on the base car. The eAssist system, incorporates a liquid-cooled motor generator designed to provide additional power to the car’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder gas engine during times when fuel economy suffers most, such as in stop and go traffic and on steeper gradients.
Not long ago Fisker caught a lot of media heat for accepting a $529 million federal loan, but the company’s latest “bump in the road” is that it has only received $193 million of it, and the rest has now been frozen.
The remainder of the U.S. Department of Energy money was contingent upon Fisker producing a certain number of Karmas by an agreed-upon deadline, but other delays and recalls have slowed their proliferation considerably.
Because of the DOE's funding freeze, Fisker has laid off 26 workers at its former GM plant in Delaware, but not before it completed "Phase One" of an approximately $175 million rehabilitation there.
Fisker has also laid off 40 employees from its Anaheim, Calif. headquarters, citing a flexible staffing arrangement which is not out of the norm for the auto industry – and most importantly – it is renegotiating terms with DOE officials so it can get its funding turned back on.
Alongside California, Arizona is another state traditionally recognized as one the leading advocates of alternative fuel vehicles. Yet, thanks to some recent developments, notably the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council Vote to remove the state’s clean vehicle laws and replace them with looser federal guidelines, perhaps that perception is changing.
In addition, the state is also proposing a tax for electric vehicles, which would require owners to pay 1.43 cents for each mile driven.
The proposed requirement, under Arizona House Bill 2257 introduced by Rep. Steve Farley, is designed to mirror the current gasoline tax, meaning that money accumulated from the pay per mile scheme would be place in a fund designed to maintain the state’s roadway infrastructure. The Arizona EV tax is modeled after similar legislation already extant in Oregon.
Following recent hearings regarding the proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy targets set to begin in 2017 and culminating in a mandated “54.5 mpg” by 2025, the National Automobile Dealers’ Association has expressed strong warnings against the federal efficiency standards.
The NADA’s concerns – over what would actually equate to low 40 mpg range on the window sticker – come despite the proposed CAFE rules being supported by a number of automakers as well as the United Autoworkers Union.
As the NADA has contended previously, it is reiterating that strict mpg and emissions mandates could drive up the unit cost of vehicles enough that a significant number of new car buyers will essentially be priced out of the market.
Buick LaCrosse eAssist
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[HCDATE] The 2012 Buick LaCrosse, redesigned in 2010, is helping to shed the image that only AARP card-carrying members purchase the tri-shield brand. The average age of Buick buyers has fallen in the last decade from the mid-70s to the late 50s. To help juice up this trend, and also appeal to entirely new buyers (read green and trendy), Buick is offering a green machine, the 2012 LaCrosse eAssist. It delivers an EPA estimated 25 city/37 highway and 29 combined. Those fuel economy numbers are up from 19/30/23 for the 2011 LaCrosse with the same four-cylinder engine.
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25 / 37 MPG
n/a L/100km
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BODY TYPE:
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TECHNOLOGY:
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BASE MSRP:
n/a
Racing improves the breed, or so the old saying goes, yet in Audi’s case it certainly rings true. Following on from victories at Le Mans with TFSI technology (2001) and then the first ever diesel powered sports endurance racer (2006), the Ingolstadt automaker is attempting to go one better this year with a diesel hybrid prototype.
The car, which should prove a worthy rival for Toyota’s gasoline hybrid, the TS030, is seen as a logical step, especially considering Audi Sport’s experience with oil-burning technology.
According to Audi’s head of motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, the concept of combining diesel and hybrid technology “is at least as ambitious and challenging as our [pure] diesel project was in its early stages.”
A three-day teardown and cataloging of components from a Chevy Volt has shown its electronic controls to be exceedingly sophisticated and apparently designed for future upgrades.
Performed by a team of automotive engineers for Munro & Associates of suburban Detroit and attended by Reuters and EE Times, this sort of thing is more often done privately by automakers looking to reverse engineer competitors' vehicles.
