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.
Tepidly, Fiat-controlled Chrysler Group will test the U.S. compressed natural gas waters later this year with a small number of Ram CNG pickup trucks. In an interview with Business Week at the Detroit auto show last month, Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of both automakers, said, “We are going to bring them here, there is no doubt,” Sales will be “limited at first. It depends upon the distribution network.”
The SolarWorld GT has been labeled by some as the prettiest solar powered car ever built. It’s also on track to be one that makes history too, with a goal of covering 21,000 total miles, which would stand as the longest distance traveled by a single solar powered vehicle. As the brainchild of Germany’s Bochum University of Applied Sciences and U.S. solar panel manufacturer SolarWorld, the two-seater incorporates photovoltaic panels in the roof, and began its remarkable journey last October.
A new report by Pike Research has found that among advanced-tech vehicle battery suppliers, Johnson Controls and LG Chem are the two companies most likely to take advantage of changes happening in the industry.
Over the past decade, we’ve seen battery technology develop by leaps and bounds for hybrid and electric vehicles, with lithium-ion chemistries largely considered superior and having displaced nickel-metal hydride in many instances.
Additionally, as the battery industry matures, changes are also taking place with regards to who manufactures them and where. Traditionally, Japanese and Korean companies have led the way, branching into EV applications from consumer batteries, which originally established them in the marketplace.
