Hybrid Living

Filed under: Hybrid, Lexus, Toyota, European Union, UK

When I (an American) think about the Lexus brand, the first thing that comes to mind is not its hybrid option. In Europe, it seems Lexus and hybrid are synonymous because a Lexus official told the BBC, “Hybrid is Lexus brand defining technology.” We have written about the increasing Lexus hybrid sales in Europe over the years and even the shocker that hybrid Lexus vehicles were outselling the gas versions 4-to-1 in Europe. Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, gave up his Maserati Quattroporte for a hybrid Lexus. Overall, though, Europeans still love diesel and aren’t big fans of hybrids. Also, and you might find this hard to believe (he wrote sarcastically) but Europe already has one (or two?) luxury car brands.

So, why is the Lexus hybrid doing well in Europe when hybrids and even Lexus is not doing well? Complete lack of competition! “Only Lexus has hybrid, and we have three while others have yet to launch one” the Lexus company official said. Lexus was the only hybrid we could recommend to Yoko Ono when she lamented the lack of a comfortable hybrid because, as the BBC notes, Audi, BMW and Mercedes don’t currently sell a hybrid.

So, word to GM and Ford (two companies apprehensive about hybrids in Europe), here’s how you get hybrids to work in Europe: make them high-end. Diesel is “a more honest technology” than the hybrid system, said BMW’s outgoing sales and marketing director, Stefan Krause. Still, we’d rather see a hybrid BMW on the sales lot than more concepts.

[Source: BBC News]

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Filed under: Hybrid, HUMMER, Legislation and Policy

Leading presidential candidate Barack Obama earmarked $1 million for research on turning Hummers into hybrids. The earmark money will go to the Illinois Institute of Technology (Obama just happens to be the senator from Illinois) for the development of a cost-effective hybrid conversion kit. These kits could turn the army’s gas guzzling Humvees into fuel efficient hybrids and would be a real endorsement for hybrid conversion in general.

The military is very interested in electric power trains because they offer many advantages on the battlefield like shorter supply lines and quiet operation. Obama has also been a very big supporter of hybrids even calling for every single government car to be a plug-in hybrid when it becomes possible. While, technically, GM can hybridize their Hummers and celebrities like Paris Hilton are willing to voice support for such a plan, GM probably won’t make a hybrid Hummer.

[Source: Wired News, ABC News]

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, GM, Toyota

The unexpected stars of this year’s Geneva Motor Show were small cars. I expected hybrids or electrics to really make news but small cars stole the show. One of those small car stars was the Toyota iQ which will be released in half a year or so. How did Toyota do that? I think they had some help from Daihatsu, a car company Toyota bought a 51 percent stake in 1999 and one of Japan’s most prolific maker of small cars. Daihatsu made the UFE (ultra fuel economy) III concept in the picture above (see it in a video below the fold) and first shown in 2001. The UFE III’s drag coefficient is .168, it get gets 169 miles per gallon and it’s a hybrid.

[Source: YouTube]

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Green Culture, Transportation Alternatives, On Two Wheels

BergToys has a great idea for a human-powered children’s toy: Moov. The concept is your basic kid’s big-wheel or push scooter but the parts of the toy are interchangeable and they allow a child to make several different kinds of vehicles. The creativity of the child is also opened up because they can create vehicles not in the manual. How about a unicycle? Hey BergToys, make one for us bigger kids because I wouldn’t mind transforming my mountain bike into a scooter or a recumbent three wheeler. Want one for junior? The website says “We are doing our utmost to complete it a.s.a.p.” Can’t wait! In the meantime, check out the video of the Moov below the fold.

[Source: BergToys]

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Filed under: Diesel, MPG, Mercedes Benz

Late 2008, Mercedes Benz will clean up its diesel GL, ML, R class SUVs with Bluetec, making them 50-state legal. MotorWeek kicked the tires on the GL320 CDI (see video below the fold) and they seemed to like it. The diesel version of the GL ($54,225) will be $2,500 cheaper (yes, cheaper) than the gas version of the GL450 and will get thirty percent better mileage (18 city, 24 highway). The video review also says the GL is a 3 litre V6, has 215 horse power, 389 lb-ft torque and 7,500 towing capacity. 2008 is the coming out year of clean diesels in America and this is the best entry we have seen so far. There are no compromises with the diesel GL on price or power, so it should be a good barometer of diesel’s acceptance in the US.

[Source: MotorWeek]

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Filed under: Green Culture, Green Daily

A culture’s fears always finds its way into that culture’s media. The best example is probably the allegories of McCarthyism in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Peak Oil and climate change have seen their share of movie dramatizations, but Mad Max and The Day After Tomorrow were more cartoon-ish than terrifying.

Now, eco/oil fears – such as abandoned cars in the poster (right) of M Night Shyamalan’s new movie “The Happening” – are becoming more heart pounding. The depictions of peak oil in entertainment are becoming more realistic as well, taken directly from expert predictions in documentaries like CNN’s We Were Warned.

Below the fold is the trailer for the video game Frontlines: Fuel of War which includes things, I have to admit, I found a little scary. I had to remind myself of the current date when the voice over talked about black outs in the Summer of 2008. “They said it would get better,” a voice says and then mentions biofuels as a solution.

Am I stupid to be this afraid by a video game back story?

[Source: YouTube]

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Transportation Alternatives, On Two Wheels

Ben on MySpace has video of the first human powered tractor trailer. According to the video (which you can watch below the fold), the trailer was taken on route 130 in New Jersey …. and the cops pulled them over. What possible reason could the police have had to pull them over? Anyway, the video says the police did not understand how a “bike” could pull a 6,000 pound trailer but I think it has something to do with the “Ground Surface Magnetic Levitation” mentioned at the website. AutoblogGreen writes a lot about green automotive solutions from the big three and well funded start ups but, hey, it’s Friday! Let us consider the possibility that Ben from New Jersey may have solved all our transportation problems. We’d be a lot more convinced if the video showed the trailer actually moving.

[Source: MySpaceTV]

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Filed under: Diesel

Farmington Hills, MI, 3/10/08

We worry about gasoline prices, but a recent New York Times article reminds us that it could be worse. The article talks to truckers about the increase in diesel prices and how it’s impacting them. The Times talked to Ricardo Caraballo, who said that even after spending $500 at the pump, his tank isn’t even half full. Caraballo also said that not too long ago, “$500 would have kept me rolling for two weeks. … Now, I’ll be lucky to make it three days.” Diesel is impacted more by global demand, the Times explains, and international demand is high. Diesel prices set a record recently of $3.83 a gallon. Trucking companies are already starting to fail and Chad Beachler, co-owner of Beachler Trucking, puts it bluntly: the price of diesel, he said, is “killing us.”

[Source: New York Times]

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Aptera

If the unique style of the Apter Type 1 (above) isn’t your thing, there still might be a high-mpg Apters for you. Aptera CEO Steve Fambro told Alternative Energy dot com that his company has other projects in the works (see three minutes into the video below the fold). Fambro said, “we have other designs on the drawing board. Other projects that are certainly more mainstream. We aren’t really talking about those yet” (um, you just did). Fambro also said the company is finishing the last bit of engineering, putting their manufacturing in place in the next few weeks, and will launch by the end of the year. He said the company has plenty of business in California to keep them busy.

Fambro talked about the two types of cars they plan on making, the fully electric “Aptera Local” (120 mile range) and the series hybrid “Aptera Everywhere” (600-800 mile range) which will be available late next year. Fambro says even though the car has three wheels and is not required to comply with safety standards, lots of things on the Aptera are one and half or two times stronger than the FMVSS standard and the Type 1 has seat belts and air bags like you’d find in small aircraft.

Alternative Energy dot com also talked with the designer of the Type 1, Jason Hill, (see second video below the fold) of Eleven, LLC. He said the car was designed in a virtual wind tunnel and is the “best shape physics will allow.” Very soon, owners of the Aptera Type 1 will enjoy things like $3 instead of $30 weekly costs for fuel, lower insurance and driving in the car pool lane when only one person is in the car (thanks, motorbike classification!).

[Source: AlternativeEnergy.com]

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Filed under: Legislation and Policy, Green Daily

How bad is the National Research Council’s report about climate change’s potential impact on America’s transportation system? NPR says it has warnings of “Biblical proportions.” 60,000 miles of highways, major airports, railroads, low-lying tunnels and ports are at risk of damage from changes in the climate. Climate change will cause roads to buckle, bridge joints to be stressed, railroad tracks to be deformed and will keep planes grounded because of the heat. In the Arctic, permafrost, the solid ground that builders depend on, may even melt away.

Gerry Schwartz, head of the panel that issued the report, says “there’s certainly the potential for severe damage to highways, pipelines [and] airports in the Arctic.” Virginia Burkett, who co-authored the report, says “if sea level rises 4 feet, 24 percent of the interstate highways would be inundated.” To avoid all of this, changes to the transportation system will need to be made and it “could cost hundreds of billions of dollars.” Not doing anything the report warns, could cost us a lot more.

[Source: NPR]

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