Hybrid Living

Filed under: Ethanol, Lightweight, South/Latin America

Click on the image to view the TAC Stark in hi-res

What you see here is the TAC Stark, a Brazilian off-roader that aims to leave a smaller footprint. The lightweight 4×4 was planned to be the first flex-fuel gasoline/ethanol off-roader on the market, but when local suppliers forced the small upstart automaker to push back the launch date from last year to next, Mitsubishi jumped in with the Pajero TR4.

Although fuel consumption figures are not yet available, the Stark promises to economize its intake on either type of fuel thanks to lightweight construction with a tubular frame covered with plastic body panels. The diminutive jeep has a wheelbase barely 2.5 meters long, weighs just 1300kg, and is powered by a small Volkswagen engine. But while it may share more in common with a VW Beetle than any other truck on or off the road, the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine comes quickly to mind when looking at the Stark’s styling. See what we mean in our high-resolution gallery by clicking on the thumbnail images below.

[Source: TAC (Portugese) via Autoblog]

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Filed under: Hybrid, Lexus, Toyota, Detroit Auto Show

Gasoline-electric powertrain aside, part of what makes the Toyota Prius get such good mileage is the stripped-out interior and itty-bitty wheels. Put in a leather interior, power everything, premium entertainment system with DVD players and LCD televisions and big wheels – features that Lexus customers (even those in hybrid models) have come to expect – and the purpose teeters on the brink of defeat. But that’s what looks to be shaping up.

Our report from last month seems to be picking up speed – in typically slow Prius style – that Lexus will get its own version of the next-generation Toyota Prius. The initial reports were spurred by an announcement from Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe that the Japanese motor giant would come to Detroit next year with two dedicated hybrid models – one for Toyota, and one for Lexus. While the Toyota will likely retain its hatchback form, the Lexus is expected to take on a “lifestyle wagon” bodystyle. Whatever that means, it should give poseurs enough space to carry around enough cargo to vanquish that purpose altogether.

[Source: Motor Trend via Autoblog]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Hydrogen, USA

We’ve been watching from afar as the students of Lawrence Technical University in Michigan have been gearing up for the Formula Zero racing series with their own hydrogen-powered kart. Element One, LTU’s team of 50 students from various faculties (including the university’s new undergraduate program in transportation design) – has now submitted its design to the FIA-supported Formula Zero Championship, which rated the fuel-cell racer among the top three designs.

The kart’s fuel cell, hydrogen tank, electric motor and super-capacitors are housed in a chassis consisting heavily of lightweight but expensive carbon fiber. Camille Robbins, head of Element One’s chassis development team, described the design you see above as inspired by fighter jets and instantly recognizable as American. Whether you agree or not, it’s one badass-lookin’ H-bomb. The design will be finalized by mid-March when the various teams are required to resubmit their final designs to race organizers, after which the students will begin constructing the kart in advance of its race debut in Rotterdam, Holland, this coming summer.

[Source: Lawrence Technical University]

PRESS RELEASE
Lawrence Tech students have new design for hydrogen-powered race kart

Southfield, Mich. – Students at Lawrence Technological University didn’t take the path of least resistance when designing their zero-emission, hydrogen-fuel cell-powered race kart for the international Formula Zero competition.

Their design had to incorporate a large hydrogen fuel cell, a hydrogen tank, an electric motor and super capacitors that provide rapid acceleration needed in races where speeds of 70 mph are possible.

They reached out to students in the transportation design program at Lawrence Tech, engaged a CAD designer from Japan and introduced new materials made out of carbon fiber. The result is a design distinctly different from the karts currently competing on the professional race circuit.

“We wanted something that was cutting edge, but not too involved,” said Camille Robbins, the Body & Chassis team leader for Element One, the student team composed of nearly 50 students from various colleges at Lawrence Tech.

In December, Element One submitted design specifications for vehicle construction, safety features and the electrical and hydrogen systems to the Formula Zero Championship, Student Edition, an Amsterdam-based racing series under the guidance of the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA).

The Formula Zero jury rated Lawrence Tech’s proposal in the top three, along with submissions from Spain and the Netherlands. All teams have until Feb. 29 to respond to the jury’s critique and submit final plans. By March 14 the jury will announce the teams that will compete in the 2008 race season beginning in Rotterdam this summer.

Support in designing the kart body came from students in Lawrence Tech’s new transportation design bachelor’s degree program. This groundbreaking program combines design theory with engineering so that students will gain the technical knowledge to maintain design intent. Instructors Vance Hanna and Keith Nagara worked with students as they conceptualized ideas that fit within the rules and regulations of the Formula Zero project.

Robbins said the final design of the vehicle was inspired by the new F-22 and F-35 fighter planes with the intent of creating something that was instantly recognizable as American.

Formula Zero’s purpose is to publicize the potential of hydrogen fuel cells to provide a zero-emission solution for transportation. Generating public interest with a racing season will lead to financial support from corporate sponsors that want to publicize what they are doing to meet the growing demand for reduced vehicle emissions.

The goal of the Element One team is “to change the way people think about energy and sustainability through high-performance, zero-emissions racing.”

For more information about the Formula Zero competition, go to www.formulazero.nl. The Element One website is www.ltufz.com.

Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, offers more than 60 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs in Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Management. Founded in 1932, the 4,500-student, private university pioneered evening classes 75 years ago, and today has a growing number of weekend and online programs. Lawrence Tech’s 102-acre campus is in Southfield, with education centers in Lansing, Livonia, Clinton Township, Traverse City and Petoskey. Lawrence Tech also offers programs with partner universities in Canada, Europe and Asia.

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Geneva Motor Show

Giorgetto Giugiaro has designed more cars than we could name, but while most of them have been crowd-pleasers, not so many have been earth-friendly. Included in the Car Designer of the Century’s projects are nitrous-spewing gas-guzzlers as the Lotus Esprit, the Bugatti EB112, the DeLorean DMC-12 and the Maserati Quattroporte (as well as some of the Nikon cameras they’ve been photographed with). But after years of designing decidedly un-green sportscars – the latest of which includes the Ferrari GG50 Giugiaro made for himself and the Giugiaro Mustang – Giorgetto’s styling house Italdesign has switched to green concepts.

At last year’s Geneva show, Italdesign unveiled the Vad.Ho concept, powered by a BMW-sourced hydrogen V12. Giugiaro is gearing up to unveil a new show car in Geneva next week, and has hinted that it will be a green concept of some sort, with the slogan “nature has never been so powerful” accompanying the teaser images the design house has shown so far on its website. Our sister-site Autoblog has been following the story, and they’ll be sure to have more details from Switzerland when the wraps come off Giugiaro’s 40th anniversary creation.

[Source: Italdesign via Autoblog]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Diesel, Fiat, Geneva Motor Show, Lightweight

Click on the image to view in high resolution

Fiat is set to showcase its developmental green technologies with the 500 Aria concept, a car the Italian automaker will unveil at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Unlike the gasoline/methane/hydrogen-fueled Panda Aria which Fiat debuted in Frankfurt, the 500 concept uses a small diesel engine.

The 500 Aria’s 1.3-liter 16-valve Multijet diesel is equipped with a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and start-stop technology with a robotic Dualogic transmission. The auxiliary systems have been replaced with new units that draw less power, certain components have been replaced with lighter-weight versions, and the conventional tires have been switched out for low-drag Pirelli rubber. All in all, the measures taken on the 500 Aria concept reduce the car’s fuel consumption by 10 percent in city driving, and cut CO₂ emissions down to 98g/km.

Fiat has also installed interior components made from recycled materials: the floor is derived from old tires, and the seats are upholstered with woven recycled leather and various organic materials. Although the 500 Aria itself remains purely a concept vehicle, it serves as a demonstration of earth-friendly practices and technologies which Fiat says it is already putting in place on standard production vehicles. See for yourself in the image gallery below and in the preliminary press release after the jump.

[Source: Fiat]

Press release:

Fiat: the vehicles for a sustainable transport

The best example of this continuous commitment in the research and realization of products, with minimal environmental impact are the vehicles and prototypes displayed in Geneva. Starting with the brand new Concept car 500 Aria and the prototype Panda Aria: which are really and truly “ecological manifestos” that confirm the will of Fiat to study continuous changes in the field of researching innovative solutions for the containment of polluting emissions and CO2 levels.

Alongside these remarkable examples, other Fiat models with a level of CO2 emmissions lower than 120 g/km with be displayed. They are the best examples of Fiat’s research in the field of traditional motorizations, developed especially to reduce their environmental impact.

So here we have a Fiat 500 Sport equipped with a 1,2 litre petrol propulsion engine combined with the robotic shift Dualogic. There’s also space for a Panda Climbing, ambassador of the wide and articulated Natural Power range of vehicles with dual petrol/methane-hydrogen fuel management. Under the spotlights we also have the Grande Punto and Bravo models equipped with 1,3 and 1,6 litre Multijet propulsion. In particular the Fiat Bravo model displayed adopts the brand new 120 CV 1.6 Multijet with robotic Dualogic shift, which boasts an important supremacy: indeed, not only does it have a CO2 value below the 120 g/km threshold, it’s also the first Euro5 vehicle in it’s category (in accordance with the limits of the future Euro5 law).

The combined result of these technologies can be equated to the Fiat leadership on environmental themes, starting from CO2 emmissions. In fact, in 2007 the Fiat Group reduced the average CO2 emissions of vehicles sold in Europe by 19% in comparison to 1995. Still in 2007, as many as 23% of cars sold had CO2 emissions inferior to 120 g/km and 67% inferior or equal to 140 g/km.

Boosted by these percentages and notwithstanding the decisions taken in the European headquarters, Fiat Automobiles commits itself to obtaining within 2012, the lowest average considered level of CO2 emissions for its cars. Fiat intends to follow this objective via the introduction of an intervention plan aimed at motors, shifts, and cars, as well as the structural use of the Stop & Start system.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.