Environmentally Friendly Cars

You might have dreamed of cruising on the asphalt while stepping on the gas pedal of a speed monster like a Ferrari but you might be consciences struck with all the fuel it will burn and all the carbon dioxide it will spew out. So think of electric cars or maybe a hybrid to satisfy you. What if we tell you there is a green Ferrari that you can get your hands on?

Here’s how the Ferrari FF becomes a green car. A Norwegian firm called Customized.no offers a conversion kit that will make your stallion run on bio-ethanol E85 for less than 1,500 euros. The tweak can make your stock 651 horsepower V12 into a more poweful 875 bhp supercar that has a lower carbon dioxide emission comparable to a bluemotion VW Polo.

This is not really a first time that we hear of a car running on E85 that becomes very powerful in terms of its output.LIke the Agera R from Swedish hypercar manufacturer Koenigsegg which gives out 1099 bhp. Fill its tank up with a 95 octane gasoline and you limit its power to 927 bhp. E85 is also the blend of fuel used by IndyCars but they mixed it with 15% pump gasoline.

Looking at the carbon dioxide it coughs out of the air, the Ferrari FF is not doing so good at 360 grams per kilometer but the conversion to E85 puts it below the the 100 gram mark according to initial reports. Looks like the setup improves everything and steps up its 0 to 100 kph from 3.7 seconds down to less than 3 seconds or about 20% better.

The conversion kit was installed by a Ferrari dealer for the ride on picture on here. We do not have word if putting the conversion on the $300,000 car invalidates the warranty with the Italian carmaker.

The new year brings a lot of new ideas and products even in the autoworld. For American car manufacturer Ford, it means a new model for its Focus Electric and a host of green cars to meet the needs of consumers who want to lessen their carbon footprints.

The 2012 Focus electric will be the first EV that can carry five passengers and yet give an amazing efficiency of 100 miles per gallon. If that fact does not impress you, how about a charging time half the time it takes to charge up the Nissan Leaf?

Ford is determined to give consumers the vehicles that will fit their needs be it plug-in hybrids, EVs, or hybrids. The carmaker wants to give consumers the best fuel efficiency possible with their rides and this is very evident in their upgraded editions of the C-Max Energi and the C-Max Hybrid. These rides clearly outmatch the Prius V of Toyota in several categories. The C-Max vehicles boast of excellent performance in combo with great mileage. The efficiency is possible because of an effective pairing for the gasoline engine and the setup.

The C-MAX makes use of a Lithium battery system which is utilized for the Hybrid. The charged battery partnered with the engine can bring you 500 miles far from your point of origin. Ford will soon roll out their C-Max Energi and C-Max Hybrid and when that happens, they will be the biggest hybrid transmission maker in North America.

The engineers at Ford have also been working on minor aspects of their green cars like the cooling of heated parts to complete their green, and very efficient vehicles. They will also be giving consumers a new technology which will be cutting short the charging time of the battery. You will be looking at 15 minutes of charging time which is not yet achieved by any commercially available green cars. Owners can charge their vehicles using the usual 240 volt outlets and juiced up the battery fully in less than 3 hours.

Ford understands that electric vehicles is the way to go to address the worsening condition of the environment and the busier lifestyle of consumers and so their team is working hard to cut charging times and even give us more efficient vehicles.

DMC or DeLorean Motor Company based in Texas recently confirmed that they are working on the stainless steel sports car DMC-12 all electric version. The company is collaborating with Epic EV for the production of the DMC-12 electric vehicle by 2013.

The DMC-12 electric variant prototypes are claimed to go as fast 125 miles an hour. The electric DMC-12 will have a tag price of $90,000 thru $100,000 when it is launched in 2013. This information was shared during the unwrapping of the gull-winged vehicle at the owners event recently. If you are starting at the car’s picture and it looks familiar, its because the car was the star of the 1980s film trilogy Back to the Future.

Stephen Wynne, owner of DMC also revealed that the DMC has been trying to develop in the last four years an electric vehicle that has an output of 260 horsepower.

The first carrier of the DeLorean Motor name was a company founded by John DeLorean who used to be an executive of General Motors in 1975. This company though only produced the DMC-12 and has been through rough times until it went thru receivership and then bankruptcy by 1982. DeLorean in a desperate attempt to keep the car company afloat, he was videotaped to be accepting money for drug trafficking. Later he was acquitted of these charges since this was brought against him thru entrapment. DeLorean passed away in 2005.

The DMC of today is a separate firm started by Wynne back in 1995. DMC also bought the remaining inventory and DMC’s trademark. It has nothing to do with the old DMC but is in support of the old DeLorean car company.

Epic EV on the other hand is owned by Chris Anthony, co-founder of Aptera, who spearheads the development of Amp and Torq vehicles.

When car enthusiasts talk about engine technologies, most of the time the piston is overlooked. It’s an undeniable fact though that a piston is a vital component of gasoline powerplants. Federal Mogul, a known supplier of technologies to improve the efficiency of powertrains, developed a piston called EcoTough.

EcoTough is a coated piston designed to have low friction and low wear properties. It also helps in reducing carbon dioxide emission and increase fuel efficiency by 0.8%. The newly developed piston is compatible with existing designs of engines in volume production today.

Federal Mogul has not revealed the specific components of the coat that they use for the piston but insiders hint that it contains carbon fiber, molybdenum disulfide, and graphite.

During test runs in laboratories, the EcoTough piston resulted to an 18% decrease in friction loss and about 3% increase in parasitic loss of the engine.

Other benchmark tests revealed a fuel efficiency increase between 0.4 and 0.8%. The coated pistons also demonstrated decreased signs of wear after being subjected to 50 cycles of cold starts and after resistance testing with full load.

The EcoTough pistons are on production and will be introduced to complete the volume production vehicle of a major European car brand

Federal Mogul is headquartered in Michigan and currently has a workforce of 43,000 to meet the demand for safety and powertrain technologies.

Startup car manufacturer Fisker Automotive is closing in on the launch of the 2011 plug-in hybrid Fisker Karma sports sedan. The lead guy for marketing, Marti Eulberg, hired an ad agency based in California, Lambesis to handle the launch.

The carmaker was asked several times why they were hiding the car from the public with only Prince Frederik of Norway, the only outsider that has driven it on the roads. Some may argue that Fisker had to do more testing because of the switch to lithium ion batteries late in the ball game. However executives of Fisker discounts that saying that they just have to make sure that everything is fully ready and running well.

Fisker had to do an extensive review of nine advertising agencies before giving the green light to Lambesis.

The car manufacturer plans to roll out its first model this year, a 403 horsepower Karma that has a starting tag price of $90,000. They are looking into possible sales of around 15,000 units.

A launch for a new car may hit a high cost of around $50 million but Fisker has been doing rounds of the different auto shows and have been pushing for their products over the internet. The official website of Fisker has registered for it the most orders compared to the other possible channels.

Fisker entrusts the car to be globally promoted by Lambesis. Their first project will be to revamp Fisker’s website this fall.

Ever wondered about how R&D works in the tech business? Well, I did too - so I researched and wrote this article about it. Enjoy!

EVI or Electric Vehicles International launches their medium-duty truck called the MD EVI. The company also signs a joint venture with Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation to come up with an electric powered walk in van tagged as the WI EVI.

During the unveiling of the new electric truck at their new headquarters in the Stockton, California, EVI also disclosed an agreement with Valence Technologies to develop storage systems utilizing Lithium-ion technology.

MD EVI

This electric vehicle is designed to meet the demands of businesses with gross weight rating as a Class 4 or 15,000 pounds ranging to class 6 or 25,950 pounds. The electric motor that powers the truck occupies lesser space than the conventional engine, this gives the truck a higher wheel cut or making it as a very maneuverable vehicle in its class.

The truck will utilize 3-phase 360volt motor which can give out about 146hp and a torque of 450 ft-lb. The engine is coupled with a six-speed automatic transmission. The MD EVI has a top speed of 60 mph.

The battery gives the electric truck a range of 115 miles which is more than the average distance needed to complete a usual commercial base to base trip. The battery can be charged overnight.

WI EVI

The electric van will make use of the same drive train as the MD EVI and except that it will make use of a chassis designed by the FCCC. The battery for the electric van will come in three ranges: 60, miles, 80 miles, and 115 miles.

The Trabant is the answer of the communist East Germany to the Beetle of the Volkswagen. It was manufactured by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerk Zwickau in 1958. Its design is very simple and went untouched until it was killed after the fall of the Berlin wall.

It was fondly or irritatingly called Trabi by the people. The Trabant is being remembered as the least reliable, slowest, and most pollting vehicle known to man, so they say. But the very simple architecture and engineering of the Trabant made it very easy to self repair even by owners. The parts of the cars are everywhere or one can simply fabricate or improvise.

The Trabant has been treated as an icon and about 50,000 of them are still on the road. No matter a reputation, it has survived the test of time that’s why some enthusiasts and believers are planning to resurrect the car. It will not run the streets as the clunky vehicle as it is known to be but a green electric vehicle.

Since 2007, IndiKar while in close cooperation with Herpa, the owner now of the Trabant name, has been trying to revive the car. They will be unveiling to the public an all new electric Trabant during the Frankfurt Auto Show kicking off next week.

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A McDonald’s branch in Cary, North Carolina is the first in the food chain business in more than 10 years to install a re-charging station for electric cars. The ChargePoint is a step closer for the McDonald’s in Cary to go green. The owner also uses earth friendly materials and other technologies for the restaurant.

The branch is expected to open by 14 July. Car owners who will need to charge their plug-in vehicles will have a designated parking space. The ChargePoint is a way of McDonald’s to promote to the next generation the importance of a cleaner environment.

Back in the 1990’s a branch of McDonald’s in Phoenix, Arizona also put up a charging station to have room for an earlier wave of electric vehicles. Reports also reveal that installing charging stations in the network of McDonald’s in Sweden is also in the works.

How the plug-in vehicles in the market today may really be dependent on the presence of an infrastructure where owners can recharge their vehicles. These stations should be located ideally near their place of work or spots they frequent.

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Entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin who heads Visionary Vehicles is proposing to upgrade new cars from GM and Chrysler with a hydrogen hybrid engine that will have high fuel efficiency.

Bricklin sees the revolutionary product as an answer to the woes of the auto industry brought about by global financial crisis. He sees it as an opportunity for dealers to pick up the rubbles and rebuild, and for the industry as a whole to create manufacturing jobs.

He was the prime mover of bringing cars from Yugo vehicles, Fiat, and Subaru to the display rooms in the United States in the 1990s.

Visionary Vehicles also negotiated with Chery Auto of China in 2006 for a distribution right of their cars in the US market. The strict safety guidelines in the US were a major wall faced by the negotiations.

Malcolm Bricklin is suggesting the purchase of around 300000 brand new units from Chrysler and GM and customizing them with the hydrogen hybrid engine.

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How would you like a passenger shuttle that can be converted to a cargo vehicle whenever you want to?

ZAP surely knows the kind of utility vehicle that the most practical people are looking for. In just a matter of time, ZAP will introduce its four-wheel electric passenger van convertible to cargo truck at the annual conference of the National Automobile Dealers Association. It will be in New Orleans later January.

With removable seats, this van can definitely be used for transporting equipments when needed. The cargo function has a 108 cubic ft. and it can carry up to 900 pounds in capacity.

No worry for its use on the road since it is in conformity with the US regulations for Low Speed Vehicles. It can run at 25 mph on street limits. It has posted 35 mph speed limit. It’s an electric van that’s why it posts such a range of speed limit.

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