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Nissan’s new 2.5 liter hybrid unit to replace 3.5 liter V6?

December 2, 2011 at 3:17 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Nissan, Technology

Nissan has introduced a brand new hybrid drivetrain which is made up by a 2.5 liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, an electric motor as well as a lithium-ion battery pack. The interesting bit is that the 2.5 four potter is supplemented by a twin-screw supercharger.

This helps the new system to produce almost similar horsepower and torque figures as the company’s VQ35 3.5 liter V6 unit. This means we are talking about approximately 260 hp and 338 Nm of torque. At the same time, fuel consumption is lower too, at least 10% lower with the continuously variable transmission. Engineers claim that the new system has plenty of low and mid-range torque.

This drivetrain will either be made available alongside the 3.5 liter V6 or it might replace it all together. It is expected to be introduced into the North American market by 2013 and many suggest that it could in the next-generation Nissan Altima.

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Honda Fit EV makes global debut in LA

November 17, 2011 at 3:28 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Honda, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News

The Honda Fit EV has made its global debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show – the all-electric vehicle, based on the Fit hatchback, offers a 198 km highway driving and a 122 km combined city/highway operating range, based on US EPA city cycle test methods.

The five-seater Fit EV, which will be introduced to US consumers via leasing programs beginning next summer, will be powered by a 20 kWh lithium-ion battery and a 92 kW coaxial high-density electric motor which is derived from the motor used in the FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle.

A 6.6 kW, onboard 32 amp charger allows for convenient recharging of the vehicle; with a 240-volt charger, the Fit EV can fully recharge in as little as three hours. It will feature a 3-mode electric drive system, adapted from the CR-Z Sport Hybrid – the system allows the driver to select between Econ, Normal and Sport modes.

Externally, the Fit EV is identical to the gasoline-powered Fit, though it offers a higher hip point to accommodate the under floor placement of the 20 kWh battery. It will only come in a single, exclusive color, this being Reflection Blue Pearl, and will also have the familiar chrome front fascia similar to other Honda eco-friendly vehicles such as the Insight hybrid

Additionally, the car gets EV badges on the rear hatch and decals on the side of the vehicle to help distinguish it from its gasoline counterpart, and it will wear distinct five-spoke alloy wheels and an aerodynamic rear spoiler. Inside, the seating surfaces are covered with bio-fabric.

Tech features include a standard telematics system that allows the driver to stay connected through a smartphone, PC or interactive remote. Through the Fit EV smartphone and computer applications, the driver can remotely view the vehicle’s state of charge, initiate charging and activate the air-conditioning or heater, to pre-condition the vehicle while connected to the grid, to maximise battery range on start-up.

The mobile application and website also offers the ability to set charging notifications and alerts to optimise charging times based on varying utility rates. The Fit EV will also come equipped with a standard Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System to locate public charging stations and frequently updated traffic information.

Meanwhile, the interactive remote – operable up to 30 metres from the vehicle – allows the driver to monitor the vehicle’s state of charge and cabin temperature, initiate and terminate charging and remotely turn on the air-conditioning via it.

Honda will begin leasing the Fit EV to customers in select California and Oregon markets next summer, and will expand to six East Coast markets in early 2013. The company expects volume at this early stage of production to be approximately 1,100 Fit EV’s over the next three years.

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Seat unveils its electric path – Altea XL Electric Ecomotive and Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive paves the way

November 15, 2011 at 3:43 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, SEAT

Seat has introduced its prototype Altea XL Electric Ecomotive, a totally electrically-driven zero-emissions car, as well as its prototype plug-in hybrid, the Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive. The debutants are set to make their way to government institutions in Catalonia and Madrid for assessment in their vehicle fleets.

The Altea XL Electric Ecomotive has 115 hp (or 85 kW) and 270 Nm of torque for numbers, as well as a 135 km/h top speed. Seat says the Altea XL doesn’t sacrifice any loss of passenger and cargo carrying space, with the batteries located under the rear seats and the boot.

Features include a rooftop photovoltaic cell panel, which recirculates fresh air inside the passenger compartment when the car is parked under the sun, reducing the energy needed afterwards by the climate control system.

Meanwhile, the Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive has a range of 52 km in full electric mode, with a top speed of 120 km/h. In combined mode, with the engine in play, the car gets to 170 km/h, and consumes only 1.7 litres per 100 km, says the Spanish automaker, which is looking at introducing its first electric plug-in hybrid car commercially in 2015, to be followed by an all-electric vehicle in 2016.

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Gordon Murray Designs T.27 – RAC Future Car Challenge’s best overall entry consumes equivalent of 0.81L / 100 km!

November 8, 2011 at 4:14 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News

As you’re probably aware of already, Gordon Murray Design’s T.27 electric city car took a sweep of major honours in the second running of the RAC Future Car Challenge that took place last weekend.

The T.27, which competed against more than 65 entries including the latest technology from 11 major car manufacturers, won ‘Most Energy Efficient Small Car (Prototype)’, ‘Best Overall Pure Electric Vehicle’ and ‘Best Overall Entry – RAC Future Car Challenge Winner.’

The vehicle covered the 91.94 km (57.13 miles) from Brighton to London carrying two occupants inside the allocated time, using energy equivalent to 350 miles per gallon (or 0.81 litres per 100 km) and with emission totalling only 37 gm CO2/km. On a full charge, taking only four hours, the T.27 can do more than 160 km.

The design is the latest vehicle to use Gordon Murray Design’s innovative iStream manufacturing process, which the company says sets new standards in weight, footprint, small car dynamics, safety, packaging and efficiency whilst addressing full lifecycle CO2 emissions, congestion, parking and low cost motoring.

iStream, the company says, is F1 technology for the everyday motorist, delivering benefits from ‘light-weighting’ along with high levels of safety – GMD recently completed a structural durability test which showed the T.27’s iStream chassis to be up to 60 times more durable than a standard steel structure.

“This win represents a huge step forward in our race to reduce automotive energy consumption and emissions. This year’s success, in combination with last year’s win with our petrol powered T.25, awarded ‘Most Economic Small Passenger ICE Vehicle’ and ‘Most Economic and Environment Friendly Small Passenger ICE Vehicle,’ proves absolutely that lightweight is our most powerful tool for solving our energy problems,” Gordon Murray said.

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Honda CR-Z launched – RM115k OTR with insurance

November 3, 2011 at 8:39 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Honda, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News

Honda Malaysia earlier this evening launched the CR-Z, making Malaysia the first country in Southeast Asia to offer the three-door hybrid hatch to car enthusiasts. The third Honda hybrid to be introduced in the country is priced at RM115,000 on the dot, on-the-road with insurance (or if you will, RM111,878, without insurance).

The “hot-hatch hybrid,” as the company has tagged it, is powered by a 114 PS and 145 Nm 1.5 litre LEA SOHC i-VTEC engine and a 10 kW (or 14 PS) and 78 Nm MF6 brushless DC electric motor and a sophisticated Intelligent Power Unit (IPU) – together, the powertrain combination delivers 124 PS at 6,000 rpm and 174 Nm of torque at 1,000 to 1,500 rpm.

The IMA Hybrid System is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, which is the standard transmission for the car, with a Hill-Start Assist function present. The vehicle also features a 3-Mode Drive System, which enables the driver to choose and switch between Sport, Normal and Economy modes with the switch of an individual button.

The three modes alter the response of the throttle, steering, idle stop timing, climate control and the level of assistance provided by the IMA Hybrid System, and the individual modes are also indicated on the Illuminated Advance Sports Meter as glowing coloured rings of light. In Sport mode, you get – as expected – improved acceleration response, and steering feedback is tighter; in this mode, the light on the meter goes red.

Normal mode of course provides the optimum balance between driving performance and fuel economy, with an EPS response that’s balanced, smooth and agile. Switching to Econ mode, as it’s called, reduces throttle response, optimises motor assist, controls the air conditioning economically and lengthens idle stops to maximise fuel efficiency.

In Normal and Econ mode, the glowing coloured rings of light in the meter display changes from blue to blue-green to green depending on the driver’s style of driving; green, of course signifies the most fuel efficient driving.

Equipment on the 1,160 kg vehicle includes halogen headlamps with LED positioning lights, front fog lamps, a three-spoke leather steering wheel, cruise control, a six-speaker audio system with USB and an auxiliary input, rear foldable seats (which really are jump seats at best – there’s enough space to get in for an adult, but you can’t sit up straight!) and a glovebox cooler, among others. Folding down the rear seat back translates into 410 litres of boot space, which allows space for two golf bags.

On the safety front, the car comes equipped with dual front airbags, side airbags with Occupant Position Detection System and side curtain airbags. There’s ABS, BA and EBD as well as Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) in the mix too.

The CR-Z rides on 16-inch five twin-spoke alloys, wrapped with 195/55 series rubbers. At point of launch, there’s only a single external colour for the car, which is Premium White Pearl, but expect other shades to join the palette list soon – we hear that red, black and silver will come about as it goes along. And yes, you can also expect an auto CVT-equipped version to arrive on the scene sometime next year, but no word yet exactly when.
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Free parking for hybrid vehicles in PJ for three months

November 1, 2011 at 5:08 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News

Three months of free parking in Petaling Jaya – that’s the cheery news awaiting new hybrid vehicle owners. The Petaling Jaya City Council, or MBPJ, has announced the free parking initiative as part of its green incentives programme as tabled in its 2012 budget.

According to a report, hybrid vehicles – and that means the Honda Insight, Toyota Prius as well as the Lexus CT 200h and RX 450h (and the Honda CR-Z, when that arrives soon) – will be given a special pass to enjoy the free parking, which presumably is valid for any public parking bay in the city. The report mentions that the incentive will be for cars registered from January 1.

There’s no mention of when the free parking duration will begin though; presumably again, this should be anytime from January next year. Which also brings about the question – does the January 1 registration validity only cover vehicles registered from the start of 2012, or from this year? Questions, questions.

In other news mentioned in the report, the council will also be spending RM100,000 to install energy-efficient LED lights at residential areas, which will help brighten back lanes. The cost of installing the lights, maintenance and replacement of faulty lights will be borne by the council, states the report.

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smart fortwo electric drive on display at 1 Utama

October 28, 2011 at 9:07 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News, smart

No, it’s not available commercially in Malaysia, and even if it was, it would easily cost more than a C 250 CGI. The smart fortwo electric drive seen here is actually making a stopover in the country – the Singaporean-based vehicle is in town courtesy of its appearance at the recent 1st Malaysian-German Sustainable Automotive Mobility Conference 2011, which was organised by the Malaysian German Chamber of Commerce.

You can however catch the car in the metal, if that be your sort of thing, over the weekend – the fortwo electric drive is on display at the Highstreet zone of 1 Utama shopping centre, and it’ll be there until Sunday.

A bit about the car, for those who don’t know what it’s all about yet. The second-generation fortwo electric drive is equipped with a 30 kW permanent magnet motor offering 120 Nm of torque, and driven by a single-speed fixed gear ratio transmission.

The car’s water-cooled 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery, which is housed between the axles and occupies the space where the fuel tank is located in a conventional fortwo, is good enough to give it an operating range of 135 km. Which won’t quite take you from KL to KLIA and back, but ample enough for light-duty in-town use.

The 148 kg battery – made by Tesla Motors – has a full recharge time of eight hours, juiced via a household socket, but if you only need to do around 30-40 kilometres of travelling a day, the vehicle only needs to be charged for three hours.

And if you putter around at the average 25 to 30 km/h that smart says is normal in city traffic, the fortwo electric drive can go for around four to five hours continuously before it needs to be recharged.

Other performance figures for the 890 kg rear-wheel drive fortwo include a 0-50 km/h (yes, you read right, half a century) time of 5.8 seconds (or if you prefer, a 0-60 km/h time of 6.5 seconds) and a maximum speed of 100 km/h.

As you’d expect, due to the cost and supporting infrastructure limitations, there aren’t that many fortwo electric drives about – the few thousand examples worldwide are in the hands of selected customers, with leases offered for a period of four years and 60,000 kilometres. In the case of this example, it’s part of a EV case study being conducted by the Singaporean government.

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Humanix iSAVE-SC1 e-Tricar – the car, as airbag

October 27, 2011 at 11:22 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Technology


Click to enlarge.

Okay, so here’s the novel take of the week. According to reports, a venture company in Japan called Humanix will introduce an electric vehicle that wears airbags. On the outside.

The Hiroshima-based company, which utilises research results from Hiroshima University and builds items such as the Cellomics Tip for use in live single cell mass spectometry applications, among others, is now set to introduce the iSAVE-SC1, an electric tricar covered with soft cloth containing shock-absorbing airbags.


Click to enlarge.

The three-wheel prototype has inflated airbags at the front and rear, and the body is covered with tent cloth. In the event of a collision, air is released from the bags to cushion the impact.

It plans to sell about 100 units of the vehicle, which seats three, from late November to March 2012, at a cost of around 790,000 yen each. The vehicles will be used for monitoring purposes, before mass production begins in April or later next year. The production version should have a complete wrap-around airbagged body as in the sketch, presumably.


Click to enlarge.

”Think of the car as wearing clothes, which is something found nowhere else in the world,” said Tsutomu Masujima, Humanix president, who is also professor at the university’s graduate school. ”I used to wonder why the surface of a car is made of metal. Through my study of biology, I noticed that living creatures are naturally soft. I began developing the car based on this idea,” he told reporters.

The maximum speed of the iSAVE-SC1 is 50 km/h, and the vehicle can be charged at home via a 100 volt power supply. The company says that vehicle will be cheap to run, at a fifth to a tenth of a gasoline vehicle’s maintenance costs, though no mention was made about the cost of replacement airbags.

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Mitsubishi i-MiEV becomes first EV to be registered in the country – vehicle to be used to promote EV awareness

October 25, 2011 at 7:43 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia recently registered the first fully electric car in the country; the unit, an i-MiEV, will be used in a suite of activities to promote public awareness on EVs. The car’s public debut was at a special showcase at One Utama that took place on October 19–23, where visitors to the event had an opportunity to ride in the i-MiEV.

“Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia is pleased to be the first to bring in a mass-produced full-electric car to Malaysia to promote the awareness of zero-emission electric vehicles among the Malaysian public,” said MMM CEO Tetsuya Oda.

“Malaysians will get to know more about the innovative technology behind the i-MiEV, and experience for themselves the benefits of an electric vehicle, as test drives will be available for the first i-MiEV in Malaysia,” he added.

The i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) is powered solely by electricity, and can be recharged from a regular home socket. The four-seater, which has 49 kW and 180 Nm for output figures, has a top speed of 130 km/h and an operating range of up to 160 kilometres, after an eight-hour charge at 230 volts. Wonder how they calculated the road tax on this one though.

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Honda CR-Z set for November introduction in Malaysia

October 17, 2011 at 2:35 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Honda, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News

It’s confirmed – the photo snapped of it last week suggested its arrival was on the cards, and now Honda Malaysia has announced that the CR-Z will be introduced to the Malaysian market in early November, making us the first country in Southeast Asia to launch the vehicle. No word with regards to specs and pricing on the three-door hatch though.

The CR-Z, which is equipped with a 1.5 litre LEA i-VTEC four-cylinder mill and Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid-electric system, with 122 hp and 174 Nm for output numbers, will be the second Honda hybrid currently available here, following the Insight, which was launched at KLIMS in December last year. Until next month, then!

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