In a 1,864-mile trek across the Australian Outback, engineering students from the University of Michigan will pit their design against other teams and against the elements.
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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants, MPG, Ford
Ford has used efficiency gains related to water use, waste and painting processes to cut its factory emissions per produced vehicle by 37 percent between 2000 and 2012. The US automaker, in its 14th annual Sustainability Report, adds that more changes are in store that will allow an additional 30-percent drop in CO2 emissions per vehicle between 2010 and 2025. Furthermore, Ford’s tailpipe emissions, per vehicle, are down 16 percent since 2007. The company has sold more than 600,000 vehicles with its gas-saving EcoBoost engines, and it’s pretty proud of its regenerative brakes, too. Additionally, through May, Ford increased green car sales fivefold from a year earlier on more sales for models like the Fusion Hybrid and the more-recent introduction of plug-in models like the C-Max and Fusion Energi vehicles. Check out Ford’s press release below. Continue reading Ford cuts production emissions by 37% per vehicle since 2000 Ford cuts production emissions by 37% per vehicle since 2000 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Ford F-150 Chosen as Best Light-Duty Pickup Truck by PickupTrucks.com and Popular Mechanics MagazineThe Ford F-150 has been named winner of the 2013 Light-Duty Challenge by the editors of PickupTrucks.com and Popular Mechanics Magazine. Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Fisker
Anyone looking for a chilling plug-in vehicle warning tale should check out this detailed Reuters article, which digs into the financial history of Fisker Automotive and reveals that the company lost around $35,000 per vehicle. That number comes from “internal financial statements and interviews with former Fisker executives,” Reuters reports, quoting a former executive saying the luxury plug-in hybrid, “cost far more to produce than we could ever charge for it.” All told, between 2008 and 2012, Reuters estimates Fisker lost $1 billion. The losses were due, in part, to those many production delays two to three years ago as well as a reduction in the number of cars it was going to make and sell. Remember when the company said it would sell 15,000 units a year? Eventually, the company sold around 2,000 vehicles, total. There is a lot worth reading in the source article, including how the Karma’s forward-placed exhaust – which hurt the vehicle’s performance and was too loud – was fixed using a metal “pizza box” that cost millions extra. Throw in salaries of around $600,000-$700,000 for co-founders Henrik Fisker and Barny Koehler, even while Fisker was laying people off, and you have a recipe for not succeeding. Here’s a taste of what Reuters has to offer:
You can read the whole thing here. Internal documents show Fisker lost $35,000 on each Karma originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, GM, North America
Sometimes, you have to go across the border to get the skinny on what’s happening in the US. For example, did you know GM might be testing electric cars with batteries that have about three times the energy density of today’s EV? That’s could be the case, since during the recent Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association conference in Canada, The Windsor Star reporter Chris Vander Doelen spoke with J. Gary Smyth, General Motors’ executive director of Global Research and Development. Smyth told Vander Doelen, “Today there are prototypes out there with 400 Watt-hours per kilogram.” We have to assume Smyth was talking about batteries made by Envia, which announced it had developed just such batteries last year (and sent along the nifty cartoon image you see above). GM invested $7 million in the company in 2011 and also made a separate licensing deal to use those advanced packs in its vehicles. While we don’t know the details of what kinds of vehicles are being tested with the 400 wh/kg packs in – Smyth would not even mention the brand – but we have previously calculated that that kind of power could mean 300-mile EVs. And earlier estimates put the cost of such a car with Envia’s technology at just $20,000, giving more heft to Smyth’s statement to Vander Doelen that, “Innovation is exploding right now. The industry is in a period of rapid transformation.” GM still talking about 300-mile EVs with high energy density batteries originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Ford SYNC® voice-controlled connectivity and MyFord Touch® touch screen technologies are attracting more customers and selling at a much higher rate than competitors, as MyFord Touch helps drive higher customer satisfaction with vehicle quality. Ford engineers have developed the industry’s first robotic test driving program – now in use at the company’s Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo, Mich. – to meet demands that Ford trucks undergo ever more strenuous Built Ford Tough testing with greater frequency. Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Ford
Ford is taking the time to trumpet technology that’s let drivers go further by stopping gradually. Specifically, the Blue Oval says the various versions of its regenerative braking systems have generated enough energy to offset the use of 100 million gallons of fuel, Wards Auto writes. Ford’s first production car with regenerative braking was the 2004 Escape Hybrid, but regen brakes have been used on various Fords for decades. Trial versions of the feature, which captures kinetic energy generated from slowing down and saves it in the vehicle’s battery, dates back to the 1990s with Ford’s limited production Ranger and Ecostar (pictured) electric vehicles. Ford’s spent the past couple of decades cutting weight off of those systems while boosting their efficiency. The automaker now says that it can recapture as much as 95 percent of the braking process’ kinetic energy, though stresses that a driver who brakes slow and steady will let the system store a lot more energy than one that tends to slam on that left pedal. Ford says its regenerative brakes have saved 100 million gallons of gas originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. |
 
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