Electric Car Blogging

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Fiat, Green Daily

Wondering how to turn a Fiat 500 into a dinghy, um, we mean a tender? According to Italian coachbuilder Castagna, it can be done. First, remove the top, doors and tailgate. Second, enlarge the sills so that some semblance of structural integrity is maintained. Next, remove the entire interior. Replace the interior with teak wood and wicker accents and add weather-proof seats. Replace the top with some multi-striped canvas for some additional weather protection. Finally, remove the internal combustion engine along with all of its assorted bits and pieces. To make it mobile once again, install an electric drivetrain that is capable of propelling this beastie over 80 miles per hour. Of course, you’d want to travel a good distance, so it is reportedly able to get over 80 miles of range per charge. After taking a look at this conversion, we wonder if the company would just be willing to do the electric drivetrain and leave the rest alone.

[Source: Channel 4]

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, Japan, USA

Although Japanese battery makers currently have plans to greatly expand their production capacity at home, it seems this still isn’t enough and America seems to be the destination of choice for some new manufacturing plants. One of the companies planning on creating some green-collar jobs in the U.S. is GS Yuasa Corp. Their president, Makoto Yoda said, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can. We have to choose our next factory’s location based on growth in the given market.” While not a household brand name for most Americans, GS Yuasa’s automotive partner, Mitsubishi, is sure to ring a bell. They are using lithium ion batteries from GS Yuasa in their all-electric i MiEV which is soon to be tested in California. Although they have not yet committed to selling this car stateside, this announcement is sure to raise hopes.

Another company with American battery factory plans is Toyota. Having already announced plans to build Priuses in Mississippi in 2010, the world’s biggest automaker believes manufacturing batteries here will help them achieve their cost reduction goals. Toyota has been able to reduce it’s per vehicle cost by 50 percent since its first-gen Prius and hopes to halve those costs again in their next-gen. Of the decision company vice chairman Kazuo Okamoto said, “It is very difficult to make the main parts of batteries outside Japan, but we have to have battery production in North America,” No time table for the plants were given but when they arrive we think they will help provide both employment and environmental wins for America.

[Source: Bloomberg / Reuters]

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

The Chevrolet Volt raises a lot of questions. From its public unveiling in January 2007 people wondered, is it a hybrid or an electric car? Right from day 1 in December 2006 before the auto show, GM officials have called it a range extended electric car. They use the electric car terminology because, unlike what we think of as hybrids today, only an electric motor drives the Volt. The engine, a normally aspirated 1.4L (not turbocharged as Motor Trend indicates) just drives a generator (not a two mode hybrid unit as MT says) instead of the wheels. However, the presence of the range extender causes the EPA to consider it a hybrid and they expect it to have almost a full charge at the end of the test cycle. The design intent is that the battery would be run down after having run more than its 40 mile electric range during the test. As designed, the engine would only run 15 percent of the time during the current EPA cycle and would yield over 100 mpg. But, using the EPA’s methodology and having the engine keep the battery near full charge - which completely defeats the purpose of a plug-in vehicle with a 40 mile electric range - the Volt would only get about 48 mpg. While not a bad number, it’s no where near reflective of what the Volt could achieve in the real world for most drivers. Clearly the EPA needs to work with manufacturers to change the testing methodology and come up with something that more closely approximates real world conditions for plug-in vehicles. Insisting on something else would force automakers to calibrate plug-ins to meet those requirements at the expense of real world efficiency, helping no one.

[Source: Motor Trend]

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Filed under: Tuners, Coupes, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, FIAT, Special/Limited Editions

Calling your retrofitted little runabout a tender is apparently all the rage these days. The yacht-based theme was recently adopted by BRABUS, which paired a smart fortwo with one of its warp-enabled SLRs. Now, Castagna does the same with Fiat’s retro-fied 500. In fact, this isn’t the first time that the Milanese coachbuilder has created such a machine, using the MINI Cooper platform just a few years back in the same exact way. In its transformation from sporty little coupe to a larger vessel’s dinghy, the roof, tailgate and top are jetisoned in favor of a canvas covering with which to escape the heat. On the inside, the normal guts are removed and replaced with teak wood and wicker trim along with all new seats. As a concession to emissions, the gasoline powerplant is yanked in favor of sails a new electric motor and batteries that are supposedly capable of powering the tender some 80 miles at speeds up to 86 miles per hour. No rowing required.

[Source: Channel 4]

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Etc., Green, Toyota, Opinion/Editorial

Vandals who mess with other people’s cars are scum — bottom-feeders who are beneath contempt. It doesn’t matter what the vehicle being damaged is. Cars are a major purchase, there’s often an emotional connection to them, and most importantly, they generally represent the owner’s primary source of mobility — getting him or her to work, to the store, to pick up the kids, and so on.

SUV owners know the deal, and it sucks. Stories of drivers (and dealers) finding trucks partially or completely trashed in the name of saving Mother Earth are nothing new, and now it seems that Prius owners are getting their own taste of this nonsense. Inside Line reports that a recent Los Angeles case in which one of the Toyotas was burned to the ground has been determined to be the result of arson. In Petaluma, CA, meanwhile, seven Priuses were vandalized over a two-week period in April. One poor woman had her car attacked twice, and then when it was in for repairs, the Prius rental she had also got worked over. The conventional wisdom suggests that the Prius is a juicy target because it’s a poster child for the environmental movement. And seriously, is this at all surprising? Some sort of anti-eco blowback like this was probably inevitable. People get fed up, so just as the HUMMER and other SUVs are targeted by greens looking to send a message, it was only a matter of time before the anti-HUMMER started getting the same kind of attention from the other direction.

What’s it all prove? Nothing, except that asshats are readily found on both sides of every issue. If you don’t like a particular car or truck, feel free to talk as much trash as you want (it’s practically a sport in the comments section around here). Think the HUMMER represents some sort of rolling apocalypse? Fine. Ditto if you feel that the Prius is nothing but a snob capsule for tree huggers. Just don’t turn those thoughts in to actions, because when you willfully screw with another person’s car or truck, you’re just another stupid criminal, and whatever message you think you’re advancing just falls on deaf (and angry) ears.

[Sources: Inside Line, Prius Owners Group]

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Etc., Lexus, Toyota

Lexus has some changes in store for most of its model lineup in 2009, though there doesn’t appear to be anything in store for enthusiast drivers to rejoice over. Also cause for jeers instead of cheers: price increases from .8 to 1.1 percent, depending on model. The IS 250 and 350 do get revised suspension and steering tuning to go with exterior styling tweaks and the revised interior carries a new center cluster and an off switch for the VDIM stability control. The IS F über-IS also gets a new interior rendered in terra cotta and black that’s termed “sporty.”

The only news in the GS department is a 40% increase in trunk space for the GS 450h hybrid, which sounds fantastic but only amounts to 10.6 total cubic feet. The big LS sedans stay largely the same, though some new variants join the party. AWD versions of the LS 460 and LS 460 L tuck a Torsen differential onto the transmission’s output shaft, which then marshalls torque between front and rear axles. Slick. The AWD LSes come standard with air suspension, variable-ratio steering, and adaptive suspension. Hit the jump for the full press release with detailed pricing info.

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Lexus releases details on updated 2009 range

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